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European cruise

Fishy

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I would vacation in the Caribbean every year if I could, but my wife wants to go to Europe next year.

Cruising is my preferred method of travel. I like not having to worry about getting anywhere, etc. Plus, I've driven around Europe already and have no need to do it again.

Any cruise in Europe before? Given the time we can go, I think our options are Med or Scandinavia.

Opinions?
 
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We did 10 day Disney Mediterranean Cruise w/ our boys back in 2o11. Leaves from Barcelona>Sicily>Malta>Naples>Rome>Florence>Palma de Mallorca (was suppose to be Monaco but nasty weather prohibited docking so they swapped day @ sea and rerouted)>Barcelona.

It was the only way I was going to get my wife to Italy (my bucket list) - Pack, UnPack, Pack and not living out of suitcase as you schlep along the country.

You get what you pay for... It was a blast and I’d do it again in a NY minute.
 

SubbaBub

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Pick your ports carefully. In the Caribbean they are all mostly alike. In Europe, they can vary wildly, large, small, beachy, old tourist Europe, cafes near the port, long bus rides to get where you want to go, some with a lot of activity options, some not so much.

Language is also a big deal. Everyone you see will likely speak English, but they may mean you are in the "foreign tourist group visiting NYC" bubble.

Most like the Caribbean...Canary Islands or Greece.
 
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Would you consider a European river cruise ? Different animal from an ocean cruise, but it gives you the ability to visit the various local sites along the river while enjoying a relaxing cruise. I've done the Danube, Rhine and Seine and loved them all.
 
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Would you consider a European river cruise ? Different animal from an ocean cruise, but it gives you the ability to visit the various local sites along the river while enjoying a relaxing cruise. I've done the Danube, Rhine and Seine and loved them all.

Another bucket list item... was it a Viking?
 

Fishy

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Would you consider a European river cruise ? Different animal from an ocean cruise, but it gives you the ability to visit the various local sites along the river while enjoying a relaxing cruise. I've done the Danube, Rhine and Seine and loved them all.

Absolutely....but not yet.

We have a 14-year old and river cruises are not really designed for the kids. I don’t think Viking would even accept a reservation with any under 18. I believe AmaWaterways has a deal with ABD for more family-oriented river cruises, but this time around, we’re going to stick to the big boats.

We just drove to the Cape from NY....on the way, I think my wife started to narrow down on a particular cruise. Personally, I would love to do an Iceland-Norway combo, but I would be outvoted. (My vote is not counted.)
 
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Absolutely....but not yet.

We have a 14-year old and river cruises are not really designed for the kids. I don’t think Viking would even accept a reservation with any under 18. I believe AmaWaterways has a deal with ABD for more family-oriented river cruises, but this time around, we’re going to stick to the big boats.

We just drove to the Cape from NY....on the way, I think my wife started to narrow down on a particular cruise. Personally, I would love to do an Iceland-Norway combo, but I would be outvoted. (My vote is not counted.)

Yeah, 14 is just too young for a river cruise. He/she would be bored as the target audience is probably 50 - 70. I can't recall seeing anybody under 21 on any of the cruises I took. But as Huskymedic said, add it to your bucket list.
 
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A few years ago my wife and I did Rome to Barcelona. Stops were the port near Florence, Portofino, Monte Carlo, St. Tropez, Marseille, Majorca and then to Barcelona. We would do the cruise again tomorrow if we could, and just take different excursions in the various ports. We took Oceana and loved it because getting tables for two at any restaurant was never an issue and my wife and I are not the type of folks who meet people and quickly become their friends (it must shock and Muntz to know I'm not that social). But with a 14 year old you need a ship that is more catered to their needs, and you will be happiest if they are happy.
 
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Absolutely....but not yet.

We have a 14-year old and river cruises are not really designed for the kids. I don’t think Viking would even accept a reservation with any under 18. I believe AmaWaterways has a deal with ABD for more family-oriented river cruises, but this time around, we’re going to stick to the big boats.

We just drove to the Cape from NY....on the way, I think my wife started to narrow down on a particular cruise. Personally, I would love to do an Iceland-Norway combo, but I would be outvoted. (My vote is not counted.)

You get an uncounted vote? Could you teach me how to get my status up to your level?
 

storrsroars

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A few years ago my wife and I did Rome to Barcelona. Stops were the port near Florence, Portofino, Monte Carlo, St. Tropez, Marseille, Majorca and then to Barcelona. We would do the cruise again tomorrow if we could, and just take different excursions in the various ports. We took Oceana and loved it because getting tables for two at any restaurant was never an issue and my wife and I are not the type of folks who meet people and quickly become their friends (it must shock and Muntz to know I'm not that social).

Had me fooled. Never thought of you as the cruise type, let alone antisocial.
 
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Had me fooled. Never thought of you as the cruise type, let alone antisocial.

Antisocial isn't right, but my wife and I make friends slowly. If we are cruising with friends, eating with them is fine. But we prefer eating by ourselves to sitting with a bunch of just met people on a ship.

As for the cruise "type," I think it depends what you do. We simply used the boat as a floating hotel, ate by ourselves as we would have at a resort and took our tours. So if you don't see me playing bingo and singing kareoke, you are correct but on the boat we were on it simply became a moving nice hotel.
 
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SubbaBub

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A few years ago my wife and I did Rome to Barcelona. Stops were the port near Florence, Portofino, Monte Carlo, St. Tropez, Marseille, Majorca and then to Barcelona. We would do the cruise again tomorrow if we could, and just take different excursions in the various ports. We took Oceana and loved it because getting tables for two at any restaurant was never an issue and my wife and I are not the type of folks who meet people and quickly become their friends (it must shock and Muntz to know I'm not that social). But with a 14 year old you need a ship that is more catered to their needs, and you will be happiest if they are happy.


Biz, I would sit at a cruise ship table for two reasonably spaced from you anytime.

We also prefer to avoid the group of strangers tables.
 
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Venice to Athens takes in a fair bit of history and beautiful coast line.
 

Fishy

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Biz, I would sit at a cruise ship table for two reasonably spaced from you anytime.

We also prefer to avoid the group of strangers tables.

We're a family of three - we ended up sitting with two other families of three on the first cruise we took. They were lovely people even though one couple worked at Duke.

However, we now have our travel agent call ahead and tell the line that we would like to be seated at our own table and we've been accommodated each time.
 

SubbaBub

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It's much easier now that most ships have adopted a flex dining program. Only the smaller lines still have the larger set dining tables.
 

Fishy

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It's much easier now that most ships have adopted a flex dining program. Only the smaller lines still have the larger set dining tables.

We tend to take Disney which uses a rotational dining system - you have the same table and serving team at every restaurant, so it's fairly easy for them to accommodate anti-socials.

I think we've narrowed in on a trip.

My wife wanted to do western Europe and I wanted to do northern. The negotiated settlement....three days in Paris. Train to Dover, England to get the boat. Visits Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Stavanger before returning to Dover. Then, two days in London and fly home.
 

Waquoit

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We also prefer to avoid the group of strangers tables.

First meal on the first (only) cruise I went on, we were seated with an extended family of six. One guy was going on and on about the cruise he was going on in six months. That killed me. Here we are in port, this cruise hasn't even started cruising and he's talking about his next cruise. As it turns out, the one in six months wasn't even his next cruise. We made an attempt to engage but it was clear that they looked at us as interlopers at their table. Cruise people are weird.
 

HuskyHawk

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Absolutely....but not yet.

We have a 14-year old and river cruises are not really designed for the kids. I don’t think Viking would even accept a reservation with any under 18. I believe AmaWaterways has a deal with ABD for more family-oriented river cruises, but this time around, we’re going to stick to the big boats.

We just drove to the Cape from NY....on the way, I think my wife started to narrow down on a particular cruise. Personally, I would love to do an Iceland-Norway combo, but I would be outvoted. (My vote is not counted.)

Parents did a lot of river cruises, and Mediterranean. But the one the rave about was the Baltic sea. Not Iceland to Norway, but leaving Stockholm and traveling to Lituania, Latvia, Estonia, St. Petersburg Russia and Helsinki Finland.
 
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We tend to take Disney which uses a rotational dining system - you have the same table and serving team at every restaurant, so it's fairly easy for them to accommodate anti-socials.

I think we've narrowed in on a trip.

My wife wanted to do western Europe and I wanted to do northern. The negotiated settlement....three days in Paris. Train to Dover, England to get the boat. Visits Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Stavanger before returning to Dover. Then, two days in London and fly home.

Nice !!! Love the cruise portion of the trip. Amsterdam is a great city to visit.
 
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We tend to take Disney which uses a rotational dining system - you have the same table and serving team at every restaurant, so it's fairly easy for them to accommodate anti-socials.

I think we've narrowed in on a trip.

My wife wanted to do western Europe and I wanted to do northern. The negotiated settlement....three days in Paris. Train to Dover, England to get the boat. Visits Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Stavanger before returning to Dover. Then, two days in London and fly home.

May you have better luck in Amsterdam than when my wife and I visited Amsterdam. Its a great city with some top notch museums (Rijksmuseum, Van Gough, Anne Frank House, etc.) but, she asked to check out what all of the fuss was about the red light district. Had to listen to a huge 'men are pigs' lecture after explaining what a half-dozen men in suits were lining outside one of the windows were for. Then, she remembered I went to Amsterdam when I was 20 in college. I'm no angel, but, I was innocent of all charges there due to my fascination with the Heineken brewery tour and a dozen or so coffee shops. Now if she asks about my trip to Budapest a few months later during the same year, I plead the 5th.

PS - When you go to Stavanger, are you going to do the hike up Preikestolen?
 

Fishy

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PS - When you go to Stavanger, are you going to do the hike up Preikestolen?

I wasn't until I read your post and then looked up Preikestolen.

Now, we definitely are - it looks fantastic.

Thank you very much.
 
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Obviously y'all have made your plans and they sound amazing.

But, for anyone else reading this thread; the Greek Islands are really spectacular.

My wife and I honeymooned in Santorini, I can't recommend it enough; it has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Go in the spring or fall, though; the weather is the same and, from what we heard, the crowds in the summer are crazy.
 
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Obviously y'all have made your plans and they sound amazing.

But, for anyone else reading this thread; the Greek Islands are really spectacular.

My wife and I honeymooned in Santorini, I can't recommend it enough; it has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Go in the spring or fall, though; the weather is the same and, from what we heard, the crowds in the summer are crazy.


Except when some Union, such as the ferry boats, go on strike. I try to avoid Italy and France in August, also, as they are strike prone.

Greece ferry strike leaves thousands of holidaymakers stranded
 

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