Which Cruise To Take 9 Day France & Iberia or 9 Day Scandinavia & Russia & Baltics

Trying to find out which cruise is best to do in 2018 , both cruise are 9 day cruises .The France and Iberia cruise sails from South Hampton on the Norwegian Jade and other cruise sails from Copenhagen on the Norwegian Breakaway . We have only sailed Western Mediterranean 5 years ago on the Jade. Both cruises are with in 100 dollars of each other inside cabins but balcony cabins are about $700.00 in difference . Which port city is cheaper to fly into Copenhagen or London because that would effect if getting a balcony or not. The French cruise stops at Le Havre where we could see Paris or the Normandy Beach . Anything that we see will be new we are in our Mid 50's and pretty active. Thanks for the help.

Which is cheaper to fly into depends on where you are flying from. I don't see that in your post. Personally, we are doing the Baltic Cruise because I want to see the Breakaway and the itinerary sounded a bit more interesting.

We are flying from Atlanta and I know the Breakaway is a lot newer ship but it also has almost 4000 passengers.

Hi all!

firecatp25 ~ I would choose the Baltic on the Breakaway as I did that cruise on the Getaway & those are some amazing ports.

The ship is very nice. Copenhagen is a lovely place so I'd stay a couple of nights before if you choose this cruise.

I went on Icelandair so stopped there on the way back for a couple of nights. The airfare was $834.12. When I went to Prague through London the airfare was $760.73. Maybe you can do better than these fares.

EIther way you'd see some lovely places but IMO St Petersburg is the best of ports.

Read some of the many glowing reports that are coming back from the Getaway Baltic cruise as the Breakaway is pretty much the same ship.

Hope this helps.

~ Jo ~ :)

Wow thanks for the info , yes we always try to find the best air fares and it looks like you did great. And as far as the ship the Breakaway I know it will have a lot more things to do and see with all the shows and all water park stuff on board. What time of the year did you go, we are looking at late May or September 2018

Hi again!

I went to CPN in late May & to Prague in early June. Weather was great both trips.

Was on Breakaway to Bermuda, the inaugural sailing & really liked the ship. Have also done Epic, Star & Dawn but not Jade.

Looking to book Venice at $820

For next June.

Jo

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I will prefer the Baltic for its itinerary. Its being port intensive makes it more of a choice than the ship, making it worth the trip for us. YMMV.

Flying from ATL it is slightly cheaper to go to CPH. I randomly picked 4 - 19 Jun. I am booked on the Breakaway for the 7 Jun sailing. My logic was that the days would be slightly longer but the weather would also be warmer. There are plenty of good reviews out there from a few weeks ago about how crowded it was, excursions, weather, etc. It would be good to read a few of them. I will also be flying through ATL. I am hoping to be able to book my tickets on Saturday.

Thanks for the info , never thought about the day light, but we would be further north enjoying the longer days. And thanks the airport information .

The Jade itinerary looks quite interesting (and includes a few places that I haven't been to, so can't comment specifically on them). However, the Baltic itinerary is one of the best available, in my opinion, and if you have not done either before then it would certainly be my recommendation.

I would caution against the Le Havre (Paris) stop. It is a long journey to Paris from there (over 100 miles), and is far from an ideal way of seeing Paris. I'd only do it if it's your only option for every seeing Paris. The same can be said for the Berlin stop on the Baltic cruise.

we loved the Baltics itinerary, and ditto on staying at least 2 nights in Copenhagen pre-cruise. We stayed at the Hotel Bethel right on the canal in Nyhavn. Highly recommend, and it was only about a 10 minute cab ride from the hotel to the Port. London is much further from teh cruise port.

that said, id never do the Baltics on a large ship. We did it on Star. we too flew on IcelandAir from Boston and it was very affordable (around $750 i think for the two of us).

I would pick the cruise that has the most interesting itinerary for you. We did the Jade in May for the Great Britain/Ireland cruise, and loved both the itinerary and the ship. The Jade is smaller and has fewer bells and whistles, but with a port intensive cruise it didn't matter much. I can't answer about Baltic since I haven't done it (yet!), or the Breakaway.

Airfares to London are pretty reasonable since there is so much competition. Getting to Southampton can be a pain, but we spent a few days in London and took a really cheap Megatrain down to Southampton. Going to Copenhagen might involve changing flights once you reach Europe. For example, IcelandAir means stopping in Iceland, but that would be a fantastic opportunity to see that fascinating island, and break up your flight in a fun way.

Weather can go any which way, so dress in layers. We found hot weather in England and cold drizzle in Ireland.

We originally booked insides, but were upgraded to balconies after a price drop after final payment. But we did the 12 day Spirit Mediterranean last year in an inside and enjoyed that too.

Go with your gut and you'll have a fantastic time. Let us know what you decided!

We had just cruised the Baltic itinerary, and traveled (land vacation) through the Iberian Peninsula extensively a number of years ago, and had visited Paris/northern France during another (land) vacation.

Both were amazing trips. Although you are looking at it from a dollar-and-cents point of view, I would suggest doing some research and taking a look at the ports you will be stopping at and what each has to offer - and which you and your travelling companion(s) would enjoy more. You would also get 2 days in Saint Petersburg on the Baltic trip vs. (I believe) 1 day in Paris for the Iberian itinerary. Having been to both of these cities, and if only given the choice to either see one or the other under these conditions - I would probably chose St. Petersburg.

While we found Copenhagen a most wonderful city, it is not cheap -in case you were thinking about staying in the city pre or post cruise - it tied for 9th in an article listing the most expensive cities in the world - http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-most-expensive-cities-in-the-world-in-2017-are-mostly-in-asia/.

There is always the option of doing a stopover in Paris on the way to/from Copenhagen so you can get the best of both worlds. [Note: Paris is tied for 7 on the above list.] We chose Reykjavik (an even more expensive city, although astonishingly not listed, as a stopover on the way there, then spent 2 days pre-cruise in Copenhagen.

Another consideration you may also use in consideration is weather -- the Baltics can be cool with unpredictable weather. You will have a better chance (if you play the odds) of nicer and warmer weather going south.

I am writing my review on this itinerary [see my signature for link], so if you have any questions, please let me know.

The Getaway is the sister of the Breakaway, which we had sailed, but I had not sailed the Jade. However, having sailed the Mediterranean on a smaller ship (RCI Legend), if I were to take another European cruise, if without our children, I would chose to voyage on a small ship. The Baltic itinerary is jam-packed, port-intensive adventure, so there is not a lot of time to do or see everything on the ship - especially one like the Getaway (which is something I learned the hard way) - so the bells and whistles are not needed, IMHO.

Balcony vs Inside is a personal choice. I usually make very good use of my balcony, but was hindered at times by the weather on the Baltic cruise. Also the long days on excursions also limited its use. If we would had an inside (or even an Oceanview), I do not think it would have impacted us, except for when I was asked to leave the room when my DDs got dressed (it was convenient to go out onto the balcony). [Hopefully you would have much better weather than us.]

Thanks everyone on the info , on airfare and also about stopping in Iceland that sounds interesting , yes we would plan on staying in Copenhagen 2 nights pre cruise to enjoy the city and it's history and to get use to time difference. Has anyone did Baltics in September how is the weather during that time.

I have been to Copenhagen, Helsinki, Hamburg and several other European cities for meetings in both February and September. I never found the weather bad in September. Meetings in February were cold but it was tolerable for meetings since we were inside most of the day.

If you fly Delta since it is ATL is a hub for them, you could fly to CPH via Boston or CDG (Paris) or Amsterdam. I am looking at either BOS or AMS since I HATE the airport at CDG. I am actually spending 2 days in Copenhagen (pre/post cruise), then spending about a week to 10 days in the Netherlands post cruise before flying home.

That's good information , there are always sales to Boston from Atlanta so that would work and we would like to visit Amsterdam. And we made our minds up today with all the helpful information that everyone has gave me, I booked us today on the Breakaway for the third week of September 2018

Congrats! I will be posting something in June. Not sure what yet considering all of the great reviews out there.

Hi all!

BostonGal35 ~ wow, you got a really good deal on your flights!! The fares I quoted were for me alone!

I booked my flight to Venice today & am fine with it since it's non stop & at times I like.

firecapt25 ~ WTG, congrats! (y)You're sure to have an amazing time just like we who did the Baltic on Getaway did.

I did no ship tours instead going with Alla in Tallinn, SPB & Helsinki. In Warnemunde, a place with a beautiful white sand beach, I did a Friends of Dave tour & was really happy with all my choices. I bought the Copenhagen Card for my 1 night there & found it to be worthwhile. Tivoli Gardens was lovely.

Lots of planning ahead for you!!:D Have fun!

~ Jo ~ :)

Thank you for info on your excursions.. And yes lots of planning but good news have plenty of time to plan and get the most out of cruise and trip. Where do you get the Copenhagen card .

You can buy it online or at the airport. There's an app showing daily happenings at Tivoli & at which places you can use the card.

Remember I travel solo so what works for me may not work for a couple.

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