Med Cruise.. PLEASE HELP!

[Donna3271]

Hi All!
Quick background about me... We are Platinum Cruisers on Disney and have taken one cruise on NCL. We are booked on the Magic next summer (Med) at 31K! I have been on the Royal website and for a VERY SIMILAR cruise, I can book 2 balcony staterooms for 12.5k!!! My kids are teens so the kid clubs are not a factor, and we have seen the shows 10 times. Has anyone done a Med Cruise on Royal? This one is out of Rome. Any help, advice would be AWESOME!!! TIA!!!

 

[hdrolfe]

Which ship? I haven't done the Med on RCL myself but have friends who have. Personally, for the price savings, I wouldn't hesitate. But with teens you may want to consider which ship it is. Mediterranean cruises do tend to be port heavy, so you don't really need as much for sea day entertainment.

 

[Donna3271]

OMG!!! I love your avatar!!! SO CUTE!!! Odyssey of the Seas.

TSM!!!

 

[crabbymom]

I have done the Med twice on Royal, once on one of the most boring ships in the fleet (Rhapsody) and once on a more updated ship (Freedom). Both trips were absolutely amazing. My boys were both teens at the time and they had a blast on both. The Odyssey is Royal's newest ship, there will be tons of interesting stuff to do for teens, but hdrolfe is correct that there is very little time spent on board. For the price, I would totally switch, you guys will have a blast!

 

[hdrolfe]

Odyssey looks to be an amazing ship, with lots to do. Actually I imagine on a Med cruise you won't have time to get to everything. I would certainly choose that ship for any itinerary, I am sure you will have a lot of fun!

And thank you, that's Olaf, he's only 10 weeks old in that picture and quite a sweetheart

 

[Donna3271]

thank you both!

 

[OKW Lover]

We've done a Greek Isles cruise on Royal. It left/returned to Venice, which we thought was a plus. While I wasn't impressed with the ports on this cruise it wasn't the fault of the ship.

We've also done a Barcelona to Rome and a Rome to Venice cruise (separately, not B2B) and enjoyed both of those very much. However these were not on Royal, they were on Viking Ocean. So I can't comment on Royal's ships on these cruises. I will say that both the itineraries were wonderful and we would do either of them again.

We are Platinum (15) on DCL, Diamond + on Royal. So we are familiar with the offerings of both lines. For a European Med cruise I wouldn't pay the Disney premium. Especially in the OP's case where there aren't any young children involved.

 

[angelinaxox]

I have read posts from other people over the years state that the ship doesn't matter on port intensive cruises. Based on my personal experience, I have learned that the ship does matter to me. To me it makes a difference in the downtime spent on the ship and how much I enjoy that portion which impacts my overall enjoyment of the vacation. I have done both land trips and cruises in Europe. Of my six cruises to Europe, the first 3 were on Princess, the next 2 were on Disney and the last one was on Royal. Three of those cruises were in the Mediterranean - one on Princess, one on Disney and one on Royal.

Although, I enjoyed the Royal cruise on the Rhapsody out of Venice, it was by far my least favorite. It was the shortest of my Mediterranean cruises with only two days at sea, but the excursions on the port days were finished by afternoon so I found myself on the ship a lot of the time and bored. I was glad I purchased the Voom package because I spent a lot of time on my phone on the internet looking for something to do. There were not a lot of activities. I did the sushi class which I enjoy on Royal ships, but there was not much else to do. I found that I had plenty of activities to do on Princess and Disney. My favorite vacations in Europe by far were my two Disney cruises. Having done my land trips and Princess cruises prior to doing Disney, I didn't know what I was missing. Doing Royal after Disney, I did know what I was missing.

With that being said, your ship would be the Odyssey. The ship is new with lots of great features to be enjoyed while you are on the ship. I think your shipboard experience would be vastly different to mine on the Rhapsody and I think the shipboard experience is important on a European cruise.

 

[ronandannette]

Hi All!
Quick background about me... We are Platinum Cruisers on Disney and have taken one cruise on NCL. We are booked on the Magic next summer (Med) at 31K! I have been on the Royal website and for a VERY SIMILAR cruise, I can book 2 balcony staterooms for 12.5k!!! My kids are teens so the kid clubs are not a factor, and we have seen the shows 10 times. Has anyone done a Med Cruise on Royal? This one is out of Rome. Any help, advice would be AWESOME!!! TIA!!!

Yes, RCCL is our line of choice so when we planned our dream trip to Europe it included and 7-day cruise on Freedom of the Seas out of Barcelona. Do some research on whatever RCCL ships are sailing the Med - I don’t know how you could be disappointed, especially at those prices.

I would say though that with such a port-intensive itinerary going to such iconic locations, planning your shore time is more important than anything else. Do it privately to maximize your time and meet your own interests. A firm called Rome in Limo is absolutely fantastic and easily affordable with what you’ll save not sailing DCL.

 

[Goofy!!]

Hi All!
Quick background about me... We are Platinum Cruisers on Disney and have taken one cruise on NCL. We are booked on the Magic next summer (Med) at 31K! I have been on the Royal website and for a VERY SIMILAR cruise, I can book 2 balcony staterooms for 12.5k!!! My kids are teens so the kid clubs are not a factor, and we have seen the shows 10 times. Has anyone done a Med Cruise on Royal? This one is out of Rome. Any help, advice would be AWESOME!!! TIA!!!

We did a Med cruise from Rome in 2019 on Oasis. It was spectacular!! There was so much to do, especially for our young 20's kids, that I wouldn't hesitate to highly recommend Royal Caribbean. For $31K, you could cruise Star Class for the ultimate cruise!