Mediterranean: Cruise or Land Vacation?

[jwave]

I LOVE to cruise. Love, love, love. However, so far, I have only been to the Caribbean and Alaska. I want to go to Italy and Greece. I think a cruise would be great since I have never been before and I can see which spots I would like to go back to. However, my concerns are these:

1. Do you have enough time in port to see anything or are you on a bus most of the time with 1-2 hours in your destination?

2. Is it weird visiting these European cities with 2600 of your "closest" friends? I don't really enjoy ports like Grand Cayman as much anymore because there are so many ships there at the same time and so MANY people. Do the local people resent the large ships dumping so many at one time? Can you get a feel for the "real" port with so MANY?

 

I would love to go on a land based trip too, but you just can't cover the same ground without buses, trains and lots of packing and unpacking.

 

I really feel like I want my cake and to eat it too...it is possible?

 

I would love to hear from people who have done one or the other or ideally, both.

 

thanks in advance.

[nomars_girl]

I thoroughly enjoyed our Med cruise, but I knew I was only getting a small taste of each of the places we visited. I found the time in port was long enough to see quite a bit, but of course you don't get a sense of the nightlife. We did the ports on our own and covered a lot of ground. None of us enjoys the herd mentality of organized tourgroups.

 

I think as long as you understand that it is just an overview to give you an idea of places you would like to return to on a future visit, a cruise is a great way to go. Also, with the declining value of the dollar, you can control your costs more with a cruise since everything on the ship is paid in US dollars.

[paul929207]

For some cities (London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Athens and others) a cruise does not provide enough time for you to see them. However, you can book a cruise starting in one and ending in another. Then you can go early and stay on after the cruise.

[-Lew-]

I LOVE to cruise. Love, love, love. However, so far, I have only been to the Caribbean and Alaska. I want to go to Italy and Greece.

You need to know that a European cruise is not the same as the ones your used to taking in the Caribbean. Your cruise will be much more port intensive. You probably won't have many sea days and, therefore, will not be spending a lot of time around the pool. You may be returning to the ship quite tired from a full day in port.

 

We did the 12-night Grand Mediterranean, Barcelona to Venice, cruise last fall and then drove to Tuscany where we spent an additional two weeks. We had been to Italy previously and knew where we wanted to spend some additional time after the cruise.

 

If you have the time, I would recommend that you arrive a couple of days early at your port of embarkation. This will allow you to get over any jet lag you may have and also get acclimated a little to Europe.

 

1. Do you have enough time in port to see anything or are you on a bus most of the time with 1-2 hours in your destination?

Depends on the port. We did excursions in Cinque Terre, did not get off the ship to visit Rome, visited Capri on an excursion, did Istanbul by ourselves, did an excursion is Kusadasi, did Athens on our own. I would recommend that you join your roll call and visit the forums for the various ports of call for a wealth of information.

 

2. Is it weird visiting these European cities with 2600 of your "closest" friends? I don't really enjoy ports like Grand Cayman as much anymore because there are so many ships there at the same time and so MANY people. Do the local people resent the large ships dumping so many at one time? Can you get a feel for the "real" port with so MANY?

It's not weird at all. We had the feeling the locals welcomed the ships. Some of the cities are so large or far removed from the actual port that the locals aren't even aware you are from a ship. Yes, you do get the feeling of where you are visiting...it's all around you.

 

I would love to go on a land based trip too, but you just can't cover the same ground without buses, trains and lots of packing and unpacking.

True, unpacking once in your stateroom for the entire cruise and waking up in a new port everyday has its advantages over land travel. On our trip we packed up at the end of the cruise and didn't really unpack fully when we arrived in Tuscany.

 

I really feel like I want my cake and to eat it too...it is possible?

With good planning, yes!

 

Have a great cruise...

 

Lew

[Cruise Junky]

There's some great answers to this on the Europe board, it's been asked many times. I've done both. Our first trip was a Barcelona to Venice cruise which we loved, but we realized right off the bat that there were some places that were just too special to not go back to. Also, there were places you just couldn't see by ship. Our first trip by cruise was Barcelona, Villefrance, Florence, Rome, Naples, Mykonos, Santorini, Athens, Dubrovnik and Venice. Two nights in Barcelona and two nights in Venice after the cruise. Next trip was a land trip. 3 Nights in Paris, 3 nights in St. Paul de Vence, just outside Nice, a week in Provence, a week in Tuscany and two nights in Rome. You can't really compare the two, there's no way we could have covered the distance we did on the cruise on a land trip, but having three weeks by land to do our own thing and really discover the south of france and tuscany was amazing. You can see we have another europe cruise coming up....if we could cover the Greek Islands by land, we'd have jumped at it, it's more our pace and we're very independent, but how do you cover 6 greek stops, Rome, Naples, Venice and Turkey in two weeks, it just can't be done...so we cruise.

 

People will tell you it's more economical to cruise, not so. Not unless you're addicted to 5 star hotels. There's tons of places in Europe that are cheaper than a cruise. We rented great places in Provence and Tuscany for around $1,500 - $1,700 us for the week.

 

I think you have to sit down and figure out what you want to see...if it's places that are spread out, then a cruise for the first time is probably the way to go, if it's France and Italy, or Italy and a Greek Island or two, then you could probably do well doing a land trip. If you have time, you can have the best of both worlds and cruise to the places that are hard to get to and add a week in Italy.

[hubofhockey]

The dollar is so weak right now compared to the Euro that cruising to Europe is a relative bargain. That's how I'm going to do it some time within the next couple of years.

[katisdale]

I look at cruises as being samplers and land vacations as the entrees. We have enjoyed our sampler cruises greatly. I love the itinerary for the 12 day European Explorer which starts in Rome and ends in London. Coupled with extra days in Rome and London it was a wonderful cruise. Last year we went on the Holy Land Cruise on the Royal Princess. The number of guests on this ship does not overwhelm the ports. We spent three days in Athens pre-cruise and two in Venice at the end. The ports, especially going to Egypt, Israel and Ephesus were outstanding.

[Biogal]

Last November we did the Venice to Rome route and fell in love with cruising and everything that a cruise to Europe had to offer. There are a few places from that trip that we would love to go back to. But, I believe that if you have a good plan of what you want to see each day by doing your research you can get in a full day and just return to the ship with enough energy to go to dinner and the hot tub. It was amazing and are planning on doing it again.

 

Oh, and we only did one ship excursion. We are in love with adventure and used pubic transport, a donkey, or our plan old feet to see so much!

[cruzgryphon]

The other people who have replied to this board - have pointed out a couple of key considerations - look at the cruise in Europe as a smorgasborg - try lots of new things, to get a feel for what you want try more of - either by cruising or by land.

To some of your other questions re: number of people in port etc. It can get quite crowded in the busy periods like summer where you are at times trying to fit a lot of people from Cruise ships into a very narrow area. I would recommend travelling beginning of June/ Mid Septemberish to reduce the crowd effect.

Other considerations to think about - do you want to see architecture or explore museums - personally I think cruises are conducive to the former but not necessarily the latter due to time in Port. As someone else noted - Europe tends to be more active whereas the Caribbean - at least for me is more about relax and decompressing from work and "planning stresses".

As someone visiting Europe for the first time - I would recommend a cruise to get a feel for things as it is very different from North America, then start looking at land trips. With a land trip you can do it by region to save on the packing and unpacking (e.g. pick someplace like Geneva and explore parts of Switzerland and France in the surrounding area).

[DrivesLikeMario]

I am so in the same boat as the OP!! I keep flip-flopping between an organized land tour of Italy and a cruise that hits about 3 Italian ports. We have very limited time to vacation - only 9-10 days max. DH cannot be away from work any longer than that.

 

We've been to Paris and London on a land-based independently-arranged trip. Those are two cities you really can't do well from a cruise. The travel time to Paris is lengthy and there is so much to see and 'feel'. With London, it simply cannot be 'done' in a day; in fact, we had 5 days there and still missed so much!

 

I've come to the conclusion that for us with our limited vacation time, a 6 or 7 night Med. cruise combined with a 3 night pre-cruise stay in Rome is our best bet. Maybe this would work for you too? Do some land & some sea? That way, you get a more intensive view of one city and a peak at the others.

 

Good luck & let us know what you decide. ;)

[Coral]

IMO - If you really want to see these 2 countries, do a land trip. I personally can't imagine "seeing Rome in a day". I spent 3 weeks there in 2000 and while that is probably excessive - to see Rome in a day is not really seeing Rome. Ditto for the country side in Italy - I loved my train rides through Italy, I learned a lot from wondering around and finding that corner local restaurant. You just can't do that in one day on a cruise.

[bdjam]

One of the reasons I haven't sailed Europe yet is that if I did, I would have to do both. I can't see going all that way to do a port intensive cruise and come back exhausted and overloaded - I've already got my itinerary all picked out...it's just finding the time and money that's the problem.

[Druke I]

We did a land tour in Italy, and we have also cruised in that region.

 

On a land tour, you may be able to delve a little more into the area, but it is a pain to have to pack/unpack almost every day, and be ready to get the bus early in the morning, and sleep in a strange hotel/inn every night.

 

On a cruise, even if port intensive, you only pack/unpack once, and we found it less tiring.

 

Being the lazy sort that I am, I prefer a cruise.

[Cruise Junky]

We did a land tour in Italy, and we have also cruised in that region.

 

On a land tour, you may be able to delve a little more into the area, but it is a pain to have to pack/unpack almost every day, and be ready to get the bus early in the morning, and sleep in a strange hotel/inn every night.

 

On a cruise, even if port intensive, you only pack/unpack once, and we found it less tiring.

 

Being the lazy sort that I am, I prefer a cruise.

 

That's certainly not the kind of land trip I plan.

[shellbeachjim]

For our last cruise (we were on the same one as katisdale), we did both. We flew to Greece a week prior to the cruise and toured the Peloponnese on our own. We simply rented a car and drove and stayed where we chose to. Our day in Olympia was fantastic. We practically had it to ourselves. Of course it was late October/early November and not peak tourist season.

 

After the cruise we also spent a couple of nights in Venice, then took the train to Vienna and toured a bit more in Austria and Germany.

 

My point is that Europe can be time intensive if you choose to make it that way. We prefer to take our time on our trips to Europe, but there are times when the cruise also meets your needs. Since we're flying such long distances to get to Europe in the first place, we want to maximize our time there prior to coming home.

 

I understand the "survey" course mentality, and it works for lots of folks (including myself sometimes).

 

Jim

[PescadoAmarillo]

We thought the best way (but it takes a lot of time), was to do a transatlantic one way (saving air, and they are generally cheap), then a short Med cruise (10 days or less) and then some time on land before flying home. For some of the ports, one day is frankly enough to see the highlights. Others (such as Rome/Athens/Livorno for Florence and Pisa) one day does not do it justice. By ending a cruise in Venice, you're an easy train ride away from several major cities, and can even go up into Germany and over to France before returning home.

 

It's also a legitimate reason, I think, for forgoing the formalwear on those kinds of trips, or else shipping it home when you're done cruising. Waaayyyy too much stuff to haul around Europe on the trains.

[DrivesLikeMario]

How lucky you all are to be able to have so much time off from work! :)

[shellbeachjim]

It's also a legitimate reason, I think, for forgoing the formalwear on those kinds of trips, or else shipping it home when you're done cruising. Waaayyyy too much stuff to haul around Europe on the trains.

I should add that we paid for the Princess Luggage Valet service. Yes, it's expensive, but it allowed us to transition our wardrobe during our trip. We shipped to Europe our formal wear as well as our heavy winter wear. Our shipment home included the "mild weather wear" we needed in Greece, Turkey, Israel and Egypt as well as the formal wear. This made the train (and Venice) quite a bit easier to negotiate.

[FredS]

When you consider a land trip, look at the cost of housing and meals and transportation. As mentioned, the dollar is taking a beating from the Euro and things are very expensive. When we were in the Med a couple of years ago we commented to a fellow from Europe how expensive things were and he said that they were not expensive for them as that was the usual price they paid. But, compared to what we would pay at home it was high. Also cruising gives a quick overview of areas and cities. You cannot see every thing but you get an idea of what an area, city is like. everyone is different, cruises cover a lot of ground so you can see areas that you might never get too. WE got to Senegal and Morocco, places we would probably never travel to deliberately. My wife saw enough to say she did not want to go back.

[flag fan]

On my first trip to Italy I did a "sampler" by rail, going from Milan to Venice to Florence to Bologna to Rome to Naples to Capri and it was great. I planned it out beforehand, with a travel agent, and got to stay as long or as little as I wanted in each city--3 days in Rome, 1 in Bologna. It is probably cheaper and easier by ship, but on a land cruise you get to plan your own itinerary. (Of course, I did it when I was young and adventuresome; I would not travel by myself up and down a country in which I didn't speak the language very well today.) On the other hand, I think Greece is perfect for a cruise. There's not much to see in Athens beyond the ancient sites (IMHO) and a cruise let's you check out some of the islands and places outside Athens (which I did not get to see on my short trip to Athens).

[chasetf]

How lucky you all are to be able to have so much time off from work! :)

I know.....:) Some of us have 365 days a year "off work". :D :D

[Cruise Junky]

When you're comparing a land trip and a cruise, also take into consideration the Shore Excursions. We're thinking about the westcoast of France, northern Spain and into Portugal for next year. We looked at a couple of cruises that do that route, but the shore excursions are extortion. We'd easily be dropping between $200 - $300 a day just on excursions. If you're staying there you basically pay nothing to see these places. And yes, I know, some Med. ports can quite easily be done on your own, but it's definitely another consideration when comparing the two.

[nho9504]

Personally I feel you do see more when doing a land trip in Europe than a cruise trip.

 

However, it also means you would spend a lot more on lodging and meals when doing a land trip.

 

Hotels are already a lot more expensive than in US without the Euro being so high, ditto can be said for the meal costs.

 

We recently tagged on 2 weeks of land portion after our Emerald transatlantic that ended in Barcelona.

 

In Barcelona, we rented an apartment at 96 euro a day, plus 30 euro cleaning fee at the end for 5 days - already cheaper than a hotel room - we paid US$206 for deposit, and paid the balance of US$608 on arrival (all actual figures from the PayPal statement of deposit payment, and the ATM withdrawal to pay the bal on arrival.) We spent the 6th night at Renaissance Barcelona Airport using our Marriott points. If paid, it would be Euro 240xx = US$380 before tax. So the 6 days in Barcelona incurred US$1194, just for accommodation alone.

 

After Barcelona, we flew to Zurich, Switzerland. We spent a week in Switzerland, with a rental car. The Avis rental car costed us US$313 and $15xx foreign transaction fee billed by our CC. We used about $160 gas.

 

We spent a total of 7 nights in Switzerland, all on points from various programs, so we spent very little cash on accommodations thanks to the points. I notice one thing - except for 4 to 5 star hotels, the other hotels in Switzerland and the neighboring France have their rates posted outside the hotels.

 

The first night was at Comfort Inn Royal just up the hill from the old town and the main train station, using our points. We were upgraded to the only suite of the hotel - the only way we realized it was that our room was in the picture posted outside the hotel, with the rates. Our room was over 300 Swiss Franc. Regular rooms ranging between 240 to 280 Swiss Franc. Granted, I am sure if you book on Choicehotels website, you should be about to get anywhere 10 to 20% discount under various quailfied categories.

1 Swiss Franc = 0.95 to 0.98 USD. So that equals to approx US$230 at the cheapest, before tax.

 

The following 2 nights were spent at Express by Holiday Inn just north of Luzern. Hotel posted rate at 180 Swiss Franc. (the cheapest among 4 hotels we used in Switzerland.)

 

After that we stayed 3 nights at Holiday Inn just outside Geneve at the France side. Hotel posted rates between 110 to 140 Euro. Note: it is Euro because the hotel is in France. (1 Euro = 1.7 to 1.8 Swiss Franc.) That means it is approx US$170 to $220. This Holiday Inn is cheap because it is very difficult to get to due to massive road construction on the road that direct leads to the hotel. Hotel does not post the road construction info on website. Had I known that I would book the Crowne Plaza (right next to Geneve airport) instead. On our arrival, we were lost many many times trying to find a working route to reach the little town the hotel is located. Lucky for us we stopped by a tiny restaurant and the lady owner spoke reasonable English and pointed us the right way...

 

The final night was another Renaissance - Renaissance Zurich Airport. We encountered another massive road construction and got lost again many times before we found it. Even we used pts for our stay, the hotel assigned us the Club floor - the Club at this Renaissance was Superb - very few guests use it, yet the spread for dinner (crunchy butterflied fried shrimp and other stuff), and the breakfast the following morning, were incredibly abundant. The breakfast spread had smoked salmon, pate, bacon and sausage, hard-boiled egg, and other varieties of egg. 5 or 6 kinds of fresh fruits incl Pineapple and Kiwi. All sorts of breads and cereal, yogurt, whatever. Too bad we had to check in 2 hours before our 10:35 flight so we just had a quick breakfast. Rooms at this Renaissance start from 200 Swiss Franc. Parking is 24 Swiss Franc for 24 hours.

 

If we were to pay for the stays in Switzerland, the week would have costed us US$1300 TO 1500.

 

So, 2 weeks accommodation in Europe, plus a rental car, would add up to approx US$3000+, BEFORE meals, for the 2 of us. Of course, the expenses involved sightseeing would be extra but we should only compare the room and board, plus the transportation of moving about, to the cost of a cruise.

 

Our airtickets are AA award tickets originated from Barcelona, with Miami being the destination. In the Fall, we will fly back to Barcelona, spend a night at the same Renaissance Barcelona Airport, then fly to Venice, spend a couple days, before boarding Emerald Princess again, for the Westbound Transatlantic back to Ft.Lauderdale.

[Cruise Junky]

So, 2 weeks accommodation in Europe, plus a rental car, would add up to approx US$3000+, BEFORE meals, for the 2 of us. Of course, the expenses involved sightseeing would be extra but we should only compare the room and board, plus the transportation of moving about, to the cost of a cruise.

 

That's cheap. Most of the cruises that we look at start at about $5,000 and go up to about $7,000 just for the room for only 12 days. Then add on spending, tips, fuel surcharge and your shore excursions. Also meals as you usually eat lunch off the ship. I still think land vacations are cheaper than cruises if you don't need to stay in a 5 star hotel.

[nho9504]

That's cheap. Most of the cruises that we look at start at about $5,000 and go up to about $7,000 just for the room for only 12 days. Then add on spending, tips, fuel surcharge and your shore excursions. Also meals as you usually eat lunch off the ship. I still think land vacations are cheaper than cruises if you don't need to stay in a 5 star hotel.

 

You dont compare a balcony room to a hotel room - because 99% of hotel room does not have a balcony - you should compare the hotel room to the obstructed outside - in at least 60 to 70% of the case, a run of the house hotel room is exactly that - looking outside with no view, or the view of airconditioners, parking lots, back alleys... If you are going to get an equivalent hotel room to a balcony cabin, you are looking at $600 to $800 a night... That would mean $5000 and upward for a 7 nights lodging equivalent to a balcony cabin, with NO meal whatsoever.

 

Also note there is no meal cost posted in my calculation. Your cruise cost includes 4 to 5 meals a day, with a substantial breakfast, nice lunch and a decent dinner. If you are going to have the equivalent on a land trip, your meal cost would be at least twice, or 3 times, of what you spend on the 3 star hotel rooms. Whether you eat your meals onboard is your choice but the meals are INCLUDED in your cruise. You cannot say just for the Room only because this is not true. You should try once to have a 5 course meal at a mid-priced restaurant in an European city, then you would appreciate cruise is still the better value for your bucks. Also dont forget, the foods on a cruise are "unlimited" and almost 24/7. Try this with a landbased European trip...

 

The excursions are the same - you are on land, does not mean you dont incur extra sightseeing costs - you still need to pay cable car, train, coach, or whatever means to do your daytrippers. You still need to pay the admissions to get into attractions. I dont understand why some think doing a land trip would save the excursion costs. Unless you stay put in the hotel or just the surrounding area, not going anywhere, so you dont incur any other costs. Otherwise, if you go to see the attractions, you still need to have transportation, at the minimum. Not all attractions are walkable from where you stay, even in compact cities such as Barcelona and Madrid.

 

The only thing that you dont incur as much, probably is the tipping - you still tip - when you have a meal at a restaurant, or take a cab, or to the conciege who provides some assistance...