Mediterranean (non DCL) cruises

[foolish-mortal]

We are looking at doing a Mediterranean cruise next year but not on Disney. I love DCL, but I know it's a really port-heavy cruise and we won't be spending nearly as much time on the ship. So, I just can't justify spending DCL prices. I've been on Princess, NCL and Carnival and loved all of them. So, I don't feel that I need to be on DCL to enjoy it.

Has anyone been on either NCL or Royal to the Mediterranean who can comment or recommend? Those are the 2 I'm looking most closely at right now but open to other suggestions. We have two older teens (16, 20). We like a nice variety of food options that are included. That's one thing that I think DCL is lacking - at least in the evenings. Thanks!

 

[ljhayes]

We did NCL Jade many years ago for an Eastern Med and we're doing NCL Epic next summer for an Italy/Greece. I honestly remember very little about the experience on the Jade itself. Haha. On the port heavy cruises it's really more of a floating hotel.

 

[soniam]

Loved the itinerary we just did, 11 nights Italy/Turkey/Greece. It was on Celebrity. I can't attest to how kids would do, since we didn't take our son. However, the itinerary was really good. Summer is kind of a pain though to go to these places. Don't expect to see everything. With so many people and ships and such little time in port, you will only see a bit. It did affirm that I really do prefer land vacations in most parts of Europe. The cruise and the ship were still great though, and we will definitely be going back for longer trips to Turkey and Greece. We had already been to Italy before.

 

[brentm77]

Loved the itinerary we just did, 11 nights Italy/Turkey/Greece. It was on Celebrity. I can't attest to how kids would do, since we didn't take our son. However, the itinerary was really good. Summer is kind of a pain though to go to these places. Don't expect to see everything. With so many people and ships and such little time in port, you will only see a bit. It did affirm that I really do prefer land vacations in most parts of Europe. The cruise and the ship were still great though, and we will definitely be going back for longer trips to Turkey and Greece. We had already been to Italy before.

Which ship were you on? We are booked on Celebrity Ascent from Barcelona to Rome next summer. We really liked cruising the Med (vs land trip), but I would love to hear more about what you thought of Celebrity compared to DCL.

 

[FightingIrishman]

We did Symphony of the Seas Western Caribbean this summer and loved it. We actually did not feel like there were 5,000 passengers. I feel like the Fantasy has 5,000 passengers whenever I go to the pool deck.

Royal has a ton of extra restaurants, some included and some extra money.

We had 3 kids ages 12, 14, and 16. After 9 Disney cruises I think we can appreciate other cruise lines more for their own nuances.

The shows were very different from Disney, as they have an Aquatheater and skating rink.

We made the choice to do RCCL because we got two rooms for half the cost of DCL. The rooms only connected through the balcony but having an extra shower was very needed.

 

[soniam]

Which ship were you on? We are booked on Celebrity Ascent from Barcelona to Rome next summer. We really liked cruising the Med (vs land trip), but I would love to hear more about what you thought of Celebrity compared to DCL.

Beyond. Absolutely loved the ship. I really want to do a longer cruise with fewer ports, like a TA or PC. There was so much to do in the ship. We stayed in a suite, so our MDR was Luminae. It’s excellent. The buffet was great with a really wide, eclectic variety of food with high quality ingredients. The pizza was really, and the ice cream/gelato too. The al Bacio coffee shop has good pastries/desserts. We did 4 specialty restaurants: Eden, Raw on 5, Le Voyage chef’s table, and La Petite Chef. Eden and Le Voyage were excellent, on par with Remy. Although, Eden’s food isn’t quite as fancy/French as Remy. Raw on 5 was really good too; it’s a la carte pricing. La Petite Chef was Ok. The show was cute, but the food was just ok. I wouldn’t do it again. Most of the bars, including the martini bar and Eden, had great cocktails. We only did one of the big shows; it was a cross between cirque du Soleil, Star Trek, and modern dance like Kate Bush’s Running Up that Hill video. It was good but pretty wild. They had a ton of musicians and singers every night at various venues. They also had the cool, small cabaret type shows with some acrobatics at smaller club venues, like Eden and The Club. The jazz singer at the Martini Bar was really good. I thought they handled the logistics well of getting people around and on/off the ship. A ton elevators, so you rarely had to wait much if you took one. The only port that took long to reboard was Naples, since most people were taking one of the last 2 boats/ferries back to Naples. Let me know if you have more questions and feel free to PM me.

 

[imbelle]

We just got back a few weeks ago from an NCL Greece/Turkey cruise on the Jade. We could have got a comparable VGT rate with DCL but I specifically wanted to see Knossos on Crete (not feasible with DCL since they port on the other side of the island).
With DCL the ships are part of the attraction for me and I spend a lot of time trying to take it all in. I didn't feel the need to do that on the NCL Jade. So in a way, it was a better choice for this trip since the time I did spend on board was more relaxing. I agree with ljhayes that it was more like a floating hotel instead of an experience in itself.
Not sure what your family's interests are but we didn't have much interest in the entertainment options (only saw "Elements" which was glitzy-Vegas-y). I spent most evenings after dinner in the Thermal spa (Rainforest room equivalent) and only saw 4 other people in there during the entire cruise, so that's a good chill option.
We thought the food was mediocre and the main dining room menus were a bit repetitive as the week went on. We had a "Free at Sea" package that included 2 specialty restaurants so we tried Le Bistro which was a step up, and Moderno, which was not. The buffets had a lot of choices but it's your basic buffet food. They did have an Asian food station but the only inclusion of local cuisine was a "Greek Night" once on the buffet.
The Jade seemed to be in decent shape. The only thing I noticed were some chairs in the Alazar restaurant where the vinyl was chipping off.
Staff was cordial and efficient (sometimes a bit TOO efficient, not waiting until the posted closing times to clear the buffet, pool loungers, etc).
Embarkation, muster drill, debarkation were all quick and easy. We did have trouble loading our required pictures on the website prior to the trip but they were able to take them at the port. It was a nice bonus that the port departure times were no earlier than 6pm, and at Mykonos and Santorini, 9pm. That gave us enough time to do both archeological sites and hit a beach at most ports.
Overall, while the NCL Jade doesn't compare style-wise to the DCL ships, it was perfectly adequate for what we needed out of this particular trip. I wouldn't hesitate to use NCL again if I had a similar situation where I needed to fit a specific itinerary.

 

[RAD]

If adults only cruise IMHO I’d check Celebrity, especially if one of the Edge class ships. We’re DCL platinum and find the Celebrity service to be equal to DCL and the food is better. John, Kevin and Tracy from Dreams all recommend Celebrity.

 

[brentm77]

Beyond. Absolutely loved the ship. I really want to do a longer cruise with fewer ports, like a TA or PC. There was so much to do in the ship. We stayed in a suite, so our MDR was Luminae. It’s excellent. The buffet was great with a really wide, eclectic variety of food with high quality ingredients. The pizza was really, and the ice cream/gelato too. The al Bacio coffee shop has good pastries/desserts. We did 4 specialty restaurants: Eden, Raw on 5, Le Voyage chef’s table, and La Petite Chef. Eden and Le Voyage were excellent, on par with Remy. Although, Eden’s food isn’t quite as fancy/French as Remy. Raw on 5 was really good too; it’s a la carte pricing. La Petite Chef was Ok. The show was cute, but the food was just ok. I wouldn’t do it again. Most of the bars, including the martini bar and Eden, had great cocktails. We only did one of the big shows; it was a cross between cirque du Soleil, Star Trek, and modern dance like Kate Bush’s Running Up that Hill video. It was good but pretty wild. They had a ton of musicians and singers every night at various venues. They also had the cool, small cabaret type shows with some acrobatics at smaller club venues, like Eden and The Club. The jazz singer at the Martini Bar was really good. I thought they handled the logistics well of getting people around and on/off the ship. A ton elevators, so you rarely had to wait much if you took one. The only port that took long to reboard was Naples, since most people were taking one of the last 2 boats/ferries back to Naples. Let me know if you have more questions and feel free to PM me.

Wow! Thanks for the details. The Ascent should be very similar to Beyond. Your description made me really excited for our cruise! We had planned to try Celebrity earlier in the year, but couldn't for family reasons. So this gives me something to look forward to, which I really need right now! We fell in love with live evening entertainment on our last DCL cruise now that my kids are grown and we have the time to relax in the evenings, so I am glad to hear they had plenty of it. And the food sounds great. It will be nice to mix it up from DCL. We actually have Celebrity booked for Alaska late next summer too, to take our children on a celebration cruise of sorts, so I am glad to hear you enjoyed it. Thanks for the details!

 

[DCLMP]

We are looking at doing a Mediterranean cruise next year but not on Disney. I love DCL, but I know it's a really port-heavy cruise and we won't be spending nearly as much time on the ship. So, I just can't justify spending DCL prices. I've been on Princess, NCL and Carnival and loved all of them. So, I don't feel that I need to be on DCL to enjoy it.

Has anyone been on either NCL or Royal to the Mediterranean who can comment or recommend? Those are the 2 I'm looking most closely at right now but open to other suggestions. We have two older teens (16, 20). We like a nice variety of food options that are included. That's one thing that I think DCL is lacking - at least in the evenings. Thanks!

We did a 12 day on Odyssey of the seas. New ship. It put it above any cruise I’ve done on Disney in terms of food, service and ports. Odyssey has some speciality restaurants that are up charge. We were happy with the dining room experience. It was very quiet, relaxed and service was very prompt. The dining room was never more than about 60-70% full because people are spread among multiple venues. The buffet is also always open.

Quick service food was a Mexican place Chipotle like. I don’t recall any burgers or hotdogs outside of the buffet area. I think they cook them fresh in there They do have a pizza place.

I took my son who is 18 he loved. The 18-25 year old meets ups were dead because it was the beginning of May.

No movie theatre. Wi-Fi is great you can stream Netflix, Prime or any thing else.

 

[Pens Fan]

We were on the NCL Jade back in 2019 for a 14 day cruise through Italy, Greece, Croatia and Montenegro. We had one sea day on day one - so 13 ports in a row. Because of that the ship was pretty irrelevant. It was a floating hotel. We'd never been to any of those countries before so booked long, mostly private excursions each day. It was an amazing trip, but often times we were so tired we were in bed by 9 PM.

All that being said, we enjoyed the Jade. We are NCL fans in general and while the Jade is smaller without all the bells and whistles of their larger ships, it still had plenty of dining options and bars (if we could stay awake long enough to enjoy them ). We prioritized sampling local cuisine in the ports, so often we weren't that hungry in the evenings. We'd never been big cruise ship buffet people, but found the one on the Jade was perfect for nights we just wanted a small bite and the food was surprisingly good.

We've also been on the Jade's sister ship the Gem for a port heavy Canadian cruise and really enjoyed that as well. I still prefer NCL's larger ships, but wouldn't hesitate to book one of the smaller ones for an itinerary I was interested in. I really think they hit the spot for port intensive cruises where the itinerary is the primary draw. The smaller ships also have an advantage of being able to go into smaller, more interesting ports that the larger ships often cannot.

 

[RACHEL_GB]

We did a 12 day on Odyssey of the seas. New ship. It put it above any cruise I’ve done on Disney in terms of food, service and ports. Odyssey has some speciality restaurants that are up charge. We were happy with the dining room experience. It was very quiet, relaxed and service was very prompt. The dining room was never more than about 60-70% full because people are spread among multiple venues. The buffet is also always open.

Quick service food was a Mexican place Chipotle like. I don’t recall any burgers or hotdogs outside of the buffet area. I think they cook them fresh in there They do have a pizza place.

I took my son who is 18 he loved. The 18-25 year old meets ups were dead because it was the beginning of May.

No movie theatre. Wi-Fi is great you can stream Netflix, Prime or any thing else.

This is good to know, my 13yo son is convinced RCCL is the one we should try after 3 DCLs (having extensively researched on Youtube, where else ) but I was a bit nervous about the size/feel compared to the Dis.

Our first two Disney Cruises were round the Med but the prices are generally waay higher even in relative terms than they were in 2016, hence me looking elsewhere for Europe itineraries.

 

[RAD]

This is good to know, my 13yo son is convinced RCCL is the one we should try after 3 DCLs (having extensively researched on Youtube, where else ) but I was a bit nervous about the size/feel compared to the Dis.

Our first two Disney Cruises were round the Med but the prices are generally waay higher even in relative terms than they were in 2016, hence me looking elsewhere for Europe itineraries.

We've done a couple RCCL cruises on the Oasis class ship and I would agree with with your son, those ships would hold more interest for a boy that age.

 

[auntlynne]

Check which ship for which itinerary - not just the cruiseline. Figure out what you want / need for your family. Smaller, older ships on most cruise lines are not what they use to entice us. Make sure the kids (and parents) are not going to be disappointed if they expect a pool deck of add-on experiences to find only a pool.

We did an 11-night Med on the Magic and appreciated coming back “home“ to DCL at the end of the day. But it was a $2000 cruise at that point and we were new into our cruising career (and it was just my teenage niece and me).

Fast forward 13 years. We come home from an 8-night Southern Caribbean with 5 ports, many new to us. My sister announces that, going forward, she will look at other cruise lines for these special cruises. (We will still pick Disney when the vacation calls for a Bahamas or Eastern Caribbean - with stops at Castaway Cay or Lighthouse Point.) And she picked an NCL cruise to AK to give us a great itinerary at a lower cost than the Wonder. She has really enjoyed AK and a British Isles cruise in Princess.

Itinerary would be a big decision maker for me. Do you want a focus on Barcelona to Italy with the French Mediterranean? The Adriatic with Split and Dubrovnik, or Greece? Any one place you really want to see (if only for a day)?

 

[bwmjam]

I would definitely not do Disney for the Med. You won't be on the ship that much so their pricing (which is double other cruise lines) just doesn't make sense. Most days are port days and long excursions - like 12-13 hours. You'll be too tired to do much when you're back on the ship. We did Princess last summer and it was fine for 2 adults, but with teenagers, I think NCL or Royal would be a better option for them.

 

[DCLMP]

The

This is good to know, my 13yo son is convinced RCCL is the one we should try after 3 DCLs (having extensively researched on Youtube, where else ) but I was a bit nervous about the size/feel compared to the Dis.

Our first two Disney Cruises were round the Med but the prices are generally waay higher even in relative terms than they were in 2016, hence me looking elsewhere for Europe itineraries.

Odyssey was built in 2021 and is the same size as the Dream. It’s their 8th largest ship. There is a lot of size variation within their fleet. They have different classes and not every new ship is bigger than the last. I’m not an expert on the different classes, but if size is a concern they do have newish ships that are compatible to Disney in size.

 

[tigerchic89]

Once your 16yo turns 18, you can try Virgin. We really like it and it's full of past dcl employees

 

[tidefan]

We just got back a few weeks ago from an NCL Greece/Turkey cruise on the Jade. We could have got a comparable VGT rate with DCL but I specifically wanted to see Knossos on Crete (not feasible with DCL since they port on the other side of the island).

Really? Maybe that's a change in this year's itinerary. Last year, on the Magic 9-night, we stopped in Heraklion and did the Knossos excursion. It was great! Also got some great Souvlaki in town.

As to options, you may also want to give a look at the new Sun Princess that is coming out early next year. It will be a whole new class of ship for Princess and have additional items that they don't traditionally have (like a ropes course!). Food (at least on the Royal/Regal class ships and newer) has never been a problem for us on Princess...

 

[DCLMP]

Once your 16yo turns 18, you can try Virgin. We really like it and it's full of past dcl employees

Interesting. Did they say why the made the switch?

 

[brentm77]

I would definitely not do Disney for the Med. You won't be on the ship that much so their pricing (which is double other cruise lines) just doesn't make sense. Most days are port days and long excursions - like 12-13 hours. You'll be too tired to do much when you're back on the ship. We did Princess last summer and it was fine for 2 adults, but with teenagers, I think NCL or Royal would be a better option for them.

I just want to add a respectful counterview to this opinion, because I see it a lot and disagree.

If Disney is in your budget, you love DCL, and the Med itinerary looks appealing, I think it can be worth the extra money. We did the Italy/Greek itinerary last year and easily felt we got our moneys worth and had more than enough time to enjoy the ship. I didn't feel like we used the ship much less than we do on a Caribbean cruise, even with longer port days. First, there are two full sea days for many itineraries, where you want to be on a ship you enjoy, which gives you a great opportunity to unwind in the middle of an otherwise busy trip. Next, you spend every breakfast, dinner and evening on the ship, which is a large percentage of your waking hours. Let's say you get up at 7, off the ship around 8, back on by 5 (the latest for most ports) and in bed by 10. That's still almost half of your day on the ship. We had plenty of time in the evenings to go to dinner, then a show, and often even adult entertainment after that. This was our first time on the Magic and I left feeling like I did everything I wanted on the ship and spent lots of time on her. I remember being worried that we would feel like we wasted money, but we loved that trip and were really glad we went with DCL for it.

Admitedly, other lines do tend to have later port times than DCL. But that wouldn't really appeal to us, because we find we are exhausted after an early morning start and coming back around dinner time, or a bit earlier, is perfect for us.

I personally wouldn't sail DCL in the Med right now, because I think they made their itineraries worse, but if they go back to last year's itineraries, or better, I would highly recommend them for DCL fans. It was nearly a perfect trip for us. That said, we are branching out to Celebrity in the Med next year, because we want to see if DCL is worth the premium to us now that we are tiring of the evening shows and menus (and sometimes too many wild kids - yes, we are getting old!). We have a hunch we can get most of what we like about cruising with Celebrity or another line at a much better price. We will see.