Ports: Venice (departure), Athens (or less preferably other Greek ports), Florence/Pisa, Rome
Duration: less than 10 nights
Budget: on the economical side

However after doing some info search on web it seems it’s difficult to find a cruise itinerary of my wish… have I missed anything or am I too demanding? It’s nice if experts here can help.

You will need to either look for a longer cruise, or limit your wish-list of ports visited.

I would try and compromise with a 7 night cruise from Venice with a 3 night pre or post cruise in Florence, as coming the distance you are, you will want to see everything there, which is just not possible from a ship in one day.

Cruises around Italy are rare.

Now you need to find out which ship/line suits your prefered style (big/small ship, old/newer, part/tradition) and budget. There is of course also a question of which nationality of ship.

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[ 07-31-2006: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

There are some combinations but normally these are also "transfer" cruises....some possible cruises:
- Oceania Cruises : Insignia Barcelona - Athens
- Costa Mediternanea May 2nd. 6-day Savona to Venice
- Costa Victoria Rome-Rome incl. Greek Islands.

If you "must" travel in April/May then you have a larger choice if you make a decision between Eastern (Venice as departure) or Western-Med (departure Genua/Savona).

It also depends what your interests are: If it is Ancient History my experience is that the Eastern-Med has more to offer with Naples (Pompeei), Rome, Livorno (Pisa) than the Western Med.

If you can wait until June then take a look at the Norwegian Jewel leaving Barcelona - we did this recently and it is a full-packed ancient heritage cruise....and a very good ship too.

Oops...

Pompeij is certainly one of the major archeological sites - it is BTW in the "Western Mediterranean" - obvioulsy a typo) - I nevertheless hefty disagree that the "Western Mediterranean" has more ancient sites. The major cruise ship destinations like Athens, Istanbul, Kusadasi, Delos, Crete, Rhodos, and also Israel and Egypt certainly offer quite a lot in this respect.

There are of course itineraries covering 'the whole' Mediterranean - but on these cruises Venice is not so often included. There are of course some - but generally it will be difficult to do that within your time frame - not to talk about staying on the economical side.

Suggestion:

Fly to Rome - stay there (some days) - go by train to Florence - stay there (some days) - go by train to Venice - do a not too expensive, nice seven day Eastern Med. cruise - it is probably cheaper to back to Rome by train and fly home from there (making it a roundtrip ticket) - there are nice, fast trains which do that within only some hours (your bus rides from Livorno or Civitavecchia are nearly as long) - you can of course also do Rome before and Florence after the cruise from Venice. (or the other way around )

This might be the best compromise for you - and you can do that without too much stress within 14 days - and it's probably also not too expensive and certainly more reasonable than a phony compromise itierary trying to do 'all' the Mediterranean at once.

[ 07-31-2006: Message edited by: Ernst ]

Ernst,
You are not wrong however the ports for the other "eastern" destinations you mentioned like Crete, Athens are also far away...if not further from all the ancient sites.....I know of no "ancient" destination except Rhodes where the ship stops next to the "fun"....you always have to calculate at least one hour transfer wherever you go.

Egypt is even worse....if you want to visit Cairo then calculate at least 2 hrs each way.

Therefore the question is what are his interests and how detailed does he want to visit these cities. If he wants to combine a cruise with a "I was in Rome" thing then a cruise has its benifits especially if you are not used to travelling in Europe as everything incl. land excursions are "arranged" for you.

quote:

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Originally posted by Sailor:

Ernst,
You are not wrong however the ports for the other "eastern" destinations you mentioned like Crete, Athens are also far away...if not further from all the ancient sites.....I know of no "ancient" destination except Rhodes where the ship stops next to the "fun"....you always have to calculate at least one hour transfer wherever you go.

Egypt is even worse....if you want to visit Cairo then calculate at least 2 hrs each way.

Therefore the question is what are his interests and how detailed does he want to visit these cities. If he wants to combine a cruise with a "I was in Rome" thing then a cruise has its benifits especially if you are not used to travelling in Europe as everything incl. land excursions are "arranged" for you.

If he however is more interested in the "Cities" than the "Cruise" then I agree a cruise is the wrong thing for that....you can spend a whole week in Rome and still not see all.

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You are right - 'Egypt' is even more ridiculouse. (I mentioned it only concerning the stated lack of ancient sites in the Eastern Med.) Nevertheless, e.g. Knossos is not that far away from Heraklion - but even with a one hour bus ride it makes more sense to go there and you see more of Knossos on one day that of Rome. (in Rhodos the city is nearby but not so much the ancient sites)

quote:

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Originally posted by cerovis:
...so mostly i need to rely on web resources to do my info search.

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The Royal Caribbean web site is one of the better mass-market ones. You can even book the cruise via the site if your local TA's are not interested.

You could book cruise only and use a site like Expedia to book flights and pre or post hotel.

[ 08-01-2006: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]