Is Cruising the Best Way to See the Mediterranean?

Once I boarded a 10-night Mediterranean crusing, I anticipated a gradual, easygoing journey. Seems, I used to be unsuitable.

In simply over every week, I visited 11 ports throughout Turkey, Italy, Greece, Croatia and Montenegro, an itinerary that may have been exhausting if I had tried it by air and land. It made me understand that cruising might be one of the crucial environment friendly methods to see the Mediterranean — particularly in case your objective is to go to a number of locations in a single journey, slightly than to linger in a single place.

I really like a packed itinerary, and further stress doesn’t hassle me. I’ve slept in a single day in airports extra nights than I might wish to admit. I am going to take an eight-hour bus journey, adopted by three practice connections prefer it’s no downside. However on the cruise, I used to be capable of see a lot with no need to re-pack my suitcase or navigate a number of airports.

I additionally discovered that cruises weren’t considerably dearer than touring by air or land. Norwegian Cruise Line hosted my crusing on the Norwegian Viva and coated my fare. However once I independently priced an analogous journey by different modes of journey, I discovered it akin to the cruise’s common charges.

In contrast to a lot of mainland Europe, which is nicely related by trains, buses and finances airways, the Mediterranean is fragmented by islands, peninsulas and borders. Touring between locations might be gradual, costly and surprisingly sophisticated.

Listed below are the stops I took on my cruise, in chronological order:

Contemplate commuting between the Greek islands alone. Touring from Santorini to Mykonos sometimes requires a ferry that takes two to a few hours and prices about $100 per individual, relying on season and ferry sort.

Then there are routes which are far tougher. Getting from Corfu, Greece, to Kotor, Montenegro, is virtually unattainable with out important backtracking, as there are not any direct flights or ferries between the 2. Essentially the most practical possibility is a roughly nine-hour drive.

Cruising’s greatest benefit was time. A one-hour flight often takes 3 times that when you think about journey to the airport, safety, boarding, potential delays and baggage logistics. Ferries, trains and resort check-ins can equally take longer than you suppose. Unbiased journey additionally means packing and unpacking time and again.

In Santorini, our ship arrived at 6:30 a.m. I used to be able to go instantly. My husband and I hiked from Fira to Oia and again, logging greater than 20 miles as soon as all our meandering was factored in.

We maximized each hour till the ten p.m. ship departure, together with watching the sundown in Fira. I acquired again on board exhausted, scarfed down a second dinner and collapsed. The subsequent morning, I awoke in the identical room, refreshed and already docked in Mykonos.

By comparability, impartial journey would have required waking up early, packing, trying out, navigating to the ferry port, ready, enduring hours on the water with baggage, checking into a brand new resort and solely then beginning to discover — already drained.

That $283 price consists of:

Sure extras — like drink packages or spa visits — would add to the price, however the identical could possibly be stated for a land-based trip.

On a cruise, lodging and transit between cities are constructed into the fare. When touring independently, each are among the costliest line objects.

Right here’s how a lot my hypothetical air-and-land itinerary price:

Lodge prices: $2,350. I priced out a hypothetical impartial journey utilizing midscale resorts, resembling Hilton DoubleTree properties, in the identical cities on the identical nights because the cruise.

Santorini was the most costly, with resort charges averaging over $450 per evening throughout peak season, based on TripAdvisor.

Major transportation prices: $2,200. I added probably the most sensible transportation choices between locations, which included a ferry between Santorini and Mykonos, renting a automobile to drive up the Adriatic coast from Kotor to Trieste, Italy with stops in Dubrovnik and Zadar, and flying the most affordable obtainable flights between sure cities, usually on Ryanair.

Meals prices: $800. I additionally budgeted $40 per individual per day for meals, which felt conservative in contrast with the all-you-can-eat nature of cruise eating.

Suggestions and airport rides: $310. I additionally accounted for tipping at resorts and estimated taxi prices for rides to and from airports. For ideas, I factored in a few {dollars} every evening to housekeeping and the bell desk, particularly if the bell desk is storing my baggage after checkout. (On cruises, ideas are virtually at all times constructed into your cruise fare.)

The ultimate price: Primarily based on my estimates, the air-and-land-based itinerary would have been about $5,660 — virtually precisely the identical because the cruise fare of $5,658. And that comparability didn’t issue within the comfort of being transported to your subsequent cease when you sleep.

Costs can fluctuate relying on when and the way you ebook, and it’s attainable to seek out higher charges on both sort of journey. However general, I discovered the value variations could possibly be comparatively small, whereas the time financial savings had been huge.

Essentially the most helpful amenity on a Mediterranean cruise isn’t the meals or leisure. It’s how lengthy the ship stays in port.

We had been in Santorini from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., which allowed for a full, lively day with out feeling rushed. In the meantime, I watched different cruise ships arrive within the early afternoon and depart by early night (barely sufficient time to even take the cable automobile as much as Fira earlier than heading again!).

A NerdWallet evaluation discovered that amongst cruise traces with three or extra Santorini port stops in July 2026, Norwegian Cruise Line, Superstar Cruises and Windstar Cruises had the three longest instances spent in port.

Cruising isn’t the suitable selection for each itinerary.

You gained’t get a number of days in a single place. Locations that require multiday hikes or deep inland exploration are sometimes impractical from coastal ports. Whereas I cherished my stops in Croatia, my favourite a part of the nation, Plitvice Lakes Nationwide Park, was too far inland to completely take pleasure in on a cruise schedule.

Few cruises keep in port in a single day, which is problematic if you wish to take in the nightlife in locations like Mykonos and Ibiza.

After spending in the future climbing in Kotor, Montenegro, and discovering a cheese store within the mountains with goats roaming round outdoors, I instantly knew I needed to return. In that sense, cruising works nicely as a sampler, serving to vacationers resolve which locations advantage a future, longer keep.

Tender delays can minimize into your journey time. Once I was in Montenegro, a storm compelled the tender boats to pause for about an hour earlier than the worst climate handed. As soon as the tenders began working once more, the traces had been lengthy. Nonetheless, I’ll take a young delay over a aircraft or practice delay any day.

I actually began to understand the comfort of crusing when our return flight departing from Trieste, the ultimate port on our itinerary, was canceled with little discover. With no viable various flights, we took a roughly two-hour practice to Venice Marco Polo Airport for a alternative flight. That practice was delayed by an hour (after all), and we almost missed our flight.

It was a pointy reminder of what I had averted for 10 days: flight disruptions, baggage hauling and logistical dependencies.

I nonetheless love impartial journey, and I am positively not changing to cruise-only life. However after evaluating prices and stress ranges, I am unable to deny that cruising made seeing a number of Mediterranean locations in a single journey far simpler than making an attempt to copy the identical itinerary independently.

For vacationers who wish to see a number of Mediterranean locations effectively, cruising deserves severe consideration — even from folks like me who by no means thought they’d say that.