Most of the major cruise lines offer cruises to the Mediterranean from Miami. Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Azamara Club Cruises offer April and May departures. Royal Caribbean visits the Spanish Mediterranean with stops in Cadiz, Malaga and Valencia before ending in Barcelona. Norwegian stops in Marseilles, France, renowned for its international cuisine, and on the festive Spanish island of Mallorca before its final destination of Barcelona. Azamara Club Cruises has the most days at sea without making stops but has ports of call in Malaga and Cartagena, Spain before docking at Rome's Civitavecchia port in Italy.
The port of Fort Lauderdale has the largest selection of Mediterranean cruise departures, all in April or May. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess and Holland America all have multiple departures, usually ending in Italy or Spain. Royal Caribbean stops in Mallorca and at the port of Ajaccio, on the French island of Corsica, birthplace of Napoleon. Celebrity tours the Spanish Mediterranean with stops in Cadiz, Malaga and Barcelona. Princess has ports of call in the Italian islands of Sardegna and Capri and cities like Civitavecchia-Rome and Livorno as well as Monte Carlo and Barcelona. The longest cruises continue on to Greece and Turkey.
Holland America has the greatest number of cruises departing from Florida, and different cruises stop at different combinations of such diverse destinations as Spanish ports of Cadiz, Gibraltar, Cartagena, Valencia and Barcelona, Monte Carlo-Monaco, the French resorts of Cannes, the Italian Riviera hot spot of Santa Margherita Ligure, Palermo on the island of Sicily, and the Italian ports of Livorno and Civitavecchia-Rome. Holland America's month-long cruises tour more extensively with additional stops at other Italian and Spanish ports and Tunisia, Malta or Morocco, plus stops outside the Mediterranean.
Effective through 2011, Port Canaveral has only one cruise departure with a Mediterranean destination. The Disney Cruise line offers a transatlantic cruise that only stops in Barcelona.
Because the main reason that ships depart for the Mediterranean from distant Florida is to reposition them for the summer season, passengers will spend many days at sea without stopping. The ships travel with reduced staff, but they still provide many shipboard activities and fine meals. It is often possible for travelers to spend some time on the continent and to book another cruise around the sea with the same company. There are no round trip cruises from Florida, however, so travelers will have to make the return trip to Florida by airplane. Ships reposition from Europe back to the Caribbean and Florida in the fall.
