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Beyond the cruise....making the most of your flight dollars!


MagnoliaNC
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I live in North Carolina and will be doing an Avalon cruise starting on May 22 with 3 days in Prague before heading to the 8 days on the Illumination. We will disembark in Budapest on June 1.

 

I am trying to figure out the best exit airport (ATL, CLT, GSP, AVL) and then picking a hub city so I can see some of Europe when I disembark at the end of the cruise.

 

I have been looking at Amsterdam, Paris, London, Athens, Rome, Dubrovnik. Regional flights have been running $100 or so, so I think it could be doable to visit a couple of cities/countries beyond the cruise. Have any of you done something like this?

 

Any suggestions or concerns? Thank you in advance!!

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We have stayed pre and post cruise in Budapest, it's a great city. You could spend a few days there, then fly to Amsterdam.

 

That's a relatively easy airport to fly out of, fun city to wander around, and you should find a direct flight. If you wanted to hit another city, you could take the train to Paris, 3 hrs 20 minutes. That way, you are downtown to downtown. Trains are very easy to figure out, there are even you-tube video's with how to buy your ticket.

 

Are you looking at open jaw plane tickets, into one city and home from another? Check google flights and then go to map view. You can easily check prices from various cities leaving from Atlanta, then Charlotte, etc. Very easy to comparison shop that way.

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There is a Cruise Flights forum on this board that will likely provide more help to your question about flights.

 

My husband and I have done this. Assuming you're paying cash for your flights (as opposed to frequent flyer miles) you can use the Kayak Explore function (link) to figure out what European gateways are offering the cheapest flights from each of those airports during your timeframe.

 

I'd avoid booking a return flight from London unless that's where you really want to end your trip, as the UK adds a few hundred dollars in departure taxes to each ticket. And given the region of Europe you'll be in, I'd also consider Munich, Frankfurt, and Zurich as possible gateway cities.

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Last year we combined a land tour with a Danube cruise. Got a low cost flight to Lisbon and did a portugal and Spain tour. Got a non-stop from Madrid to Prague. Spent a couple of extra days there before joining A Danube river cruise. Then from Budapest flew to Paris for three days before catching a flight home.

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We have stayed pre and post cruise in Budapest, it's a great city. You could spend a few days there, then fly to Amsterdam.

 

That's a relatively easy airport to fly out of, fun city to wander around, and you should find a direct flight. If you wanted to hit another city, you could take the train to Paris, 3 hrs 20 minutes. That way, you are downtown to downtown. Trains are very easy to figure out, there are even you-tube video's with how to buy your ticket.

 

Are you looking at open jaw plane tickets, into one city and home from another? Check google flights and then go to map view. You can easily check prices from various cities leaving from Atlanta, then Charlotte, etc. Very easy to comparison shop that way.

 

Yes, so far I was looking at into Prague and out of Budapest with buying tickets to any place else that I decide to do, like Amsterdam. I had already decided that an extra day in Budapest would be great. I will definitely retry google flights with the map view! Thank you !!

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There is a Cruise Flights forum on this board that will likely provide more help to your question about flights.

 

My husband and I have done this. Assuming you're paying cash for your flights (as opposed to frequent flyer miles) you can use the Kayak Explore function (link) to figure out what European gateways are offering the cheapest flights from each of those airports during your timeframe.

 

I'd avoid booking a return flight from London unless that's where you really want to end your trip, as the UK adds a few hundred dollars in departure taxes to each ticket. And given the region of Europe you'll be in, I'd also consider Munich, Frankfurt, and Zurich as possible gateway cities.

I will look at those cities as gateways. I have not tried the Kayak explore option, either. I will read through the board on flights, too. Everyone here is just so helpful!

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Last year we combined a land tour with a Danube cruise. Got a low cost flight to Lisbon and did a portugal and Spain tour. Got a non-stop from Madrid to Prague. Spent a couple of extra days there before joining A Danube river cruise. Then from Budapest flew to Paris for three days before catching a flight home.

 

I’ll keep looking at the possible land tours. So far I haven’t found the right one for me. :D

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I live in North Carolina and will be doing an Avalon cruise starting on May 22 with 3 days in Prague before heading to the 8 days on the Illumination. We will disembark in Budapest on June 1.

 

I am trying to figure out the best exit airport (ATL, CLT, GSP, AVL) and then picking a hub city so I can see some of Europe when I disembark at the end of the cruise.

 

I have been looking at Amsterdam, Paris, London, Athens, Rome, Dubrovnik. Regional flights have been running $100 or so, so I think it could be doable to visit a couple of cities/countries beyond the cruise. Have any of you done something like this?

 

Any suggestions or concerns? Thank you in advance!!

We added on a 2-night stop in Reykjavik on way to a Baltic cruise out of Amsterdam last year. That was great. Loved Iceland.

 

 

I often look for 3-leg itineraries when booking flights for cruises. Once in a while you'll find the fare is nearly the same (or rarely, even cheaper) to add a 3rd leg. I just use the 3rd party sites (Expedia, Orbitz, etc) to research (use the Multi-City option).

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As has been pointed out by several posters, don't limit intra-Europe connection searches to air. Rail is often cheaper AND faster. London St. Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord is 2.5 hours (you'd better leave more than 2.5 hours before air takeoff from downtown London if you want to make your plane) and advance purchase can be less than US$50. London to Avignon is just over 6 hours and less than US$90. No baggage fees, no waiting for luggage, and if you are heading out into the countryside most main stations have rent-a-cars. There are some very cheap airfares in Europe, but be sure to look at the incredible number of fees they manage to tack on. Can work if you are traveling light, but know what you are getting into.

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  • 5 months later...

That trip looked like fun, though I agree it would be tiring to hit all of those widely-separated places in one trip. But, you did have a river cruise in the middle of your trip, right? We find those so relaxing, and we use them to re-energize, so we can go back to full throttle afterwards. Congrats on being so ambitions to pull this itinerary off!

 

We did Prague, Berlin, and Copenhagen last year on our own with a combo of trains and planes, and even with three days in each city we had run ourselves pretty ragged by the end. We normally travel this way but it is a fine line between just enough and too much. Sometimes we are overly ambitious with our planning, and we have to back off and just see a little less.

 

Edinburgh is indeed magical. It just looks so medieval as you walk along the Royal Mile. Some day we need to go back - we've only visited via cruise ship and it isn't enough time to soak it all in.

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The cruise was awesome! I would have loved to keep going to Bucharest. Maybe one day! As for Scotland, I am thinking an Ireland, Scotland, Wales trip might be fun. I wanted to get up to Inverness and see Dun Robin Castle but it was just too far and not enough time. My heritage is the Sutherland Clan.

 

I do have pictures on my Facebook page should you wish to see them. Jackie Likens Case

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