We are a West Australian couple who will be leaving Australia on July 1st for 15 weeks in Europe, starting in London.
We would like to do a Mediterranean cruise of around 24 days, give or take, and would like to see as many places as possible, including France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and more.
It is very difficult to sort out cruises either online or with a travel agent, so we feel that learning from other people who have experienced cruises of a similar nature would be the best way to go.
Time is not a problem to us, so we would welcome any suggestions or comments, around our time frame.
We are flexible about cost and would like to fit in as much as we can.

cheers and thanks

Bruce and Barb

There are many Mediterranean Cruises.

So look at 4-5 of them and see what their ports of call are.

Then decide which ports of call area must for you to see.

For example you might not want a Mediterranean Cruise that leaves out Venice or Naples or Nice or Barcelona.

When I went on my cruise I wanted to see:

Venice
Naples
Rome
Athens
Santorini
Mykonos
Ephesus and Kusadasi Turkey
Istanbul
Florence and Pisa ( you want to see the leaning tower !!)
Barcelona

I found a cruise that took in all these places and a few more.

We started in Venice.

So sorting them out is not that difficult. YOU decide like I did which places are a must for you.

You WILL find the one for you.

HAL has a cruise that goes from Venice to Venice with stops in Greece, Turkey, Croatia, mykonos and Santorini that we really enjoyed. This cruise couples with another that goes from Venice to Barcelona and back. You might want to look into those. On any cruise line, try to book as many private tours as you can. Most stops have good independent tours available. Just needs some research.

Agree with above inre to private tours. They are less $ and you get more, much more.

You could consider two cruises or back to back cruises to get in all your ports.

As for the ships or cruise lines do consider what you want in terms of onboard experience. HAL ends to be a bit more formal or conservative, RCI more lively and so on.

If cost is not much of a factor consider the top or upper tier lines such as Silversea, Regent, Oceania and Seabourn. I don't know about down under but here(USA) these lines are offering very good deals such as 2 for 1 fares, free air, excursions at no extra cost and so on. Again these offers may be area specific so of course you would have to check from your end.

I highly recommend staying in Istanbul for a few days of you can though most of the larger cities you have on your list would be good as well.

If you are new to cruisng the reviews on Costa and MSC are not up the par for the other mass market lines such as CCL, RCI, NCL, Princess and Celebrity. We took an 11 day med cruise last Oct. on the Celebrity equinox and for us it was our best cruise ever. i do recommend that ship and the Solstice class ships of Celebrity overall.

Any other specifics? larry

We are going on a Carnival cruise in April that starts in Venice and goes to Croatia, Turkey, Greece, Italy and ends in Barcelona. Carnival has a few that do a similar route.
Go to a website like cruisecritic.com and enter your criteria. It shouldn't be too hard to narrow it down. There aren't as many of the longer cruises so you should be able to select based on the places you want to see.
Good Luck.

Do a back to back Cruise with a "crossover" port like Rome or Venice. Start West Med or East Med and ends in either Venice or Rome. Then take the cruise to the other direction. Can be on same cruise line, same ship or different ones. There are also the so call "grand Med" cruises that covers both east Med and west Med.

Most East or West Med cruise are 12 days so it is almost perfect on a back to back and covers 24 days. Grand Med cruise is typically 2 weeks so it cover a lot less ports.

Just got back! The best place to start is Rome. spend a few days there, then take the train for 11 euros to Civitavechia, where the cruises leave from. Princess has a great 12 day 'ancient civilization' cruise that goes to Egypt,greece, Istanbul, Ephesis Turkey, etc. and Naples then back to Rome. it can be found for 600 bucks each inside cabin, which is a steal in Europe, then you can get another cruise if you plan it right, maybe doing france,spain, portugal, canary islands,you can get great deals from vacations to go especially if you wait till 3 months before the cruise leaves.. this is the best way to see Europe cheaply. There are also northern Europe cruises that leave from there. If you can line up three consecutive cruises you will see most of coastal europe. and still have money to travel inland.. hope you have fun! I did!

Hi, I would suggest you the following cruise we took some years ago in the Mediterranean Sea. Here as follows the itinerary:

24 Night Mediterranean - Western
Departing from Venice, Italy

Holland America Line
Nieuw Amsterdam


Ports of Call: Venice, Italy | Katakolon (Olympia), Greece | Piraeus (Athens), Greece | Istanbul, Turkey | Istanbul, Turkey | Les Saintes, Guadeloupe | Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey | Santorini (Thira), Greece | Argostoli, Kephalonia | Venice, Italy | Venice, Italy | Split, Croatia | Dubrovnik, Croatia | Corfu, Greece | Naples, Italy | Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy | Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy | Monte Carlo, Monaco | Marseille, France | Barcelona, Spain | Barcelona, Spain
The actual Ports of Call visited are dependent on the selected itinerary and may NOT include all ports listed.
Leaving August 7th, 2013

It's a great itinerary that allows you to visit the most interesting places in the Mediterranean.
Regarding shore excursions I suggest you to take the private ones. You save up money and you will be not with many people in a big bus. In Croatia I suggest you just to walk around the clean and nice cities or go to a nice local beach.
In France we suggest you this transportation company we used in that occasion: http://www.revelation-tours.com/cruise-passengers/
In Italy: http://www.shoreexcursionsinitaly.net

Enjoy your trip my friends!!

Hi, do you have a contact for shore excursions in Greece?
Thanks.

If you do not have a contact in Athens Greece then I highly recommend:

Dennis Kokkotos:

His e -mail is [email protected]

Hi Percy,

Thanks for your info!

Have a look at this by Royal Caribbean, it's a classic cruise docking at very interesting ports...




23-Aug

Barcelona, Spain

24-Aug

Cannes (Monte Carlo), France

Tendered


25-Aug

Livorno (Florence), Italy



26-Aug

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy



27-Aug

Cruising



28-Aug

Cruising


29-Aug

Piraeus (Athens), Greece

30-Aug

Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

31-Aug

Santorini, Greece


01-Sep

Cruising


02-Sep

Naples (Salerno), Italy

03-Sep

Cruising

04-Sep

Barcelona, Spain

Hi westaustralians

I've found the people at www.vacationstogo.com very helpful.
We haven't booked our cruise yet, but they are very knowledgeable, and I have a cousin (also Australian) who has used them a couple of times with no complaints.

If you sign up for their weekly newsletter they offer very helpful hints as well as many good discounts. They are US based, but have an Australian toll-free number on their website. Once you make your initial call, you can then deal with the same person for follow up calls etc.

Happy planning, Di

Hi Majorcatours, do you think is really worth a tour overthere or we can just relax with a local shopping and beach? Thanks for your reply!

Dear "Flyer99" we did a 4 hours guided city tour by bus in the morning visiting Palma Cathedral, so gorgeous and the city castle. Then we did an afternoon shopping for the famous Mallorca pearls...

Hi Westaustralian, we finally decided to book this cruise with MSC, skipping Palma de Mallorca but stopping at other interesting Med ports:

Itinerary
Day Date Port Arrival Departure Activity*
1 Thu 22 Aug Messina .... 19:00 Docked
2 Fri 23 Aug At Sea .... .... ...
3 Sat 24 Aug Marmaris 10:00 17:00 Docked
4 Sun 25 Aug Limassol 13:00 19:00 Docked
5 Mon 26 Aug Haifa[Overnight] 07:00 .... Docked
6 Tue 27 Aug Haifa .... 13:00 Docked
7 Wed 28 Aug At Sea .... .... ...
8 Thu 29 Aug Zakynthos 08:30 14:30 Tender
9 Fri 30 Aug At Sea .... .... ...
10 Sat 31 Aug Genoa 09:00 18:00 Docked
11 Sun 01 Sep Civitavecchia 08:00 18:00 Docked
12 Mon 02 Sep Messina 13:00 .... Docked