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Mediterranean cruise
I keep getting emails about some crazy awesome cruise pricing for Med cruises right now. I thought we'd never go to Europe while living in Hawaii, but right now airfare is about the same as all our Asian destinations we'd otherwise choose, so why not?
H has never been to Europe. I've been to Italy on 3 separate 1-2 week trips (plus other non-Med locations). I'm a fan of spending multiple days in a small region, and a cruise is the opposite of that. Is it worth it, though, to get a sort of greatest hits tour of the Med so that H can see a lot for now and later on, when we're perhaps closer to Europe, explore in more detail?
Are there any itineraries you'd suggest? We could probably swing up to 10 or so days. The prices I'm seeing now work out to about $150/day for both of us, so despite my normally cheap/hostel traveling, a cruise is a pretty darn good deal.
Re: Mediterranean cruise
We did a Med cruise summer of '10. Departed Rome w/ port calls to Greece and Turkey.
I'd recommend visiting Greece by boat... a) the islands are lovely, so just the sailing is cool (of course, I'm sure you get plenty of islands in HI, but really the Greek isles really do "look" like the Med, iMO
b) I'm not so mad into Greek cities. Beyond cruising to these cities, I've been to Athens and Crete a few times via air and was just kinda so-so. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they're terrible places, just that I didn't necessarily need multiple days. As in, my heart wouldn't be broken to just see them on a port call versus other cities in the Med that I'd want more time in (Rome, "Florence" (which, IMO, is ridiculous that they call a port, but some lines do), Barcelona (again, I know it's not on the Med but it's typically included by some lines).
Other than Greece, for reasons above (i.e. reason b) other Med cities that make good short stops IMO include:
Naples, IT; Istanbul, Turkey; Venice, IT; Palermo, IT; Malta (ok, not a city, but it's the stop); Ephesus, Turkey; Nice, FR (again, not really the Med, but whatever).
My problem is that so many of the stops, like Rome or Florence or Naples/Amalfi, are places I've visited, some more than once, for multiple days. What's the point of Rome in a day, especially when it's not actually at the port?
I want my own custom itinerary
It would begin and end in a big city, and it would only hit the little towns in between.
We did a cruise for our HM. We loved it. I felt like it was the biggest bang for our buck. We started in Venice, then went to Dubrovnik, Croatia; Kusadsi, Turkey; Santorini, Greece; and Corfu, Greece.
DH had never been to Europe, but after the cruise, he said he'd like to spend more time in some places in a few years. We'd love to get back to Santorini.
I also have a friend that did a similar cruise to ours, but she went to Athens and Instanbul. She loved Istanbul and said I have to put it on my bucket list. What itineraries are you considering at this point?
a married bio
I can't find the itinerary I want, at least not without spending a shitton of money on a luxury cruise. I think we'll focus on the western side, though, and save Greece/Turkey for a future trip. I keep wavering, though. I want to go to Veniceand Dubrovnik, but I also want to go to Barcelona and Grenada.
Plus, I have pretty narrow window when we can travel. Basically, we want 2-3 weeks between late April and most of May. At least last minute pricing is cheap
There's a perfect cruise, but it only has 1 date, and it's about 5 days earlier than we can swing. Curses!