Summer 2024 Mediterranean Choices

lisaisjessiesmom

Earning My Ears
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Apr 11, 2016
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Does anyone have any thoughts or recommendations on which cruise would be better: Barcelona, Naples, Rome, Pisa and Cannes OR Rome, Naples, Mykonos, Santorini, and Chania? We'd have 2 adults and 2 kids. Thank you!
 
Personally I would do the Greece from Rome. We love Greece and staying in rome a few extra days ahead. But we have been to all these ports so it’s a tossup.

Barcelona is great to visit early too. Taje the hop on hop off bus around.

Naples is the gateway to Pompeii or my recommendation a hydrofoil to Capri. Fabulous.

Rome is great. On the Disney cruise when we were on, they had a bus to take you to a central location. We did that and rode the hop on hop off bus around a couple times. Or there are yours to the Vatican, etc.

Pisa, you actually stop along the coast, is the gateway to Florence but it’s a long bus ride. I’m not sure how close you are to the cinque terra but well worth the visit. A fun hike and sweet little villages.

Cannes is lovely and you could probably drive up the grand corniche to Ez or get a tour Fabulous views. Cannes has a great beach but it is topless.

In santorini you can easily rent a jeep to drive around the island and have lunch in charming Oia.

In Mykonos, you can take a public bus to the beach although sone are nude so you need to be a bit cautious with kids. Or you can take a ferry ride over to Delos with great ruins but the ferry ride is long and it can get very hot. The village of Mykonos is great. . Great people watching for lunch and greek wine.

You probably want to consider what your kids will like…monuments, churches, beaches ?
 
It really does depend on what you and your family like. We've been to all of those locations except Santorini and Chania either on a cruise once or twice or in some cases for a few days in addition to the cruise and enjoyed them all. If you've not been to any, then either research the individual locations to get a sense for what you'd do if you were there and which appeal the most to the family or pick the cruise which best suits your schedule. We'd obviously pick the second because it has the two locations we've not yet been to but either one can be great if you know what you want to see or do.

We've cruised twice to Civitavecchia and did a tour to Rome (saw Vatican museum, St. Peter's Basilica, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, lunch at a hotel downtown Rome) and once took an excursion out to Orvieto (hilltop town the opposite direction from Rome from Civitavecchia). We've also spent four days in Rome with a side trip to Orvieto. I'd go again in a heartbeat to both - there was so much we didn't see in all of those times.

We spent several days in Barcelona both before and after two cruises and loved it. Definitely planning to go back and spend time there. We did walking tours, museums, Parc Guell, food (!!!!!), church tours, spent time at the pier, short trip to Monserrat, a food and wine tour outside of Barcelona. Fabulous time.

Our ship stopped in La Spezia twice which is reasonably close to Florence and Pisa and very close to Cinque Terre but I think DCL now goes to Livorno instead. Once we went to Florence and went to the Accadamia to see David with a walking tour around Florence. The second time we went to Pisa and climbed the tower and wandered around the Piazza. That's a much shorter trip - other than that, there's not much to see there but we really enjoyed it. We stayed in Florence for three days a few years ago and went to as many museums and historical buildings and art galleries as we could manage in that time but I still need another few months there. Cinque Terre is much closer to La Spezia (7 minutes by train) than Livorno, but IMO, although Cinque Terre is amazing, I think you need to stay there a few days to really appreciate it rather than a day trip.

We stopped once in Naples and did a tour that included a climb up Vesuvius, lunch and tour at a winery on the slopes and a half-day at Pompeii. We later stayed in Sorrento for four days and took the train into Naples most days (Naples itself is not very nice) and once again climbed Vesuvius, spent the entire day at Pompeii and a half-day at Herculaneum. I'd do all three again plus there are some museums there I'd like to visit plus several other historical sites. One day we went out to the Amalfi coast from Sorrento which was fabulous. We still haven't managed Capri. I will go back to Sorrento again.

I'm assuming the Cannes stop is actually Villefranche, which is close to Cannes, Monaco, Nice and Eze. We skipped Monaco and Cannes - nothing of interest to me there. We did two trips to Eze - one was to Eze and Nice where we toured around a bit and did a wine and cheese tasting. The second time we went to Fort de la Revere in Eze where we hiked throughout the park and ended it with a French-style picnic (local cheeses and meats, freshly baked baguettes, salads, and wine in the park on large blankets - just lovely and delicious).

We've done one trip to Mykonos where we took a tour out to Delos Island for the ruins and museum. Afterwards, we just wandered the town a bit. There's not much to see and do there other than Delos unless you're into very rocky beaches. My aunt just loved Mykonos and used to go there once a year for a long period of time but she spent her time on the beach which isn't our thing. But I think you need to see Mykonos at least once to appreciate Greek and Mediterranean history. Although I probably wouldn't get off the ship there again, I'm very glad to have seen it. Maybe I might go for a glass of ouzo at a cafe. Maybe some food. Maybe back out to Delos to refresh my memory.

Santorini and Chania are on my list. I want to see the bronze age ruins in Santorini and I want to see as much as possible and there's just so much to see on Crete I don't know where to start.
 
No opinion on better, I'm just more interested in the first itinerary, I've already been to Naples and Rome so for me it's the other stops that would nudge me one way or the other. And I'm far more interested in Barcelona and Cannes then the Greek Islands.
Ultimately it might be one of those things where airfare/lodging on either side of the cruise + dates made the decision for me.
 

Either cruise would be great. I agree about looking at things to do in each of the places, and see what fits your family best. We have come to really love Barcelona through our cruises. Lots of fun with kids. There is an amusement park just outside the city on top of a mountain overlooking all of Barcelona out to the sea. It is called Tibidabo. We are heading there again this summer. We also love Cosmocaixa. It is an awesome interactive science museum. La Sagrada Familia is unbelievable. We really enjoy Parc Guell and Ciutadella park as well.
 
Depends on the age of the kids and how much tolerance they have for touring art history. If you are full on into seeing as much art and architecture as possible, then the Barcelona cruise only has one stop (Cannes) without significant art goals. Unless you take an excursion to Delos from Mykonos, then you have three stops on the Greece itinerary that don't have don't have a lot of significant historical art. It's not really feasible to do Knossos from the Chania port (which is why I'm doing my upcoming Greece cruise with NCL instead of Disney).
 
I really dont like Chania. As to the other ports, they are both just very different routes though I feel like the Greece shops are more tourists. Is check out the port adventures and see where you find the stuff thats appealing more to your family
 

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