Cruises in the Med - which stops are best done as a non-cruiser

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

Silver wedding anniversary coming up next year and I've been pondering the idea of a cruise. But I'm not sure it's for us. I like the idea of seeing a number of different places and getting a small flavour of them for a possible return at a later date but then again whenever I've been to places like Rome on a short break the cruise ship tour groups have really irritated me! The days a ship is in port the narrow streets seemed blocked by tour groups, they were like flocks of sheep, following the flag on a stick, getting in the way. And I wondered how much they actually saw, and whether it annoyed them if they stopped at a sight that they really would have liked to explore a bit more but then were hurried along by the tour guide.

I'm thinking Venice and Santorini are both cruise stops which would not be the best seen as part of a cruise ship tour group? Both are places I've never visited and had thought about for our anniversary trip but unsure whether it would just be best to do those places on our own, not as part of a cruise?

And I've seen the videos online of huge queues of tourists in Santorini when a cruise ship is in port and it looks like my idea of hell. So is cruising just not for us? Or should we be thinking of just picking a ruise which don't include places which are better to visit as part of a standalone trip?

How was the P&O cruise? I've seen mixed reviews on a lot of the cruise lines since the pandemic, which can be a bit offputting.

It's a tricky age having secondary school kids when you're doing a big celebration holiday. It's hard trying to please everyone. We did a Californian road trip the year DH was 50 and the kids had done A-levels and GCSEs. Was sooo good. I did think of a cruise but there were still COVID restrictions and half the ships were docked in Dorset out of service when we were planning it, or only planning to do UK sailings. Hopefully the industry has fully recovered now.

Well, considering it was in April 2016 and the weather was not great (actually hit a storm in the Bay of Biscay which caused awful turbulence/sickness) we loved it and the kids still talk about it to this day!

@Meredusoleil I think we were on that one. Known in family history as the hurricane cruise. Twas very exciting, plates smashing, everyone sick, the entertainment was cancelled as it was unsafe and instead a comedian came on stage wearing a lifejacket to the tune of Titanic. It didn't put us off doing another cruise.

a comedian came on stage wearing a lifejacket to the tune of Titanic.

😂😂😂

These cruise ships are huuuuuge. It’s like a uk town disgorging into a port. We do small ship cruising via Noble Caledonia but it’s an older demographic. On balance it’s annoying to spend a few hours somewhere when you know you have just scratched the surface and nowhere near seen a fraction of what’s there. You won’t get uncrowded in the Med in the summer. We went to Sicily this April and it was bliss. No queues and so much to see. I’d actually consider driving around - many places just were not busy.

When we went to Sicily, we also went in April and hired a car. Weather was just right for us and it wasn't too crowded either.

In fact, the Easter holidays is my preferred time to travel. Restricted by GCSE exams next year unfortunately!

We actually enjoyed seeing it green. You will get April back in the future!

We also went to the Artic one summer. Enjoyed that!