Mediterranean Advice?

[MargaritaPlease]

We're considering a 10-14 day Mediterranean cruise frr the summer of 2010 an looking for general advice on selecting cruises. Family trip - mom, dad, and two boys who will be 13 and 15. We're experienced North America/Europe/Caribbean travelers lookking for somethign new.

• What can you recommend we look for?
  
• Would you do Med with RC? If not, who?
  
• What ports would we not want to miss (we've done Rome and Naples from land, Greece is appealing)?
  
• What should we expect to be different from a Caribbean cruise?
  

Thanks for your advice!!

[yogimax]

Choose a cruise departing from Venice and spend a couple of days exploring this fascinating city. A second choice would be Barcelona

[EV2008]

We're considering a 10-14 day Mediterranean cruise frr the summer of 2010 an looking for general advice on selecting cruises. Family trip - mom, dad, and two boys who will be 13 and 15. We're experienced North America/Europe/Caribbean travelers lookking for somethign new.

• What can you recommend we look for?
  
• Would you do Med with RC? If not, who?
  
• What ports would we not want to miss (we've done Rome and Naples from land, Greece is appealing)?
  
• What should we expect to be different from a Caribbean cruise?
  

Thanks for your advice!!

We just did a Med with RC and it was fantastic!!

I don't care much for Barcelona, so I would stick with Italy stops and I loved the Greek Islands, and next time I would want to see Istanbul.

 

The difference from Caribbean and Med - The cruisers are differend -

[alohanails]

We cruised the Med last year on RC departing from Barcelona.....it is our favorite cruise by far.....if your kids like ruins and history this would be a great experience.....it IS highly port intensive and quite tiring to be truthful....but like I said....we loved it and actually feel we could do the same exact cruise again and not see the same things twice....you just have to be aware that there is no way to see everything at every port....you definitely must pick and choose....Greece was phenomenal even though Santorini was "Santo-Rainy"....they hadn't had rain in weeeks but it rained on our hike to the volcano....Turkey was our absolute favorite spot....friendly people and great things to buy.....not to mention Ephesus was remamrkable!

[sailawayjack]

We're considering a 10-14 day Mediterranean cruise frr the summer of 2010 an looking for general advice on selecting cruises. Family trip - mom, dad, and two boys who will be 13 and 15. We're experienced North America/Europe/Caribbean travelers lookking for somethign new.

• What can you recommend we look for?
  
• Would you do Med with RC? If not, who?
  
• What ports would we not want to miss (we've done Rome and Naples from land, Greece is appealing)?
  
• What should we expect to be different from a Caribbean cruise?
  

Thanks for your advice!!

 

:cool:Did 12 day Barcelona to Barcelona. Had overnight in Venice. Took ferry to Murano (glass), and Burono, lace island. Have now been to Venice again, and again visited Burono. Fantastic little island. Dubrovnick is another place that is great. Barcelona was a nice place for churches etc. I believe any cruise that includes Venice is good for me.:cool: A med cruise is very shore extensive. You may never go back, so see it the first time, David in Florence, the ruins at Pompeii, Rome, etc. Go for it. Cruise may be a little more formal that Caribbean. Older cruisers, Europeans dress better than Americans. Be yourself, have fun:cool:

[FreewayFortune]

I second experiencing Venice. I really hope to get back there one day. Yes a European cruise is insanely port intensive. We've been to the Caribbean 2 times now and think of the Caribbean as relaxing. We have to remind ourselves to stop saying we're just going on a Carribbean cruise:):)We had never been to Europe before and wanted to take in everything.

[Pat.bz]

Ephesus, Ephesus, Ephesus! (In my opinion, it leaves Pompeii in the dust). We flew into Rome a week early and it wasn't my first trip. Can't wait to get back to the countryside -- we stayed at Ann's Place (which is run by a lovely British couple(. Ann's also will do tours of Rome and Naples, Pompeii etc for cruise ship passengers. The price is around $50 pp min of 4 people.

[pcur]

We just did a Med with RC and it was fantastic!!

I don't care much for Barcelona, so I would stick with Italy stops and I loved the Greek Islands, and next time I would want to see Istanbul.

 

The difference from Caribbean and Med - The cruisers are differend -

 

HA!! That's funny, because I didn't care too much for Athens, but loved Barcelona (took the hop on/off bus for the whole city tour). I also loved the Greek Isles, and agree about Venice, too.

[steveru621]

Did a 7 day out of Barcelona and a 12 day out of Rome (Chit). I preferred the 12 day with an overnight stay in Venice.

 

It's port intensive and you are on the go constantly. I had a wonderful time at all the ports. Go for it.

[nvbabe]

Istanbul would be my vote.

[sweetestpea]

We're considering a 10-14 day Mediterranean cruise frr the summer of 2010 an looking for general advice on selecting cruises. Family trip - mom, dad, and two boys who will be 13 and 15. We're experienced North America/Europe/Caribbean travelers lookking for somethign new.

• What can you recommend we look for?
  
• Would you do Med with RC? If not, who?
  
• What ports would we not want to miss (we've done Rome and Naples from land, Greece is appealing)?
  
• What should we expect to be different from a Caribbean cruise?
  

Thanks for your advice!!

 

 

While I haven't done a Mediterranean cruise with RCI (I've done it with Celebrity), I would say with your boys being of the age they are, it's the perfect line. Great activities for the kids on those sea days.

 

There are SO/TOO many great ports/itineraries to choose from. I would say as much as I love Barcelona and the Cote d'Azur, I might choose the Venice, Croatia, Greece, Turkey route as it's absolutely breathtaking. There's nothing like Venice, the Greek Islands & Turkey, IMHO.

 

This is my personal opinion but to me, a Caribbean cruise is more about relaxation. Having said that, there are more opportunities for physical activities where the Mediterranean is mostly (some will probably disagree) all about sightseeing and taking it all in, if you will. I've spent a fair amount of time in Europe and certain port/cities and there is always something new to see, where in the Caribbean it all starts to look the same (more or less) after awhile. If that makes any sense at all... As, I'm sure it does being that you've done travel in Europe. Not that there aren't opportunities for physical activities in the Med but I think most people tend to go for the sightseeing/tours. Also, be prepared to go, go, go... most of the Med itineraries are port intensive and there is LOTS to see and as you know with limited time to see it.:)

 

Good luck!