Europe Cruise Advice

[pajazz28]

Thinking of booking a cruise to Europe in September or October of this year. Any advice would be apperciated. But here are a feww questions.

 

• What are the best cruiseline to use in Europe? I ask this becuase in Alaska most people recommend Princess or Holland America. Is it the same in Europe?
• We are looking to book a 12 day that included Italy, Spain and Greece, Any one ever taken one that they can recommend? 
• How many days ahead should we travel to make sure we do not miss the ship?

 

Any other advice would be helpful, thank you 

 

[CruiserBruce]

No, there is no one "best" cruise line for Europe. We don't know you or your interests, so hard to say which MIGHT be the "best" for you.

 

Have taken several cruises around the Med. There are many that do a "sampler" cruise like that. Personally, I would prefer a more eastern Med cruise, but that is just us.

 

I would arrive in Europe at least 2 nights prior to boarding the ship, mostly for getting over jet lag, and seeing some of the starting port. Europe is a wonderful place, and even after  more than a dozen trips (land and cruise), can't get enough.

 

Start by reading the many ports boards and threads here.

[cruisemom42]

I agree that there is no line that is "preferred" for Mediterranean cruises. It is a popular destination with many lines and itineraries to choose from. A few things to consider:

 

-- Look for an itinerary that you like first, then compare your options. Criteria I would consider have more to do with the ports than with the ship, since the Med is very port-intensive and you'll spend much of your time ashore. Look for ports with LONG port days (e.g., 12 hours is not unusual for some ports).

 

-- Given your timeframe, I'd opt for cruises as late into October as you can go to avoid both summer heat and summer crowds.

 

-- Tender ports can really cut down on your time in port if you are on a very large ship, unless you are willing to do a ship tour. On large ships, the ship tours get first priority to tender, then passengers in suites or with high loyalty standing. You could lose as much as a couple of hours waiting to get ashore.

 

-- I would recommend looking for a cruise that starts and ends in different cities, giving you a chance to spend more time in each one. (Most of the embarkation/disembarkation ports are near big cities that invite longer explorations than a port stop allows.)

 

-- Plan to arrive in your embarkation city two nights ahead if possible. This will help you adapt to jet lag, allow you to see something of the city, and if your luggage should go astray it will give some time for it to catch up with you before you board the ship.

 

[edinburgher]

1 hour ago, pajazz28 said:

Any other advice would be helpful, thank you 

And look at the destination ports.  Cruiselines love to list the "headline" cities such as Paris, Rome, Florence and others, as a marketing tool, usually shown in brackets after the actual port name.  These cities are actually quite a travel distance from the ports, so you lose time simply transferring to and back from them.  The distance may also be out of your comfort zone if you usually have a preference for independent sightseeing, meaning you will need to consider only shorex or private tours, unless you do the "? on your own" if offered, where you are transferred to a drop off point, and given a time to be back at the coaches for the return to the ship.  If you are looking at mainly "headline" destinations, be realistic about how little you will see in the very short time you will have "on the ground" and don't expect a long "wish list" to be completed, especially as for many sights and attractions, it is nowadays  necessary to pre-book a timed entry.

 

And some cruiselines such as MSC as an example, have a bit of a reputation for having fewer hours in port, so do also  look at port timings.

 

As others have suggested, try to arrive a few days early and stay on a few days after the cruise ends to give you a decent amount of time in your arrival and departure cities.  And Europe is well served by public transport and distances between some towns and cities can be fairly short, so if eg your cruise ends in Civi (for Rome in cruiseline speak ) you could consider transferring to somewhere like Florence. Europe is actually so small you could easily travel to a different country, not having to even stay in the country in which you disembark, especially if it is a "Schengen country" and you are already in a "Schengen country".

Sspolied for choice really so lots of travel research to do especially for your first one..

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by edinburgher

[pajazz28]

On 12/17/2023 at 9:42 AM, cruisemom42 said:

I agree that there is no line that is "preferred" for Mediterranean cruises. It is a popular destination with many lines and itineraries to choose from. A few things to consider:

 

-- Look for an itinerary that you like first, then compare your options. Criteria I would consider have more to do with the ports than with the ship, since the Med is very port-intensive and you'll spend much of your time ashore. Look for ports with LONG port days (e.g., 12 hours is not unusual for some ports).

 

-- Given your timeframe, I'd opt for cruises as late into October as you can go to avoid both summer heat and summer crowds.

 

-- Tender ports can really cut down on your time in port if you are on a very large ship, unless you are willing to do a ship tour. On large ships, the ship tours get first priority to tender, then passengers in suites or with high loyalty standing. You could lose as much as a couple of hours waiting to get ashore.

 

-- I would recommend looking for a cruise that starts and ends in different cities, giving you a chance to spend more time in each one. (Most of the embarkation/disembarkation ports are near big cities that invite longer explorations than a port stop allows.)

 

-- Plan to arrive in your embarkation city two nights ahead if possible. This will help you adapt to jet lag, allow you to see something of the city, and if your luggage should go astray it will give some time for it to catch up with you before you board the ship.

 

How can you find out in is a tender port or not. We are considering a cruise on the Carnival Magic which is an ols ship 130K tons. Can this size ship dock in most ports?

[cruisemom42]

Just now, pajazz28 said:

How can you find out in is a tender port or not. We are considering a cruise on the Carnival Magic which is an ols ship 130K tons. Can this size ship dock in most ports?

 

I'm not that familiar with Carnival, but there should be some designation on the Carnival website listing of the cruise as to which ports are tendered (e.g., an asterisk, footnote, etc.)

 

If you list the ports, I could probably tell you for most of them.

 

[edinburgher]

On 12/17/2023 at 2:06 PM, pajazz28 said:

How many days ahead should we travel to make sure we do not miss the ship?

Best not to fly with an arrival day the same as your ship departure in case of strikes or delays caused by any number of reasons which could cause you to miss the ship.

 

The number of days ahead will depend on the amount of free days you have for the overall trip including travel time,  your budget, and also  where you will join your ship.  If it is a major city which would be new to you and you would like to spend a few days there either before or after the cruise itself, (Rome and Barcelona spring to mind) you should allow for that too.   And remember that jetlag will likely impact your first 2 or 3 days in Europe.

 

Probably best if you find an itinerary which appeals to you personally and take into account all the suggestions/advice already made in all the posts in response to your question.

[elaine5]

When I book a European cruise, here are my considerations:

Bucket list-must see destinations

Time constraints--dates, season, length

Budget--and priorities (fine with inside cabin, at least OV, must have balcony, etc.)

Ease of travel to/from destination.

For 1st time Europe, I really like a cruise that has different embarkation/return ports (ex. Barcelona to Rome, etc.) to get to see more of Europe. I would fly in/out of 2 different cities (which is normally not any ore expensive than RT as long on same/partner airlines).

Edited February 18 by elaine5

[Hlitner]

Just some advice to the first-timer or cruise novice.  For European cruises you want to pay attention to the scheduled times in ports!  Ideally you want long port days (such as 7 to 7).  Keep in mind that some major European ports are some distance (up to several hours) from where folks usually want to go.  So, for example, it takes about 2 1/2 - 3 hours (one way) from Le Havre to Paris on a bus tour.  Civitavecchia is more than an hour from Rome.  Livorno is more then an hour from Florence.  etc. etc.

 

Also pay attention to the days of the week you are in various ports.  In Europe, you need to be especially cautious about Sunday and Mondays when you might find places you want to see are closed.  As part of your homework, pay attention to this kind of detail BEFORE you book.  Also be sure to check on major European holidays which can be somewhat different then in North America.  For example, Mayday and All Saints Day will often find many closures.

 

Hank

[alserrod]

On 12/17/2023 at 3:06 PM, pajazz28 said:

Thinking of booking a cruise to Europe in September or October of this year. Any advice would be apperciated. But here are a feww questions.

 

• What are the best cruiseline to use in Europe? I ask this becuase in Alaska most people recommend Princess or Holland America. Is it the same in Europe?
• We are looking to book a 12 day that included Italy, Spain and Greece, Any one ever taken one that they can recommend? 
• How many days ahead should we travel to make sure we do not miss the ship?

 

Any other advice would be helpful, thank you 

 

 

 

 

Hello:

The most used companies in Europe are MSC and Costa.
However the standards of companies around the world are similar. If there is a company that you liked in another corner of the world and you are used to it, check to see if it offers you something in Europe.

Europe is very big. You have many routes to do but basically
Western Mediterranean. Spain - France - Italy (and maybe Malta)
Adriatic. Venice to Greece including islands
Eastern Mediterranean. From Athens (or Istanbul) to Cyprus and Türkiye
West Atlantic. From England to western France and northern Spain
Central Atlantic. England, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany
Baltic.
Norway

and of course you have cruises that can go from England to Barcelona stopping in France, Portugal and various places in Spain or almost whatever you ask for.

Of course, you say that you think about October. If so, it is almost obligatory to go to the Mediterranean for climate reasons (or even go from Barcelona to the Canary Islands).
Be careful, the climate between the Canary Islands and the Caribbean may be similar, but the Mediterranean is not the Caribbean. It is the warmest area in Europe but it is not for swimming in October.

Cruises in Europe will have excursions that offer fewer activities and more cultural visits. Many visits will be made to the most monumental cities or those that offer something unique.

That's why I recommend that you think about several places you would like to see and look for a cruise that has as many of those stops as possible.

Of course, as they have pointed out, check the location of the ports. Not all cities are coastal and ALL shipping companies indicate them as if they were coastal (yes, they all do it for advertising).
Rome is not far from the port but it is more than an hour by bus.
Florence is a little further away and then Paris and London are more than two hours by bus from the nearest port.
Monaco has such a small and select port that I have only seen one small luxury shipping company go there. The rest goes to Nice (40 minutes by bus)

Imagine you see a cruise ship that has a stopover that says "Washington DC (Wilmington)" for example.
The ship does NOT arrive in Washington, but in the port of Wilmington (Delaware). From there it is more than two hours by bus if you want.

On the contrary, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Marseille, Nice, Genoa, Naples, Athens, Split, Dubrovnik, etc... the boat leaves you next to the entire area to visit.

In Europe, remember that there are no passport controls to move around (among all EU countries excluding Ireland and some nearby countries). That is, on a flight between Brussels and Athens a passport is NOT required and it works like just another domestic flight.
And the euro is the currency of almost all countries, which facilitates transactions.

Regarding ports, the two that have the most passengers, according to statistics, are those of Barcelona and Civitavecchia. According to some statistics, after the large ports of Florida, Cozumel and Shanghai, these two are the largest. You can search for them on Google Maps. The one in Barcelona, I can tell you, can have up to five of the largest ships in the world at the same time (at the time of the Google photo there are three ships with passengers in Barcelona).

When to arrive?. Consider a day before and even a day after.
Besides the jet lag, there is seeing the city.
I explain it the other way around. Imagine that you suggest to a European citizen that they take a cruise to the Caribbean. The ship leaves and arrives from New York. Do you think I should dedicate an extra day to visit New York if I don't know the city? I think you are clearly "obliged" to stay and visit the city.
Do it the other way around. Choose a large city in Europe to start: Barcelona, Rome, Athens, go a day before but leave a day later to visit it.

Good cruise!