<p>We’re heavily leaning towards a Mediterranean cruise for our honeymoon, but I can’t find anyone I know who’s been on one, so I’m turning to the wisdom of CC. Both my fiance and I have done cruises before and for a variety of reasons we both loved them. We’re about 99% committed to the cruise idea, but the place is a bit up in the air. Western Mediterranean is our first choice. Our honeymoon won’t be until June of 2015 but I’m trying to price things out well ahead of time. </p>
<p>The problem is that I haven’t been able to find much in the way of less than 7 night cruises.They all seem to be 7-9 or more nights. Is this the norm for that area? We were hoping to do no more than a week. </p>
<p>For those of you that have gone on these, what cruise lines do you recommend? Any hints or tips? </p>
<p>I’ve read reviews and such but I tend to trust people on here more </p>
<p>We’re doing the 11-day Rome- Naples- Palermo- Tunisia- Livorno- Calvi (France)- Monte Carlo- Marseille- Barcelona western Mediterranean cruise on HAL from 6/20 to 7/1. We thought this itinerary, along with excursions to Pompeii, Sorrento, Florence, Corsica, Cote d’ Azur, Nice, Monaco, Provence, etc. sounded really exciting. I will let you know how we like it. We are celebrating our 25th anniversary. </p>
<p>I’ll post more, when I don’t have to use an iPhone. There are a few 2-3 day cruises, but those would be a waste. A seven day criuise is the best. I recommend NCL, RCCL, Princess and Carmival to start. Stay away from Costa and MSC Cruises (allow smoking everywhere unless they’ve changed policies), most of the others are too expensive. Buying too early might be costly.</p>
<p>Our favorite cruise line is Oceania. They have smaller ships and better staff to passenger ratios, which results in far better service. Excellent food, great excursions, great variety of routes. I think the minimum they have is 7 days and I agree with busdriver that fewer than 7 days would be a shame.</p>
<p>I looked into western med cruises recently for this year but decided on Celebrity to the British Isles instead. If we had done the Med, we were looking at Royal Caribbean roundtrip from Barcelona to France and Italy for 7 nights. Royal Caribbean is showing a 4 night this year so maybe they will have something for next year. But I recommend at least a seven night. I think Royal Caribbean may be a good fit for you-a younger crowd than Holland America and definitely cheaper than Oceania.</p>
<p>I would love to try Oceania, and they have a really great itinerary, but they are pricey. Maybe they have some good deal specials every now and then?</p>
<p>This actually should be pretty easy to narrow down. When I search 6-8 day Mediterranean cruises in June 2015, it is fairly limited. NCL and Royal Caribbean are the only ones decently priced…the rest are upscale, costly cruise lines like Silversea and Crystal, etc. If you widened your parameters, you’d have more choices, but I would absolutely not pay double/triple/quadruple to go on a first class vacation (unless a very rich uncle is paying), when you could go on an awesome cruise for so much less. I really enjoy NCL and Royal Caribbean, they are both fairly casual in dress, tons of entertainment (particularly on NCL) and the itineraries all look great. </p>
<p>There have been a couple of threads about Med cruises in the last year or so. I know someone recently cruised the Med on the Norwegian Epic (awesome boat, the best entertainment ever), I’ll bet you get some great info if you search those threads. We went on a really great Royal Caribbean Med cruise last May, the kids loved it…especially our 23 year old son. I think you really can’t go wrong no matter what cruise line or itinerary you choose…as long as you don’t have to pay it off over the next three years!</p>
<p>We took a Med cruise 2 years ago on Royal Caribbean. We started in Rome, went to Sicily, Naples, Athens, Istanbul, Ephesus, Rhodes, and somewhere else in Greece but I can’t remember. It was fabulous. We arranged private tours which were great. For us, that is the only way to go… Most times they are less than the ship tours and you get to see more.</p>
<p>Look into the book early clause where you get price drops if they occur or upgrades for the early commitment. (Whatever it is.) I have friends who adored several med cruises. Not inexpensive. Stressed’s trip sounds wonderful. There are also reputable discounters- if you haven’t found them, I can try to note a few- or others may know.</p>
<p>We took a Mediterranean cruise in 2009 on SeaDream. Our cruise was seven days, but we spent an extra day and night visiting Paris before the cruise. We took the train from Paris to Nice where we spent another day and night before embarkation. Once onboard, we visited St. Tropez and Antibes in France, and then sailed on to Italy where we visited Santa Margherita, Portovenere, Livorno, Portoferraio, Elba, and Rome. After debarkation, we stayed in Rome for a couple of additional days and then flew back home. I have never felt so spoiled in all my life. </p>
<p>No matter where you go and what you do, it will be special because it will mark the beginning of your journey as a married couple. Best wishes to you and your fiancé! </p>
<p>Thank you for that smoking tip, BD. I had completely forgotten that that is still allowed in many places. I am very allergic to tobacco smoke (it’s a real PITA allergy) that is definitely something to take into consideration if I don’t want to be a miserable mess during the cruise lol. </p>
<p>LF, thank you. I’d never heard of that clause. </p>
<p>Thank you everyone else- you’ve all given me things to think about (PS: love your doggie, Splash. My fiance is absolutely in love with corgis lol)</p>
<p>I don’t think a 7-8 night would be too bad depending on the days. </p>
<p>The other tricky thing is that I graduate in May of 2015 and would hope to have a job by then… I’m not sure how I’m going to go about that logistically as I’d hate to go “thanks for the job! By the way, I’m taking two weeks off in a month.” (My wedding is June 6). </p>
<p>I am definitely holding off before we commit to anything. I’m in the information gathering stage right now. A perk of a long engagement </p>
<p>Most people I know who had a time commitment soon after the start of a new job simply crossed that bridge later in the interview stage, maybe when the offer was being negotiated. I think your background, experiences, and resume to-date will make you a wanted hire. As we often have to tell each other, “they’ll live” without you for two weeks. Some people will also split the two times off- take the honeymoon a bit later. (Somehow check if there are weather risks at different times of the year- don’t think this affects the Med same as Carribb.)</p>
<p>Btw, check trip advisor- good Q&A forums. And someone should put in their 2 cents about trip insurance, esp for advance booking. </p>
<p>Im glad you are taking the time to have a honeymoon, no matter where you go.
I didn’t have one, and neither has my daughter, but I regretted it.</p>
<p>“The other tricky thing is that I graduate in May of 2015 and would hope to have a job by then… I’m not sure how I’m going to go about that logistically as I’d hate to go “thanks for the job! By the way, I’m taking two weeks off in a month.” (My wedding is June 6).”</p>
<p>This is the way to do it. Get the offer in hand first, then counteroffer and say that you have a non-refundable, non-cancellable travel plans for the week of such and such (you will probably have less leverage to negotiate salary and other things) - you might offer to take it without pay or borrow against your future accrued vacation, whatever their policy will allow (sometimes bosses can be more flexible than the HR). Good luck with your honemoon planning! :)</p>
<p>Oceania IS an excellent cruise line. Wonderful food, service, and cabins. Some of the reason they are pricier can be attributed to them packaging some of the extras you would typically pay an additional fee for on most cruises. If you do choose to cruise with them, I would book excursions on your own because, as I recall, they are even pricier than CCL (Carnival Cruise Line- parent company of Carnival, Princess, Holland America, NCL, etc.) excursion offerings.</p>
<p>Thank you guys for the job tips- honestly, that’s a bigger fear to me than anything else. An alternative plan is to do a mini honeymoon right away (I saw a really nice one around Puerto Rico/southern Carribean) and then a longer one a bit down the road. </p>
<p>I have never even heard of Oceania. I will definitely check them out! </p>
<p>If you go for the eastern Med, like the Aegean, check Louis Cruise lines. They have a 3 night and a 4 night that run each week, and others as well. Starts and stops in Athens, so you could the Parthenon before or after as well.</p>
<p>Cruises in the Med are fine of Americans, but relatively few can make it. They cater to to British taste a bit more, so the feel may be a bit different than the Carribean depending on the cruise line.</p>
<p>Downside is virtually a fulls day travel (24 hours) to and fro.</p>
<p>Oceania is expensive. I would also suspect that it has a slightly older crowd. We went on a Royal Caribbean cruise a few years in the Eastern Med. It was our first cruise and since we were not too sure if we would like it ot not, we chose a 6 day, 5 night cruise (if I remember correctly). Was fabulous!! We spent a few days prior to the cruise in Rome. Went to Santorini, Athens and Naples. Had two at-sea days. Returned to Rome, spent another night there before flying back. Kids loved the experience.</p>
<p>The cruise then wasn’t really expensive - I remember we booked in Feb/Mar for a cruise at the end of June. Only problem we had was that we were not guaranteed two connecting cabins - the ones we got were close by. Not that big a deal considering the price we paid. You of course, won’t have this issue! I’d suggest visiting the other cc site for cruise information - they have all the know-how on when to book and how to watch for price drops etc.</p>
<p>check cruisecritic dot com…a great website. Also…check other avenues to help keep your budget in check: Costco travel, AAA travel, AmEx travel, etc. Do you have airline miles? Some offer flight/cruise packages. Good luck! </p>
<p>Romani, I have never done a Mediterranean cruise, but we were having this discussion with friends recently who had just done one. One of their comments was that if they do another one, they’ll pay more attention to the excursions. They mentioned that especially in Italy, they felt they spent too much time traveling to the destination and not enough time at the destination. Plus they were exhausted. Personally I was surprised that cruise ships do excursions to Florence, for instance. (But then I’m a Rick Stves fan.). </p>
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