Cruise to Italy

[EddieWalker]

A friend and I are seriously considering a cruise to and around Italy. Several friends on FB did this last year and their pictures really impressed me with what they saw and where they went.

I've been on one cruise with Carnival. I'm looking online and I like what Carnival has to offer better then Norwegian or Royal Corribean. Is there any others to look at?

The cruise I'm liking the best is 12 days on the Carnival Legend ship. Has anybody been on that ship recently?

http://www.carnival.com/core/cruised...CtierCode%3A01

Thanks,
Eddie

[jimmyj]

I don't have any advice Eddie but I'll be watching your replies closely. The wife and I are serously thinking of taking a european cruise. Have you ever considered one of the river cruises by chance?

[EddieWalker]

I've been looking at Viking Cruislines and get their brochures in the mail about twice a month. I thought about them, but wonder if they are a bargain or not. They seem kind of price and none of them really go to where I want to go. I like the idea of cruising up the river and seeing what has been built there over the centuries, so it might happen at some point.

Eddie

[Barry 1]

Last year,the Costa Concordia sank off of Italy,and right now there is one stranded in the Gulf ,that lost power 4 days ago-4200 people with no airconditioning or TOILETS!!! They are giving free booze to them today.And then there are the outbreaks of legionaires,menier's,norovirus. Not for me!

[DKCDKC]

Have not done the Med to date, but have made cruises on a lot of lines, including TransAtlantic. Two cruises were on Carnival - both marked by poor service and a lot less polish than other lines. I know they're the biggest and own some other, decent lines, but I'd seriously consider going on Holland America or Celebrity - both have good Med options. Check discount sites like VacationsToGo.com and you can compare a lot of lines and ports. If you have some flexibility in scheduling, shoot for something within 90 days and you may get a really discounted price. We usually find cruises online, then call our agent and ask them to beat the price - and they usually do, and throw in some freebies as well. Also register with CruiseCritic.com and go on the blog for whatever specific cruise you buy. You can find out all kinds of tips from experienced travelers who have taken or will take that specific cruise.
Bon voyage.

[brin]

Last year,the Costa Concordia sank off of Italy,and right now there is one stranded in the Gulf ,that lost power 4 days ago-4200 people with no airconditioning or TOILETS!!! They are giving free booze to them today.And then there are the outbreaks of legionaires,menier's,norovirus. Not for me!

Me either...my Mrs. really wants to go on a cruise and I keep pointing these things out to her ..especially in the Med....I hope she comes to believe ...we all make choices and if you choose to go on a cruise out at sea...you have nothing to complain about when something goes wrong....maybe really bad wrong...no thanks

[mjarrels]

21 years in the U. S. Navy... Couldn't pay me to take a cruise anymore!

mark

[greasemonkeyok]

21 years in the U. S. Navy... Couldn't pay me to take a cruise anymore!

mark

Best answer!

[DKCDKC]

My wife has conditions that make it impossible for us to fly. So getting to anyplace outside of this continent - which we're already toured reasonably well - must involve ships. We've now cruised more than 8 times and have never had a dud, or seen any kind of inconvenience. A couple Carnival cruises were less than they should have been, but we still enjoyed ourselves. The others were fantastic. I have friends/relatives who have many more cruises than do we, and have never had a dud... Or experienced any technical issues.

Certainly the news media has made a lot of the Costa wreck last year - Costa being a sub of Carnival - but some 14 million persons took a cruise last year. The first major shipwreck in years killed 32, 32 out of 14 million in 2012. Not that bad as odds go. And if you exclude ferries and ships that don't do ever come into US ports, you have to go back a very long way to find a shipwreck. The odds against a major, life-threatening shipwreck are far less than most other past times... Certainly than farming. And I'd much rather be on a ship whose engine failed than I would want to be on a jet aircraft whose engine failed.

But that's just me. I fully appreciate that some folks don't want to go on ships, as others avoid planes or trains. I have flown a lot before retirement, and gone around the nation by train a few times. I just prefer cruising. I love traveling without having to unpack and repack all the time.

[tallyho8]

Just remember, there are over 10,000 cruises scheduled a year with the numbers climbing yearly. Just because one ship had an accident that inconvenienced passengers in the past year, which resulted in no deaths or injuries, it does not make cruising risky. Cruising is still the safest way to travel.

Would you rather be on a cruise ship that lost power or an airplane.

It's hard to wait for 90 days before a cruise on an overseas cruise to schedule it because at that time airfare may be impossible or very expensive to book.
The savings on the cruise may not pay for the higher cost of the airfare. If you book Carnival early, you get the Early Saver rate and if the price of the cruise comes down shortly before the cruise you can get the lower cost applied to your cruise.

I love the repositioning cruises because they visit so many different ports that you can not usually get to without booking roundtrip airfare. This November I have booked two 7 day Carnival cruises. One goes from New Orleans to San Juan stopping in Grand Turk, Dominican Republic, St Thomas and Tortola before arriving in San Juan on Saturday and the next one leaves San Juan on Sunday going to St Kitts, St Lucia, St Thomas, St Maarten and Barbados before returning to San Juan. And since I live close to the New Orleans terminal I only have to fly one way back from San Juan.

The worse part about the European cruise is that the airfare from and to Barcelona and Venice may cost more than the cruise and the flights are long and boring.

April 2014 we booked a Norwegian repo from New Orleans to Los Angeles going through the Panama Canal and stopping at 6 great ports along the way.

I've wanted to cruise out of New Zealand or Australia but my wife hates long air flights.