January - Mediterranean - which ship?

[sjpo]

Dear All,

 

I should be able to decide that easily by now but as it happens I have not cruise yet nor on NCL or the Fantasia class so... which one would recommend (considering mother is joining me and she is 75): Costa Serena (Piraeus, Izmir, Haifa, Alexandria), MSC Fantasia (Piraeus, Haifa, Alexandria, Naples) or Norwegian Jade (Piraeus, Izmir, Istanbul)?

 

Thanks!

[Keith1010]

The challenge is that we really don't know anything about you so when you ask for a recommendation most people are going to recommend what they like. If this was me I would read some of the cruise critic member reviews and also ask for assistance of a travel agent who specializes in cruises. If you don't have an agent ask friends who cruise if they can recommend someone.

 

Keith

[sjpo]

Hi Keith,

 

Thanks for the reply but the challenge really is that I have cruised often, know MSC and Costa quite well, but not sure how they compare with NCL. Also some of the ports are new to me so not sure how a 75 year old would cope with them (in the sense that local attractions may require long walks or many steps, etc.)

 

Sure, knowing more about me may help but I also feel it may make it more difficult as I am a bit atypical (concerned about ports of call because of mother as I generally am much more interested in the ship itself and quite happy to spend port time on board).

 

Thanks :-)

[marco]

I like both of the MSC itineraries more than the NCL one, but that's MY personal choice. For this trip, I'd choose based on itinerary more than the ship.

[perbinder]

I have travelled rci and msc. prefer rci. More to do and quieter than msc. msc was chaos and mayhem. Am looking trying NCL next as it seems a good fit for us.

 

 

 

 

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[jocap]

We've sailed Jade in February, and had a great cruise- lovely ship.

However, I'd go for one of the other itineraries, which go further south- we had snow in Turkey, and rain in other ports; I don't fancy Istanbul in winter because it can get very cold there.

Ship wise, though- no problems.

[sjpo]

Many thanks Jocap.

 

That tends to be the problem now: I am inclined for Jade as it looks better than the other two (specially in service), but the best itinerary is on Serena (which I know already... found it a bit dark inside and the service was not really good). Either way, giving the instability in the region, either may be a port cancellation risk, but thanks for reminding me of the weather