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Christmas in the Mediterranean?


yoshi
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So excited! just booked first VO cruise for Christmas in the Mediterranean- Wondering what to expect for late December-sea conditions?weather? crowds? excursion ideas? What should we not miss?

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Which cruise? What are your ports? Christmas in Europe is beyond magical. The streets are decorated, the churches have marvelous creches, there are Christmas markets with wonderful food and wine, oh it's just the most wonderful thing ever!!! The weather isn't bad. A down jacket or coat and a pashima type scarf/shawl are what everyone wears. Lots of crowds of course because everyone is shopping but it's much nicer than the summer crowds. More cheer in the air.

 

 

 

Also, if you google "Christmas in the Mediterranean" you'll come up with lots of good reading.

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Thanks dln929-

We are on Viking Sky departing 12/23/18 out of Barcelona. We will visit Marseille, Monte Carlo, Livorno, and Cittavechia-Rome. They already cancelled St Tropez I think because of rough conditions at a tender port, instead we will do a sea day on Christmas.

 

Have you done Viking excursions at any of these ports? I guess it is too far out for the excursions to be presented-I am eager to see our choices.

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My experience in the Meddy during the winter dates back to the 70's and note the weather can be unpredictable. Most of the time the seas are reasonable, but they also can experience some intense storms. The weather also varied through the Meddy, with the Eastern areas being generally warm and sunny.

 

On one cruise, while entering the Adriatic we lost the gangway, as a rather large sea washed down the ship's side.

 

Not sure which ports you visit, but my favourites in the Meddy were - Venice, Dubrovnik, Malta, Rhodes, Santorini, Alexandria, Haifa, Istanbul.

 

If you mention the ports you will visit we can suggest some of the best local attractions.

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Thanks dln929-

We are on Viking Sky departing 12/23/18 out of Barcelona. We will visit Marseille, Monte Carlo, Livorno, and Cittavechia-Rome. They already cancelled St Tropez I think because of rough conditions at a tender port, instead we will do a sea day on Christmas.

 

Have you done Viking excursions at any of these ports? I guess it is too far out for the excursions to be presented-I am eager to see our choices.

 

We have done this cruise itinerary in 2016, 17, and 18! Our daughter lives in Italy so we like to visit with her as often as we can and if we can sneak a cruise in, so much the better. :D Your shore excursions with descriptions are already on line though if you can book them now depends on what kind of cabin you're in. Nonetheless, we've done all the included excursions. They're a combination of bus and walking tours. While on the bus your guide will give you a running narrative of what you'll be seeing and history and general background. There's always time for exploring on your own after though how much time depends on the tour. You have an overnight in Livorno. What we did was to take the included tour to Pisa (excellent btw) and after we walked to the train station and took the train to Florence. We stayed overnight at our daughter's apartment and returned to the ship the following day. It's perfectly alright to spend a night away from the ship if you're docked overnight. They won't bat an eye or send a search party out. ;) If there's anything in particular you want to know about, please ask!

 

 

http://https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/cruise-destinations/western-mediterranean/iconic-mediterranean-holiday/index.html

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We did this itinerary in January of this year on the Star. Got to see some of the Viking Christmas decor:) the weather that time of year is unpredictable of course. We had high winds that caused us to not go ashore (as in no gangplank) on two of our days, so we missed our last days tour( a day in Tuscany) and a visit to St Tropez. We had a beautiful day in Marseille, a gorgeous day in Monte Carlo, no crowds! And a windy, rainy, day but no crowds on a private tour day in Pisa and Florence. We made good use of the indoor pools, spa, restaurant and Wintergarden. Great. Food and service!

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Last year we did the cruise you are scheduled on as the second leg of our 14 day Christmas/NYE cruise from Rome to Rome. So whilst we were onboard for Christmas we were on our Rome to Barcelona leg, and we were in Cagliari on Christmas Day.

 

I was super excited about our cruise when we booked it last July and had a great time whilst planning and we all had a fantastic time during our trip. My only minor disappointment was that the whole thing wasn’t as ‘Christmasy’ as I had hoped.

 

Please feel free to ask me anything you would like to know about the ports, the ship and the general Christmas vibe of the cruise.

 

 

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Thanks dln929-

We are on Viking Sky departing 12/23/18 out of Barcelona. We will visit Marseille, Monte Carlo, Livorno, and Cittavechia-Rome. They already cancelled St Tropez I think because of rough conditions at a tender port, instead we will do a sea day on Christmas.

 

Have you done Viking excursions at any of these ports? I guess it is too far out for the excursions to be presented-I am eager to see our choices.

 

We did this cruise last year for NYE. Agreed the weather is unpredictable but we did not miss a single port (and St. T was smooth as glass). I do not think that they canceled St. Tropez because of weather but rather because it is Christmas day and the town is rolling up the sidewalks (shops closed, museum closed, bars and restaurants full of locals if they are open at all) and they can't get the services they need (buses, tourguides, dock services) to call there.

 

In Marseille, we did the half day OYO to Aix-en-Provence. It includes a short tour and then time to wander around the town. There was a Christmas market open on the big shopping street. We never got into Marseille at all.

 

Monte Carlo we did completely on our own, taking the Nice-Menton bus into Nice to wander around for a few hours. The bus ride along the coast alone is worth the price of admission. Museums were closed that day so we walked along the water's edge to the Old Town and back. It was bright and sunny that day and we even saw a few people on the beach in bathing suits. Other than to and from the bus stop, we did not explore MC at all. BTW, there was a Christmas fair right along the yacht basin, ferris wheel and all; we passed it on our walk to and from the bus stop but did not go into explore it.

 

In Livorno, we did a day trip on our own to Florence on one day. We took the train. We had 1pm tickets for the Uffizzi and a shopping list (earrings on the Ponte Vecchio, bill-fold from the Leather School, limoncello filled chocolates from a store near the Duomo) so we really did cover a lot of ground. TIP: for those who like to wing it, there is a cab stand right next to where the shuttle dropped us in Livorno. We got into a cab to get to the train station with another trio and on the way to the station the driver offered to take us to Florence for the day for a flat fee. We already had our Uffizzi tickets so we did not take him up on the offer but the trio did; I never saw them again so was able to ask how their day went. The price was reasonable and the cab was an 6 or 7 seat van.

 

Our second day in Livorno we took the Lucca OYO. We had a guide who walked us from the old city gate to the meeting point and then we were on our own for a few hours. It was chilly and it rained off and on during our time there. Nonetheless, with our big Viking umbrellas, we kept dry and enjoyed our time there as well. There was a Christmas market in the center of town.

 

Since we were doing a B2B and had two full days at Civitavecchia, we took two Viking optional tours, one to Ostia (the old seaport for the city of Rome, which was a bustling port and is now an extensive archaeological site) and another to the town of Tarquina to see the Etruscan necropolises and the town of Tarquina (where there is an archeology museum). Our guides in both places were very good.

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We did this itinerary in January of this year on the Star. Got to see some of the Viking Christmas decor:) the weather that time of year is unpredictable of course. We had high winds that caused us to not go ashore (as in no gangplank) on two of our days, so we missed our last days tour( a day in Tuscany) and a visit to St Tropez. We had a beautiful day in Marseille, a gorgeous day in Monte Carlo, no crowds! And a windy, rainy, day but no crowds on a private tour day in Pisa and Florence. We made good use of the indoor pools, spa, restaurant and Wintergarden. Great. Food and service!

 

January is our favorite time to travel because it just isn't as crowded or as hot. The tourist venues empty out when the Christmas vacation period ends on January 6th and families go back to school and work. You just have to willing to put up with the very really possibilities of cold, damp overcast days.

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"Not sure which ports you visit, but my favourites in the Meddy were - Venice, Dubrovnik, Malta, Rhodes, Santorini, Alexandria, Haifa, Istanbul.

 

If you mention the ports you will visit we can suggest some of the best local attractions."

 

 

 

Hi Heidi13,

We are on Viking Sky departing 12/23/18 out of Barcelona. We will visit Marseille, Monte Carlo, Livorno, and Cittavechia-Rome. There is an overnight in both Barcelona and Livorno.

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"We did this itinerary in January of this year on the Star. Got to see some of the Viking Christmas decorclear.png?emoji-smile-1742 the weather that time of year is unpredictable of course. We had high winds that caused us to not go ashore (as in no gangplank) on two of our days, so we missed our last days tour( a day in Tuscany) and a visit to St Tropez. We had a beautiful day in Marseille, a gorgeous day in Monte Carlo, no crowds! And a windy, rainy, day but no crowds on a private tour day in Pisa and Florence. We made good use of the indoor pools, spa, restaurant and Wintergarden. Great. Food and service!"

Hi Folkaltered,

I like no crowds part of the equation, but if that was because of January I wonder if Christmas to New Years will be more crowded. Since they have changed our itinerary for Christmas day to a sea-day that will be our pool/spa day, hopefully they have some good lectures or classes on board.

Thanks

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"Last year we did the cruise you are scheduled on as the second leg of our 14 day Christmas/NYE cruise from Rome to Rome. So whilst we were onboard for Christmas we were on our Rome to Barcelona leg, and we were in Cagliari on Christmas Day.

 

I was super excited about our cruise when we booked it last July and had a great time whilst planning and we all had a fantastic time during our trip. My only minor disappointment was that the whole thing wasn’t as ‘Christmasy’ as I had hoped.

 

Please feel free to ask me anything you would like to know about the ports, the ship and the general Christmas vibe of the cruise."

 

Hi Trinicruisegyal,

On the Christmas vibe, did they have any special Christmas dinner? Would you recommend booking one of the special dining venues for the Christmas dinner? Also I understand VO doesn't have formal nights, but was Christmas a little more dressy?

Thanks

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"We did this cruise last year for NYE. Agreed the weather is unpredictable but we did not miss a single port (and St. T was smooth as glass). I do not think that they canceled St. Tropez because of weather but rather because it is Christmas day and the town is rolling up the sidewalks (shops closed, museum closed, bars and restaurants full of locals if they are open at all) and they can't get the services they need (buses, tourguides, dock services) to call there."

Hi Peregrina651,

That makes more sense about cancelling St. Tropez because of Christmas day closures.It is somewhat disappointing to miss any port but we will enjoy our Christmas sea day too.

I guess I have to be patient until they post the excursions before we know all of our options.

Thanks

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Hi Peregrina651,

That makes more sense about cancelling St. Tropez because of Christmas day closures.It is somewhat disappointing to miss any port but we will enjoy our Christmas sea day too.

I guess I have to be patient until they post the excursions before we know all of our options.

Thanks

 

Well, if you have to miss a port because of Christmas, at least you are missing the least interesting of the bunch.

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"Not sure which ports you visit, but my favourites in the Meddy were - Venice, Dubrovnik, Malta, Rhodes, Santorini, Alexandria, Haifa, Istanbul.

 

If you mention the ports you will visit we can suggest some of the best local attractions."

 

 

 

Hi Heidi13,

We are on Viking Sky departing 12/23/18 out of Barcelona. We will visit Marseille, Monte Carlo, Livorno, and Cittavechia-Rome. There is an overnight in both Barcelona and Livorno.

 

Barcelona - we really didn't do any tourist stuff, as a tour of the Nou Camp Stadium, home of F.C. Barcelona was high on the agenda. It is a football stadium I had never previously visited.

 

Monte Carlo - we visited the casino and royal palace. If you get to the casino early in the morning before gambling starts you can take photos inside. We then headed to the palace for changing the guard followed by a self-guided tour inside.

 

Livorno - we took a guided walk through Florence visiting a number of cathedrals, museum and Vecchio bridge. In the afternoon we went to Pisa.

 

Rome - lots of options. We were somewhat disappointed at the Vatican, as it was a sea of humanity. No ability to stop, as you had to keep up with the crush of people. Might be less busy in winter

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"On the Christmas vibe, did they have any special Christmas dinner? Would you recommend booking one of the special dining venues for the Christmas dinner? Also I understand VO doesn't have formal nights, but was Christmas a little more dressy?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

I honestly don’t recall any special Christmas dinner or any special Christmas meal for that matter. We were fortunate enough to be able to reserve the speciality restaurants in advance for the majority of our nights onboard...we ate at Chef’s Table on Christmas Day, but were prepared to cancel our reservation and eat in the Restaurant if the Christmas menu was special enough, we didn’t cancel so I can only assume that the menu wasn’t better than what we would have at Chef’s Table. I do recall that the menus (Main Dining and World Cafe) on Christmas Eve for dinner did contain a few Christmas type items and maybe that was the special meal as I believe the traditional big Christmas meal is on Christmas Eve in a lot of European countries. Eggnog was served in the World Cafe and there was ham at either breakfast or lunch or maybe both on Christmas Day.

 

I would definitely recommend booking either Manfred’s or Chef’s Table for dinner on Christmas.

 

I would say it was a little more dressy. I definitely dressed up...there were a lot of people in festive sweaters and other festive wear during the day. The speciality restaurants tend to be a bit more dressed up than the other dining venues so I can’t really say whether most people were dressed up for the occasion or were dressed for the venue.

 

 

 

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"Livorno - we took a guided walk through Florence visiting a number of cathedrals, museum and Vecchio bridge. In the afternoon we went to Pisa.

 

Rome - lots of options. We were somewhat disappointed at the Vatican, as it was a sea of humanity. No ability to stop, as you had to keep up with the crush of people. Might be less busy in winter"

Hi Heidi13,

Were these ship tours? Do you need to buy the Vatican and museum tickets in advance?

Thanks

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"I would definitely recommend booking either Manfred’s or Chef’s Table for dinner on Christmas."

 

Hi Trinicruisegyal,

I think we will take your suggestion and book Chefs Table for Christmas and Manfreds for Christmas Eve. My DH says we can't book until 70 days prior to sailing, he just put a reminder on the calendar:D.

Thanks

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Hi we also booked this one when the original St Tropez was included. We received a letter in May from which the following is an extract:

 

 

"In our time operating this itinerary, we have learnt that the unpredictable nature of the seas near St. Tropez has affected our ability to visit the port more frequently than we would like. Because of how our ships anchor in the bay of St. Tropez, guests must be transported ashore by the ship's tender vessels. When seas are rough, we are unable to transport guests, resulting in a missed port of call.

 

 

Therefore, in order to ensure the best cruise experience possible, instead of visiting St. Tropez during the holiday as originally planned, we will now cruise the Mediterranean Sea on Day 3 of your itinerary and proceed to Marseille on Day"

 

From reading previous reviews it seems that Marseille also has problems so we may end up with a very short cruise and more sea days which I do not enjoy (rather be out and about sightseeing). We were looking forward to this port of call as it is the only one we haven't already done with previous companies.

 

 

We have found that on two river cruises we did with Viking no special dinners are served for Christmas Day so if you want to have any traditional fare i.e. Christmas cake, mince pies or whatever your traditional foods are then take some with you. It may be different on the Viking ocean ships?

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"Livorno - we took a guided walk through Florence visiting a number of cathedrals, museum and Vecchio bridge. In the afternoon we went to Pisa.

 

Rome - lots of options. We were somewhat disappointed at the Vatican, as it was a sea of humanity. No ability to stop, as you had to keep up with the crush of people. Might be less busy in winter"

Hi Heidi13,

Were these ship tours? Do you need to buy the Vatican and museum tickets in advance?

Thanks

 

In both these ports we used the ship's tours, which was Princess, on 2015 WC.

 

Vatican - we had pre-booked tickets, so we waited in a separate queue for a couple of minutes then headed into the security checks. The queue of people waiting to get in was extensive and from what we saw, moving slowly.

 

In Livorno, we wanted to see both Florence & Pisa and the ship had a good tour covering both. I recall in Florence, we didn't see inside the main cathedral, as the queue went round the block. No tickets, just first come, first served.

 

For all museums we had tickets provided by the guide. For the Michelangelo statue, we had timed tickets and similar to the Vatican, we joined a separate queue waiting for our time slot. Others in the main queue had a long wait, as it hardly moved.

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"We have found that on two river cruises we did with Viking no special dinners are served for Christmas Day so if you want to have any traditional fare i.e. Christmas cake, mince pies or whatever your traditional foods are then take some with you. It may be different on the Viking ocean ships?"

 

Hi Peasmith,

I am hoping to find some goodies in Barcelona, maybe at a Christmas Market or a cheese shop while in port. We will also try to book reservations in the specialty restaurants for Christmas & Christmas Eve.

I am also sorry that we won't be visiting St Tropez because I have never been there but Peregrina651 mentioned above that of all the ports we are visiting St Tropez was the least interesting, so we'll make do. Hopefully Viking will provide some on board activities as well as celebrating a relaxing Christmas together.

Thanks

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"Vatican - we had pre-booked tickets, so we waited in a separate queue for a couple of minutes then headed into the security checks. The queue of people waiting to get in was extensive and from what we saw, moving slowly.

 

In Livorno, we wanted to see both Florence & Pisa and the ship had a good tour covering both. I recall in Florence, we didn't see inside the main cathedral, as the queue went round the block. No tickets, just first come, first served.

 

For all museums we had tickets provided by the guide. For the Michelangelo statue, we had timed tickets and similar to the Vatican, we joined a separate queue waiting for our time slot. Others in the main queue had a long wait, as it hardly moved"

Thanks Heidi13,

I will check out some of the "Skip the Line" sites after the ship excursions get posted. I'm not sure which ones they will have for us yet. I am a little concerned that the Christmas-New Years time frame will be busy.

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"Thanks Heidi13,

 

I will check out some of the "Skip the Line" sites after the ship excursions get posted. I'm not sure which ones they will have for us yet. I am a little concerned that the Christmas-New Years time frame will be busy.

 

 

We found the time of the year to be quite busy especially in Barcelona and Rome. Some of the private tours we wanted to do especially in Rome weren’t available at that time of year. And we missed going up into the towers at La Sagrada Familia on our first day in Barcelona (which was a day without Viking excursions) as it was completely sold out...we had foolishly waited till the week before to book it.

 

Are you doing a Viking extension, or are you adding on a few days in Rome at the end of your cruise? Unless Viking has changed how they operate their excursions, they will likely not offer any excursions to you in Rome on disembarkation day, those will solely be your responsibility.

 

 

 

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"We have found that on two river cruises we did with Viking no special dinners are served for Christmas Day so if you want to have any traditional fare i.e. Christmas cake, mince pies or whatever your traditional foods are then take some with you. It may be different on the Viking ocean ships?"

 

Hi Peasmith,

I am hoping to find some goodies in Barcelona, maybe at a Christmas Market or a cheese shop while in port. We will also try to book reservations in the specialty restaurants for Christmas & Christmas Eve.

I am also sorry that we won't be visiting St Tropez because I have never been there but Peregrina651 mentioned above that of all the ports we are visiting St Tropez was the least interesting, so we'll make do. Hopefully Viking will provide some on board activities as well as celebrating a relaxing Christmas together.

Thanks

 

Yoshi, you will find everything you want in La Boqueria, on Las Ramblas. Traditional Christmas candies and sweets are usually almond-based--turron (I prefer the hard Alicante variety but there is a soft fudge-like Jijona/Xixona turron as well), candy-coated almonds, polverones (I prefer the the ones wrapped in white paper with blue and red printing), etc. Also, I buy saffron when I'm in Spain and you can find it here or in the Carrefours supermarket just up the street.

 

 

enhance

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Just jumping on here to follow the thread because we're booking a January (over New Year's) southern Med cruise. If anyone has info on Trapani, Algiers, or Cagliari, please see my post regarding Southern Med Discovery cruise.

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