Carnival Sunshine: 11-Day Eastern Mediterranean Cruise from Rome to Barcelona for €599 (early booking)

11-day Eastern Mediterranean cruise from Civitavecchia (Rome) to Barcelona on the Carnival Sunshine, from €599 per person in an inside cabin. Sailing 1 – 11 September 2027, this one-way itinerary strings together Italy, Greece, Türkiye and Tunisia in a single trip. It is also part of Carnival Cruise Line’s return to Europe for the 2027 season — the same programme that brings the line its first-ever port calls in Africa.

Cruise at a glance

• Ship: Carnival Sunshine (Carnival Cruise Line)
• Route: Civitavecchia / Rome, Italy → Barcelona, Spain
• Duration: 11 days / 10 nights
• Travel dates: 1 – 11 September 2027
• Ports of call: Salerno, Katakolon (Olympia), Piraeus (Athens), Kusadasi (Ephesus), Mykonos and La Goulette (Tunis), plus three sea days
• Price: from €599 p.p. (inside cabin); €967 p.p. (ocean view); €1,408 p.p. (balcony); €1,546 p.p. (suite)
• Works out at: just under €60 per person per night, including your cabin and main meals
• Included: all main meals, cabin service, and basic drinks (water, tea, coffee, lemonade) in the main dining room and buffet
• Booking reference: e-hoi trip no. 125845, operated by Inter-Connect

Price example

Here is a price snapshot from e-hoi for the 1 – 11 September 2027 sailing, per person, based on two people sharing a cabin:

The listed catalogue price for this sailing is €663 per person, so the €599 inside-cabin fare is a modest discount rather than a dramatic one. The real value here is the length of the trip: ten nights of accommodation, main meals and transport between seven ports for roughly what a week in a mid-range Mediterranean hotel costs on its own.

Note the jump between an inside cabin and an ocean view is €368 per person on this sailing — a much steeper step than on most Mediterranean itineraries, where the two are often within €100 of each other. If your budget is fixed, the inside cabin is where the value sits on this particular departure.

Cruise prices are dynamic and can change at any time, so always confirm the current fare on e-hoi.de before booking.

Day-by-day itinerary

What you’ll see at each stop

• Salerno, Italy: the practical gateway to the Amalfi Coast. Ferries run from the port to Amalfi and Positano, and Pompeii and Herculaneum are both within reach by train. The 10-hour call is long enough for one of these, not all three.
• Katakolon / Olympia, Greece: a tiny port whose entire reason for existing is Ancient Olympia, birthplace of the Olympic Games, about 30 minutes inland. With departure at 15:00 this is a short call — go straight there.
• Piraeus / Athens, Greece: the Acropolis and Parthenon, the Ancient Agora and the Plaka district. Docking at 06:00 and leaving at 17:00 gives you a genuinely full day, and the metro from Piraeus reaches central Athens in about 20 minutes.
• Kusadasi / Ephesus, Türkiye: one of the best-preserved classical cities anywhere, including the Library of Celsus and the Great Theatre. Ephesus is roughly 20 km from the port.
• Mykonos, Greece: the whitewashed old town, the Kato Mili windmills and Little Venice. A 10-hour call leaves time for both the town and one of the south-coast beaches.
• La Goulette / Tunis, Tunisia: the port for Tunis, the ruins of ancient Carthage and the blue-and-white clifftop village of Sidi Bou Said. The Bardo National Museum holds one of the world’s finest Roman mosaic collections.
• Barcelona, Spain: where the cruise ends. Worth adding a night or two for the Sagrada Família, Park Güell and the Gothic Quarter before flying home.

About the Carnival Sunshine

The Carnival Sunshine has a genuine place in cruising history. She entered service in 1996 as the Carnival Destiny and was the first passenger ship ever built to exceed 100,000 gross tons — breaking a size record the RMS Queen Elizabeth had held for 54 years, and remaining the world’s largest passenger vessel until 1998.

After a $155 million refit in 2013 she was rebuilt and renamed Carnival Sunshine. Today she measures 102,853 GT across 13 decks, carries around 3,002 guests at double occupancy, and sails with a crew of roughly 1,150. That makes her mid-sized by modern standards — noticeably smaller than the 5,000-plus-passenger ships now common in the Mediterranean, which means shorter queues ashore and a less overwhelming ship to navigate.

Why this sailing is unusual

Carnival Cruise Line is overwhelmingly a North American operator, and its ships are rarely based in Europe. The 2027 season is an exception: Carnival Sunshine crosses from Norfolk, Virginia in May 2027, repositions via Dover, and then spends roughly May to October 2027 running Mediterranean and North African itineraries — one sailing from Dover, four departures from Civitavecchia (Rome) and ten from Barcelona.

Two things make this particular routing worth a second look:

• La Goulette is one of Carnival’s first-ever calls in Africa. The line has never previously visited the continent; Tunis and Tangier, Morocco are the first two. If you like the idea of being on an itinerary that is new territory for the operator, this is one.
• It is a true one-way crossing of the Mediterranean. Rather than looping back to where you started, you travel Rome → Greece → Türkiye → Tunisia → Barcelona, covering the eastern and central Mediterranean and finishing in a different country. Seven ports in ten nights with no repeated stops is a lot of ground.

Elsewhere in the same season, Carnival is running a solar eclipse sailing departing Barcelona on 25 July 2027, positioned along the path of maximum visibility for the 2 August 2027 eclipse — worth knowing if your dates are flexible and that appeals more than this itinerary.

What to know before you book

A few honest caveats, because they materially affect what this trip costs and how it feels:

• Gratuities are not included. Carnival applies a standard daily gratuity per guest, charged to your onboard account. Over ten nights this adds a real amount to the headline fare — confirm the current daily rate when you book.
• You need open-jaw flights. Because the cruise starts in Rome and ends in Barcelona, book a multi-city ticket flying into Rome and out of Barcelona. Booking two separate one-way tickets is often cheaper than a return you only half-use.
• This is a US-style ship. Onboard accounts are typically in US dollars, entertainment and dining follow the American Carnival template, and the passenger mix on a European season will be more international than a US sailing but the ship’s character stays American. That suits some travellers and not others — it is worth knowing in advance rather than discovering aboard.
• September 2027 is a long way out. This is early-release pricing more than a flash sale. Fares this far ahead can fall as well as rise, and deposit and cancellation terms matter more than usual on a booking you are making over a year in advance. Check them before you commit.
• Shore excursions, drinks packages, travel insurance and personal spending are all extra, as on any cruise.

FAQ: Carnival Sunshine Rome to Barcelona cruise

How much does this cruise cost?

From €599 per person in an inside cabin, €967 in an ocean view, €1,408 in a balcony cabin and €1,546 in a suite, based on two people sharing. A flight-inclusive package from Germany starts at €1,135 per person.

How long is the cruise and where does it start and end?

11 days / 10 nights, one-way from Civitavecchia (the port for Rome), Italy to Barcelona, Spain.

Which ports does the cruise visit?

Salerno in Italy; Katakolon (for Olympia), Piraeus (for Athens) and Mykonos in Greece; Kusadasi (for Ephesus) in Türkiye; and La Goulette (for Tunis) in Tunisia. There are three sea days.

When does this cruise depart?

It departs Civitavecchia on 1 September 2027 at 18:30 and arrives in Barcelona on the morning of 11 September 2027. This is currently the only listed departure date for this exact routing.

What ship operates this cruise?

The Carnival Sunshine, a 102,853 GT Carnival Cruise Line ship built in 1996 as the Carnival Destiny and rebuilt in 2013. She carries around 3,002 guests across 13 decks.

What is included in the price?

Main meals, cabin service and basic drinks such as water, tea, coffee and lemonade in the main dining room and buffet. Gratuities, shore excursions, speciality dining, drinks packages, travel insurance and personal spending are not included.

Do I need a visa for this cruise?

It depends on your nationality. The itinerary calls in Türkiye and Tunisia as well as the EU, and entry rules for cruise passengers differ from those for independent travellers. Check the requirements for your own passport before booking, and confirm the current rules with e-hoi at the time you book.

Is this a good price for a Mediterranean cruise?

At roughly €60 per person per night including cabin and main meals, it is competitive for a ten-night itinerary covering seven ports across four countries. The trade-off is the distance ahead of departure and the extras — gratuities and flights in particular — which are not in the headline fare.

Where to book:

Visit e-hoi.de

The website is in German. Please use Google Translate if it is needed.

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Accommodation:

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Cancelled or delayed flight?

If your flight is cancelled or delayed by 3+ hours, you may get a refund of up to €600. Check it out at SkyCop.

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Tours and excursions:

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