Who's cruising "The Med" in 2006?

[jwfw]

Just noticed this thread. My wife and I just purchased the Grand, Princess Venice to Barcelona on 9/13/06 for our 10th Anniversary. Now the work begins to look into each port and determine which tours to try and book (private or through the ship). Can't wait.

[mjbelen]

Patty,

 

For me it came down to the two P's-ports and price. Though I prefer RCL, Celebrity or Princess, the price on the Carnival Liberty was way lower than any of the other options. We also liked Carnival's itinerary better than any of the other cruiselines offerings.

 

Joan

[cusyl]

My DH really liked Princess and feels we should stick with Princess for our next cruise as well. I did find the Grand Princess either July 27th or Sept 13th sailing from Venice to Barcelona that looks like a great itinerary...but I am open to other ships..

 

So how did you all choose?

 

We picked the Grand Princess because my husband wanted to see the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and we are "platinum" so we get free internet and special treatment for debarkation.

I guess it depends on just what you want to see in Europe...some ships go to ports that others do not.

[pmc7704]

Patty, here is my logic ! Cruise versus land vacation - no contest, pack once and go to ten different places. We chose Princess because I loved their Venice to Barcelona itinerary, and having been on the Grand before, I knew that I loved the ship. And the anytime dining is a big plus when you're on so many shore excursions. And as far as shore excursions, I'm planning on booking my own private tours so I can see what I want, and can arrange my own schedule. Yea, the price may be a little higher, but it's worth it. We decided on the October 7 cruise after doing considerable research and finding out that the weather was just about perfect then, not too hot during the day, and nice and cool at night, the crowds were considerably smaller, not as much waiting in lines, and being close to the "end of season", bargains were more readily available. Hope this all helps, and hey, if you want, come and join us on the Grand in October !!!

[Bruin Steve]

...wondering how you all decided which cruise/cruiseline to take for a mediterranean cruise?...we are thinking maybe a cruise so we can see a few more countries..just worried it will be too rushed at each port and we won't see much as opposed to travelling in the country by train, car,etc. ...So how did you all choose?

Well...

First, land vs. sea...

Both make for great vacations...We've done several of both types in Europe...What I like about the cruise is that logistics are easy and stress-free...You give up some of the "adventure" (like local restaurants and nightlife...but also getting lost and coping with local transportation) but, really little else...

As far as time in port is concerned, I've always felt the time allotted by the cruise is sufficient...When you do a "land" trip, a good deal of your time goes into logistics--checking in and out of hotels, finding your way from one destination to the other...When all is said and done, you only get so many "sightseeing hours" per week...I find I tend to get as much touring in while on a cruise...the logistics occur at night--without my effort...What you also lose is some of the flexibility--if that's important to you...

 

As to how I've chosen my cruises and cruise lines:

 

The first Med cruise I took, I was originally tempted to go with RCCL and the then-brand new Brilliance...At that point, I'd cruised more with RCCL than any other line and was comfortable with them... But my TA urged me to consider others and got me prices on a few lines...We ruled out Princess fairly easily because we had cruised Europe with them prior and were not at all happy with them...So, it came down to RCCL's Brilliance vs. the Celebrity Millennium...The cost was fairly even so we really got down to the particulars on the itinerary...

 

And that's my #1 piece of advice--Choose by the itinerary...

 

Here's what swung us over to the Millennium:

1) The one-way Venice-to-Barcelona itinerary...This allowed us to do extended pre- and post-cruise stays in Venice AND Barcelona (two cities we'd been to before and loved)...Think about this key as well: If the "land" trip to Italy appeals to you, you can extend your time on the Venice end of one of these itineraries and get some of that land trip experience...

2) The ports: By doing the trip one-way, Celebrity offered a wider variety of ports. Brilliance itineraries alternated between Aegean (Athens, Santorini, etc.) and Adriatic (Venice) routes while Celebrity offered both...

3) Time in port: This one's often overlooked by many...What I've noticed about a lot of the Princess itineraries is that they generally offer shorter days in port than the Millennium itineraries...Millennium itineraries generally have about 3 ports where the ship stays in port late into the night...On our Millie cruise, for example, many folks opted to eat dinner in Santorini and take in local nightlife...

 

For our upcoming Med cruise, we've opted this time to go with Oceania...Here the choice was particularly influenced by the itinerary. We absolutely love Celebrity and would prefer to cruise with them again, but we needed somethiong a little different in the way of itinerary...and Oceania offered the most unique itineraries with ports new to us...

 

Another consideration is the line itself, especially food and service...Of the six lines I've cruised thus far, Celebrity is easily the best as to food and service...I have heard many good things about Oceania as well in those areas...

 

Hope this helps...Good luck...

[JoanieBlon]

Hey all..hope you don't mind me posting here..I was reading this thread and wondering how you all decided which cruise/cruiseline to take for a mediterranean cruise?

 

We have only cruised once so far...just came back from Tahitian Princess a few months back and 2006 our plans was to see Europe..mostly Italy..by land..but now that we are talking about it..we are thinking maybe a cruise so we can see a few more countries..just worried it will be too rushed at each port and we won't see much as opposed to travelling in the country by train, car,etc. Still torn.

 

My DH really liked Princess and feels we should stick with Princess for our next cruise as well. I did find the Grand Princess either July 27th or Sept 13th sailing from Venice to Barcelona that looks like a great itinerary...but I am open to other ships..

 

So how did you all choose?

 

We picked the NCL Jewel Cruise because we liked the length of the cruise, the ports, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, because this is a FREE-STYLE cruise, meaning NO assigned dining times and NO dressing up! :D

[cusyl]

...We ruled out Princess fairly easily because we had cruised Europe with them prior and were not at all happy with them... ..

Well, we booked Princess and there don't seem to be many other CC s that have chosen them. Could you possibly expound on what was wrong and why you didn't enjoy your cruises with them? Thanks

[Bruin Steve]

Well, we booked Princess and there don't seem to be many other CC s that have chosen them. Could you possibly expound on what was wrong and why you didn't enjoy your cruises with them? Thanks

Well, I only did one cruise with them...and, in all fairness, it may not be typical of the Princess experience, but it did sour things with us a bit...

 

It was a 2001 Baltic cruise, Copenhagen to Copenhagen, 10 nights...

The ship was the old Crown Princess, since retired to P&O's German subsidiary...The ship was in poor shape and severely lacking in amenities (Obviously, the newer Princess ships remedy those problems)...Dining Room service was excellent (food was good, but a notch below Celebrity) but the service from other crew personal was substandard (again, may have been a morale problem with the older ship)...

 

But, the following we thought was not related to the age of the ship:

--The itinerary was severely lacking with strange choices of where to dock...like Nynashamn for Stockholm--which added hours on buses just to get to Stockholm and drastically increased the cost for excursions and tours...

--The entertainment was the worst I'd experienced on any ship (The comedian was so old that he was getting senile and forgetting the punchlines to his jokes...luckily, the jokes were so old that the audience knew the punch lines already--I'll get to the age of the audience later).

--The non-dining room food--aka buffet and pizza--was extremely lacking with little to eat late night and the pizza place closing around 10 each night...And there was no ice cream to be seen...

--The average age of the passengers had to be around 85...the ship was like a ghost town after dinner each night.

 

I am assuming from other people's reviews of other Princess cruises that ours may have been some kind of anomaly...And maybe the demographics in the Mediterranean are younger than in the Baltic (although when we were on the Constellation last July in Northern Europe, the crowd didn't seem that much older).

 

All I know was that our experience with Princess in the Baltic gave us little reason to want to try them again quickly in the Med...

 

That being said, we were SO impressed with our Celebrity Millennium experience that we have sailed with Celebrity several times since, bought my parents a gift of a Celebrity Constellation Baltic cruise and recommended Celebrity to my brother (who took the Summit to Alaska) and to my sister (who has booked the Century for a Baltic cruise this coming July)...

[whatsnext]

I've been reading some of the other posts and I am REALLY disappointed to find out that I may be going to France, but probably won't get to see Paris! From what I've read, it's a 3 hr. bus ride each way. Does anyone know of any other tour operator, that is reliable, offering a trip to Paris from the port?

[virgenia]

Cusyl,

 

Here's another opinion. We did the Princess Venice to Rome this last September on the Grand, and it was wonderful. Great ship, great itinerary, and we met the most wonderful CC people on the roll call thread. We hung out with them all the time. That can really make a difference if you are traveling as a single couple with no other friends along. If you have not joined in the roll call thread, you should do so and try and get together as a group after sailaway.

 

The ship is huge, it is in good shape, food in the dining room is very good, food in the buffet we found to be mediocre. Service was good, room attendent was fine and unobtrusive. We really had no complaints.Shows were quite good, with the production shows being very good. There was plenty to keep us busy as this is such a port intensive cruise. Anytime dining is a big plus on this cruise since it is such a busy one.

 

Passenger ages ranged from just married to married forever--very few kids on the ship. Have not been on Celebrity yet, but will be doing Baltic on the Connie in July, so cannot compare, but just wanted you to feel good about your choice of the Princess.

 

Any cruise is what you make of it anyway, right? I definitely would try and do a precruise stay for a day or two if you can afford the time and money.

[muse_clio]

I was reading this thread and wondering how you all decided which cruise/cruiseline to take for a mediterranean cruise?

....2006 our plans was to see Europe..mostly Italy..by land..but now that we are talking about it..we are thinking maybe a cruise so we can see a few more countries..just worried it will be too rushed at each port and we won't see much as opposed to travelling in the country by train, car,etc. Still torn.

 

My DH really liked Princess and feels we should stick with Princess for our next cruise as well. I did find the Grand Princess either July 27th or Sept 13th sailing from Venice to Barcelona that looks like a great itinerary...but I am open to other ships..

 

So how did you all choose?

 

Patty,

We selected Grand Princess Venice to Barcelona, mostly for the port selection, but we selected May 16, a wonderful time for Italy, Turkey, Greece, Barcelona, and France (good weather, but smaller crowds). We are part of a group, so the rates are good, and the larger ship gives us many amenities not found elsewhere. As many have mentioned, choice often boils down to those three things: ports, price, and ship amenities. And while it would be nice to stay at each port for days and then move on, a cruise with an "unpack once" benefit really appeals to me. Wherever you end up, enjoy!

[cruzky]

We chose the Millennium May 26, 2006. Liked the itineary the best. Can't wait to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Travelalot2]

We chose RCCL on the Brilliance for a couple of reasons. First, we have cruised with them before and like their ships and staff. Second, the Brilliance goes to Greece which we really wanted to see. We can't wait. We go in early June. And, we get back on a Friday which gives us 2 days to recuperate before having to go back to work!

[Summertimescallingme]

Has roll call been started for Carnival Liberty sailing 7/6/06?

[jspirit]

Yes, we just started a roll call for the July 6 Liberty last week! Please check the roll calls , and add your 2 cents!

[whatsnext]

Isn't ANYONE going on the May 30, 2006 Century out of Barcelona? I'm beginning to think it's going to be a very scant crowd of CC members - unless folks just haven't gotten into the spirit yet. About Princess, we were on the Golden in June 2005 and while it was a nice ship, it can't compare to the Millineum. I'm beginning to think I should have opted for that cruise......

[darrenclarke]

To everybodt, ask for prices and arrangement to Taxi & trips Company in Florence they will organize for you professional and nice drivers for excursions from livorno to pisa-Lucca,Pisa-Florence, Chianti area, Outlet and shopping tour in Florence and if you can make a group you canhave a minibus and Guide or Tour escort... the price will be good if you can share in 10 or more people.

Just try to ask

[lonig]

I have traveled on Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Princess and I believe each cruise is what you make it. Things can go wrong on every trip but how you handle the problem makes or breaks the trip for yourself. Our glasses are always half full. Each line has it's own identity, you just have to roll with the punches. Now that Princess is owned by Carnival, we will see if Princess becomes less stuffy, and Carnival classes up a bit. No matter what we still have a great time. We choose trips based on itinerary first, what we want to see on shore, and then the cruise line. Any day on the ship is far better than a day at work, and we capitalize on it.

[med510]

We are going on Costa Atlantica, Amsterdam to Savona this September 6, 2006. We went on the Millenium, Venice to Barcelona two years ago and we loved it! Also, we have done Princess and RCCL years past. We love the itinerary and price of the Costa cruise. We expect it will be a "different" experience on an Italian ship, but we are looking forward to a new adventure. We have never had a bad experience on a cruise. Hope you all have fun in the Med!

[vacationaddict]

We are booked on the Noordam leaving May 31st out of Rome for a 10 night cruise. Can't wait. We did the Western Med. 2 years ago. Looking forward to cruising again.

[Wini18]

DH and I are booked on the Rotterdam sailing from Athens on 4-26-06 and ending in London. It will be 16 days of heaven. Our DD and SIL are going with us - they have never traveled abroad and are so anxious for the time to get here.

I have a question for you experienced Med folks - does anyone have a source for TaxiLeHavre? I have tried to get them via their website and get an error message. I remember that they were very reliable when we did the Med 2 years ago and would like to arrange a tour for the 4 of us.

Hope there is someone out there that can help. Thanks...........

Wini Sell :cool:

[cjcruiser27]

I was wondering if you are doing the Greek Island cruise? I am cruising on that ship in Sept....I can't wait to go!

We are booked on the Noordam leaving May 31st out of Rome for a 10 night cruise. Can't wait. We did the Western Med. 2 years ago. Looking forward to cruising again.

[RDeagazio]

RCI- Brilliance of the Seas-- 6/16/2006--- Group of us

[gipper691]

We have a group on Liberty out of Rome. We chose Carnival for the itennary first and value second. You can not beat the price ($1349 inside, $1649 OV, $2069 Balcony) for a twelve day western Med cruise. I know this cruise is an in and out of Rome but it works for us.

A new ship July 05 and a new menu in the dining rooms. Bigger cabins than RCCL and certainly less expensive.

We have a Roll Call on this board!

 

Happy cruise to all!

[Code99]

We are about to book our first med cruise for 9/28....any pointers appreciated!

 

Thanks!