Cruise vs Land based tour

[FSU Girl]

So I'm starting to doubt my choice in honeymoon again. I know, I know I change my mind too much and worry too much. I was just thinking how 12 nights is a really long time on a cruise. I've done one that long once on Princess when I was 17 and I felt like it was a really long cruise and should have ended a few days sooner. I'm not sure if I'll feel the same way now, but I'm a little worried. I like having constant entertainment and not sure if I'll feel bored on the ship. And the room is small and you don't get to spend too much time in each place. 

 

So I was thinking of doing a land based tour for the honeymoon instead. Probably a week in Paris, half a week in London and some side excursions to nearby locations by train. I'm a pro at planning cruises and have never planned any sort of European trip on my own so don't really know how to go about that. Is it crazy to think about doing this? 

 

My Fiance said he likes the cruise and wants to do that, but we could discuss tonight about changing it. 

[Diver2014]

Quote

Go with the cruise.  Too much carrying suitcases around on land tours.  Done both.  Jus' sayin'  (DH is the FSU guy.)

 

[Cruise-Crazzy]

A land tour can be very busy.  A cruise can be busy or relaxing, you have more control.  For a Honeymoon I would do a cruise.  You will be celebrating a very special occasion, I don't think you will get bored on a Honeymoon cruise.

[RDC1]

What you are describing is not real a land "tour"  but a do it yourself trip with two major stops Paris and London. As such you would only need to pack and move once, when you move from Paris to London.

It really depend upon what you and your husband want to do during your honeymoon.  A cruise would be pretty laid back with decisions like deciding where you are going to eat for example are already known.  If the two of you want to explore, try to search out local restaurants and experiences then do the land trip.

Hotels in both Paris and London can be rather pricey so be sure how both fits into your budget.

A trip with two stops pretty easy to plan. And you would have total control.

Edited October 16, 2018 by RDC1

[hllwdcruiser]

I'm going to dive right in here and give you my opinion but I really think that traveling is as subjective as food on a cruise!

If you want to really get a feel for the cities you are visiting, immersing yourself in the culture, then you need to cancel the cruise and decide on a land based vacation. Cruising is like the cliff notes of travel, you skim the surface but really end up with very little knowledge of what it is all about.  When you visit on a cruise you'll maybe get to see one or two attractions. You are left wanting more, knowing there is so much you didn't get to see. 

When we travel to Europe we stay in vacation rentals and explore on our own. Sometimes we rent a car but usually we take public transportation. We like renting apartments because we then visit the shops and buy breakfast and snack foods and then mostly eat lunches and dinners out. But we do cook dinner in sometimes which is an event in itself - I absolutely love food shopping over there! We find renting apartments cheaper than staying in hotels. 

The downside is that you'll only be visiting two cities and some satellites as opposed to a different city almost every day. You'll have to organize all your tours which will take a lot more research and effort on your part. You'll have to figure out all your meals. 

On the other hand, if you want more of a stress free vacation, one where you can focus on your new husband and the countries you are visiting take on less importance, then the cruise may be a better choice. I doubt you'll be bored because you will probably be tired after all the Ports of Call. Princess does cater to an older demographic, as you must already know, and the carpets do get rolled up pretty early. But 12 days is really not that long - not for a port intensive cruise.

If it were my honeymoon I would probably pick a land based vacation. I would do a ton of research on Trip Adviser, visit all the forums and have every detail down to a science. That being said, I absolutely love going on a cruise. We use cruising as our "get away from it all" vacation and except for Alaska have only cruised the Caribbean. I love the one and done. I love not having to think where we are going to eat. I love having to choose only one excursion every few days, if I choose any at all. And I love coming back more relaxed than when I left and that never happens on a land based vacation! 

Good luck and let us know what you finally decide.

 

Edited October 17, 2018 by hllwdcruiser

[FSU Girl]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions! My paid in full date isn't until the end of February so I have some time to research. I do like all the places the cruise is going to and we wouldn't be able to go to pretty much all of them if we just do a land trip. I think if I could come up with an itinerary that isn't too expensive my Fiance would be okay with it. It'll just take a lot of researching. He is more partial to just doing the cruise.

[Mary loves to travel]

I'm just back a few weeks ago from a land trip:  10 days in Paris, then 5 in London.   It was wonderful.    I tend to be a planner, and put in a fair amount of work.   Not so much to regiment us, but to lay things out in a way that made sense, got us to see things that were key (to us), and had plenty of time to stroll through parks, and picnic.     Both have their pros and cons.    With wedding planning in parallel, though, you might want to favor the cruise, and use it as a way to see where you want to come back and spend more time on a future land-based vacation.

 

Either way, you're sure to have a good time!    My advice is pick one option within the next couple of weeks, then stick with it and don't look back (I, too, can tend to 2nd guess myself....so setting a "decision deadline" and then resisting looking back helps me a lot).

 

enjoy,

Mary

[FSU Girl]

53 minutes ago, Mary loves to travel said:

I'm just back a few weeks ago from a land trip:  10 days in Paris, then 5 in London.   It was wonderful.    I tend to be a planner, and put in a fair amount of work.   Not so much to regiment us, but to lay things out in a way that made sense, got us to see things that were key (to us), and had plenty of time to stroll through parks, and picnic.     Both have their pros and cons.    With wedding planning in parallel, though, you might want to favor the cruise, and use it as a way to see where you want to come back and spend more time on a future land-based vacation.

 

Either way, you're sure to have a good time!    My advice is pick one option within the next couple of weeks, then stick with it and don't look back (I, too, can tend to 2nd guess myself....so setting a "decision deadline" and then resisting looking back helps me a lot).

 

enjoy,

Mary

Wow that sounds like an amazing trip! Our wedding is actually in November so we have a bit of time between it and the honeymoon so it won't too much all together. So I typed up a comparison for both trips and researched some prices. Originally I thought the Land trip was 3,500 cheaper, but then I realized all the hotels and activities are in Pounds and Euros so with the exchange rate it is probably the same or more. 

That's a good idea about having a deadline. I change my mind a lot and with planning so far in advance it's so easy to change my mind a lot.

[ggprincess2004]

My opinion - stick with the cruise. You will see a lot of ports, and can decide which ones you want to come back to, and include on a "land tour" in the coming years. Also, it is a honeymoon, and it is port intensive, so there is not a lot of opportunity to get bored with too many sea days, if you find those boring. There are lots of options on the ship, including the balcony dinners, spa services, etc., to indulge in on sea days, if that happens to be your thing. After a long day in port, you might actually be grateful to have dinner on the ship, in the dining room or more casual location of your choice. And your future husband wants to do the cruise. You will also have the chance to find out if this a great vacation choice for both of you as a couple going forward. 

Cruises are usually pretty good values, and with Princess EZ Air, the airfare is also a significant savings over what you might find doing it on your own. 

[FSU Girl]

So we made a decision, I wanted to provide an update. We decided that the land trip is what we want to do, but we found Norwegian has a 3 night cruise that leaves from Barcelona and ends in Rome with a stop in Naples. We are going to spend a few days in Rome and then fly to London. We're going to spend 4 days in London then take the high speed train to Paris, spend 4 days there and then fly home. I'm really excited to spend time in each city and still get a small taste of cruising.

 

I do agree that cruising is easier than this plan, but we are hopefully going to have a baby shortly after the honeymoon so future trips with a baby will be easier to do on a cruise, so I think we'll do that in the future. 

 

Thank you everyone for your help deciding!

[Coral]

50 minutes ago, FSU Girl said:

I do agree that cruising is easier than this plan, but we are hopefully going to have a baby shortly after the honeymoon so future trips with a baby will be easier to do on a cruise, so I think we'll do that in the future. 

 

Until the child is 3 or older, I think land trips will be easier than cruising with a baby.

[FSU Girl]

14 hours ago, Coral said:

 

Until the child is 3 or older, I think land trips will be easier than cruising with a baby.

Really? I would think being on a ship would be easier to deal with the baby. We are planning to sail on Disney when the baby is still little, I figured that would be a good way to test out traveling with them.

[hllwdcruiser]

32 minutes ago, FSU Girl said:

Really? I would think being on a ship would be easier to deal with the baby. We are planning to sail on Disney when the baby is still little, I figured that would be a good way to test out traveling with them.

When my babies were born my inlaws lived in London and Sussex and my brother lived in Paris and later in Brussels. We took our 3 month old first child to London and then to Paris for Xmas. In addition,  My parents and grandmother lived in Florida and we were living in Chicago. My sister lived in San Francisco, another brother in NYC.  All three of my children had passports almost as soon as they were born and we traveled everywhere with them. 

My advice to you? Wait until you have your children and then take it from there. Having children is the biggest adventure of them all and you'll figure everything out as you go. I've seen plenty of babies on cruises and they and their families seem to do just fine. 

Have a wonderful time on your honeymoon! 

[FSU Girl]

28 minutes ago, hllwdcruiser said:

When my babies were born my inlaws lived in London and Sussex and my brother lived in Paris and later in Brussels. We took our 3 month old first child to London and then to Paris for Xmas. In addition,  My parents and grandmother lived in Florida and we were living in Chicago. My sister lived in San Francisco, another brother in NYC.  All three of my children had passports almost as soon as they were born and we traveled everywhere with them. 

My advice to you? Wait until you have your children and then take it from there. Having children is the biggest adventure of them all and you'll figure everything out as you go. I've seen plenty of babies on cruises and they and their families seem to do just fine. 

Have a wonderful time on your honeymoon! 

Thanks! I'm a bit of a planner lol. I definitely won't be planning any trips until after the baby is born and I know how they handle traveling. That is awesome how much traveling your children did right away!

[2pbears]

I think you have made a good decision.  Obviously we love to cruise, but as I look back on our travels my most memorable trips have been land trips.  I think this is because we have had the flexibility to see what we want to see and spend enough time to cover it all before we move on.  I would encourage you to do more land trips while you are young.   We started our serious travel years by cruising because we enjoyed it so much but now that we are older there are trips that we would love to do on land but the logistics of moving from one town to the next, train trips, etc. are not as easy as they were when we were younger.  Cruising is easy when you get older so while you are young and able, do the hard stuff.   I don't think you will regret it.

[BarbinMich]

I just came across this thread and it looks like you've made your decision for the honeymoon, but here are some suggestions for future trips to Europe you might take.  We've done a lot of group land tours in Europe arranged by our state bar assn. (AAA also offers such trips as well a lot of other outfits).  These were wonderful 8-day trips concentrating on just a few locations:   first was based in Lucerne, Switzerland from whence we had several day-tours into nearby southern Germany and other areas of Switzerland.  Others have been a week split between Vienna and Prague, a week in Salzburg, Austria with day trips to places like Munich, a week in Italy split between northern Italy (Florence, Assisi area) and Rome.    On these trips we were lucky to often have the same guide who was wonderful.  Another option is a river cruise, which is usually a week long. We enjoyed ours which was with Viking Cruise Lines and was primarily in the Netherlands ("Tulip Time" in April).

[FSU Girl]

1 hour ago, BarbinMich said:

I just came across this thread and it looks like you've made your decision for the honeymoon, but here are some suggestions for future trips to Europe you might take.  We've done a lot of group land tours in Europe arranged by our state bar assn. (AAA also offers such trips as well a lot of other outfits).  These were wonderful 8-day trips concentrating on just a few locations:   first was based in Lucerne, Switzerland from whence we had several day-tours into nearby southern Germany and other areas of Switzerland.  Others have been a week split between Vienna and Prague, a week in Salzburg, Austria with day trips to places like Munich, a week in Italy split between northern Italy (Florence, Assisi area) and Rome.    On these trips we were lucky to often have the same guide who was wonderful.  Another option is a river cruise, which is usually a week long. We enjoyed ours which was with Viking Cruise Lines and was primarily in the Netherlands ("Tulip Time" in April).

Thank you for the advice! I did look into some organized trips, but was thinking for our honeymoon to do something on our own. Prague is amazing I lived there for a semester in college 

[voljeep]

FSU Girl - you and I both know these plans will again change !!

[DrivesLikeMario]

We've done a similar land trip like you described.  All of us hated to admit it but eventually did.  During the trip, we were all wishing we were on a cruise.  It happens almost every time when we're on a land vacation - we wish we were on a ship.  Never fails.  I guess a ship just feels like home. 

[riclop]

A cruise is by far the best value.

[FSU Girl]

18 hours ago, voljeep said:

FSU Girl - you and I both know these plans will again change !!

LOL. I'm thinking this will be the last change. We are working on booking flights so once those are done we are locked into the trip. And this one feels right, I like that it gives us both the cruise and the land. 

[FSU Girl]

15 hours ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

We've done a similar land trip like you described.  All of us hated to admit it but eventually did.  During the trip, we were all wishing we were on a cruise.  It happens almost every time when we're on a land vacation - we wish we were on a ship.  Never fails.  I guess a ship just feels like home. 

I do love cruising and my Fiance and I have done a few together. But we've gone on trips in the US and had a great time without being on a ship. I think with the small cruise in the beginning of the trip we'll get a bit of the cruising and then we can get into the culture of the countries we visit. 

[FSU Girl]

21 hours ago, 2pbears said:

I think you have made a good decision.  Obviously we love to cruise, but as I look back on our travels my most memorable trips have been land trips.  I think this is because we have had the flexibility to see what we want to see and spend enough time to cover it all before we move on.  I would encourage you to do more land trips while you are young.   We started our serious travel years by cruising because we enjoyed it so much but now that we are older there are trips that we would love to do on land but the logistics of moving from one town to the next, train trips, etc. are not as easy as they were when we were younger.  Cruising is easy when you get older so while you are young and able, do the hard stuff.   I don't think you will regret it.

I do like that we can visit these cities at our own pace and really get to experience them instead of just a day in port. I've done a lot of cruises and love them, but I'm really excited about our new plans. That is good advice to do land trips while we are young I didn't think about that. 

[FSU Girl]

12 hours ago, riclop said:

A cruise is by far the best value.

We haven't gone through the cost of everything yet, but it probably would have been cheaper to just do the cruise. But the trip won't break the bank and I'm really excited about it. We still have a little cruise a part of the trip to get our cruise fix in :)

[DrivesLikeMario]

2 hours ago, FSU Girl said:

I do love cruising and my Fiance and I have done a few together. But we've gone on trips in the US and had a great time without being on a ship. I think with the small cruise in the beginning of the trip we'll get a bit of the cruising and then we can get into the culture of the countries we visit. 

 

That could just be the best combination!  Have a great time!