Mediterranean in October?

[jalynn]

We're thinking of a Med. cruise next fall. :) The itinerary is Barcelona-Rome-Pisa-Nice-Provence-Barcelona. Has anyone done this cruise in early Oct.? We enjoy the warm weather and the sun, but with this busy itinerary there's only one sea day, so not a lot of time for sunning. Your comments on both the time of year and the ports would be most appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance for all advice!

[GSPLover]

We did Portofini/Livorno/Messina/Split/Venice/Dubrovnik/Naples in early Oct this year. Weather was great (mid 70s daytime - high 50s nighttime.) Quite pleasant - but not sunning weather IMHO. I would expect the same (at best) on your itinerary.

[Keith1010]

October is a wonderful time to visit these ports. The weather will be comfortable and you won't have to deal with the large crowds and very hot and humid weather that you encouter during the summer months.

 

Keith

[andynapril]

We were on the Voyager of the Seas on Oct. 4. The weather was PERFECT. Everyday was in the 70's & crowds weren't bad. There were some crowds. I can't even imagine being there in the summer heat & crowds. Oct will be perfect.

[jalynn]

so happy to hear about the great weather!

 

we were looking at the voyager also. any suggestions as to primo cabins/jr. suites?

[tally10]

We went Oct. 25 : Rome, Naples, Marmaris. Izmir, Istanbul, Athens, Katakolon, Florence, Rome. The weather was warm. We had one day in Florence where it was raining (all day) and cold. I had heard that there would be less crowds, but there were crowds everywhere except Marmaris. This was on the Carnival Freedom. We had booked the Voyager prior to this but were warned off by a poster on Cruise Critic, so we switched to the Freedom. We had a wonderful cruise. I am sure the Voyager can't be as bad as she made it sound.

[Travel to Ports]

If you want advice re Voyager of the Seas (or any specific ship for that matter) consider asking questions at the specific cruise line's forum. Another possibility would be to ask questions on a Roll Call of a recently completed cruise on the ship that you are considering as well.

 

As for the question of weather and the Mediterranean, there is pretty much a consensus that July and August are very poor choices unless you have no other choice (better months to do Northern Europe or Alaska). Otherwise, if you have such flexibility that you could do May, June, September, or October, I would list your likely ports and research weather statistics for them to form your decision. We are doing our next Barcelona to Venice in late May/early June, because I wanted Barcelona to Venice, not Venice to Barcelona and we had employment issues that excluded the first half of May (my preference) and September/October.

 

Best of luck,

You can never spend too much time in planning a cruise vacation,

David

[JaneBP]

The Voyager is just heading into dry dock. It's all-inclusive with balconies in all cabins and 7oo passengers. I have sailed Carnival and it's way below Voyager in style and class.

 

On the Voyager the wait staff do not don funny hats and sing around the dining room at dinner time. 'Nuff said.

[ger_77]

We've cruised the Mediterranean in June and in October, and found we liked the October timeframe the best. There were less crowds, as it was past high tourist season, and the weather temperatures were very comfortable. In June we had one day in Kusadasi where the daytime temp was 96 degrees and we were on a walking tour. Thanks goodness for hats and bottled water!

 

Remember that if you have only one day off, you are likely going to be using that day to catch up on sleep. Friends of ours did an itinerary similar to yours with only 1 sea day of the 12 days and they were so exhausted from all of the excursions and trying to see things that when the ship docked in Rome - they stayed in bed and basically slept the day away. They said they would not do such a port intensive itinerary without a few sea days to even things out. Your mileage may vary.

 

Whenever you choose to go, enjoy yourself and see a beautiful and interesting part of the world.

 

Smooth Sailing! :):):)

[aussiecruzer]

We did the Voyager Western Med cruise last year from Sept 29th to Oct 5th. Weather was just perfect. In fact in Rome it was even a little too hot! I think Sept/Oct is a fantastic choice for cruising the Med.:):)

[English_in_Spain]

The Voyager is just heading into dry dock. It's all-inclusive with balconies in all cabins and 7oo passengers. I have sailed Carnival and it's way below Voyager in style and class.

 

On the Voyager the wait staff do not don funny hats and sing around the dining room at dinner time. 'Nuff said.

 

Are you sure you are talking about 'Voyager of the Seas' (RCI) and not 'Seven Seas Voyager'?

[tally10]

The Voyager is just heading into dry dock. It's all-inclusive with balconies in all cabins and 7oo passengers. I have sailed Carnival and it's way below Voyager in style and class.

 

On the Voyager the wait staff do not don funny hats and sing around the dining room at dinner time. 'Nuff said.

 

We are RCCL and Celebrity cruisers and were pleasantly surprised about how good our Carnival in the Med. experience was. It was MUCH better than the Brilliance of the Seas and and somewhat better than the Jewel. Carnival's food was EONS better in the main dining room than RCCL's though the buffets were about the same, except that Carnival offered white meat chicken numerous times and it was only offered once on both RCCL's ships ("Honey Stung Chicken") in the buffet. The Carnival Freedom was a nice surprise. Yes, they did sing, but our wait staff was awsome-even the Maitre 'D. Too bad they are pulling out of Europe except for a few cruises on the new Dream before she does her transatlantic. I don't think I'd want to do Carnival in the Carribbean, though. Too much partying.

[jalynn]

I'm the OP for this thread and we finally did book the Med cruise. We will be doing a repositioning cruise on the RCI Navigator from Rome to Malaga in October, 2009. We plan to do at least 2 days in Rome prior to the cruise and would appreciate any suggestions for hotels that are reasonably priced and in a good location, as well as the name of any exceptional guides you have used. We'll have 4 grown children and my MIL with us, so price is definitely a consideration.

 

Also--what about getting to the cruise port from Rome? anyone taken the train? (I'm assuming there is one :-).

 

DH's question: Should he plan to dress as he would in the Caribbean? i.e. linen pants and shirts for casual dinner...and if not, what should he wear for casual nights?

 

Any other advice/suggestions?

 

Thanks!

[GSPLover]

I'm the OP for this thread and we finally did book the Med cruise. We will be doing a repositioning cruise on the RCI Navigator from Rome to Malaga in October, 2009. We plan to do at least 2 days in Rome prior to the cruise and would appreciate any suggestions for hotels that are reasonably priced and in a good location, as well as the name of any exceptional guides you have used. We'll have 4 grown children and my MIL with us, so price is definitely a consideration.

 

Also--what about getting to the cruise port from Rome? anyone taken the train? (I'm assuming there is one :-).

 

DH's question: Should he plan to dress as he would in the Caribbean? i.e. linen pants and shirts for casual dinner...and if not, what should he wear for casual nights?

 

Any other advice/suggestions?

 

Thanks!

 

We just got off the Navigator about a week ago. Beautiful ship. Excellent service. Food in the dining room was great.

 

For DH - Casual would be Kahki pnats and a polo shirt. Linen pants OK but probably a bit much. Suit for formal nights is fine.

 

Train to port? Aw, you should ask! See my train link in the sig line below. Should answer a majority of your questions, if not, there is a link to my email.

 

Hotels? Not going to go there on this venue - you'll get 1,000 plus answers!

[ger_77]

any suggestions for hotels that are reasonably priced and in a good location

 

Congratulations on booking your cruise; I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. It sounds like you'll have your whole family with you as well, which will make for some great family memories.

 

 

Re: the hotel in Rome, you might want to try Hotwire; we got a 5* in Athens for $79 US per night. It can't hurt to try.

 

Smooth Sailing! :):):)

[samavarcruiser]

We're thinking of a Med. cruise next fall. :) The itinerary is Barcelona-Rome-Pisa-Nice-Provence-Barcelona. Has anyone done this cruise in early Oct.? We enjoy the warm weather and the sun, but with this busy itinerary there's only one sea day, so not a lot of time for sunning. Your comments on both the time of year and the ports would be most appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance for all advice!

 

 

Weather will be great :)

[jilly08]

I'm the OP for this thread and we finally did book the Med cruise. We will be doing a repositioning cruise on the RCI Navigator from Rome to Malaga in October, 2009. We plan to do at least 2 days in Rome prior to the cruise and would appreciate any suggestions for hotels that are reasonably priced and in a good location, as well as the name of any exceptional guides you have used. We'll have 4 grown children and my MIL with us, so price is definitely a consideration.

 

Also--what about getting to the cruise port from Rome? anyone taken the train? (I'm assuming there is one :-).

 

DH's question: Should he plan to dress as he would in the Caribbean? i.e. linen pants and shirts for casual dinner...and if not, what should he wear for casual nights?

 

Any other advice/suggestions?

 

Thanks!

 

We stayed at B&B Bologna last year and it was wonderful. The rooms are in an apartment building and although it's not right in Rome, it's only 3 metro stops from the Termini. The metro is right around the corner. The bus to anywhere is across the Piazza. Our room was Enormous and had a balcony. We only paid 85 Euros a night. The owners are wonderful. They are highly rated on Trip Advisor. Also the Metro is very, very easy to use. You are literally 10 minutes from Rome Center. We got a Roma pass and busses and the Metro are included as well as admission to 2 museums (not the Vatican though) I think it's about 20 euros pp.

 

Another option to consider with your group is renting an apartment. I've been reading and reading about many different companies --Slow Travel has a section on apartments. Anyway, they are very economical, plus they have more room than a hotel. I ended up booking one for our trip this October. We are in Rome 6 nights pre-cruise. The cost was 89 Euros a night and the place looks gorgeous and has great reviews.

 

If you can manage to stay 3 or 4 nights, even better! We stayed 3 nights and managed to see quite a bit. One Vatican day, 1 historic and 1 wandering around to the fountains and monuments. (and seeking out Gelato everywhere we went!!!)

 

I'm sure you will get lots of other suggestions too. Whatever you decide, have a wonderful time. Rome just may be my favorite place on earth!

 

Jill

[mauimary]

We did this cruise mid Oct 2008. Weather for us was great-mid 70's the whole time and a couple of days in the 80's. We only had 3 sea days so there was not much time to relax. We have another med cruise booked for mid Oct 2010. Love this time of year-prices were down and so were the crowds and the weather was great and not too hot. :)