Is a Mediterranean cruise a good itinerary or completely overrated and not worth the premium cruise lines put on these destinations? It all depends on what you are looking for. If you want to luxuriate at lunch to experience Italy’s world-renowned food, see the beautiful sites, pop into shops and stroll around a museum, the answer is no. But, if you want to walk 10 miles a day, rush to see every historical site, take the quickest photo, see the outside of a museum, sweat profusely, suck up your gelato before it melts and run to the next site, then this is for you!
My advice? Plan accordingly. I will tell you all the pros and cons of Mediterranean cruise travel, what to look for when booking a cruise, and how to plan and maximize your experience! You may even find a few food recommendations.
With incredible destinations such as Seville, Florence, Rome, Naples, Cagliari, Marseille and Gibraltar; it is hard to imagine not booking this cruise! Seville, Florence and Rome are highly regarded as some of the most beautiful cities in the world. I can say from firsthand experience, these cities are a must see. Steeped in history and beauty, they are truly incredible destinations. But is seeing them from a cruise ship even worth it? Shockingly, I will say no.
I had the pleasure of taking a 2-week long cruise with my fiancé, who is a very well-traveled individual and my father, who has never left North America. The 3 of us embarked on this trip together with varying expectations but one thing we were most excited for were those 3 cities. Having worked in the cruise industry, I knew to temper my expectations regarding the amount of time we had in port. I will take you through each location’s pros and cons.
Seville, Spain
Seville, Spain was our first stop after we set sail from South Hampton, England. But Seville is not the ships actual destination. We docked in Cadiz, Spain and while Seville is what is largely advertised by the cruise line, you will need to book a shore excursion to get to Seville. They offered tours and bus shuttles to tour on your own. Now here is the downside, it is a 2-hour bus ride from the dock. Meaning, you lose 4 hours of precious time in this port because of the distance. Our charter bus left at 7:30am. By the time we reached the city at 9:30, we only had until 12:30 to be back on the bus. Having been to this incredible city before, I knew what spots to hit and luckily the city is very walkable.
First stop was Real Alcazar, a stunning palace with gardens featured in Game of Thrones’ city of Dorne. We spent an hour exploring the large grounds, which felt like a breakneck speed compared to the 3 hours I spent there the first time I went. Right next to it you can marvel at the vast and stunning Seville Cathedral, which lucky for me, I got to see again with far less scaffolding this time around. To save time, avoid the ticket line and buy tickets online at their official website!
Next stop, we walked over to the Plaza De Espana, featured in Star Wars as Naboo. It is grand, it is gorgeous, don’t miss this when you visit. This is also a great spot when on a time crunch because you can just walk right up and marvel at the beauty.
My dad wanted to eat Paella, it has been his dream to go to Spain and eat Paella for as long as I can remember. But in this city a lot of places either don’t open until 11am or aren’t serving anything but breakfast until noon. 30 minutes would not have given us the opportunity to eat lunch and be back on the bus in time and we were already rushing to every destination.
My dad settled for whatever jamon he could get his hands on, and we were back on the bus for the 2-hour journey home.
The benefit of booking shore excursions through your cruise line is that you are guaranteed to make it back before all aboard so be aware of the importance of this if you are choosing to book with a third party. We arrived back on board with an hour to spare.
Cagliari, Italy
Next stop was Cagliari, Italy. This location was great because it was where we docked. We walked right off the boat and explored the city with a walking map we got from guest services, circled everything we wanted to see and set out! There are a lot of hills in this area so make sure you have proper footwear!
If you are visiting in the summer and want to escape into the air conditioning, go to the Museo Archeologico. There is plenty to see with over 4,000 artifacts ranging from prehistoric, to Middle Ages, to neolithic, jewels and far more. We even had time for the most incredible food of our entire trip. If you want pasta or seafood, just off Via Romano on Via Naploi 4, is Ristorante Corallo. We got several different pasta dishes, and all were better than the last. And 2 weeks later when our trip was over, we all agreed this was the best food on our trip.
Naples, Italy
The following day we arrived in Naples which was another incredible destination right on the water. We took a tour of Pompeii, because how can you go to Naples and not visit Pompeii? It is incredible, fascinating and eerie.
Buying a ticket online saved no time because even if you have an online ticket, they make you get in line and exchange it for a physical ticket. Don’t worry about going out of your way to buy online, all the lines were of equal length and speed. This is another great excursion to do if you still want time to visit Naples, it was only 20 minutes from the ship.
Thankfully, we had time for lunch! Naples is the homeland of pizza. I asked our Pompeii guide, she is born and raised in Naples, the best place to get pizza. She says you can’t go wrong at any location on Via Medina. Luckily this was walking distance from the ship. We ate at Fratelli Medina. Our waiter actually laughed at all the food we ordered…we devoured it all. No shame!
Rome, Italy
Rome, yet another destination not anywhere near our ship. Our real location was Civitavecchia. For this destination we booked an all-day tour, which was a great way to maximize the time we had. Luckily, the bus ride was only 1 hour and 20 minutes.
We were able to go to see the Vatican, no time to enter unless you purchased tickets beforehand. Then we were taken to the heart of the city where we power walked to see all the major sites. The Trevi Fountain was my favorite, and at the end of the day we went to the Roman Colosseum where I got to live out my Lizzie McGuire dreams. We walked 10 miles that day and the heat was immense but worth every second.
This did not feel nearly as rushed, most likely due to having a well-timed tour. The only place we were able to enter was through the Colosseum but even then, we only had 40 minutes.
Before buying tickets online for entry, be sure to check if it is included in your tour or if you can buy them from your tour guide. We were able to purchase tickets through our tour guide and she walked us all the way in an we were able to bypass quite a lot of lines. Lines are a huge time suck in most of these places during the summer, take that into account when planning. Give yourself an hour to get in and get through security if going on your own. We were able to find out via shore excursions on our ship that we’d be able to purchase tickets with our tour guide and the $20 charge was charged to our room making it even easier.
Florence, Italy
Florence the following day, included another long drive, nearly 3 hours. Again, wasting 6 hours of time in a bus from our actual location of La Spezia is a lot of time when you are only given 10 hours to be in port. Now, with La Spezia, the cruise line advertises this location as Florence/Pisa. Meaning, you can go to either location via tours. Pisa is much closer, 90 minutes away. The brightside of these destinations, you drive through the stunning Tuscan region, including beautiful views of Carrara marble.
The tour we originally booked was cancelled on us 2 days prior, which included going into the Accademia Gallery and seeing The David, so we quickly jumped on the remaining tour for Florence. We still got to see a lot, but this tour included some very heavy-handed promotion. Forcing us to a leather workshop before entering Florence so we could shop. And then after being guided through parts of the city and seeing the jaw dropping Duomo, we were escorted to another shop where we listened to their gold jewelry and leather bag pitches and were told this was our meeting point.
We had 90 minutes on our own and since this was not enough time to go into a museum and the churches were closed due to it being Sunday, so they were in service, we took the opportunity to eat. It is brutally hot in Italy in the summer, so any chance to be inside and drinking water is necessary. Pasta helps too, not with dehydration, but it soothes the soul.
We did head back to the Duomo as well, because we could not stop staring at the intricate marble and architecture. Get gelato, right next to the Duomo at Eduardo’s. The lavender honey flavor and the cinnamon were a revelation. Best gelato on the trip, and trust me, we ate a lot of it. This is one city I would have loved to have more time to explore but it was a nice taste of what Florence had to offer.
Marseille, France and Gibraltar, United Kingdom
Marseille and Gibraltar were our final 2 destinations. Both locations were beautiful and fairly easy to access from the cruise ship. Marseille required a 10-minute shuttle into town and Gibraltar was accessible by walking.
When in Marseille, if it is open, be sure to enter the Cathedrale La Major. This stunning cathedral is massive, and its interiors are even more impressive than the extraordinary exterior.
Gibraltar was the surprise hit of this vacation. We all loved it and seeing Europe’s only wild monkey population was the highlight. There were so many baby monkeys! They also have plenty to offer over on the rock other than monkeys. Caves, WW2 tunnels, an old castle, cannons and more. If you go, get the ticket that includes all the attractions and a one-way ticket up the mountain. You can see far more if you walk yourself down, but it is a lot of walking. Be sure to wear proper footwear.
Overview of Mediterranean Cruise Itinerary
While all these destinations were great, I can confidently say, this is not the way to see them. If you want to revisit these locations, then, take a cruise. The weather and water are gorgeous for sailing. But a lot of these cities require so much more time than 6-10 hours. If Italy or Spain is your desire, just go and stay there. While I haven’t taken a cruise to the Greek islands yet, if the Mediterranean is what you are after, you’d be better off going there.
What To Look for When Booking a Cruise
Things to look for when booking a Mediterranean cruise, look at the itinerary description. It will show locations posted like this:
- Cadiz, Spain (Seville, Spain)
- Cagliari, Italy
- Naples, Italy (Pompeii, Italy)
- Civitavecchia, Italy (Rome, Italy)
- La Spezia, Italy (Florence/Pisa, Italy)
- Marseille, France
- Gibraltar, United Kingdom
Anything that shows brackets mean that you are not actually sailing there. Cross reference the shore excursions available to see how long it will take you to get to the city you want to be go to. See if you get enough and also check the restrictions. Some tours will require you to be able to walk a few miles without many stops. If you have been to these cities, take the time and visit the actual locations you are docking at to really maximize on your time!
Booking tours will give you the best use of your time. Investigate the details and make sure they are covering what you want to see. If you want to go to the museum in Florence, be sure that is on your tour. I hope it doesn’t get cancelled!
You can’t go wrong seeing these places, but with cruise travel, you really are only seeing things from the outside. Delve in and plan a trip to stay there, they deserve more time and attention. Safe travels!
[…] you are visiting London before heading on a cruise and need to get to South Hampton, I highly recommend using the National Express. This is the most […]