5 night Mediterranean Cruise - too rushed?

[Mirador]

We are considering a DCL Med Cruise this Summer. There’s a 5-night cruise out of Barcelona in July that works great for us in terms of dates of travel and the ports we want to see. However, I’m wondering if 5 nights may be too short for such a port intensive trip when traveling from the U.S. Has anyone been on a similar 5-night Med itinerary and can share their experience as to whether you’d recommend this shorter itinerary? We have been on the Dream twice before, so “seeing” the ship is secondary to us but still want to enjoy what the ship has to offer.

 

[dcassetta]

If the only thing your trip includes is the cruise, for me, that would be too short, considering the travel time to Europe from the United States. Are you planning to add any time in Spain before or after the trip?

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Your ports are

1. Villefranche, France10:00 am to 7:00 pm
2. Livorno, Italy7:00 am to 7:00 pm
3. Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy 7:00 am to 7:00 am

There are lots of YouTube for these ports from previous Disney cruises as well as other cruise lines.

Villefranche is a tender port, people either go to Nice or Monto Carlo.
They are both high end luxury resort towns in the south pf France, the playground of the rich and famous. I have been to Monte Carlo. Its stunning, but extremely expensive even for snack food. There not much to do there other than see the Royal Palace and people watch in the streets, look at the luxury yachts in the harbour, window shop in the luxury shops etc etc. Nice is a bigger town , almost the same as Monte Carlo, but it has a beach. I think in previous years they had issues with the tender due to weather, and it may get switched to Cannes, which is very similar.

Livorno people either go to Pisa or Florence. Pisa is 30 minutes drive, Florence is about 2 hours drive.

Civitavecchia is the port for Rome, but Rome is about 2 hours drive from the port.

All 3 are very long intensive days one after the other. Italy in particular in July is extremely hot, with no air conditioning. All of the ports will involve a lot of walking out in the sun , on uneven surfaces. Everywhere will be very crowded and packed as its peak tourist season.

 

[Mirador]

If the only thing your trip includes is the cruise, for me, that would be too short, considering the travel time to Europe from the United States. Are you planning to add any time in Spain before or after the trip?

Yes, we would add 3 days in Barcelona.

 

[Mirador]

Your ports are

1. Villefranche, France10:00 am to 7:00 pm
2. Livorno, Italy7:00 am to 7:00 pm
3. Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy 7:00 am to 7:00 am

There are lots of YouTube for these ports from previous Disney cruises as well as other cruise lines.

Villefranche is a tender port, people either go to Nice or Monto Carlo.
They are both high end luxury resort towns in the south pf France, the playground of the rich and famous. I have been to Monte Carlo. Its stunning, but extremely expensive even for snack food. There not much to do there other than see the Royal Palace and people watch in the streets, look at the luxury yachts in the harbour, window shop in the luxury shops etc etc. Nice is a bigger town , almost the same as Monte Carlo, but it has a beach. I think in previous years they had issues with the tender due to weather, and it may get switched to Cannes, which is very similar.

Livorno people either go to Pisa or Florence. Pisa is 30 minutes drive, Florence is about 2 hours drive.

Civitavecchia is the port for Rome, but Rome is about 2 hours drive from the port.

All 3 are very long intensive days one after the other. Italy in particular in July is extremely hot, with no air conditioning. All of the ports will involve a lot of walking out in the sun , on uneven surfaces. Everywhere will be very crowded and packed as its peak tourist season.

Thank you for pointing out July may also not be ideal. Great point that makes me reconsider this cruise entirely.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Thank you for pointing out July may also not be ideal. Great point that makes me reconsider this cruise entirely.

Ive been to Rome and Florence. I went in September on a land trip, not a cruise. It was still very crowded and hot. I cant imagine doing them in July on a cruise.

Knowing that Florence is about 2 hours drive each way from Livorno and Rome is 2 hours drive from Civitavecchia, is a big no for me.

 

[Cfabar1]

To me that entire trip sounds awful. In general, I don't find european cruises that interesting/exciting. I like European travel, but prefer to pick one place to stay for a few days at a time.

I'd find another trip, but that's just me.

 

[AnnaS]

For me that would be too short even adding a few nights on land. We did the 11 N. DCL Med. cruise. I don't think I would cruise less than 7 nights if I had to fly to Europe. I would add a few nights in Barcelona. (if doable).

 

[71 Truck]

For my wife and I we only do seven night cruises. Anything less, on the last night of the cruise you are packing to go home with the feeling you just unpacked when you got on the ship.
To us seven night cruises are already short enough.

 

[msmama]

Unless it's only a minor part of your trip, I wouldn't do less than 7 and even then a 7 night Med was pretty rushed.

Rome was all day, a lot of walking and incredibly hot. There were so many people there.
We did Florence and Pisa the next day. It was stunning, more relaxing and slightly less walking, but still quite a full day.
(I should note that our first day, before these things, was climbing Mt. Vesuvius and seeing Pompeii so we were already pretty tired).

Our port adventure to Monaco got rescheduled last minute because of the Grand Prix (which was the only reason we wanted to go to Monaco) so we wended up cancelling and my son refused to leave the boat.

I'm not saying don't do it, but know what you're getting into - and it sounds like the kind of vacation you may need a vacation after. And I wouldn't do it with small children. There were a lot of miserable children on our excursions.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Not enough time in Rome -- you'd barely scratch the surface.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Not enough time in Rome -- you'd barely scratch the surface.

My first trip to Rome, not a cruise, we were there 5 days. That's still not enough time.

 

[Louise97]

Our 7 night Med cruise felt like it went by so quickly! I have to caveat my comment, because we have a slightly different perspective since we're only flying from the UK - we actually stayed on the ship in Livorno and just had a quick walk around the port area in Civitavecchia because we didn't think it was worth sitting on a bus for a couple of hours for Florence/Rome. We've been to Florence before and plan to visit Rome another time to see it properly. We'd never been on the Dream before so wanted to take time to enjoy the ship.

From the comments in the Facebook group for our cruise, a lot of people found it tough doing those two days back to back because of the long journeys. The cities have a lot to see, so you'll only get a taste in the few hours you'd have there, and July can be really hot. If you go into it prepared to deal with that, I'm sure you'll have a great time - I mean, at the end of the day, it's a Disney cruise! But definitely be aware of the drawbacks.

 

[auntlynne]

It’s not the just shortness of the cruise, it’s the time/ effort/ money getting to Europe in addition to the Disney cruise cost.

I am all for one-day visits from cruises if you have never been somewhere or don’t have time for a multiple-day stay and want to get a sample of the world out there. See a few famous sights.

We only went to Pisa, not Florence, due to the travel time and knowing we had a lot of ports to cover in 11 nights. If it were just 3 ports, one being Villefrance, I might have gone to Florence (but I am happy to have seen the Leaning Tower).

With only 3 ports, you could just go ahead and wear out yourself with long days.

Not everyone can take a long vacation.

If I never return to Rome or various other places, I have the experiences, memories (and photos) of a lot (and very little) of the World.



Looking out the window of the pizza and ice cream shop:


The Pantheon, 1400 years old!


Michelangelo’s Moses 1515 AD. And I was right there, taking a photo (in 2010).

 

[holula]

Rome, especially in July, would not be worth it from a ship IMO. I have been to Rome in July. It was hot. I had 2 full days there so got up at 6am to see stuff, then had a nap midday, and got up in the evening again to see more stuff. The heat was so intense. It’s the worst kind of weather to be walking around an amazing interesting city in.

 

[starvenger]

Would definitely do something before or after the cruise. If you do stuff in Barcelona you can visit Montserrat, explore some cities along the coast or even visit Andorra.

 

[FastPasser.]

If you do stuff in Barcelona you can visit Montserrat

IMO that’s a must see.

 

[ljhayes]

While I typically prefer longer cruises, I wouldn't immediately write this off. If this is the cruise that works for your schedule, go for it. I would absolutely add more time before and/or after the cruise. It will probably be tiring, but any European cruise would be. And I actually love cruising for Europe and the Med. It's a great way to get a taste of places and decide if you want to go back for a land trip later.

 

[Flcruising]

Five night cruise is awfully short for someone flying from the US. But it's better than not going! If you can swing it look at the longer Mediterranean cruises and even consider extra days before the cruise rather than after.
1. Before gets you there early just in case...
2. Before gives you a chance to then use the cruise as opportunity to relax a bit after intense days of site walking.

Also consider how much anything France will be impacted by the Olympics. Maybe not much ...IDK.

 

[starvenger]

IMO that’s a must see.

Agreed. And it's very easy to do on your own if you have the time.