I went on a week-long Mediterranean cruise this month! It was my first time ever cruising and my first time ever in the Mediterranean so a very eventful trip indeed!

So here’s my honest (what else would it be lol) review of this trip.

Things I Like

I loved all the shows and entertainment offered on the cruise! I saw a broadway musical, aqua show, magic show, and ice skating show to name a few. All within the span of one week. And all while in the middle of the sea!

Some other fun activities I did include zip-lining (did I mention, inside a ship!), played mini golf, and rode on a carousel.

I also loved not having to worry about moving from hotel to hotel or having to carry my luggage across cities and trains or planes as we traveled through different destinations.

Things I Didn’t Like

There is a saying that cruise ports are like appetizers. You get little bits of each place and decide which ones you like and want to go back to.

While I love food appetizers, I realized through this trip that I prefer to stay longer at a place rather than going to more places, but not getting the full experience. It felt like I was just checking off a list without thoroughly immersing myself in the experience.

It almost felt like I hadn’t left some of these places and was already thinking I needed to go back.

For example, during one of the port stops, I did a Florence/Pisa excursion. When we came to Pisa, we had less than an hour, and the tour did not include nor gave us enough time to go up the tower of Pisa which I was really curious about.

Now I’m conflicted because while I would like to go to Italy again in the future, there isn’t much to see in Pisa that I’d want to make the journey there again. But at the same time, I’m still curious about going up the tower.

That brings us to the topic of the cost of cruise excursions. I don’t regret booking through the more expensive cruise sponsored excursions especially for cities like Rome and Florence that are deceivingly far from the ports. The great (and I’d even say only) thing about using cruise sponsored excursions is that the ship will wait for you if your excursions run late. 

The cost though is crazy! I saw private tour groups offering the same exact itinerary as the one offered by the cruise for less than half the price!

However, we cut it especially close due to traffic on our way back to port from Amalfi Coast. We ran late by almost 2 hours and only made it back to the ship about 10 minutes before departure time. Had I gone with a private excursion, it would have made me sweat bullets.

Things to Consider for Next Time

I would pick a less intensive cruise destination so I could enjoy the ship more.

With stops like Rome, Florence, and Naples, I couldn’t possibly choose not to spend the whole day in the city! It would be such a waste to miss. Unfortunately by the time we got back to the ship, we were often very tired. 

I would have loved to enjoy the pool deck, explored the ship more, and even rock climb (yes, also on the ship!) if I had more time.

Since we also had early excursions almost everyday, I didn’t get to spend as much time enjoying some of the night activities either.

Cost Breakdown of Mediterranean Cruise

Flight – I only had to pay the taxes on my flight as I was able to transfer points from my credit card to book the tickets! I saved ~$1000 from taking advantage of travel miles!

Cruise and Shore Excursions – ⅔ of my expenses came from the cruise and shore excursions. I would say the cruise is a pretty good deal considering this is 7 days’ worth of room and meal.

The shore excursion though is where these cruises get you! We decided to go with the cruise’s shore excursions 5 out of 6 port days and it cost almost as much as our entire cruise!

Hotel and Barcelona Attractions – Barcelona was our departing port and we arrived 2 days prior to have one full day to enjoy this city.

Food – this consists mostly of food we ate while in Barcelona and the airport prior to being on the ship.

Transport – I would say while understandably the cruise and shore excursions made up the majority of the spending, the biggest splurge would be on transportation.

We took taxis and Ubers everywhere in two of the cities we did on our own which were Barcelona and Marseilles. Unfortunately, my friend wasn’t feeling too well during the trip so we wanted to minimize walking.

But excuses aside, this was a splurge. I would have probably chosen taxis and Ubers anyways as I knew we had limited time in the city and had many long excursions coming up and didn’t want to tire ourselves out.

This was such a drastic change from all my other international trips where it was a no-brainer to take public transportation and probably proof of lifestyle inflation.

May Budget

Fixed Spending

No changes.

Variable Spending

Utilities – Only gas & electric bill this month for utilities.

Gas – Only filled up gas once.

Entertainment/dining out – Bought a ticket for a concert in 2024! I don’t think I’ve ever bought a ticket this far ahead before.

Over budget on dining out expenses hence the low groceries spending.

Groceries –  Low groceries spending as I ate out quite a bit and I was gone for my trip for almost half the month. The perk of having my mom live with me is that she also takes care of most of the groceries.

Shopping – I’ve put off decorating my house for a bit now. I bought a couple of DIY items to hang up some canvases. I also ordered a couple of things for my mom online.

Travel

Just a couple of leftover travel expenses from the Mediterranean trip that wasn’t prepaid.

Miscellaneous

Chase Annual Fee – I debated cancelling my Chase Sapphire Preferred card, but decided the annual fee was still worth it when it comes to converting my points to airline miles.

Investments/Savings

I finally restarted my contribution to my brokerage account this month.

Student Debt

Student debt paid this month: $880.77

Student debt remaining: $22,445.50

Here are all my previous student debt statements.

No updates on loan forgiveness yet so I’m still leaving my federal loans alone. I’m just continuing to make the minimum payment to my private loan.

I’m very sad that First Republic has been officially acquired by Chase. While I do bank with Chase and have nothing against them, I absolutely love First Republic. I even wrote a raving post refinancing my student loans with them and then on my home buying experience getting a loan through them at a very low interest rate at a time when interest rates were hiking up.

I’ve been assured that for the near future it’s still business as usual. When the transition is complete, my mortgage rate will not change, but my student loan which is considered a private loan may.

Fortunately, I do have the means to pay off my student loans if it comes to it with my emergency fund money to avoid a bad rate.

Goals for Next Month

So… as it turns out I have another international trip planned for October! It’ll be a family trip with my mom and my cousins. I am hoping to book everything in June before prices go up. So my goal is to not procrastinate on the planning.