How to Choose Your First Med Cruise- The Most Important Post You will Read!

[pdmlynek]

4 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

****WARNING: LENGTHY MUSINGS AHEAD****

 

The problem with posting on message boards in short paragraphs (lest others complain you're being too wordy) is that it is difficult to get nuances across. 

 

I always find it difficult to quantify how I feel about cruising in just a few words. There are some things about it I like, there are some things that are frustrating. It's not the mode of travel I would choose if I were limited to one choice, but fortunately we are not limited -- so it makes for nice variety to take a cruise now and again.

 

It's also difficult to know the frame of reference of your readers/responders when posting on CC:  there are the hardcore Caribbean cruisers who live in Florida and seem to cruise about 1/3 of the year as their main and pretty much only form of travel, there are the Caribbean snowbirds, etc. Then there are those who like more far-flung destinations and who may or may not ever take a 7-day Caribbean cruise. (Or Mexican riviera for our West Coast friends.)

 

I may never be the sort to take a vacation strictly for relaxation. I'm not an AI person. I have to engage my mind in some way -- experience something, learn something, see something, do something. I don't like beaches. Natural scenery doesn't appeal to me much. I don't sit around the pool, go to the spa, or play in the casino. Yet surprisingly I enjoy cruising and find it to be a nice way to travel -- at times. I also do a fair amount of independent travel worldwide -- both on my own and on specialist tours. As well as for work, which from time to time takes me to France and Germany along with many US cities.

 

I think it's a little silly when people say you can't see much/do much/learn much on a limited port stop. Of course you can if you're focused, if you've planned well, if you are just trying to add a piece to your overall knowledge and are not trying to eat the entire cake in one sitting. I can make a good go of a place like Delos or Zadar or Ithaca or even Tallinn in a day. And for someone who takes an average of one European cruise a year, chances are I will end up in a given port more than a single time. 

 

The big cities are of course better experienced on stays of multiple days -- but cruise travel is not incompatible with that. I've spent the equivalent of a week or two each in Barcelona, Athens, Istanbul, London and Rome just via pre- and post-cruise stays.

 

Some who travel like to "poke" cruisers a bit, and perhaps at times it's justified. (Not that I don't find it a bit strange that they are here, posting, on a site for cruisers...)  However, many people in the US do not travel outside the country until retirement, at which time it may seem a bit daunting to set off for, say, Europe on one's own with no prior experience.

 

In the US you can travel extensively without negotiating different currency or a new language. Many also come from small towns and have no experience navigating a large city by public transportation. Trains are limited to a few routes....

 

So cruising may feel like a safe first step -- and sometimes an only step, especially for those whose bucket list is a kind of "one and done".  For some, it may ignite a love of travel that expands into other modalities.

 

What's the 5-cent takeaway?  Maybe it's this: before people start passing dictums about "You can't do ______ well on a cruise ship" or "You shouldn't use a cruise ship for ______", just remember everyone is coming from a different place that may not be readily apparent from a flippant answer on a message board. Sharing info with others is great. Lecturing is tiresome.

 

Very nicely written!  I pretty much agree with everything you wrote.

[ontheweb]

28 minutes ago, pdmlynek said:

Although I do not write on behalf of @sverigecruiser, I agree with him. 

 

I travel frequently, and many times cruises are not a good way of visiting the places that I want to see.  I may prefer car camping, or backpacking, or staying in private houses, or staying in hotels.  And, sometimes, cruises are the best way.  It just depends on what one tries to visit.

 

I do not disagree, but he made it sound like cruises were never the way to go. So, I wondered why he ever cruised.

[sverigecruiser]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I do not disagree, but he made it sound like cruises were never the way to go. So, I wondered why he ever cruised.

 

What I said was that if the ports are the most important part of the trip, why cruise?

 

For me the time on the ship is more important than the ports and because of that I cruise.

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

What I said was that if the ports are the most important part of the trip, why cruise?

 

For me the time on the ship is more important than the ports and because of that I cruise.

Ok, I understand now.

[ldubs]

17 hours ago, pdmlynek said:

Wow, I really respect that view.  And I agree with the sentiment,

 

Most experienced travelers would say that you'd need a week, a month, or half a year, to get to know Santorini (or a similar place), but given how much more there is to see around the globe, devoting a month to each little island would take tens of thousands of year to visit various places around the globe.  Unfortunately, travel is a triage endevour.  

 

A month in Santorini?  Too much immersion for me!  😄

 

Thinking about it, I cannot come up with a place where I would want to spend a month.  Even beyond just one place, I generally prefer to keep travel to a couple of weeks.  That is just me.  We typically have a lot of things happening.  After a couple weeks I'm ready to get back to doing something else.   That doesn't mean I don't admire those seasoned travelers doing the mega trips.   

[lenquixote66]

I initially believed this was going to be a post about a medical crouse.

[quercus alba]

On 3/3/2023 at 5:39 PM, Markanddonna said:

Not only might it be important to return to an interesting port, city, or region to see new things, it is sometimes important to return with fresh, better-researched eyes. The first time I was in Israel (on a cruise), the experience was overwhelming. I thought there was no way I could get around the old city of Jerusalem on my own. We did this past November, and intense research and great advice from others made it a much better-appreciated experience. Now, after more post-trip research, I want to return to some of the same places because I "didn't get" or appreciate some of the places we passed. Hezekiah's tunnel, Kidron Valley, etc. 

 

We are all very different. Others are happy with only what a tour guide might tell them. I research before and after a trip and find I want to return for more. 

 

Very much agree--Mrs. Q and I went on first cruise (West Med) because she wanted to go to Europe and I had no idea how to start. So we booked the cruise with the idea that it was more like a "Spain and Italy 101" introductory survey course to show us places which we might consider for upper division courses or even graduate seminars later, to continue the analogy. Also to continue the analogy, our graduation date has been indefinitely postponed. 😅

Our current survey will be for the Eastern Mediterranean, which pretty much demands that someone drive you around in a boat, and our criteria for even thinking about cruising anymore is that the vast majority of the ports have to be places we've never been before, as well as places that our lives will be enriched by having seen, even once, for too short a time.

We also enjoy the convenience of packing and unpacking for our "hotel" once, and not needing to book lodging in multiple places, or arrange transport between all of these places. (OTOH, I'm getting better all the all the time at figuring those things out, and we had a great trip to Scotland & Ireland a couple of years ago where we were able to "settle" in Glasgow and Dublin respectively a few nights and plan day trips.)

Edited March 5, 2023 by quercus alba

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, quercus alba said:

 (OTOH, I'm getting better all the all the time at figuring those things out, and we had a great trip to Scotland & Ireland a couple of years ago where we were able to "settle" in Glasgow and Dublin respectively a few nights and plan day trips.)

 

One of the appeals of travel in Europe is the train system makes it easy to use this kind of "base camp" approach.   Like you say, settle in a major city/hub then take day trips.  Later this year we will be doing our "base camps" in Milan and Como.     

[sverigecruiser]

On 3/3/2023 at 10:57 PM, cruisemom42 said:

 

It's also possible to avoid public transportation in many places. [But if one is trying to keep costs below a cruise, one cannot take 500-euro private excursions every day.....]

 

I was thinking about transportation in large cities because that is what you mentioned in the part I quoted. For example Rome, Barcelona and London are good towns for walking. Lots of things in walking distance in many cities.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

I was thinking about transportation in large cities because that is what you mentioned in the part I quoted. For example Rome, Barcelona and London are good towns for walking. Lots of things in walking distance in many cities.

I would add Florence to your list of city's that are good for walking.

[borgerboy@aol.com]

On 3/4/2023 at 3:56 AM, ontheweb said:

Ok, I understand now.

For someone from a different continent as myself the Med ports matter a lot.  

[Harry Lake]

On 3/1/2023 at 6:57 AM, cruisemom42 said:

after a dozen or more Med cruises

I just realized that, as few cruises that we've done, none of them were the Mediterranean. We've done a bunch of those places but not by water. We're 'port people' so maybe that's why.

[cruisemom42]

2 hours ago, Harry Lake said:

I just realized that, as few cruises that we've done, none of them were the Mediterranean. We've done a bunch of those places but not by water. We're 'port people' so maybe that's why.

I don’t only travel by cruise ship. By my quick reckoning I’ve also done around 22 land trips in the countries bordering the Med, including many in Italy as well as Greece, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, southern France, Portugal and Spain. That’s not including the time spent prior to getting on a cruise — for example, just spent a week in Rome before getting on a  TA back to the US — or trips or cruises to other places like Northern Europe or Asia.

[Harry Lake]

10 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Greece, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, southern France, Portugal and Spain.

We've done most of those, some not enough. We're thinking about France and Italy on trains.