?s About NCL Cruise in Europe

[alwalaska]

We want to take a cruise in Europe.  We are looking at something that starts no farther south than France and goes northward.  I've seen Baltic, the British Isles, and others that all look interesting.

 

Here are my questions:

• Do you have a favorite time of year for a northern Europe cruise?  If so, what is it and why?
• When are the 2021 Europe schedules likely to come out?  I prefer NCL as a cruise line, but I will take others for a better itinerary.
• What should I be looking for or wary of when looking into an European cruise?

 

I'm sure as I get more into this process I will have more questions. Thanks in advance for all of your help.

 

 

[KeithJenner]

For Northern Europe I think it is best to go during the Summer, as it can be quite cold even then. The Viking Sky has just demonstrated some of the problems with being out in the North sea at this sort of time. If I had full choice I would go in late June/early July so you get lots of daylight, reasonable chance of good weather and are avoiding school holidays.

 

Northern Europe itineraries are usually released very late for some reason. In fact, we are still awaiting some 2020 routes, and 2019 itineraries from Southampton hadn't been released at this time last year. If you intend to wait until all the 2021 itineraries are released then be prepared for another years waiting.

 

Your main choice if Baltics, British Isles or Norway, with the option of going to Iceland as well. If you can get to Iceland then I would recommend it. I can't think of anything particularly to be looking out for. All of them are good. I have done the Baltics twice, with a third booked for this year, Norway plus Iceland once, and are hoping to go back to Norway next year. I have been to pretty well everywhere the British Isles itineraries visit and they are all very good stops as well. I'd certainly recommend any of these itineraries.

 

I suppose one thing to be aware of is that NCL tend to use larger ships in the Baltics these days, and the port they use for Stockholm isn't good (a long way from the city). There have also been other missed ports. Personally, I'm not sure I would do a Baltics cruise on one of those ships if it was likely to be my only visit.

[rmurray847]

39 minutes ago, alwalaska said:

We want to take a cruise in Europe.  We are looking at something that starts no farther south than France and goes northward.  I've seen Baltic, the British Isles, and others that all look interesting.

 

Here are my questions:

• Do you have a favorite time of year for a northern Europe cruise?  If so, what is it and why?
• When are the 2021 Europe schedules likely to come out?  I prefer NCL as a cruise line, but I will take others for a better itinerary.
• What should I be looking for or wary of when looking into an European cruise?

 

 

I can't say when the 2021 itineraries will be out, but you could certainly start getting a feel for what you like by looking at what everyone has for 2020.  Year over year, there are minimal changes...they aren't exactly making lots of new cities to visit!  I've looked at many itineraries here (we've done Western Med and Eastern Med...Baltic/British Isles will be in the future for sure), and some of the most interesting itineraries I've seen on more mainstream lines are those from Celebrity.  They have interesting cruises that include British Isles and Iceland...that really appeals to me.  But I wouldn't hesitate to do something on NCL.  I would say I'd probably look for something on smaller ship.  Often, they are less expensive, and these cruises are SO port intensive that I'm not too worried about needing a mega-ship and all its amenities.  Mostly I would use sea days for resting and eating (and eating some more).  Excursion days, it's breakfast on board and maybe dinner and a show, followed by bed.  

 

You'll get a huge variety of opinions on this topic.

 

I can't imagine wanting to do a Baltic cruise anytime other than summer.  It won't be balmy weather at anytime up there (for the most part).  

[leongcpa]

For Northern Europe, I would probably go in the heart of summer: June, July, or August.

 

Across many years, we've done: Western Med (NCL Jade) in April, Western + Eastern Med (Celebrity) in September, Baltics (NCL Star) in August, Eastern Med (RCCL) in August, Greek Isles (Star Clippers) in September, Other Greek Isles (RCCL) in November, British Isles (Princess) in May, and Northern Europe (NCL Jade) in September. 

 

We had some rain and wind on our May British Isles cruise - one port (Cobh/Cork) got canceled. We also had rain on our September Northern Europe cruise - it poured all day when we were in Oslo. We also had rain in our September Eastern Med cruise - the port of Split got canceled and it rained most of the time we were in Dubrovnik. It also rained a ton during our November Greek Isles cruise - it rained when we were in  Venice, Corfu and Argostolion.

 

We had the best weather on our August cruises - Baltics and Eastern Med. 

 

All of Europe is a delight, in my opinion so you cannot go wrong. My only advise would be to do a lot of research on the boards and with a Rick Steves book, in hand. Oh, and bring/use a money belt.

Edited March 26, 2019 by leongcpa

[KeithJenner]

17 minutes ago, rmurray847 said:

I can't say when the 2021 itineraries will be out, but you could certainly start getting a feel for what you like by looking at what everyone has for 2020.  Year over year, there are minimal changes...they aren't exactly making lots of new cities to visit! 

I actually disagree with this. Northern Europe itineraries (especially on NCL) tend to vary a lot year on year. The ports are generally fairly similar, although the Spirit is visiting a few places this year that aren't particularly common, but the routes themselves do change a lot.

 

The Spirit itineraries this Summer are very different to those that were available when we last did a Northern Europe cruise in 2017, and we have no idea at the moment what will actually be available when they announce the 2020 Southampton cruises (assuming there are any).

[fabnfortysomething]

1 minute ago, KeithJenner said:

I actually disagree with this. Northern Europe itineraries (especially on NCL) tend to vary a lot year on year. The ports are generally fairly similar, although the Spirit is visiting a few places this year that aren't particularly common, but the routes themselves do change a lot.

 

The Spirit itineraries this Summer are very different to those that were available when we last did a Northern Europe cruise in 2017, and we have no idea at the moment what will actually be available when they announce the 2020 Southampton cruises (assuming there are any).

keep us in loop for your plans next year!

 

[Markanddonna]

Isn't the Spirit going to Asia in 2020?

[KeithJenner]

37 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

Isn't the Spirit going to Asia in 2020?

Yes, the references to the Spirit above are just because it is doing the itineraries this year. 2020 will have different ships. Most are released, but we are still awaiting the Southampton itineraries for the second part of the Summer. The Star is there for the start of the summer, so I assume it will stay there.

[tomk3212]

We've been to Venice & the Greek Isles in early-October time frame.  Of the 14 days we had ONE rainy day (in Venice) and even that wasn't horrible as it rained off and on.  A good umbrella served us well!  Would NOT recommend this itinerary in summer (June-August) as Venice is INSANELY crowded then based on reports from relatives who've gone then via cruise ship.  Weather was quite nice; days in the 70's (F) and a couple of 80 degree days.  Definitely warm enough!

 

Went to Norway, Iceland & parts of the UK/Ireland in mid-September out of Copenhagen.  Again, of the 14 days we had TWO rainy days, one was in Alesund, Norway and the other in Glasgow, UK.  Also weirdly, Copenhagen was in mid-80's with high humidity the day before we left & hotel where we stayed had no a/c.   Otherwise days were cool (60's to 70's) and quite enjoyable.  

 

Haven't done the Baltic itinerary as of yet; the ship we had sailed out of Copenhagen on had just returned from the Baltic Capitals & St. Pete in Russia.  Pax who were still aboard said weather was quite good during their 9 day voyage.

 

Good luck & hope you have a great cruise when you do go!

[Sauer-kraut]

For a Baltic cruise pick a mid-September sailing.  The days are nicer, crowds will be a lot smaller and you won't be dealing with a lot of families.  Germany is always pretty nice in Sept-October, as this is the wine harvesting time.  Consider how long the ship will be in St.Petersburg a day and a half isn't much.

Know that Berlin is about 3 hours away from the port of Warnemunde/Rostock so if Berlin is a must do you are in for a long day.  The towns closers to the port are lovely as well and worth exploring as well as being a 'rest' day to relax on such a port intensive cruise.

NCL did have a really interesting cruise a few years ago that did the British Isles, and also the Faeroe Islands.  

[trout96]

I did the Baltic last year and the British Isles the year before. I went over the 4th of July both times and they were a little chilly. I was looking into Norway but the cost from Berlin to port made it cost prohibitive. I loved both the Baltic and British Isle cruise would do both again. For Baltic the more time you can spend in St. Peterburg the better. I hope that helps a little.

[hilcadon]

Our first transatlantic was in April of 2001 from Miami to the Mediterranean. Azores , Spain, France and then three ports in Italy and then flew home. The weather was perfect and the Atlantic Ocean  was "like a sea of glass"  Very smooth sailing. We are taking our second transatlantic on April 28th on the Pearl to Northern Europe and are hoping for the same but you never know. Saw all of the videos of the Viking Sky and hope that nothing like that will happen.  

[alwalaska]

Thank you all so much for all of the information.  I love the Spirit, too bad we already did our long expensive cruise for this 2 year period.  Those are amazing itineraries for this fall.  I hope something similar comes out for 2021.  

 

I really prefer the smaller ocean ships, but just not down to the river cruise size.

 

As soon as I get a chance to decipher all of this info, I'm sure I will have more questions for each of you.

[alwalaska]

On ‎3‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 4:20 PM, KeithJenner said:

For Northern Europe I think it is best to go during the Summer, as it can be quite cold even then. The Viking Sky has just demonstrated some of the problems with being out in the North sea at this sort of time. If I had full choice I would go in late June/early July so you get lots of daylight, reasonable chance of good weather and are avoiding school holidays.

 

Northern Europe itineraries are usually released very late for some reason. In fact, we are still awaiting some 2020 routes, and 2019 itineraries from Southampton hadn't been released at this time last year. If you intend to wait until all the 2021 itineraries are released then be prepared for another years waiting.

 

Your main choice if Baltics, British Isles or Norway, with the option of going to Iceland as well. If you can get to Iceland then I would recommend it. I can't think of anything particularly to be looking out for. All of them are good. I have done the Baltics twice, with a third booked for this year, Norway plus Iceland once, and are hoping to go back to Norway next year. I have been to pretty well everywhere the British Isles itineraries visit and they are all very good stops as well. I'd certainly recommend any of these itineraries.

 

I suppose one thing to be aware of is that NCL tend to use larger ships in the Baltics these days, and the port they use for Stockholm isn't good (a long way from the city). There have also been other missed ports. Personally, I'm not sure I would do a Baltics cruise on one of those ships if it was likely to be my only visit.

Keith,

 

Thank you so much for the detailed info.  Your dining guide helped a ton with our recent cruise on the Pride of America.

 

When you say that we will avoid school holidays, I am guessing you mean for the UK.  In the US, schools are out June through August and sometimes longer.  I know in several countries, August is  the big holiday period.  Is that true for most of Europe?  

 

I'm hoping that this cruise won't be our only trip.  I'm hoping that the cruise will ease us into European land vacations in the future.  Cruises are just so easy since I don't have to make plans on where to stay every night and we can see a lot more places and then decide to go back and spend more time at some.  

 

I guess I will be waiting up to a year or longer to make our plans. 😞  I guess as long as I stay outside of penalty phases, I can book on another cruise line and then cancel when NCL comes out with their itineraries if there is something comparable. 

 

Thanks again.