I would be happy to give you advice. My wife and I have been on several Mediterranean cruises, primarily on Celebrity ships, but we have cruised other itineraries on other lines. Do you have a particular cruise in mind? How far along in the process are you? Have you purchased the cruise yet? How long will the cruise be? Do you know what kind of cabin you want? Do you prefer a party experience or something a little calmer? There are some differences across cruise lines.
If you haven't got a cruise yet, the primary ports for embarkation and debarkation will probably be Civitavecchia (outside of Rome), Venice (spectacular sailaway from there), Athens, or Barcelona. Of all of those, Venice is my favorite.
You can PM me, if you want to take this offline.
Thanks, I may take you up on that offer eventually although it would seem that we've got the basics down. We haven't booked yet, just need to nail down the right cruise which we've researched a bit. Class of cruise ship, ship review, port, length, destinations.. that's pretty much what we're looking at right now.
Right now I've got my eyes on this
Greek Isles cruise on the
Jewel of the Seas.
I had wanted Marseilles to be one of our ports but it looks like we need to make one sacrifice or another, and it seems like our choices are either Western or Greek Isles. So my current thinking is a 9 day cruise with a couple days on land in Rome before we head home.
I mostly asked in case there were a couple things you 'gotta' know.. but in terms of picking our cruise we've done our research and read several blogs, so I think we've got that down, for the most part.
Cruise Critic is the best source of information. Definitely join the online "roll call" for that particular cruise. You can also sign up for the Connections party on the Cruise Critic web site. (The ship will send an invitation to your stateroom.) That will give you an opportunity to meet some officers and also make contacts with folks that you meet online. You might want to consider joining with some CC folks on local activities at ports rather than going with the more expensive excursions offered by the ship. People will be making arrangements on the Roll Call and can answer all questions that you have.
Royal Caribbean is a good line. Excellent entertainment, food, and activities. If you like to ice skate, Jewel has an ice rink and puts on ice shows. The RCL corporation owns Celebrity and Azamara, as well, but Royal Caribbean cruises tend to be more popular with a younger, family-oriented working crowd rather than 60-somethings.
We've been to all of the ports you are going to and can answer questions about local logistics and things to see. Probably the least interesting of the ports is Messina, Sicily, but you should find some things to do in just a day. However, if you are paying for excursions, most people go to Taormina. You might also find some interesting local group activity with roll call members. Be sure to try to catch sight of Mt. Etna when the ship passes by.
You can get into Athens by bus or bus+train from the port of Piraeus, if you want to do Athens on your own and do it at minimal cost. A trip to the Acropolis followed by a visit to the Acropolis Museum (if you like history) is well worth the time for first time visitors.
Civitavecchia is a very small town that is located about 40 minutes by train from Rome. Fiumicino (Leonardo da Vinci) Airport is situated between Rome and Civitavecchia, so I recommend you consider a shared limo from the ship to the airport on disembarkation day. We had an early flight out once, and getting there on time can be a bit of a wild ride. Getting to Civitavecchia from Rome takes about an hour by train, and you'll probably want to get to Termini rail station, if you choose that method (the cheapest). Be extremely wary of pickpockets and "friendly" scammers at the rail station and on the train. You can walk from the train station to the port entrance. Alternatively, you could stay overnight in Civitavecchia. Not much to see there, but it can be a charming little town to walk around in.
