Med Romance

[windycity]

Never cruised. Celebrating 25th ann. Want to cruise the northern Med. June - Aug, 2010. Hard to choose. Italy a must, but Spain thru Turkey sound fabulous. Northern Africa tempting as well. Of course, want it all, but probably 14 days. Really looking for optimal romance ! Thoughts? Are temperatures tolerable that time of year.

[penny3333]

Hi windycity, welcome to Cruise-Chat. Princess offers some fantastic itineraries that are 12-14 days and cover quite a few ports that you mentioned. They are the original "Love Boat", but truthfully, they are our favorite line, so far. Their ships always offer enough quiet places to get away from the crowds. Sabatini's and the Crown Grill are two fantastic extra fee restaurants, but the main dining is exceptional. Their pricing is very competitive. When you look at a cruise compared to a land vacation, it really is the best bang for the buck. We always suggest coming in at least a day before you embark, it cuts way down on the stress levels. This is especially true with international travel. One of my dream vacations is to take the QM2 across the pond, then travel through Europe and catch a repositioning trans-atlantic cruise back to the states. Just have to hit the lottery for that one My best advice would be to see a travel agent that is a certified cruise consultant (CLIA), they can give you the options, the itineraries, and ask the right questions to select the right cruise for you. Best wishes and happy anniversary!

[Cruise Fanatic]

The ultimate romance for a 25th Anniversary would be a Windstar Cruise. These are intimate luxury sailing ships, pure pampering. These aren't like the Windjammer ships that went bankrupt. Windstar has three ships Wind Spirit and Wind Star only carry 148 passengers, and Wind Surf (A former Club Med ship) carries 335 passengers. They sail in Europe in the summer doing 7 day cruises. You could do back to back cruises like Venice to Athens then Athens to Istanbul.

The ships have a water sports deck on the back of the ship. You can do snorkeling right from the ship, or participate in other water sports. I sailed them when they were in Tahiti and I went waterskiing and banana boating behind the ships zodiak boats.

The food is excellent. They make their own breads fresh everyday. Left over bread was bread pudding the next day when I went. The service is excellent and attentive.

These ships allow lots of romantic alone time as they don't have big casinos and big production shows. Nightly entertainment is a one person entertainer playing nice music while you enjoy your drinks. In Tahiti we had an under the stars luau, and one day local dancers came on the ship.

[windycity]

Guru,
Sounds fantastic. We have always leaned toward the smaller, more intimate way to go. Is there any more concern with sea sickness on the smaller boats than on the larger ones? Do the smaller ones allow for more time in ports?

[Cruise Fanatic]

The fact of being on a smaller ship alone gives you more time in port. You'll be off the ship in no time. It will vary from port to port. The average days are 8AM to 5PM. Some ports like Dubrovnik I see noon - 11PM, Mykonos 8AM-10PM, Rhodes 8AM-11PM. Kusadasi and Santorini though are 8AM - 4PM. So it will vary. But on an average quite a good time in port.

Everyone is different on their sensitivity to motion. My South Pacific cruise was very smooth when I went on Windstar. I think the waters of the Mediterranean are more protected than the South Pacific.