Seven reasons the best way to see the Med is from a ship

Sydney Morning Herald

13-06-2025

The leapfrogging around
There are times when you want to stay in one place for a week and explore in depth. A good cruise itinerary, however, paints a bigger picture. One day we're in Italy, the next Corsica, then Spain and Malta.
Over the course of the cruise, I get a better appreciation of how these destinations are interlinked through conquest, culture and cuisine. Those connections are also made during Seabourn Conversations, the onboard lectures that cover topics from the 'Great Siege of Malta' to 'Michelangelo and the papacy'.
Besides, I enjoy being in a different destination every day. Variety is invigorating. In Sicily, I'm climbing a volcano. In Saint-Tropez, admiring superyachts and chic shops. In Valletta, plunging into history.
In Palamos in Spain I do nothing much at all in an inconsequential town that invites happy wandering. I discover saints weeping in gloomy churches, eat Iberian ham that dissolves on the tongue, poke around markets and enjoy Spanish local life.
The moveable hotel
A great hotel is intrinsic to a positive travel experience, and so is a great ship. Seabourn Ovation is a luxury vessel of only 300 passengers, exuberant with eccentric artworks and sculptures and yet unpretentious and relaxed.
It has pleasing lounges, several restaurants and bars, a spa and a theatre. The fitness room gazes over the sea. Its cafe serves proper coffees from an espresso machine that hisses like a dragon.
Bonus of this hotel: it moves. Tiers of breezy decks rise around its swimming pool in a grandstand from which to admire the scenery and enjoy low-key but lively sail-away parties. The Observation Bar provides moving panoramas as cocktail shakers rattle and ice cubes clink.
Do this trip on land and hotel staff will never get to know you. For me, a bonus of cruising is interaction with the crew. Seabourn Ovation's waiters get to know my culinary whims and favourite drinks and, even better, are cheerful and chatty.
The thrill of history
No matter how you get around the Mediterranean you'll encounter history galore. By land and sea alike, there's no shortage of old towns, museums and palaces. But I reckon that, on a ship, you feel the thrill of it too.
For most of human history, boat or ship was the optimal way to get around. As Seabourn Ovation glides at a sedate 20 knots, I feel I'm following in the wakes of all who went before: the ancient Greeks, Romans, Spanish and Knights of St John.
The Mediterranean has always been fundamentally about maritime trade and conquest and maritime culture. Its greatest sights are nearly all piled up on its shoreline and islands.
As we glide towards the Amalfi Coast, Vesuvius lurches to port, the crags of Capri to starboard, cliffs ahead crowned with teetering towns encrusted with 2000 years of tourism history. I can almost hear the creak of a Roman trireme's oars across the water.
The way easy does it
Getting around Europe is easy enough, but try cruising.
In Monte Carlo, my suitcase arrived onboard in my stateroom within 30 minutes of checking in, and was shortly after unpacked and put away under my bed. No more repacking and dragging it across cobblestones and onto trains.
No trains either. The magic of Seabourn Ovation is that I'm having dinner, watching a show and having a good night's sleep while someone else takes care of the travel hassles. Next morning, all I have to do is open my stateroom curtains and outside is an entirely new coastline, and maybe another country.
I can dally over pancakes on deck as the sun heaves upwards and we dock in another port. No airport queues. No train timetables. Not another hotel. This is a holiday whittled down to the most enjoyable bits.
The reliable dining
A frustration of cruising can be that you miss out on local dining experiences. Then again, you miss out on repetitive and overpriced tourist menus too. On an upmarket cruise ship, you have quality and variety, and never need to gather the energy to find evening meals after long days of sightseeing.
Seabourn Ovation hits the spot on this cruise because its newest restaurant, Solis, specialises in Mediterranean cuisine. In celebration of Sicily, I order panzanella salad, pappardelle with grilled baby artichoke, and swordfish with lemon and capers.
At The Colonnade, themed evening meals include French and Italian. On Spanish night, I'm happy to be eating zarzuela seafood soup with saffron, Catalan-style grilled rib-eye steak, and a crema catalana with caramel sauce.
So much for missing out. Another cruise advantage is that, when I hanker for a change of flavours, I'll find Thai yellow curry or ramen noodles far more readily on Seabourn Ovation than in a small Mediterranean town.
That cruise feeling
I can't list all the ways a cruise differs from land exploration because part of the difference is nebulous. It's an atmosphere, a hard-to-define experience that's the sum of many small parts, and it starts from the moment the ship's engines rumble and I know we're setting off.
The ship slides me into that holiday feeling of sparkling sea, warm sun and cold cocktails. Every day I'll be somewhere new, and nobody is forcing me to do anything. I can sight-see, I can sit in cafes or simply go for a walk along Amalfi clifftops or Ajaccio seawalls.
On board, I can eat when I want. I can flop by the pool like a seal on a rock, get pummelled in the spa, or have my knowledge of history polished in the lecture theatre. Fresh towel? Macchiato? I feel like Aladdin with a lamp, because it's coming right up.
Loading
I've paid my dues. I've backpacked, hitchhiked, trained and budget-flighted my way around the Mediterranean. Cruising is something else entirely, and I love it.
The details
Cruise
Seabourn Cruise Line has many Mediterranean itineraries aboard Seabourn Ovation and its other ships, with regular departures between February and November. Some range across the eastern or western Mediterranean, others concentrate on the Aegean, Adriatic or French and Italian rivieras. Among them is a 10-day Tyrrhenian Treasures & Malta cruise between Monte Carlo and Barcelona departing on July 21, 2025, similar to the cruise described here. From $9201 a person. See seabourn.com