30th Anniversary Med Cruise - Help!

[Rooster Cogburn]

Hello everyone! We are long-time cruisers (all Caribbean ports) and BIG fans of Celebrity.

 

Our 30th anniversary is in 2025 and we're looking to book a Celebrity Mediterranean cruise. However, we have some questions and would welcome advice from you experts!

• Best time to visit and avoid tons of tourists?
• Ports to visit/avoid?
• Is a 10 or 14 day cruise better?
• Specific forums on CC we should check out for more info?
• Anything else we should consider?

 

THANK YOU in advance for your help!!

[Essiesmom]

The longer the better, July and August beastly hot and busy!  Europe takes August off for vacation.  Western Med is the most traditional route, I think eastern Med is more interesting, varied, historical.  EM

[mahdnc]

59 minutes ago, Rooster Cogburn said:

Hello everyone! We are long-time cruisers (all Caribbean ports) and BIG fans of Celebrity.

 

Our 30th anniversary is in 2025 and we're looking to book a Celebrity Mediterranean cruise. However, we have some questions and would welcome advice from you experts!

• Best time to visit and avoid tons of tourists?
• Ports to visit/avoid?
• Is a 10 or 14 day cruise better?
• Specific forums on CC we should check out for more info?
• Anything else we should consider?

 

THANK YOU in advance for your help!!

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic, Rooster!

 

Go to the Mediterranean - Eastern & Western Cruise Critic forum for good targeted information on your cruise ports.  My personal favorite ports are Italy and Greece, but that is just my opinion.

 

Give serious consideration to hiring a private guide for some or all of your ports--something that you would not typically do on a Caribbean cruise. Whatever your budget allows, It is money well spent.  A private guide will save you lots of time and will be a superior experience to a ship excursion.  Private guides will often get your admission tickets in advance and will allow you to skip an admission line.  Because of your small group size, you will often beat the larger ship tours to the big attractions.  The Mediterranean forum (above) will have recommendations for excellent guides.  If you don't see a recommendation, then post and ask for one.  Then if you find one, book them as soon as possible.  The real popular Cruise Critic favorites will get booked up real fast.

 

You definitely need to find the roll call for your sailing (once you decide on a sailing).  Here is a link to that forum.  If you don't see your sailing, then start the roll call yourself by being the first one to post.  Roll calls are where other Cruise Critic members on the same sailing will hang out.  It's a great place to exchange information and ideas.  It's also a great place to get a small group together and share expenses for a privately guided tour.

 

Finally, you should seriously consider booking at least a couple of nights (more if possible) to stay in Europe before your cruise starts and after your cruise starts.  This will allow you to explore those areas much more thoroughly than you will at the ports that your cruise ship will stop at.  It will be one of the highlights of your trip.   Allocating time on land before and after the cruise also allows you to enjoy things that you can't on a cruise like night time sightseeing (photo) or having dinner at a nice land side restaurant.  Night time is cooler and less crowded.  Also flying into Europe a few nights ahead of your cruise will allow you time to absorb unforeseen problems without missing your ship (e.g. cancelled flights) or hampering your cruise (waiting for lost luggage to catch up to you before your cruise starts).

 

Good luck.

 

 

Edited January 30 by mahdnc

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Late September, October is a nice time 

and you can add a transatlantic home 

[1Virgo]

Agree. July and August too hot and the crowds increase  We would go back maybe in the spring. We did a 7 day with a port every day, in June and it was starting to get quite hot. I would prefer a 10 day with a sea day somewhere in there just to process and savor everything we saw. So much history

 

Depends on which ports you do. We did a boat excursion along the Alfani Coast. Amazing. Malta a walking tour.  Mykonos wandered, enjoyed lunch at a waterview restaurant    We ended our cruise in Rome and hired a private driver.  That was worth it. The company emailed suggesting we buy tickets to the Colesseum ahead of time so when we arrived, the driver told us exactly which line to get in and what to look for.    

 

Happy upcoming 30th Anniversary 

[jennmaybe]

Hello fellow North Carolinian!  We are from NC, but moved to FL a few years ago!

 

We did our first Mediterranean cruise back in October and in my opinion, it was absolutely the best time to go. The ship was not full, and we did not have issues in the ports with heavy crowds, except just getting off the ship, of course.  The weather was absolutely perfect. We had temps anywhere from the mid 70s to low 80s every day.
 

Our favorite ports were Santorini and both ports in Italy.  Now, we did a Princess cruise, only because Sicily, Italy & Santorini were on my bucket list and Princess was the only line that offer both of these ports on one cruise.

 

I am not sure that any of us could tell you which are the best ports, only because we are all going to have different favorites.  My recommendation to you would be to do some research, whether it be here or on Google in general and get an idea of where you want to go.
 

As far as length, I would jump on a 14 day cruise, however, my husband and I still both work for a living and taking a 2 week cruise is not an option for us. 😔

 

Whichever you decide, I hope you have a wonderful time!

 

 

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, Rooster Cogburn said:

Hello everyone! We are long-time cruisers (all Caribbean ports) and BIG fans of Celebrity.

 

Our 30th anniversary is in 2025 and we're looking to book a Celebrity Mediterranean cruise. However, we have some questions and would welcome advice from you experts!

• Best time to visit and avoid tons of tourists?
• Ports to visit/avoid?
• Is a 10 or 14 day cruise better?
• Specific forums on CC we should check out for more info?
• Anything else we should consider?

 

THANK YOU in advance for your help!!

The longer the better.

Late May early June or mid September to early October avoids the peak/school holidays.

East or West Med really depends on your interests - personally we would avoid the Greek Islands as they get very crowded.

Book private guides to get the most out of the ports. Our go to is Tours by locals - you deal direct with the guides, pay via the Head Office in Canada, full refund if the ship doesn't dock. Book with a guide that has a vehicle that holds 6 and share with one other couple through the Roll Call. We take out the lunch and have coffee  /cake breaks. Book the Guides as soon as you Book the cruise as the best guides get booked up fast.

Don't try to do too much in a day - less done well is better than just rushing around.

Above all relax and enjoy 

[dabear]

We've taken a number of Med cruises, both eastern & western, Agree, best time in these areas is fall, September or October. Temperature is moderate. Also agree to do research to decide which ports interest you the most. 10-14 day cruises make the most sense since it takes you a long flight to get to/from Europe from the US. We recommend taking a cruise with at least a few seadays for relaxation since you probably will be touring on most port days.  Definitely fly in at least one day before the cruise in case of flight problems as well as adjusting to the time changes. We prefer arranging for private tours over ship tours (unless long tour with tight return before ship departure), since smaller size of groups & often less priced. Enjoy

[gfkcruiser]

We did our first celebrity cruise and it was our first time in Europe for our 30th and now have been back many times.  We did it in November and the weather was great for touring.  We Only go spring or fall.  As we had not been before, went to a travel agent and did Rome to the Greek Islands for 10 days.   Was wonderful and 15 years later, we have done 7 Transatlantics and 6 euro cruises.  I would say no matter what you select, it will be great and you will want to return!

[George C]

2 hours ago, Rooster Cogburn said:

Hello everyone! We are long-time cruisers (all Caribbean ports) and BIG fans of Celebrity.

 

Our 30th anniversary is in 2025 and we're looking to book a Celebrity Mediterranean cruise. However, we have some questions and would welcome advice from you experts!

• Best time to visit and avoid tons of tourists?
• Ports to visit/avoid?
• Is a 10 or 14 day cruise better?
• Specific forums on CC we should check out for more info?
• Anything else we should consider?

 

THANK YOU in advance for your help!!

Welcome to cruise critic 

I would avoid summer June to September, lots of walking 

I enjoyed leaving from Barcelona great place to start a cruise and great place to spend a few days before your cruise starts , only 30 mins from airport to city/port.

Our favorite ports are Naples , Kotor , Dubrovnik and Florence, some ports like Florence and Rome are approximately 90 minutes from port. 
Join your roll call when you book , we did most of our excursions with private tours with fellow roll call travelers.

Rick Steves has lots of great videos on YouTube for the major cities in Europe.

you picked a cool username 😁

[Spif Barwunkel]

No matter what itinerary you decide on, it will be a most enjoyable cruise because you will have made the decision. Because Europe offers so much diversity, beauty, and history, you will find your most difficult decision to be, where do we start. 

 

As has been mentioned, avoid July and August. May and June, September and October are very comfortable travel times, and less crowded. There are 2025 European cruise itineraries currently listed on the Celebrity website. Take a look at what is offered and narrow down your choices to the most appealing. You say the Med is where you are drawn to, but don't completely ignore other offerings as they deserve consideration as well. No matter the number of days you decide on, spend extra days on one or both ends of the cruise enjoying the city(s) of embarkation and debarkation. When traveling any distance, it is most beneficial to do and see as much as you possibly can in order to maximize your experience. Also, be prepared to be lured back again and again to other places and other times.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Also check different holidays in the EU 

We were in Rome Nov1 - 6 before a

 TA , and it was crazy with tourists, as a number of countries had school holidays that week 

[Crazy planning mom]

I recommend reading Rick Steve's Mediterranean port of call book.

We sailed in August and October.  Preferred October.  Definitely, arrive in your departure city at least 2 nights beforehand to get over jetlag and see the embarkation City.  We spent  three nights in Rome before our 1st Med cruise and 2 nights in Athens before our 2nd Med cruise.  You may want to also add time in Paris before or after your cruise.

[Rooster Cogburn]

Wow, thank you all so much! Great advice and super helpful folks here…exactly what I remember from CC back in the day. I posted here for many years as “Staplerman” but no longer have access to my old email address, so here we are…

I will share this thread with my bride and I know she’ll also be grateful for your advice!

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, Rooster Cogburn said:

Wow, thank you all so much! Great advice and super helpful folks here…exactly what I remember from CC back in the day. I posted here for many years as “Staplerman” but no longer have access to my old email address, so here we are…

I will share this thread with my bride and I know she’ll also be grateful for your advice!

 

Then welcome back to Cruise Critic.