Believe it or not, the best way to see Europe during COVID is a Mediterranean cruise

On a sunny Monday afternoon last November, I was wandering through the sunken ruins of the Diocletian Palace in Split, Croatia. Two days later I was heading into the golden-stone, go-for-baroque Sicilian town of Ragusa. The marathon of a week ended with a drive through Umbrian vineyards, a stroll up a Provençal hill town and a tapas tour of Barcelona.

Try navigating a week in Europe like this on your own, in the age of COVID, and you'd need the assistance of multitasking travel agents. The dizzying range of border regulations, the possibility of sudden new restrictions, and the constant threat of fresh quarantines would make a multi-stop European junket a study in constant high anxiety.

But I was on a cruise — one of the few reliable ways right now to seamlessly travel through Europe, hop borders without even noticing, and take the big trip we've all felt deprived of after two agoraphobic years.

I'd chosen a Mediterranean sailing from Venice to Barcelona with Oceania Cruises. Before anyone was allowed to board the midsized MS Marina, we were all herded into a hall where coronavirus tests were administered, ensuring that everyone had tested negative before settling into their cabins. Masks were zealously enforced, and the ship was scrubbed down daily with obsessive-compulsive fervor. (Starting March 1, Oceania passengers will be required instead to provide a negative test at embarkation, and masks will be "highly recommended" but not required.)

But those were the only reminders of the pandemic. For a vacation from both home and COVID, Oceania sustained a tireless focus on entertaining its guests. Part of the reason European cruises for 2022 are now filling up quickly is that very promise of seeing a big expanse of the continent without having to navigate the constantly changing maze of COVID regulations. And the chance to freely explore in some countries meant seeing more than the obvious sites.

Super excursions

We weren't just docking in Rome, Florence, Naples, Palma, Syracuse and Marseille, but going deeper. Forget the old-style port-of-call excursions — a quick photo op at the Trevi Fountain, a sprint past the Colosseum. Like most of the better cruise lines, Oceania offers a new, improved cruise experience, and that starts with its immersive port excursions.

Sure, passengers could still tour the Roman Forum and the Accademia in Florence, but the excursion options — sometimes as many as 15 to a destination — allowed for more creative, personal experiences.

The stop in Rome featured a tour of Etruscan Italy, a farmhouse culinary experience, a visit to a winery and a wine tasting, a truffle hunt, and a guided walk through the Jewish quarter. Among the choices when we dropped anchor in Palma, Spain: a vintage train ride; a tapas and flamenco show; a bike ride through Old Town; a hike into the Mallorcan hills; a tour of modernist art and architecture; and a visit to Olivar Market followed by a market lunch.

I would have signed onto this cruise solely for the excursion into the baroque villages of southeastern Sicily. Ever since reading Duncan Fallowell's classic travel book "To Noto," I'd been fascinated by the trio of towns — Noto, Ragusa and Modica. All leveled by an earthquake in the 17^th century, they had been rebuilt as models of baroque city planning, and they didn't disappoint. We headed straight into the golden stone heart of Ragusa, its jutting townhouse balconies propped up by a chorus of gargoyles and saints, madonnas and cherubs. At dusk the whole city glowed.

The stop in Florence, Italy, allowed for an Tuscan side trip to San Gimignano, where the hilltop village was stippled by high towers, erected to protect the town from invaders and ultimately each other. That was followed by lunch at a farmhouse, where a long wooden table was spread with charcuterie, and an afternoon tour of the walled town of Volterra.

Onboard pleasures

For those who just wanted to relax on the ship, though, there were plenty of inducements. The relentless daily entertainments ranged from the basic shuffleboard, croquet and golf-putting sessions to cooking classes, a Beluga vodka tasting, a health and wellness event, a session on understanding color with artist-in-residence Noel Suarez, afternoon tea and evening string quartets.

There was the inevitable spa, and a casino that was thankfully more subdued than the flashy mini-Vegas lookalikes found on larger ships. Nightly entertainment also mostly avoided the kitsch factor. A medley of Broadway tunes sung by the ship's production cast felt, in retrospect, like a kind of premonition, an homage to Stephen Sondheim just weeks before his death.

Yet the strongest inducement to stay on board was the ship's food. There were four specialty restaurants — Jacques, the Polo Grill, Toscana and Red Ginger. At Jacques, the lobster thermidor was a rich throwback to old-school haute cuisine.

But Red Ginger quickly became my favorite dinner perch. Almost everything on the menu did justice to pan-Asian cuisine: a spicy duck and watermelon salad tossed with cashews and basil; caramelized tiger prawns buoyed by a chili garlic sauce; a miso-glazed sea bass wrapped up in hoba leaf. The star was a trio of bay scallops served three different ways: one paired with makrut lime, another with sea urchin, and the third coated in a kizami wasabi crust.

Could I have navigated this trip on my own? Even before COVID, a marathon trip that took in four different countries, a host of European ports, and backroad forays would have entailed major planning. In the age of COVID, it would take sheer nerve to attempt.

This cruise was more than just a vacation from the pandemic. It was a chance to step outside, after a long year at home, and rediscover a very big world.

Food and travel journalist Raphael Kadushin writes for Condé Nast Traveler, National Geographic Traveler and other publications.

OCEANIA CRUISES

COVID-19: All guests must be fully vaccinated and provide a negative test result taken within 72 hours of departure (48 hours for U.S. ports). Masks are highly recommended.

Mediterranean cruises: Various itineraries March through November 2022-23, starting at $1,299 (oceaniacruises.com).