2026: which 9-night mediterranean cruise to choose?

[WxKristin]

There are two 9-night mediterranean cruises visiting the greek isles in early summer 2026 on the dream.

Option 1, May 30: (one-way) Departs Barcelona ending in Civitavecchia. Schedule: At Sea • Messina (Sicily), Italy • At Sea • Piraeus (Athens), Greece • Santorini, Greece • Mykonos, Greece • Chania, Greece • At Sea

Option 2, June 8: RT beginning/ending in Civitavecchia (Rome). Schedule: At Sea • Chania, Greece • Mykonos, Greece • At Sea • Dubrovnik, Croatia • Corfu, Greece • Valletta, Malta • Valletta, Malta (overnight)

Family of four (2 boys ages 12 and 9). Both dates work for us.
Older boy has been really into the Rick Riordan novels and overall greek and roman mythology, so I've promised some ancient ruins and possibly museums (likely in Rome before or after the cruise). Younger one is just excited about doing a disney cruise again (this will be our second, first was on the magic in Oct).

I don't love overly crowded areas (gives me anxiety with the kids) and would generally prefer port excursions that are hands-on (such as baking/pasta making) or active (kayaking/biking) and maybe beaches. With that in mind, I'm leaning towards option 2 with what appears to be slightly less common ports, but having never been to this part of the world I'm trying to gather what I can from past trip reports and port reviews.

Does anyone have recommendations between the two? or reasons you would pick one over the other?

Thinking about booking tomorrow when castaway club silver opens up...

 

[Calantha]

Option 1, May 30: (one-way) Departs Barcelona ending in Civitavecchia. Schedule: At Sea • Messina (Sicily), Italy • At Sea • Piraeus (Athens), Greece • Santorini, Greece • Mykonos, Greece • Chania, Greece • At Sea

We're doing the 9-night round trip out of Civitavecchia this summer and then staying 3 days in Rome. We are a family of 3 and my son will be 10 at the time of sailing. He too is a huge Percy Jackson fan.

I picked the one way here (even though I think that's harder flight-wise) because of the stops in Athens and I would have no interest in over-nighting in Malta. Also Option 1 has an extra day at sea (even though it is early on).

On the flip-side, I can see the attraction of Croatia.

 

[wabbott]

We visited several locations in Greece and Turkey on an NCL cruise last fall. Most memorable were Mykonos, Istanbul, and Santorini. At Mykonos, be sure to visit the windmills and the location where the final scene of The Bourne Identity was filmed. If you're arriving at Santorini before dawn, be up on deck when the ship enters the caldera. Drop dead photo ops.

At Piraeus, you'll be able to visit the Parthenon.

 

[Mommb]

My husband and I debated this choice and went with the June 8 cruise from Rome.

I would love to see Athens, but it seems that (as with Rome) there is so much to see that one day would be frustrating so we may decided to spend a few days in Athens in the future. Similarly, Sicily sounds very interesting, but there are land trips that go just to Sicily that would give us a better feel for the area.

We chose the cruise with Dubrovnik, Croatia and Valletta, Malta because those ports have a lot of interesting within a short distance of the dock and because DCL doesn't often visit them.

If we hadn't already been to Barcelona a few times around previous cruises, though, it would have been a tougher choice because Barcelona's Gothic Quarter has a lot to see that is walkable, and it was a quick taxi ride to the port from our hotel there before the cruise.

Basically, you wouldn't go wrong with either itinerary. You will definitely want to spend a few days in Rome either before or after the cruise if you can, especially with a son interested in mythology. When we were in Rome before a cruise in 2019, we spent an afternoon on a gelato tasting/tiramisu making small-group tour that my family really enjoyed.