Europe on a shoe string???????

[Lesinindy]

DW urns the big 60 next month and I would like to give her a Cruise to Europe/Med for her birthday. The cruise prices seen find but the airfare is out of this world.

My question is what is the cheapest way to swing this (coming out of my pocket not the mutual checking). Do you think they will run specials on air and cruise like they did last year and if so any idea when they will start showing. One airfare I found was in excess of 1600.00 PP and the inside stateroom was only 1319.00 PP.

[iancal]

We did a 12 day Med cruise this past September. We watched, and waited, and waited. Booked a verandah cabin for $100. per person per day about 50 days out. The TA held the cabins (two of them) until the end of the business day so that we could find air to Istanbul. Which we did, for $1150.

We met a couple on our cruise who also booked in the cancellation window. They were from North Carolina and got an offer (after final payment date) for cruise, air, and hotel that they could not pass up. We never saw this offer but we were very pleased with the price that we paid and with our cabin selection.

DS did the same on a 10 day from Rome at the end of Sept. Same per diem verandah price but she already had air booked for a longish land vacation so it worked out well. Both were on Celebrity.

We wanted to try Noordam but the price delta was too large. Overall a good deal. Given the economic situation we are now sticking to booking in the cancellation window. We narrow it down to one or two itineraries, one or cruise lines/ships, and then push the buy button when the price is right for us. We are in the process of doing the same for a winter cruise. Now that we are not working we want to take advantage of the ability to jump on those short fuse good deals that we were previously not able to.

Good luck.

[pam vessels]

Have you considered doing a repositioning cruise.....at least you would only have air for one way.

[sapper1]

We did a repositioning cruise this last April from Fort Lauderdale to the Med and one of the great things about it aside from only having to fly one way was the gradual time change so we did not arrive in Europe with jet lag. We do not normally use cruise air but we found that HAL's price was much cheaper than we could manage on our own. We did our own flights to Fort Lauderdale and then took a deviation (free if you are 3 star) to only book a one way flight with HAL.

In 09 we flew to Copenhagen for a repositioning cruise and also used Cruise Air which was considerably cheaper than anything we could book. If you take a deviation you can get your flights shortly after you book instead of waiting until close to the cruise to be told of your flights.

[baggal]

Besides the cost of the cruise, the least expensive fixed cost, and the airfare, a more expensive fixed cost, there is the cost of the shore excursions. Depending on your itinerary and your personal preferences you can either take a ship's excursion, a private tour group, or basic do-it-yourself.

A Med. cruise is all about the ports. So before you commit to a cruise and a flight, take a look at a map and then the ports-of-call boards. Try to get an understanding of how much additional expense the shore excursions might cost you. After all, you wouldn't want to fly all the way over to cruise around Italy and not go to Rome!

[Herkimer18]

We have used Aer Lingus several times because their rates often beat HAL and other airlines. When using their website from the US one is not able to book online to everywhere they fly so it is worth a phone call if your itinerary is at all complicated or involves three or more stops. I recently booked a flight home from Amsterdam and had to change planes in Dublin. I called to see if I could spend a few night in Dublin without any additional charge and they obliged. I was impressed.

[katmich12]

Besides the cost of the cruise, the least expensive fixed cost, and the airfare, a more expensive fixed cost, there is the cost of the shore excursions. Depending on your itinerary and your personal preferences you can either take a ship's excursion, a private tour group, or basic do-it-yourself.

A Med. cruise is all about the ports. So before you commit to a cruise and a flight, take a look at a map and then the ports-of-call boards. Try to get an understanding of how much additional expense the shore excursions might cost you. After all, you wouldn't want to fly all the way over to cruise around Italy and not go to Rome!

We did a 12 day Med cruise on Celebrity in September. We had private tours in Nice, Rome, Florence and Solerno. They made the trip but be aware payment is in cash. The weak dollar resulted in a 35-40% extra charge. To us, it was the trip of a lifetime and worth every penny.

[agabbymama]

The days of doing Europe on a shoestring are long gone.

We did a 12 day Med cruise with 1 day pre-cruise in Paris, 3 days pre-cruise in Rome, 3 days post-cruise in Venice and 2 days post-cruise in Paris, for a total of 21 days (+ 2 travel days). I had budgeted $4500 pp, but it ended up costing us $6000 pp. We did a mix of cruise ship tours (3), local vendor tours (2) and totally do it yourself (4) and we missed Mykonos altogether.

Airfare is the least of your worries, check out hotel prices pre-cruise and post-cruise for at least 2 days on each end. Remember to calculate for trip insurance. Then read the boards for food prices. Check out the Euro to dollar exchange. I believe you will lose almost half your money the minute you land and start using EURO.

Search on the Europe board for posts by Hlitner, he does a lot of independent travel in Europe.

It's a great idea, but I don't think you can do it on a shoestring. JMO

[Krazy Kruizers]

Agree -- doing Europe on a shoestring is long gone.

That is wonderful that you want to do a Med cruise to celebrate your wife's 60th birthday.

Hopefully something will work out for you.

[baggal]

The days of doing Europe on a shoestring are long gone.

We did a 12 day Med cruise with 1 day pre-cruise in Paris, 3 days pre-cruise in Rome, 3 days post-cruise in Venice and 2 days post-cruise in Paris, for a total of 21 days (+ 2 travel days). I had budgeted $4500 pp, but it ended up costing us $6000 pp. We did a mix of cruise ship tours (3), local vendor tours (2) and totally do it yourself (4) and we missed Mykonos altogether.

Airfare is the least of your worries, check out hotel prices pre-cruise and post-cruise for at least 2 days on each end. Remember to calculate for trip insurance. Then read the boards for food prices. Check out the Euro to dollar exchange. I believe you will lose almost half your money the minute you land and start using EURO.

Search on the Europe board for posts by Hlitner, he does a lot of independent travel in Europe.

It's a great idea, but I don't think you can do it on a shoestring. JMO

I forgot about the pre and post cruise stays. They are also a hidden expense - and those are in very expensive Euros.

Cruise lines push their Med. cruises as a bargain way to seek Europe, which they are, especially in the shoulder season. But sadly everything else associated with taking the cruise is no longer "on a shoestring."

[The Odd Couple]

Being a Brit, we travel in Europe quite a lot and of course can take advantage of cheap air fares, but personally I think the shoulder season is the best time to visit Europe. Believe it or not, Spain/Italy/Portugal can be far too hot in June/July/August, and the Greek Islands/Cyprus will stay warm well into October. The crowds have thinned out, you don't have to fight for a table and hotel prices are cheaper, so look at May, June, September or October for your specific destinations and you might find some bargains.

[Globaliser]

... but the airfare is out of this world.Well, just how much do you expect it to cost to fly almost half way around the world when oil is $100 a barrel or so? :rolleyes:

[Globaliser]

Agree -- doing Europe on a shoestring is long gone.Which is why the backpack manufacturers have gone out of business, the youth hostels have all closed down, and the ISIC card can no longer be obtained ...

Of course it is still possible to do Europe on a shoestring. Tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of tourists do Europe on a shoestring every year, even now. You just can't do it on a shoestring if you constrain your plans with peak season travel dates, high quality accommodation, and comfortable travel - but you never could.

[George C]

We did a repositioning cruise this last April from Fort Lauderdale to the Med and one of the great things about it aside from only having to fly one way was the gradual time change so we did not arrive in Europe with jet lag. We do not normally use cruise air but we found that HAL's price was much cheaper than we could manage on our own. We did our own flights to Fort Lauderdale and then took a deviation (free if you are 3 star) to only book a one way flight with HAL.

In 09 we flew to Copenhagen for a repositioning cruise and also used Cruise Air which was considerably cheaper than anything we could book. If you take a deviation you can get your flights shortly after you book instead of waiting until close to the cruise to be told of your flights.

I think this is the way to go, repositioning cruises are ofter a bargain, many are way cheaper than the normal cruise. Also its not at peak tmes so airfare should be at a better price.

[Newleno]

DW urns the big 60 next month and I would like to give her a Cruise to Europe/Med for her birthday. The cruise prices seen find but the airfare is out of this world.

My question is what is the cheapest way to swing this (coming out of my pocket not the mutual checking). Do you think they will run specials on air and cruise like they did last year and if so any idea when they will start showing. One airfare I found was in excess of 1600.00 PP and the inside stateroom was only 1319.00 PP.

What time frame are you looking at to travel? (must it be that time frame or are you flexible?) What ports of call are a must see for your trip? How long of a cruise? I have taken 9 cruises in the last five years all on a shoestring budget, that includes a Barcelona roundtrip cruise with ports of rome, athens, malta, somewhere in turkey, and egypt. I always travel in off or shoulder season. The two repositioning cruises we took were not filled with a bunch of great ports, dont know if that is the norm or not so that is something to consider. If i can get some information I can look for you.

We are mobile in rome we took the train from the port, the train pass included use of all buses and subways in rome (shoestring), in athens we walked about 20 minutes to the subway, walked up to the acropilis (shoestring) in malta we just walked around the in interior fortress (shoestring) in egypt we took NO chances and booked the high priced excursion through the cruiseline (no shoe string we did not want to get left behind in egypt)

[skippyy]

If you have to go on a "shoestring" so be it but....if you can without compromising your bank account...consider spending more. When we
went to the Med for the first time I wasn't sure if we would ever have the opportunity to go again. With that in mind, I reconciled myself to enjoying
a once in a lifetime opportunity.It is so hard to go to Rome, Sorrento etc. and not spend money seeing the sights, the food and everything. The hard part for us was finally getting there.Try not to scrimp to the point where you don't take full advantage of what the cruise has to offer.Good luck on whatever you're able to do and enjoy yourselves :)

[katmich12]

If you have to go on a "shoestring" so be it but....if you can without compromising your bank account...consider spending more. When we
went to the Med for the first time I wasn't sure if we would ever have the opportunity to go again. With that in mind, I reconciled myself to enjoying
a once in a lifetime opportunity.It is so hard to go to Rome, Sorrento etc. and not spend money seeing the sights, the food and everything. The hard part for us was finally getting there.Try not to scrimp to the point where you don't take full advantage of what the cruise has to offer.Good luck on whatever you're able to do and enjoy yourselves :)

I agree. I planned our cruise for 16 months. The price dropped twice for a total of $1200 savings. Two weeks before we left, we were upgraded from inside to veranda. Our total of $3100 for two was a much better deal than I was prepared to pay.
A transatlantic has few stops and they might not be what you want to see. We specifically chose ports, Venice being the most important. Our private tours were arranged in advance with fellow travelers from Cruise Critic. They cost a fraction of the ship's cost and were in groups of 8. We could customize the tours and ended up the Sorrento day at a restaurant high above the Amalfi Coast eating a 3-course lunch cooked by the owner. Priceless!!
My advice is to find the itinerary you want and price several ships. If you book far enough out, a price decrease might happen. If the price is too steep, you may want to save for another year. We don't anticipate returning to this area, so spending more to make the first one fabulous paid off. Good luck. Your wife is lucky to have you planning this trip.

[Newleno]

I agree. I planned our cruise for 16 months. The price dropped twice for a total of $1200 savings. Two weeks before we left, we were upgraded from inside to veranda. Our total of $3100 for two was a much better deal than I was prepared to pay.
A transatlantic has few stops and they might not be what you want to see. We specifically chose ports, Venice being the most important. Our private tours were arranged in advance with fellow travelers from Cruise Critic. They cost a fraction of the ship's cost and were in groups of 8. We could customize the tours and ended up the Sorrento day at a restaurant high above the Amalfi Coast eating a 3-course lunch cooked by the owner. Priceless!!
My advice is to find the itinerary you want and price several ships. If you book far enough out, a price decrease might happen. If the price is too steep, you may want to save for another year. We don't anticipate returning to this area, so spending more to make the first one fabulous paid off. Good luck. Your wife is lucky to have you planning this trip.


We did the shoestring, we had a 12 night cruise out of barcelona, we paid $998 total for both for a window room two years ago in december, we ate gellato at trevi fountain in rome, and bought greek sandwiches from a restaurant window in athens with a view of the acropolis. We dont have a lot of disposable income, so we can get three cruises for what most people pay for one. We love the shoestring.

[Taxguy77]

Which is why the backpack manufacturers have gone out of business, the youth hostels have all closed down, and the ISIC card can no longer be obtained ...

Of course it is still possible to do Europe on a shoestring. Tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of tourists do Europe on a shoestring every year, even now. You just can't do it on a shoestring if you constrain your plans with peak season travel dates, high quality accommodation, and comfortable travel - but you never could.

You mean my book "Europe on $5.00 a day" has become outdated? :confused::(:rolleyes:

[iancal]

You can save yourself a great deal of money by packing light and not purchasing any pre or post hotel accomodations/ tranfers from the cruise line. We mainly do land trips in Europe and we are fairly independent travellers. Rome and Venice seem to be the worst. They must add margin because they know some cruisers will be intimidated and others are happy to pay a very large premium for the convenience in what some perceive as a non English speaking environment.

We are always astounded at what the cruise lines, including HAL, charge for these and for tours. You can get much better and much less expensive tours privately or if you prefer just DIY. All it takes is a little digging on the web.

[larsenbiz]

Sorry. This isn't going to help you with the airfare, but...

We found that a fun way to save some $$$ is to go to the local marketplace and pick up bread, cookies, fruit, & cheese for the day. This way, you can see where the locals shop, wander around and have a picnic wherever you want. We last did this in Barcelona and spent maybe 12 Euro on our lunch and ate it in the park just across from La Sagrada Familia. Amazing!

[scm1848]

We always find Zurich several hundred dollars less than other entry airports. Then some great inter-Europe cheap connections - or train.

[Philip217]

Airfares to Europe are not expensive - unless you are paying in US Dollars.
Prices in Europe are high - but only if you are starting with US Dollars.

My wife joined me in Rome last month.

Her flight from Asia was a bargain; she paid in Renminbi.
She had to purchase an additional suitcase to carry home all the bargains she found in Europe. Her credit card account is in Japanese Yen.

[SwissMyst]

Keep checking airfare prices with a number of website - Kayak surveys many of them at the same time. Tuesdays apparently are still the days when the bargains come out on the airlines own websites. If you can go in daily, even several times a day for a couple of weeks, every once in a while you get a far lower price. However as we all learn - the duration of the flight is also a critical part of the whole flight package as well as departure and arrival time. Not easy, but we have found we have been able to reduce our eventual air fares well beyond the initial sticker shock we too get when we first start out the process.

Agree, if you have the time a repositioning cruise is a looking more and more like the way to travel to Europe - and they do vary in length if you just want to use it to get there and others do a lot of ports in between as well. But you also need to know you are "cruisers" before you commit to that many long days at sea.

One other cost savings is to pick a Mediterranean cruise where you don't need to spend a lot of shore excursions which can really add up too. Some ports are a lot easier to do on your own than others. That is another level of planning to consider. We just did a Barcelona to Barcelona cruise where most if not all of the ports could easily be done on your own, or with use of only the ship shuttle (for a fee) into the main attraction city.

As well as whether you need to juggle overnights in the departure/arrival ports in order to mesh with your airline schedules - it is often recommended you do not arrive the day of departure - give yourself one day flex time to make sure there are no hang-ups getting to the departure port. Or add them at the end of the cruise because you are already there, past your jet lag and time to enjoy more time at your destination.

Taking a look at Rick Steve's new book about Mediterranean cruisings is a good way to sort out all these basics and get a feel for some of the main ports and how you feel about doing them on your own.

My advice would be to keep checking and re-checking airfares until one magic one finally comes up and be ready to move fast to grab it. I survey: Orbitz, Cheaptickets, Expedia, Travelocity and various airlines where I collect frequent flyer miles and their alliance airlines.

Some of the smaller national carriers offer better rates and maybe even going to a more remote airport and then taking the train to the departure port is a cost-effective possibility.

On the west coast we get better flight choices to Milan than to Rome which is a major port for HAL departure. The train between Milan and Rome is pretty easy and might make for a place to get some cost (but not time) savings and see the landscape along the way.

So if your own time is "cheap", you can keep looking around for a while to see what comes up and do consider a repositioning cruise so you only have a one-way major airfare. The easing of jet-lag on the way over there is a major consideration though it sounds like from most reports the trans-atlantics going back to the US are less stressful because you get to keep adding an hour to your day, rather than taking away an hour every day on the way over there. But even that is better than having to make up for a 9 hour (or so) difference in time all in one day when you arrive by plane.

Let us know what you find and how you finally made your choice. This is a challenge we all face so all of the tips here will be good. This is why a lot of us start looking at the roundtrip cruises from US port cities to get around a lot of this. Which does take many parts of the world like Europe and the Mediterranean off the table. But you can also consider a Panama Canal, New England/Canada, Mexican Riviera, Caribbean and Hawaii/South Seas cruise as well and see some pretty interesting places as well as thoroughly enjoy all that cruising has to offer. But Europe is Europe and there is nothing like it - I lived there and I love it so there really is no substitute.

[iancal]

You need to have or use an overseas address for some of the sites but they often provide options or pricing that you simply do not see on North American based websites.

We always check 'other' sites for airfare-especially in country airfare. The big NA sites recently quoted us a total of $800. for 3 in country flights. We booked the exact same flight five minutes later on an 'in country' site that charged us in local currency. The converted price was just under $240. We have had similar experiences with hotels and vacation packages-not always with the same degree of savings.

[SwissMyst]

You need to have or use an overseas address for some of the sites but they often provide options or pricing that you simply do not see on North American based websites.

We always check 'other' sites for airfare-especially in country airfare. The big NA sites recently quoted us a total of $800. for 3 in country flights. We booked the exact same flight five minutes later on an 'in country' site that charged us in local currency. The converted price was just under $240. We have had similar experiences with hotels and vacation packages-not always with the same degree of savings.

Please tell us more about what is and how you got the "overseas address" - I assume an email address? Or do you have a residence over-seas address. Thanks.

[iancal]

We have an accomodation address in the UK that we use on some UK sites. Our email address is just fine as is our non UK credit card. Notwithstanding that, some will not book unless you have the UK address because they actually mail you vouchers, etc. and insist on a UK address. We sometimes call them prior to booking or email them if we have any questions or concerns. No issue with this at all. Many of these companies do however add 1-2 percent surcharge for using a credit card.

On another site, when booking a hotel, they insisted on our home address. It was a fabulous deal on a 4 star hotel in Albufiera (sp) Portugal. After several unsuccessful, unexplained trys it suddenly dawned on me to use the address of the Seville hotel where we were staying prior to going to the next hotel. It worked like a charm. What the computer needed was a European address-any address it would seem.

We used the same site to book a hotel in Turkey last month. Hotel reservations are easy....the computer really is not very smart and there appears (at least on most sites) to be no corelation between the address field and what country the credit card is issued from...fortunately. As you would expect, email address are essentially agnostic so we have never had an issue from that perspective.

The most recent airfares were booked on a Turkish site that booked us 3 in country flights. It took our address, our email, and all other contact data and charged us in TL. Exact same flights, times, time of booking as Kayak but with a significant price delta.

We also have no issue booking direct on Easyjet. This past spring we booked the online Easyjet bus transfer from Earls Court (we were staying nearby in Kensington) to Gatwick for 2 GBP each. We were not flying Easyjet - was this not a requirement for using the service.

[SwissMyst]

We have an accomodation address in the UK that we use on some UK sites. Our email address is just fine as is our non UK credit card. Notwithstanding that, some will not book unless you have the UK address because they actually mail you vouchers, etc. and insist on a UK address. We sometimes call them prior to booking or email them if we have any questions or concerns. No issue with this at all. Many of these companies do however add 1-2 percent surcharge for using a credit card.

On another site, when booking a hotel, they insisted on our home address. It was a fabulous deal on a 4 star hotel in Albufiera (sp) Portugal. After several unsuccessful, unexplained trys it suddenly dawned on me to use the address of the Seville hotel where we were staying prior to going to the next hotel. It worked like a charm. What the computer needed was a European address-any address it would seem.

We used the same site to book a hotel in Turkey last month. Hotel reservations are easy....the computer really is not very smart and there appears (at least on most sites) to be no corelation between the address field and what country the credit card is issued from...fortunately. As you would expect, email address are essentially agnostic so we have never had an issue from that perspective.

The most recent airfares were booked on a Turkish site that booked us 3 in country flights. It took our address, our email, and all other contact data and charged us in TL. Exact same flights, times, time of booking as Kayak but with a significant price delta.

We also have no issue booking direct on Easyjet. This past spring we booked the online Easyjet bus transfer from Earls Court (we were staying nearby in Kensington) to Gatwick for 2 GBP each. We were not flying Easyjet - was this not a requirement for using the service.


Thanks for the tips. I have old home addresses in Switzerland and Italy - I'll give it a try or enlist a local relative too.

[chrispb]

The largest part of the airfare will be crossing the Atlantic. Get to a point where you need to be (or where you'd like to spend a few days) then one of the cheapo airlines to your destination.

Have a look at websites like alpharooms.co.uk or hotelscomparison.com (sorry it might be .co.uk) for accommodation both are pretty good.

[SwissMyst]

Heathrow (London) is probably the closest major hub from the US and British Airways often is the cheapest - because both are terrible .....but, if are willing to suffer a bit to save money.

Take as much carry-on as possible because chances are BA will lost some/all of your luggage and you get out to their outlying airports by bus, you can probably put your cheapest connections together. Will it be worth the extra hassle for the few hundred dollars? Uhhhhhh, maybe.

Problem is you want to make this a special trip for a celebration so you might just need to bit the bullet, save somewhere else in your annual budget and create as smooth of a trip as possible with the simplest and best flight you can find to get you directly to the cruise embarkation port.

Somehow even when we spend "more than we should" it all kind of comes out okay over the long term. We just do with less somewhere else and it is not as noticeable after we commit to the big bite for airfares up front. (My little pea brain still remembers the $300 RT charter flights in the early days of European travel. Then I went up to $600 max and lately $1000 max and now it sounds like I need to ratchet up again to (gasp) $1500 :eek: (from LAX)

[Globaliser]

Heathrow (London) is probably the closest major hub from the US and British Airways often is the cheapest - because both are terrible ...

Take as much carry-on as possible because chances are BA will lost some/all of your luggage ...A bit out of date with our information, are we?

[travel123456]

a side note...if you plan to fly into another city in Italy and then take the train to Rome or Venice...Please remember that trains in Italy run on Italian time....you must allow extra time to get to your destination!!! this is especially true on the local lines..i.e. if you decide you want to take a day trip out into the country...it may take you all day to get back!! This is also true of flying in and out of Rome.

[SwissMyst]

We always find Zurich several hundred dollars less than other entry airports. Then some great inter-Europe cheap connections - or train.

We found that too on our last flights from Barcelona via Zurich - Swiss International Airlines - I think I booked directly with them too. But I had to keep going back and checking until I got the best fare.

[iancal]

We have used Trenitalia extensively over the years and have found the service to be excellent. Trains are frequent, pricing is flexible, and we have always found them punctual-no matter if it is an intercity route or a milk run.

[travel123456]

We have used Trenitalia extensively over the years and have found the service to be excellent. Trains are frequent, pricing is flexible, and we have always found them punctual-no matter if it is an intercity route or a milk run.

You have had much better luck than I!!! Yes trains are frequent but make sure you get the express ones if you are going any distance. i.e. check your arrival times. Some make only a few stops and others stop frequently. It doesn't always pay to jump on the first train to leave. This can greatly extend your travel time!

In my travels it has been about 50/50 on schedule...so be safe and allow a little extra time. :)

[iancal]

The key is understanding the differences between train classification in Italy and the class of fare available for each train.

I can think of only one time out of many trips that our train was significantly delayed. We have been lucky-never had a strike issue either.

[SwissMyst]

We have used Trenitalia extensively over the years and have found the service to be excellent. Trains are frequent, pricing is flexible, and we have always found them punctual-no matter if it is an intercity route or a milk run.

Agree, Trenitalia is almost as good as the Swiss railway website. We too have had very good luck with Italian trains. One time however we could not get the door open at our stop because the sign saying the door was not working was on the other side of the window and not in the car itself.

So we rode to the next station, got off and tried to explain to the station master what happened. He just waved us on to the next train that took us back to our original destination. No problema.

And Italian trains do have the gypsy problem mainly on the regional trains that make a lot of local stops. They get on one train, hassle passengers and then get off and then get back on another one. Conductors can't seem to do anything because they "have a ticket". Move to another car if you run into this problem because these are a problema.

[iancal]

I am just sorry that they did away with the 'Kilometrica' passes. Whenever we used them, there was only a 50/50 chance that they would bother to deduct the kilometres.

My son and I travelled extensively on a singe 2000 Kilometric pass-we calculated about 2900KM's for both of us.

[chrispb]

Heathrow (London) is probably the closest major hub from the US and British Airways often is the cheapest - because both are terrible .....but, if are willing to suffer a bit to save money.

Take as much carry-on as possible because chances are BA will lost some/all of your luggage and you get out to their outlying airports by bus, you can probably put your cheapest connections together. Will it be worth the extra hassle for the few hundred dollars? Uhhhhhh, maybe.

Problem is you want to make this a special trip for a celebration so you might just need to bit the bullet, save somewhere else in your annual budget and create as smooth of a trip as possible with the simplest and best flight you can find to get you directly to the cruise embarkation port.

Somehow even when we spend "more than we should" it all kind of comes out okay over the long term. We just do with less somewhere else and it is not as noticeable after we commit to the big bite for airfares up front. (My little pea brain still remembers the $300 RT charter flights in the early days of European travel. Then I went up to $600 max and lately $1000 max and now it sounds like I need to ratchet up again to (gasp) $1500 :eek: (from LAX)
BA have never lost my luggage. They fly out of Terminal 5 at Heathrow - very nice - not terrible at all.

[Newleno]

BULLETIN BULLETIN BULLETIN

Right now there is a cruise on Nov 12, Rome round trip Costa Magica inside cabin $299. Shoestring baby, always the shoestring

[timothy998]

If you go to Rome and want to see the Vatican and aren't doing the trip in an off- or shoulder-season, at a minimum do a private tour that meets you near the port or somewhere close. The advantage of a tour is that you won't have to wait in nearly the lines that "independent" travelers would wait. Also, if you do go to the Vatican, they have very specific requirements for attire, if you want to get in.

[Newleno]

BULLETIN BULLETIN BULLETIN

Right now there is a cruise on Nov 12, Rome round trip Costa Magica inside cabin $299. Shoestring baby, always the shoestring

rate reduced to $199 for a different ship and itinerary

[agabbymama]

You mean my book "Europe on $5.00 a day" has become outdated? :confused::(:rolleyes:

You are a hoot!

You could maybe use it for toilet paper, a lot of the restrooms in Europe charge you for tp.;)

[SwissMyst]

BULLETIN BULLETIN BULLETIN

Right now there is a cruise on Nov 12, Rome round trip Costa Magica inside cabin $299. Shoestring baby, always the shoestring

You err, sir. You were reading the menu for the Costa specialty restaurant, not the attributes of the inside cabin price. Yum.:p

[hulamoon]

Did you see the NA transatlantic with air special? HAL has had a few air specials. Sometimes between now and December air deals are pretty good. But if you see one you have to act fast. I am sure you know to check multiple departure airports


Noticed on the days the economic news is wobbly air seems cheaper to me. Do you know someone who may donate miles and you can pay them back cheaply?

We have traveled to Europe 4 times from Hawaii in 7 years and will help with info for shoestring travel. We have enjoyed the shoestring journeys as much as the ones we poured more money into. Attitude is everything, unless you are in economy for 26 hours with someone with gas in front of you and then I find attitude may not be enough.

[winemama]

we just came back from 14 days in Israel and Istanbul and did it on a shoe string..it just takes planning..first plan a year out...check credit card offers and see who is offering miles..there were tons of offers last year AA airlines..spend $1,000 and get 50,000 miles, each got a card spent the money and got tickets...bought our tickets to Istanbul..log onto flyer talk it is a site with a wealth of info on flight deals...used points to cover our hotels..(capital one venture card)..it all takes time and patience but "shoestring" can be done

[dritan]

As others have said, it might not be possible on a shoestring, but definitely on a budget. We are fortunate to live in the UK, so flights aren't an issue - but on our recent cruise I took 100 euros for spending money (off the ship and for a one night pre and post stop at Barcelona) and had to end up spending some of it at the airport before our flight home.

Other tips are: see if you another person can come in with you. For example, my brother and I paid for my parents cruise this year and due to the very low 3rd/4th guest rate, it cost us much less than going with a less salubrious cruise line which had a higher charge for extra guests. In addition, the J inside cabins are fantastic and much larger than the standard outside or balcony cabins.

Select a few itineraries which you like and then research the Europe part of the boards to find out which ports are "doable" on your own ( and I mean truly DIY and not with private tours). Budget for one shore excursion or private tour per 7 night cruise. In my experience, Rome is DIY - Florence isn't. Athens is DIY, Kusadasi/Izmir isn't.

Watch your chosen few itineraries and watch for price drops but bear in mind the fact that airfares will go up. However, if you have a few itineraries all starting and ending at the same time, then you can book the airfares up front and adapt once you decide on the actual itinerary. By adapt that could mean a few days in a budget hotel pre or post cruise.

Also, you don't have to spend a fortune on the ship either.

Hope you find something that works for you.