Recomendations: number of sea days for Europe itineraries

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, peacefrogdog said:

Two unrelated questions:

 

1.  Ship classes in Meditarrean:  While a few years out, I'm hoping to make the anniversary trip special by booking one of the nice ocean view balcony cabins  in the aft with the large balconies . As such I'm scoping out which cabins to look for.   Going into fall 2010, it appears the ships in Europe are the Vision class (Rhapsody), Radiance class (Jewel), Voyageur class (Explorer) and Oasis class (Allure).  Without going deep into looking at old itineraries, does Freedom or Quantum class typically sail into Meditarrean ports?  We are specifically hoping to find itineraries that sail into Croatia. ...

 

Independence (Freedom class) has done Med itineraries before out of Southampton.  Not sure of schedule in future years.

[little britain]

46 minutes ago, peacefrogdog said:

Two unrelated questions:

 

1.  Ship classes in Meditarrean:  While a few years out, I'm hoping to make the anniversary trip special by booking one of the nice ocean view balcony cabins  in the aft with the large balconies . As such I'm scoping out which cabins to look for.   Going into fall 2010, it appears the ships in Europe are the Vision class (Rhapsody), Radiance class (Jewel), Voyageur class (Explorer) and Oasis class (Allure).  Without going deep into looking at old itineraries, does Freedom or Quantum class typically sail into Meditarrean ports?  We are specifically hoping to find itineraries that sail into Croatia.

 

 

Oasis class usually only does the 7n round trip from Barcelona interporting in Rome.  Too big for Venice.

 

For Croatia you will either need a Venice-Barcelona or Venice-Rome trip (or vice versa) _think Brilliance was doing this next year; or a smaller ship like Rhapsody which is usually based in Venice and does Croatia and/or Greek Islands.

Croatia is far nicer than Greek Islands IMHO if you were torn between two itineraries!

 

No Quantum class in Europe (yet...)

 

OT but have you looked at Azamara which does great Venice/Croatia itineraries and as it is a much smaller ship it can get into really unique ports.  I have done that a few times. 

 

 

[peacefrogdog]

6 minutes ago, little britain said:

Oasis class usually only does the 7n round trip from Barcelona interporting in Rome.  Too big for Venice.

 

For Croatia you will either need a Venice-Barcelona or Venice-Rome trip (or vice versa) _think Brilliance was doing this next year; or a smaller ship like Rhapsody which is usually based in Venice and does Croatia and/or Greek Islands.

Croatia is far nicer than Greek Islands IMHO if you were torn between two itineraries!

 

No Quantum class in Europe (yet...)

 

OT but have you looked at Azamara which does great Venice/Croatia itineraries and as it is a much smaller ship it can get into really unique ports.  I have done that a few times. 

 

 

 

We like staying with one cruise line (RCCL) to build up our C&A status.

Hoping to find an itinerary that goes to Croatia and some Italian ports. 

[CRUISEFAN0001]

On 7/12/2019 at 9:54 AM, peacefrogdog said:

Planning a 20th anniversary cruise to Europe and looking at the various itineraries.   While a common theme on these boards is to choose an itinerary based on the ports (which makes sense) the question I have for those who have sailed Europe is:  did you ever wish you had more sea days?  The reason I ask is, from the sounds of things, when you spend time in ports in Europe it is fairly busy with a lot of walking and/or touring.  Does it every get so tiring during the cruise you wish you could just rest for a day? 

 

For reference, my wife and I are in our mid-40s and while are not marathon runners or triathletes or anything, consider ourselves to be in good shape.  However for reference, when we take our kids to disney world for example, after 3 days of doing the theme parks we feel we need a day off.  Thus I'm wondering whether those who have done one of these European cruises have found that after a few days in ports that they welcomed a day at sea when they could just relax for a day before going back at it the next day.  I realize we could just choose not to get off the ship on certain days, but if I can avoid paying port fees for a port I won't even experience I would prefer that. 

 

Consider a Western Mediterranean itinerary out of Barcelona. We loved ours, and found the balance of ports and at-sea time was a perfect balance.

[Hoopster95]

2 hours ago, peacefrogdog said:

Two unrelated questions:

 

1.  Ship classes in Meditarrean:  While a few years out, I'm hoping to make the anniversary trip special by booking one of the nice ocean view balcony cabins  in the aft with the large balconies . As such I'm scoping out which cabins to look for.   Going into fall 2010, it appears the ships in Europe are the Vision class (Rhapsody), Radiance class (Jewel), Voyageur class (Explorer) and Oasis class (Allure).  Without going deep into looking at old itineraries, does Freedom or Quantum class typically sail into Meditarrean ports?  We are specifically hoping to find itineraries that sail into Croatia.

 

2. Trouble getting tenders?    Is getting onto tenders going to be much of an issue on the smaller boats? I can understand that with the Oasis class ships that the large numbers of people may make it harder to get on an earlier tender to get to port quicker. Have others had the same experience with the other ship classes?  Initially I thought of booking a grand suite that would give us priority getting off the ship but after doing some preliminary pricing I'm not sure that would be worth the extra fare for us (as we otherwise don't anticipate spending much time in the cabin anyway). 

 

1. I very sincerely ask... Do you wish to visit Croatia/Italy or actually see new and exciting places? If so the Radiance and Vision Class ships will do an excellent Med+Adriatic variety of ports, including Venice. These are the best ships (especially Radiance Class by a mile in my humble opinion) for the Adriatic and seeing the Med. 

Or are you sailing to Europe to build C&A points on a Freedom or Quantum class ship? Perhaps consider staying home and do cheaper/easier sailings in North America to build your points? Like Bob said Freedom Class from Southampton, but you won't get anywhere close to Croatia.

 

In 2020, must see Dubrovnik is only visited by Rhapsody of the Seas. Venice is Rhapsody's home port. Her 7 day itinerary which includes Dubrovnik, Kotor, Santorini and Olympia from Venice all in one cruise is absolutely outstanding!

Vision & Jewel (only twice in Sept 2020) also visits Venice and Kotor, two of the very best sail in/sail aways you could possibly experience from an aft balcony.

Vision includes Split Croatia, the only Royal sailing with two stops in Croatia... plus the Western side of Italy including Rome and Florence, so this may be your #1 itinerary to see a bit of everything, and deserves to be at the top of your list of itineraries to consider

 

2. There were delays for me in Kotor & Corfu as many were trying to back on the ship at the same time later in the day, regardless the line went quickly and I was on a tender in about 1/2 hour each time. Maybe purchasing "The Key" would help you with this if you're concerned.

 

Have a great time planning 😊

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by Hoopster95

[bigque]

It might be just me but I cruise the Mediterranean for the ports. It might be intensive but the ports are what I take that cruise for. I can take Oasis Class Western Caribbean cruises for Sea Days and to stay on the ship! 

[dancernl]

Yes! We had an 8 night itinerary with 2 full sea days and one half sea day (in port from noon to 9 p.m.) and we were EXHAUSTED! We even stayed in Livorno and didn't go into Pisa or Florence because it would have been yet another early morning after two days of 6 a.m. wakeups in Naples and Rome. We were completely toast. Get as many sea days as you can just to rest. The smaller ships in Europe may not have a lot of the bells and whistles of the Quantam or Oasis class but there's just enough to keep you entertained on a lower key. Sailing Europe was amazing, just a very different experience from Caribbean or Bahamas cruises. Completely different vibe.

[zooma]

6 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

In 2020, must see Dubrovnik is only visited by Rhapsody of the Seas. Venice is Rhapsody's home port. Her 7 day itinerary which includes Dubrovnik, Kotor, Santorini and Olympia from Venice all in one cruise is absolutely outstanding!

Vision & Jewel (only twice in Sept 2020) also visits Venice and Kotor, two of the very best sail in/sail aways you could possibly experience from an aft balcony.

Vision includes Split Croatia, the only Royal sailing with two stops in Croatia... plus the Western side of Italy including Rome and Florence, so this may be your #1 itinerary to see a bit of everything, and deserves to be at the top of your list of itineraries to consider

 

Rhapsody also has a 2020 sailing with both Dubrovnik and Split. 8-nighter form Venice in June or July, I believe. Timing did not work for us, but wish we could hit both those Croatian ports.

 

(Editing to say you were prob referring to Vision class, not ship, right? It's just that I had my eye on that itinerary for a bit!)

Edited July 15, 2019 by zooma

[travelplus]

I booked my Parents and I on the B2B Brilliance for this October. The Europe portion has the sea day as the last day of the first part of the cruise which is perfect. Then we have Sea Days on the Trans Atlantic portion. I concur that having the sea day on the last day or two is better than at the beginning especially after the long port days. 

[Rickshaw, Cabs & Taxis]

On 7/15/2019 at 2:40 PM, Host Clarea said:

 

Independence (Freedom class) has done Med itineraries before out of Southampton.  Not sure of schedule in future years.

 

We sail out of Southampton on 27th July for 14 nights around the Med and have sea days before the first stop (3 days before Gibraltar) days 3-9 port each day, day 10 at sea, 11 and 12 ports before two more days at sea before returning to Southampton. A lot of ports days and some sea days, we chose this due to the dates and the fact that we can as others have said get off and do our own thing. Looking forward to it and am counting the hours and days down. Whatever you chose do it for what you want and enjoy the holiday.

 

[George C]

We did s 12 day cruise out of Barcelona on brilliance a couple of years ago, 5 stops in Italy Croatia , Kotor , only 3 sea days , Europe is not real relaxing cruise. We did small private tours . Loved Barcelona. 

[cruisequeen4ever]

Though you’ll likely need to sail on one of the older ships due to your desired ports, for Europe, the ship isn’t nearly as important as the itinerary. You just aren’t on the ship enough for it to matter as much as on say a Caribbean cruise. Maybe I should change that to...you may be on the ship but too tired to do the usual shipboard activities, so whether or not there’s a zip line may not matter. Also, take into consideration that most lunches will likely be in port due to numerous and long port days. That means shipboard food offerings don’t matter as much. 

 

It’s good your aiming for a balcony because the Med sail-ins and away are gorgeous! Happy planning and hope you find just the right cruise!