Europe Ports on Carnival

[familycruzinnewbie]

Hi - I've been going over all the Europe itineraries (mostly for Breeze) and of course they are all a little different. I just wanted some opinions on some of the ports. We were planning to travel with a 12 and almost 10 year old. We spent a year living in Ireland and did a lot of land based travel, though have not taken the kids to Italy yet.

 

(Almost) all have Barcelona, Rome, Venice, Croatia, Florence/Pisa, Messina. The differences are that some have Marseilles and others Monaco. Is there an advantage to either one. Some are Barcelona return where others go Venice to Barcelona or vice versa. What are advantages/disadvantages to these? Does flying in or out of Venice make things more difficult. So some cruises have added Naples and/or Sardinia. One cruise I was looking at did not have either of these. Would I regret missing either of these. Thanks

[hubofhockey]

I'll start with the kids. Monaco is a better port for kids than Marseille. It has the Oceanographic Museum / Aquarium, the palace, changing of the guards, and kids can have fun in Nice as well. We have both ports this year and we are will do those things for Monaco. But we are doing a private tour to Provence from Marseille and seeing Pont du Gard, Arles, and Les Baux.

 

Flying out of Venice is not easy (need expensive water taxi, etc) and not cheap. Barcelona, on the other hand has a large airport and the cruise port is easy to get to from the city. Barcelona is also great for kids. I think Venice is a great city for adults and not so much for kids. So, I would recommend starting and ending in Barcelona if you have kids and spend 2-3 days pre or post cruise there. You still get a day in Venice. I would also look for an itinerary that inlcudes one port where you can go to the beach. It looks like they have eliminated Mallorca for 2012. We have a stop there this year. I wonder if this relates to them not being able to sell excursions from a port where people can easily hop on a bus to go to the beach.

 

Edit - with kids, Naples is a great port. You have the option to go to Capri or Pompeii/Amalfi coast. So, if I were to do this next year, I would choose the July 21 Barcelona to Barcelona cruise that includes: Monaco, Livorno (Florence), Civitavecchia (Rome), Naples (Capri or Pompeii/Amalfi Coast), Dubrovnik, Venice, Messina (Taormina/Mount Etna).

[familycruzinnewbie]

Thanks. April 2009 (during our year away) we did a Ryanair triangle to Mallorca for 4 nights, the flew to Madrid for 8 night with family, train to Barcelona for 3 nights, train to Girona for 1 and Girona (where Ryanair flied from) back to Ireland. We liked Mallorca but didn't spend any time in Palma, we stayed an hour or so away but as it was early April, it was too early to stay at the other side. If we went back I can't see just going for 1 day. I would want time to see more of the island.

We covered a lot of Barcelona but there are a few things on out list and we would also like to travel down the coast a little. I also think I would take the kids to Pisa over Florence for that stop.

 

I like your itinerary except for the fact that it doesn't spend an overnight in Venice. The June 27 has an overnight in Venice which I think I need, the overnight in Rome I'm not sure about. There are also some in mid/late August but not sure when the high tourist season would die down. Is Marseilles a port or tender? Monaco was cancelled on the first Magic cruise and I know other people have mentioned the same thing on other cruises so not sure how often that occurs.

[hubofhockey]

We did a Venice to Barcelona last year and spent a couple of days in Venice. It was great as we stayed right in St Mark's Square overlooking two inner canals.

 

We are skipping Pisa. I think the kids would be truly board there. The Leaning Tower is 30 minutes tops and there is little else there. Our kids are 13 & 11 and will get something out of seeing Michaelangelo's David and the whole Florence scene. They will still get to climb Giotto's Bell Tower and get a nice lunch, eat lots of gelato, and a beautiful city. We did a tour that included Pisa and Florence last summer. I just can't see a day there or cutting down from precious time in Florence, considering it takes 3 hours in round trip travel to get there. I know that not everyone is crazy about Florence. But it has a draw to us.

[Sauer-kraut]

OP have you asked over on the Ports of Call boards? Scroll down to the bottom third of the main page, there you can click on EUROPE and you can ask about the specific ports or one vs. the other over there and will get some good information. They are very helpful posters over there. :)

[chipmaster]

My only comment why are you limiting yourself to Carnival. Competition and selection of ports vary widly based on cruiseline and number of ships in the Med. I'd not pick a line, I'd pick a "line of ports" and find the cruiseline/ship that sails the most than go from there.

 

Who cares about the ship if it doesn't provide the ports you want.

 

Good luck planning!

 

Hi - I've been going over all the Europe itineraries (mostly for Breeze) and of course they are all a little different. I just wanted some opinions on some of the ports. We were planning to travel with a 12 and almost 10 year old. We spent a year living in Ireland and did a lot of land based travel, though have not taken the kids to Italy yet.

 

(Almost) all have Barcelona, Rome, Venice, Croatia, Florence/Pisa, Messina. The differences are that some have Marseilles and others Monaco. Is there an advantage to either one. Some are Barcelona return where others go Venice to Barcelona or vice versa. What are advantages/disadvantages to these? Does flying in or out of Venice make things more difficult. So some cruises have added Naples and/or Sardinia. One cruise I was looking at did not have either of these. Would I regret missing either of these. Thanks

[hubofhockey]

My only comment why are you limiting yourself to Carnival. Competition and selection of ports vary widly based on cruiseline and number of ships in the Med. I'd not pick a line, I'd pick a "line of ports" and find the cruiseline/ship that sails the most than go from there.

 

Who cares about the ship if it doesn't provide the ports you want.

 

Good luck planning!

 

Agree with this 100%. Princess has an amazing 12-day Grand Med itinerary that goes to Athens, Kusadasi, Mykonos, Istanbul, Rome, Florence/Pisa, Naples, and Monaco that starts or ends in Venice or Barcelona. NCL offers a similar itinerary for less $ on an older ship. But cruise line should be secondary after ports.

[familycruzinnewbie]

I'm not purely limiting myself to Carnival. I have looked at others, but next year's 12 day cruise on Breeze are definitely on the right track as far as ports and pricing. Venice was a must for us, I like that they go to Croatia, wish they had Greece on other cruises besides June 3. I think 3 sea days is also good, though wish they were spaced out more. I still want to do a little more comparing to other lines. I think there was a Princess one with good itinerary though cost was high.

 

Editing to say it was the Grand Med on the Ruby Princess I was looking at but it expensive and I was also concerned that the stops are shorter and it may be too intensive.

[hubofhockey]

I'm not purely limiting myself to Carnival. I have looked at others, but next year's 12 day cruise on Breeze are definitely on the right track as far as ports and pricing. Venice was a must for us, I like that they go to Croatia, wish they had Greece on other cruises besides June 3. I think 3 sea days is also good, though wish they were spaced out more. I still want to do a little more comparing to other lines. I think there was a Princess one with good itinerary though cost was high.

 

Editing to say it was the Grand Med on the Ruby Princess I was looking at but it expensive and I was also concerned that the stops are shorter and it may be too intensive.

 

I think the NCL Spirit has an almost identical itinerary to the Ruby Princess Grand Med and prices are much better. We chose the Ruby Princess because we love Princess and it was just the two of us. But it was an amazing vacation. You are still getting full port days and with a start in Venice and end in Barcelona, you get multiple days in Each. I thought of that itinerary as two vacations. You get both Eastern and Western Med. The Eastern Med was the big surprise for us as we loved Istanbul, Ephesus (Kusadasi port), Athens, and the Greek Island (Mykonos). After the East which starts in Venice, you still have Naples, Rome, Florence, Monaco, and Barcelona. There is nothing wrong with the 2012 Carnival Breeze Med itineraries. Some of the 2011 itineraries include Savona because Carnival was late to the table on certain itineraries and Livorno was full. But they eliminated Savona for 2012. It looks like they got rid of Mallorca as well. We like Mallorca because with port intensive itineraries, beach days are great.

[familycruzinnewbie]

Thanks. I'm reviewing costs and itineraries. The current annoyance I have with Carnival is that the 3rd and 4th person cost works out to $819 each. NCL and Princess are in the $399-$499 range. Other threads have mentioned HAL as well but their prices seem to be high until closer to sailing. DD and DH do like the Carnival one, as they want to also have some cruise fun too.

[carsastic]

I just went full circle on this .. I spent an enormous amount of time researching a euro cruise as there are many choices of lines/ports.

We booked the magic for September, and I just cancelled .

We are still going but doing a land based vacation

We started to think why we were going, decided it was about the ports , sites and local foods.

The children are older ( 20’s) and never been to Europe.

Which then lets us ‘ question the cruise itself” we get to spend nights in the ports we want to see, aren’t rushed and eat the local food.

Next year In May 11, 2011 the wife and I will cruise the med alone , as we have been there and will be ok for 8 hs or so at a port..

Have a great time..

[familycruzinnewbie]

I actually think I'm at the other side of the circle. We lived in Ireland for a year, leased a house, bought a car, I had to figure out groceries and appliances, schools for the kids. We took a total of about 10 weeks of vacation, and spent very little on them. Mostly took Ryanair where we used a tiny roll on suitcase each - except for the 3 week road trip to the UK. I leaned the train systems of many countries how to get the deals the locals do, stayed in apartments in some places and shopped at their stores. In the UK, in addition to budget hotels. we stayed in a 800+ year old castle hostel and another so remote, they were off the power grid. In Switzerland we stayed high up in a carless village accessed by cable car.

So I'm thinking a cruise would be something completely different, no worries about food or where to spend the night.

[lucyintheskywithdiamonds]

I just went full circle on this .. I spent an enormous amount of time researching a euro cruise as there are many choices of lines/ports.

We booked the magic for September, and I just cancelled .

We are still going but doing a land based vacation

We started to think why we were going, decided it was about the ports , sites and local foods.

The children are older ( 20’s) and never been to Europe.

Which then lets us ‘ question the cruise itself” we get to spend nights in the ports we want to see, aren’t rushed and eat the local food.

Next year In May 11, 2011 the wife and I will cruise the med alone , as we have been there and will be ok for 8 hs or so at a port..

Have a great time..

 

i understand your land-based decision. i'm pretty set w/ my excursions for the med in July, but it's frustrating having to rush everything. i'm already planning to go back to Europe in the futute when my kids are older for a land vacation so we can take our sweet time! and instead of airfare i'll take a cruise out , it'll cost less!

[Crusin6]

We did a Venice to Barcelona last year and spent a couple of days in Venice. It was great as we stayed right in St Mark's Square overlooking two inner canals.

 

We are skipping Pisa. I think the kids would be truly board there. The Leaning Tower is 30 minutes tops and there is little else there. Our kids are 13 & 11 and will get something out of seeing Michaelangelo's David and the whole Florence scene. They will still get to climb Giotto's Bell Tower and get a nice lunch, eat lots of gelato, and a beautiful city. We did a tour that included Pisa and Florence last summer. I just can't see a day there or cutting down from precious time in Florence, considering it takes 3 hours in round trip travel to get there. I know that not everyone is crazy about Florence. But it has a draw to us.

we will be staying 2 nights in Venice next year also...do you happen to remember the name of the hotel you stayed in? And how did you get to the hotel? did you come from the train and vaporetto or plane and vaporetto?

 

Thanks

[carsastic]

i understand your land-based decision. i'm pretty set w/ my excursions for the med in July, but it's frustrating having to rush everything. i'm already planning to go back to Europe in the futute when my kids are older for a land vacation so we can take our sweet time! and instead of airfare i'll take a cruise out , it'll cost less!

yes i would not attempt it with younger kids.. I have been there several times and being in rome and venice at night... its so different.. plus the local food!

next year we the wife and i will cruise as we just about will see most of the things we are interested so the cruise will be more focused and certainly more relaxed.. it just kinda sucks when u are have a good time and you need to leave to get back to the ship! friends of mine told me often they didnt rush back to eat dinner and elected to eat out and miss late seating..

have a great cruise .. nothing like being on a new ship

[Crusin6]

I think the NCL Spirit has an almost identical itinerary to the Ruby Princess Grand Med and prices are much better. We chose the Ruby Princess because we love Princess and it was just the two of us. But it was an amazing vacation. You are still getting full port days and with a start in Venice and end in Barcelona, you get multiple days in Each. I thought of that itinerary as two vacations. You get both Eastern and Western Med. The Eastern Med was the big surprise for us as we loved Istanbul, Ephesus (Kusadasi port), Athens, and the Greek Island (Mykonos). After the East which starts in Venice, you still have Naples, Rome, Florence, Monaco, and Barcelona. There is nothing wrong with the 2012 Carnival Breeze Med itineraries. Some of the 2011 itineraries include Savona because Carnival was late to the table on certain itineraries and Livorno was full. But they eliminated Savona for 2012. It looks like they got rid of Mallorca as well. We like Mallorca because with port intensive itineraries, beach days are great.

we too chose the Ruby over the Spirit even though the cost was higher for our family of 6. The dates were much better on the Ruby as well. One thing I have learned about cruising the Med is that it is very expensive, so we are always prepared to spend what we need to spend in order to have a good trip. Istanbul is the big draw for us this time back to the Med...I was there in 1976 and can't wait to show my family this unbelievable city.

[Crusin6]

Remember when taking the kids to Florence to get to the Cathedral of Santa Croce...and then just stand there and look at the names on the tombs.......the connection you will feell is amazing...once you fully begin to realize that you are indeed in the presence of greatness........Michaelangelo, DaVinci, Gallileo..just to name a few...:eek:

 

It brought chills to our skin and tears to our eyes.....we were truly humbled......

[jennmaybe]

My only comment why are you limiting yourself to Carnival. Competition and selection of ports vary widly based on cruiseline and number of ships in the Med. I'd not pick a line, I'd pick a "line of ports" and find the cruiseline/ship that sails the most than go from there.

 

Who cares about the ship if it doesn't provide the ports you want.

 

Good luck planning!

We are also looking at a W. Med. cruise for next year and I must say, Carnival is contender for us only because of price. It's bad when you will be paying more for airfare than you do the cruise! We will be taking our 13 yr old with us, so that is one extra person we'll be paying for. The expenses add up quickly, so we have to decide what to do......cruise line with ports we want vs. a nicer ship/cruise line with ports we want. We are definitely leaning towards cruise line.....just looking at the $$$.

[lucyintheskywithdiamonds]

Remember when taking the kids to Florence to get to the Cathedral of Santa Croce...and then just stand there and look at the names on the tombs.......the connection you will feell is amazing...once you fully begin to realize that you are indeed in the presence of greatness........Michaelangelo, DaVinci, Gallileo..just to name a few...:eek:

 

It brought chills to our skin and tears to our eyes.....we were truly humbled......

 

I know! imagine how i felt when my cousin got the family records from an Italian convent in Sicily & they showed we are descendants of Michelangelo... wow, i was blown away!:) It's such an honor!

[Crusin6]

I know! imagine how i felt when my cousin got the family records from an Italian convent in Sicily & they showed we are descendants of Michelangelo... wow, i was blown away!:) It's such an honor!

Hey there fellow Sicilian...that is awesome!!! Are there any truly artistic members in your family to this day? That is really something to know who you are descended from...have you ever been to his tomb?

 

My story is much simpler..back in 2008 on our port stop to Taormina, we of course had a private driver for the 6 of us knowing full well that we would be taken to out of the way locations...so imagine my surprise when we are walking thru the quaintest ancient yet still in operation church and I go over to sign the guest book...when what to my wondering eyes should appear...on the line right above where I was getting ready to sign.......the previous guest's name is my exact maiden name...and it had been signed and dated just one day earlier!

 

no one will ever get me to doubt that I was in the presence of a relative and that I was being welcomed back to my ancestral homeland.

[Crusin6]

We are also looking at a W. Med. cruise for next year and I must say, Carnival is contender for us only because of price. It's bad when you will be paying more for airfare than you do the cruise! We will be taking our 13 yr old with us, so that is one extra person we'll be paying for. The expenses add up quickly, so we have to decide what to do......cruise line with ports we want vs. a nicer ship/cruise line with ports we want. We are definitely leaning towards cruise line.....just looking at the $$$.

I would jump on CCL again even though it is the same itin as our 2008 Freedom cruise...but for the kind of money a trip like this costs for the 6 of us..I have to weigh the possibility or rather impossibility that we will even do it a 3rd time...so that being said...we are paying the premium to cruise the Ruby Princess...to see Istanbul!!!!! Yippee

 

Unfortunately the NCL Spirit while well priced as well is just too old of a ship and the dates don't work

[familycruzinnewbie]

The Spirit works out to be around the same price as Carnival due to the 3/4th person rates are only $499. If they have any kind of sale it would make it cheaper than Carnival. But it don't think it has the amenities we are looking for. DD wants a waterslide, and I can only see a small kiddy one. It's not a deal breaker in itself but what else would we be missing out on?

 

Do the Princess ones go on sale? When would the best deals for summer 2012 be available? How so Princess and NCL differ from Carnival?

 

Thanks

[Crusin6]

The Spirit works out to be around the same price as Carnival due to the 3/4th person rates are only $499. If they have any kind of sale it would make it cheaper than Carnival. But it don't think it has the amenities we are looking for. DD wants a waterslide, and I can only see a small kiddy one. It's not a deal breaker in itself but what else would we be missing out on?

 

Do the Princess ones go on sale? When would the best deals for summer 2012 be available? How so Princess and NCL differ from Carnival?

 

Thanks

actually, I wasn't comparing NCL to CCL for this itin as the CCL cruise doesn't go to Istanbul..only the NCL one does...but in comparing the NCL Spirit to the Ruby Princess...I found the PCL dates to be better as well as the itin..but the PCL cruise is costing me $2000 more than NCL would...but then again the Ruby has more bells and whistles and for the overall cost a trip like this is for us.....sometimes it is better to spend a little more to get what you want.

 

I am currently researching hotel rooms in Rome and Venice and maybe Barcelona....and it is coming down to this...comfort, location and a nice experience..or..save a few bucks and be in the outskirts of town etc.

 

Now, I am seasoned in this stuff and know Rome and Venice very well...but I also know what works for us.....and we may just spend a little more for comfort as we are 6 people with luggage and know what it takes.....I also have experience in traveling solo and duo...and know how much easier that is...one cruise cabin...small cramped hotel rooms..etc. ...but for our family at this point...we need to combine a little luxury with frugality and get a good deal...

 

That being said...we got 2 of the cheapest inside side by side cabins on the Ruby....and I booked then the day after the itin was announced...and I am glad I did because the cheap seats are few and far between on Ruby and side X side triplea are as well....and from what I can see...there are only 3 triples in the cheap category avaialable now and they are not side X side...which is a must for us.

 

I plan on keeping my eye on PCL prices but since my category is almost gone I am not sure about lower prices.

 

However, if I were you, I would defintely pick CCL over NCL...we did the CCL Freedom in 2008 and the ship was gorgeous...waterslides, activities, everything...and especially nice is the fact that the other families that do this kind og cruise are usually the type that want to combine crusieship fun with a great educational and historic experience for their families....so they are not smuggling on rum runners..if you get my drift.

 

Go for the better newer ship is my advice..not the 13 yo Spirit...enen though everyone loves the ship...give your DD the fancier model:D

 

MDR food is great on CCL but not so much on NCL...buffets are better on NCL than on CCL....upcharge restaurants are great on NCL

[Jolimont]

On the Monaco/Marseilles question: Monaco is a gorgeous city full of rich people, Marseilles is France's second largest city and is famous for grime and urban problems. If you choose Marseilles I recommend you book a tour and not venture out on your own, unless you're used to NYC and it's all ho-hum to you ;-)