I would like to take a cruise of aprox 12 days in September 2011 starting in Barcelona or South Italy across the mediterranean visiting Egypt ,Greece and Italy
Any suggestions,cruise lines,etc?

We cruised a couple of years ago from Venice to Istanbul and back with points in between, and this past summer from Barcelona to Tunis and back. Both on HAL. Both trips were great, but the Venice trip was better as far as itnerary is concerned. There are dozens of cruises that meet your general specifications. If I were going ths year, I would get the HAL catalogue and pick out what I like, or find a local Travel agent with cruise experience and sit down and chat. Look for what you like. Too often it seems that people compromise for huge savings when the savings are 2 or 3 hundred dollars. Why be miserly when you are spendiong a few thousand and risk ruining your trip.

Good personal experience with Princess NCL and Travel Dynamics

based on style and budget...

www.cruisecritic.com for ship reviews

www.priceline.com www.vacationstogo.com cheap booking for me

up to 70% off some times...

Costa is running very cost-effective cruises out of Venice

almost booked a shortie in May for $299 but dates were

not quite right anyway great value there right now.

Happy Hunting,

What is a HAL catalogue?

Take a look at a specialist cruise retailer based in Europe -
www.cruisesfrombarcelona.com

Good searching!

Took trip of lifetime May '10 on Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas - my first cruise. Splurged with suite and well worth the money for a 12 day cruise departing from outside Rome. Entertainment on cruise was great. First port was Naples with side trip to Capri, Sorrento, Pompeii - long day and doable. Athens, Greece plus Rhodes (we loved it - take a taxi tour to outlying city and spend gorgeous afternoon in medieval Rhodes on your own,)Ephesus, Turkey and Taorima, Sicily. From Alexandria, Egypt, we took 2 day Cairo tour that we secured online and spent night at Meridien Pyramids (ask for room overlooking pyramids - beautiful at night but esp early am). Took dinner Nile cruise. Our port visits were full with some of ship sidetrips or ones we secured online. We enjoyed the downtime with nice balance of cruising days. Maintain blog or trip diary. Ready to plan next trip but hard to top this one!

A lot of the mian stream cruise lines do that loop and you will have a lot of choices. Pick your ports and then match them to the ship's itenary.

We're off cruising the Mediterranean in June on the Carnival Magic

Cruisingforfun -- we're going on the Magic in late May

Thanks for the info for the Baltic. Checked out the Oceanic cruises nearly 3days in SPB. O/cruises are offering 2 for 1 at present. Any opinions on that.

O also offers free air..Excellent choice if the rate is ok. We did Istanbul to Marseille last year...Outstanding..Insignia was our ship.
We like the smaller vessels and O. had the right offers. Other lines charge less but nickle and dime you. Even smaller and perhaps more exotic..Windstar, Surf or Spirit. Another outstanding experience. Liked the country club casual and laid back calm pace of the ship. there are lots out there to chose from so check alot out. Have friends who did SPB on O last year and are still talking about it!!!