Tips for Cruising the Mediterranean
We are just back from a fabulous Mediterranean cruise. We sailed on Royal Caribbeans, Enchantment of the Seas. Our cruise was 8 days, we left out of Rome (Civitavecchia). Our ports were the Amalfi Coast (Salerno), Sicily (Messina), Santorini, Ephesus (Kusadasi, Turkey), and Mykonos, we finished in Athens, Greece. We spent two days in Meteora before visiting Athens. We chose this cruise based on the itinerary, and it worked with our children’s fall break. We love cruising since we’re able to see several different destinations in a short amount of time.
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Tips for your Mediterranean Cruise:
The best time to cruise the Mediterranean is mid to late spring or early to mid-fall. It won’t be as hot or crowded during these months.
When picking your stateroom decide what you want to be near. On our Mediterranean cruise, we were near the elevator and food, so it worked great!
If you get motion sickness pick a stateroom mid-ship and on the lowest passenger deck. The top of the ship sways from side to side more than the bottom. So stay near the waterline.
If you want the best views, get a cabin towards the top of the ship.
Consider ordering Euros in advance from your bank. It’s nice to have a little cash to get you started and you won’t have the hassle of trying to find ATMs when you arrive at your destination. Look for a bank ATM or you will spend more on fees.
Arrive a few days early. You’ll lose a day when coming from the United States, and this will give you time to get over jet lag. It took us a few days to stop feeling like zombies! It’s nice to have time to explore the city before you depart on your cruise. We left the United States a week before our cruise began. We flew into London’s Heathrow Airport and then to Bologna, Italy. We explored Bologna, Florence, and Rome before we started our cruise. We ended our cruise in Athens and spent a few days in Greece before we flew home.
Make arrangements for getting to and from the ship in advance. We left from the port of Civitavecchia, which is an hour and a half outside of Rome. You could end up with an expensive taxi ride if you don’t plan ahead. With eight in our group, we booked our transportation with Easitalytours. They arrived on time and got us there early. I noticed on our cruise group page, cruisers were having a hard time finding transportation at the last minute. They do have a train you can take from Rome but with eight in our group and 4 of them being children it was worth arranging a driver in advance.
We only had one day at sea so we really didn’t have much time to enjoy the ship. The next time I book a European cruise I would book a longer cruise with more days at sea so we can spend more time relaxing. Mediterranean cruises usually have longer port days so more days at sea will help you recover from the long port days. We met a couple who were staying on the same ship for three weeks. They were enjoying three different itineraries and were taking the ship back to Tampa, Florida. It sounded like a great plan to me!
If you’re traveling with children do research on the ships youth club. Since we were on an older ship the youth club was so small it was almost non-existent. Our kids checked it out the first day and never went back… they weren’t impressed.
Research the ports and learn which cities are best to schedule excursions and which are best to explore on your own. After doing research we learned that two of our cruise ports would be easy to explore on our own. It was nice to sleep in on those days.
You will save money by not taking your cruise-line excursions. Do research and find your own excursions. We had private tours for less than the cruise-line excursions.
The advantage of taking the cruise-line excursion is the ship will wait for passengers who are coming from an excursion that’s running late.
Book excursions in advance and buy tickets ahead of time. Certain European cities book out weeks or even months in advance. I had to book our Rome activities months before we left on our trip.
Join cruise groups on Facebook to learn helpful tips for the different ports you’ll be visiting. I found amazing tour guides on these groups. I joined a cruise roll call (a way for passengers to connect online before the cruise) which can come in handy when you want to share excursions to get a better deal. You can get helpful information or you might want to get to know other passengers before you cruise.
Be flexible. One of my favorite days was the day one of our tour guides cancelled our private tour. We ended up finding a better backup plan. We’ve been on cruises in the past where ports were changed at the last minute because of weather. Some things are outside of the cruise line’s control. So just go with the flow. You can always find a taxi at the port to take you somewhere.
Pace yourself (I need this advice)… I like to see it all! Add a few shorter excursions in between the longer days.
We cruised in early October and I was expecting it to be a little cooler. I can only imagine how hot it gets in the summer months in the Mediterranean. I ended up wishing I would have brought more sundresses. Just remember that some of the churches expect women to cover their arms, shoulders, and legs.
Bring comfortable walking shoes. I packed sneakers and a pair of comfortable sandals. Make sure your shoes have a good grip on the soles since Europe has lots of slippery marble floors with lots of steps.
Be aware of pickpocketers, especially in Rome. Don’t put anything in your back pocket and be careful in crowded areas. I’ve never had problems with my crossover purse. You might want to consider a money belt tucked underneath your clothes.
Use the restroom when you have the chance (restaurants). You won’t find a lot of public restrooms in Europe.
Learn a few phrases in the language of the country you’ll be visiting. In tourist areas, English is spoken but you shouldn’t expect that everyone will speak it.
I used my Google Translate app more than I thought I would. I used it to take pictures of their products (medicine) to help translate what it was. We also used it to communicate with people who didn’t speak English.
Unless you have a phone plan that includes international data, your phone will not work in Europe. Some may have a daily fee for international service whereas others charge by the amount of data used. Check with your phone provider before you leave.
Put your phone in airplane mode once onboard the ship to avoid roaming charges.
