Do any cruise lines spend more than just a day in each (european) port?

Question

My husband and I are looking to take a mediterranean cruise in the fall of 2009, but we'd like to spend more than just a day in each port. The cruises I've looked at all seem to arrive in port at 7am or so and leave early that evening. We'd like to be able to have dinner and explore each port at night as well. Does anyone know of a cruise line that offers this? Thanks!

Answer 1

They only cruise lines that do this in the Mediterranean are the cruises that depart from Venice. You arrive the day before the ship leaves and spend the night and most of the next day in Venice. There are no cruises,as far as I know, that do what you want to do.

You could do Easycruise, that's the only one I know off that would suit you, but its not your typical cruise experience.

http://www.easycruise.com/

http://www.easycruise.com/gb/ships/eCL.a...

Answer 2

When I worked on a ship for Royal Caribbean the only port we overnighted in was St. Petersburg, Russia.  We were there for about 24 hours.

The cost of docking overnight has a lot to do with why they don't.

Answer 3

You might want to look into EasyCruise.  It isn't a "cruise" in the usual sense of the word - no casinos, no maid service, no elegant dinners, no on-board activities.  It's like a hostel on water.  But it's very cheap and the ships get into port in the morning and leave very late, often after Midnight.  The point of the cruise is to explore the ports and eat on shore.

If you want to see some feedback about EasyCruise, you can go to CruiseCritic.com, click on "Boards", then "EasyCruise".  I'm not sure if there is anything in the "Reviews" section, but you could check.

Answer 4

I have done two Mediterranean cruises and you are right about the time in ports.  In almost all cases its all or most of one day at each port and then you move on.  And all of the major US cruise lines like Princess, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Holland America follow this same pattern.  But if you want to explore a couple port cities then book a one-way cruise, like from Rome to Venice and then book a couple days stay at each end.  Then in Europe you can get around on the trains very well.  We once booked our flight going to Madrid, Spain rather than our departure city of Barcelona.  We spent two nights in Madrid and then  caught a very nice and fast train to Barcelona for our cruise.  We spend a night in Barcelona before the cruise also.  Then on another cruise we flew to London and the took the train to Paris and spent a couple nights before taking the train back to London, and then to Dover to get on our cruise ship.

If you want to do something like this you can do it all on the internet.  Here is the Eurorail web site:

http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/fares_...

Some cruise lines do offer pre and post cruise tour packages but I think you can do it yourself for less and get exactly what you want.

Answer 5

Few cruises do, refer to this site. I book travel with them all the time. It may have something you like.