Best Mediterranean Cruises for Families

If you’re a UK family with a week to spare, the best Mediterranean cruise is usually a seven-night Western Mediterranean loop on a ship built for children. Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas runs that route from Barcelona, with six waterslides and seven pools. One short flight to Barcelona, and the sea days the waterpark needs.

The four Mediterranean routes, and who each one suits

Route decides how a family week feels far more than the ship does. A loop that starts and ends in Barcelona is a different holiday from a Greek islands week built on tenders, and both are different again from a ten-night run that calls somewhere every single day.

The safest first family cruise is the Western Mediterranean loop. Legend of the Seas, the third Icon-class ship, runs seven-night sailings from Barcelona and Civitavecchia that call in Spain, France and Italy, so you’ve got one flight, one home port and no long transfer at either end of the week.

Greek islands weeks are tender weeks, and they suit children who can handle a boat and a queue before breakfast. The Adriatic is the quietest of the four and the one most often mis-sold, because the Venice on the itinerary is often a port 145 km from the city.

Ten to fourteen nights gets you both halves of the Mediterranean in one go, and it’s the shape that produces eight ports and no sea days.

Port pace: eight ports in ten nights and no sea days

Eight ports in ten nights reads as value. What you get is eight early alarms, eight transfers and eight days of keeping a family together in a crowd, with no day in between to do nothing.

On a ten-night Athens to Rome sailing with eight ports, the kids’ club is free but the slides and race cars go largely unused, because there are too few sea days to use them. A ten-year-old on that kind of week will wish there had been more.

A ten-night Barcelona round trip calling at Valletta, Souda, Katakolon, Messina, Naples and Civitavecchia is sold as eight ports and zero sea days, and it’s a real, bookable shape.

So count two things before you book. First, the days in a row with an early start, and decide how many your family will still enjoy by the fourth. Second, the sea days, because those are the only days the waterpark, the pools and the kids’ club earn their place in the fare.

Rome, Florence, Venice and Santorini: the transfer each port name hides

Every Mediterranean port has a second journey in it, from the berth to the place you came to see. These are the ones that catch families out.

Civitavecchia to Rome: 80 km and 60 to 90 minutes each way

Rome is about 80 km (50 miles) from the ship, and road transfers take 60 to 90 minutes each way. Trains run to Roma Termini and Roma San Pietro in about 60 to 80 minutes, and the station is a 10 to 15 minute walk from Largo della Pace, or a short shuttle ride.

A port shuttle runs from the ship to the station for about €6 each way; the free shuttle drops you at Largo della Pace, from where you walk. On a nine-hour call, up to three hours of it goes on the round trip before you’ve seen anything.

Livorno to Florence and Pisa: two and a quarter hours from the ship

Cruise berths at Livorno sit inside a working commercial port you can’t walk out of, so a shuttle to the port gate comes first. From there, Florence’s Santa Maria Novella station is a fastest train of 1 hour 27 minutes and typically about 1 hour 44, while Pisa Centrale is 13 to 16 minutes.

Door to door from the ship, Florence is about two and a quarter hours, which leaves roughly five hours in the city on a nine to eleven hour call. Florence and Pisa in one day under your own steam means three station changes and no slack, and it’s the most common way people run out of day at Livorno.

Barcelona: the cruise terminal is not La Rambla

The terminals sit on the Moll Adossat wharf, A to E plus the Helix berths MSC uses, behind an exposed breakwater road with no safe walking route into the city. The walk is up to 45 minutes.

The Cruise Bus runs to the Columbus Monument at the foot of La Rambla in 10 to 15 minutes, and the Port de Barcelona charges €3.50 one way and €5 return. Allow up to 20 minutes of queueing at peak disembarkation.

Coming back, the queue at the Columbus Monument builds through mid-afternoon, so be on a bus by about 16:00 for a 17:30 all-aboard. With small children and a pushchair, a taxi is 15 to 30 minutes to a central address and worth it.

Venice: Ravenna, Trieste or a ferry from Piazzale Roma

Ships over 25,000 GT have been barred from the Giudecca Canal and St Mark’s Basin, so larger ships use Marghera, Fusina or Chioggia. On top of that, Venice on an itinerary often means Ravenna’s Porto Corsini berth, roughly 145 km from the city, with transfers of about 2 hours 15 minutes by van and up to 3 hours by coach. Trieste is about 150 km and 2 to 2.5 hours by road.

Royal Caribbean is one of the lines that sells Ravenna as Venice. MSC checks passengers in and takes bags at Venezia Marittima by Piazzale Roma, then ferries everyone out to the ship at Marghera, which at least puts you in the city on the day you join.

Santorini: a tender and a cable car before the day starts

Santorini has no cruise berth. Ships anchor in the caldera and tender to the Old Port below Fira, and the cable car that takes you up carries six people a cabin and about 600 passengers an hour in each direction. With three or more ships in, 30 to 60 minute queues are routine, and they stretch to 90 at peak.

The busiest windows are 08:00 to 10:00 going up and 14:00 to 17:00 coming down, and the island caps cruise passengers at 8,000 a day. The road port at Athinios, which the coach tours use, now takes no more than 30 per cent of a ship’s passengers, so ship excursions land there by road and skip the cable car queue entirely.

Allow two and a half hours between reaching the cable car station at Fira and the time you have to be back on board; on a four-ship day the tender and cable car chain can eat two hours of a nine-hour call.

Ship size and water slides: what your children’s ages need

The hardware families pay for now sails the Mediterranean in summer. Legend of the Seas carries 5,610 guests, has a Category 6 waterpark with six waterslides, seven pools and ten whirlpools, eight neighbourhoods, more than 40 places to eat and drink, a Surfside family neighbourhood with Splashaway Bay and Baby Bay, and adults-only spaces.

It’s the first Icon-class ship to launch in the Mediterranean, and it’s here for the summer only, repositioning to Fort Lauderdale in November.

Mid-size ships are a different bargain. Marella runs five medium-sized ships, all all-inclusive, and the hardware is climbing walls and mini golf rather than a waterslide park.

On a week with eight ports that’s plenty, because nobody is on board to use anything else. On a week with sea days, and with a nine-year-old who has seen the photographs, it’s thin.

Age splits the answer. Under-fives need short transfers and a nursery place more than a waterpark.

Nine to twelves want the slides and the time to use them, which means sea days. Teenagers want space and other teenagers, and a big ship supplies both in a way a coach to Rome does not.

If the slides are doing the persuading, start with the cruise ship water slides worth booking rather than the deck plan.

Royal Caribbean, MSC, Marella and P&O: gratuities and hardware compared

Every line calls itself family-friendly. What separates them is what lands on your account every night, and whether the ship has anything for a child to do on a day at sea.

The line that suits a family with a nine-year-old is not the line that suits a family with a baby. Royal Caribbean gives you the water and the space, at a nightly charge for every person in the cabin.

MSC’s structure is kind to young children, who pay €6 or nothing at all. Marella and P&O take the arithmetic out of the evening entirely, which is worth a lot to parents who don’t want a bill waiting at the end.

Cabins for four and five: settle the berths before the itinerary

Most families of four fit in one cabin with a sofa bed or bunks, and it works if everyone is out of it by nine in the morning. Five is harder. The one family unit documented in the Mediterranean is Royal Caribbean’s redesigned three-storey Ultimate Family Townhouse on Legend of the Seas, with its own slide, and it’s the exception rather than the template.

So settle the berths before you fall for an itinerary. Ask each line which cabin categories take a fifth person on the sailing you want, and what the fifth person pays, because a fare quoted for two adults and two children isn’t comparable with two connecting cabins until you know the answer.

Watch the promotions while you do it: kids sail free style offers cover the base fare only, and taxes, port fees and gratuities still apply to every guest, including the children.

Travelling with cousins and grandparents changes the sums again, because the options for large family groups on cruise ships come down to how many cabins you’re willing to split across.

What the week costs after the fare

Gratuities are the first thing families forget, because they’re charged per person per night and children count. Four people on Royal Caribbean for seven nights is 28 nights of gratuities at $18.50 each in a standard cabin. Then drinks, drinks packages, speciality dining and room service carry 18 per cent on top, and spa and salon 20 per cent.

The lines that look dearer on the sticker often aren’t. P&O includes gratuities in the price, and Marella’s fare is all inclusive as standard with meals, selected drinks, tips and service charges in it.

Add the fare, the nightly charges, the drinks and a realistic excursion budget for four before you decide. It’s easier to compare once you know how to work out a total cruise budget rather than a headline fare.

When to go: school holidays, the Greek levy and a summer-only ship

School holidays decide most UK families’ dates, so the useful question isn’t which month is best but which route and pace suits the weeks you can take.

Two things move with the calendar. The Icon-class hardware is in the Mediterranean for the summer only, so a sailing outside those months means a different ship. And Greece charges cruise passengers a levy at Santorini and Mykonos that’s collected through your onboard account: €20 per passenger from June to September, €12 in April, May and October, and €4 from November to March.

Families tied to late July and August pay the top rate on the fullest ships, which is why the answer for those weeks is a shorter loop with sea days rather than a ten-night port marathon. If you’ve any flexibility at all, the best times for a family cruise are worth checking by route before you fix dates.

Getting there: fly-cruise, Southampton and the night before

Flying to the ship is the default. Marella’s fare includes return flights from UK airports and the transfers, and P&O’s fly-cruise fares include the coach between airport and ship, and back at the end.

A no-fly option exists from Southampton. On a P&O Select Price, Southampton round trips of seven nights or more include car parking or coach transfers from UK pick-up points, which removes the airport and adds sea days at each end. For a family with young children that trade is often the right one, and there are other no-fly cruises from the UK if P&O’s dates don’t fit.

Whichever you choose, fly the day before and stay near the port. A same-day flight into Barcelona or Rome leaves no room for a delay, and day one shouldn’t be the most stressful day of the holiday. In Barcelona, look at hotels near the cruise terminal rather than in the city centre; from Rome, a night in Civitavecchia before you sail beats a dawn transfer.

Port days: ship excursions, cable cars and your own plan

The cheapest port day is the one you plan yourself, and the most expensive mistake is planning it badly. The rule that keeps families out of trouble is the return margin: an independent day has to put you back at the gangway with a comfortable hour to spare.

Ship excursions earn their money where the coach is the only practical way in, which is most of the Greek islands and anywhere the port is an hour or more from the place you came to see. In Santorini they also skip the cable car, because the coaches land at Athinios by road.

Book before you sail while the family departures still have places, and compare family shore excursions direct rather than on the first evening aboard.

Splitting up is a legitimate plan, especially with a toddler: one adult ashore early for the tender queue, one on board with the youngest until the ship empties, and a swap at lunchtime.

Three rules of thumb that backfire on a Mediterranean family cruise

Book the biggest ship. On a week with six or eight ports the waterpark and the race cars are decoration. Spend the ship budget on a route with sea days, or on a shorter loop where you’re aboard to use it.

Book the cheapest fare. A headline fare plus gratuities for four, drinks with 18 per cent on top and four coach days can cost more than the all-inclusive price, and it’ll certainly feel more expensive by Thursday.

Book it when they’re older. Toddlers and teenagers want opposite holidays: short transfers and a nursery place for one, sea days and a big ship for the other. The same sailing rarely serves both, which is why multi-generation groups end up choosing the ship for the teenagers and the route for the little ones.

Mediterranean family cruise FAQs

Is the kids’ club free on a Mediterranean cruise?

On Royal Caribbean the kids’ club is free, and children aged 3 to 17 are split into 3 to 11 and 12 to 17 groups. Nursery care for 6 to 36 months is charged and runs on selected ships only. The minimum age to sail is 6 months.

How much is the cable car at Santorini?

An adult pays €10 one way and a child aged 6 to 12 pays €5, with under-6s free; an adult return is €20. Tickets are sold at the stations only, so buy them when you reach the top or the bottom.

Do children pay MSC’s hotel service charge?

Children aged 2 to 11 pay €6 a night, and under-2s pay nothing at all. The children’s rate applies on Mediterranean, Canary Islands and Northern Europe sailings.

How much luggage is included on a Marella fly-cruise?

Each passenger gets 20 kg of hold luggage on TUI Airways. That’s a useful number when you’re packing for four.