Best Moderate Priced Cruise Line for Meditteranean Cruise
Apr 17th, 2006, 06:57 PM
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Best Moderate Priced Cruise Line for Meditteranean Cruise
I've recently retired and have never been to Europe. What moderate price cruise line would you suggest for an 8 - 12 nite Mediterranean cruise? I'm thinking more of countries visited, tours available, photo ops, etc., and not too concerned with food, entertainment, etc. I want to see those countries! Thanks for your suggestions.
Apr 21st, 2006, 12:22 PM
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Get a last minute reservation since you are retired. I would never recommend Carnival Cruise line for anyone over 50. Go to some of the offers on most web sits that are last minute (1 to 6 weeks). We travelled mostly on Princess and Royal Caribbean while in Europe. We now take a lot of River Cruises thru Europe with Grand Circle Travel and love them. GCT is for seniors.
Apr 21st, 2006, 02:27 PM
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According to CLIA statistics, the average age of a Carnival passenger is 57 years old. Might be even higher if you are only counting Europe cruisers. Last minute deals are virtually non-existant. If you find one you will most likely be paying many $1000.00's for airfare.
The new Carnival Liberty ship has many features borrowed from Princess, since they now own them. It is a beauty and the ports are very good. They have Westin style sleep beds and their new chef has more accolades than Michel Roux (Celebrity's chef). Do not discount going on the Liberty. I have been on all lines except Silver Seas. I think unless you are talking their older ships that only do the short cruises - they are great. They had some great rates, unless they are all gone by now. We also enjoy the river cruises. We leave on our 6th one tomorrow. It is for 16 nights total.
The new Carnival Liberty ship has many features borrowed from Princess, since they now own them. It is a beauty and the ports are very good. They have Westin style sleep beds and their new chef has more accolades than Michel Roux (Celebrity's chef). Do not discount going on the Liberty. I have been on all lines except Silver Seas. I think unless you are talking their older ships that only do the short cruises - they are great. They had some great rates, unless they are all gone by now. We also enjoy the river cruises. We leave on our 6th one tomorrow. It is for 16 nights total.
Apr 22nd, 2006, 08:25 AM
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I would not choose Liberty, based on my 3 experiences with Carnival, with one on Liberty's sister ship, Glory.
The ship design is poor, the pool area truly awful and the entire ship felt more crowded than any in my experience (over 100). Dining room experience is tacky, unless you like waiters dancing on table to blasting music, and booths like Dennys.
Sorry, but I would never suggest Carnival.
For a bit of class, try MSC, who has several ships with excellent itineraries for value pricing. One caveat is not to cruise when the Italians are out of school as the ships will be overrun with kids, never a pleasant experience.
The ship design is poor, the pool area truly awful and the entire ship felt more crowded than any in my experience (over 100). Dining room experience is tacky, unless you like waiters dancing on table to blasting music, and booths like Dennys.
Sorry, but I would never suggest Carnival.
For a bit of class, try MSC, who has several ships with excellent itineraries for value pricing. One caveat is not to cruise when the Italians are out of school as the ships will be overrun with kids, never a pleasant experience.
Apr 24th, 2006, 11:36 AM
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Try looking at reviews on: www.cruisecritic.com. You will get tons of info including scores of passenger reviews as well as professional ones. We like Princess and if you book early enough you get onboard credit allowances. The Carnival Liberty debuted there and received very good reviews.A friend of mine who has cruised around 30 times on Celebrity tok the Liberty last month to the Carib. and liked just about everything except the food. That seems odd to me but to each their own. He raved about the service, shows, size of the rooms and the overall cleanliness of the ship. Hope this helps. 
Apr 25th, 2006, 08:04 AM
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I'd strongly recommend the Carnival Liberty if you are interested in Italy. The itinerary covers, Rome, Florence, Naples, Sicily and Venice in 12 nights in addition to Barcelona, Nice and Dubrovnich. You can't beat the price for a 12 night cruise. As previously stated, the ship is new and huge if that's important to you.
Everyone likes to bash Carnival, but keep in mind they own Cunard, Princess, Holland America, Costa, Seabourn, etc. They must be pleasing someone to have achieved that type of feat in their 30 years of existence.
Also you will find a similar mix of ages on most mass market cruiselines. The length of the cruise and destination generally determine the age mix. 3 and 4 night cruises to the Caribbean attract a young crowd.
Everyone likes to bash Carnival, but keep in mind they own Cunard, Princess, Holland America, Costa, Seabourn, etc. They must be pleasing someone to have achieved that type of feat in their 30 years of existence.
Also you will find a similar mix of ages on most mass market cruiselines. The length of the cruise and destination generally determine the age mix. 3 and 4 night cruises to the Caribbean attract a young crowd.
Apr 25th, 2006, 09:43 AM
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I've never done a European cruise but have lots of friends who enjoy them. However, the one piece of advice I get is to avoid July and August when European children are more plentiful aboard.I know it's that way in the US and I will never again cruise in the summer.
