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Adriatic Dream and alternatives

VAtravelers100

By VAtravelers100,
in Holland America Line

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VAtravelers100

VAtravelers100

Posted
Posted

We are in the very beginning stages of planning a cruise with two other families and would love some feedback. We've cruised twice with HAL - Alaska and Baltics - so our natural leaning is to start with HAL. We want an itinerary that includes Croatia.

 

The families are all very well traveled, with kids 5, 6, 9, 9, 15.

 

We LOVE the itinerary of the 12 day Adriatic Dream.

 

Can anyone share words of wisdom on viable alternatives that we should consider? Any endorsements of this itinerary?

 

Thanks for any guidance!

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Storylady

Storylady

Posted
Posted
We are in the very beginning stages of planning a cruise with two other families and would love some feedback. We've cruised twice with HAL - Alaska and Baltics - so our natural leaning is to start with HAL. We want an itinerary that includes Croatia.

 

The families are all very well traveled, with kids 5, 6, 9, 9, 15.

 

We LOVE the itinerary of the 12 day Adriatic Dream.

 

Can anyone share words of wisdom on viable alternatives that we should consider? Any endorsements of this itinerary?

 

Thanks for any guidance!

Go for it! I really don't think you could have picked a better itinerary. We have cruised the Adriatic several times and I have never seen an itinerary that included Koper Slovenia, Split Croatia, Dubrovnik Croatia, Korcula Croatia and Koper, Montenegro on the same sailing! Plus you have Venice!!! And also Malta!!

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VAtravelers100

VAtravelers100

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Awesome! I hope you'll share your experience. It's been a few years since we've booked with HAL, so I'll need to refresh on strategies. We booked directly for both other cruises and did guarantee verandah (got upgraded free both times). We are planning a trip for summer 2018, so we have lots of time. On this itinerary we've only been to Venice and Rome, but will certainly be happy to go back.

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sammygoose

sammygoose

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Friends of ours wanted to go to Europe for the first time and Rome and Venice were non negotiable so they chose the itinerary. We convinced them to go HAL 2 years ago and they liked it so much they chose HAL this time. I had hoped they would like HAL like we do so we want to join them.

 

I am looking forward to Malta and Split and Kotor...

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Happily@Sea

Happily@Sea

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Ha - makes sense to me! We would be on the Oosterdam for this itinerary. It would be a new ship for us. Eurodam and Zuiderdam were our previous cruises.

 

I hope you are looking at 2018, because in 2017 - Oosterdam has been redeployed to Alaska for the late spring and summer. If you are looking at 2017, a visit to the website may be more productive.

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Happily@Sea

Happily@Sea

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Yes we're looking at 2018!

 

Just checking -some have been looking at the original 2017 catalog [from before the change] and distressed to find the itinerary no longer offered because of the redeployment.

 

Hope you find exactly what you want.

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Storylady

Storylady

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The itinerary for June 2017 is better than the itinerary for 2018, especially if you are interested in Croatia. The 2018 itinerary is nice also as it goes to Crete, but it doesn't stop in Koper Slovenia or Kotor Montenegro. And it has one less stop in Croatia.

 

Orbitz just posted a list of 6 places that most people don't visit and Lake Bled Slovenia (which can be visited from Koper) and Dubrovnik Croatia were on the list.

 

Also this cruise is only offered in June 17th.

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Cindy

Cindy

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We're booked on the Adriatic Dream in April, and we chose it over several cruises we were considering because of the awesome itinerary. We also liked that we're in port 11/12 days. For us, sea days are fine in the Caribbean, but when I'm in Europe I want to be out exploring.

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VAtravelers100

VAtravelers100

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Posted (edited)

For 2018 these are the ports. Does anyone know of a better itinerary out there for summer 2018??

 

Begins in Venice, ends in Rome, and includes

 

Split, Croatia

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Sarande, Albania

Olympia, Greece

Chania, Greece

Mykonos, Greece

Valletta, Malta

Victoria, Malta

Sicily, Italy

Pompeii, Italy

 

Actually maybe I'm missing something but it oddly doesn't list Crete in the itinerary even though it's on the itinerary map??

Edited by VAtravelers100
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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

Posted
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For 2018 these are the ports. Does anyone know of a better itinerary out there for summer 2018??

 

Begins in Venice, ends in Rome, and includes

 

Split, Croatia

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Sarande, Albania

Olympia, Greece

Chania, Greece

Mykonos, Greece

Valletta, Malta

Victoria, Malta

Sicily, Italy

Pompeii, Italy

 

Actually maybe I'm missing something but it oddly doesn't list Crete in the itinerary even though it's on the itinerary map??

 

Chania is in the North Western part of Crete I believe.

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grayjay

grayjay

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Yes, Chania is one of the ports for Crete ( very nice!) just as Pompeji is inland, not to far from the port of Naples, Italy.

Try to find a date in early summer ( Mai/June) or later in the year (September/October) - the weather is usually much better, as it's not that hot as in the summer. There are also huge tourist crowds in the Med during the summer - most Europeans will have their summer holidays in the kids' free time during July and August. As so many cruise ships don't use Turkish ports any more (seasons 2017/18) there will be more and more ships going to ports in Spain, Italy, Greece as well. Ports like Barcelona or Civitavecchia are fine with 7 or 8 ships - but it's not that easy in a small port like Santorini or Mykonos. We were lucky, for example, to have an overnight stay in Dubrovnik last year - very relaxing in the evening or morning - but almost impossible to walk through during the regular cruise ship hours 10-4 p.m.!

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Storylady

Storylady

Posted
Posted
For 2018 these are the ports. Does anyone know of a better itinerary out there for summer 2018??

 

Begins in Venice, ends in Rome, and includes

 

Split, Croatia

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Sarande, Albania

Olympia, Greece

Chania, Greece

Mykonos, Greece

Valletta, Malta

Victoria, Malta

Sicily, Italy

Pompeii, Italy

 

Actually maybe I'm missing something but it oddly doesn't list Crete in the itinerary even though it's on the itinerary map??

 

I looked through all the listings for June, July, August and September 2018. And the one for June 17, 2018 is the best.

 

Only way to make it better is to do a b2b. And there the best itinerary would be June 5th for 24 days. You would get to Dubrovnik again, but it would allow you to visit the countryside after you have seen the old town. And you would also get to Kotor, Montenegro which has an incredible sail in.

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