Seeking European departure w/ Switzerland Excursion

[SSBrickNJ]

I came across this article....

https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-destinations/europe-cruises/europe-cruise-tips/activities/see-the-amazing-swiss-alps-and-lake-como.html

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.....and I'm intrigued.

On Princess we can seemingly take a cruise that would dock somewhere and then we'd take a train excursion to Switzerland???

I'll contact Princess sometime soon, but I thought maybe someone here could provide me some helpful info.

Thanks in advance for any responses on this topic.

Steve

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, SSBrickNJ said:

I came across this article....

https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-destinations/europe-cruises/europe-cruise-tips/activities/see-the-amazing-swiss-alps-and-lake-como.html

*

.....and I'm intrigued.

On Princess we can seemingly take a cruise that would dock somewhere and then we'd take a train excursion to Switzerland???

I'll contact Princess sometime soon, but I thought maybe someone here could provide me some helpful info.

Thanks in advance for any responses on this topic.

Steve

Just book a tour with one of the land tour companies such as Gate1. We are doing a TA, and  a British Cruise in April/May then flying to Switzerland for a 10 day tour.

 

Probably cheaper booking with a tour company then a land tour booked through cruise line.

 

Did a 14 day tour of Peru including air fare from FLL, for about the same amount that Princess was charging for the 3 day, 2 night excursion to Machu Picchu on the cruise I was on the year before.

Edited December 27, 2022 by ldtr

[caribill]

Although we have not taken this tour, we have taken Cruisetours with Princess in other parts of the world.

 

We were well taken care of, had good guides, stayed at very good hotels.

 

In the past on Cruise Critic I have read posts from people who were very pleased with the land part of their Princess cruisetours in Europe.

[dog]

As said Princess will take care of the details with a cruise tour.

another option is to cruise,& then  train or get a car rental to explore that area of Northern Italy, Switzerland.  I used a website called Slow Europe, to help plan.

[milolii]

My guess is such a train trip would be several hours, 5-6 or longer, and depart from a port in Italy.  Maybe Livorno (Florence) or Trieste (Venice)  to Lucerne?  Not sure if this would involve a transfer at Milan?  Trains are capable of great speeds but limited by mountain travel.  There is a border crossing involved  as Switzerland is not part of the EU.  
 

Princess  does a great job with their land tours in Alaska, but I agree, there are several tour companies in Europe who do these tours very well and have been around for a long time.  I’d  take a tour to get the most of your trip. Many times the tours are cheaper than a DYI, due to their contracts with the hotels and transportation. 
 

The Dolomites are breathtaking. So the trip is wonderful either from a train or a tour bus. 

 

We often connect a land tour or a DYI trip with a cruise.  Usually we schedule the cruise at the end.  The ability to get laundry done onboard after a land trip is a great benefit. 

Either way, it would be interesting to read what you discover from Princess. Then you can compare and decide which options meet your needs.  Enjoy, it sounds fabulous. 
 

[Guest ldtr]

9 hours ago, caribill said:

Although we have not taken this tour, we have taken Cruisetours with Princess in other parts of the world.

 

We were well taken care of, had good guides, stayed at very good hotels.

 

In the past on Cruise Critic I have read posts from people who were very pleased with the land part of their Princess cruisetours in Europe.

I would certainly agree that people have been well taken care of on cruise tours.  You certainly pay a premium compared to other options and should be treated well.  

[milolii]

Interestingly, there  is another current thread about a land tour in Ireland, amd then flying to London from Cork to join a ship.  Poster @Coral relates friends did this tour in August and Globus was the company  Princess used.  I thought I had read this a few months ago with regard to another cruise tour.  So it is likely, that in Europe, you are essentially getting the same company (and it could be another company besides Globus) which can be booked independently for a much better cost. The trick is if the two line up with your dates. 

[Coral]

1 minute ago, milolii said:

Interestingly, there  is another current thread about a land tour in Ireland, amd then flying to London from Cork to join a ship.  Poster @Coral relates friends did this tour in August and Globus was the company  Princess used.  I thought I had read this a few months ago with regard to another cruise tour.  So it is likely, that in Europe, you are essentially getting the same company (and it could be another company besides Globus) which can be booked independently for a much better cost. The trick is if the two line up with your dates. 

The tour that my friends did in Ireland, while run by Globus, was not offered on Globus' website. Also, the tour included a flight the day of the cruise to Southampton. The luggage was transported independently the day of also (which allowed them to have heavier weight luggage than what inter-Europe flights allowed.). Everyone on the tour with my friend was also going to the ship. They actually met several people that they enjoyed seeing on the cruise portion o the trip.

 

So while I think one could easily do Switzerland on their own before the cruise - I would not leave it  to flying to the ship the day of the cruise (or other transportation such as train) unless you are doing it via Princess land tour. I do have a friend who did a Switzerland land trip with Princess in 2001 or so and also had great things to say about that tour. I did not know that they brought this back. 

 

Obviously if one is paying $$$$ to fly to Europe, they should take advantage of seeing more of Europe while they are over there, however one does it.

 

I had a cruise in November and went to London early to travel to Cambridge, etc.... There was a proposed train strike and while it was called off, the train I planned to take to Cambridge still wasn't running. So even though the strike was adverted - things were still not running accordingly. Always have Plan B in the back of your mind. 

[Coral]

16 hours ago, SSBrickNJ said:

I came across this article....

https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-destinations/europe-cruises/europe-cruise-tips/activities/see-the-amazing-swiss-alps-and-lake-como.html

*

.....and I'm intrigued.

On Princess we can seemingly take a cruise that would dock somewhere and then we'd take a train excursion to Switzerland???

I'll contact Princess sometime soon, but I thought maybe someone here could provide me some helpful info.

Thanks in advance for any responses on this topic.

Steve

While I am willing to admit I could have missed something - I could not find this cruise tour.

 

Let me know if you find it.

[milolii]

Yea, I kinda figured that trip wasn’t for sale on their website as it is too short. It’s possible the one the OP is looking at isn’t either.  That why I said the trick is to line up the dates if you book on your own, whereas with Princess the land portion is scheduled to line up with a cruise. 
 

I agree about the real possibility of rail strikes.    We went back to flying this year from Edinburgh to London because of that possibility.  We also found the trains in Germany extremely crowded this past summer due to the €9 fares.  
 

I looked for the tour also, I wonder if it is yet to be finalized. 

Edited December 27, 2022 by milolii

[SSBrickNJ]

15 minutes ago, Coral said:

While I am willing to admit I could have missed something - I could not find this cruise tour.

 

Let me know if you find it.

AFTER posting this last night, my wife "found" a 7 day cruise she was interested in from Amsterdam to Norway and back. It's via Holland America.

I invested my time there today.

I have nothing to add re. the Princess cruise.

[Coral]

10 minutes ago, SSBrickNJ said:

AFTER posting this last night, my wife "found" a 7 day cruise she was interested in from Amsterdam to Norway and back. It's via Holland America.

I invested my time there today.

I have nothing to add re. the Princess cruise.

Just FYI - I have done a 14 night Norway cruise and it was amazing. If you can do a longer Norway cruise (that spends more time in Norway) - I would highly recommend it.

[SSBrickNJ]

38 minutes ago, Coral said:

Just FYI - I have done a 14 night Norway cruise and it was amazing. If you can do a longer Norway cruise (that spends more time in Norway) - I would highly recommend it.

I'm sure it is amazing.

We do not have the vacation time or the money for a 14 day cruise.

[SSBrickNJ]

I called Princess today. Their phone rep had no clue about this...

https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-destinations/europe-cruises/europe-cruise-tips/activities/see-the-amazing-swiss-alps-and-lake-como.html

*

I could not share it like I am here. I could just read it...describe it, etc.

After 2 minutes it was clear I was wasting my time....so I said: "Let's forget this Princess online specific site and approach my phone call this way:

DOES Princess have ANY cruise which has an itinerary that includes a train excursion to Switzerland?

He said things like: " I don't know. I don't do excursions. What ship are you interested in?"

Oh well. I post this so others who ever come across this thread will not bother to pursue the link I posted earlier and now once again here in Post 14.

If you want to see Swiss Alps or Switzerland in general...normal cruising is not the answer.

Fly there....or do a river cruise.

I shopped an 8 day Viking River Cruise. For my wife and I it came to $6,998! Ouch!

Not gonna do that.

[Guest ldtr]

5 minutes ago, SSBrickNJ said:

I called Princess today. Their phone rep had no clue about this...

https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-destinations/europe-cruises/europe-cruise-tips/activities/see-the-amazing-swiss-alps-and-lake-como.html

*

I could not share it like I am here. I could just read it...describe it, etc.

After 2 minutes it was clear I was wasting my time....so I said: "Let's forget this Princess online specific site and approach my phone call this way:

DOES Princess have ANY cruise which has an itinerary that includes a train excursion to Switzerland?

He said things like: " I don't know. I don't do excursions. What ship are you interested in?"

Oh well. I post this so others who ever come across this thread will not bother to pursue the link I posted earlier and now once again here in Post 14.

If you want to see Swiss Alps or Switzerland in general...normal cruising is not the answer.

Fly there....or do a river cruise.

I shopped an 8 day Viking River Cruise. For my wife and I it came to $6,998! Ouch!

Not gonna do that.

Gate1 River cruises run about 30% less than Viking and are very similar experiences (having done both). Plus Gate1 has better payment terms compared to Vikings year in advance payment requirement.  Biggest difference Gate1 serves more regional dishes.  On Viking everyone gets the same appetizers, on Viking there is a selection of the appetizers.  On both there is usually a meat, chicken and fish to select from for dinner with vegetarian upon request.  Sign up for their deals.  

[Coral]

18 minutes ago, SSBrickNJ said:

I called Princess today. Their phone rep had no clue about this...

https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-destinations/europe-cruises/europe-cruise-tips/activities/see-the-amazing-swiss-alps-and-lake-como.html

*

I could not share it like I am here. I could just read it...describe it, etc.

After 2 minutes it was clear I was wasting my time....so I said: "Let's forget this Princess online specific site and approach my phone call this way:

DOES Princess have ANY cruise which has an itinerary that includes a train excursion to Switzerland?

 

As mentioned earlier - a friend did do a Switzerland pre-cruise land trip many years ago and really did enjoy it. I think it was before a Med cruise. Maybe they will bring it back.

 

You may want to look at river cruises. They are great and have pre-cruise options in the area you are looking at. They do appear more expensive but they are more inclusive (have excursions included).

Edited December 28, 2022 by Coral

[SSBrickNJ]

28 minutes ago, Coral said:

As mentioned earlier - a friend did do a Switzerland pre-cruise land trip many years ago and really did enjoy it. I think it was before a Med cruise. Maybe they will bring it back.

 

You may want to look at river cruises. They are great and have pre-cruise options in the area you are looking at. They do appear more expensive but they are more inclusive (have excursions included).

Thanks for posting on my thread.

I want to have fun yet I need to be budget savvy as well.

This was my attempt at considering a Viking River Cruise...

Tap on the red "x"...then at the next screen that is presented...tap on that screen's red "x" as well.....            

Edited December 28, 2022 by SSBrickNJ

[Coral]

8 minutes ago, SSBrickNJ said:

Thanks for posting on my thread.

I want to have fun yet I need to be budget savvy as well.

This was my attempt at considering a Viking River Cruise...

I get it. Most people think of Viking when they think of river cruises. There are a ton of other companies out there - Avalon (owned by Globus), Amawaterways, Uniworld, Scenic, Emerald, etc..... When I have looked at Viking, they have been more expensive than some of the more upscale lines that included more. You may want to look at River Cruise board and look at some of the other lines or contact an agent who has experience in river cruises. I have never done a Viking river cruise and probably won't as I don't like their payment terms. Just wanted to let you know there are a ton of other companies out there and some have much better reviews than Viking.

 

Ocean and river cruises are different beasts. They include different things. It is worth balancing out what is included and comparing. One river cruise I went on - I walked out not owing a cent. Everything including tips, excursions and drinks were included. I have had European ocean cruises where I have spent $2000 on excursions alone. Just something to think about.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Coral

[SSBrickNJ]

I called Holland America and said "Yes" to the 24 courtesy hold I set up last night.

7 Day Cruise out of Copenhagen Denmark.

My wife and I are in a 5th floor inner stateroom.

Out the Door Price for the 7 day cruise $2098

Good value and a nice itinerary re. seeing Norway.

Cruise will be early August 2023

[elaine5]

It is extremely easy to fly into Zurich, train to many options in Switzerland and then train to Italy to catch a cruise.  We did it with 3 kids and 70 yr old Mum, visiting Lucerne, Bern, and an overnight in a small town before training to Italy. We could have also easily added Lugano on our way to Rome. Another option is to fly into Milan, day trip via an escorted tour and then continue to your port, Rome or Venice. There are many day trips from Milan, which has excellent train connections to both Rome and Venice. Here's an example:

https://www.viator.com/tours/Milan/Swiss-Alps-Bernina-Express-Rail-Tour-from-Milan/d512-2872ZV15

The excursion you referenced might have been from Venice, fairly close to Italian lakes. Border crossing used to be just agent checking PP while on train.

Edited December 29, 2022 by elaine5

[Hlitner]

When I read a post like the OP's, I shake my head and wonder, "what are they thinking?"  Europe is a big place and most of the continent is not accessible on a port day.  Even some places, such as Berlin, are ridiculous for an excursion (spend 5-6 hours on a train for a few hours in the city).  Just like it is not reasonable to visit Dallas, Texas or Lincoln, Nebraska on a cruise line excursion, it is not reasonable to visit Switzerland on any cruise ship excursion.  My goodness, some of the best Swiss excursions (such as taking the train to Jungfrau) take a full day from a land base.  Folks might be able to visit some places on pre or post cruise packages, but even these are generally much overpriced if sold through a cruise line.

 

But the mystery to me is why some cruisers even consider some of these crazy excursion options.  If you want to experience most of Europe, you need to take a land trip or perhaps enhance it with a river boat cruise.  It is no different in Asia, Africa, South America, etc.  Cruises are wonderful (we love to cruise) but they are not a good option if the goal is to see things not relatively close to the port.

 

Hank

[Guest ldtr]

36 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

When I read a post like the OP's, I shake my head and wonder, "what are they thinking?"  Europe is a big place and most of the continent is not accessible on a port day.  Even some places, such as Berlin, are ridiculous for an excursion (spend 5-6 hours on a train for a few hours in the city).  Just like it is not reasonable to visit Dallas, Texas or Lincoln, Nebraska on a cruise line excursion, it is not reasonable to visit Switzerland on any cruise ship excursion.  My goodness, some of the best Swiss excursions (such as taking the train to Jungfrau) take a full day from a land base.  Folks might be able to visit some places on pre or post cruise packages, but even these are generally much overpriced if sold through a cruise line.

 

But the mystery to me is why some cruisers even consider some of these crazy excursion options.  If you want to experience most of Europe, you need to take a land trip or perhaps enhance it with a river boat cruise.  It is no different in Asia, Africa, South America, etc.  Cruises are wonderful (we love to cruise) but they are not a good option if the goal is to see things not relatively close to the port.

 

Hank

Maybe he was thinking of this

 

https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-destinations/europe-cruises/europe-cruise-tips/activities/see-the-amazing-swiss-alps-and-lake-como.html

 

Princess used to have a sell a cruise tour that did cover Switzerland (multiday land tour).  From his description that he found the description then was trying to actually find a cruise tour combination. Not an unreasonable approach. 

 

However, it appears that even though the web site lists the description, they are currently not offering that land tour.

 

It would certainly be reasonable just as it is to visit Fairbanks Alaska during the multiday cruise tour the cruise line offers there, or the fairly vast areas covered in other countries with the multiday cruise tours.  Far more area is covered on Australia cruise tour, land portions than would be required anywhere in Europe.

Edited December 29, 2022 by ldtr