Destination ideas for JUN/JUL 3 week minimum

My husband and I live in the desert southwest, USA, and would like to be somewhere else during the hottest parts of the summer (mid-JUN through JUL). We would like to be gone at least 3 weeks, maybe more. We are retired but have the curse of limited funds. Dollar for dollar, cruising is our first choice.

We are tired of Alaska cruises and the fjords and Baltic. South America would be good, but it seems no one cruises that direction in the US summer (it is winter south of the equator).

We are open to suggestions. Thanks.

Downeast Maine, Nova Scotia, Scotland, Switzerland, are all great places during the summer.

Thanks. We have been looking at these areas but most are less that our 3 week minimum. Cruises to Switzerland? Interesting.

We have thought about a cruise + renting an apartment in one of the port cities for some weeks to fill out the 'heat escape' plan.

Sorry I didn't understand that you were limiting it to cruises. Combining a cruise with a self-driving trip opens up a lot more possibilities

We did an Adriatic cruise earlier this summer and then rented a car and drove through the Italian and Swiss alps for 2.5 weeks. We liked the driving part of the trip much more than the cruise. So much so that we've booked apartments for next summer in Zermatt and Wengen Switzerland for 3 weeks each.

And last summer we did a 1 week barge cruise down the Calendonian canal and then rented a car and drove through Scotland for 2 weeks.

Ah. Thanks. We have actually thought of Prague/Vienna/Budapest using trains between these cities. Hotels already seem to be very limited during the summer, so we are looking for apartments. If we stay outside Vienna it is an easy train ride to almost anywhere else we would want to go west and/or north of there. Then another apartment stay in Budapest would offer easy train trips to many other interesting areas.

I know Americans, especially, like their cars and road trips. We learned years ago really to like train travel. We both get to watch the scenery and often the route is nearly the same as, or adjacent to, the roads.

Thanks for the memory jog of Switzerland. Have not been there for decades and we have a friend living in Zurich.

Oh the possibilities. ;-)