Which Med cruise would you do? Please help me decide

[TRAVELBUGCRUISER]

Hi Everyone

 

My DH and I have done many Carribean Cruises both with NCL and RCL. We have yet to do a Med cruise and are looking for this November specifically. We have our eye on these two itineraries but would appreciate input from people that have cruised the Med before of which they would prefer and why? We are going alone, just the two of us. We are very laid back and enjoy an organized tour just as much as we enjoy days of grabbing a coffee and meandering around a new place ourselves. Which of these would you choose and if neither please feel free to say why and what one you might do if differently. Thank you

 

One is a 10 day cruise on the Viva

One is a 9 day on the Prima.

 

[TrumpyNor]

Definitely the 10-day cruise on the Viva, in my opinion. Especially if you have not cruised in Europe before. I have been to all ports on both itineraries and simpy find the ports on that cruise to be more interesting as they offer more variation.

[UKstages]

while the viva is promised to be a virtual clone of the prima, you have a better chance of benefitting from whatever modest improvements or policy changes they put into the viva as opposed to the prima. plus, the viva will still have that new ship smell.

 

other than that, it boils down to the itinerary... spain vs. gibraltar.

 

it's a personal choice of what matters more to you.

[complawyer]

viva! more ports and more places of interest

[BirdTravels]

Personally, I would do the Prima for the Italian ports. The Viva ports aren’t as interesting to us. 
 

we were more than happy to sail past Gibraltar during on cruise from Southampton to Barcelona. 

Edited June 16, 2023 by BirdTravels

[mugtech]

Would prefer Viva for Lisbon, Malaga, and Gibraltar, the only port Prima has which is better is Naples.  Both are very good first time in Europe itineraries. 

[complawyer]

actually, any cruise departing from either athens or venice (trieste) offers much lovelier ports of call

 

you cant miss with going to croatia, santorini, mykonos and istanbul. however those are my personal preferences also remember the ports for rome and florence are about an hour from the actual cities themselves.

 

unless you want to experience all the bells, whistles and goodies on these 2 newest ncl ships, you'd probably get a better deal on the above-mentioned itineraries

[fredflint]

Ending in Lisbon is a major plus it is a great city to spend an extra day or two, there is a a really nice mall and lots of high end stores if you want to take advantage of the VAT tax refund.

[Mississippian]

7 hours ago, TrumpyNor said:

Definitely the 10-day cruise on the Viva, in my opinion. Especially if you have not cruised in Europe before. I have been to all ports on both itineraries and simpy find the ports on that cruise to be more interesting as they offer more variation.

Plus Lisbon is a great place to spend a couple of days post-cruise. It's actually a pretty hard city to visit, in that it can't be reached by train very easily. So most people never go.

[insidecabin]

November the med is cooling, summer can be too hot for city tourism.

 

I prefer the Viva 10n out of those 2  add some time in Lisbon.

It has a better selection of ports  leaving Naples for the next one

 

Malaga, Cadiz and Lisbon are extra and all good with plenty of tourist options.

 

Gib is ok a once and done place if you do the rock tour some interesting history.

main street OK, some restaurants,

Big supermarket to stock up on snacks

 

Jade has a nice one in Oct, could tag on the TA back to NY

[KeithJenner]

I agree with the general consensus that I would go for the Viva out of those two (we are actually booked on the reverse itinerary next year). It has Lisbon and you still get to spend a day in Barcelona. You do miss Naples though.

 

I also agree with the point made earlier that Eastern Med cruises have generally nicer ports that Western so I would also consider cruises from Athens or Greek Island from Rome (There is also Trieste, but the uncertainty and itinerary changes around Venice perhaps makes that less than ideal for a first visit.

 

Western Med has more of the big destination ports (Rome, Naples, Florence, Barcelona) than Eastern, but the other ports are consistently nicer (in my opinion) in Eastern. Greek Island cruises from Rome include bits of both, so are certainly worth looking at.

 

The itineraries you are looking at are both very nice though, so you won’t be disappointed whatever you go for.