too many ports?

[odd man out]

Italy is high on my list of places to visit and am considering a cruise. But when I look at the itineraries, I get exhausted just thinking about it. You are in one major city after another, day after day. I am wondering if this is not the bet way to see Italy. Do you ever get to spend time on the ship? Thanks in advance for any insights you might have on my dilemma.

[Keith1010]

On many med cruises you will have a lot of ports because the distances are not too great from port to port. Try to find a 12 day cruise which will have two to three sea days. THe other key is to pace yourself and not to try to see it all because you will undoubtedly get a little burned out by the end of the cruise. On some port days we plan a half day of excursions and on some of the special ones a full day.

 

Keith

[KirkNC]

I understand. Our cruise next week is seventeen days with only three sea days. As Keith point's out however; some port days are much more low key than others. On our cruise there are four or five stops that will be intensive due to the amount to see or the distance to travel to see it (Rome, Florence, Naples) while others will be much more relaxing and low key (Canne, Santa Margherita, Ajaccio). I am a huge believer in advance planning and actually have a four page detailed itinerary which will be very helpful in knowing where and how I am getting to wherever we are going.

 

Kirk

[H2Otstr]

Grand Circle had a land trip - 3 weeks - for Italy. You spend almost 1 week in each area. Then optional bus trips are available to different cities, or you can go on your own.

 

These Med cruises are very port intensive, but great for getting a taste of each city.

[Hlitner]

Italy is high on my list of places to visit and am considering a cruise. But when I look at the itineraries, I get exhausted just thinking about it. You are in one major city after another, day after day. I am wondering if this is not the bet way to see Italy. Do you ever get to spend time on the ship? Thanks in advance for any insights you might have on my dilemma.

 

Is a cruise the best way to see Italy? Absolutely not! We have done more than 20 cruises in the Med and always love the experience. A cruise does let you get a short glimpse of many different places. But the only way to truly see Italy is to spend a few weeks (months are even better) driving through the country. Cruises only give you access to a very small part of Italy without enough time to see any area in depth.

 

Hank

[chipmaster]

Land or cruise there is no right or perfect answer here.

 

Cruise almost always is a single day affiair for most ports/cities except the port you embark and disembark where you can add extra days on the front or back end for more discovery time.

 

People can see italy in several ways; Rome, Florence, Venice or at a much higher level a place one needs months to explore.

 

If it is possibly a fiirst and possible last visit only you can decide what is best. The major attractions in Rome, Florence are actually many miles away form Port, NOT close at all as another poster suggested. With a single day you can waste a good 1/3 of the day traveling to and from port or driving from place to place, but the huge advantage of a cruise in one single vacation you can hit far more places with one pack/unpack then on any land tour but in so doing compromise on time and pace.

 

We found our sequence of Naples, Civitavecchia (Rome ) , Livorono ( Florence Pisa ) both exhilarating and exhusting, but also the highlight of our 12 day cruise!

 

Good luck in planning!

 

Italy is high on my list of places to visit and am considering a cruise. But when I look at the itineraries, I get exhausted just thinking about it. You are in one major city after another, day after day. I am wondering if this is not the bet way to see Italy. Do you ever get to spend time on the ship? Thanks in advance for any insights you might have on my dilemma.

[YoPhilly]

As others have said, cruising to these ports gives you just a taste.

It's a great introduction. The nice thing is that you don't have to keeping packing and repacking. My husband and I don't rush out to see all the "highlights" of a port. In most cases, we choose just one "highlight", and spend the rest of the time wandering the streets, absorbing the atmosphere and enjoying whatever serendipity comes our way.

[financialgrl]

Just back from a med cruise a month ago - we loved it. Twelve days, only two sea days. I'd read to try to include a good mix of calmer things to do because port intensive cruises are so exhausting. So, for example, Florence, Rome and Naples are 3 days all in a row that are LONG days in port and much spent walking for hours. So in Naples I booked excursion with Pompeii tour in morning, boarded a motorcraft in the afternoon for a cruise along the Amalfi coast and in Istanbul we did Topakopi Palace/Hagi Sophia/Blue Mosque in morning and cruise down the Bosphorus in the afternoon. In Monte Carlo and Mykonos we wandered on our own because it was easy to do and we were able to do so at our own pace and if we got tired we stopped at a cafe for a drink. Athens was close to the end of our cruise so by the time we reached there, we only booked a morning tour of the Acropolis. This helped tremendously because I don't think we could have done 10 days at the pace of the Florence and Rome ports.

 

As for the ship - well, I can honestly say on this cruise we saw/used very little of what the ship had to offer (other than doing two Movies Under the Stars) on our shorter port days. We used the ship more like a hotel on this cruise (unlike other cruises in the Caribbean, Bermuda, etc.) where my teen nieces were able to actually enjoy climbing rock walls, ice skating, etc.

[dileep]

Land or cruise there is no right or perfect answer here.

 

People can see italy in several ways; Rome, Florence, Venice or at a much higher level a place one needs months to explore.

 

 

We were lucky to find a 2 week greek islands cruise which started in Rome (we had been there, so we went straight to the ship, but we could have spent a few days in Rome). The cruise ended in Venice where we spent 2 extra days before taking the train to Florence for a few days. We flew home from Florence. We had a lot of ports in Greece, Turkey, and Croatia - some more intense than others with just 2 sea days.

 

It is a great way to see many places in a short time.

[browneyes7]

Italy is high on my list of places to visit and am considering a cruise. But when I look at the itineraries, I get exhausted just thinking about it. You are in one major city after another, day after day. I am wondering if this is not the bet way to see Italy. Do you ever get to spend time on the ship? Thanks in advance for any insights you might have on my dilemma.

 

As far as I'm concerned, the best way to see Italy would be to go live there for a month or more........but I can't afford to do that! Therefore, I will continue to take cruises there, even if we are docked in a different port every day! Seeing all those beautiful places in Italy is exciting, and I love going there!:)

[laxfanmom1]

My husband and I did a western Med cruise 3 years ago. Our first four stops were Nice/Monte Carlo, Florence, Rome, and Naples - 4 days in a row. The next day we docked at Messina, Sicily and we both looked at each other and decided to sleep in and skip our pre-paid tour completely! This fall we're going on a 12-day with 4 sea days - hoping it will be better!?!