Cruising the Med with young adult kids, which line?

[navybankerteacher]

On 2/22/2022 at 1:23 PM, SelectSys said:

We did several med cruises at this and a bit younger with RCCL.  It became a family favorite summer cruise destination.

 

Of these stops, cruises to Egypt are a bit rarer than those to Italy and Greece.  From a cost perspective, Greece and Italy would be better.  My kids really like the stops in the Greek Islands.  If you do pick an Egypt cruise, pick one with lots of time in port including an overnight as the main sites are far from the port. 

 

I would also consider Turkey.  My kids really liked the stops there as older teens.  Spain too.  Really the Med is a great place for a summer cruise! 

 

My last recommendation would be to go early as possible in the summer before the crowds really get enormous.

Important -- most European schools are in session well into July -- while August is when almost everyone takes vacation.  Late June - early July not only has more comfortable weather, but far lighter crowds

[sanger727]

16 hours ago, Hungry Henry said:

The best cruise hip or children is Disney but it is also expensive - Hungry Henry

 

The OP said they are taking their adult kids. Probably not a good choice for Disney....

[sarahbeth476]

On 2/16/2022 at 9:24 PM, Essiesmom said:

May I suggest you get a copy of Rick Steve’s’ Mediterranean Cruise Ports.  Have your kids read it, pick out ports and activities that interest/intrigue them, then look for itineraries that include them.  A good site for that is cruisetimetables.com.  Plug in the different ports of call and see who calls there, and their itineraries.  EM

I love Rick Steve! We've watched some of his videos on Amazon. This is a great tip. Thanks.

[pris993]

On 2/13/2022 at 7:12 PM, Hlitner said:

I will suggest that you need to think a bit differently then when booking a Caribbean or Alaskan cruise.  With the Med it is all about the ports and itinerary (with the emphasis on itinerary).  Many Med cruises are very port intensive with lots of long port days (a good thing).  The ship becomes secondary, especially when there is only 1 or 2 sea days.   So before you choose a cruise line look at the itinerary offerings and then whittle down your list to the few cruises that have the most interesting ports.  I would add that in the Med you really need to pay attention to the times (and day of the week) in various ports.  Many museums and some sites are closed one day of the week so you need to consider that in your planning.  Also consider that the ultimate destinations can be more then an hour from the port (such as Rome from Civitavecchia, Paris from Le Havre, etc.).  

 

Another thing about the Med is that there are a lot of cruises that embark in one port and disembark at another.  We find these "open jaw) cruises advantageous since folks can plan on arriving a few days early and departing a few days after their cruise so they get some decent land time at two places.  So we would normally suggest that an itinerary from Barcelona to Civitavecchia is better then a round trip from Barcelona.   You are going to spend a lot of money just getting to Europe so try to enhance your investment with more time and more places.

 

Hank 

Agree good tips here.  I would go as far as saying the ship does not matter at all.  For that reason, I recommended NCL   Probably the least expensive cruise line catering to Americans in the Mediterranean. 

[Hlitner]

21 minutes ago, pris993 said:

Agree good tips here.  I would go as far as saying the ship does not matter at all.  For that reason, I recommended NCL   Probably the least expensive cruise line catering to Americans in the Mediterranean. 

I would offer one caution before booking NCL (or any other cruise line).  Take a good look at their port times.  Over the years we have noticed that NCL sometimes offers shorter times in various ports.  In the Med you should look for cruises that offer long port days.  An example would be the NCL Jade which has an itinerary where the ship does not even arrive at Santorini until 12:30pm...and that is a tender port where it can take a couple of hours to get everyone ashore.  That same ship also departs Mykonos at 4 pm meaning folks need to be back aboard by 3:30.  This is not ideal for folks that want to spend the afternoon at a beach.

 

You also want to be cognizant that some desirable tourist places (i,e. museums, shopping, etc) may be closed on some days of the week (often on a Sunday or Monday).  So, for example, if you are going to Rome on a Sunday you will usually find the Vatican Museums (this includes the Sistine Chapel) closed (except one Sunday a month).  In Istanbul the popular Topkapi Palace is usually closed on Tuesdays.   

 

Bottom line is that when it comes to Europe and the Med you should focus on the details before you actually make your booking.  

 

Hank

[Aquahound]

FWIW, I think the cruise line and ship matters very much.  Otherwise, why not just travel on ferries?  

 

I recommend Celebrity for the Med.  

[pris993]

7 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I would offer one caution before booking NCL (or any other cruise line).  Take a good look at their port times.  Over the years we have noticed that NCL sometimes offers shorter times in various ports.  In the Med you should look for cruises that offer long port days.  An example would be the NCL Jade which has an itinerary where the ship does not even arrive at Santorini until 12:30pm...and that is a tender port where it can take a couple of hours to get everyone ashore.  That same ship also departs Mykonos at 4 pm meaning folks need to be back aboard by 3:30.  This is not ideal for folks that want to spend the afternoon at a beach.

 

You also want to be cognizant that some desirable tourist places (i,e. museums, shopping, etc) may be closed on some days of the week (often on a Sunday or Monday).  So, for example, if you are going to Rome on a Sunday you will usually find the Vatican Museums (this includes the Sistine Chapel) closed (except one Sunday a month).  In Istanbul the popular Topkapi Palace is usually closed on Tuesdays.   

 

Bottom line is that when it comes to Europe and the Med you should focus on the details before you actually make your booking.  

 

Hank

Good points.   I have only done one NCL cruise in the Mediterranean.  Happened to be the Jade.   By the time I went on NCL, I had been on at least 6 other lines and had been to many of the ports more than once.  We always assumed we would be back again and did not need to do it all.  We made it a practice to generally only spend a 1/2 day in port, so I was less concerned about how long in port.   We usually do ports on our own.  

 

Researching local holidays and being aware of these relative to impacts on ports is one area I learned too in terms of paying attention to details.   " May Day", May 1st, is big holiday in Europe.  We arrived in Rome on May1st one year, it was on a Friday and Rome was wall to wall tourists for this weekend holiday.  Another example in Spain, Holly Week runs a week before Easter through the Monday after Easter.  Knowing about such holidays enables folks to take advantage of taking part in the holiday celebrations and avoid potential impacts on their plans. 

 

Mediterranean has so much to offer it is hard to go only once.  

 

 

 

[Essiesmom]

15 hours ago, Hlitner said:

 

 

You also want to be cognizant that some desirable tourist places (i,e. museums, shopping, etc) may be closed on some days of the week (often on a Sunday or Monday).  So, for example, if you are going to Rome on a Sunday you will usually find the Vatican Museums (this includes the Sistine Chapel) closed (except one Sunday a month).  In Istanbul the popular Topkapi Palace is usually closed on Tuesdays.   

 

Bottom line is that when it comes to Europe and the Med you should focus on the details before you actually make your booking.  

 

Hank

And also in Istanbul, the Grand Bazaar is closed on Sundays.  EM