Back to back cruises?

[ActiveTraveler]

I want to start or end a cruise where I can easily and quickly get to Paris for a two-day, maybe three-day stay. The closest I can get to Paris on Crystal Serenity is Dover. But, unfortunately, no cruise itinerary starting or ending in Dover has Rome at the other end. I really want to go to Italy. Can someone give me suggestions for how to include Italy in a Western Europe cruise instead of going to Greece, Croatia, and Turkey? I picked the Crystal Serenity because it matches all of my criteria, but the port calls situation made me think I need to sail on two cruise lines in consecutive weeks to do everything I want in the same vacation. Is this necessary?

[Krazy Kruizers]

What you are planning is not considered back-to-back cruises.

 

Back-to-back cruises are when you stay on the same ship and do 2 cruises on that ship.

 

But -- it does sound like you need to look at 2 different cruise lines to do the ports you want to do.

[dfb]

What about this?

 

http://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR100721/Itinerary.aspx

 

Starts in Italy, ends in Barcelona, but the previous port is Marseille and I am sure you can work it out with RSSC to disembark there instead for your trip to Paris.

 

Or Monte Carlo to Rome?

http://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR101002/Itinerary.aspx

 

Good luck, Debbie

[thinfool]

I want to start or end a cruise where I can easily and quickly get to Paris for a two-day, maybe three-day stay. The closest I can get to Paris on Crystal Serenity is Dover. But, unfortunately, no cruise itinerary starting or ending in Dover has Rome at the other end. I really want to go to Italy. Can someone give me suggestions for how to include Italy in a Western Europe cruise instead of going to Greece, Croatia, and Turkey? I picked the Crystal Serenity because it matches all of my criteria, but the port calls situation made me think I need to sail on two cruise lines in consecutive weeks to do everything I want in the same vacation. Is this necessary?

 

Do your thing in Paris and then take the overnight train to Rome or Venice...board a ship and do the Med.

[kitty9]

The reason you won't find cruises is because Paris is so far inland and the stops for tours to Paris are very limited. The closest you get is Rouen, which is about an hour and a half to two hour drive, but large ships cannot get to the port in that area as it's on the Seine. LeHavre is the most used stop to get to Paris, but that's about 140 kms away.

 

My best suggestion is the same you received on the Crystal board. Find a cruise that begins or ends in Dover or Harwich, and take the Chunnel to Paris either at the beginning or end of your cruise. But, you will not find a cruise that either starts or ends near Paris, at least none that might meet your requirements. You can also see if there's a cruise that ends in Rome or Venice and then fly to Paris. You could do Paris before a cruise that departs from Venice, ends in Rome and then you could stay in Rome for a few days after your cruise.

 

If you want to do Italy more than Paris, Seabourn has some absolutely wonderful itineraries that start and end in Rome or Venice. I actually took my very first solo cruise on Seabourn, and it provided more fabulous memories than I can tell you. Seabourn treats their solo women passengers the best of any cruise I've been on (and I've been on 64), even better than Crystal, imho. Their shore excursions were beyond awesome. On one, we stopped in St Jean de Luz, on Bastille day, and they held a special fireworks display for our ship. On that same cruise, we stopped very early in the AM, in Coulliere, and I walked into the village, bought a cup of coffee, some cheese and a baguette and sat on a bench overlooking the Med. It was so very special. Spent a day walking the hills around Cinque Terra. This cruise started in Rouen, and I was able to stay in Paris for three days before the cruise, took a private car to Rouen, and ended in Rome, where I stayed for an additional 4 days. A wonderful cruise for a relative first timer.