Hoping for a One-Way Med Cruise in 2012 - Need Advice

[Spire2000]

My wife and I are hoping to arrange our first Med cruise next summer or fall. The idea of a one-way cruise is attractive to me as it allows for an extra port and give us the opportunity to spend a couple days in a different port at either end. The following cruise offered on the Voyager of the Seas is exactly the kind of thing we're hoping to book.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/cruiseDetails/itinerary.do?packageCode=VY08M015

 

Basically, an 8 day cruise that begins in Venice and ends in Barcelona. Problems with this specific cruise is that 1) there is no pricing associated with it yet, and 2) it runs from 26 Oct to 03 Nov, which is way late in the season. Temperatures don't bother me (I'm from Canada), but rainy port days would be no fun at all.

 

So I'm looking for thoughts on this particular cruise as well as any other suggestions from folks on alternatives. We're not looking at anything longer than say 10 days and are not married to the idea of RCI cruises.

 

Thanks in advance,

[PCWalton1]

My wife and I are hoping to arrange our first Med cruise next summer or fall. The idea of a one-way cruise is attractive to me as it allows for an extra port and give us the opportunity to spend a couple days in a different port at either end. The following cruise offered on the Voyager of the Seas is exactly the kind of thing we're hoping to book.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/cruiseDetails/itinerary.do?packageCode=VY08M015

 

Basically, an 8 day cruise that begins in Venice and ends in Barcelona. Problems with this specific cruise is that 1) there is no pricing associated with it yet, and 2) it runs from 26 Oct to 03 Nov, which is way late in the season. Temperatures don't bother me (I'm from Canada), but rainy port days would be no fun at all.

 

So I'm looking for thoughts on this particular cruise as well as any other suggestions from folks on alternatives. We're not looking at anything longer than say 10 days and are not married to the idea of RCI cruises.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

That one is N/A because it does not exist anymore. RCCL is moving Voyager to China in 2012. They just haven't pulled that off the site yet. In October 2012 Voyager will be moving from Singapore to Australia.

[Spire2000]

Ghaa! Just when I thought I'd found the itinerary I liked...

 

Sigh...

[Merion_Mom]

Ghaa! Just when I thought I'd found the itinerary I liked...

 

Sigh...

 

Regent has some fabulous itineraries for this kind of cruise.

[Cruisin MarcnFran]

We've done 2 Transatlantic sailings, one in October from Venice and the other in November from Southampton. For the most part, the weather was fine. We had a few cool days and a few with rain but nothing deterred me from doing this again. I snoozed and got priced out of one from Barcelona in November this year. We have another booked for next year November into December leaving from Rome - a B2B. We're from Florida - I hate cold/dismal rainy weather.

 

Good luck finding what you want. I love sailing that time of year.

 

Fran

[catergirl]

princess does a lot of one way cruises in europe and we did a barcelona to venice one with them, fabulous! if you dont mind changing cruiselines. i always look first for where i want to go and who has good pricing.

[RonLankshear]

For me the Med is all about the Eastern med. It starts in Venice which is a wonderful place just walking the back streets is so calming.

And then it does include Dubrovnik But what it then misses as it goes West are what I think are MUSTs - Athens (The Acropolis is a major world heritage site) and a Greek Island - Santorini or Mykonos. Also into Turkey to Ephesus.

And perhaps south to Crete for Knossos for the Palace.

 

Perhaps look for a Istanbul to Venice or around to Rome....

 

Try Holland America or MSC or Princess

Even Oceania if you want 5+ stars

[PCWalton1]

We've done 2 Transatlantic sailings, one in October from Venice and the other in November from Southampton. For the most part, the weather was fine. We had a few cool days and a few with rain but nothing deterred me from doing this again. I snoozed and got priced out of one from Barcelona in November this year. We have another booked for next year November into December leaving from Rome - a B2B. We're from Florida - I hate cold/dismal rainy weather.

 

Good luck finding what you want. I love sailing that time of year.

 

Fran

 

OP was not looking for a transatlantic, they wanted a one way trip within the Med.

[seaofwonder]

Try Celebrity....they have some one way cruises. One I saw goes Amsterdam -> Istanbul and vice versa.

[Spire2000]

Thanks for all the information everyone. The Regent Cruises look excellent, but wow, are they expensive. $7,500 for 10 days! There are lots of possibilities that I hadn't considered that you folks have kindly listed here, so I still have lots of research ahead of me.

[Cruisin MarcnFran]

OP was not looking for a transatlantic, they wanted a one way trip within the Med.

 

I know - I was referring to the weather at that time of year.

[Pushka]

We wanted to do a one way cruise next year also; but found only the Seabourne line would work. But too expensive for us. There are hardly any options for a one way cruise.

 

We ended up doing the round trip booking. Which as it turned out was fine - originally we had planned to drive into Barcelona (after touring through France) and then fly back (to Australia) from say Athens, making a quicker trip..(less than 27 hours flying:eek:) But it turns out that most European connections are routed through Heathrow anyway, so we wouldnt have achieved what we wanted to anyway.

[hightownCO]

Might want to check out Grandeur of the seas,May 31, 2012. Goes from Barcelona to Venice, 11 nights. Great ports. Great price. Will be our first RCL cruise. Not a fancy, new ship but getting a major refurb just before this cruise.

[KathyPet]

Almost every cruise line (Princess, Celebrity, HAL, RCCL, Crystal, Oceania, Regent, Seabourn, Azmara) has this itinerary. You just need to go to the different web sites and use the cruise finder to look at what is available. My husband and I leave 9/1 this year for a 10 day Regent Cruise from Barcelona to Rome. Yes, Regent is expensive but you need to realize what is included in the cost (R/T air, a 1 night pre cruise hotel stay and breakfast in Barcelona, transfers between airport and hotel and then hotel to ship and ship to airport in Rome, all gratuities, all standard wines and spirits on board, all shore excursions, no additional charge for any of the speciality restaurants, fully stocked mini bar in the cabin and no charge for room service. In addition the cheapest cabin is 252 sq ft plus a 49 sq foot balcony. To get that size on most ships you would have to spring for one of the high cost suites.

I'm not saying it is not expensive but it really is all inclusive.

[English_in_Spain]

Holland America are doing Venice to Barcelona (or Barcelona to Venice) on the Nieuw Amsterdam next August/September. Unfortunately it is 12 days (you said not more than 10)

[Merion_Mom]

Thanks for all the information everyone. The Regent Cruises look excellent, but wow, are they expensive. $7,500 for 10 days! There are lots of possibilities that I hadn't considered that you folks have kindly listed here, so I still have lots of research ahead of me.

 

Yes, that is so, but it includes the airfare, which can be VERY expensive.

 

(and it includes gratuities, shore excursions and pre-cruise night and transfers)

[5soonerfans]

We chose the Celebrity Summit over the Brilliance in 2009 for that same reason which began in Barcelona and ended in Venice and we enjoyed it very much.