Sunshine or Legend? I need Europe advice!

[AXiDMonica]

Hi everyone... I was having trouble posting this but I figured it out!

 

I need your help! I never thought I would come on here asking for help with a decision but suddenly I need all the advice I can get. Bear with me it's a lot of info but I want you all to see what I'm up against here.

 

Background: My husband and I did the Breeze inaugural out of Venice this past year and fell in love with Europe so we're planning to go back. We are currently booked on the Legend out of Dover on July 3rd but today I found the Sunshine May 17th sailing which I think might be a good choice for us.

 

Sunshine details: 9 day cruise with ONE sea day and 7 ports. Barcelona, Marseilles, Livorno, Olbia (Sardinia), Rome (Civitavecchia), Naples, Messina (Sicily), Palma De Mallorca, ending in Barcelona. Here we would fly in the day of the cruise and then we would stay three nights post-cruise in Paris.

 

Legend details: 12 day cruise with FOUR sea days and 6 ports. London, Copenhagen, Berlin, (Warnemunde), Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Russia, Tallinn, Amsterdam, ending in London. Here we would stay in London one night pre-cruise and fly home directly after debarking.

 

Pros and cons:

 

We have done 4 out of 7 ports on the Sunshine but two of those we would go to different places so they would be “new” experiences for us. (We would go to the beaches in Olbia and Cinque Terre in Livorno both of which we didn’t do last year. In Rome and Messina we would just go back and see things we may have missed last year but here it would basically be a repeat.) On the Legend ALL the ports would be new to us including London.

 

The Sunshine has ONE sea day. I get very nervous when seas are rough and prefer more port intensive itineraries. The Legend has 4 days two of which are back to back.

 

The Sunshine is shorter meaning it would be easier to take time off from work. I would need 8 work days off. The Legend would mean taking 10 work days off.

 

The Sunshine would mean missing out on a huge event I have been planning for my Sorority Alumni Association which I am the President of. Plus it means possibly being on the same flight as a good friend of mine who will be sailing out of Barcelona on the same day as us (different cruise line) for their honeymoon! (How awkward to “crash” their honeymoon flight!) And it’s in May which means it’s coming up soon. The Legend isn’t until July which would allow me to attend my event plus it breaks up my year quite nicely. I prefer June/July vacations.

 

The Sunshine is a “new” ship. The Legend is older and won’t have all the new dry dock additions.

 

On the Sunshine we would fly in the day OF sailing (which I realize is a huge risk but we would need to take it)…and then we dive into a very port intensive itinerary which would give us no sea day until the second to last day. On the Legend we would be getting to London a day before the cruise means we would probably need to rush around to see everything and we would probably be really jet lagged. But we have a sea day the very first day of the cruise so we have recovery time.

 

Now here’s a HUGE factor -- The Sunshine is overall about $2,000 cheaper (flights and cruise are both less).

 

The Sunshine seems like a no-brainer however, we just looked up the shore excursions on the CCL website – The Baltic (Legend) ones are not totally up yet so we cannot full weigh options. Then, the ones we thought would be awesome on the Sunshine just left us a bit disappointed.

 

We have heard that Provence, Cinque Terre and Capri/Sorrento/Pompeii are unbelievable… but the excursions don’t look like they are any different than what we saw this past summer.

 

We have also heard that on the Baltic itinerary the ports are even farther away from the main cities than in Italy… i.e. Berlin is THREE hours from Warnemunde? Dover is two hours from London? That’s a bit much isn’t it?

 

Would we be making a mistake going back to Italy even if it is to “new” areas? For those of you that have done both itineraries and have read through my pros and cons what would you do?

 

Extra notes: 1. Missing out on my event isn’t a make it/break it… If I miss it I will be sad but I’d rather be in Europe with my husband on a ship any day. 2. I have the vacation time available for both choices I would just rather not use up all my days if it can be avoided. 3. We would be taking a train to Paris after the cruise but schedules for Rail Europe aren’t out yet for May so we don’t know about times or prices.

 

Thank you all for reading through all of this and also in advance for your input. I truly appreciate it! I will be back on the boards in the morning to see what advice you all have for me!

 

Thanks again!!

[goody1]

Hi,

My wife and I have never cruised with Carnival before, however we have done the Baltic 3 times and the Med numerous times. Funnily enough our friends are about to book the Legends itinerary on the 15th July.

If you have never cruised on the Baltic before, this is a great itinerary. On our 3 cruises we had fantastic weather with a total of 3 days rain. These were taken in July.

True, Berlin is about 3 hours by train, however Warnemunde is the only Port that is far from the City. London is not really considered as Dover is the start/finishing port.

I appreciate that the Med itinerary is considerably less expensive, however my vote goes to the Baltic. Hope this gives you food for thought.

[fuddrules]

For me, if I had already completed the Med cruise, I would do the Baltic.

 

Only for the fact I would want to see new places regardless of how much I liked the Med. But, that is just my preference.

 

Sounds like you're in a win/win situation.

[AXiDMonica]

Thank you for your advice... I think I'm leaning towards the Baltic now too. My mind changes every hour! Lol

[gstewart]

It is well worth seeing the Baltic - Helsinki and Tallinn in particular are fantastic cities.

 

I love the sea days personally to the point we are considering booking a Transatlantic crossing on Norwegian Epic which has around 11 sea days. Absolute bliss for us.

 

If I were to choose, I would go with the Legend and build in a couple of days to visit London - you won't regret it!

[AXiDMonica]

I would LOVE to build more London days into it but due to time constraints I cannot be out from work that long so with the Baltic it would only be one night in London before vs the three nights in Paris on the Sunshine. That's what drives me nuts!

 

Anyone else want to weigh in? I know there are more experts out there! Come out, come out, wherever you are! :)

[sunraiser]

AxiMonica,

 

I had done both baltic and med. cruises. They were both good. I plan to cruise to med. again this year with Sunshine in June, mainly due to the reasons that it would be a "new" ship, good itinernary with affordable price. I fully understand your situation regarding missing some events, taking longer leave from work ..... However, 1 night in London is not going to do much, that only makes you want to return on next time.

 

I willl do 3 nights in Paris because I can at least have good amount of time to explore the city, sightseeing, and most important try out their local cuisine. Also, I perfer newer ship. Med. is more exotic. There are many different activities, such as sightseeing, hiking and wine tasting. If you enjoy food, Med is better. Don't get it wrong, Baltic is very beautiful too.

 

1vs. 3 sea days: I personlly take the ship as a floating hotel, and it is non-productive by staying at the ship. I would like to visit the lands as much as I can, since I pay high fee for the air ticket. Hope this help....

[mykiddiewinks]

I would vote for the Legend, 2 reason really, flying a day early, we have flown the day of a cruise before - never again we almost missed the ship which on an expensive European cruise you dont want to risk.

 

2nd reason the extra at sea days, ports day after day after day, by the time you get half way through you would be totally exhausted.

 

We have sailed on the Legend and it is a lovely ship, we were actually on her just before she went into dry dock last time and was still looking pretty good.

 

Best way to see London if you only have the 1 afternoon would to be the open top bus, this way you get to see all the major sights while sat recovering from the jet lag! We were born and raised in England and have been to London a few times, you really dont want to attempt seeing London in such a short time any other way. If you have time and are not too tired, take the evening river cruise, very pretty view of the city at night, another must if time allows the London Eye.

[AXiDMonica]

Thank you everyone! I will keep you posted with our final decision!

[KenMo]

I'd vote for Legend.

 

I think it's a nicer ship...even if they do the overhaul on Destiny/Sunshine.

 

Someone just started a thread that Destiny is still having thruster problems. Don't know if this will be fixed satisfactorily or not.

[bbohbbneedacruise]

My vote would be for the return TA on Legend.

Only need flights to Europe and the itinerary is sporadic sea days.

 

Another plus is that the northern TA is less common vs the Barcelona to the states TA.

 

Just my opinion. :D

[Mizzouaholic]

I would do the Sunshine!