Suggestions on cruise of Spain, Italy and Greece in 2015

You will get answers from dedicated cruisers is you take your questions to cruisecritic.com.

1. All of the major lines cruise the Med. If you have a cruise line you have used and liked them check out their web site.
2. June or July over August. Just my opinion as August could be really hot while touring on land.
3. I can not think of a reason that it would matter about the direction of travel.
4. Go where you have always wanted to go. Just browse all of the cruise lines Mediterranean itineraries and pick the one that offers the most of what you want to see at the price within your budget. (You may have to save one country for the next visit in order to give the other two a proper visit.)
5. Arrive in your departure city at least one day if not two in order to tour that city before your cruise starts. Example: If your cruise started in Rome and you didn't arrive early enough to spend several days seeing the sights of "one of the great cities of the world" that would just be a shame. Just my opinion. Cruises are a great highlights tour. You see a lot and then can say I want to come back to _________ to see more.

Get a copy of Rick's Mediterranean Cruise Port guidebook for more information. All the things you have asked about are covered by Rick in that book.

After years of travel my wife said she wanted a 20th anniversary trip where she could unpack once, not be concerned about having to find a restaurant and be treated with luxury. So we did something never before considered and took a 14 day cruise on Oceania departing from Barcelona and arriving in Istanbul. We loved it. We counsel to add days at the beginning and end of the trip in order to fully take advantage of your travels. We had been to several of the destinations so chose to spend more time in fewer places. Example: in Rome we focused solely on Studying the interior of St Peters and strolled around the immediate vicinity. We did a lot of research and made arrangements for our own excursions which proved much less expensive and were offered a more personal touch. On board we took advantage of the opportunity to dine w many different folks and met a bunch of delightful people from around the world. We opted for a balcony and spent some great evenings watching the sun sets.

Which direction? I believe it is more of an issue of the size of ship desired (we opted for a 600 passenger ship), the intinerary and the price we desired to pay. Pay close attention to the ship decks and room selection. There are terrific web sites offering blogs detailing each cruise line, ships, ports etc. do a lot of research! Rick has written an excellent book on cruise ports and i recommend you use it for your research. All the summer months will be hot to hotter, but this will mostly impact how you spend your days in the ports of call.

We greatly enjoyed Ephesus, rhodes and istanbul.

August is the big vacation month. Pluses, you will meet lots of Europeans traveling. Minuses, prices and crowds are at their peak. I'd prefer June, it's more comfortable, cheaper and at least slightly less crowded.

We've only taken four cruises. Three with Carnival and one with Princess. The cabins are fine and the food is good. We don't spend much time in our room - just sleep, shower, and change - so we don't mind an inside cabin at all. I'll compare prices and decide if it's worth the extra money to upgrade the room, sometimes the answer is yes and sometimes no.

Carnival is fine. The worst thing about Carnival is the constant sales pitches over the public address system. If you can tune that out, and are educated about what is included in the price of your cruise and what isn't, it's not a big deal - some people hate it.

Princess wasn't significantly different than Carnival. A 600 passenger ship would be a lot different, in both the type of cruising experience and the price.

I prefer ports of call that can be reasonably visited in one day (Tallinn, Estonia is a good example). If you visit a bigger city (Rome, Berlin, London), I agree with the advise to pick one thing and focus on only that. Often the big cities also require a lengthy transportation leg into the city and back, consider that when you think about your available time.

You can really go either way. I usually watch flight and cruise prices, then book them both when I'm satisfied with the deals. Airfare changes more quickly so book that first then book your cruise.

Cruisecritic.com has reviews on every ship, line and port. Although my travel style isn't the same as most of the people on the site, it's good information to help you get a realistic expectation for the cruise.

Vacationstogo.com is an online travel agent that focuses on cruises. We've booked our cruises through them and have had no problems. They have the best search engine for cruises IMO, check them out to compare different options.