Mediterranean Cruise ?'s

[BurghFan111]

My wife and I are considering doing a Mediterranean Cruise next year. We have never been to Europe. I pictured our first trip as 2 weeks of spontaneous country hopping getting lost and having funny stories, my wife wants cruise touching on a lot of locations full of shore excursions. Obviously we trust and love Disney. With a single overnight only on one of the itineraries I am curious if everyone feels like you get enough time to get the experience of the locations, tkae in some culture, art, history, etc. Do you get the food experience? Do they alter the food, entertainment, and activities on the ship to add some tastes of Europe or is it business as usual on the ship no different than a carribean cruise once you are onboard? Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[kcashner]

My experience in Europe was a 3 month backpack "tour" after grad school...and then a couple of 1 week/1city trips years later. I took my "young adult" daughter on an 11 night Med last year. Honestly, you don't get enough time to really get into anything or any place, but you do get a minimal taste of things. That said, the ports let us enjoy some places I'd never been--if only for a day. DD LOVED Florence despite my doubts. I'd spent a week there and could have stayed longer. Many of the large cities are not at the ports, so you can spend an hour or more on a bus or train to get to the city. However, some of the port towns are neat too.

It is an "easy" way to travel as you are not packing or unpacking. There are some alterations to the entertainment and menus, in part to reflect some of the culture you are seeing. However, on an 11 night cruise, there were the 7 main menus from the "normal" cruises, in addition to "taste of the Med," and other specials. The was an amazing flamenco team brought on as entertainment, and Charo came on board to do a show.

Would I do it again--absolutely. Do you feel that you had enough time to "Know" any place? No way.

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

I have been to Europe three times. One of those was on dcl last summer. I loved doing it both ways but will say it was much less stressful doing it on the ship plus dollar for dollar (or euro for euro ) there is no way you could get around to all the countries the cruise takes you to plus the meals etc. for the same price...well maybe on next year's prices, they are really steep, but it's still a good value for that reason. For us, it was a great way to give our kids a real taste of Europe. Speaking of taste, while the food was good on the ship, it was not local and we still made a point of eating lots of yummy meals -- lunch -- in the prts to get real local favors. I, and a lot of others, did trip reports. Mine is on my blog, linked in my signature. Just go to July and you'll find the, all. Or do a search on here and lots of theirs will pop up.

I'm a real fan of the european cruises and never ever thought I would be. We are seriously trying to do the Greece itinerary next summer.

 

[BurghFan111]

Great feedback. Thanks. It sounds like it is more Disney than Europe. My wife would love that. I have my reservations. I did see the Greek itinerary but the other one gives you one overnight.

 

[BurghFan111]

Great Feedback. Thanks. As I expected it sound mor like a Disney cruise that happens to be in Europe more than a trip to Europe that happens to be on a Disney Cruise. My wife would love that but not quite what I am looking for. I think I will try to talk her into Alaska instead, lol.

 

[GeneMachine]

We went to see a bunch of places we had always wanted to see but weren't likely to visit with two kids in tow. It was a great way to visit some big cities, like Rome, Florence, Valetta, without having to worry about dragging the kids on planes, in rental cars, and trying to find hotel accommodations for four people, and without having to do the research and legwork on our own.

The benefits were that we got to visit Pompeii while the kids stayed on the boat. Walking through the ruins without hearing, "I'M HUNGRY I'M TIRED IT'S HOT CAN WE GET A SNACK THIS IS BOOOOORING" was worth every penny. It was also a good way to sample different countries and identify places to which we might want to return...Rome and Florence I am looking at you!

The downside was that one day per port was really enough to get the briefest taste of a city. Also the cities were jammed with tourists from other boats in addition to the land-based tourists. I will return one day to Florence and Rome, but it won't be during the summer.

If you are looking for a way to hop around and see a lot of different places without a lot f hassle, the med cruise is a great way to do it. If you are looking to acculturate yourself in a country, rent a villa in Tuscany or in the south of Spain and take day trips.

 

[sayhello]

If you can swing it, I'm going to HIGHLY recommend the Adventures by Disney (ABD) add-on to the Med cruises. They haven't released the details on this year's add-ons yet, but they have been very popular.

ABD arranges all the excursions and all the dining and the transportation, so you really get more out of each port than you could fit in if you did the ship's excursions. You get front of the line for the tenders, and you also get front of the line at a LOT of the places you visit, like the Vatican, St. Peter's Basilica, etc. The ABD add-on REALLY added a tremendous amount of value to my cruise. You still didn't see enough, but I felt I saw and experienced way more than I would have been able to if I hadn't done it.

Check out my trip report (link in my signature) if you want an idea of what the ABD is like, and what it adds to the cruise experience.

Sayhello

 

[kcashner]

There are also excursions that are basically just transportation to the city--like Florence on your own. With a little effort, you can purchase "front of the line" passes in advance in many places. The reason I hesitate to do some DCL excursions is a matter of doing what I want. Example--we did an excursion that included transportation, a WWII memorial museum, and the D day beaches (this was on the Dover to Barcelona repositioning). We were literally RACED thru this most excellent museum. We had an hour, I could have easily spent 3. We had a 2 1/2 hour lunch at a golf club. I would so have traded that lunch for another hour in the museum. We visited all 5 beaches. Sorry--some of them have nice memorials and some are "just a beach." 3 beaches would have been plenty for me.

Those personal choices are the benefit of doing less structure.

 

[BurghFan111]

The ABD and "on your own" excursions sound great. I agree that I'd rather spend 3 hrs in a museum than the clubhouse at a golf course. For me after spending thousands of dollars on airfare alone 1 beach would be too much

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

We did the entire cruise on our own. But honestly if it were not for the kids, and young ones at that, I don't know that I would have considered the cruise. I was just having a hard time imagining getting from city to city with luggage for five people and making the kids sit on the train or in a car for that long and it did not sound like fun to me. But we knew we were ready to take them to Europe and being the huge Disney fans we are, we started looking into the DCL since we loved our Bahama one so much.

I could go either way in your position...being your first time there, the cruise is a great way to see many places and then decide what you like to come back to solely, as another PP said. But also I feel being your first time and being just the two of you, it would be just as great to fly into Rome, take the train to Naples/Sorrento and visit Capri then go to Florence via train for another week. You would really get to see one country well doing this as opposed to several countries a little on the cruise. Just depends on what kind of trip you want. Either choice will be a great one

 

[pixie08]

It was a mix. We did the 10 night w=so it was longer then a caribbean. To us it felt much different. Yes you have the same shows and so of the same food. We did some of the ports on our own and some with DCL. You are in the ports ALL day. this kind of cruise is more about were you are going then the ship. Yes it was nice having DCL for dinner and the shows, be we were so rarely on the ship, and our itinerary only and 1 sea day.

We loved it. We coupled it with a few days in Paris and in Barcelona. You are in Europe and flight is $$$ so make the most of it. I have been to Europe many times (I have family in Greece and have traveled to France, Italy UK etc) Dh never had been. It was a wonderful way for him and I to get to do it together for the first time.My dh and the best memories from this cruise, it tops our honeymoon in Maui which was an amazing experience.