Best time for Spain/Italy/France Cruises?

[larry_s_taco]

We are going to be booking a Mediterranean cruise for 2020. What do you consider the best time to go, and why?  What cruise line/ship would you recommend? 

Thanks, 

Larry

[Sauer-kraut]

Not during the summer ... too hot too many people.  If you can do the shoulder seasons April or October you will have fewer hordes of tourists.  The weather will probably be lovely at that time too, just not super hot. 

[tinykygal]

13 hours ago, larry_s_taco said:

We are going to be booking a Mediterranean cruise for 2020. What do you consider the best time to go, and why?  What cruise line/ship would you recommend? 

Thanks, 

Larry

We are doing the same, but after searching we are looking at May/early June for a 12 day.  Which cruise lines are you exploring?  We are thinking of a 12N as this is our bucket list and will be our only cruise there. 

We have cruised about 13x.

[dogs4fun]

I concur with the above posts - I prefer the Med in the spring or fall for the same reasons mentioned by Sauer-kraut.

Edited January 22, 2019 by dogs4fun

[larry_s_taco]

Tinykygirl,

I'm looking at a 12 day also. I haven't decided which line yet. I'm looking for a deal. I've been on 25+ cruises across multiple lines and can honestly say I have never had a bad one. I have not been on an MSC or Costa yet, so I'm curious about them since I believe they are both based in Italy.

[tinykygal]

On 1/22/2019 at 10:12 AM, larry_s_taco said:

Tinykygirl,

I'm looking at a 12 day also. I haven't decided which line yet. I'm looking for a deal. I've been on 25+ cruises across multiple lines and can honestly say I have never had a bad one. I have not been on an MSC or Costa yet, so I'm curious about them since I believe they are both based in Italy.

We still haven't decided which cruise line.  It may not be the 12N cruise either.  I have always wanted to see Italy, would love to do on our own, but DH said we missed the boat 😂  Our daughter loved the Greek Isles.  

Let's sharing.

My husband is deeply researching the ports.

BTW, we speak no foreign languages.

[lamchops]

On 1/22/2019 at 7:12 AM, larry_s_taco said:

Tinykygirl,

I'm looking at a 12 day also. I haven't decided which line yet. I'm looking for a deal. I've been on 25+ cruises across multiple lines and can honestly say I have never had a bad one. I have not been on an MSC or Costa yet, so I'm curious about them since I believe they are both based in Italy.

Most of My European cruises have been 11+ days with pre or post add ons. I m doing another one (canary islands) next month. I have been on Costa for a Greece Mediterranean cruise and did MSC for a Northern Europe cruise. I rather enjoyed both  cruises  but DW would prefer we stick to the North American lines. DW has fomo and didn’t like that the announcements were in Italian, French, German, then English. The English announcements were generally short and to the point while she felt more information was given in the other languages. I always book based on itinerary and price/value and have been using NCL recently.  I know NCL has Mediterranean cruises that include Valletta, Malta and that port is a gem which we would have never considered without a cruise. 

[Hlitner]

When DW and I worked, we would usually be in Europe in July out of necessity (DW was a teacher).  Most summers, we would spend at least a month in Europe, some on cruises and other time on land (usually with a rental car).  While the weather could certainly be hot (some years it was scorching) there were plenty of times when the weather was near perfect.  Since we retired, we prefer spending the Spring and Fall in Europe...primarily because things are less crowded with hoards of tourists.  The weather is a trade-off because while it might not be quite as hot, rain is much more common.

 

Also keep in mind that the so-called Med is a large area with varying weather.  While it can be pleasant in the South of France, it might be very uncomfortable (heat and humidity) in Rome.  There are many web sites that will show you the weather averages for each month.

 

Hank

[George C]

Would avoid summer for sure, went middle of September in 2016 and it was way to hot and many of tours hit churches that do not allow shorts , was extremely hot it Vatican, other time we did March and weather was perfect. 

[Voelfgar]

On 1/21/2019 at 6:11 PM, Sauer-kraut said:

Not during the summer ... too hot too many people.  If you can do the shoulder seasons April or October you will have fewer hordes of tourists.  The weather will probably be lovely at that time too, just not super hot. 

 

I wish i could but needed to do the trip over a holiday and this year my company is giving me the 5th of july off as a holiday in addition to the 4th.

[brendarene99]

On ‎1‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 7:12 AM, tinykygal said:

We are doing the same, but after searching we are looking at May/early June for a 12 day.  Which cruise lines are you exploring?  We are thinking of a 12N as this is our bucket list and will be our only cruise there. 

We have cruised about 13x.

 

[brendarene99]

We booked the Pullmantur Sovereign great Prices, great reviews, especially on food and entertainment and Drinks were included starting Prices for oceanview was $331.00 pp May 2019 we just did a double cruise back to back. it was cheaper then the Other cruise lines.

[larry_s_taco]

I've not hear of that line. Are they large ships?

 

[brendarene99]

I found them in Vacations to go but they are pretty popular in Europe. Reviews were great they have 4 ships and are owned by Royal Caribbean. I googled them also 

[Ashland]

I'm getting ready for my RCI Vision Med/Greece 12 nighter in mid May. Great time of year for this itinerary.

[George C]

We did brilliance of the seas , I normally perfer larger ships but smaller are great for Europe since you spend so much time in ports and really don’t have the time to explore ship and enjoy there entertainment.

[DOJO466]

We like the Med in October, crowds are dissipating and weather has been beautiful. Our preferred line is Oceania, smaller ships, great food, wonderful service.

[sofietucker]

Have done many cruises all over the Med plus river cruises; we usually go 2x a year. By all means, fall & spring are best. Avoid August at all cost: the Europeans go on vacay that month--and many get off the entire month. And so not only are all the port cities slammed, but many places are shut because their owners are gone.

Cruise lines: We like HAL ships the best--Westerdam especially. And Celebrity's ships across the board. Royal's Brilliance of the Seas is very good too*. You may still very likely have the announcements in 3-4 languages because lots of Europeans will be on those cruises as well. We've done a Greek cruise line and they even add Turkish and Greek to the languages for announcements, lol. One line you're practically guaranteed to only have English is P&O, a British line. About 90% passengers are from the UK and Australia. * On Brilliance cruise, we had dinnner each night at a table of Irish, Australian, Bermudian, and English folks... We all spoke "English!" So much fun.

Edited April 21, 2019 by sofietucker

[larry_s_taco]

Thanks. Any suggestions on a round trip Rome itinerary?

 

[MAVIP]

On 4/21/2019 at 9:34 PM, larry_s_taco said:

Thanks. Any suggestions on a round trip Rome itinerary?

 

Western Mediterranean: Rome and f.e. Naples (Pompei), Messina or Catania, (Malta), Gibraltar (for once….), Cartagena, Valencia, Barcelona, Marseille or Cannes or Nice/Monaco, Livorno (Pisa and Lucca), Rome.     Or maybe Eastern Mediterranean with embarkation in Venice?

[larry_s_taco]

I really like the sound of the western trip.