Europe Summer 2010 with 2 cool children

I have never been to Europe (nor have my 2 girls, ages 8 and 11). Husband and I are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary next summer, and we want to do a whirlwind tour of Europe. Thinking an 'embedded' cruise would be a great way to hit some sights, without lugging our stuff. Having said that, we don't want a cruise with formal reqts, as we want to travel light. I do not want a large, multi-thousand passenger ship, and the children don't require any program (Camp Mama will suit!). I found our last cruise (HAL) lacking, in that there were too many people and the food was fairly awful, and the wine was marginal. We don't care about entertainment; we like meeting the others, eating well, fine wines, reading, and pools.

I would rather hit ports with hundreds, versus thousands, of my new friends. We can leave anytime after May 26, 2010, and want to go earlier inthe summer, rather than later. Very open to intinerary - under 2 weeks is best.

I know this is really general, and I appreciate your ideas. I have been looking at Oceania, Seabourn, Regent, and Crystal, thus far.

Thanks,

DiDi from Texas

Seabourn and Crystal are very formal and require that if you're going to be in any public rooms after 6pm that you be in the dress of the evening. Crystal does not have any alternate dining option for formal nights other than room service. And, Crystal does not have quad cabins--triples only. Seabourn does not generally attract families and tends towards being pretty much an adult's only line---their new ship Odyssey may change that somewhat but their original three ships don't have many kids. They are also more formal in attire and their triplets, Pride, Spirit and Legend, don't have casual dining options on formal nights.

Your best choice may be either Azamara or Oceania, as they are both more casual lines, but neither are considered in the luxury category. Azamara does not attract many families and you'll find few on Oceania. But again, your main problem may be cabin size. Unless you book a PH or higher, their cabins are tiny, tiny and I can't see a family of four fitting into them---unless you plan on getting separate cabins for the children.

Regent has the biggest regular cabins in the industry. They will have at least two formal nights on a 14 day cruise, but I find them to be a little more forgiving when it comes to formality. On my two recent Regent cruises, quite a few passengers didn't follow the formal night codes and nothing was said. Personally, I think Regent has the best cabins as far as size and amenities. They are a good choice, if you get a PH, for families as they are incredibly spacious.

As far as hitting the ports with thousands, no matter what line, you can't avoid that. Cruising has become incredibly popular in the Med and Baltic and no matter what ship you're on, you're going to be sharing the ports with behemoths who are docking at the same time as you. It makes places like Venice, Naples, Santorini and other small ports pretty nasty when the likes of Oasis or any of the other huge ships are in port as the same time as you.

kitty9 has given you some excellent advice.

I also wanted to note that I would not recommend bringing children on a cruise line such as Seabourn. While you will find a few children, it really is oriented to adults.

What' different about the Mediterranean ports aa opposed to places such as the Mediterranean is that the number of passengers is that in many of the ports the visitors from the cruise lines represent a small percentage of the visitors. Not for all ports but for quite a few of them.

I would take a look at Oceania (just be careful as some of the cabins are quite small so look for a larger cabin), Azmara (as Kitty recommended). If you change your mind and decide to go with cruises that have formal nights I would add Cystal and Regent to the mix. With the latter two while you would have to take some formal attire as you can expect to formals on each cruise, the benefit will be a more luxurious cruising experience than the other two lines.

But what I would do first is look carefully at the itineraries that Azamara and Oceania offer to see if they are to your liking. Look carefully at the ports of embarkation and disembarkation and consider flights between your home city and these locations. I would highly recommend arrivng a few days early to ensure that if there are any flight disruptions that you will not miss the ship, to tour the city and to get over the jet lag. I have known too many people who arrive the day of embarkation and they are not themselves for the first couple of days due to the long flights and jet lag.

Lastly I would go earlier in the summer. If you go mid summer you will find the ports even more crowded with tourists and even more heat and humidity than in the early summer.

Congratulations on your upcoming 25 wedding anniversary.

Keith

Great, thoughful answers. I shall pursue and I'm sure I'll be back to pick your brains! And we are going as early in June as possible!

d