Greece or Baltic

[totoromama]

Hi, there

 

I am having a hard time to decide which cruise to take with my kids this summer.

They are 11 and 9.

Both itinerary are attractive to me, as I like the Santorini in the Greece/Turkey line with RCCL and St. Petersburg in the Baltic line with NCL, and they are both 7-9 days which I find the perfect length for us.

 

My question will be which cruise kids this age tend to enjoy more?

Both of my kids love beach and culture..

so hard to decide.

 

any input it highly appreciated.

Thanks

Edited March 15, 2015 by totoromama

[Essiesmom]

Welcome to Cruise Critic. I suggest you get copies of both Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports and Rick Steves' Northern Europe Cruise Ports. Read up on what there is to do in those ports, and decide which one suites you more. There is not much in the way of beaches in either the Med or Baltic. but my personal opinion is that there is more to interest children in the Baltic than the Med. I think they would soon get weary of old ruins and churches. Also, in the Eastern Med/Adriatic it will be very hot in July and August, but more comfortable in the Baltic.

I think you might get more varied culture if you do the Baltic: St. Petersburg is like no other place; The Vasa museum in Stockholm; Copenhagen, Amsterdam...Viking ship museum in Oslo...EM

[canadakath]

Unfortunately I can't provide a full comparison yet - we are doing Baltics with our 11 and 9 year old boys this summer but we did Med (including Turkey and Greece) with them at 9 and 7. They loved seeing the places we had talked about in Rome and Athens, but their favourite two stops were Mykonos (our cruise didn't go to Santorini) and La Spezia, Italy (we went to Pisa).

 

They are excited to see new things this summer, but there aren't the "big hitters" that they can tell their friends about like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Coliseum and the Acropolis.

 

Let the kids help you decide!

[chipmaster]

IMHO if there isn't a destination that you have your heart set on the experience and memories that would make more an impression lie in the Med. So many iconic stuff in the Med versus the Baltic sailings.

 

I was planning a new summery possibility. Each time wife and I discuss Baltics but come back to another spin thru the Med as more interesting, YMMV.

[totoromama]

Thank you so much for the inputs.

 

When you did the Med. in the summer, did you find the heat unbearable?

[canadakath]

Our Med cruise was June 15-27. I am very glad we didn't do an August cruise. It got increasingly hot as we moved around "the boot" after doing France and Italy. We were fortunate though - there was a beautiful breeze wind from the north the day we were in Athens, and Mykonos itself is always windy (hence the old and picturesque windmills). Kusadasi, Turkey was the worst day, but our tour company had cold cloths for our head/neck after we had done about 3/4 of Ephesus and an air conditioned bus.

 

We had to take the boys out of school two weeks early in order to do the June cruise, but all they seem to do in those last two weeks is watch movies anyways. I am happy to do a late July cruise for the Baltics this year since it won't feel like we come back to two months of summer with no vacation days left.

[UKBayern]

There is not much in the way of beaches in either the Med or Baltic. but my personal opinion is that there is more to interest children in the Baltic than the Med.

 

You are really joking, right?

The Med has the best beaches in Europe. 300 million European holiday makers flock there every year. Hundreds of thousands of those tourists are children. There are water parks, amusement parks, parrot zoos, donkey rides, etc. everywhere on the Med, whether in Spain, Turkey, Italy, Morocco, Greece, Croatia, etc. They are throughly equipped to deal with kids, and they loooove kids.

 

To the OP: be a bit more specific about the port stops on both cruises, so that we on this board can all give you more specific information.

[flhokie]

While I love RCCL, I'd probably go Baltic. There are some great iconic sites in some of the Med ports, they are usually very hot & crowded at that time of year. Baltic ports could of course have a heat wave, but are usually much cooler at that time of year. We were in jackets in August in Norway & Denmark. It just makes for easier touring.

 

We found the ports we visited in Northern Europe very walking/exploring friendly and we docked in most of the cities (instead of an hour bus to Rome, Athens, etc).

 

That being said, if you are looking for beach time, I'd go Med. We saw people on the beaches as we departed Amsterdam, but it was way too cold for the water.

[totoromama]

Many thanks again.

 

We can't leave for vacation until July, and consider the heat factor, I will book the Baltic for this summer.

 

I am so looking forward to it now.

 

As for Baltic, did you book the shore excursion for every port?

The ports for my itinerary will be Copenhagen ( we will stay pre and post cruise), Berlin, Tallinn, St. Petersburg,Helsinki and Stockholm.

Some people said it's pretty easy to just hop on the bus from the port to the city. How true is that?

:confused:

[Essiesmom]

As I mentioned in post #2, get a copy of Rick Steves' Northern Europe Cruise Ports. He tells you what there is to do in each port in the time you have, and how to DIY. In St. Petersburg, you MUST do a tour, but it doesn't need to be through the ship. Visit the Ports of Call board, and the roll call for your cruise to see what others are arranging. Tallinn is very walkable, Berlin is VERY far from Warnemunde/Rostock where you will dock. A three hour train ride each way. Don't miss the Vasa Museum in Stockholm - home of the Swedish Titanic. It will blow your kids away. Copenhagen is also quite easy to walk, but since you are staying pre-and post cruise, you can set your own schedule. EM