nyyhoneybee

5 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

Have you been to Europe before? Have the kids been to Europe before?  Why do you want to cruise Europe?  Europe cruises are usually port intensive, few sea days to enjoy the attractions of the ship, or park the kids in the clubs.  It’s about art, history, architecture.  Iceland is about geography/geology.  The cruise in the Greek islands would be the best option for a beach day, although European beaches are not the white sands of the Caribbean.  But if you choose Greece, avoid July/august, as it will be beastly hot then.  
    I suggest you get copies of Rick Steves’ Mediterranean Cruise Ports, and Scandinavia and Northern European Cruise Ports.  Read up on what there is to do in the ports, think about what interest you, and what might interest the kids at that age.  In the meantime, look at what is offered for the same areas in 2024, it’s likely to be much the same in 2025.

  Go to the boards here for the cruises that interest you and ask if anyone has done those itineraries with kids the ages yours will be.  You have two years to plan this for the best experience possible…. EM

Hubby & I have done Western Med before. This would be for my oldest her Bat Mitzvah as well as celebrate hubby & my 40th birthdays. I'm worried about it with the younger kids, hence my questions on here. Alaska would be another option, a bit easier for the younger kids I think. I do have Rick Steve's Med guide, it was super helpful both for our West Med and his guide in Turkey. 

Hi!

We are looking to cruise Summer of 2025 in Europe with the kids. They will be 12, 8 & 3. We are leaning toward NCL, although we prefer RCL just because of pricing.

Would you recommend any of these?

Northern Europe: Iceland & Norway

British Isles: England & Ireland

British Isles: England, Ireland & Scotland

Greek Isles

Just looking what's available now to get an idea of what might be there.

Our ports of call were recently changed and now we will be at Nassau for my oldest's daughter's birthday, changing our plans for it. 

She's happy as long as she's in water.

I have a party of 10 from 6 months to 84 years old.

We want to spend as little as possible but have a blast.

What should we do? 

60 days to make changes without penalty. We confirmed it in Oct. We booked that cruise onboard in Symphony the spyware before and the same agent is the one who booked us on our cruise for this year 

Anyone do this cruise end of September. Thoughts on weather?

We are one night away from Emerald. Will we see a difference in perks enough to make a last minute 3 night cruise worth it? (we won't need airfare we can drive to the FL ports) 

20 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

We did Ireland a couple of years ago and loved it. Whatever you decide, you will have a memorable anniversary! Please let us know. 😀

Everyone I know who's been there loves it. 

We have a FCC of a pretty decent amount to use. We can use it on our upcoming FoS cruise (Southern Caribbean) or wait and use it for our anniversary. I'm tempted to use it for our anniversary which is why I'm leaning cruise vs land. 

47 minutes ago, SRF said:

Forget the cruise.

 

Fly to Athens.  Spend a few days, seeing the sights.

 

Then hit one or two islands.  Cruise does not GIVE you time for the islands.

 

We spent a week on Mykonos, and needed more time and would like to go back.

If we do a land vacation I think we are considering Ireland. We are tossing that around also. Why can't we have unlimited time off work and vacation time to do everything? 

53 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

You coul

You could also do a pre or post cruise land trip out to Venice and then take a cruise out of Civitavecchia. It’s a one hour flight for about $100 or a six hour trip by car or train. Flying internationally to Rome is generally cheaper than Venice too.

 

if you stick with Venice, either of those itineraries look amazing!

Hubby brought that up also. The only one that had us leaving out of Civitavecchia that we haven't done in the time frame I'm looking is also the Greek Isles so to me it just makes sense to leave out of Venice if we want to spend some time there anyway unless I'm missing some cruises. 

4 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

We’ve sailed and absolutely loved our cruises on Rhapsody a few times these past years doing both itineraries.

I’d really say if you had the time and money was no object do a back to back.

However if I was to choose one it would be.

Venice Kotor Mykonos Santorini Split.

 I wish a B2B was an option. But it's not. 

12 minutes ago, bearette said:

I'd take the one with less sea days.  In a pinch, I always use price as my tie breaker.  Airfare price may also make a difference.

Prices are about the same and it's to far out to check airfare but it's a week apart so I don't think it will be a huge difference 

19 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Noise travels more in connecting cabins.

 

Both ways, if you get my drift😉

Valid point. There is a reason why in a family cruise I won't boo kriggt next to family 😉

Just now, Alter Ego said:

I don't think you can go wrong with either itinerary.  I went on the first, but they didn’t have the second and agree it would be a difficult choice if they had!!

 

I think the question you need to ask is how badly do you want to see Athens?  Are you really  interested in the history there and would miss seeing sites such as the Parthenon?

 

If you really have no strong feelings about Athens, then it’s a no brainer to go on the 2nd itinerary, even though there are two sea days (ps Kotor and Split are both great too!)

I really don't have strong opinions either way. I can find stuff at every port to enjoy and I don't have any must do's. It might come down to hunny deciding if he rather get off the ship on our anniversary or board on our anniversary. All the options that work I gave to him and he said he'd like to do Venice so that helped me narrow down from about 7 different choices to these two 😂 

4 minutes ago, mskaufman said:

Santorini over Corfu.  

 

Thank you! Beautiful pictures! 

21 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

If this is for your 10 year Anniversary, that's to important to risk getting a connecting cabin.

 

In my opinion

Couldn't we just keep the door close? 

Thoughts on this cruise? 

Venice, Italy | Kotor, Montenegro | Corfu, Greece | Athens (Piraeus), Greece | Mykonos, Greece | Argostoli, Greece | Cruising | Venice, Italy

or 

Venice, Italy | Kotor, Montenegro | Cruising | Mykonos, Greece | Santorini, Greece | Cruising | Split, Croatia | Venice, Italy

Which one?

Anyone been on Rhapsody recently? Thoughts on the ship?

I haven't done any research yet....if you've done it and have a trip review please link me. We are thinking end of Aug/early Sept 2021 for our 10 year wedding anniversary. We'd get off the ship on our anniversary which kinda stinks but I figure we will spend 1, maybe 2 night in Venice before heading home. And we'd fly in the day before. 

Debating it for the Rhapsody, it's a nice savings per person 

1 hour ago, lovelife said:

 

Oops...didn't realize you live in Vancouver or Seattle - so scratch that comparison!

I don't so it's 2 one way flights one from Vancouver to Florida and one from Alaska to Florida 

1 hour ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

 

 

100% agree.... Dubrovnik, Kotor, Santorini, Corfu, Amalfi Coast, Malta... anything in the Adriatic side... spectacular!

You ask why I would choose this...  New things? hiking? local experiences and cuisine?

You need to look at the following link... One of the best reviews ever on this forum by singinalot

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2702782-i’m-back-my-jewel-of-the-seas-greek-isles-travel-blog-round-2/

 

One of my best reviews on one of my top 3 vacation/cruises ever (Malta, Kotor, Venice, Dubrovnik)

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2028118-serenade-sept-17-282014-review-wlots-of-photos/

 

Have fun planning 😁

I started reading singinalot's review last night, and your review just got me hooked! Lots of great info, thank you! 

31 minutes ago, lovelife said:

 

Our cabin was a lot less expensive on the Fjords sailing but the air fare was killer. We had to fly round trip from DC to Heathrow and it cost a small fortune. Haven't heard of a one-way.

I mean Alaska is one way bc I'd do Southbound or Northbound 

2 minutes ago, lovelife said:

Another vote for Norwegian Fjords. Just did it in May/June on Explorer and it was spectacular! Alaska is just as wonderful and less expensive if you live in the US.

That's what I thought also but the cabin itself is way cheaper in Europe plus flights only one way. I don't know much about the Fjords 

1 hour ago, papaflamingo said:

If you're considering Europe, Greek Isles is a wonderful cruise.  And if you choose to go to Venice, check out staying on Murano.  It's the  "glass Island" and an easy Vaparetto ride to Venice.  Check out the Hyatt Centric Murano. It used to be the La Gare by MGallery but apparently Hyatt has acquired it.  Anyway, we stayed there a few years ago and it was spectacular, especially for an anniversary.  About 4 pm all the tourists leave and only those staying on the island are there.  Very quaint and romantic.  Anyway, just a thought. 

I love this idea and am considering it for sure 

1 hour ago, kernow said:

Does the weather matter to you? It will be much warmer in Greece/Croatia than anywhere heading North from Southampton.

At home it will be still high 90's so I'll be OK kay with cooler weather for the week for sure, ports matter more 

42 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

I've read very few bad reviews on the Harmony. Please explain. Whether doesn't count.

 The weather was probably the best thing about the Harmony. I keep debating if I want to post a full review of our experience, but I haven't decided. I'm just hoping that no one has a week like we did. Multiple issues in the kids club, the food, and a huge security issue the last night. 

We spent the day at Chill Island. Wasn't my plan but the kids had a blast and the water was great 

6 minutes ago, BSocial said:

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2021_2022/19070972_RH_Europe.pdf

 

if you don’t mind a smaller ship - Greek Isles, or Greece and Croatia.  
 

Sailing from/into Venice would make a nice 10th anniversary trip.   Late August and early September dates available in the link above.   

I was eyeing that Greece &Croatia one possibly with two days in Venice before or after. T b at or the Anthem leaving Southampton for the City Break I think.

I'd love to do a New England/Canada one also. I think that's my problem, so much I want to do I need to narrow it down. 

Someone recommend I check out the interaries  on the Bliss. After looking at them, I'm curious what balcony cabin I should be looking at. There will be 2 of us. 

Also is there anything about the Bliss I should know besides what I see in the NCL site?

15 hours ago, Rob32 said:

Hi all,

 

just wondering about the ports on the Western Med cruise. 
 

We’ll be doing the following ports - Rome, Naples, Florence & Pisa, Cannes, France and Palma De Mallorca, Spain.
 

Anyone good info on the ports? In any of them are you within walking distance of the cities in that you can just stroll off the ship at the quay and have a look around... or are you berthed miles away from anything that you have to book an excursion or tour?

 

Thanks. 

Check out the link in my signature. I also did the same cruise on a different ship last June. It's an amazing ports but very tour heavy