Mediterranean Cruise

[Cindy's Mom]

Hi - My mom, 77 (somewhat recently widowed), wants me and her to go on a Mediterranean cruise. My mom is active, young, fit, goes dancing 2-3 nights a week. We want to do Greece and Italy. I'm active on cruise critic, but I find that many are brand loyal. Me and my family are cruise alot, we too are brand loyal and only do NCL, we love the freestyle aspect of it. My mom, on the other hand HATES THAT. So my question is, what would be a good cruise line for us? I am merely a companion to her and her slogan is "if I pay, you don't get a say". LOL The cruise length would be between 10-21 days. I'm truly stumped. TIA

 

[stsomewhere]

We Love NCL ( Platinum plus). Look on vacations to go. it will list all the cruise lines and cruises.. we have sailed on most lines due to price or itinerary.

 

[okeydokey]

We use Celebrity. They have anytime dining and the food is MUCH better than NCL in my opinion. They have lovely enrichment experiences as well.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

We cruise NCL and Celebrity. We like both. Next May we are doing a Mediterranean cruise on MSC- never been on that line. They are an Italian line but I got a fantastic rate on their Yacht Club which is supposedly better than the Haven on NCL which we have done twice.

We are on the Seaview.

 

[stsomewhere]

Holland America will be more traditional. They normally have the longer cruises. Princess , Celebrity or Royal Caribbean are fine too. Do you want a ship with the primary language is English? or is Italian okay? Formal or causal dress for evening?

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Holland America will be more traditional. They normally have the longer cruises. Princess , Celebrity or Royal Caribbean are fine too. Do you want a ship with the primary language is English? or is Italian okay? Formal or causal dress for evening?

Wow, I didn't even think of language. English please. In regard to dining, when you say "formal", how formal? Casual is a total no-go, but are there other steps of dress that lead to "formal"? I'm all for getting dressed up, but not sure we want gowns every night.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

We use Celebrity. They have anytime dining and the food is MUCH better than NCL in my opinion. They have lovely enrichment experiences as well.

We won't be sailing NCL for this trip - I think mom will like Celebrity. Thanks.

 

[soccerdad72]

We're RCCL brand loyal - mostly because our boys are big fans of the activities on board (especially the Flowrider).

 

[fly girl]

Celebrity.

Their European cruises are definitely geared for the older crowd. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a senior center, but the age demographic is higher than their Caribbean cruises. The ships are lovely. If somehow you can splurge for a suite, do it! Wait for their Free Perks offer when you get internet, tips, drinks, and on-board credit included. Plus you get to dine in Luminae (suite guest dedicated MDR, which is really good.)

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Celebrity.

Their European cruises are definitely geared for the older crowd. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a senior center, but the age demographic is higher than their Caribbean cruises. The ships are lovely. If somehow you can splurge for a suite, do it! Wait for their Free Perks offer when you get internet, tips, drinks, and on-board credit included. Plus you get to dine in Luminae (suite guest dedicated MDR, which is really good.)

This is sounds like exactly what she wants and it will probably be a suite. Its only her and I, I'm 55, she's 77. [off to celebrity's website]

 

[stsomewhere]

Which language is spoken onboard?
Depends on the Cruise Line:
Pullmantur or Iberocruceros ... onboard language is Spanish.
Costa or MSC ... onboard language is Italian.
NCL, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Carnival, Cunard, Holland America onboard language English.

 

[tvguy]

It's really personal. I always tell folks to try and match the route with a ship that caters to your interests.

I'm just off my first Celebrity cruise. Very nice. I'd go again. Food could have been better.

3 NCL cruises. Only 1 since they went Freestyle. Love that they call it eat when you want. LOL. Only after an hour wait! They only let you make reservations in the no charged dining rooms 24 hours in advance, so we learned to make our next night's reservation as we arrived for dinner each night. We also latched on to the same server team. They said they really appreciated that we requested them every night. Love if they would dump Freestyle.

1 Disney cruise, great.

2 HAL, amazing service and food

2 RCCL cruises, great too.

 

[mjkacmom]

It's really personal. I always tell folks to try and match the route with a ship that caters to your interests.

I'm just off my first Celebrity cruise. Very nice. I'd go again. Food could have been better.

3 NCL cruises. Only 1 since they went Freestyle. Love that they call it eat when you want. LOL. Only after an hour wait! They only let you make reservations in the no charged dining rooms 24 hours in advance, so we learned to make our next night's reservation as we arrived for dinner each night. We also latched on to the same server team. They said they really appreciated that we requested them every night. Love if they would dump Freestyle.

1 Disney cruise, great.

2 HAL, amazing service and food

2 RCCL cruises, great too.

Just a FYI, you can make reservations in advance. We’ve been lucky, usually no reservations (it’s hard getting 7 ready for dinner by a set time), and we have never waited for a table (although we have been sent to another MDRs).

 

[tvguy]

Just a FYI, you can make reservations in advance. We’ve been lucky, usually no reservations (it’s hard getting 7 ready for dinner by a set time), and we have never waited for a table (although we have been sent to another MDRs).

There was a limit of 24 hours in advance for MDR when we cruised, no time limit for extra cost restaurants. Has that changed?

 

[mjkacmom]

There was a limit of 24 hours in advance for MDR when we cruised, no time limit for extra cost restaurants. Has that changed?

Yes, you can make reservations before your cruise in the MDR’s.

 

[easyas123]

We've only been on one cruise ever, and it was a Viking Cruise. It was wonderful - no kids & some of the older folks drank us under the table in the evenings!
We are in our mid/late 40's and still really enjoyed it even if we were among some of the younger people on it!

Planning on booking another one next year.

 

[HeatherC]

We love cruises and have sailed on Celebrity, Carnival, Princess and Royal Caribbean. They have all been great for us.


The one thing we notice about Celebrity is that the food tends to be a little better, but the ships are a little more sedate than Royal Caribbean and Princess, etc.. Not sure if this is a concern as much on a Mediterranean cruise since it will be port intensive but did want to mention it.

Have a fabulous trip! I don’t think you can go wrong on any!

 

[cedricandsophie]

I bet she would love crystal. Kind of old school. You can request set dinner time or eat whenever you want. . All inclusive. Lots of active and interesting people from ages 50 to 80. GreAt itineraries. Wonderful service. Terrific food. Great music. Dancing every night with cruise ambassadors ie nice looking men who can dance well and hang out with the ladies. Lots of cultural activities like painting, trivia, lectures.

 

[Wishing on a star]

It sounds like you are not experienced cruisers with any one of these other lines. Here are the steps I would work thru to choose.

I would say that in Europe the itinerary would be a big factor. Then the ship equal or second to that.
I have planned cruising Greece and Italy. The itineraries and ports can vary greatly. I would list the four places that your mother would most like to see and then do cruise searches, like on cruise critic, and see which ships and dates visit these.
For example I would really want to see Santorini, historic Dubrovnik, and of course Rome and Athens. Very limited options with all of those! Maybe Kusadasi(???) would also be on the list. Or other ports outside of Italy/Greece.

Budget and tastes would also decide which line and ship. Princess, Celebrity and Holland America are three major American focused lines that I would consider ( not looking for water parks and pool games)
If budget allows and your mother would enjoy that more refined traditional cruising (dressing for dinner) then I would look at the more upscale expensive lines.

On these three lines it is not really all that formal. On Princess there would be maybe three formal nights. You can go all out, but really nice smart-casual will do.

With these lines there can be big differences between their ships. For instance, Celebrity has their Solstice class ships and now the new big modern chic/funky EDGE. With Princess they have older ships like the Emerald and then the new Royal class ships like the Sky and Enchanted.

So I would get a sheet of paper, list the itineraries that are best. Then look at which line seems to fit. And then if the ship is good.

This can seem overwhelming! But working thru it this way might be less effort than you think.

 

[antmaril]

I would recommend either Princess, Holland America or Celebrity. I think these cruise lines offer what you are looking for with your Mom.

Have fun planning your trip. I recently went on a Carnival cruise to Canada/New England. I hadn’t cruised on Carnival in almost 20 years and now I remember why. Carnival is not the experience you are looking for. I will be on the brand new Sky Princess in January and I can’t wait.

Enjoy your cruise whatever you decide!