Mediterranean Cruise-Help! Pros and cons?

[Anna Chassereau]

We've decided to do a European cruise summer 2019...really want the 7 night Norwegian Fjords but they would have to offer it in June or July and I'm not banking on DCL doing so considering that they offered it in late August for 2018.

I'm thinking we will have to go with the Med instead since it's offered several times and will likely be offered in June or July. For those that have done the Med with DCL how was your experience? What ports were your favorite? We always get a verandah...is it worth it to get one on a Med cruise? Do they offer any special food or character experiences? Is there a pirate night? Our son will be 7, almost 8 at the time...anyone have a specific excursion to do with a kid this age? Or one to avoid?

Still holding out a little hope that we may be able to do the Norwegian Fjords but trying to have a plan B. Wish the release for summer 2019 wasn't so far away!!

 

[aggiedog]

What about the Baltic?

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

We did an 11-night med several years ago and then a 9-night Greek Isles cruise in 2014. We loved them both and especially the Med. The ports are all fantastic, so while hard to pick a favorite, top three for the kids were Rome (Civitavecchia), Pisa and Cinque Terre (La Spezia in 2011 now Livorno I think), and Naples.

It would be great for your son's age. We did everything on our own, so while I cannot comment on excursions, I will say don't miss Pompeii, Pisa (some say it's boring, but our kids still talk about seeing it), and exploring Barcelona pre or post cruise.

They do Pirate Night. We had a character breakfast on our Med cruise, but not our Greece one.

As far as verandah, we have never had one, but the window was good enough for us! It's a really busy itinerary, so not a ton of time spent in the room at all.

We also had special menus several nights to reflect where we were. I.e. Greek night while in Greece.

Personally I think the Med would be much more interesting than the Norwegian Fjords for your son.

I keep a blog with our trip reports. If you are interested you can follow this link to start reading about our Med cruise: http://thefairygodblogger.blogspot.com/2011/07/days-1-and-2-from-chicago-to-new-york.html

 

[Anna Chassereau]

What about the Baltic?

This is an option too! It would have to be a 7 night and would need to be offered in June/July...We have a placeholder that will run out at the beginning of August. I'm really wanting a cold weather cruise so this is an option as well

 

[Anna Chassereau]

We did an 11-night med several years ago and then a 9-night Greek Isles cruise in 2014. We loved them both and especially the Med. The ports are all fantastic, so while hard to pick a favorite, top three for the kids were Rome (Civitavecchia), Pisa and Cinque Terre (La Spezia in 2011 now Livorno I think), and Naples.

It would be great for your son's age. We did everything on our own, so while I cannot comment on excursions, I will say don't miss Pompeii, Pisa (some say it's boring, but our kids still talk about seeing it), and exploring Barcelona pre or post cruise.

They do Pirate Night. We had a character breakfast on our Med cruise, but not our Greece one.

As far as verandah, we have never had one, but the window was good enough for us! It's a really busy itinerary, so not a ton of time spent in the room at all.

We also had special menus several nights to reflect where we were. I.e. Greek night while in Greece.

Personally I think the Med would be much more interesting than the Norwegian Fjords for your son.

I keep a blog with our trip reports. If you are interested you can follow this link to start reading about our Med cruise: http://thefairygodblogger.blogspot.com/2011/07/days-1-and-2-from-chicago-to-new-york.html

Oh this is awesome! Thank you for all the info!! I will definitely read your blog thanks for the link! Was it a Disney junior character breakfast or other characters? We just did the Disney Junior one on the Fantasy. Glad to hear there's a pirate night too. I'm so excited to take our son to Europe!!

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

Oh this is awesome! Thank you for all the info!! I will definitely read your blog thanks for the link! Was it a Disney junior character breakfast or other characters? We just did the Disney Junior one on the Fantasy. Glad to hear there's a pirate night too. I'm so excited to take our son to Europe!!

It was the Fab 5. Now, sometimes they mix things up for the 7-night cruises, and ours was in 2011, so I would check recent trip reports for the 7-nights from this summer to see if they did the character breakfasts. I feel certain I read that they did though, so you should be good! But definitely Pirate Night! Always Pirate Night

Europe is so educational for the kids. That's why I say the Med would be better for your son. He will see and learn about things that will follow him into high school. It's amazing the connections my kids have made with our travels in school.

On the blog. If you hover over on the right of the screen a tab for categories will pop up. One is for the 2011 Med cruise if you like you can see all the blogs from that cruise and pick and choose what interests you! Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[kiford]

We did a 10-day Med cruise in 2010 and an 11-day Med cruise in 2013 and a 12-day Baltic one in 2015. Loved all of them.

Our favourite ports on the Med cruises:

. Rome (2010) and Orvieto (2013) from Civitavecchia (there's still many more things I want to see in Rome but we loved Orvieto too so I'd go back to both);

. Vesuvius and Pompeii (2010) from Naples (this was an amazing tour - I still have much more of Pompeii to see and the trip up Vesuvius was on my bucket list although I haven't taken it off the list because I want to go again);

. Valletta (2010) and Gozo (2013) from Valletta, Malta (DH is in love with Malta and would like to visit again. I quite enjoyed it but not as much as he did, although I'd be happy to go again)

. Nice/Eze (2010) and Fort de la Revere, Eze (2013) from Villefranche (loved both - I'd like to spend more time in Nice);

. Athens (2013) from Piraeus, Greece (totally was on the bucket list, totally have not removed it because I want to go again);

. Ephesus/Miletos/Didyma (2013) from Kusadasi, Turkey (I don't think DCL goes to Turkey any more given the issues which is a shame because it was one of the best visits to ruins we've ever been to and I wouldn't mind going back);

. Delos Island (2013) from Mykonos Town, Mykonos (I wouldn't bother to go back but we did enjoy viewing the ruins on Delos Island);

. Corte (2010) on Corsica - port was Ajaccio (I wouldn't bother to go back but we had a lovely day there and I had always wanted to at least see it - I have a major Napoloenic era interest so it was very cool to see the areas in the mountains where he lived while fighting for Corsican independence as a young man);

. Florence (2010) from La Spezia; Pisa (2013) from La Spezia (I'd go back to Florence and would see the statue of David again in a heartbeat; enjoyed Pisa and climbing the tower, but no need to revisit);

. Tunis (2010) (it was a very interesting tour but there was definite tension in the air and I know that DCL doesn't go there any longer).

Actually, I think that covers all of the ports we visited. Every one was worth the visit; some I've seen and done and have no interest in revisiting but others I'd like to do again. The main drawbacks of a Med cruise are that many of the ports are quite a distance from the main points of interest so it not only eats into your time but you have to be up very early in the morning in order to get there and back in a day and still see something of interest.

The other drawback was the temperatures. The 2010 Med cruise was early September with temperatures ranging 30-32 degrees Celsius. The 2013 Med cruise was in mid-June and the temperatures in Turkey hit 42 degrees C. It didn't get much cooler than about 38 degrees in most places. However, both times it was clear skies and no rain.

We had a verandah. The best time sitting out on it was on the 2013 cruise where we sailed through the Straits of Messina between Sicily and Calabria on the mainland (between Scylla and Charybdis, aka between a rock and a hard place aka between the devil and the deep blue sea). It was in the middle of the day and we sat on the balcony with binoculars and were able to see people quite clearly in Sicily. Probably sat there for a couple of hours just watching. You're very close to shore so the views are just great.

We also really loved the Baltic cruise. The ports are much closer so the travel time is much less significant, sometimes quite short with the exception of Berlin from Warnemunde (train was 2 hours there and 2 hours back) but there are places to see closer to the port. The views coming back through the Stockholm archipelago - wow. We probably could have spent the time on our balcony, but we were on deck for nearly the entire voyage leaving Stockholm until we cleared it because we were with friends. Had my binoculars then too. St. Petersburg was amazing. Not a place that I'd want to stay but visiting on a cruise ship works for me. I still want to do it again. I had my heart set on going to the Hermitage (yes, also on the bucket list) which we did two times (ship was there overnight) as well as a few other things. I tried to downplay my expectations for the Hermitage in case I'd overblown it in my mind having wanted to visit since I was 16. It blew me away - so much more than I expected. So, no, it's not yet off the bucket list because I must go again.

Temperatures (this was early to mid July) were 22-26 degrees Celsius. Very moderate, sunny, no rain except for a drizzly day in Berlin. Very comfortable for touring. A little chilly on deck even during the day especially when moving. But DCL puts blankets out on the chairs so we sat out on deck quite a bit with blankets over our shoulders (well, I did - I'm convinced DH has no temperature receptors on his skin). Coldest location was Helsinki, warmest was St. Petersburg.

I'm trying to get DH to agree to a Norway cruise next year. He wants to do the British Isles but not the shorter one that they're offering in summer 2018 (he wants a 10-12 day one which I agree with) so I might be able to convince him to do Norway/Iceland first since we need to use our placeholder before end of 2018.

 

[msmama]

This year (2017) the Norwegian Fjords was in June/July (June, I think). We did Norway Iceland which was the cruise right after that. So don't lose hope.

I will say, though, that I went into the planning thinking that I wanted to do the Med (my son is 9), but ultimately decided that the "places of interest" were significantly far away from the ports and it would be a lot of long days with little break. That's what I loved about the Norway/Iceland cruise - we had lots of sea days, too. That was important for us when we travelled. As he gets older I may consider the Med.

 

[GuardMusic]

We did an 11-night med several years ago and then a 9-night Greek Isles cruise in 2014. We loved them both and especially the Med. The ports are all fantastic, so while hard to pick a favorite, top three for the kids were Rome (Civitavecchia), Pisa and Cinque Terre (La Spezia in 2011 now Livorno I think), and Naples.

It would be great for your son's age. We did everything on our own, so while I cannot comment on excursions, I will say don't miss Pompeii, Pisa (some say it's boring, but our kids still talk about seeing it), and exploring Barcelona pre or post cruise.

They do Pirate Night. We had a character breakfast on our Med cruise, but not our Greece one.

As far as verandah, we have never had one, but the window was good enough for us! It's a really busy itinerary, so not a ton of time spent in the room at all.

We also had special menus several nights to reflect where we were. I.e. Greek night while in Greece.

Personally I think the Med would be much more interesting than the Norwegian Fjords for your son.

I keep a blog with our trip reports. If you are interested you can follow this link to start reading about our Med cruise: http://thefairygodblogger.blogspot.com/2011/07/days-1-and-2-from-chicago-to-new-york.html

How do I get beyond the first day of your trip on the blog???

 

[Quellman]

As far as verandah, we have never had one, but the window was good enough for us! It's a really busy itinerary, so not a ton of time spent in the room at all.

With a port heavy itinerary I would certainly consider not having a verandah. Especially if you go off the ship for excursions or sight seeing. Off in the morning, back in the evening. No reason to pay for something that you aren't going to use, especially since Disney in Europe is $$$ more than the other lines.

 

[Anna Chassereau]

This year (2017) the Norwegian Fjords was in June/July (June, I think). We did Norway Iceland which was the cruise right after that. So don't lose hope.

I will say, though, that I went into the planning thinking that I wanted to do the Med (my son is 9), but ultimately decided that the "places of interest" were significantly far away from the ports and it would be a lot of long days with little break. That's what I loved about the Norway/Iceland cruise - we had lots of sea days, too. That was important for us when we travelled. As he gets older I may consider the Med.

This is one of the main reasons I want to do Norway! I feel like the excursions will be less taxing and we won't have to travel as far...how many nights was the Norway/Iceland cruise y'all did? I'd love to do a longer 10 or 11 night but holy moly the price tag! Lol

 

[Jason Martin]

We've decided to do a European cruise summer 2019...really want the 7 night Norwegian Fjords but they would have to offer it in June or July and I'm not banking on DCL doing so considering that they offered it in late August for 2018.

I'm thinking we will have to go with the Med instead since it's offered several times and will likely be offered in June or July. For those that have done the Med with DCL how was your experience? What ports were your favorite? We always get a verandah...is it worth it to get one on a Med cruise? Do they offer any special food or character experiences? Is there a pirate night? Our son will be 7, almost 8 at the time...anyone have a specific excursion to do with a kid this age? Or one to avoid?

Still holding out a little hope that we may be able to do the Norwegian Fjords but trying to have a plan B. Wish the release for summer 2019 wasn't so far away!!

Just got back from the 8/26 7-day R/T Barcelona and had a great time. We elected not to go with a Vernadah - booked a GTY stateroom and were in 2026 (deluxe outside). The prices for Verandah's were about $3,000 more than the outside staterooms and personally we could not justify the cost. Considering you are in port 4 of the days and if you are planning full excursions, you are awake at 6:30 to get to Cabanas to get to your tour meeting place by 7:30, so found not really in the room that much. The $3,000 savings basically paid for all of our excursions and the meals while we were there, much happier that we did that.

Loved Pompeii and Sorrento - did this with a private tour
Rome was great - loved the guided tour of the Col.
Florence was not my favorite spot - too many gypsies and hustlers though the guides were very good in alerting us - did not have time to go to the Uffizi or Academy
Nice was great and loved the free time there. Monaco - just not enough time

They had character pictures with the core ones in various Spanish, French and Italian outfits along with backdrops from Rome and Pisa.
Character breakfast the mornings of sea days
Palo Brunch on Sea Days
World of Flavors special dinner
Pirate night

Helpful hint - if your cruise does not leave the EU which ours didn't VAT is added to all purchases (21% added to photos, spa, merchandise) - 10% extra included on drinks

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

How do I get beyond the first day of your trip on the blog???

Blogger took off the next and previous buttons, which annoys me! To find the whole trip report, hover over toward the right and a categories tab will pop out. Click on the 2011 Med and you'll see all the blogs from that trip starting with the last one I wrote. Scroll down to see them all. Hope this makes sense

 

[terkov]

We just did the 7 night on 8/26. My daughter is 9. We had a great time but never used our balcony. By the time we got back from port days we jumped in the shower and raced to dinner (2nd seating- that was a mistake should have done 1st as the nights were too late for daughter)
We did 2 DCL tours and 2 private with Rome in limo. All were truly fantastic! I had low expectations for the DCL ones (huge groups, long delays waiting etc) and they were great!

Super early start times (7:30) so my kiddo was beat. For sure not a relying trip, but a great one. It was SO hot when we went (104 in Rome) and very humid. Tons of walking so only you know how your kiddo will hold up.

We LOVED Sorrento and Pistano and Pompeii. We loved Florance. Wouldn't go back to Pisa but it's something you need to see if that makes sense.we felt the same with Rome. We won't go back but you need to go to see the coliseum and Vatican.
I mixed tours up to keep daughter excited (museum then cooking class then another museum) and that helped. We spent 4 days prior in Paris so she was pretty "naked men statues made of marble" out. We found she could do about 1.5 hours at each museum but this could have been because again it was very hot and humid.

We liked nice and Monaco but not enough time to really enjoy it.

Here is what we didn't like. At all. The actual ship. We have Vernon 8 Disney cruises and by far the magic was the worst. It was worn down (main lobby carpet was so dirty) and the staff was so unfriendly and unhelpful. Not at all the Disney we are used to. Pools were so small and closed more then they were open. Workers standing around ne er asking if you needed help or even a hi. We felt it was SO SO SO crowded (way more then the fantasy or dream) Had this been our 1st DCL not sure we would cruise them again it was that bad. (Give the price compared to other lines) I pay more for the service so if I don't get that it would be hard to justify the cost difference. The list of things that this ship didn't do that the other ships does is quite extensive. (One example is not getting your drawing back at AP. Another is the quick service restaurants randomly close even though the navigator says they should be open)

However we know this is not the not so already have 3 more booked. We are going next summer on the10 day Fjords as my daughter wants to go to Iceland and also look for Nessie. Am I thrilled it will be on the magic? No. But we are going with low expectations (as it relates to service and the ship) and know we'll still have a great time. We anticipate this itinerary to be a bit more relaxing and are looking forward to the castles!

They did have a pirate night and character breakfast. Characters also dressed up in different country outfits and their menus some evenings had local dishes.

Hope the helps!!

 

[cheermom2four]

We just returned from the last med cruise of this year (9/9 to 9/16) and loved it. It definitely was port intensive and I wouldnt have gotten a verandah if I had known I wouldnt use it like I had on my past two cruises. We traveled with our family of 6 (4 adults and a 6 yr old and 17 yr old). Our 6 year old decided to stay on the ship in Naples and rome in the secured kids club but we made her come with us in Livorno/Florence and Marseille.

We had the fab 5 character breakfast and it was good (better than the one we had of Sophia, Jake, and doc mcstuffin on the fantasy).

I guess I didnt experience what the pp did with staff. We enjoyed talking with the staff and they did with us. We got to know our room host and our servers, including the head server which I've never really met on previous cruises except the night they give their speel on giving them good reviews. This one came by every single night and was so personable. The ship is older so we didnt expect it to look new but it definitely needs carpet updates. Other than the carpets, it was cleaned by the staff constantly when we were out walking around. Bathrooms were always being cleaned too which I appreciated. I actually prefer this sized ship over the Fantasy as I always felt it was crowded on the Fantasy and never was on the Magic. Guess its all in perspective

We did do only 1 DCL excursion and the other 3 DIY (hired private drivers in Livorno and Naples). Our cruise missed Villefranche and we were so bummed as that was the only port my 17 yr old cared about since he's a huge grand prix race fan and we had planned on taking the train from Villefranche to Monaco and just walk around. We ended up in Marseille and honestly I wished we had stayed on the ship instead of taking the free port shuttle to the middle of town. you almost have to get on the HOHO bus in order to see things as everything is pretty far from each other IMO (with a 6 yr old we walked her to death in Florence). I would've rather had another sea day than visit Marseille.

This itinerary is very educational and our 17yr old did enjoy the other ports even though he only really cared about was Monaco and the grand prix circuit. He is writing up a report for his history class and it should be pretty amazing since he went there instead of just reading things in books. Our 6 year old did great in Florence when we climbed Giotto's bell tower but the long days wore her out. We had 2nd seating and actually it worked out fine for our family (even our 6 yr old) as we didnt have to rush to get ready for dinner when we returned to port. A lot of our cruise group friends had to rush or missed their 1st seating as they arrived really late to go to the dining and ended up eating in Cabanas a lot of nights.

We ended up booking 2 placeholders and will use one for a mini cruise (4 or 5 day) next year and hold out till summer release of 2019 for the 2nd placeholder.

 

[sambycat]

Yes we just did the same 9/2 cruise and was super impressed with the staff and the ship since we had not been in her since before her big makeover a few years back. Lots of kids onboard. We loved the cruise but it was exhausting. That's in us because we chose all day excursions but it was great! And I'm glad we didn't pay for a veranda due to the fact all we did was sleep in there! But we did an ocean view and it was great!

 

[mlayton14]

Does anyone have pictures of the stained or worn carpet on the ship? This is disgraceful because stained carpet has nothing to do with age of ship, more to do with maintenance which is unacceptable with prices charged , I have sailed on 3 DCL cruises and never experienced this

 

[FamilyHolidayPlanner]

Does anyone have pictures of the stained or worn carpet on the ship? This is disgraceful because stained carpet has nothing to do with age of ship, more to do with maintenance which is unacceptable with prices charged , I have sailed on 3 DCL cruises and never experienced this

I only really noticed this in the atrium. It didn't effect our overall enjoyment of the cruise

 

[mlayton14]

What kind stains are those that would be that big? I was lectured by a previous poster when commenting about how ugly the reimagined atrium and was told that it was designed to look like a sea floor , were these definitely stains or just ugly carpet?

 

[FamilyHolidayPlanner]

(One example is not getting your drawing back at AP. !!

We were on the same cruise and did get our drawings back.

We had a great serving team and room host.

The character queues were insane at times (compared to Norway last year). Why did they take away the tickets for marvel characters? We managed captain America and spidy, but missed Thor as our 5yr old marvel mad son declared he'd had enough of queuing and wasn't going to see any more characters.