Which cruise line to the Med?

[shamrock47]

We have always had great luck with the advice/information offered here. So now we would like to hear about your experiences and recommendations on our future plans to cruise the Med. This past summer we sailed on the Golden Princess around Great Britain and Western Europe. We enjoyed this greatly, but wonder if someone else might be better for Italy, Greece, etc.

We are not sure what month we plan to cruise, maybe October?

 

Thanks in advance

[Trainer]

I did the Med on Celebrity's Constellation three years ago in October. We went R/T Barcelona, all around Italy, Malta, the south of France. The weather was nice, neither too hot or cold. It was a great trip. We did the tours only in Pompei and did the rest on our own, only using transportation into the more distant cities like Rome. I liked the Constellation so well, I did another trip on its sister ship the Millennium. I must say I like Celebrity about the best of the lines I've been on. It is worth getting a balcony, as the ports are interesting. Arriving in Malta is really nice as you go through the channel right into dock.

[cusyl]

I would recommend the Grand Princess. We picked it specifically for its itinerary

[Keith1010]

Our first cruise in the Med was in 1999 on the Grand Princess. We did have a very nice time on the ship.

 

There are certainly other cruise lines to consider. One of the cruise lines we now sail regularly is Crystal Cruise Lines and we took a Med cruise with Crystal in the Fall of 2005 which was outstanding. They are a luxury cruise line and so the prices will be higher than say Princess but you might want to take a look at them. One of the nice things about say a Crystal is that they don't repeat their itinearies from cruise to cruise so if you are interested in one with say more ports for Italy and less than another area you can look at all of their itineraries to see which one you like best.

 

Another nice cruise line to consider is Oceania.

 

October is a great time to sail the Med. The weather is more moderate than the humid/hot summer and a little less crowded.

 

Keith

[Beth & Rob]

We are on RCI's Brilliance for 10/07, but if I had to do it all over I would book Oceania......My TA just got back and raved....Smaller ship, no formal nights........beautiful cabins, wonderful food.

 

We did Radiance to Alaska and Brilliance is it's sister. It is a beautiful ship and we so thoroughly enjoyed it........I did Diamond Princess a couple of weeks ago to Mexico and it was a great ship with wonderful service as well. Not as nice as Royal, but a definite B++.

[mlbcruiser]

We did the W. Med. w/RCCL 5 yrs. ago and the E. Med. w/Celebrity this past June. Both were good, but I would say Celebrity definitely had an edge in several areas.