Which eastern med itinerary?

[newbie280106]

Hi there,

My hubby and I are considering an eastern mediterranean cruise for the spring of 08 and I've found the following cruises of interest. Any information/opinions on the ships/ports etc would be appreciated.

 

Option 1 - Princess Grand - "Greek Isles - Venice to Rome" - 12 d

[Venice, Italy

Venice, Italy

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Corfu, Greece

Katakolon (Olympia), Greece

Athens (Piraeus), Greece

Mykonos, Greece

Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

Rhodes, Greece

Santorini, Greece

At Sea

Naples/Capri, Italy

Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

 

Option 2 - 11 Night Eastern Mediterranean Cruise on Galaxy (celebrity)

Rome, Italy

At Sea

Mykonos, Greece

Rhodes, Greece

Santorini, Greece

Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul, Turkey

Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey

Athens (Piraeus), Greece

At Sea

Naples/Capri, Italy

Rome , Italy

 

Option 3 - Norwegian Jade (formally pride of hawaii) - 12-Day Egypt & Greek Isles Athens to Istanbul

Athens (Piraeus)

Katakolon

Corfu

At Sea

Alexandria

At Sea

Iraklion

Santorini

Mykonos

Ephesus (Izmir)

Istanbul

Istanbul

 

Many thanks

[Cruise Junky]

Well, I'm a tad biased as we're booked on the same Grand Princess Itinerary. Have you been to Europe before? I think you really have to ask yourself some questions.... How important is seeing Venice/Rome/Istanbul/Egypt? We were really focused on the Greek Islands and Venice is one of our favourite places on earth, so it was a no brainer to go with the Grand. I only have one change that I'd make to that Itinerary and that I wished it would go to Istanbul. But I can't have it all. Are there any places that you've always wanted to go? Your Airfare would be more if flying into Athens and flying out of Istanbul, but if cost is no object, it doesn't really matter. Personally I'd go with either Grand or Galaxy as I think you're getting more of Europe, but hell, if you've been waiting your whole life to see the pyramids, then NCL.

[pvmkmyer]

Many people have voiced problems with NCL in general. I have not traveled with them, but my impression is that they offer a slightly lower product than Princess and Celebrity. As between the other 2, you really have to decide where you want to go most. They are both great itineraries that go to great places. If you're going to try and use airline miles for your airfare, then the Celebrity cruise, which starts and ends in Rome, would be easier to coordinate, since free tickets require a roundtrip, normally in and out of the same city.

[Cruise Junky]

If you're going to try and use airline miles for your airfare, then the Celebrity cruise, which starts and ends in Rome, would be easier to coordinate, since free tickets require a roundtrip, normally in and out of the same city.

 

No they don't...open jaws are usually the best use of your frequent flyer miles as they cost a little more. Plus, you could easily fly in and out of Rome for either itinerary and take the train to Venice.

[mountainmare]

All the itineraries are wonderful. Since a Med cruise is so port intensive in general the ship (or cruiseline) is not as important as for a cruise where the ship is the destination. For example our cruiseline of choice is HAL--but we have picked other lines when they have better itineraries--and this winter are going on Costa because in Feb this is the only choice in the Med.

That being said--given the importance of the itinerary be sure to look at the time in port as well as the ports themselves. Santorini, for example. We were lucky to stay in Santorini until 11pm, thus being able to see the sunset from Oia, if you are only going to be in Santorini for a few hours, by the time you tender in and get up the calderia you don't have time to see much.

And on two options ot looks on the surface that you overnight in Istanbul, but if you get into Istanbul in the afternoon, and then have to get off first thing in the morning, you really don't even have a day there.

Just some more things for you to think about.

[Longin2cruise]

I highly recommend one of the cruises with Istanbul. Even if you don't get to spend a lot of time there, it's well worth it. Absolutely fantastic place!!

[sea-explorer]

--and this winter are going on Costa because in Feb this is the only choice in the Med.

.

 

 

There are others in February, MSC, Thomson & Fred Olsen, but of course it will also depend on your actual dates & choice of ports. :)

[mountainmare]

I didn't think about Thomson or FO. We wanted Greece Turkey and Egypt and after comparing fall sail dates and itineraries on the American mainstream we are trying Costa, good dates and pricing, great itinerary. It looks like as of next year the secret of the Med in the winter is out and there will more choices--but more people.

To the OP. We sailed the Galaxy this winter and she is a beautiful classic ship, and that is a nice itinerary, just check the time in port for all of them.

[JordanF]

We have sailed NCL and Princess before and really liked them both. However, we are booked on the Galaxy next summer for the Eastern Med. We chose this one because we liked the ports and because we noticed that the Galaxy was quite a bit less expensive (inside cabin for around $1700 for an eleven night cruise--I think this might be because it is an older ship).

 

However, we recently spent two weeks in Egypt and loved it. Since we had just been there, we did not feel the need to go right back. If we had never been there, I think the stop in Alexandria might have been tempting to us. If you choose this one, I highly recommed that you go see the pyramids.

[threeofus]

While NCL may not be the greatest - in this case it might be due to the freestyle dining. I can imagine wanting to sample the local restaurants in many ports without having to worry about getting back to the ship for the seating. Or eating very late even though you're tired from the long day...

We chose NCL for Hawaii because the ports were the draw and the ship was not a priority and it reallywas fine - service not the best but we had a wonderful trip. No complaints.

 

So I think I would look at the itinerary and choose the ports I wanted...and maybe consider sea days for much needed R & R...and go with that regardless of the ship - just my opinion.

 

Whatever you choose - hope it's great!!!!