Royal Caribbean is more upscale than Costa as a rule, so you may want to concentrate your search there. A mid-ship balcony cabin, however, will be much more than the low prices you see in the teaser cruise ads, so just keep that in mind. Having said that, the Costa itinerary is more appealing to me, but it's going to be a bit more expensive and difficult to get to Trieste than Civitavecchia (i.e., the port for Rome) since you have to fly either direct to Trieste or to Venice and then take a train.

We're taking an 11-day Eastern Med cruise end of May, departing Rome. It has three stops in Greece--Athens, Mykonos and Santorini, so length and Greek stops may not be a good fit for you.

It's on the Celebrity Reflection, a ship launched last autumn. We chose a mid-ship balcony in anticipation of nice weather.

We're part of a group of 8, bit difficult to get agreement but 3 had been on Celebrity ships before and had had good cruises. We've done one transatlantic crossing but this is our first cruise.

Hi Carolyne,
I too am thinking of a Mediterranean cruise because the prices seem really cheap, although we're just sort of keeping our eyes peeled for great deals in general, since we're flexible with time.
The best deals seem to be April/May, so I'm not sure if you've considered going earlier? (I'm guessing airfare in those months might also be better?) I check the following site daily because they list a "daily deal" that is a fabulous price on a cruise. These are from all over, so scroll down to find some recent ones for the Med (I see $499 for 10 day and $379 for 8 night with Costa which seems really cheap!) I'm in NYC and I see one from my home port cheap in April. I am so ready to jump on it! Anyway, hope you find something great. We probably will wait for a Med cruise simply due to added airfare cost. Good luck! http://www.cheapestcruise.info/category/cruise-deals-for-today/

April May weather is cooler but still warm enough (60's) If you are looking for more "upscale", I would look at Celebrity and Princess, not that there is anything wrong with RCI.

Cheap cruise is exactly that: cheap cruise. You get what you pay for. I have seen 2 weeks Med cruise advertised for less than $400 on NCL. I have no desire to cruise with them.

Assuming that you are from North America, it makes no sense to spend $1000 on airfare and cheap out on a cruise for $400.
If I am going to spend $1400, I'll spend $400 on airfare and $1000 on the cruise. That's just my 2 bits worth.

Like eschew, I think it a little odd to struggle to find the cheapest possible fare only to complain later that the accomadations were poor or the ship was bad. I suspect that Costa prices are low for reasons. They were not on my preferred list even before their problems. I have found HAL and Celebrity to be reliable among affordable lines. I cruise to sightsee and enjoy the sea, not to party.

I can't speak for other NCL ships, but I have been on Epic. It was amazing. I wouldn't hesitate to sail with NCL again.

Definitely get a balcony, there's nothing like opening your balcony door in the morning and seeing a different and more beautiful European port.

We favor Princess, but we found that on a European cruise, you're so overwhelmed by the long tours in each of the ports, that the ship and its amenities play a much less important role than in places like the Caribbean. We found we were up early and off the ship for most of the day and so tired after dinner we just crashed out in preparation for the next long day.

Be prepared to be very tired by the end of the cruise, particularly if it's port intensive, but it's all very worthwhile. Enjoy.

Well I agree about skipping Costa. So true that its less $ for a reason so do one of the RCI cruises. Personally I would take the eastern Med as Kusadasi for Ephesus is a fab place to see. However the other itin. which has that Barcelona stop is also a wonderful cruise. The only other question to factor in is the ships. What ships are they? That does make a difference, at least for me and others too I think.

An amidships cabin is best to reduce motion sensation and yes I would opt for a balcony.

Cheers, Larry

Ships are not the only consideration when picking a cruise line. There are lots of factors such as service, facilities and venues, entertainment, fellow passengers, food, cabin closet space, the type of beddings, the "style" just to name a few.

I have friends who swears by NCL as they enjoy their "free style" cruising and not having to worry about dressing up. That's most important to them. Food and service could have been better, but "free style" is what they want.

My DW is not a party person (and not too sociables) so Celebrity and Princess works well for us. The pace on HAL and Cunard is just a tad too slow and too formal.

Everyone picks a cruise line for a reason, maybe it is price. I am just saying that I wouldn't pick a cruise line base on price as the most impirtant factor.

I always pick the itinerary first and cruise line second.

Hi Eschew,
Thanks for all the tips. It's so hard to compare what you're looking at with cruises. I see everyone's point about a "cheap cruise". It's SO tempting at that price and let's face it, even the cheap lines must have a large fan base of returning cruisers, right? So some people find them fine. I may end up trying one from a local port just for the experience, since I have nothing yet to compare it to. I can always upgrade the next time! Does anyone have a good source for comparing cruise lines? I'd love something that explained both general characteristics (eg. younger crowds, more casual, etc) and the grades of boats (ie. hard to tell even within a cruise line what are basic boats vs. luxury). Thanks!

Fodor would be a great place to start. The link is here.

http://www.fodors.com/cruises/

Just want to add a few more notes. First someone mentioned that Trieste is difficult to get to. Not true. There is an airport just outside the city. If you originally go into Rome or Milan, it's maybe an hours flight to Ronchi airport in Trieste. The other point is that you will probably find more smokers on Costa as well as all the announcements being done in multiple languages. That can be iritationg to some folks.

We too are struggling with choosing an Eastern Mediterranean cruise. Prices differ greatly, but to a large extent it seems these depend on inclusions as much as on other factors like quality etc. For example, Seabourn is expensive but prices include nearly all shore excursions. By contrast MSC is cheap, but shore excursions are extra - which is fine if you're independent types who like to do your own thing on shore (or sometimes the same thing as what the cruise line offers, but at a lesser cost!).

Another variable is ship size. Larger ships (Celebrity line etc) have to dock far out and ferry people onshore, losing valuable shore time. Some of the smaller MSC ships can dock alongside the wharf, avoiding this problem.

We are more inclined to prefer independent shore excursions, so the smaller ships (giving more time ashore) may suit us better. But it's frustrating that the cruise lines offering the most ports of call seem to be those with bigger ships or whose shore excursions are included in the basic fare. (Compare Celebrity's Venice, Ravenna, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Messinsa, Valetta, Sorrento/Naples, Rome, for example, with MSC's Venice, Ancona, Dubrovnik or Kotor (rarely both), Messina or Valetta (again, rarely both), and Sorrento/Naples or Rome (almost never both).

And MSC have recently discontinued their only cruise from Trieste. Costa have one, but Costa doesn't seem to be well reviewed in the previous postings. We're looking at 2014 so hopefully there's time yet to find the best option!

twoflower: How many ports do you have to tender into from Celebrity? on our cruise last Oct. to the eastern med we had only one tender port.

We're on a Celebrity Reflection eastern Med cruise end of May, two of the six ports, Mykonos and Santorini, will be serviced by tenders.

Actually we too went to those ports and both were supposed to use tenders but we managed to dock in Mykonos.