Best time of year for Mediterranean Cruise?

[cruiseluver77]

I am wanting to take a Mediterranean cruise in 2009 and wanted to start planning but wasn't sure what was the peak travel time and what is the off season. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[Sue L]

Peak is during the summer, because of school vacation time. If it were me I would either go in the spring or the fall when there are less crowds and the temps are cooler. The med at those times are beautiful.

[Robb]

We have cruised in the Med as early as April and as late as the end of October to early November. Guess we were lucky because the weather has always been nice. There are also fewer children around then which is another reason for cruising at that time.

[JLC@SD]

We like to go mid September when all the kids are back in school.......everything is less crowded.

[kyriecat]

We went end-Sept/early Oct a couple of years ago. We got a little rain and an occasional cool day, but there weren't the crowds that I heard about in July when it seems like all of Europe closes down. So far, that was my favorite cruise. We're going to try a spring trip next year to see how it compares and to get some more time in a few of the cities where we felt too rushed.

[Jolimont]

Sept if you don't want many kids around, June is great too, but American kids are off school in June. Europeans stay in school until early July. Oct can be nice too, but it's a gamble.

[Kristin7701]

We were just on the 1 Sept sailing of Splendour out of Venice. I haven't cruised the Med at any other time, but I thought it was great! Weather was still nice and warm (except our last sea day, which was only 62F) and there were not too many kids on board.

[Bobal]

As someone who's travelled to the Med a lot, I would say early June or early/mid-September are the best times if you like it warm, but not too hot. We've had some quite cool weather in May and the days are shorter in the autumn. First choice would probably be September as the sea has warmed up nicely over the summer.

[superjerryw]

We went the end of September and the crowds had thinned out since school had started and the weather had cooled off as well.

[fmax]

Here's some input on timing and some other considerations when planning:

 

TIMING

For Europe, spring or fall would be preferable to summer as not only flights, but cruises are slightly cheaper and weather cooler in May and September, for example. Because european cruises are really port intensive you don't want to be doing it in the height of the season as the higher temperatures and larger crowds will be tiring. I believe, and some one I'm sure can clarify this, but in Italy there are lots of restaurants etc that close in August as that's the main time for them to take their vacations. Also many of the tourist sights don't have shade around them.

Itinerary

Decide if this is one of many Med Cruises or a one off. If a one off, decide what places are "must sees" and see if you can find a cruise that accommodates this. I did a Med cruise based on cost and the itinerary appealed to me. This year I'm doing Greek cruise and that was chosen because i really wanted whatever cruise I did to either start or end in Venice. Also consider which, if either, you would be more likely to visit at a later point and choose the other.

Departure:

you might want to choose a cruise that starts in one port and ends in another so you can add a few days each side and experience more of the city (for example (Rome to Venice). And if you want to see more of a place, and less places, try and find a cruise that stays overnight in a port - there are a few out there that have a couple of overnights during the cruise.

Cruiseline:

decide how important the ship experience is. I have only sailed royal and although I really spent a lot of time exploring the ship and seeing the shows etc when I did the Caribbean, I found I had little time to do this on Splendour as the Med Cruise is so port intensive. You're probably going to be doing 10-12 hr port days so you may not want to have really late nights unless you're used to existing on little sleep.

 

Meals;

Freestyle vs traditional dining. In traditional dining you may find that the early seating is too rushed if you're trying to get back from port for dinner. However, late seating (8:45-9:00ish) might be too late as by the time dinner is over you may be ready to retire for the night. Unless you're a night hawk and want to watch all the late shows, explore the ship etc. Freestyling (I haven't tried) but if it's available it might be worth considering unless your ship's in port in the evening when you can experience local cuisine.

 

I read a suggestion from another cruiser that helps in choosing a cruise from the many wonderful choices out there - create a spreadsheet with all your variables - any specific "must see" ports, number of nights, cost, freestyle or traditional dining, same or different embarkation/disembarkation ports etc Just add any cruises of interest to you to spreadsheet and at the end you should have narrowed down the cruise(s) that best meets your requirements.

 

Excursions

Research the excursions for various ports of call and see which adds more to the overall cost of the cruise. In Europe you definitely have options to do yourself, private guides or ship tours. Unless you do it yourself (public transport) you could end up spending quite a bit as tmany city sights are a considerable distance from the ports. However, on the Greek Isles/Turkey cruise I've been researching, as many of the ports of call are islands, you can either just walk around or use public transportation ( a few euros) when doing them yourself. So this really impacts your overall costs significantly.

 

 

Frances

[cruiseluver77]

Thanks for all the tips! It looks like I have a lot of desicions to make. I'm sure I will be living on the boards for the next year to try to decide on everything!

[GSPLover]

Here's some input on timing and some other considerations when planning:

 

TIMING

 

Itinerary

Departure:

 

Cruiseline:

 

Meals;

 

Excursions

Frances

 

Just browsing but your post caught my eye. Very nice, well thought out. I'm certain that it will help many!

[CruisingAlong4Now]

Is mid - late April too early for the Western Med?

[CruisingAlong4Now]

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