Eastern Mediterranean: sailing "Italian Style" to the Greek Isles and beyond with Costa Cruise Lines

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.