Enchanted Princess - Eastern Mediterranean Gems

Where this cruise calls, day by day

5 ports and 3 sea days over 7 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Rome (Civitavecchia)

   ItalyDepart

   Civitavecchia is a working port town on the Tyrrhenian coast, and it is not Rome - the city is about 80km southeast, roughly 80 minutes each way. Budget for that honestly: a Rome day is some four hours of transit bracketing whatever you actually see. The port has Fort Michelangelo on the quay and good fish-market lunches, a real option if you have done Rome before.

   • St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums, with a timed entry booked well ahead
   • The Colosseum and the Roman Forum, a short walk apart on the Termini side
   • The Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain on a walking loop of the centro storico
   • Fort Michelangelo and the Terme Taurine Roman baths, for a day that stays in Civitavecchia

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock in Civitavecchia and a free shuttle runs to the port gate at Largo della Pace, from where it is a short walk to the station and a 70-80 minute train into Rome.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug hot, and the Rome queues are brutal)

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3

   Kotor

   MontenegroPort

   The approach is half the day here: ships work 28km up the Bay of Kotor and through the Verige strait, only 340m wide at its tightest, past Perast and near-vertical limestone before tying up. Kotor is a compact Venetian walled town at the head of the bay, and the berth is a hundred metres from the gate - which also means a very small town absorbing everything a large ship unloads.

   • The walls climb to St John's Fortress - 1,350 steps and 365m up, ticketed, with no shade
   • St Tryphon's Cathedral, consecrated in the 11th century, and the Old Town lanes
   • A boat to Our Lady of the Rocks, the man-made islet off Perast
   • The switchback road up to Lovcen and Njegos's mausoleum, or Budva and Sveti Stefan

   Getting ashore

   There is only one usable cruise pier, a two-minute walk from the Sea Gate. The first ship in takes it; everything arriving after that anchors in the bay and tenders.

   Best months

   May-Jun and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug is hot and the fortress climb is punishing)

4. Day 4

   Corfu

   GreecePort

   Corfu was Venetian for four centuries and then British for fifty, and the Old Town shows it - tall shuttered Italianate terraces, a cricket ground on the main square, and an arcaded promenade the French put up. The island is green and wooded in a way the Cyclades are not. The cruise terminal is a couple of kilometres from the Old Town, an unremarkable walk or a short shuttle ride.

   • The Old Fortress and the Liston arcade on the Spianada, the largest square in Greece
   • The Achilleion, the palace Empress Elisabeth of Austria built above Gastouri
   • Paleokastritsa - the monastery on the headland and the coves beneath it
   • Kanoni, with the Vlacherna monastery and Mouse Island offshore

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the cruise terminal about 2km from the Old Town; a shuttle runs to the port gate, and it is a 20-25 minute walk from there along the waterfront.

   Best months

   May-Jun and Sep-Oct (Corfu gets far more rain than the Aegean islands, so shoulder season can be wet)

5. Day 5 · At sea

6. Day 6

   Naples

   ItalyPort

   Naples is one of the few big Italian calls where the ship parks in the middle of the city - the Stazione Marittima sits at Molo Angioino with Castel Nuovo directly across the road. That makes it a rare port you can genuinely walk out of, though most passengers spend the day at Pompeii or on Capri instead. The city is loud, sooty and unpolished.

   • Pompeii or Herculaneum, both on the Circumvesuviana line from Garibaldi station
   • The Museo Archeologico Nazionale, which holds the mosaics and bronzes lifted out of Pompeii
   • Spaccanapoli and the Cappella Sansevero, home of the Veiled Christ
   • A hydrofoil to Capri from Molo Beverello, a few minutes' walk from the ship

   Getting ashore

   Ships berth at the Stazione Marittima on Molo Angioino in the city centre, a ten-minute walk from Piazza del Plebiscito with the hydrofoil pier next door.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug hot and crowded, and Pompeii has almost no shade)

7. Day 7 · At sea

8. Day 8

   Rome (Civitavecchia)

   ItalyArrive

   Civitavecchia is a working port town on the Tyrrhenian coast, and it is not Rome - the city is about 80km southeast, roughly 80 minutes each way. Budget for that honestly: a Rome day is some four hours of transit bracketing whatever you actually see. The port has Fort Michelangelo on the quay and good fish-market lunches, a real option if you have done Rome before.

   • St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums, with a timed entry booked well ahead
   • The Colosseum and the Roman Forum, a short walk apart on the Termini side
   • The Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain on a walking loop of the centro storico
   • Fort Michelangelo and the Terme Taurine Roman baths, for a day that stays in Civitavecchia

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock in Civitavecchia and a free shuttle runs to the port gate at Largo della Pace, from where it is a short walk to the station and a 70-80 minute train into Rome.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug hot, and the Rome queues are brutal)