Destination: Mediterranean Cruising

I’ve taken at least a half-dozen cruises, and the connection with the crew has always been a highlight.

On my last cruise, there were over a thousand crew members from 60 different (mostly developing world) countries on board. Each of these hard working people had a story to tell and was cheery and helpful — almost to a fault. (At dinner, we joked about how many people would come by and ask if everything was to our liking.) Everyone was just so happy. In fact, I overheard crew members sharing an inside joke about it, egging each other on with whispers of “happy, happy.”

My cabin attendant was a wonderful man from Nicaragua named Adolfo. I like my stateroom to stay the way I leave it, and it was tough for him to realize that I didn’t need all those pillows and so on. Thank you for everything, Adolfo — and happy travels!

I just wrapped up a TV shoot on a Mediterranean cruise, and one big observation I made was that the cruise lines are very customer-focused. The industry is always working to understand the needs and preferences of its travelers. As a result, the cruising experience is always evolving.

If you are a longtime cruiser, I would love to hear about the changes you’ve observed in recent years. Here are a few that I noticed this trip:

While older ships are polka-dotted with portholes, newer ships are walls of private balconies. These days, ship designers give balconies to about 80 percent of the staterooms. It’s just you, the sea, the sky, and the port on your balcony — a private wonder world.

Our TV shoot kept me scrambling, so I barely had time to spend time in my stateroom…but I did find it relaxing to dish up some lunch from the Deck 14 cafeteria for a quiet meal on my balcony.

When our ship docked in big ports, we often found ourselves right there in the world of container shipping.

In the past, many cruises imposed set seating plans on their passengers. You would eat in a grand dining room with the same people and have the same server for the entire trip. These days, that tradition is fading away. While having a set dining time and table is still an option, most cruisers opt to enjoy the variety available on board. My TV crew and I made a point to eat in each of the specialty dining rooms on Celebrity Cruises’ Reflection. Most of the dining rooms were relaxing and made us feel pampered…except for the Qsine Restaurant, where the playful presentation was just too much work for my tired TV crew.

My TV crew and I just spent two weeks on a Mediterranean cruise, filming a one-hour special that will air on public television in January 2019. The show will present an honest look at the pros and cons of cruising and will equip travelers with the skills they need to be smart cruisers.

Here are a few tips for making the most of your next cruise. (And if you have cruising tips to share, please chime in as well.)

Right off the bat, I recommend getting out of your cabin (ship lingo for “room”) and exploring the ship: Study the ship’s cutaway models on the signage, walk each deck (ship lingo for “floor”), and find those many delightful little corners so you can take full advantage of your ship.

I also recommend the “behind-the-scenes” ship tour (pricey at about $100, but an amazing two-hour look at how the ship and its crew manage to run the entire show in a parallel world that is invisible to the typical cruiser). Ship geeks will marvel at how these newer massive ships no longer use an old-style shaft and propeller. They are nimbly maneuvered by Azipods (pods with propellers that can rotate 360 degrees and, with the help of bow thrusters, can jockey a 300-yard-long ship into whatever pier is required).

At port, most cruisers simply book the cruise line’s bus tours (and are generally happy they did). However, setting up your own shore excursions is usually less expensive and gives you more flexibility. Stepping off the ship in Naples, we got to film the intense scene of hustlers, guides, and taxi drivers scrambling for business from cruisers venturing ashore with no firm plan.

Everywhere you go on a cruise ship, they’re pushing squirts of Purell. I’m of the school of thought that sanitizing everything with antibacterial products just makes you less resistant and is counterproductive — so, I shun the squirts.

Our cruise TV shoot was everything I hoped it would be — and I’ve still got lots of photos to share with you.

When I was setting up the shoot, I needed to find a cruise line that understood our mission: Create a piece of travel journalism that would explain cruising, not be an ad for it. We would acknowledge that, while popular, cruising’s not for everyone; we would point out its pros and cons; and we would share the skills that enable an independent-minded traveler to be a smart cruiser. Celebrity Cruises got it, and they supported us on board, giving us access to everything we needed to make the show. I am really thankful — especially for the officers who made sure we could get up on the bridge with the captain, took us behind the scenes in the kitchen, and let me use their printer for the latest script revisions (even at midnight). Along with a full-capacity gang of 3,000 passengers, we sailed on the good ship Reflection.

The route we took on the Reflection.   

Simon and Karel (my producer and cameraman) are two of the best travelers I know (and both are avid sailors), but neither of them had ever been on a cruise ship. The entire notion of cruising was an anathema to them. They were good sports, open-minded, and ultimately recognized the economy, efficiency, and fun in this kind of tourism.

As a tour organizer, I have a particular fascination with organization and efficiency — how to make a decent profit while still providing travelers with a good vacation at a reasonable price — and I’m dazzled by how cruise lines do this. They are clearly feedback-driven and appreciate (as we do at Rick Steves’ Europe Tours) the loyalty of their frequent travelers.

Celebrity Cruises’ embarkation check-in procedure is impressive.   

My Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Ports guidebook is a perfect example of that old business axiom: “Find a need and fill it.” So many people take a cruise and have no practical information to help them use their time on shore smartly. Every Mediterranean cruise has the same rhythm: Sail each night and sightsee in a different port each day. With this 1,200-page guidebook, you’ll know exactly how to get the most out of your precious shore time. I’ve been on a Mediterranean cruise for the past two weeks, and I’ve been using this book the whole time — it really helps!