Europe newbie - 7day

[Pa8born]

Hi CC,

I have very little time off and have never been to Europe. do you think a 7 day cruise w 1 day for layover would be with it traveling from CA? What would you reccomend for me. Should I wait until I can take a 10 day?

Any itinerary and ship good for such a short time?

Thanks in advance.

[Essiesmom]

If that's all you can afford, either money or timewise, go for it. Maybe go for the least expensive cabin so you can afford a longer cruise. And remember, airfare may well cost as much as the cruise. EM

[Chazteach1]

If possible try to extend your cruise. One week is too short.

[Desertbelle]

You asked for opinions, so here's mine:

I think if you only have 7-8 days I would go to Europe on a land based trip, maybe a planned group tour....pick two or three cites, such as Rome and Florence, or London and Paris and take in as much as you can.

 

In the future, when you have more time book a great 12-16 day Mediterranean cruise or Norwegian Fjords cruise or a Baltics cruise and see a new area of Europe at a more leisurely pace.

 

Have a great time whatever your choose. :)

[markeb]

Depends.

 

I'd agree that a land based vacation is probably better for a week or less, especially for a first time. Are you cruising to see Europe, or are you going to Europe to cruise? The problem is, if the first, you won't see much, and if the second, well, there are more affordable and less time consuming places to cruise from California...

 

And, I'd also agree with picking a couple of places you really want to see, and visiting them. You can easily spend a week in London alone!

[Pushka]

Not sure a week for a land based holiday will achieve much unless you stay in the one place. The travel involved getting from place to place cuts seriously into available time given all the time wasted in airports. Unpacking and repacking. Checking out. I think a cruise is perfect.

[durante]

The one week cruises on Equinox have some great itineraries.

[hillsprint]

I would take the view that you use the cruise as a taster or sampler of the places you visit. On a 7 day Med cruise you normally have 5 or 6 ports of call plus the port you embark from. You are only there about 8 -10 hrs each day, so you are not going to be able to take in all of what each venue has to offer, and anyway if you do full day trips, at each you'll end up needing a vacation to recover :)

 

So I would say, pick a Western Med cruise, that will cover most of the big name ports/destinations, eg Rome, Florence/Pisa, Nice, Barcelona and one of the islands. It will give you a flavour of what each is like and then when you have more time, you can go back and explore more.

 

On a cruise you really only get a chance to scratch the surface of any destination, which is why folk do lots of Med cruises, as even if you visit a destination several times over various cruises, there are usually different things to experience each time at each port :)

[Pushka]

The one week cruises on Equinox have some great itineraries.

 

 

Indeed. We took one last year. And as a result doing a 13 nighter in 2 weeks. :p

[chemmo]

As Hillsprint said, a seven day cruise will give you a taster of the Med. You will want to return. The Eastern Med has a totally different feel to the Western Med so you may want to consider this when choosing itineraries.

 

As someone else said, the air fair will be high for such a short break. What we have always tried to do world wide is try to attach other aspects to out holiday to make it greater value, for example a three day stay in Rome, Barcelona before the cruise.

 

The other concern is air travel issues if you are only having a one day layover. Unless you book with Celebrity if you miss your cruise owing to a cancellation, serious delay quite simply you have missed your cruise...When we cross to the U.S. before a cruise we like a 2day minimum in case of difficulties and to get over the jet lag.

 

So in summary, yes you would get something out of a 7 day cruise but a little more time would make a lot of difference!

[nekzaadvakil]

I've done both. A short 5 day Med cruise (with a few days prior in Paris and Barcelona) and longer 11-13 night Med cruises. I would definitely suggest the longer ones. If you're going to be spending alot of money on airfares, you might as well make the most of it.

 

Celebrity's S class ships have some of the most amazing 11/12 night itineraries in Europe and we've been hooked on ever since we tried it. The longer ones are more relaxing as they usually have 2-3 sea days + 6-7 amazing ports. You can enjoy the ship as well.

[4774Papa]

You asked for opinions, so here's mine:

I think if you only have 7-8 days I would go to Europe on a land based trip, maybe a planned group tour....pick two or three cites, such as Rome and Florence, or London and Paris and take in as much as you can.

 

In the future, when you have more time book a great 12-16 day Mediterranean cruise or Norwegian Fjords cruise or a Baltics cruise and see a new area of Europe at a more leisurely pace.

 

Have a great time whatever your choose. :)

Agree, if you have never been to Europe, you want to do a land trip.

Spend a week in Paris or split a week between Rome and Florence. A week in London would be nice with a trip to Canterbury and/or Stonehenge and Bath.

 

Western Med cruises give you a fraction of a day in Rome and Florence, not enough.

 

An Eastern Med cruise out of Istanbul is great if you really want to see Istanbul and Greece (of course Greece has its problems now).

[OhioDogLover]

If all you are able to do is a week, my thought is to give it a try. We go for more than that as a rule, and I agree that is preferable, but why not have a taste of Europe? I would suggest that you get a guide in each port and have an overview of the city you are in. Unless, of course, there is something specific you want to see, then do that. For example, if you are going to Rome, either get a driver to show you a Rome overview, or, just do the Vatican or the Colosseum and Forum. Then when you go back, because you will, you can see something else. There may be tours you can join on your roll call. If you are more comfortable, you can even take a ship tour, or your TA may have some tours she is offering.

Just my two cents.

 

Ohiodoglover

[upwarduk]

Don't forget you have to factor in Jet-lag, so the longer the better, as you will need at least one recovery day, which really cuts into your week.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Flying to and from Europe will be rather exhausting, but some people are able to sleep on the plane. So it really depends how you travel. I understand time constraints and have flown to Italy for brief (3 nights) periods of time. So 7-nights would work for me- although longer is always better.

 

I think it depends what itinerary you are interested in. If it's the one from Venice to Greece and Turkey- I say go!

 

I think that cruise travel is great way to relax and enjoy your seven days. You don't have to micromanage every minute. You can pick a couple of excursions and then wing it on the other days. Research the ports you plan to visit.

[I&J Cruisers]

Go for it!!! our first trip to Europe was a 7 day western med cruise. I remember those ports and details of those shore excursions more than any other since. Even though we now take longer more exotic trips I wouldn't trade those memories. Go and enjoy.

[jabrown40]

Because of work, the most we could take was a 7 night med cruise - we arrived in Barcelona the day before, which helped with the time change before getting on the ship. However, the cruise was a bit tiring. We were up every day by 6am to make our excursions, and by the last day, my husband didn't even want to get off the ship. If your budget and vacation time allow, plan a little more time. With that being said, I still loved seeing multiple cities in Europe, and cruising is a great way to get a good overview. You won't be immersed in the culture, or experience much of the fine cuisine of Europe, but being in California, I'm sure you have your fair share of great restaurants anyway!

[Pa8born]

I've done both. A short 5 day Med cruise (with a few days prior in Paris and Barcelona) and longer 11-13 night Med cruises. I would definitely suggest the longer ones. If you're going to be spending alot of money on airfares, you might as well make the most of it.

 

Celebrity's S class ships have some of the most amazing 11/12 night itineraries in Europe and we've been hooked on ever since we tried it. The longer ones are more relaxing as they usually have 2-3 sea days + 6-7 amazing ports. You can enjoy the ship as well.

 

Thank-you all for your replies. I am open to the itinerary and really do love to cruise. I will think about choosing choice air from Celebrity as I did not factor that in. I wish I could go on a 10 night or longer but think that I will wait until I can have more cushion for travel around the 7 day. Off to do some research on best months to travel. Would love to go to Italy and somewhere in Spain or Portugal. Thanks again for all the advice

[ClaudiaB]

I'll add something completely different. There is a lot of Europe that isn't on a port. I vote for the land trip and doing a bit of research and staying in B&Bs. You will enjoy the cruise, of course, but you won't get that "immersion" feel that you get by staying on land.

 

My first time to Europe was to Zurich, Switzerland. We rented a car and spent a few nights in Lucerne and a few in southeast Germany in a fabulous little town called Mittenwald. We based out of each town and took day trips. We actually spent very little time in Zurich. We were only gone 8 days. Short, but long enough, particularly because we were staying in small neighborhood B&Bs that gave us a real feel for the area.

 

I remember thinking that I was so excited to be in EUROPE! When I cruise I'm excited to be on a ship.

 

Whatever you choose, have a great time.

Edited July 18, 2015 by ClaudiaB

[workstocruise]

May I put in my 2cents. My first time to Europe was a land trip for 9 days. I was barely 40 and didn't need much sleep so jet lag was no big deal. I loved Europe and couldn't wait to go back. Next trip was 12 days and all we did was Italy but this time I was mid 50s and jet lag really got me down, we spent a lot of years cruising the Caribbean and putting kids through college before we could afford Europe again. So if you're young and resilient I'd go for the 7 day cruise. If you like it you can always go back. For us now, we won't fly to Europe for less than two weeks because of jet lag not to mention the cost of flying. Have fun on whatever you choose to do.

[true45]

Hi

I hope you can squeeze in a couple of days around the 7-day cruise and take it soon.

 

We took a 7-day Rome to Venice with 2 extra nights in both Rome and Venice. It was our 1st trip to Europe (end of October). Weather was perfect. It went down the coast (Capri, Amalfi/Positano, Sicily, Corfu, zakynthos (also Greek island), Dubrovnik and ended in Venice.

 

It was exhausting without sea days but an experience we would do over again in a second. Rome and Venice were spiritual and our favorites. We are mid 60's in relatively decent shape. We loved every minute and hope to do it again but different ports. We didn't try to see everything -- did our homework with Rick Steves help especially. Cruising was perfect for us. We aren't completely retired and didn't want to be gone too long.

 

Happy sailing

Linda

[mickeysgal]

Go for it!!! our first trip to Europe was a 7 day western med cruise. I remember those ports and details of those shore excursions more than any other since. Even though we now take longer more exotic trips I wouldn't trade those memories. Go and enjoy.

 

I agree! If all you have is a week, then do the 7 day. Don't postpone it as tomorrow may never come. I did that once with an Alaska cruise. All I had was a week and the CC boards said postpone until I could do it "right"...with a land portion before/after. To this day I regret postponing it. Go with what you have. Enjoy the 7 day cruise. It will give you a taste and you will know what you will want to come back to see. Please, however, try to fly in a day ahead of time so that you can acclimate a bit and account for any flight delays. There is something to be said for unpacking once with a cruise and sampling all these great cities.

Edited July 18, 2015 by mickeysgal

[BunnyLebowski]

The OP wants to take a 1 week cruise in Europe. A completely reasonable idea, especially when one is at a point in their professions/lives with more money than free time.

 

As previously stated, it's a bit of an ordeal getting to Europe from North America, but not so bad if you avoid overnight flights, can fly direct to your port city, and use some melatonin to acclimate yourself the first night upon your arrival.

 

Find an itinerary that you like along with flights that make it easy on yourself. Saving $$$ should not be your primary consideration if you are on a tight schedule.

 

Ill be on the Constellation on August 2 with my husband and 2 young children. It's 7 days in Greece sailing out of Venice and promises to be an AWESOME trip. Sure, it might be better to have 14 days on the ship, but that's no reason to not take the shorter trip. Life is short- take the trip you're dreaming of. A longer cruise/vacation can be in your plans, but don't sacrifice experiences you can enjoy now for a "someday" trip that may never materialize.

 

Enjoy your trip!

[Pushka]

Hmm. Try 19 hours from Australia. And a 7 night Med Cruise is a perfect taster.