Eastern Med Cruises 2025 - Voyager and Odyssey - give me your recommendations!

[ST1TCH]

Hello all:

 

My wife and I are planning an eastern Med cruise next year for a 25th anniversary cruise.  Based on research I've done so far and the places that are important to us (at the moment) I'm definitely leaning toward the itineraries offered on the Voyager and Odyssey and probably lean toward Voyager because I can begin in Athens and end in Rome, giving time to visit both cities before and after.

 

We've never cruised the Med before, or Europe for that matter.  Being about an hour from Galveston, we've certainly seen all the western Caribbean has to offer as well as time in Alaska (just off the Radiance on 6/21/24) and eastern Caribbean.  We have been overseas before to Israel so it's not like we don't get out of the US 

 

 

So, spill the tea!  Tell me what you like/love about the eastern Med or the Voyager or the Odyssey?  We want to see Italy, Greece and Turkey - are we missing out on some other must-do port?  

 

 

Have been watching a great vlog series by a couple (AK Adventures) aboard the Odyssey in the Med and will search out some vlogs about the Voyager after.  Any vloggers, etc. that you'd recommend about these ships, itineraries or the Med in general?

 

 

Any other ideas, recommendations, tips/tricks, RCI excursions vs. local ones, etc. etc. etc.  Let me know!

[elaine5]

We sailed Explorer last year. Very similar to Voyager. We thought it was a very good ship for E. Med.  I like beginning/ending different ports. Great to spend pre-post time at each with more leisurely pace. There are so many wonderful ports in Europe, you cannot do them all. So, yes, there will be some great places you miss...pick your must dos/bucket lists and enjoy. 

Edited Thursday at 10:41 PM by elaine5

[RobInMN]

Here's a recent thread on Odyssey:

Like the person doing the above thread, we originally booked the Holy Land cruise on Odyssey, but we're going end of October.

 

This is a recent Voyager thread. It was a B3B starting with the TA and covering many of the ports:

 

[firefly333]

I'm booked on the TA out of PC may 2025 and the 2nd leg which has 2 greece stops and ends in rome. Some I know booked the 3rd leg because they want to end in athens instead of rome. If you are talking about may 26, rome to athens you will have plenty of company. I've talked to several who booked the 3rd leg. The TA the most reasonable fare, 13 days over, the 10 day not so much lol. I toyed with adding the 3rd leg but right now I'm ending in rome. I wanted to see greee is why I added rhe 10 day leg. The next leg was cheaper but only 7 days.

Edited Thursday at 11:56 PM by firefly333

[livetravelcruise07]

We recently just disembarked the Voyager of the Seas 11 Nights Barcelona to Athens, and I will always 100% recommend this ship and type of mediterranean itinerary. We loved sailing on the Voyager, because it is the perfect size, great food and amazing service. We also liked how there wasn't much to do on the ship (aqua theater, bumper cars, zipline, etc), only because we were not on the ship at all when we were at port! So, it was nice to just come back on the ship in the evenings and get dinner and see a show (because you're EXHAUSTED by the end of the port day). 

 

The ports we went to were:

Barcelona, Spain (embarked the ship): I HIGHLY recommend starting in Barcelona, we went out 3 days before the sailing and there was so much to see, eat and do! We did a catamaran sailing around the Barcelona port and it was a highlight of Spain for us! We also did a Tuk Tuk ride in the city, which was perfect especially in a busy city!

 

Nice, France: Loved Nice! It was a tender port, so we didn't get off till about 11 am. We actually stayed at the port of Villefranche and ate lunch, walked around the beaches, ate lots of gelato and checked out the bakeries! It is a small town, but we loved it!

 

Rome, Italy: Oh Rome! We had high expectations of Rome, but it was so dang busy and soooo dirty, it also takes almost two hours just to get to Rome from the cruise port, so it makes for a very long day! We did end up booking an excursion through Royal which included the transfers into Rome and out of Rome (which thankfully we did, because taxis were showing $150 per person to get back to port). It was an on our own walking tour, so we had about 5.5 hours to walk and see Rome, which we did see the sites we wanted, and we got to eat the food we wanted as well! 

 

Naples, Italy: We loved seeing this part of Italy! We booked a Royal Caribbean excursion, Amalfi Coast by Motor Launch and Pompeii! This was probably one of the best excursions we have ever booked with Royal. We had a beautiful boat ride over to Amalfi and we got an hour of free time in Amalfi. It is a small town so it was plenty of time to check out all the lemons, lemon sorbet, churches and just the cuteness of this little town. They also served a great lunch of homemade gnocchi, chicken and gelato! We had about three hours in Pompeii and it was a guided tour! It was enough time and we were so thankful we had a tour guide, we learned so much and saw a ton! 

 

Valletta, Malta: We ended up walking around Malta and we saw a ton! We found where Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip used to live, Fort St. Elmo and we saw a lot of locations where famous movies were filmed. This is a great city just to walk around and everything is really close to each other! 

 

Rhodes, Greece: This was another port that we walked around and got the most delicious lunch, gelato and I even went into a local grocery store for tzatiki flavored potato chips! The buildings and churches are absolutely stunning, everywhere you look there is something different! 

 

Ephesus, Turkey: OUR FAVORITE PORT. We had no idea what to expect with Turkey, but it ended up being one of our favorites! We booked an excursion through Royal Caribbean visiting Ephesus, the House of Virgin Mary and it included the best Turkish buffet! If you do visit Turkey and do a tour similar to ours, it gets BUSY! We got really lucky that our tour guide got us out of the port so fast, because we got right into the House of Virgin Mary, no wait! Once we left though....it was going to take 2 hours just to get into her house!! There is also a ton of shopping and food around the port as well, since the excursion was 5 hours, so we had enough time to do other things before getting back on the ship.

 

Santorini, Greece: This was a tender port, which it honestly worked out really well for us. We waited until 11 am to get on a tender and it took us to the trams (or you have the option to take 600 stairs or a donkey). I have heard horror stories about this port, but in our experience, it took only 20 minutes to get on a tram and we had a great day eating and shopping around Santorini and seeing all the beautiful sights, buildings and churches. We left the top of Santorini around 4 pm but ended up taking the stairs down because the line for the tram was wrapped around the city (it was a 2 hour wait to get down). If you do take the stairs down, it is incredibly slippery, lots of donkey poop and steep! 

 

Mykonos, Greece: The actual town of Mykonos is about a 35-minute walk from where the cruise ships dock and it's not a bad walk just have to be careful because there aren't really sidewalks. We visited the famous windmills, had more Greek food and of course more gelato. We felt that there wasn't much to do in Mykonos, and it was a little more expensive than the other ports in Greece. 

 

Athens, Greece (Disembarked): We stayed in Athens for two days after the cruise ended and we are glad we did. We saw the main sites of Athens and of course ate more Greek food! The only thing I recommend is maybe start and end in the same port (round trip). We were exhausted by this time (we walked 20,000 steps every day of the cruise), so we were in bed early every night in Athens and just didn't want to walk more. We did save up some energy for the walk up to the Acropolis and Parthenon. We did book a tour for that, and it included the guided tour and the Acropolis Museum Tour as well. Highly recommend, booking a tour for the bigger sites, we never had to wait in a line! 

 

I LOVE talking about our trip, but whatever you decide on it will be the most memorable cruise you will ever take! 🙂

 

 

[Thisguylikestocruise]

Yes Rome is busy but there’s ways to enhance your experience. If all you do is visit the top attractions(Vatican sites, Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps, Colosseum) it is crowded. Consider a relaxing walk at Villa Borghese park, Ostia Antica, Baths of Caracalla, or biking the Appian Way. Rome is beautiful at night and well worth a visit if planned properly. 

[sgmn]

7 hours ago, livetravelcruise07 said:

 

Mykonos, Greece: The actual town of Mykonos is about a 35-minute walk from where the cruise ships dock and it's not a bad walk just have to be careful because there aren't really sidewalks. We visited the famous windmills, had more Greek food and of course more gelato. We felt that there wasn't much to do in Mykonos, and it was a little more expensive than the other 

I LOVE talking about our trip, but whatever you decide on it will be the most memorable cruise you will ever take! 🙂

 

 

Sounds like you had a great cruise and saw a lot.  Agree the ports are the main draw in European cruises rather than the ships ,  though I wish they would have better shows/talent in the evening.

 

Another idea for Mykonos is to take the boat to Delos island, a Unesco world heritage site. There's a booth selling trips on the old port walls.  Once in Delos you have to buy entry to  the archaeological site and museum (think you can buy on line in advance).  The two times we did it we moored in the bay and our tender dropped us right next to the ticket booth for Delos.  We also had plenty of time to wander around Mykonos afterwards and have a tasty Greek lunch. 

 

In Santorini we've taken the ferry (where the tender drops you) to Oia . Go as early as possible as Oia gets very crowded.  The price includes a coach back to Fira. We've walked down the steps twice.  We're in our 60s and had no problem with the steps, though the donkeys are a nuisance, as are their droppings. But found the steps quite wide and shallow so easy to dodge them. 

 

Rhodes and Malta are great, easily walkable ports. 

 

Naples, the ship docks close to the ferry which goes to Capri, a great DIY day.

 

Lots of info on the European port pages of cruise critic 

 

[Billy Baltic]

We’ve only done European cruises as that’s our back yard. Personally I find the voyager class ships are getting a bit tired and limited. Yes the port days can be long but we still like a wider selection of venues in the evening and sea days than voyager class has to offer.

If you plan to stay in a suite you also have that enhanced experience on Odyssey. 
We sailed Explorer last year and while we enjoyed the cruise overall, we found ourselves in the same routine due to lack of options.

[Cooper30]

We were on Explorer last fall, Ravenna to Civitavecchia with a port every day. We splurged (for us) and booked an aft balcony cabin  Usually we sail in an Interior Guarantee. 
 

We enjoyed every port….Split, Zadar, Dubrovnik, Corfu, Messina, and Naples, but we were pleasantly surprised how much we enjoyed Croatia.   We will be going back there for an extended stay when we retire. 
 

We did not take any excursions, Royal Caribbean or otherwise.  We struck out on our own in each port and went away from the tourist areas as much as possible.  We met so many locals and had such a great time.   The internet makes things easy for researching diy port days. 
 

All this being said, a port every day was exhausting, and by Naples, we ended up getting in the hop on/hop off bus after 4 hours of exploring on our own. Side note….we already have a hotel booked in Naples for extra days there when we end a cruise we have booked in May 2025.  We saw so much while on the bus that we want to go back and investigate. 

 

Anyway, enjoy your cruise.  I suspect you’ll have a great time no matter which itinerary you sail.   Odyssey has more things onboard than Voyager (we’ve not been on Odyssey yet but have been on Anthem a few times…we’re on Odyssey next January), but if the ports matter to you, pick the ship that goes where you want to go.   

[ST1TCH]

8 hours ago, Billy Baltic said:

We’ve only done European cruises as that’s our back yard. Personally I find the voyager class ships are getting a bit tired and limited. Yes the port days can be long but we still like a wider selection of venues in the evening and sea days than voyager class has to offer.

If you plan to stay in a suite you also have that enhanced experience on Odyssey. 
We sailed Explorer last year and while we enjoyed the cruise overall, we found ourselves in the same routine due to lack of options.

 

Thank you for that feedback.  Seems we are of the same opinion about the ships and what they offer.  Many don't seem to share that.

 

I get that a Med cruise is more about the ports, same can be said about Alaska and other places.  But the venues and offerings onboard have to be taken into account.  We were less than impressed about some of the things on Radiance in Alaska a few weeks back (though it was still a great cruise).

 

 

I lean toward the Voyager as my preference is to start and end in different cities.  But in a perfect world I wish Odyssey did that itinerary as I think Voyager may fall a bit short on shows, venues, onboard offerings.

Edited Friday at 04:38 PM by ST1TCH

[Cruising89143]

When cruising in Europe it’s more about the ports than ships for us. I look at the ship as hotel/transportation from one place to another. Itinerary definitely takes priority. 

[Crazy planning mom]

When we took our first Med cruise back in 2015, our teen son was with us.  In that case, we picked a ship with lots of bells and whistles.   When we sailed in Europe again in 2022,it was just hubby and me.  We picked an older ship and that worked for us.  

[Hoopster95]

53 minutes ago, ST1TCH said:

9 hours ago, Billy Baltic said:

We’ve only done European cruises as that’s our back yard.

Seems we are of the same opinion about the ships and what they offer.  Many don't seem to share that.

 

Keep in mind the source of this advice... Billy Baltic a European who has seen a whole lot of Europe... like you in the Caribbean. The European is not going to Rome on a cruise to see Rome... they'll do that on a land tour. They want a ship experience... like we do in the Caribbean.

 

You're going there to see Europe for the first time. Your biggest mistake will be to focus on the ship vs. the itinerary

[Southern Dan]

I had a trip from Rome to Athens on Voyager booked for next July 2025 but the more I watched videos on the ships the more I realized I wanted to sail on Odyssey.  She has a lot more amenities that my wife and I will enjoy and I knew I wasn't going to fly up to New York to sail on her in the wintertime so I pulled the trigger and switched to Odyssey instead. 

 

I am very happy with my decision and will spend a few days exploring Rome before the cruise and will be visiting Venice and Florence following the cruise.  Will plan a land based trip to Greece in the next 3-4 years to fully experience Greece.

[ST1TCH]

Look, I get it.

 

I personally will not completely ignore what ship I'm going to be on as a factor in choosing a cruise.  And I'm not making the ship more important than my itinerary.  

 

The experiences I get to take part in while I'm on the ship in the evenings and sea days have to be considered when choosing what to book.

 

 

[Billy Baltic]

27 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

Keep in mind the source of this advice... Billy Baltic a European who has seen a whole lot of Europe... like you in the Caribbean. The European is not going to Rome on a cruise to see Rome... they'll do that on a land tour. They want a ship experience... like we do in the Caribbean.

 

You're going there to see Europe for the first time. Your biggest mistake will be to focus on the ship vs. the itinerary

That’s true to an extent Hoopster but I supper I don’t see why the op can’t make full use of the ports and the ship. Not everyone wants to return to the ship, eat in the MDR and go to bed. 

[Hoopster95]

17 minutes ago, Billy Baltic said:

Not everyone wants to return to the ship, eat in the MDR and go to bed. 

 

I understand. As a frame of reference, we're 12pm-1am people, eat late dinner 8pm-8:30pm, we enjoyed the nightclub and evening events/shows every night. Voyager events and shows were fantastic. The couple of sea days were our down time on this cruise.

 

50 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

You're going there to see Europe for the first time. Your biggest mistake will be to focus on the ship vs. the itinerary

 

I stand by this advice ... Whatever you choose have a great vacation and enjoy your visits.

[George C]

Our Greece cruise was a couple of decades ago but loved all the ports , we did Italy a couple of times and it’s definitely my favorite destination for food and history. Favorite ports are 

Naples - best pizza in the world, can also visit Pompeii which is amazing and Capri .

Florence - seeing the Statue David a couple of feet away was a amazing.

Venice - another amazing city did the gondola ride.

my big surprises was port of Kotor which is a delightful walled city along with Dubrovnik.