We just traveled to Rome and cruised the Mediterranean with our three kids. I’m sharing everything you asked about: where we stayed, how we planned it, what I’d do differently, and what totally worked for a family of five.
We just got back from a fun 10 days in Europe. We spent time in Rome soaking up the sights, then set sail on a Mediterranean cruise that hit some of the most beautiful spots in Greece, Turkey and Italy.
If you’ve been thinking about a similar trip with kids, I’m breaking down our full itinerary, answering your most-asked questions, and sharing helpful tips I wish I knew before we went. Whether you’re deep in the planning stages or just daydreaming, I hope this post gives you a real look at what it’s like to travel to Rome and cruise the Med.
If you’re looking for outfit details, I have a full post right HERE.
Rome Itinerary
Day 1 – Arrive in Rome at 9am
- Transport to the hotel
- Staying at Grand Hotel Plaza Rome
- SIGHTSEEING: Spanish Steps/Trevi Fountain/Piazza Navona/walk around
- Uber to Rome LDS Temple
Day 2 – Rome
- Family pictures at Pantheon – booked through Flytographer with Roberta Perrone – my code MERRICKWHITE gets you $25 off a shoot anywhere in the world!
- Private Guide Tour booked through Tours By Locals 12pm-4pm (Colosseum/Roman Forum/Palatine Hill)
Day 3 – Rome
- Private Guide Tour booked through Tours By Locals 10am-1pm (Vatican City/Vatican)
- SIGHTSEEING on our own: Pantheon Tour, Trastevere Neighborhood, Piazza Navona
Mediterranean Cruise Line and Itinerary
Day 4 – Rome /Begin Cruise
- Brunch in Rome
- Van Transport to Cruise Port, booked through Transfeero
Day 5 – Sea Day
Day 6 – Santorini
- Private Guide Tour booked through Tours By Locals 3pm-9pm
- this tour allowed us to go around the entire island, except for where the archeological dig was (we have to go back one day to visit that!). We took the cable car up the cliff when we arrived, and walked down the stairs at the end. The stairs took much longer than we anticipated, and with a 70 year old Grandpa, it was a little precarious. We were able to visit the highest point, all the major villages on Santorini, and we even went to the black beaches and dipped our toes in the sea.
Day 7 – Ephesus/Kusadasi
- Cruise Ship Excursion 10am-330pm (Ruins of Ephesus/Mary’s House/Includes Lunch)
- This stop was phenomenal! The ancient city of Ephesus was breathtaking, and Mary’s house was very sacred and beautiful. I also loved the Turkish rug factory, although they definitely sell you hard on buying their rugs. We had to get out of there as soon as the presentation was over. If you acted a little bit interested, they were like vultures trying to sell you a rug.
Day 8 – Mykonos
- Cruise Ship Excursion 830am-1230pm (Bus to Mykonos Beach)
- This was a 30 minute bus ride to get to a beach resort where you can play on the sand and in the water, and there are beach chairs to rent and a restaurant at the resort. You had to share the space with the other people at the resort and others who were coming from other cruise ships, so it was a little crowded, but the beach was gorgeous. I just wish we’d had time to go to Old Town Mykonos before our boat left that evening!
Day 9 – Sea Day
Day 10 – Naples/Capri
- Hydrofoil On Our Own – book the tickets in advance because they sell out the day of, and make sure you arrive at least 15 mins early, especially if you have a group, or you won’t get seats together. They fill up very quickly!
- Boat Hire for a Tour Around the Island and Grottos On Our Own
- This was so fun to see the entire island by boat, and the Blue Grotto was spectacular. But I do wish we’d booked our own private boat for this – more on this at the end of the post!
Day 11 – Rome/Return Home
- Van to the airport and fly home – booked through Transfeero
FAQ’s
What cameras did you get for boys?
- This was a great little hack to keep my younger boys (12 and 9 years old) engaged on long tour days – they took pictures of everything! When we went to Africa last year, I bought disposable cameras for each of the boys and they loved it, but they only had less than 30 photos per camera, and they were very expensive to develop! I definitely recommend going digital.
- I bought this little point and shoot for my 9 year old. It was super basic and didn’t take the best quality pictures, but they were fine and it has zoom, a flash, and can take video, so it was great for a young kid. I was glad I didn’t buy him an expensive one, cause he dropped it like 20 times during the trip.
- For my 12 year old, who is super artistic, I let him use an old Samsung NX500 that I’ve had for almost a decade, but it’s a really nice digital camera that’s small enough to tote around. Unfortunately it’s no longer available or sold anywhere except eBay, but THIS ONE is similar but much more affordable!
Did you feel like you had enough time at each stop?
- This is my biggest beef with cruises. No, you absolutely don’t have enough time at each spot! There are so many places to explore, places to eat, things to see…you can’t possibly see it all in like 8-10 hours. But the convenience of the cruise, getting you easily from one place to the next, not having to worry about luggage, the built in fun of the cruise — it does outweigh some of the downsides. But I wish we’d had lots more time in every place we went.
What cruise line?
- We went on Royal Caribbean. Obviously we were not in the Caribbean, but the Odyssey of the Seas sails in the Mediterranean!
Did you use a travel planner?
- We did not. My husband is the travel planner in our family and he loves doing it, so he did all the research, and booked everything.
Room breakdown on cruise?
- We got two rooms, because we were traveling with my father in law. We got two suites next to each other, and Philip and I took one, and he and the boys slept in the other. The balconies were connected, so it was easy to go between each of them, and both had pull out couches, so the boys rotated sleeping in the bed with Grandpa and sleeping on the pull out couch.
Who did you book excursions through – cruise line or private party?
- We only booked two excursions through the cruise line — one at our Kusadasi, Turkey stop, and one at Mykonos, Greece. You can see it in the outline toward the beginning of this post, but we did the Ancient city of Ephesus tour, plus a stop at the Virgin Mary’s supposed home, and a tour of a Turkish rug factory. This was a fantastic tour. The Mykonos tour was just a transit bus that took us to the beach. When we got back to the boat after three hours at the beach, we wanted to go to old town, but the time was a little too tight for us to take the water taxi over and have time to get back before the boat left, so we skipped. But I wish we’d done that!
Did you do laundry?
- We did do laundry on the cruise. On day 3, I think, they left a bag on the bed and you could fill it as full as you’d like and launder everything for $35. There is no self serve laundry, so this was our only option. We filled it to the brim with only the essential underwear and workout clothes that we needed to get through the end of the trip. We went home with two of our five suitcases filled with all of our dirty laundry.
Safety concerns like pickpocketing?
- I wasn’t super worried about it, we were just careful. I brought two bags and one of them zipped closed, and when I carried the other tote bag, I put my zipper bag inside with any more valuable items so they were a bit more protected.
How did kids like cruise atmosphere?
- They loved it! This was their second cruise, and they were the ones who begged to go on another cruise. Cruises are definitely not my first choice because I think the food is mostly mediocre, the rooms are tiny (even with our suites that we booked), the time in each port is too short, and a lot of it feels cheesy. But for families, there’s really no better way to visit lots of places in a shorter amount of time, they loved the unlimited food, different activities constantly, the teens club, and no need to drag your luggage around different countries if you’re visiting multiple places.
Language issues?
- No, almost everyone spoke enough English for us to be totally fine. When we visited the Vatican City, we took a wrong exit out of St. Peter’s Basilica and when we asked a security guard for directions, she spoke zero English. But we quickly found another guard who spoke English and pointed us in the right direction. Neither Philip nor I speak any other language and we were absolutely fine.
Family picture details in Rome?
- I decided about a month before we left that I wanted to take family pictures in Rome. Might as well get it done with for this year’s Christmas cards, especially because we were going to be in a gorgeous place! I think I did some googling to see if I could find a photographer in Rome, and Flytographer came up. I’d heard of it before but had completely forgotten about it! It’s a platform that connects you to photographers all around the world, and they have a huge database. I looked in Rome and had probably a dozen options of photographers to choose from, and it showed examples of their work, and locations they liked to shoot. I was immediately drawn to Roberta Perrone’s photography, and after stewing about it for a few days, I decided to just book it. The process was super easy, we decided on a location and time, and it was a done deal! Everything was handled through the Flytographer app, including payment, communication, and sending the edited pictures. Flytographer gives you a referral code after your shoot, so if you want to get $25 off any shoot in the world, use the code MERRICKWHITE. If you go to Rome and want family pictures, I highly recommend Roberta – she was so easy to work with and made everyone feel comfortable immediately!
Sandal store in Capri
- Capri is known for its leather sandals, and I had to buy a pair while we were there! We didn’t have a chance to go up the funicular cause we ran out of time after our Blue Grotto tour, but there’s a little shop right off the dock called Capri Pride and make beautiful custom sandals.
Hotel in Rome?
- We stayed at the Grand Hotel Plaza. My husband picked it out and we loved it. It was old and gorgeous, and a really cool place to stay.
Bags for carrying things around?
- I only brought two bags with me on this trip. This woven crossbody bag, and this tote bag. I brought three different straps with me (you can see them all HERE) so I could mix up the little bag and make it more casual, more dressy, and more simple. The tote bag was great for days we were at the beach, or days we were toting around more items, like cameras and water bottles.
Why a cruise vs a European travel tour?
- Two reasons:
- The boys really wanted to do another cruise after our cruise last summer. They loved the fun atmosphere and activities and endless food!
- It’s the most convenient way to travel to a lot of different European countries in one trip and in one week. No need for plane flights or spending time in airports to travel from one country to the next, no luggage to carry around as you go from place to place, and lots of resources to book excursions right through the cruise line if you’re worried about safety or language barriers (this wasn’t a selling point for us necessarily, but it definitely is for others).
- Traveling with a whole family through multiple countries with younger kids would have been very stressful and expensive and time consuming. This was a great option for our family, but again, I do love staying in local hotels, eating more at local restaurants, and having more time to wander around and really explore a city. So there are pros and cons!
How did you pack everything? how many bags per family member?
- We each took one bag, my husband and I each took a backpack, and the boys took two backpacks between the three of them. My husband, my oldest son, and myself had large suitcases, and my younger two boys had small carry on sizes. My oldest didn’t need all the space in his suitcase, so I put my shoes and a few other things in his to keep my suitcase from becoming too heavy. It worked out great.
Did you know about cruise nights before? white night, formal night, etc.
- Yes! They tell you a few weeks before in the cruise app and via email. But not everyone follows the themed nights. You can basically wear whatever you want and no one cares.
Favorite meal you ate?
- On our last day on the cruise, we got off the boat in Naples and took the ferry to Capri. We spent the day there taking an island boat tour and visiting the Blue Grotto. After we took the ferry back to Naples, we had about an hour and a half before we had to board the ship, so we stopped for authentic Margherita pizza at a place called Pizzeria Napoli in Bocca. It was the most amazing pizza! They cooked it for about 90 seconds in the pizza oven, threw some basil on top, and brought it out. It was INCREDIBLE. So fresh, so authentic.
- A close second was a restaurant in Rome called Negresco Ristorante Pizzeria. We got the bacon pizza and it was out of this world. Also you have to get the nutella pistachio dessert pizza. Amazing.
What do you wish you’d done differently?
- The one thing we sort of regretted was in Capri. We booked our tour around the island plus the Blue Grotto tour in advance, and it was great, but when we got off the boat, there were tons of boat captains ready to give private boat tours. We saw tons of people out on them, sailing around the island, jumping off the boat and swimming at the Green Grotto, and just soaking up the sun in their own boat. We were on more of a small ferry style boat for the tour around the island, and sort of a fishing style boat for the Blue Grotto tour. Both were fine, but a private boat would have been amazing.
It was the most incredible trip with so many fun memories! Here are a few pictures.
