Cruise Travel: Eastern Mediterranean: sailing "Italian Style" to the Greek Isles and beyon

The French like their steak rare, Italians prefer it medium, and the British almost always order it well done. Announcements take a while, because they're made in six languages, and the crew must make allowances for an international mix of passengers with a variety of tastes and habits. But make no mistake about it, sailing out of Venice to the Greek Isles on Costa Cruise Lines' Costa Victoria is definitely "Cruising Italian Style," where the staff, food, decor, and a large percentage of the passengers aboard the 1,800-passenger ship are Italiano.

In the spring, seven-day cruises begin and end in Venice, one of Europe's most beguiling cities, whose earliest inhabitants were refugees from the path of Attila the Hun in AD 452, and whose subsequent merchants, courtesans, doges, and mariners eventually gave rise to one of the most successful societies and desirable destinations in Europe. In early May, weeks before oppressive heat and crowds attack the city, soft sunlight glistens off canals and coats the ancient buildings with an artist's (and a photographer's) best light. Gondolas glide under the Bridge of Sighs, and sunlit cafes on cobbled streets offer cool comfort and a break from shopping along miles of narrow streets where the windows are filled with elaborate handmade Venetian masks, art, and glass figurines from the nearby island of Murano.

Venice is the perfect spot for a pre- or post-cruise stayover. Find a hotel near the Piazzale Roma, the main dropoff point for airport shuttles and waterbuses, just across the Grande Canal from the city's immense train station. There are plenty of nearby hotels, from the elegant Sofitel Venezia, with its window-boxed balconies and inviting restaurant, to the more modest three-star Hotel Antiche Figure, both with canal views and both less than 300 meters from the Piazzale, where shuttle buses transfer passengers a short distance to the port and the Costa Victoria.

From here, it's "Arrivederci Venezia" as the ship heads along the Canale Della Giudecca, past the Piazza San Marco with its marvel of art and architecture, and out into the Adriatic. While we will stop six times, the voyage will cover three seas, three countries, several hundred islands, and about 2,000 nautical miles before returning seven nights later.

But first things first, as it's time for me and my wife, Cathy, to track down our English-speaking hostess, whose name, it turns out, is Renata Lupato. She is one of several bilingual members of the ship's excursion staff, assigned to aid international passengers. Renata's charges this trip include 218 Americans, 114 of whom are traveling with an incentive group, and a much smaller contingent of Brits. In addition, there are 162 French; 207 Germans, Dutch, Swiss, and Austrians; 140 Spanish and South Americans; 11 Japanese; and 1,073 Italian passengers aboard. By August, Renata tells us, as many as 85 percent of the passengers will be from Italy, as families cruise together over the summer holidays.

With the ship near capacity, we found expected crunches at buffets, debarkation staging areas, and--during one rough night at sea--in the least motion-prone area midships, where sofas and chairs were filled with prostate passengers seeking relief from the rolling seas. Otherwise, ample room was available in public gathering places most of the time. Launched in 1996, the 828-foot/ 76,000-gross-register-ton Costa Victoria was refurbished in 2004, when verandas were added to 246 staterooms. Remarkably, this increased the proportion of veranda-equipped cabins from one percent to 44 percent in an unprecedented renovation to a ship already in service. It was deemed by Costa CEO and chairman Pier Luigi Foschi as "part of our fleet renewal program, which also includes the introduction of two more new ships, Costa Fortuna and Costa Magica." Costa, now a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc, has nine ships, going on 10, and bills itself as Europe's number one cruise line, with 70 itineraries around the world.

The first stop, and the only other Italian port-of-call on our Costa Victoria cruise, was Bari, a city that traces its history back to medieval days. It features the St. Nicholas Basilica, built by Norman invaders, along with the church of St. Gregory, Svevo Castle, and lots of alleys filled with local restaurants. We gathered in the Concorde Plaza on Deck Seven, our shirts adorned with a numbered sticker indicating our excursion and designated bus for the tour to Alberobello, an agricultural town 34 miles outside the city. The choice sounded like an out-of-the-way rural adventure, a small town whose most distinguishing characteristic was hundreds of trulli--small, circular houses built with flat stones and no mortar. But it was here where we first came face to face with one of the realities of spring and summer travel in this part of the world: tourists in large numbers. Despite the fact it was only early May, European vacationers were finding places like Alberobello as intriguing as we did, a phenomena that would repeat itself in other locales throughout our cruise.

After leaving Bari (and soon the Adriatic) and cruising into the Ionian Sea, rough waters made our second scheduled stop at Katakolon too precarious. This also aborted plans to visit Olympia, site of the original Olympic games started in AD 776. But for those whose equilibrium was still stable, there were plenty of other games available onboard, as well as other pastimes. The spacious Monte Carlo Casino, in an attempt to tempt all ages, not only offered an ample supply of slots and gaming tables, but also an arcade with a dozen video games. More important for many others, opportunities to keep fit while the ship was underway included a gym, spa, morning walks, volleyball tournaments, ping pong, dancing, swimming, and enough organized aerobics to make anyone's muscles cry out for a nice massage, or at least a frosty drink in the Bar Capriccio or the Tavernetta Lounge on Deck Twelve.

We would also get more exercise hiking around ruins and towns in the Greek Isles over the next two days. At 7 a.m. on Thursday, our third full day out of Venice. we found ourselves anchored off Santorini. The island, which covers only 72 square kilometers, has a population of 10,000 in 13 villages. Wine is the island's main agricultural product, but tourism is by fir the major industry. The best and worst example of it is the village of Oia (pronounced "Iya"). Rebuilt after a devastating 1956 earthquake, Oia embodies what most of us think of as the quintessential Greek island village. A picturesque collection of blindingly white houses with blue dome-shaped roofs perches on a cliff at the island's north end, with a breathtaking view of the blue sea below. We arrived at 8 a.m., one of only two buses in the parking lot below the village. Shops were just opening, as women washed the stone steps and tended to flower boxes along the very narrow cobblestone streets. With 15 minutes to go before our bus was to leave, however, the enchanting scene turned to one of near panic. I took a parting photo of a cliffside church and headed back down the street only to be met by a flood of tourists headed up from the opposite direction. I was like a swimmer floundering upstream against a human downstream wave. Several different groups, each lead by a tour leader carrying a numbered sign, converged along the narrow streets, and I battled against time to reach the parking lot. As I descended into the open, I saw that the two buses had multiplied into 20. Cathy caught up with me--flushed and out of breath from her own retreat--and we climbed aboard the bus as it headed back toward Thera, Santorini's largest town.

Here we found more space as we wandered about and sipped coffee in a cafe that hung over more blue domes and houses clinging to the sides of the cliff below. A crush of passengers waited at the cable car, one of three options for getting back to the ship, so we opted for the 550 stairs. A wiser choice, in retrospect, would have been one of the dozens of mules used for this purpose, whose operators, with their Greek caps and bushy mustaches, presented excellent photo ops. Back aboard the Costa Victoria, there was little time to spare before the 1:30 p.m. departure, because this was Thursday afternoon and time for Mykonos, 60 miles away and our second isle du jour.

No tours were offered for this evening stop, one of the preferred party islands in the Grecian archipelago; you are expected to exercise your own devices. A crowd had gathered at a waterfront restaurant to watch the sunset. On a nearby hill, ancient windmills stood vigil over the sea below. As darkness fell, inviting light came from myriad shops along the narrow streets of the village, and we stopped to enjoy delicious gyros and souvlaki at a cafe.

Early the next morning we docked in Rhodes, described by a guide as "the most complete medieval city in Europe." The Colossus of Rhodes, said to be 100 feet tall and stationed at the harbor entrance, was destroyed in an earthquake in 227 BC, but the walled city still holds a treasure of ancient architecture, with terraced roofs, arched windows, and elaborate mosaic courtyards. We opted for a tour of Lindos, one of three ancient cities on the island, and its nearby Acropolis before returning to the main city of Rhodes, where we proceeded to happily lose ourselves in a warren of intriguing but baffling narrow streets in the old town. Palaces and a museum rounded out cultural attractions, but colorful plazas with fountains and cafes also offered rest and refreshment during a long day.

Dubrovnik, our last stop, was 750 nautical miles away, and the ensuing daylong cruise from Rhodes was a welcome respite from sightseeing on land. There are approximately 2,000 Greek islands, and as we passed close to a dozen or more, their all-but-empty harbors and quiet little seaside towns beckoned to us as we stood on the balcony of our stateroom. Dubrovnik offered a fascinating final look at a fortified 15th century European city. Abolished as an independent state by Napoleon in 1808, and now part of Croatia, Dubrovnik was bombed by Serbs during conflicts in the 1990s. Photos depicting renovations that arose from the rubble are proudly displayed at bookstores, and the still very independent population seems pleased with the city's re-emergence as a major tourist attraction.

That evening we found ourselves squarely back in Italy at the farewell gala dinner aboard the Costa Victoria. French, Americans, and Brits could order their Filetto di manzo Wellington prepared rare, medium, or well done, but otherwise the menu this last night was strictly Italian. Appetizers included Petto d'anatra affumicato (smoked duck breast with pear marmalade and seasonal greens) and crema fredda do ciliegie (chilled cream of cherry). Main courses included Aragosta (lobster), Costolette (grilled lamb chops), and Scaloppine (veal). All choices went well with a bottle of Villa Jolanda Barbera, a dry red Italian wine, vintage 2002.

Early morning light glowed off the venerable buildings of St. Marks Square as we cruised slowly past en route to debarkation at the pier in Venice. The ornate Basilica and Doge's Palace gleamed, but there was something strangely missing from the scene. The sunrise had caught the celebrated attraction devoid of tourists. No one fed the pigeons, crowds were absent from the square, lines were not forming at the Doge's Palace and every table at the pricey sidewalk cafes was empty. In the extraordinary and perennial Venetian light, it could have been centuries earlier.

The Costa Victoria sails on seven-night cruises from Venice to the Greek Isles through November 7, 2005, with inside staterooms starting at $894 per-person/double-occupancy. Balcony stateroom rates average $1,468, and mini-suites are $1,704. For more information contact your travel agent or Costa Cruise Lines (Cruise Travel Magazine), 200 South Park Road/Suite 200, Hollywood, FL 33021; or log on to www.costacruises.com.