Europe cruise initial research

[Bluestar01]

Hello

 

Looking at Europe cruise in July/Aug 2020, just started with initial research. Will be traveling with tweens & teens, have already been to most if Europe except Spain, Greece, Scandinavia, & Portugal. What would you recommend? Looking at 5-9 days cruise. Must sees? most enjoyable with kids? Any insight to start my research will be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[Floridiana]

If the kids like bike tours, hiking, walking, I would take them on a cruise to Norway. 5 days is too short. 

[dogs4fun]

Agree that 5 days is too short. A Norwegian cruise would be wonderful - also, how about a Baltic cruise?

[Essiesmom]

For July/Aug, head north.  It will be beastly hot in the Med, particularly the eastern Med.  How about the Baltic or Norway?  Most cruises are going to be 7 days or longer.  For what you are paying for flights from OH, 5 days is too short, unless you have other time planned on either end of the cruise.  EM

[DarrenM]

It may and will be very hot in the med regions but be very wary of the far western Europe britain etc even in July August we can have terrible summer weather. I cant think of anything worse than a cruise in the pouring rain day after day. Our summers are rarely hot and sunny for long.

[ldubs]

I also thought Baltic cruise when I read the OP's post.   In my opinion it is a pretty good itinerary.  

 

We just booked a 5 day Spain/Portugal cruise on Celebrity for next fall.  We will combine it with a land trip.  Can't say much about it yet because we haven't done it yet. Lol  

[Floridiana]

A Baltic cruise is heavy on culture. Teenagers may like it when there are some fun things included like a Segway tour, the amusement park in Copenhagen or Stockholm. The Vasa ship museum in Stockholm. The Vasa sank in port because the builders had made it top heavy.

 

As to the weather around the British Isles, don't scare me Darren. We are heading your way this summer and planning to bring our Florida winter clothes. 

[Bluestar01]

Thanks for your responses, so in summary look for Baltic cruise or Norway-Sweden cruise & 7+ days recommended.

Good info to start.

 

[Bluestar01]

How do different cruise lines compare? Done only NCL in the past, but with Baltic, seeing more options with Costa, Holland America & MSC cruise lines.

 

Thanks. 

[John Bull]

I concur with other posters - the Baltic.

 

It's port-intensive, so the itinerary is more important than the ship.

 

Even 9 days isn't really long enough, and cruises starting in Britain or Amsterdam will use up a couple more days. So look for an embarkation port in the Baltic, with good air connection from home - Copenhagen is probably your best bet.

 

Might be difficult with a max of 9 days, but St Petersburg definitely warrants two days so look for a cruise with a overnight there. 

(nb visiting Russia needs a rather expensive and complicated tourist visa unless you pre-book a visa-free tour, but be wary of misleading cruise line phraseology which gives the impression that only ships' tours are visa-free . Tours offered by local operators are also visa-free and far better than ships tours - in 16-seat vans, far more personal & flexible, beat-the-lines at busy sites, quicker and with closer parking than big buses, and tour prices that compare very favourably with ships' tours. See the Northern Europe forum for names of operators - and they're all very good.) 

 

The sail-in to Stockholm is one of the best in the world - about 4 hours sailing through the archipelago of islands so close that you feel you could reach out and touch the trees. 

But mega-ships are too large to sail through, so they berth at Nyneshamn -  it's on the coast, no glorious sail-in, and an hour from Stockholm by road or rail.

Stockholm's Stadsgarden (sp?) pier is most convenient, Frihamnen is also quite close to the city centre - but try to avoid an itinerary which says "Stockholm (Nyneshamn)"

 

Warnemunde is on some itineraries. Tours are offered to Berlin, but it's about 3 hours each-way so even though ships depart late into the evening you only get about 5 hours in Berlin - 5 hours in a city which is worth 5 days .

Do it if you've not been and this might be your only chance, but better to put Berlin on the back-burner for a "proper" visit at some time in the future. Warnemunde and nearby Rostock are very pleasant but missable.

 

All the ports except St Petersburg (and Berlin from Warnemunde) are easy to DIY so no need to break the bank.

 

Do check the hours in port, especially Costa & MSC which often include half-days.

Old-town Tallinn is pretty easy in a half-day, other ports need a full day & St Petersburg two days.

 

I do love spending other people's money for them , but do give yourselves at least a full day in your embarkation port

 

JB  

[Lois R]

Good morning, I agree with "5 days is way too short"...flying across the pond for a 5 day cruise? Go for at least the

9 you mentioned.

[dogs4fun]

 

15 hours ago, Bluestar01 said:

How do different cruise lines compare? Done only NCL in the past, but with Baltic, seeing more options with Costa, Holland America & MSC cruise lines.

 

Thanks. 

I agree with JB - carefully check the time in each port of call. MSC and Costa usually offer much less time in ports than do NCL, HAL, Princess & RCL - for that reason alone, I would not book a Baltic cruise with MSC or Costa.

[leavesofapple]

6 hours ago, John Bull said:

I concur with other posters - the Baltic.

 

It's port-intensive, so the itinerary is more important than the ship.

 

Even 9 days isn't really long enough, and cruises starting in Britain or Amsterdam will use up a couple more days. So look for an embarkation port in the Baltic, with good air connection from home - Copenhagen is probably your best bet.

 

Might be difficult with a max of 9 days, but St Petersburg definitely warrants two days so look for a cruise with a overnight there. 

(nb visiting Russia needs a rather expensive and complicated tourist visa unless you pre-book a visa-free tour, but be wary of misleading cruise line phraseology which gives the impression that only ships' tours are visa-free . Tours offered by local operators are also visa-free and far better than ships tours - in 16-seat vans, far more personal & flexible, beat-the-lines at busy sites, quicker and with closer parking than big buses, and tour prices that compare very favourably with ships' tours. See the Northern Europe forum for names of operators - and they're all very good.) 

 

The sail-in to Stockholm is one of the best in the world - about 4 hours sailing through the archipelago of islands so close that you feel you could reach out and touch the trees. 

But mega-ships are too large to sail through, so they berth at Nyneshamn -  it's on the coast, no glorious sail-in, and an hour from Stockholm by road or rail.

Stockholm's Stadsgarden (sp?) pier is most convenient, Frihamnen is also quite close to the city centre - but try to avoid an itinerary which says "Stockholm (Nyneshamn)"

 

Warnemunde is on some itineraries. Tours are offered to Berlin, but it's about 3 hours each-way so even though ships depart late into the evening you only get about 5 hours in Berlin - 5 hours in a city which is worth 5 days .

Do it if you've not been and this might be your only chance, but better to put Berlin on the back-burner for a "proper" visit at some time in the future. Warnemunde and nearby Rostock are very pleasant but missable.

 

All the ports except St Petersburg (and Berlin from Warnemunde) are easy to DIY so no need to break the bank.

 

Do check the hours in port, especially Costa & MSC which often include half-days.

Old-town Tallinn is pretty easy in a half-day, other ports need a full day & St Petersburg two days.

 

I do love spending other people's money for them , but do give yourselves at least a full day in your embarkation port

 

JB  

A few years ago we did a cruise with 3 days (two nights) in St P. Even that is not enough for such a magnificent city. We sailed with RCCL.