I'm interested in a Mediterranean summer cruise that has fewer stops with longer port stays. Does anyone have any recommendations about which cruise lines provide such an itinerary?

While I hope others can help you with specific cruises - the reason that these type cruises are few is that the cruiseline wants you onboard - buying their alcohol, gambling at their casino, etc - not spending your money on shore. Also, port cities/countries want you to sleep in their hotels and eat in their restaurants (not return to ship to eat for "free") so they set up restrictions on how long ships can stay.

Thank you for your answer

I've seen several cruises with overnight stays in Venice or Athens and a few that overnight in Istanbul, but that's the extent of "long" stays I've seen advertised in the past few months.

There is no such time as "long stays" The longest is an over night at Athens or Rome (usually those 2 ports and the main h reason is crew changes). There are some crusies that will give you longer stay (example: Port Said / Alexandria) but they are really 2 differents port but they are so close that you can actually stay ashore or go visit the same places from the 2 different ports.

The whole idea of the cruise exxperience is to go to as many ports as possible during the short time on the ship. If you want to stay in each place a few days, you are better off to tour by train (in Europe) or by car (North America).

Hi Ar,

A cruise ship is a very expensive way to travel from city to city. Cruises are set up to take you on a tour, that is why the longest stays are about 2 days and a night.

All the cruise lines spend 2 nights in St. Petersburg, Russia, but few make longer stops in other ports. I can't think of any off-hand.

Gail, I thought of another exception. Almost every cruise line that stops in Alexandria or Port Said stays for 2 nights so people can go to Cairo and back. I'm sure I'll eventually think of others (some lines may stay in Safaga overnight so people can go to Luxor, for example, though I'm not sure).