October Western Med. to cruise or not to cruise?

[iheartshoes]

Hello!

 

I've been trying to find information on the boards for a week or so and haven't had a ton of luck. If anyone can assist I thank you in advance!

 

My husband and I are thinking of doing a 7 night Western Med. cruise late October. Ship is Rhapsody of the seas.

 

We've cruised many times, Voyager class, Freedom Class and the Allure.

 

Never been on a ship this small but might be okay since the itinerary is port heavy.

 

Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

Florence/Pisa (Livorno), Italy

Ajaccio, Corsica

Provence (Toulon), France

Valencia, Spain

Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Barcelona, Spain

 

We just did Greece - Athens, Mykonos and Santorini for our honeymoon. Land trip and it was fabulous and now we want to see more of Europe.

 

Has anyone been on this ship or done any of these ports? If so please share your thoughts (good and bad).

 

My concern is that there may not be much going on in these actual ports and we will spend all of our time on a bus rather than enjoying and immersing our selves for the day to get a feel of the country etc.

 

We love to try new foods/cooking, enjoy wine/wineries, finding great pubs and meeting locals, shopping, taking in the history, exploring, etc.

 

Thanks!!!

[ace1zoe2]

We visited all of these ports except Provence on our western Med. we also went the last few days of October & first of November. We had wonderful weather, smaller crowds & a fabulous time!

 

My trip report is linked in my signature. We were on a ship one category larger than Rhapsody. This cruise is so port intensive you will find little time to be looking for things to do on the ship.that said we have sailed Rhapsody out of Galveston, in Alaska & Hawaii and loved every trip.

 

My trip report is linked in my signature for the Med with tons of pictures and links for private tours that will save you lots of money & time compared to ship tours

 

You can also click to my blog and search to read the report day by day without all the comments if that's easier.

 

I think you will have a fabulous time!

 

Cindy

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fragilek]

The only thing I would say is that by the end of October is the weather is starting to change in the med - when our children were younger we would routinely go to Majorca/ Minorca in October half term initially this was the last week in oct and we had quite a few cool trips but after moving to scotland October half term break was in the start of October and the weather was usually much warmer (still zipers in the evening). We toiled with the same idea of a October med cruise in the end we decided on the end of September into October in the hope of better weather. We sailed the Rhapsody last summer and she was a lovely ship - very quite not much on after 11pm and the entertainment in the main theater was awful (think a bad school show)-but less of an issue in a port intensive cruise. Isumi was amazing. We had issues on her but these were due to booking errors so should not apply to future cruisers (just incase you look up my review lol).

 

The ports - Palma is lovely small ci tyand you will not need to book any tours

 

Rome - easy to get to the port by train - amazing place try and stay in a central hotel.

 

Florence/ Pisa - I would do a ship tour or private taxi. You can do Pisa in 10 mins lol - if going in taxi try and fit in Lucca too.

 

Provence - wine/ village tours - we would hire a car - (or you could do a private tour)

 

Barcelona - most love it - not my favorite place - but if staying on in that area for a few days there try Girona - lovely city and the small town of Besalu (google for images - amazing places). You may be able to fly out of girona instead of Bracelona

[danacline]

I am one of those people who love Barcelona. I could easily stay there a week or more. One must-see is the Sagrada Familia cathedral. Buy tour tickets online in advance. You can easily get there from the port via taxi or mass transit, or even walking if you're up for that (maybe 2 miles one way).

 

Rome - we took the "general" tour. Next time I want to tour either the catacombs or the Vatican.

 

Toulon - a short walk took us to one of the best maritime museums I've ever seen. I think it was 2 euros for me, my son was free as active military. Stock up on the bars of French soap in the cruise terminal - very cheap, very good.

 

Livorno - my son and I visited Cinque Terre, while wife and daughter went to Florence, both on ship's tours. Not sure who had the better tour - we certainly loved ours. The wine is very good there - snag a bottle if you can. Also it's a good place to buy limoncello.