Torn between Canary or Adriatic. Anyone done one of these European cruises?

[spartac]

Hello

 

I'm looking for a cruise for Fall 2019, ideally early October. My main objective is a mix of relaxing time and exposure to a new culture. Right now here are my options, by (sort of) order of convenience:

1- Canary Island cruise (London to London, Oct 3rd, Silhouette). PRO: All New Ports, fits well in my schedule, best price, maybe some relaxing time in the Canaries? Question: are the Canaries a destination that mixes well beaches and what to discover? I have a feeling I'll be missing on culture, as well that all the 4 islands might be sort of the same, like sometimes in the caribbean (perception?)

2- Italy and Dalmatian Coast (Oct 1st or 10th, on Constellation. 9 or 10 days). PRO: interested to visit Croatia/Montenegro/Slovenia (although wondering if it's not better without a cruise?). I feel I might hit more points on the culture side CON: Slightly more expensive (but not an issue). Have done Rome and Naples and will be doing them again next year.

3- Italy, Adriatic and Spain cruise (Aug 24th on Infinity, 12 days). PRO: some ports I have not seen (Split, Kotor, Koper, Catania, ibiza, Mallorca). CON: Requires 2 full weeks of holidays and fits less with my calendar but doable.

 

Honestly At some point I will probably end up doing all of these so it's a bit of a toss up between mainly 1 (not sure how exotic it will be) and 2 or 3. Thanks for any insight!

Edited November 6, 2017 by spartac

[Essiesmom]

My impression is that the Canaries are to Europe as the Caribbean is to North America. Europeans go there to escape winter. Of your three choices, I would choose #2. I really like the ports on #3, but not in August! The eastern Med. is very hot and very crowded in august, as that is when Europe goes on vacation. EM

[bogofman]

Most of your time to and from the canaries in October will be very cold.

 

Weather in med will also be mixed in October. I would not want to do any of these cruises outside of the June to September window.

 

I like my weather guarentee good.

 

I,ve stayed in Venice in October and it was not much more than freezing.

[Lastdance]

I was in the Canaries/Tenerife this past April/May. The weather was gorgeous, but in Oct. they were very warm. I have been to all of your ports and they all have special places to visit, like Lake Bled, the zig-zag in Montenegro etc....

 

The Connie is an older ship- don’t know if that is a factor for you or not.

 

I agree about European vacations and the heat in August as the above poster stated. Hot and very crowded can put a damper on your vacation unless those don’t bother you.

 

If you plan to do all sometime anyway, look at the ship, cabin and other factors...Mallorca is also very hot! Good luck!

 

 

 

 

 

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[Mynki]

OP I think you've already answered most of your questions.

 

The Canary Islands are not frequented by culture vultures. The comments about them being a European Carribean is pretty accurate.

[spartac]

Wow, thanks for the quick answers, and the wealth of information. Canaries are out, and August is out. I'm left with two choices, by preference, both on Constellation (refurbished this year?) and same price

1- 10 Day Italy and Dalmatian Coast, October 10th. PRO: Lots of new ports I want to see, work with my schedule, only CON is the weather. Clearly not swimming and sunbathing season but I guess that's fine

2- Italy Adriatic and Spain cruise. PRO: Weather, Mallorca. CON: Less convenient time, not visiting Ravenna, Kotor, Messina.

If there is not a significant risk weather wise I tend to go with first. Thoughts?

[Lastdance]

OP...come back and share your decision...

 

 

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[workstocruise]

We did the Adriatic Cruise in October 2016. The weather was beautiful. We sailed from Venice to Malta and had 2 overnights. One in Dubrovnik and one in Malta. The further south we sailed towards the Med, the warmer the weather got. It was very warm in Malta but still had a nice breeze. We love the Constellation and this was our 2nd time on her. Food, service and entertainment were top notch and the itinerary was perfect for us. Lots of Brits and Canadians on board and most nights at dinner we were the only Americans at the table. It was a fun cruise!

[chuly]

I simply had to laugh about the comparison of the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. Oh yeah why go to the Canary Islands when you can see something like Mt Teide or Timanfaya awesome National Park anytime in any of the Caribbean Islands. Unreal.

[chemmo]

The Canary Islands have a wealth of things to enjoy....National parks, stunning mountains, volcanic terrain, quaint small towns with tasty tapas bars. Easy to hire a car or take a trip.

 

It is a winter escape for Europeans many of whom will go to their all inclusive hotels and soak in the sun. Hence, the view nothing to do....Like the Caribbean....plenty to do if you make the effort. On the negative side the seas are never hot, simply warm. Many prefer to swim in the hotel pools especially on the islands with black volcanic sand. Unless I am mistaken the trip also includes Lisbon and Madeira...both also well worth a visit.

 

Re weather...in the Med it will be warm rather than hot (good for sightseeing rather than sunbathing). You may experience the odd shower. If it is cold or wet all your cruise you will be unlucky but it can happen in October. On the Canaries cruise your journey to and from Portugal/Spain area will be cool, from the peninsula to and around the islands it should be warm/hot...

 

Love the Adriatic region, Split and Dubrovnik are beautiful...

 

Re ships we do prefer the S to the M class, I don’t know if that is important to you.

 

I honestly suggest you do a bit more reading before booking. The Canaries trip is from Southampton not London...On the positive side, you can add a couple of great touring overnights and see a little of England (Stonehenge, Salisbury, the New Forest...) on route. On the negative you will need to arrange transfers if you just want to fly in and cruise.

 

You do not mention ports you leave from in the Med...If the ports are Venice, Rome, Barcelona....and you want to spend a little time in any of those cities that may again influence your choice.

 

I am sure you will enjoy whatever you choose to book...I suggest you look on Trip Advisor about tours on the individual Canary Islands to actually find out what each can offer you and then decide if you would enjoy....

[swigso]

Hi

I would not sail to the Canary Islands, sailing the bay of Biscay can be a bit like roulette.

I also prefer the S class ships, however the trip around Croatia looks good.

Sailing at the end of August around the Med is a lovely time, warm sunny and plenty to see.

Have you looked at the Reflection sailing 31 August .

Round trip from Rome, calls at Scicily,Malta,Rhodes, Naples and Athens, it also takes in Santorini and Mycanos.

[DYKWIA]

Couple of points -

We've done the Canaries with Celebrity. Most cruises ex UK to the Canaries tend to be 13 or 14 nights. This year they were much shorter at 10 and 11 nights. On a Cruise to the Canaries and back you are likely to get at least 4-5 sea days, so a shorter cruise might seem as though you have a disproportionate number of sea days.

 

You mention that the Canaries with Celebrity is London to London. Not so. Some cruise lines with smaller ships sail from Tilbury (London). Celebrity sails from Southampton - almost 2 hours drive away / 90 mins by train.

 

Some of the Canaries cruises next year have a good mix of ports - Lisbon and Madeira for example are great ports.

 

Bay of Biscay does have a reputation for rough seas but the 4 times we've crossed it have been very calm.

[Wiltonian]

Did the Adriatic in October 2016, out of Venice. Great "culture-vulture" cruise, especially with a couple of days in Venice first. Overnights were great, especially Dubrovnik, as we got into the old city on the second day by 8am, before the crowds. As many have said, Canaries/Azores are less "cultural" but still a lot to see. As has been said, beware of shorter cruises to the Canaries, when the sea/port day balance gets a bit off-balance IMHO. Agree avoid Med in August! Dare I say it, but Cunard do a 14 day Canaries cruise from October 1st 2018 - when we booked, it was much cheaper than Celebrity!

[excitedofharpenden]

Wow, thanks for the quick answers, and the wealth of information. Canaries are out, and August is out. I'm left with two choices, by preference, both on Constellation (refurbished this year?) and same price

1- 10 Day Italy and Dalmatian Coast, October 10th. PRO: Lots of new ports I want to see, work with my schedule, only CON is the weather. Clearly not swimming and sunbathing season but I guess that's fine

2- Italy Adriatic and Spain cruise. PRO: Weather, Mallorca. CON: Less convenient time, not visiting Ravenna, Kotor, Messina.

If there is not a significant risk weather wise I tend to go with first. Thoughts?

I'd discount the Canaries too. It's going to be cool getting down there and back and the ship will be full of Brits. Reason enough for me to steer clear;) Out of the two you mention I'd go for the 10 day 10th October. It's a lovely itinerary and the weather should still be warm at that time of year. It visits my favourite part of the Med, the Adriatic and includes Valletta with its great sail in. It's an extra day over the 1st October cruise too.

 

Phil

[Mynki]

The Canary Islands have a wealth of things to enjoy....National parks, stunning mountains, volcanic terrain, quaint small towns with tasty tapas bars. Easy to hire a car or take a trip.

 

It is a winter escape for Europeans many of whom will go to their all inclusive hotels and soak in the sun. Hence, the view nothing to do....Like the Caribbean....plenty to do if you make the effort. On the negative side the seas are never hot, simply warm. Many prefer to swim in the hotel pools especially on the islands with black volcanic sand. Unless I am mistaken the trip also includes Lisbon and Madeira...both also well worth a visit.

 

 

Chemmo, so eloquently put as always. :)

 

My personal thoughts are that there is aplenty to do in the Caribbean for those prepared to make a little bit of effort and look for it. I also think that the islands have their own identity. BUT if a person's only experience of the Caribbean is visits of a few hours via a cruise ship then their view will be very different.

 

Many people are of the opinion that when you've disembarked and walked past a Pandora, Little Switzerland and Piranha Joe's shop on almost every island it is easy to get the wrong impression and see them all as the same.

 

As for the Canaries, Lanzarote is finally shaking off the Lanzagrotty nickname, and Fuerteventura is no longer seen as an island nursing home as it has in the past. But in context of the OP's post, I think the islands which you'll only be docked at for between 30 and 40 hours for the entire duration of the cruise will seem boring for those interested in history and culture when compared to the other two itineraries mentioned. :)

 

Have to add, I can't disagree with the "Full of Brits" comment either. I also tend to try and ignore my fellow countryman on holiday! :D

[chemmo]

Chemmo, so eloquently put as always. :)

 

My personal thoughts are that there is aplenty to do in the Caribbean for those prepared to make a little bit of effort and look for it. I also think that the islands have their own identity. BUT if a person's only experience of the Caribbean is visits of a few hours via a cruise ship then their view will be very different.

 

Many people are of the opinion that when you've disembarked and walked past a Pandora, Little Switzerland and Piranha Joe's shop on almost every island it is easy to get the wrong impression and see them all as the same.

 

As for the Canaries, Lanzarote is finally shaking off the Lanzagrotty nickname, and Fuerteventura is no longer seen as an island nursing home as it has in the past. But in context of the OP's post, I think the islands which you'll only be docked at for between 30 and 40 hours for the entire duration of the cruise will seem boring for those interested in history and culture when compared to the other two itineraries mentioned. :)

 

Have to add, I can't disagree with the "Full of Brits" comment either. I also tend to try and ignore my fellow countryman on holiday! :D

 

 

Whilst I agree with you one of the other itineraries may best suite the OP he does need further information to enable him to make appropriate choices....

 

Re your final paragraph with “full of Brits” and ‘try to ignore’ comment...I think paraphrased from a post by excitedofharpenden I do not agree in the least....

 

One of the real pleasures of cruising for us is the diversity of guests on board....we cruised twice this year from Southampton and have previously cruised from many places around the world....We have enjoyed cruising with mainly US citizens, Australians, New Zealander’s, Chinese and now a ship load of mainly Brits. Most guests have been charming, interesting, thoughtful and a pleasure to be with. They have broadened our horizons and added pleasure to our cruise.

 

On each cruise if you look to criticise there will be a ‘bore’ a ‘me first’ character, ‘a monologue deliverer’ and of course a ‘grab the lift!’ personality....These characteristics have nothing to do with nationality...it is to do with personality. I would never use ‘full of Brits’, ‘full of Americans’, ‘full of Australians’.....as a criteria for dismissing a cruise.

Edited November 7, 2017 by chemmo

[Mynki]

Would you understand if I said I agree completely with your diversity comments but based on first hand personal experience won't disagree from Excitedofharpenden too?

 

I've met a few onboard whine about the food, high drinks prices, high cruise fares paid compared to those in other countries and want to discuss Brexit. There are no prizes for guessing which nationality they might have been! :) I'm on holiday to enjoy myself, I don't enjoy listening to people whinge. I don't know why the other chap posted what he did, but I could take a guess..... :D

[villauk]

Would you understand if I said I agree completely with your diversity comments but based on first hand personal experience won't disagree from Excitedofharpenden too?

 

I've met a few onboard whine about the food, high drinks prices :D

 

 

And not getting ‘cans’ on the Classic package ;p.

 

I tend to agree with you and Harpenden, we prefer more of a mix of nationalities when we cruise.

[bogofman]

We have enjoyed our cruises departing from European cities such as , rome, barcelona, venice, Istanbul etc over the ones departing from the uk ( apart from transatlantic which are different)

 

We liked the more cosmopolitan feel to the European cruises, lots of Europeans onboard ( you can guess how I voted)

 

Cruises out if the uk do tend to have alot of brits onboard, but don't the Carribean cruises have a full of Americans feel, I was going to say yanks, oops I did :halo:

 

Maybe we like the European cruises because we don't understand them so cannot tell if they are moaning all the time. I must admit their kids are better behaved.

 

We sailed on Anthem out if southampton in it first season with alot of US college kids on board , and experienced behaviour much worse than brit kids

[downsmead]

Most things have been said and the OP has discounted the Canaries anyway, but just to add that the beaches on some of the islands (Tenerife) are few in numbers and, as has already been said, generally black sand. We have done the Italy and Dalmation coast cruise and loved it. We saw a lot in a day at each port, Slovenia was beautiful (Lake Bled especially) as was Split and Dubrovnik. The sail into Valetta is amazing as is the trip down the 'fjord' to Kotor. I would thoroughly recommend it 👍. We had been to Naples before but there are so many different places to visit from there that we still haven't made it to Capri yet 😢.

The irony is that we are actually doing the Canaries cruise next year ourselves 😂. It's a nice easy cruise for us as we are only ~an hour away from Southampton, and so with no flights, is also a 'cheap' cruise 😀. Any cruise is a good cruise in our book!

[excitedofharpenden]

I would never use ‘full of Brits’, ‘full of Americans’, ‘full of Australians’.....as a criteria for dismissing a cruise.

Cruising out of Southampton to Europe will always have a high number of Brits, especially if it’s a round trip avoiding flying. I’m afraid personally speaking I would avoid it. I did a b2b cruise on Eclipse of an eastbound ta to Southampton followed by a Norwegian Fjords cruise. Incredibly different mix of passengers on the second one and not in a good way. The whinging and "it’s not like this on P & O" became very boring. Been there, done that.

 

Give me a cruise with a truly diverse mix of nationalities any day of the week. A Med itinerary should provide this.

 

Phil

[Mynki]

And not getting ‘cans’ on the Classic package ;p.

 

I tend to agree with you and Harpenden, we prefer more of a mix of nationalities when we cruise.

 

To be fair, being served a small glass of flat coke from a previously opened can might just annoy anyone! :D

[Mynki]

The whinging and "it’s not like this on P & O" became very boring. Been there, done that.

 

 

Phil

 

Thank you for posting that. You've hit the nail right on the head with P&O.

 

Never sailed on them, we're invited to almost every year with friends and family but from their feedback it's all too British (read boring) for me. Their TV adverts are also a massive turn off. It all looks a little too slightly upscale, Butlins at sea. No thanks! :')

[chemmo]

Cruising out of Southampton to Europe will always have a high number of Brits, especially if it’s a round trip avoiding flying. I’m afraid personally speaking I would avoid it. I did a b2b cruise on Eclipse of an eastbound ta to Southampton followed by a Norwegian Fjords cruise. Incredibly different mix of passengers on the second one and not in a good way. The whinging and "it’s not like this on P & O" became very boring. Been there, done that.

 

Give me a cruise with a truly diverse mix of nationalities any day of the week. A Med itinerary should provide this.

 

Phil

 

I guess we must have been on the same Norwegian Cruise! Shows how different people can perceive different things! We found a happy social group with no mention of P&O....you must have drank at the wrong bars!

 

On cruises world wide we have come across the occasional ‘whinging’ guest....after one encounter we will avoid and find a happy crowd.

 

Obviously you have had different experiences to us and are right to share your opinions....what worries me is ‘opinions’ can be seen as facts.....The fact is Cruises from/to Southampton will have a high proportion of British citizens.....whether that is a good, bad or indifferent think is the opinion. Personally, having been used to traveling world wide we enjoyed the ‘difference’ of a mainly British crowd....We would neither seek out mainly British guest cruises or avoid them, we would do as we always do, look at itineraries and our schedules and find the best fit!

 

Happy Cruising!

[excitedofharpenden]

Believe me, I couldn’t have missed them. And all of the scooters, walking frames and wheelchairs. Don’t get me wrong. I think it is wonderful that those less able can continue to enjoy a trip like this, but it sure put a totally different "feel" on the ship and not one that I personally enjoy.

 

Anyway, that is enough of that. We are getting sidetracked. The OP has decided not to do the Canaries cruise and has the pick of two very nice itineraries.

 

Phil