Which (out of these choices) are the best vacation spots on the Mediterranean Sea?

Question

I am going on a cruise to the Mediterranean Sea and had a list of places which sounded nice. Out of the following, which would you reccommend for a family of three 21-25 year olds and two 50 year old parents?

Rhodes, Greece
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Athens, Greece
Santorini, Greece
Gibraltar, UK
Olympia, Greece
Ephesus, Turkey
Mykonos, Greece
Limassol, Cyprus
Barcelona, Spain
Ibiza, Spain

Any personal information you have on things to do at these or the best possible choices would be greatly appreciated.

Also, if anyone knows of cruises to a good combination of these places, that would be great.
Thank you...

Answer 1

We have been on two Mediterranean crises eastern and western, both leaving from Barcelona, Spain. In both cases we spent a day before the cruise in Barcelona to see the sights there and if you take a Med cruise its best to go at least a day early to the departure city so that you (1) have time to adjust to the time change and (2) do not miss a flight connection and thus your cruise. Barcelona is a good city to plan to see.

On our first cruise (a 12 day on a Royal Caribbean ship - Brilliance of the Seas) the first stop was Villafranche for Nice and Monte Carlo. It was as far as I am concerned a nice to see place but not high on my list of places we visited. We also went to Athens and the highlight there was seeing the Acropolis. The city tour we did after that was OK but not that exciting. We did not go to Rhodes or Olympia but did go to Santorini and Mykonos. Both of these places we loved. You do not really need to do a ship sponsored tour at eaither, just get off the ship and explore the towns/island on your own.

On our last cruise to the Western Med we had a stop in Gibraltar. That was a very good port stop and the "Gibraltar tour is a must.

Our Eastern Med cruise included a stop in Ephesus and that was a great port stop; a must if you want to see some really history. We toured the biblical city and it was wonderful.

Neither of our Med cruises went to Cyprus and we did not go on either to Ibiza, Spain. But our Western Med cruise included included stops in Malaga, Cadiz and Las Palmas Spain, plus two stops in the Canary Islands, and a stop in Lsibon, Portugal. These were all great and recommended.

I noticed that your list did not include what I consider the primary stops in the Med, Rome, Florence and Naples. All three of these are great places to see; things like the Vatican City and Colosseum in Rome and the Tower of Pisa in Pisa; and Pompeii in Naples.

Having taken two Med cruises I think that you will need to make two cruises to get to all of the places that you mentioned and the ones that I recommend/suggest. As I said above we did a 12 day Med on Royal Caribbean and then this year we did another 12 day on an NCL ship. The top ten spots that I recommend are:

Rome
Pisa
Naples
Santorini
Mykonos
Ephesus
Barcelona
Gibralter
Canary Islands
Barcelona

So I suggest finding a cruise or two that goes to these.

Answer 2

I can only say that Monte Carlo is on the French Riviera and spectacular and would definitely be a place to see. If you're going to be getting off of the cruise ship and walking, make sure you're all up to walking if you go to places like Athens, Mykonos, anyplace in Greece, because there are a lot of historic things to see.

Answer 3

Princess has a cruise that goes to many of these place. they go from Venice to Rome. Check it out.

Answer 4

They all are very nice.

However, I prefer Monaco.

Lots of things to do there :)

and if you like to Gamble, that's the place to be :))