Mediterranean cruise guide: Best itineraries, planning tips and things to do

Table Of Content

• Princess’s Mediterranean with France and Italy cruise
• Night Greek Isles & TurkeyDetails
• Seabourn’s Jewels of the Dalmatian Coast cruise
• More about the Western Mediterranean
• Night Western Mediterranean Medley: Morocco And MallorcaDetails
• What is the best time to cruise to the Mediterranean?
• Marella Cruises
• Cyprus Cruise Travel Vacation

It would be a shame, for instance, to cruise from Civitavecchia, Italy and never actually see Rome. And you'll want to spend time exploring the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, not just admiring it as you pass by in a taxi on your way to the pier. While on your Mediterranean cruise you may discover that Barcelona, Spain is a foodie paradise. You can spend a night wandering the streets of the city, where you can find tapas on every block. Or, head to the beach and get sandy before enjoying some paella by the sea from one of the local vendors.

Princess’s Mediterranean with France and Italy cruise

Travelers vacationing with the entire family — from grandma to kids — should check out Celebrity Cruises. The cruise line offers more options for everyone onboard (think kids club to casinos), as well as varied shore excursions and affordable pricing options to make it a more viable trip for larger groups. The cruise line offers all-inclusive options, making it easy to relax onboard and just enjoy the ride.

Night Greek Isles & TurkeyDetails

It’s educational, it brings history to life, the shopping is great, the ice cream unsurpassed, and the beaches superb. Throughout the ship, casual resort wear, sundresses, shorts, polos, or button-downs are appropriate, paired with sandals, low heels, and loafers. In main and specialty dining, we ask guests to refrain from wearing swimsuits, see-through coverups or robes, bare feet, tank tops, T-shirts, and baseball caps. Gorgeous French beach towns are abundant, thanks to the country’s extensive coastlines along the English Channel to the north, the Atlantic to the west, and the Mediterranean to the south. The whole of the Mediterranean is fringed with dazzlingly beautiful beaches, and the greatest appeal is that they’re all different. The watercolor towns of Cinque Terre, including Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore, are strung along the rugged and impossibly beautiful Italian Riviera.

The Best New Cruise Ships and Itineraries for 2024 - Condé Nast Traveler

The Best New Cruise Ships and Itineraries for 2024.

Posted: Thu, 30 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Seabourn’s Jewels of the Dalmatian Coast cruise

From the charm of Marseille to the cosmopolitan vibe of Barcelona, you’ll experience the best of both worlds. Over the course of 10 days in cool and uncrowded November, passengers aboard the Oceania Cruises’ Riviera will be treated to a trip that covers nearly the entire east-west expanse of the Mediterranean. Beginning in Barcelona and ending in Istanbul, this voyage stops in the Spanish port of Palma de Mallorca; both Marseille and Nice in France; Rome, Capri and Sicily in Italy; and Philippi in Greece. You will need a passport to travel to the Mediterranean, but the vast majority of countries visited by European cruises do not require a visa.

Unlike cruising in tropical waters, where white-sand and sunny beaches are everywhere, there are limited beach and water sport destinations in Mediterranean cruise ports. The best beaches are found near Palma de Mallorca, Marseille, Santorini, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Mykonos, Sardinia, Dubrovnik, Seville, Nice, and Monaco. In conclusion, the Mediterranean offers a plethora of cruise itineraries that cater to every interest and desire. Whether you’re fascinated by ancient history, drawn to stunning landscapes, or simply want to relax on beautiful beaches, there is a Mediterranean cruise itinerary that will fulfill your dreams. From the Western Mediterranean to the Eastern Mediterranean, from the Greek Islands to the North African Coast, there is so much to discover and explore.

Italy is a remarkable place because your choices on what you can do differ greatly depending on the region you're traveling to. In Rome, you can visit Vatican City or the Colosseum before heading to the Trastevere neighborhood to dine on rich pasta dishes. A visit to Florence will bring you face to face with the Duomo, a stunningly beautiful burnt orange dome on top of a church. A quick ride from there will bring you to the Tuscan hills where you can sip on some of the best wines in the world, in true Italian fashion.

What is the best time to cruise to the Mediterranean?

Celebrity Cruises’s contemporary Celebrity Edge offers a full spring-through-fall season of Mediterranean sailings during 2023. Plus, find unique culinary concepts like Le Petit Chef, which features tabletop 3-D projections of “mini-chefs” from Italy, Spain, France, and Japan who present specialty dishes from their respective homelands. And there’s the Dinner on the Edge open-air venue, where rotating menus, often featuring items sourced from port, are presented on a cantilevered platform floating 13 stories above sea level.

Marella Cruises

The line offers a wide range of cruise sailings on its adult-only ships Aurora and Arcadia, along with itineraries on child-friendly vessels, including special school-holiday sailings packed with activities to keep mini mariners happy. Best for foodFollow in the wake of the world’s great seafarers and explorers with an itinerary departing from Lisbon, the Portuguese capital during the Age of Discoveries. Oceania’s Europe cruises include an itinerary taking in Spain, France, Monaco, Italy and Croatia. These ports are best visited as embarkation or disembarkation ports where you may want to spend an extra two or three days exploring their many attractions without the pressure of having to return the same day to your cruise ship. Don't be that person who spends more time looking at their cellphone deciding what to do than actually appreciating a port city.

The best time for Mediterranean cruises can be determined by a few factors — choice of ships and excursions, crowd volume and weather. Sometimes flight delays or other problems out of your control happen on even the most well-planned vacations. By arriving one night in advance, you create a buffer that helps ensure you won't miss your cruise embarkation.

Royal Caribbean is known for its large ships that provide entertainment and activities onboard where the ship is a vacation destination in addition to all the wonderful ports the ships dock at. Their Mediterranean cruises have jam-packed itineraries that can include a mix of ports in Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Morocco and Spain. Azamara is a luxury cruise line on which the ships hold a maximum of 700 passengers. In addition to Mediterranean cruises that are a tour of ports in different countries, the cruise line has country-specific itineraries for Croatia, France, Greece, Italy and Spain.

The kids will also delight in the ship’s 765-foot AquaDuck water coaster themed on Donald and friends. SeaDream Yacht Club runs dozens of Mediterranean voyages annually aboard its twin luxury sailing yachts. For this cruise, you must book an open-jaw flight ticket to Venice and from Nice. Nice is the closest international airport to Monte Carlo, where the cruise begins.

In Mykonos, you can head to one of the island's famous beaches or catch a ferry to explore the ancient ruins of Delos, known as the birthplace of Apollo. Budget-conscious travelers can skip the tours and stroll the narrow streets and city walls of the Old Town of Rhodes. Holland America doesn’t have the wide-ranging options like other cruise lines on this list, however, the sailings it does offer are top-notch.

At a minimum, I recommend taking a Mediterranean cruise that's at least seven days to make the most of your journey. Best for serviceEnjoy some of the best service at sea on the Ritz-Carlton superyachts. They were created to replicate the lifestyle and atmosphere of the brand’s upmarket hotels at sea, so there is nearly one crew member to every passenger. Shore excursions reflect the hospitality industry heritage with a visit to Tenerife’s clifftop Ritz-Carlton Abama to recharge with yoga and relaxation or cocktails on the roof terrace of a five-star Mallorcan hotel built around a 19th-century mansion. Spain and Portugal are increasingly popular destinations for Silversea, and voyages on Silver Dawn and Silver Moon are enhanced by a vibrant S.A.L.T. program there. On the Côte d’Azur, Nice is all belle epoque opulence along the elegant sweep of the Promenade des Anglais.

Cruises to the “Holy Land,” are simply cruises to Israel and may but not often anymore, include Egypt as well. Cruise ships are adding longer visits and overnight stays to allow enough time for extended tours to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and even the mountaintop fortress of Mosada. Oceania Cruises has luxury Mediterranean sailings and is one of the best cruise lines to sail in this region.