I know the feeling. I had to plan our med cruise three times because of the pandemic! I bet I put in 120 hours or more. I am meticulous, including watching airfare and flights and moving things if I see better options and watching to make sure the airlines don't mess with the seats I hand picked. I want to optimize everything I can for stress-free travel. It was exhausting at times, but turned out to be the best vacation of my life. Part of that was how easy it was after the planning. And the best part about cruising, is much of the work is done for you once you are on the ship - you really only need to pick where you want to go at each port and how you will go there.
We did Italy/Greece, but I think the itineraries
DCL offers for that cruise aren't as good as when we sailed. I was disappointed with DCL's most recent offerings cutting out some of my favorite stops. Because of that, I would carefully consider other lines for that part of the Med.
Before I get to my planning tips, I want to offer some opinions that are contrary to what I see here and elsewhere:
1) I disagree that because sailing Europe is so port intensive, it is a waste to sail DCL. If you like the itinerary, it's in your budget, and you are a fan of DCL, it isn't a waste. Even the most port intensive cruises leave you on the ship every single night from dinner through breakfast, plus any sea days. That is many hours spent on the cruise line you chose. We found we had more than enough time to enjoy the things we love about DCL cruising while in the med and did not regret spending the extra money. It was the perfect mix of relaxation and adventure for us.
2) I disagree that all the tourist attractions are far from the ports in the med. It is highly depending on your itinerary. I would not want to do Rome as a port, but if you embark or disembark your cruise there, you can add plenty of time to see the city before or after your cruise. Other than Rome, there are plenty of ports that don't require a long drive. And even if it's an hour or two, how is that worse than spending many of your waking hours navigating from city to city on a land trip? Even by train, the scenery is often generic after an hour or so. You save so much time traveling while you are sleeping that an hour drive seems like nothing in comparison. But many places don't even require that. For example, in Sicily, Taormina was a 45 minute drive from the port; the main town in Mykonos is 15 minutes away from port; Santorini is a small island and the drive to Oia is part of the experience; the drive along the Amalfi coast is also part of the experience and something you would do anyway if coming from Rome; and the ship takes you right to the edge of the city in Athens. I haven't done the Western med yet, but much of it is small islands too. So the claim that sailing the med means long port drives simply isn't correct for many ports and also isn't that compelling when you consider the time spent traveling while you eat dinner, relax in the evening, and sleep. I do agree that it isn't as immersive, but that isn't always a priority for us (although it has it's place when traveling too).
3) Cruising the med is ideal and probably the best way to get to see more places. There is simply no way we would have seen as many places in the same amount of time. Like I said, you sleep (and eat dinner/relax) while they take you to each Greek island, for example. We would have spent a lot of our vacation time just taking farriers or flights to see those islands. Yes, you only get a small taste of each place, but I would say that small taste was just right for many places, and we still had time to try local food and slow down enough to enjoy each place (with the exception of Oia, due to DCL's terrible tour there). Now we know where we want to spend a week and where we will never go back, even if we enjoyed a day there.
Tips for planning:
1) Start by picking an itinerary. Then it's easy to build around it with your pre and post departure airfare and hotels. After that, all you need to pick is where you want to go in each port. It's pretty simple compared to planning a land trip.
2) I disagree with others that you should stick to cruise-offered excursions. Without exceptions, DCL excursions were subpar and our private excursions were fabulous. We almost always paid a similar price for a family of four to have private transportation and a tour guide as we did being herded like cattle by Disney on a bus, by mostly bad tour guides, and for far too short of a time at each stop. There were times we paid more than DCL's cost, but it was
always worth it. Just ask around here for recommendations, look on websites, read reviews, etc. There are plenty of great private companies out there that will get you back to the ship with more than enough cushion to account for unexpected delays. The only time I
might make an exception is if the site I am seeing is more than 2 hours from the port.
3) Microsoft OneNote makes for a great digital notebook for laying our an itinerary, flight details, reservations numbers, etc. I like it much more than some of the cloud-based travel itinerary websites. Use a screen capture software to clip things like flight schedules, hotel reservations, etc., for easy entry and reference later. I have everything all in one place, using multiple tabs, and it synchs to my phone. Being organized makes planning easier.
4) Research places to eat and make reservations for dining ahead of time in the big cities.
5) If you can spare the time, give yourself a couple of days in the city you are disembarking from if you aren't from Europe. It is really nice to be over the jetlag before starting your cruise.
6) Make the planning fun. If you feel overwhelmed, step away and come back to it when it's more fun. It's part of the experience if done right. Break it down into easy tasks if needed. Watch
YouTube to get a sense of what appeals to you at each port. Get excited about the places you will see and it won't feel like work.
7) Get some fun books. Despite it being a bit cliché, I am a fan of Rick Steve's. He has a book and show on cruising the med that is helpful, but I like buying his country or city specific books too for more detail. He also has audio tours in his app that are fantastic, well researched, and easy to use for many major tourist spots.
8) Pick out some local foods you want to seek out at each port. Eating cannoli in Sicily or baklava with yogurt and honey in Athens made for great breaks and fun memories. So was trying lemon-flavored Coke in Greece or local candy we can't get back home!
9) When all is done, if you are the crafty type, put together a nice version of your digital itinerary in Word, with some historical facts about each stop and some photos. This was fun to give to my teens to better prepare them for what they were going to see and why it was important. It also is a great memento to look back on and remember the trip.
9) Be ready to roll with things. All the planning in the world will still mean you have unexpected things happen when traveling. Consider it part of the adventure. Once you are done planning, stop worrying and just go with the flow.
