Help? Cruise that includes Venice & Greek history?

[bobnsofi]

Hi All, 78 year old dad wants to include Venice in a cruise; and wants Greek history.

 

Would love to read your tips??

 

below is a copy of the post we just did in the Greek section, so you can better read our point of view.

 

THANKS FOR YOUR TIPS!

 

EVEN BRIEF TIPS, I CAN RESEARCH FROM THERE!

 

??????????????????????????

 

 

Recent Greek Post:

 

Hi all, we post and cruise the Mexican Riviera lots.

 

My 78 year old father, that can't walk to great, wants to do Greece, with the ancient greek history.

 

He thinks that he wants an extensive touring. I think a nice sampling would be great.

 

He envisions a small ship to get to the great spots. Seems he didn't like the ginormous ships in an Amsterdam to Moscow cruise; and all the tendering.

 

1. Is there an advantage to porting in a small ship? (not the case in the mexican riviera)

 

2. he has mentioned that he would like to visit Istanbul and Venice (yeah right, small ship to those distant areas)

 

Anyway. I know that I can find the best tours for him in this forum!

 

Gotta start planning, because spring time may be the call?

 

What are the best cruises/lines this spring?

 

Maybe 2 - 7 day cruises?

 

Best way to get from Los Angeles to there? A great tour company (heard Louis is nice?)

 

What do youall pros think?

 

???

 

Thanks in advance !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

pic below taken in Cabo San Lucas last week

[cynbar]

We are doing the 7 day NCL Gem Adriatic itinerary this May. It's round trip from Venice (one of our main interests) and stops at Athens, Nafplion (also in Greece), Izmir in Turkey for Ephesus, and Dubrovnik with 2 sea days. NCL alternates this with a 7 day Greek Islands cruise, so you could easily combine them. We are staying 2 days pre cruise in Venice so we can really experience it (much better than a 1 day port call), and that is about the right amount of time for us to be away from home at this point in our lives(10 nights total.) NCL is very flexible with its freestyle crusing, no mandatory formal nights or set meal times, and that worked well for us on our Western Med trip in 2008. Whatever you pick, I would suggest booking private tours so your dad will be well accommodated --- there's a lot of info on these boards under each port of call.

[SAN]

We are taking an Eastern Med.cruise this May on Holland America roundtrip from Venice. Ports included are Venice overnight, Split, Athens, Istanbul overnight, Ephesus, Mykonos, Santorini and Olympia.

 

Oceania and Azamara both have smaller ships carrying 650 + passengers. There are about a little bigger than the first Princess Love Boats. I have heard great things about those two lines, but they will be a little more expensive.

 

Is your father able to do a lot of walking? There will be a lot of walking on this cruise, so we are mostly taking private tours to have a van readily available for those who have difficulty waling long distances.

 

I have heard of the Louis line and looked into that for our cruise, but the rest of the family, all 17 relatives wanted a bigger ship, not mega.

 

Good luck in your plans. My mother was 80 and 82 when she went back to visit Europe.