European cruises 2007 ?

[jonj]

We are thinking of taking an European cruise in the summer of 2007

I have never really priced them, but expect them to be high. Any tips on where, when, how to book one of these?

 

Should you book the day they become available to, would that give us the best price?

[dazee8]

jonj,

 

You've asked a very good question, however, it's a bit difficult to answer because everyone has their own preferences. I can tell you that I am also looking to possibly book an European cruise for 2007 too. I've been told that Europe 2007 schedule will come out around March 2006. So, do your research now and try and narrow down which cruise you like specifically. You probably already know what the cost will be approximately from this year. Princess does raise prices each Jan. If you want a specific cruise and cabin then it's always wise to book the earliest that you can.

 

Best of luck,

:) Dazee

[cobalt206]

jonj,

 

Cruising Europe is really not much more expensive (except the airfare) than cruising the Caribbean, Mexico or Alaska. In fact, cruising in Europe will be much less expensive than a land vacation, because the Euro is very high right now and I believe our US $ will continue to weaken (sorry for the pessimism).

 

We took a 1 week Windstar cruise two years ago and then spent an additional week touring Italy. The final week in Italy cost way more than the cruise because of the price of hotels, food and rental car. It was worth every penny, but the cruise was a far better value! Good luck.

[jonj]

Thanks

 

We spend 16 days in a Italy 4 years ago and loved every minute. It was on the expensive side but not as much as I thought. I researched a lot and since I speak fluent Italian we stayed away from most of the touristy restaurants. We did dine one night in Rome in Piazza Navona, even though we knew it would be more, it was about 30% more then a similar restaurant a few blocks away that we dined at the next night. It is amazing what a little research and going a few blocks out of the way can do for your wallet :D

[Pam in CA]

March might be optimistic for the 2007 European cruise itineraries to be available. I was just on the Sapphire and inquired about a cruise in June 2007 and was told that the itineraries would be available in late April. This is consistent with last year when the 2006 itineraries were available on our Royal Princess cruise in April but only as xeroxes -- the brochures hadn't been completed yet. I have a request in with my TA to book a specific cruise in June 2007 when it becomes available.

[Genessa]

wow, and my friends and I thought we were the only ones thinking ahead to Europe in 2007 :).

 

I've started our preliminary research and based on vacation limitations of one of the couples, we have narrowed down that we are hoping to be going in July and want to go on Princess and want to do the eastern Mediterranean, which basically gives us only two choices and time to save $$$. I'm more interested in this unbooked cruise than I am in the two we already have booked.

[Katie333]

I'm planning this as well. The only challenge in trying to figure out 'wants' right now is that you don't really know what the cruiseline will end up offering.

 

I can say I want to go on the Grand Mediterranean with stops in Epheseus and Rome but who knows if that will actually be offered?

 

It doesn't hurt to think about those things though and then start nailing it down. As a point of interest, I noticed a lot of websites are having sales right now and some of them are for 2007 itineraries (not sure how many of these are for Europe).

[rkdahl]

We're going on a Europe cruise in June of this year. You definitely have to plan ahead more than on some of the other routes. We found balcony cabins sold out in December for this cruise! Also due to a convention in Copenhagen there are near zero hotel rooms the week before we leave.

 

Unlike some of the other posts, I've found the Europe cruise to be one of the most expensive sailings, especially compared to Caribbean routes. But in Europe you get forced into the Summer sailings. In the Caribbean we can go more off season at nearly half the price as the Europe sailing. And then there is the Europe airfare which is almost triple what it costs me to get to Florida or California.

 

We're looking forward to it but to me it's definitely more expensive.