Which cruise?

[Eclipsepearl]

This is addictive! We just got back from a Med cruise and I'm itching to go again. I can't help but look for next year.

 

We went with Celebrity and for a number of reasons, want to try something else next time. We are basically limited to Med cruises in late July to mid-August because of dh's work. Our kids are now 3, 5 & 8. Food is important. Entertainment less so.

 

I'm a little frustrated because it seems the smaller ships come over to the Med. I think many are still much bigger than the Galaxy we were on.

 

NCL and HAL do not have cruises that fit our schedule. No, dh will not consider anything outside the Med ("What if it rains??") For now, I'm not whining. There's still plenty more to see in the Med.

 

Opinions please! Some cruises I've eliminated because they cover many of the same ports so we want to see new stuff.

 

RCCL is tempting since it's the same company as Celebrity;

 

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/Eclipsepearl/Cruise%2007/Cruise07001.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/cruiseDetails/itineraryAndPricing.do;jsessionid=00000gAkANHbqNxA7U_2mIpvvt5:10kohi76p?packageCode=LG13M009&date=20083&selectedCurrencyCode=&promoType=

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/cruiseDetails/itineraryAndPricing.do;jsessionid=00000gAkANHbqNxA7U_2mIpvvt5:10kohi76p?packageCode=LG13M009&date=20083&selectedCurrencyCode=&promoType=

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/cruiseDetails/itineraryAndPricing.do;jsessionid=00000gAkANHbqNxA7U_2mIpvvt5:10kohi76p?packageCode=BR12M018&date=20083&selectedCurrencyCode=&promoType=

 

Princess looks good;

 

http://www.princess.com/pb/itineraryDetails.do?voyageCode=E822&tourCode=&date=0808&noOfPax=2&resType=C&definition_name=

 

http://www.princess.com/pb/itineraryDetails.do?subnav=true&voyageCode=E821&tourCode=&resType=C&noOfPax=2&shipId=EP&shipName=Emerald+Princess&co=FR&productCode=EGA120&departureDate=Aug+04%2C+2008&productDesc=Greek+Isles+%26+Mediterranean+-+Rome+to+Venice

 

...and Carnival;

http://www.carnival.com/Itinerary.aspx?embkCode=CIV&groupInd=MED1&itinCode=EE8&shipCode=FD&durDays=12&subRegionCode=E

 

http://www.carnival.com/Itinerary.aspx?embkCode=CIV&groupInd=MED6&itinCode=EE1&shipCode=FD&durDays=12&subRegionCode=E

 

I hope I got those links right!

 

Remember this is very preliminary. I would love excuses to narrow the list down.

 

Please offer up your ideas, even if you don't have the time & patience to click on all those links, especially if you can talk about the company and kids' clubs...even on different ships in different parts of the world.

 

Thanks in advance!

[abitaturbodog]

We just booked a Costa cruise and I noticed that they have quite a lot of Med. cruises. You might want to look into this line.

[mpb43]

Eclipsepearl,

 

I had to pipe in because I am going through cruise withdrawal as well! We had a wonderful time in the Med last month and I am looking forward to another cruise. I think it will be 2009 though. I really prefer a newer ship with the kids. I don't think it would matter so much if it were just my husband and I. I really like the Emerald Princess. I like the itinerary and the brand-spanking new ship. The Brilliance also has a great itinerary. My favorite itinerary is on the Legend of the Seas, but like you, I am worried about the small, older ship with my kids. Good luck in your decision!

[Eclipsepearl]

We just booked a Costa cruise and I noticed that they have quite a lot of Med. cruises. You might want to look into this line.

 

Thanks for the suggestion but I actually looked into basically all the companies that offer these types of cruises before narrowing it down to these. Costa mostly has short, 7 day cruises. They sell heavily to French, which is a big drawback for us. My children speak French every day and it was really great to take a cruise with an American company where my kids got to practice their English (which they speak w/o an accent but the level is much lower).

 

Plus, as a gross generalization, English speakers tend to be friendlier and more outgoing than French, making the atmosphere more congenial. I also don't have to explain myself as much, the endless questions...

 

There was another French family on our Celebrity cruise who were on Costa last year and they told us that hands-down, Celebrity was much better so I'm looking for similar.

 

While we had a great time on Celebrity, they basically have the same schedule for next year and we want to try something new, since our vacation time slot is so narrow.

 

Newer ships sound better for kids but finding them in the Med is tricky. I am going to look more carefully at them for next year. The Emerald Princess looks good. As much as I love Morocco, I think the Pacific Princess would be too small for kids. Like you said, if it were just us, that would be different...

 

Do you guys think Carnival is too much a party-scene? Or is that more in the Caribbean?? I know some people on this board have had bad experiences with that but it's a spanking new ship, with a great itinerary and the perfect dates for us.

 

Oh so tempting... Would hard-core partiers really head for Turkey, Greece and Italy? (the snob in me wants to say no ;) )

[matt37b]

Thanks for the suggestion but I actually looked into basically all the companies that offer these types of cruises before narrowing it down to these. Costa mostly has short, 7 day cruises. They sell heavily to French, which is a big drawback for us. My children speak French every day and it was really great to take a cruise with an American company where my kids got to practice their English (which they speak w/o an accent but the level is much lower).

 

Plus, as a gross generalization, English speakers tend to be friendlier and more outgoing than French, making the atmosphere more congenial. I also don't have to explain myself as much, the endless questions...

 

I would suggest that you maybe give Costa a shot on a larger boat. We have had very good experiences with them and have found that not that many French families take Costa in the summer. Furthermore, Costa serves so many Italian families that the French with whom you might meet are generally exceptionally friendly due to the language barrier that they are met with by most of the staff members as well as the passengers.

If you go on either the Serena or the Concordia, the boat should be big enough to have enough things to do for the whole family. We are an American family that also lives in France. We have done 16 cruises, most of them in the Med, and mostly with Costa. I must say that we prefer the food as well as the European atmosphere on the Costa boats to the Royal Caribbean (Splendor of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas) or the Disney Med trip we took this year. Our daughter who is now 12 says that she thinks the Costa kids programs are better than Both the Disney programs and the Kids club on the voyager of the seas (RCI). She speaks both languages fluently and is in an international section in College. However, we have also had a very positive experience with cruising on the Sapphire Princess (but that was in Australia and not the Med). Hope this helps! Matt37b

[boulders]

Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas is making its maiden voyage next spring. It will have 14 night cruises in the Western Med during the time you specified. It will be in the largest class of Royal's fleet and will have an H2O zone for the kids, skating rink etc. etc etc. So many things for the kids to do.

 

I've cruised only twice, but both times with Royal Caribbean. I've had a great time both time. The children have gone once, on the Voyager class of Royal's fleet. They loved it and insist on going cruising again over any other type of vacation.

 

Here's a link: Independence of the Seas

[Eclipsepearl]

I would suggest that you maybe give Costa a shot on a larger boat. We have had very good experiences with them and have found that not that many French families take Costa in the summer. Furthermore, Costa serves so many Italian families that the French with whom you might meet are generally exceptionally friendly due to the language barrier that they are met with by most of the staff members as well as the passengers.

If you go on either the Serena or the Concordia, the boat should be big enough to have enough things to do for the whole family. We are an American family that also lives in France. We have done 16 cruises, most of them in the Med, and mostly with Costa. I must say that we prefer the food as well as the European atmosphere on the Costa boats to the Royal Caribbean (Splendor of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas) or the Disney Med trip we took this year. Our daughter who is now 12 says that she thinks the Costa kids programs are better than Both the Disney programs and the Kids club on the voyager of the seas (RCI). She speaks both languages fluently and is in an international section in College. However, we have also had a very positive experience with cruising on the Sapphire Princess (but that was in Australia and not the Med). Hope this helps! Matt37b

 

That's really great to know! I will take a look, especially since we had major parking issues in Rome. Big long story but we had to do the parking separately with another company, which screwed up... Costa takes care of its customers' cars at certain ports.

 

All the travel agents push Costa so heavily that it makes me kind of balk. It's almost a case of "are there any other cruise lines that exist??"

 

That's great that your dd is in collège in France. My son was actually refused a place in the international sections because my dh is French (they had very few places and they all went to "pure" foreigners). My kids are much stronger in French than in English so I'm keen to get them exposed to my native language as much as possible. My dh can't speak English but he managed pretty well on our cruise with just a few phrases. He doesn't mind and can understand pretty well now (and he deals with the inconvenience for the sake of the children's language skills). My dh has his own business so we'll never live anywhere else than Alsace. That also means we can only vacation at peak times. He's his own boss and can only take off when business slows down enough to permit it.

 

As you can imagine, the food is a big deal to my dh so that's will factor strongly in our choice.

 

I'll go look up the actual scedules for those two specific ships and consider them in the future.

 

Thanks for that info.

[perthgirl]

We are taking our ten year old daughter to the med this month on a 121 day cruise with Carnival. It basically covers alot of Italy, Barcelona, Cannes and Dubrovnik. We can't wait!!!

[perthgirl]

We are taking our ten year old daughter to the med this month on a 121 day cruise with Carnival. It basically covers alot of Italy, Barcelona, Cannes and Dubrovnik. We can't wait!!!

 

Oops - I wish it were 121 days - unfortunately it is only 12