What would your budget be?

[silverwillow]

We are planning on a big one that will require us to save. I am not sure what to set my saving goal as so I thought i'd ask around here. There will be three of us, two adults and one child travelling.

 

 

The cruise is in Europe so we want to fly to London have three nights in London, four nights in Paris, three nights in Barcelona then get on the cruise which is 24 nights on a Holland America ship (The cruise itself is priced at around $11,000 for all of us but I am hoping the price will drop and we may get it for around $9,500) Then when we disembark in Venice we want to head to Florence for three nights with a visit to Cinque Terre then Rome for five nights before heading home.

 

This is the itinerary:

 

Sun Sep 13 Barcelona, Spain 4:00pm

Mon Sep 14 St. Tropez, France Noon 11:00pm

Tue Sep 15 Monte Carlo, Monaco 8:00am 6:00pm

Wed Sep 16 Florence / Pisa (Livorno), Italy 7:00am 7:00pm

Thu Sep 17 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 7:00am 7:00pm

Fri Sep 18 Naples (Capri), Italy 8:00am 6:00pm

Sat Sep 19 Strait Of Messina (Cruising)

Sat Sep 19 Taormina (Giardini Naxos), Sicily, Italy 10:00am 11:00pm

Sun Sep 20 At Sea

Mon Sep 21 Corfu, Greece 8:00am 5:00pm

Tue Sep 22 Dubrovnik, Croatia 9:00am 11:59pm

Wed Sep 23 Kotor, Montenegro 8:00am 2:00pm

Thu Sep 24 Venice, Italy 1:00pm

Fri Sep 25 Venice, Italy 4:00pm

Sat Sep 26 At Sea

Sun Sep 27 Olympia (Katakolon), Greece 8:00am 3:00pm

Mon Sep 28 Athens (Piraeus), Greece 8:00am 5:00pm

Tue Sep 29 The Dardanelles (Cruising)

Tue Sep 29 Istanbul, Turkey 4:00pm

Wed Sep 30 Istanbul, Turkey 4:00pm

Thu Oct 1 Lesbos (Mytilene), Greece 11:00am 6:00pm

Fri Oct 2 Ephesus / Kusadasi, Turkey 7:00am 7:00pm

Sat Oct 3 Santorini, Greece 7:00am 4:00pm

Sun Oct 4 Argostoli, Greece Noon 6:00pm

Mon Oct 5 At Sea

Tue Oct 6 Venice, Italy 1:00pm

Wed Oct 7 Venice, Italy Disembark

 

We haven't been to Europe so we are not sure what the costs of things will be and I guess we have to consider costs of tours, flights, transfers, hotels and food. My best guess at this stage would be around $30,000. What do you think?

[Cruise_me_Crazy]

We are planning on a big one that will require us to save. I am not sure what to set my saving goal as so I thought i'd ask around here. There will be three of us, two adults and one child travelling.

 

 

The cruise is in Europe so we want to fly to London have three nights in London, four nights in Paris, three nights in Barcelona then get on the cruise which is 24 nights on a Holland America ship (The cruise itself is priced at around $11,000 for all of us but I am hoping the price will drop and we may get it for around $9,500) Then when we disembark in Venice we want to head to Florence for three nights with a visit to Cinque Terre then Rome for five nights before heading home.

 

This is the itinerary:

 

Sun Sep 13 Barcelona, Spain 4:00pm

Mon Sep 14 St. Tropez, France Noon 11:00pm

Tue Sep 15 Monte Carlo, Monaco 8:00am 6:00pm

Wed Sep 16 Florence / Pisa (Livorno), Italy 7:00am 7:00pm

Thu Sep 17 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 7:00am 7:00pm

Fri Sep 18 Naples (Capri), Italy 8:00am 6:00pm

Sat Sep 19 Strait Of Messina (Cruising)

Sat Sep 19 Taormina (Giardini Naxos), Sicily, Italy 10:00am 11:00pm

Sun Sep 20 At Sea

Mon Sep 21 Corfu, Greece 8:00am 5:00pm

Tue Sep 22 Dubrovnik, Croatia 9:00am 11:59pm

Wed Sep 23 Kotor, Montenegro 8:00am 2:00pm

Thu Sep 24 Venice, Italy 1:00pm

Fri Sep 25 Venice, Italy 4:00pm

Sat Sep 26 At Sea

Sun Sep 27 Olympia (Katakolon), Greece 8:00am 3:00pm

Mon Sep 28 Athens (Piraeus), Greece 8:00am 5:00pm

Tue Sep 29 The Dardanelles (Cruising)

Tue Sep 29 Istanbul, Turkey 4:00pm

Wed Sep 30 Istanbul, Turkey 4:00pm

Thu Oct 1 Lesbos (Mytilene), Greece 11:00am 6:00pm

Fri Oct 2 Ephesus / Kusadasi, Turkey 7:00am 7:00pm

Sat Oct 3 Santorini, Greece 7:00am 4:00pm

Sun Oct 4 Argostoli, Greece Noon 6:00pm

Mon Oct 5 At Sea

Tue Oct 6 Venice, Italy 1:00pm

Wed Oct 7 Venice, Italy Disembark

 

We haven't been to Europe so we are not sure what the costs of things will be and I guess we have to consider costs of tours, flights, transfers, hotels and food. My best guess at this stage would be around $30,000. What do you think?

 

Great question.

We in Europe Oct / Nov this year. I think it depends on a few things.

Apartments can work out cheaper, allow you to do laundry, meals etc at home.

Private transfers v shuttles / public transport. I have been told that train travel in Europe is very economical & cheaper than flying...

 

How extravagant are you?? ie wine with lunch, cooked v light snacks for some meals?

[Cruise_me_Crazy]

Also. We shop predominately at woollies. Buy our grog here at Dans. Seriously looking at a woolworths credit card that will give us 2x points (qantas) per dollar spend. We would average $250 pw, so that's 500 points pw towards airfares. We currently pay via eftpos, no biggie to pay on CC then transfer $ across. Apart from anual fee, we will get some serious free flights from this change of habit.

 

Are you able to explore this type of "savings" as an option? :)

Edited August 15, 2014 by Cruise_me_Crazy

[The_Big_M]

You can get a whole range of prices. I'd section out into different components:

flights:

accommodation:

cruise (including tours/activities):

activities:

inland transport

 

You should be able to get a decent overall estimate if you work on each of those.

 

Just from the rough outline of what you've given though, $30,000 sounds like it should cover what you're planning if e.g. travelling economy class, nice but not 5* hotels and so on.

[dancinman66]

I would have thought 23 plus flights for you

Not knowing where your from is uncertain also depends on level of accomodation food and general spending

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[MicCanberra]

I am sure you can do it for $30k but really it is like asking how long is a piece of string. As mentioned breaking it down will help establish more accurate costings on the various segments and then you can determine what style of travel you want and can afford without blowing your budget.:D

[Past it]

research a lot beforehand, check out tripadvisor for heaps of advice, check out Luna & Simone hotel for London and Continental Palacete for Barcelona, stayed at them and were great, use the trains in europe they are great, have a lovely trip

Also apply for a 28 degree card, no fees and good exchange rates for overseas, you can load your money on it and its a backup in case you get stuck overseas

Edited August 15, 2014 by Past it
needed to add more

[silverwillow]

We are from Western Australia so will fly from Perth. We are part of Kris flyers (Singapore Airlines programme) and funnel all our funds via our credit card so we may have enough for a couple of airfares but we usually use these to go home to NZ as they save $900 per flight for a mere 25,000 points. :)

 

We have a 28 Degree card and we do get triple points for any overseas transactions on our Citibank card.

 

I suppose I am aiming to travel in comfort not necessarily in 5* but clean and comfortable.

[silverwillow]

How extravagant are you?? ie wine with lunch, cooked v light snacks for some meals?

 

We are not extravagant until we are on holiday :D

[fishtaco]

We are not extravagant until we are on holiday :D

 

You are from Western Australia so European prices shouldnt be a problem for you to judge:)

[Bescotti]

I did a 24 night HAL Med cruise last year and there were fantastic price drops - my oceanview went from just over $6,500 (single) to about $4,800 then 2 days before I got a free upgrade to a balcony.

 

This year I am booked on another HAL cruise for the Med and TA for 37 nights and there have been no price drops at all (I booked last December so I have been looking out for them). Interestingly, the US passengers have received some small price drops but at their lowest they have still been much higher than what I have paid.

 

So although you might get a price drop, after seeing the fares this year, you can't count on them.

[Bescotti]

Forgot to add but that the cruise you are looking at is the one I did last year in reverse and quite a few of those ports are very easy to explore on your own without doing any excursions at all such as Lesbos, Kotor and Dubrovnik. Corfu, Athens, Olympia, Venice and Santorini can be explored easily on local transport at minimal cost plus entrance fees, if that helps with your budgeting.

 

Also, have a look at CC's Mediterranean Ports of Call forums for lots of DIY ideas. I have found the information here can be a lot more useful than TripAdvisor.

[silverwillow]

Thanks Biscotti. Did you book with Hal and then when the price dropped asked them to apply it? I love the look of this itinerary. Thanks its good to know that some ports can be done on a budget.

 

Fishtaco lol yeah Europe will probably seem cheap next to WA.

[Cruise_me_Crazy]

:D Yes I know what you mean! We only seem to have wine with lunch when on holidays..... :rolleyes:. Funnily enough a toasted ham n cheese toastie with a yoghurt doesn't cut it!!!! although the budget would approve!!!

[PJOZ]

Hard to say but to me $30,000 looks feasible.

 

We did a four week trip with a Med cruise, Paris, England plus South Africa (for a friend's wedding which was in a very inexpensive part of SA) for less than $25,000 (family of four) 3 years ago but we did get very good airfares. Trip was in March/April though.

 

A friend of mine who was in Europe a few months after us went back this year (did the Cinque Terre and Croatia this time) and said they noticed things were more expensive than last time they went.

 

I think it is doable but lots of research helps with the budget of course. We stayed in a really nice apartment in Paris which saved money and was a great experience, and shopped around for a great deal on our London accommodation.

 

It will be an amazing trip though.

 

Penny

[Bescotti]

Thanks Biscotti. Did you book with Hal and then when the price dropped asked them to apply it? I love the look of this itinerary. Thanks its good to know that some ports can be done on a budget.

 

Fishtaco lol yeah Europe will probably seem cheap next to WA.

 

Yes, I now book direct with HAL Australia. Each time there was a price drop (and there were 4 on last year's cruise) I rang HAL and they adjusted the fare immediately, no questions/no fuss. Booking direct I have also found that you get a full refund right up to final payment and also there are no merchant fees when paying by credit card. HAL Australia have been very easy to deal with and I wouldn't go back to booking through a TA.

 

If you look at the HAL forum, there are 2 threads with photo reviews of the 24 night cruise this year to give you a taste of what the cruise is like.

 

Last year I stayed 4 nights in Paris and 3 nights in Venice and booked directly with the hotels on their websites. By booking and paying in advance for my hotels, I found I got a much better deal than going through booking websites. There seems to be a push from European hotels to cut out the middle man so a lot are offering better deals by going direct to them. My 4 star Grand Canal Venice hotel worked out to be cheaper than a 3 star hotel down on the southern NSW coast - so Europe worked out cheaper than even NSW!

 

Anyway, I had such a great time and got good value for money that I will be back there in 5 week's time.

[MicCanberra]

Yes, I now book direct with HAL Australia. Each time there was a price drop (and there were 4 on last year's cruise) I rang HAL and they adjusted the fare immediately, no questions/no fuss. Booking direct I have also found that you get a full refund right up to final payment and also there are no merchant fees when paying by credit card. HAL Australia have been very easy to deal with and I wouldn't go back to booking through a TA.

 

If you look at the HAL forum, there are 2 threads with photo reviews of the 24 night cruise this year to give you a taste of what the cruise is like.

 

Last year I stayed 4 nights in Paris and 3 nights in Venice and booked directly with the hotels on their websites. By booking and paying in advance for my hotels, I found I got a much better deal than going through booking websites. There seems to be a push from European hotels to cut out the middle man so a lot are offering better deals by going direct to them. My 4 star Grand Canal Venice hotel worked out to be cheaper than a 3 star hotel down on the southern NSW coast - so Europe worked out cheaper than even NSW!

 

Anyway, I had such a great time and got good value for money that I will be back there in 5 week's time.

 

Thanks for some great information Bescotti, and the tips to look at the photo reviews.:D

[silverwillow]

If you look at the HAL forum, there are 2 threads with photo reviews of the 24 night cruise this year to give you a taste of what the cruise is like.

 

Thank you I am heading there now :) and for the info on booking direct that takes the pressure off trying to wait for the right time to book to get a good price. :)