gabbygrrl Posted June 30 #1 Share Posted June 30 We are seasoned cruisers (20+), mostly the Caribbean and Bahamas. Next year we have talked our friends in to joining us in the Med for their first cruise. At issue-they only want to do a sailing that doesn’t go out into the middle of the ocean. They want to stay “closer to shore” due to their fear of open water plus being sea sick. They also prefer to stay away from the mega shops, as do we. We’ve talked about doing a Greek Isles cruise. My questions: if we start in Athens but end in Rome, is the trip around the “boot” of Italy particularly rough? Any suggestions to help us pick an itinerary? Looking at Sun Princess, Celebrity, Holland Am..or RCCL as a last choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalspin Posted June 30 #2 Share Posted June 30 2 hours ago, gabbygrrl said: Any suggestions to help us pick an itinerary? Looking at Sun Princess, Celebrity, Holland Am. HAL's mid-sized Oosterdam does some itineraries that hug the shore around Greece and Croatia that I would prefer to going around the 'boot' (but just my preference). Also, any place at sea can have rough water, but the one time I did that route, I got up in the middle of the night to look out the window because it was so smooth I thought we had stopped moving! What time of year are you looking at and I will send you a few choices! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gabbygrrl Posted July 1 Author #3 Share Posted July 1 15 hours ago, crystalspin said: What time of year are you looking at and I will send you a few choices! Thank you! We are looking at 2025, Sept or Oct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Hlitner Posted July 1 #4 Share Posted July 1 A few different issues. The odds are good, that the Med will be relatively calm during the summer months. But "odds" are just that, and anyone getting on a ship needs to understand that rough seas can happen anywhere at any time. Even a storm, hundreds (or thousands) of miles distant, can result in long swells that can make, even the largest, ships rock and roll. As to the "open ocean" comment, that is somewhat laughable. Cruise ships do not generally cruise close to land, and even in the Med (which is actually a huge body of water) a ship can be hundreds of miles off-shore. The truth is that ships are at their greatest risk when near land, because they have to be concerned with the depth of water, increased traffic, etc. DW and I have spent years on cruise ships (all over the world) and one just never knows, when they book a cruise, what kind of weather and sea conditions will be encountered. For those folks who have all kinds of anxiety about potential sea conditions, perhaps they should just spend their time on land. Hnak 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gabbygrrl Posted July 1 Author #5 Share Posted July 1 33 minutes ago, Hlitner said: A few different issues. The odds are good, that the Med will be relatively calm during the summer months. But "odds" are just that, and anyone getting on a ship needs to understand that rough seas can happen anywhere at any time. Even a storm, hundreds (or thousands) of miles distant, can result in long swells that can make, even the largest, ships rock and roll. As to the "open ocean" comment, that is somewhat laughable. Cruise ships do not generally cruise close to land, and even in the Med (which is actually a huge body of water) a ship can be hundreds of miles off-shore. The truth is that ships are at their greatest risk when near land, because they have to be concerned with the depth of water, increased traffic, etc. DW and I have spent years on cruise ships (all over the world) and one just never knows, when they book a cruise, what kind of weather and sea conditions will be encountered. For those folks who have all kinds of anxiety about potential sea conditions, perhaps they should just spend their time on land. Hnak I hear what you are saying. As I mentioned, we have cruised a LOT as well. And I can tell you, there are certain areas that tend to be more inclined to rough seas-NYC/BOS to Bermuda, some TransAtlantic routes, etc. I had read quite a few remarks about cruising around Italy, specifically someone saying to avoid the boot and stick to sailing from Venice or Athens if you want to do Greece. I was trying to confirm that. They are looking to try something new, something that they have been hesitant of in the past. I'm trying to support them while doing my best to avoid as many deterrents as I can. I appreciate your feedback. We just did Europe by land with them, so we're looking for a new adventure. Safe travels! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Hlitner Posted July 1 #6 Share Posted July 1 37 minutes ago, gabbygrrl said: I hear what you are saying. As I mentioned, we have cruised a LOT as well. And I can tell you, there are certain areas that tend to be more inclined to rough seas-NYC/BOS to Bermuda, some TransAtlantic routes, etc. I had read quite a few remarks about cruising around Italy, specifically someone saying to avoid the boot and stick to sailing from Venice or Athens if you want to do Greece. I was trying to confirm that. They are looking to try something new, something that they have been hesitant of in the past. I'm trying to support them while doing my best to avoid as many deterrents as I can. I appreciate your feedback. We just did Europe by land with them, so we're looking for a new adventure. Safe travels! The thing about cruising in Europe and more specifically the Med, it is something we have been doing for about 40 years! In all that time, cruising every month from March through October, we have never encountered anything close to high seas. But, we have also been on cruises where some folks whine about seas of 3-4 meters, which certainly does happen...anywhere. I think most mariners would agree that the term "rough seas" is really meaningless. One person's rough is another person's normal. Our best advice, for those concerned about a rocking ship, is to simply bring along the desired products to handle a moving ship. That can be things like Bonine (Meclizine HcL), Transderm Scop, sea bands, ginger, etc. Spend enough time on ships and eventually you are going to encounter all kinds of sea conditions. Hank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gabbygrrl Posted July 1 Author #7 Share Posted July 1 40 minutes ago, Hlitner said: The thing about cruising in Europe and more specifically the Med, it is something we have been doing for about 40 years! So let me tap into that experience-do you have a particular itinerary or ship that you enjoyed? We are all non-smokers and have cruised extensively with Celebrity due to the non-smoking casino and their strict policy. However, we are open to Princes, HA, Norwegian, etc, looking for a ship size around 120,000 tons or more..but not the giant ships they are churning out now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Hlitner Posted July 1 #8 Share Posted July 1 2 minutes ago, gabbygrrl said: So let me tap into that experience-do you have a particular itinerary or ship that you enjoyed? We are all non-smokers and have cruised extensively with Celebrity due to the non-smoking casino and their strict policy. However, we are open to Princes, HA, Norwegian, etc, looking for a ship size around 120,000 tons or more..but not the giant ships they are churning out now! I also liked Celebrity because of its indoor no-smoking policy. But the reality is that, with the exception of the MSC Divina (where smoke from the casino would rise to the popular lounge on a higher deck) we have had few smoking issues. That being said, we now avoid all onboard casinos (smoke or no smoke). Our own preference for a ship is that it is small and luxurious :). To me, the ideal ship has no more than 600 passengers :). Once we move into the larger mass market ships, we are more concerned with the itinerary than the ship. Why? Most of the Med cruises are very port intensive (few sea days) and involve lots of long port days. When we are in the Caribbean, we do carefully choose the ship, but in Europe we primarily choose the itinerary, Keep in mind that, in the Med, you can sometimes find yourself docked a long way (measured in hours) from where you want to spend your day. Simple examples would be the port of Rome (Civitavecchia) which is more than an hour from Rome, Livorno which is more than an hour from Florence, Le Havre which is about 2 1/2 hours from Paris, etc. Because of this issue, we think it is important to carefully analyze the itinerary in terms of how long a ship is in ports. Another issue is what day of the week you are in various ports. So, for example, if you are in Civitavecchia on a Sunday, the Vatican Museum (i.e. Sistine Chapel) is usually closed. If you are in Istanbul on a Tuesday, Topkapi is closed. When it comes to Europe, you always need to be cognizant of closures (especially on Sunday, Mon, Tues, and European holidays). Hank 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Hlitner Posted July 1 #9 Share Posted July 1 One other suggestion. We have always enjoyed a combination of cruising and some land time, when visiting Europe. Assuming that one has the time and the budget, we think an ideal cruise embarks and disembarks at two different ports (such as Civitavecchia to Athens). One can then spend extra days (or longer) on land at either or both ends of the cruise. And even with the same embarkation/disembarkation port one can arrange some fun land time. Also consider that many of the best parts of Europe are not accessible on a port day. Hank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Essiesmom Posted July 1 #10 Share Posted July 1 I think they should get a copy of Rick Steves’ Mediterranean Cruise Ports and have them select some ports they would like to visit. Then go to cruisetimetables.com and choose those ports from the Cruises to list. It will tell you who is calling there and their itineraries. Then you can research the ships…. A seven day cruise will usually do eastern or western Mediterranean. If you want ports in both areas you need to plan on 10-14 days. EM 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalspin Posted July 1 #11 Share Posted July 1 7 hours ago, gabbygrrl said: Thank you! We are looking at 2025, Sept or Oct. https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/find-a-cruise?dealId=HIAEBBPKG&csvFileName=multi_HIAEBBPKG_1.csv&ICID=INTHWEB2024062113IK5GAGSK&destinationIds:(E)&shipId:(OS)&departDate:[2025-09-01T00%3A00%3A00Z TO 2025-10-01T00%3A00%3A00Z%2B1MONTH-1DAY]&start=0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Mary229 Posted July 1 #12 Share Posted July 1 On your other thread I posted this map to help you make some decisions You can see my comments on your other thread 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gabbygrrl Posted July 2 Author #13 Share Posted July 2 16 hours ago, crystalspin said: https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/find-a-cruise?dealId=HIAEBBPKG&csvFileName=multi_HIAEBBPKG_1.csv&ICID=INTHWEB2024062113IK5GAGSK&destinationIds:(E)&shipId:(OS)&departDate:[2025-09-01T00%3A00%3A00Z TO 2025-10-01T00%3A00%3A00Z%2B1MONTH-1DAY]&start=0 A few of those 10 day options look great. Thank you!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg8371 Posted July 30 #14 Share Posted July 30 For a Greek Isles cruise starting in Athens and ending in Rome, the trip around the “boot” of Italy is generally calmer compared to deep ocean voyages. Sun Princess, Celebrity, and Holland America are great choices for a more relaxed experience, while RCCL might have larger ships and more open water routes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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