European Cruises

Thinking about eastern Mediterranean cruises? One of our staff member wanted to share with you his last year experience.

Eastern Mediterranean cruise between Venice… and Venice!

Our trip started in Venice. Our eastern Mediterranean cruise starting and stopping city was Venice, and in between, the cruise ship was scheduled to make various stops between Italy, Greece and Croatia before returning to Venice. Remember that all eastern Mediterranean cruises do not start and stop at the same city, and do not take the same route.

Thursday Day-4

Arrival at the airport. Since our cruise ship was leaving from Venice, my wife and I decided to arrive a few days before boarding. So we arrived at the airport in Venice 4 days before the big departure. Venice is charming city, but if you happen to spend some time there, make sure to buy a map, Venice is a real labyrinth!

In Venice, make sure to take the vaporetto (water bus) to get from one point to another (which we realized a little bit too late! …). This will save yourself from hours of walking to try find your way. This said, when you are looking into eastern Mediterranean cruises, it is also a great idea to book a few extra days, just like us, in your starting or stopping city, to make the most of your trip!

Monday Day 1

Aboard the Port of Venice! There is no word to describe our eastern Mediterranean cruise ship we were going to spent the week on, it was so big and so luxurious! To give you a quick idea of the cruise ship

Weight: 75 166 tons
Width: 32 meters
Length: 252 meters!
Number of passengers: 2394
Crew: 800 members

And there were 14 floors! I see how popular the eastern Mediterranean cruises are now, since the cruise ship if not fully booked, was pretty close to being. And of course, safety lifts were installed all around the huge vessel!

The eastern Mediterranean cruise ship had a basketball and tennis court on the last bridge, swimming pools, a solarium, bars, nightclubs, a casino, a video games room, daycare, entertainment day and evening buffets all day long. Plus the crew was always available and so pleasant the whole time.

All the ingredients were there for a great week of fun and relax vacations. From the moment we boarded, there were no doubts, that eastern Mediterranean cruises idea was a great one!

Tuesday Day 2

Eastern Mediterranean cruises are great and your never get bored. Indeed, the next day our cruise ship was already stopping at our first port, the Port of Bari in Italy. Bari as in Barilla… Some people may know it, Barilla is a well known pasta brand! Bari (according to what we told the guide us) can be considered the capital of pasta and is an important city in southern Italy.

Other than for pasta, Bari is also known for something big in history : Basilica of Saint Nicolas. Hopefully I will not disappoint too many, but for the people who didn’t know it, Saint Nicola is the real Santa Claus, and doesn’t wear red, doesn’t have a big beard and doesn’t live in North Pole H0H 0H0… no offense to the Coca-Cola version!

Wednesday Day 3

Like I say earlier, there is no time to rest on eastern Mediterranean cruises. Our  cruise ship second stop was the Port of Katakolon in Greece. We decided to visit the archaeological site of Olympia, who was a few miles away by bus. I totally loved that mini trip. The site is huge and full of history. A little trip I highly recommend!

Thursday Day 4

Eastern Mediterranean cruises stop #3. Our Mediterranean cruise ship arrived in the morning on the island of Santorini. The port is small and not large enough to dock, we then have to get on the island on little boats! Even though it was early morning, the temperature was high and the sky a beautiful baby blue. The city and the village of Oia were very nice. The island itself has an unusual story, 60% of it disappeared during a volcanic explosion several years ago

Eastern Mediterranean cruises stop #4. Our Mediterranean cruise ship arrived on the island of Mykonos in the afternoon of day 4, which is a lovely small island. Similar to Santorini with very very white houses (wonder how they stay so clean with all the tourists coming from all the Eastern Mediterranean cruises.

Friday Day 5

The cruise ship fifth stop was Port of Rhodes. The island of Rhodes is full of history. We decided to visit by ourselves instead of taking the guided tour. Big mistake… we did know what to look or where to go. Other passengers who opted for the guided tour seems to have really enjoyed their stop.. oh well it’s going to be for next time!

Friday evening, the sea was a little bit rough. But I guess this is something you can sometimes expect of Eastern Mediterranean cruises. Luckily enough, it didn’t last for so long. I can’t say the same of my seasickness, so I went to bed early.

Saturday Day 6

Eastern Mediterranean cruises also give you some time to relax. And this was great after the tough evening I just experienced! No stop, full day on the boat, most passengers, including ourselves, simply enjoyed the sun in the solarium on the 14th deck of the cruise ship.

Sunday Day 7

Last but not least. Stop #6 of our Eastern Mediterranean cruise, Dubrovnik, Croatia. I heard a few nice things about the new Croatia, and I have to admit it, the old towns are very pretty (fully rebuilt and brand new, with no sign of the previous war). However, store owners could learn to be a little bit friendly. This is surprising since you would think they would want the business from the many tourists from the Eastern Mediterranean cruises. As a result we did not purchase any souvenir and wandered off to take pictures. The view from the ramparts of the walled city was beautiful! I took some of my most beautiful pictures there!

Monday, end of the journey

SNIFFF. Back to Venice. The journey was great and I am looking forward to go cruising again, probably more Eastern Mediterranean cruises! And I will miss our gigantic cruise ship.

This is a very short summary of our romantic getaway, I wish I could say more, but I have a limited space and number of words the editors has allowed me to write =) No need to add that we had a very good and memorable time.

John, who is looking for his next European Cruises.

P.S. eastern Mediterranean cruises are great… great landscapes! the proof, I took over 1500 pictures… Will share with you soon!