Best value cruising in the mediterrarean??

[thesawch]

I was just wondering which cruise lines are best value for cruising the mediterranean.I have to go on the cheap as there will be 4 of us and not sure who does the med and the price differance..Thanks

[operafan]

You might try Costa and NCL. It's hard to say not knowing what your budget is or what "On the cheap" means to you.

[tomko2]

There are so many options so it would be great to narrow down the main constraints: #1 -- what time of year, #2 -- how much time do you have, #3 -- sights that are must-sees for you, # 4 -- overall budget including airfare.

 

For example, an interior cabin for 4 persons on Deck 10 of the Navigator (RCI) on July 6th 2009 would run you $ 4,400. for an 8 night Med. cruise starting in Barcelona and ending in Rome. You need to allow at least a night in Barcelona pre-cruise and in order to see Rome you would need to spend at least 2 nights post-cruise. Excursions, on-shore costs, transfer fees, flights, hotels, tips, onboard costs, souvenirs, etc. all have to be factored in as well. It does take a tremendous amount of planning but BOY IS IT WORTH IT!

 

We were on the Legend from Rome last summer and going again on the Brilliance from Barcelona next summer. Review and photos in the links below.

 

Hope this helps.

Kathy:)

[sandinmyshoes]

Carnival Cruise Lines made our Med. trip possible. We didn't have the money to do both a cruise and tours in the ports of call unless we went with Carnival. They have great iteneraries and their prices can't be beat.

 

My husband and I have cruise Cunard, Celebrity, Princess, and Royal Caribbean and have always been Carnival snobs. We thought Carnival would be a rowdy cruise line overrun with loads of people and obnoxious kids. This was not true! (We've even cruised Carnival to the Caribbean since our Med cruise in Oct. '07 and found it to only somewhat follow our original perceptions. The Med. travelers and the Caribbean travelers are different types of people, but we didn't find a significant difference between the guest of Carnival, Princess, and RCI.)

 

We loved our Carnival Med. cruise and it was such a bargain we were able to book all of our Italy tours with a private company called Rome in Limo (romeinlimo.com). They really treated us like we were visiting an old family friend the way they showed us around and customized everything to our tastes and were much cheaper than booking with the cruise line tours. I got together with others from our ships roll call to find people willing to share tours which made it really affordable.

 

Europe is so expensive now with the exchange rate, it was great getting to pay for our Carnival cruise in US dollars. Our cabin was well appointed with white linens and comfortable soft towels and mattresses and we were in an inside cabin. The food was outstanding and the service was impeccable! We were so amazed. Carnival offered us the best bargain and vacation dollar value of all the lines I researched in the Med. They even cruise down the Grand Canal in Venice which is an amazing highlight not to be missed! What a great adventure at an affordable price. I would choose Carnival again!

[sea-explorer]

Have a look at MSC. Kids (under 18 :)) are basically free, they just have to pay the port taxes for the cruise part, although flights of course will be extra. I really don't think you could find anything cheaper. If you do, let me know. ;) As a family with 2 teenagers, we too have to watch the purse strings.

[luvdasea]

You can also save alot of money if you book and inside cabin as opposed to a balcony.

[JPEvans]

Carnival Cruise Lines made our Med. trip possible. We didn't have the money to do both a cruise and tours in the ports of call unless we went with Carnival. They have great iteneraries and their prices can't be beat.

 

My husband and I have cruise Cunard, Celebrity, Princess, and Royal Caribbean and have always been Carnival snobs. We thought Carnival would be a rowdy cruise line overrun with loads of people and obnoxious kids. This was not true! (We've even cruised Carnival to the Caribbean since our Med cruise in Oct. '07 and found it to only somewhat follow our original perceptions. The Med. travelers and the Caribbean travelers are different types of people, but we didn't find a significant difference between the guest of Carnival, Princess, and RCI.)

 

We loved our Carnival Med. cruise and it was such a bargain we were able to book all of our Italy tours with a private company called Rome in Limo (romeinlimo.com). They really treated us like we were visiting an old family friend the way they showed us around and customized everything to our tastes and were much cheaper than booking with the cruise line tours. I got together with others from our ships roll call to find people willing to share tours which made it really affordable.

 

Europe is so expensive now with the exchange rate, it was great getting to pay for our Carnival cruise in US dollars. Our cabin was well appointed with white linens and comfortable soft towels and mattresses and we were in an inside cabin. The food was outstanding and the service was impeccable! We were so amazed. Carnival offered us the best bargain and vacation dollar value of all the lines I researched in the Med. They even cruise down the Grand Canal in Venice which is an amazing highlight not to be missed! What a great adventure at an affordable price. I would choose Carnival again!

 

We were on the same cruise. I was looking at Princess, and it was over $1000 more per person than Carnival. I was very happy with our choice, having met a lot of wonderful fellow passengers from cruise critic also made the trip. I agree it was the best bargain for a Med cruise. I also agree that sailing into Venice is one of life's greatest pleasures. Also a big highlight for me (being a volcano nut) was sailing past Stromboli and seeing real lava come out into the night sky. I enjoyed the cruise so much, I booked the Carnival Dream next October for the Transatlantic.

[MrsTW]

Sadly Carnival are pulling out Carnival Freedom from the Med next year :(

[tom_uk]

Actually, the cheapest cruising in the Mediterranean - and perhaps the best value - is with easyCruise, especially on their new ship 'easyCruise Life'. It's very different from a normal cruise: apart from the cabin & the cruising part, everything else is chargeable. But it's in beautiful surroundings and it presupposes that passengers want to spend the maximum time ashore, so it normally sails, for a few hours only, very late at night, allowing passengers to stay ashore until the early hours at most calls. Most passengers do this, and in fact eat in restaurants/tavernas ashore.

 

As I say, a very different model, but one that can be rewarding. Here's a link to a page with a couple of contrasting views of the easCruise Life experience:

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=474

[Travel to Ports]

As we all know, its hard to ask a simple question and receive a simple answer, yes?

 

One way to become a little more informed is to go to the site of a major cruise retailer and put in time period and Europe and look at itineraries and range of prices between inside and balcony. Try to define why you want the trip. Read multiple entries in the Ports/Europe/Mediterranean postings here. I've read all sorts of strange stories on Cruise Critic. What are the ages of the 4 of you (2 children?). What other locations have you already experienced? For example, if you are traveling with 2 children (even in high school), have you cruised the inside passage (Alaska) and considered leaving from Seattle?

Take a look at your carriers available from your city and be amazed at the change in airfare. One reader commented on $1,000/passenger: maybe a few years ago!

 

People with money concerns should not be cruising Greek Isles for short beach experiences (better Florida, California, maybe even Hawaii in a condominium). Summers in the Mediterranean bring hoards of European tourists and heat that makes tours of Rome, Athens, Ephesus, etc. very uncomfortable. Questions about "Capri" need to be in the context of tourist volume: check other ships in port on the same day (porttime web site).

 

Consider apartment rents versus hotels before/after cruise rather than more expensive hotels. Consider one balcony/adjacent inside cabin arrangement. Consider number of bathrooms for 4, even close, passengers. Bathrooms on ships are for one person at a time when 4 are trying to get ready for a tour or dinner!

 

For example, we are planning Mediterranean now for next May (employment issues limit some dates) and just received an incredible offer from Holland America during that time period offering 20 days on ship for about the price of 12 days on another ship with smaller cabins -- but the Noordam won't offer some of the ports we want in this first (last?) cruise: Venice, Istanbul, etc.

Hope you have the time and enthusiasm for the elaborate process that you have in front of you!

Good luck,

David

[Coolcruise02]

My husband and I have cruise Cunard, Celebrity, Princess, and Royal Caribbean and have always been Carnival snobs. We thought Carnival would be a rowdy cruise line overrun with loads of people and obnoxious kids. This was not true! I would choose Carnival again!

 

Glad you had a good time! Most of the people that bash Carnival have not cruised with them or did so many years ago.

 

We have cruised on many of the lines and find them all very similar. They all have good and bad points. IMHO we have had some of the best food on Carnival.

 

We just had a WONDERFUL cruise to the Med on Legend of the Seas but are looking at Carnival's Liberty for next year. I like the itinerary that leaves and returns to Rome with an overnight in Venice. The price is very reasonable.

[TMLAalum]

IMHO would be the port times offered by the various cruise lines. We are thinking of adding a cruise to our land trip to Europe next spring, and I have found that Costa & MSC seem to have less time in the various ports than lines like NCL, RCI, Holland & Princess. Anything less than 8 hours in each port probably would not allow enough time to get a flavor of the city or see more than one major site.

[alinehu]

Best value?? Carnival!!! We had a perfect cruise!! They pulled out the freedom but the Liberty is going to be there next year. It was incredible1

[Crusin6]

I was just wondering which cruise lines are best value for cruising the mediterranean.I have to go on the cheap as there will be 4 of us and not sure who does the med and the price differance..Thanks

Carnival! Europe is expensive and the $ vs E is horrible so make a budget and then double it!! But do go!

[luvdasea]

Another vote for Carnival. They also had long days in almost all of their ports of call, that made it better.

[kruzin']

:) NCl is running a great sale ..in fact we just booked a 21 day r/t barcelona...are you a senior...past passenger,,,retired military..etc many discounts to be available ..you should start with what itinerrary you like best and go from there..

I was just wondering which cruise lines are best value for cruising the mediterranean.I have to go on the cheap as there will be 4 of us and not sure who does the med and the price differance..Thanks

[Crusin6]

I was just wondering which cruise lines are best value for cruising the mediterranean.I have to go on the cheap as there will be 4 of us and not sure who does the med and the price differance..Thanks

Carnival, hands down!!!! Read my review for more info. Freedom and Rome, Fact not fiction. I think that is what I titled it. I will answer any questions there if you want. Enjoy!

[English_in_Spain]

Pullmantur are hard to beat on price in the med.

 

The possible disadvantage is that it is a Spanish cruise line and you may find there are not many English speaking passengers. If this does not bother you then give it a look.

[doodlefan]

Another vote for Carnival.

 

We are both 39 yrs. old with 5 kids (they didn't go on this one with us). But being a young couple we too have to stretch our dollars. We chose Carnival Freedom in April 2007 for the Med. It was AWESOME!! We had an inside room, so so much cheaper than a balcony and the itinerary is so port intensive that we were out an about just about every day.

 

We met up with people on our roll call and joined private tours for a fraction of what ship tours cost and they are smaller and you get to see more. We also shared transfers to airports and to the port with people from our roll call and most times it was comparable to taking the train and much less than Carnival transfers, and so much more convenient. The best part is we met 10 people and became fast friends.

 

All 12 of us came home last spring and promptly booked the Carnival Splendor for the Baltics so we could meet up and sail together again. We leave in 16 days for our pre-cruise stay in London and sail on Aug. 30th.

 

We book early, an inside room and shop around for flights. It makes this an affordable cruise for us. Our family and friends can't believe the places we've been and cruises we take for much less than they would have thought.

 

There are MANY good deals right now for next Spring in the Med, on many cruise lines. Shop around. Find and itinerary you like, with as many places as you want to see as possible and compare cruise lines and prices. It can be done for a decent price. Having the ship and cruise in US $$$ helps alot. We do most of our eating and entertainment on the ship and that saves alot of $$$.

 

Good luck and I hope you find the perfect cruise. The Med is amazing.