Would you do a B2B Med itinerary?

[JLMoran]

So with our 2020 Iceland & Greenland cruise canceled and nothing on deck for 2021, I'm waiting for the 2022 European itineraries to come out. My family has said they want go to the Mediterranean. Not Iceland. Not Norway. Not Alaska. The Med-i-ter-ran-ian, thank you.

So, I have no choice.

What I do have a choice about is the itinerary... or itineraries.

Seems like it's really hard to find sailings longer than 7 nights on the mass-market, upscale mass-market, or even luxury lines. Every line I've checked has mostly 7-night sailings, with a smattering of 10 and 11 night. Absolutely no one seems to have a 2-week itinerary option that isn't a transatlantic. So...

I'm thinking about booking a B2B, most likely out of Rome, that would cover eastern (Italy, Greek Isles, and if I'm lucky Croatia / Montenegro) and western (Italy, France, Spain). I know how port-intensive most Med itineraries are, and this may honestly be nuts to even consider. But I have some good reasons:

• This will most likely be our last vacation taken as a family. My older daughter will have graduated college and will almost certainly be starting a new job and living somewhere on her own; while my younger one will be starting college at the end of August that year.
• Only my wife has been to the Mediterranean before, and it will likely be our only trip there for many years.
• I have mobility issues that are only going to get worse as the years go by; I'd rather burn myself out in '22 and know I've seen as much as I could, just in case I'm unable to do that kind of trip in 15 or 20 years, when I'm retired.
• I won't have done any kind of big vacation in over 2 years by that point, so if I'm going to have a big trip then let's have a big trip

 

But is this overreaching? Are the itineraries so intense and draining that going for a second week is foolish?

I was figuring that any B2B we did would have at least one port overlapping both legs, so that we could use one of the overlaps as a "rest day" and just stay on the ship or do nothing more than go into town for lunch and maybe some souvenir shopping. And western itineraries do seem to typically have one sea day, sometimes two, so that will be another chance to recharge.

Would you do this, or should I just find the best 10/11 night option that we all agree on and leave it at that?

[KathyC]

We contemplated something similar when planning our May 2020 Med cruise.  This would likely be our only time getting to that part of Europe.  The sailing was on the newly re-vamped Allure and our boys had never been on an Oasis class before.  It would also be the last time all four of us would travel together.  

Our itinerary had 6 ports in 7 days, and I think 3 of the 6 required long bus rides inland to reach the "destination."  Aka Rome is 90 mins from the port.  Each way.  And many ports offered more than one "nearby" destination and it was a very long day to take an excursion that brought you everywhere while giving you a tiny bit of time in each.  We figured we'd be exhausted by the end of the trip, and would need another one afterwards. 

 

What we decided to look at was a B2B of the SAME itinerary.  This way we could take our time in each port, knowing we'd be back again.  So first stop in La Spezia let us go to Pisa.  The second stop allowed us to explore Florence.  Both are about an hour away from the port, in different directions.   First stop in Naples allowed us to go to Capri and explore the Amalfi Coast, second allowed us to tour Naples.  Two stops in Civitavecchia allowed us two trips into Rome; visit Vatican one day, see Colosseum another day.  Walk the streets, enjoy the local food and shops, without rushing from one place to another.   The stops in France and Palma de Mallorca allowed us to visit those ports on the first or second leg of the trip, depending on how tired we were.  Visit one the first week, the other the second.  Or do a half day excursion each time, and walk the town the rest of the day.  A much more relaxed experience that let us feel like we were not missing out if we weren't on the go from arrival to all aboard, knowing we wouldn't go back in the near future.

We ended up canceling it before final payment, but when we do reschedule this cruise, we will plan the same thing.  

[JLMoran]

@KathyC, that's an interesting take on that kind of cruise. I was looking at Princess' just-released Med sailings for '22 today and talking about it with my travel agent. The one I'm most-interested in is a 14-night sailing from Rome to Barcelona, which includes a double-stop in Naples. I was saying to her how that was great, because it meant we could go to Capri one time, and Pompeii the other (or just enjoy Napoli on its own in the first or second half of the trip). And because it starts in Rome, we can arrive a couple of days early and use the time to explore / see the sights, without the rush of a standard port day. Then just board the ship late in the day after seeing whatever last-minute bits we want to catch, and be off on our adventure.

I'm not sure I could sell my family on doing the kind of itinerary you planned out, but I definitely see the merits of repeat stops at ports where the main points of interest are quite a ways away from the actual port.

[Jedi Jason]

I agree with Kathy’s plan and assessment of a back to back option including excursions. 
the 14 night cruise is also a great option. 
I did a 14 night on Brilliance in 2007 round trip from Barcelona and I had overnights in Rome and Venice. We made it as far as Croatia. Both options are good. 

[JLMoran]

@Jedi Jason, I'm actually now booked on a slightly different 14-night Med sailing with Princess. Instead of Rome to Barcelona, we're sailing from Athens to Rome. Princess offers three different 7-night "legs" for the Med on a 3-week rotation:

1. Athens to Barcelona
2. Barcelona to Rome
3. Rome to Athens

Originally I was thinking the family would most want to do the 3rd and 1st leg B2B, because that gave the doubled stops I had mentioned. But they actually wanted the combination of legs 1 and 2, so I was outvoted. ?

The good part about this is that now we will fly in to Athens a couple of days early, and have time to explore there without rushing. And instead of doing our Rome touring before the cruise, we'll just fly out the day after we disembark and get our touring in that Saturday (and hopefully have some time Sunday before flying home, since we can leverage the time change to fly out later in the day).