Some Guidance Please

[Itzhotstang]

I just got back from an Alaskan cruise and now I want to plan my next one! I really want to be able to go to Venice so I need ideas as to what ships go there. I would like to start and end at the same point if possible. I liked sailing on Celebrity, do not want Carnival or NCL, but am open to others if the itinerary is right.

[MMDown Under]

MSC sails out of Venice, so you could book-end an independent land visit pre or post cruise, which would be the best of both worlds.

[nparmelee]

The easy thing to do is go to the main travel sites and they usually let you request the start or end port and then you can see which ships are an option. Is there some reason you want to start and end in Venice? We enjoy spending a few days pre-cruise exploring and then a few days post-cruise so different ports can be a positive. Our next cruise is Venice to Rome, the airfares from where we live to VCE and then FCO back home were about the same as round trip to either VCE or FCO. How many days you want to cruise would also be a factore in which ships might be best.

[tkere]

Celebrity has alot of cruises over there. Did you start a search for a possible date you are interested in.

[Travel to Ports]

Most cruises that start and stop in the same port are efficient for airfare, but usually are inefficient in terms of number and type of ports and number of days at sea. (Mind you, the cruise line will buy open-jaws seats to accomodate you, but they schedule very close in first and last ports.)

 

For example, compare Venice round-trip itineraries to Barcelona to Venice cruises (compare Princess itinerary), especially if you want to get the most out of one cruise. What to do with Barcelona and Venice? Take an extra day in Barcelona to recover from jet lag and at least two more nights to see the sights. You could stay in an apartment for comfort, expense, and flexibility. Get a tour book and a map to select where you will stay. The romance of Venice comes with a great deal of difficulty. Even when the cruise has a night over, a serious look at Venice takes at least 3 days. Learn enough about the city, transportation, and housing options (search this site, go the tour book and absolutely get a map to understand what you are doing).

 

Good luck on your search. My search required Florence, Pompeii/Amalfi coast, Athens, and Venice. If you look, you will find. We also wanted a large, new ship and got the large balcony as well.

 

David

[San Diego Ellie]

Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas does a seven day round trip fom Venice. We did this trip in May and enjoyed all our ports, which were Dubrovnik, Croatia, Kusadaski, Turkey, and Santorini and Corfu as the Greek ports.They do this itinerary alternating weeks, and the other weeks they do Split, Croatia, and Cofu, Athen, mykonos, and Katakakoln (4 Greek ports). This is from the 2009 schedule. You can one less sea day and one more port on the section option. Hope this helps.

[sea-explorer]

You could also visit http://www.porttime.com chose the port of Venice and check out what ships will be in port the month you wish to leave. You can then check the itineries and decide.

[MercedMike]

I just got back from an Alaskan cruise and now I want to plan my next one! I really want to be able to go to Venice so I need ideas as to what ships go there. I would like to start and end at the same point if possible. I liked sailing on Celebrity, do not want Carnival or NCL, but am open to others if the itinerary is right.

 

This is EXACTLY the question that a CLIA Accredited Cruise Counselor at a local full service Travel Agency is trained to answer. This board can only give you a few experiences of a few travellers, but a full service Travel Agent has access to all the information from all the cruise lines. They will sit down with you and discuss your expectations and likes, and then should be able to recommend several great cruises for you to choose from!

 

For our cruise that ended in Venice, Check out our review and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/holyland3.html

[Itzhotstang]

Thanks for all the input! I will start my research and I do have a TA that I will talk with. Finally when is the best time to go weather wise?

[Dorset Cruiser]

I am on Legend of the Seas on 10 September. The cruise starts and ends in Rome with calls at Portofino, Florence (overnight), Messina, Split, Venice (overnight), Dubrovnik and Naples. I know Legend is not the best RCI ship to go on but we could not resist the itinerary with the two overnight stops:D

[Susan-M]

I just got back from an Alaskan cruise and now I want to plan my next one! I really want to be able to go to Venice so I need ideas as to what ships go there. I would like to start and end at the same point if possible. I liked sailing on Celebrity, do not want Carnival or NCL, but am open to others if the itinerary is right.

 

Which other ports/countries would you like to visit (e.g. Italy, Greece, Turkey), which port would you most like to start and end in (e.g. Rome, Venice, Barcelona), how long of a cruise and do you have approx. dates in mind?

 

If you go to the "Ports" section, in the orange bar at the top of the page, you'll find lots of helpful info & interesting reading for the Eastern and Western Med to help with your plans.

Here's a link to one article: http://www.cruisecritic.com/ports/article.cfm?ID=83