Which cruise line for Europe??

[DebBrown]

Before I get flamed, you can see that I am an AVID Carnival addict! That being said, I recently read an excellent review of the, what I call, Italian European itinerary. That review has convinced me to take that trip next year. I have looked at what Carnival offers as well as what NCL and RCI offers. Has anyone does this trip on a different cruise line than Carnival and do you have any recommendations?

[lizjoemom]

Before I get flamed, you can see that I am an AVID Carnival addict! That being said, I recently read an excellent review of the, what I call, Italian European itinerary. That review has convinced me to take that trip next year. I have looked at what Carnival offers as well as what NCL and RCI offers. Has anyone does this trip on a different cruise line than Carnival and do you have any recommendations?

 

Sorry, I have only cruised once in Europe and that was on Carnival, so I have no comparisons to give you, but what I can tell you is that we have cruised many times and this was our first time on Carnival. We were a little leery at first having heard bad things about Carnival, but we had a wonderful time and the ship was fabulous!

Ours was a 12 night, left from Citivecchia (Rome) and we went to Naples, Sicily, Venice (2 nights), Croatia, Barcelona, Cannes, Florence and back to Rome, where we stayed an additional two nights before flying home. It was a great intinerary and a fantastic cruise. The food was excellent and so was the service. We were hooked on Carnival and will be going on a stateside cruise this summer with them. So I do recommend Carnival for Europe! Have a great time!

[finsupcruiser]

We did the Med on NCL Gem and loved every minute.

 

For us a port intensive cruise is done with NCL because we enjoy anytime dining. This was certainly the case in the Med. The excursions are long whether you use private or ship excursions. It was great to eat when you wanted. IMO CCL YTD is no match for NCL anytime dining.

 

The Gem and sister ships Pearl and Jade are beautiful ships.

 

Service on Gem was outstanding:)

 

We are doing 15 Hawaii on Miracle because we did not want to fly--we shall see how CCL does port intensive cruise.

[cascais_1954]

Hi!

 

I've only sailed on RCI here in Europe:

 

Greek Islands (from Venice) - 2010 (Splendour of the Seas)

Baltics (from Copenhagen) - 2011 (Vision of the Seas)

 

In 6 days will do a short 5 night cruise from Oslo into Bruges and Amsterdam (Vision of the Seas).

 

I've never sailed on Carnival so I really can't compare (did Alaska on Princess in 2009).

 

I think RCI is okay (not as spectacular as Princess).

[DebBrown]

Thank you for the replies. I have to say that NCL does look to have the better accomodations and I do like their itinerary. It is going to be hard for me to "jump ship" though. LOL.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I hope you get more responses. I'm sailing Carnival in Northern Europe next year and am toying with an NCL med cruise later in the year or 2014. That cruise will be solo and NCL's pricing for solos doesn't require a 200% fare. :D Would love to hear comparisons between the two.

[tiggerman101]

Last January we did the NCL Jade for a 12 day Eastern Med cruise (Barcelona to Rome, Athens, Izmir (Ephesus), Istanbul (two nights) and Malta.

 

Last June we did the Carnival Magic 12 day "Italian European" cruise from Barcelona to Monaco, Rome, Naples, Livorno, Venice (overnight), Dubrovnik and Messina.

 

In July we are doing the NCL Jade again for an 8 day Greek Isles cruise from Venice to Corfu, Mykonos, Santorini and Izmir, Turkey.

 

That said we liked both Med cruises but the Magic was my favorite cruise I have ever done so far. This would have more to so with the ports then the ship itself. I did like the ship a lot more then I thought and had a great time on her. However, the itinerary is the real stand out.

 

The Jade was not necessarily my favorite ship, but I have no real complaints about the cruise. obviously, it was alright if I am going on her again this year.

 

Honestly, just about any Europe cruise is about the ports. Most are going to be port intensive anyway. I would look at where you really want to go and what the port times are. For me the ship is secondary when I look at the Med. I also go by prices.

 

There are some amazing deals in Europe right now if you just look around. We were originally booked on a HAL Alaska cruise until we switched to the Greek Isles last month. The price was great (the airfare is terrible obviously). The prices are so good this year we talked of cancelling our Baltic cruise for next August, putting the money back and then just going last minute with whatever looks great.

 

I know my answer was a bit vague on the difference between the cruise lines in the Med so ask me anything you might want to know between CCL and NCL.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Tiggerman, that was actually a very helpful response (for me, anyway; I don't know about the OP. ;)). I'm sailing next year with some of your roll call from that Magic cruise and they seem like a great group!

 

I think my hesitation on NCL is just that I've never sailed them before. But, I could do an NCL med cruise on the Epic for less than half what it would cost on Carnival due to having to pay double fare on Carnival. I'd have to book a studio to do that, and am concerned I'd go crazy without my balcony. Does NCL have a lot of space on deck where you can find at least a little privacy (translated: not shoulder-to-shoulder crowds) for port arrivals and sail aways?

 

Thanks!

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Never been there - but find this topic interesting.

 

My feeling is that when we DO cross the pond for a long cruise, it will be on Celebrity or NCL (in that order) but one never knows!

 

Tom

[tiggerman101]

Tiggerman, that was actually a very helpful response (for me, anyway; I don't know about the OP. ;)). I'm sailing next year with some of your roll call from that Magic cruise and they seem like a great group!

 

I think my hesitation on NCL is just that I've never sailed them before. But, I could do an NCL med cruise on the Epic for less than half what it would cost on Carnival due to having to pay double fare on Carnival. I'd have to book a studio to do that, and am concerned I'd go crazy without my balcony. Does NCL have a lot of space on deck where you can find at least a little privacy (translated: not shoulder-to-shoulder crowds) for port arrivals and sail aways?

 

Thanks!

 

I have no idea about the Epic since it seems to be a different beast all together. I don't think it is too much like their other ships. The Jade had a lot of public space outside. I know the studio price on the Epic would be the cheapest by far, but it is only a 7 day cruise. I would make sure it is hitting the places you really want to go.

 

NCL itself was fine. I actually like the freestyle dining and all the different restaurants. The shows were fantastic. I have no complaints about service, etc either. I can not comment on activities since I don't pay much attention to them. I will say that we had a major port change (we were supposed to go to Egypt, but the riots broke out when we were on the ship and we went to Istanbul instead). NCL handled it very well.

 

As for the rest of the ship, it was a cold weather cruise so I can not comment on the pools, etc. It will be interesting to see what it is like in the summer.

[tiggerman101]

Never been there - but find this topic interesting.

 

My feeling is that when we DO cross the pond for a long cruise, it will be on Celebrity or NCL (in that order) but one never knows!

 

Tom

 

Celebrity has been throwing out some amazing deals recently. I wish we had more time to take off so we could take advantage of them. We are doing the Millenium in SE Asia next March.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I have no idea about the Epic since it seems to be a different beast all together. I don't think it is too much like their other ships. The Jade had a lot of public space outside. I know the studio price on the Epic would be the cheapest by far, but it is only a 7 day cruise. I would make sure it is hitting the places you really want to go.

 

NCL itself was fine. I actually like the freestyle dining and all the different restaurants. The shows were fantastic. I have no complaints about service, etc either. I can not comment on activities since I don't pay much attention to them. I will say that we had a major port change (we were supposed to go to Egypt, but the riots broke out when we were on the ship and we went to Istanbul instead). NCL handled it very well.

 

As for the rest of the ship, it was a cold weather cruise so I can not comment on the pools, etc. It will be interesting to see what it is like in the summer.

 

Having been on the Epic twice, plus the Sky and the Pearl - I can agree that it's a different beast! If I had to pick a ship to do a "7 night cruise to nowhere", it would be on the Epic, hands down! It's a destination ship - then again, I have not sampled an Oasis class ship... YET!

 

Tom

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Celebrity has been throwing out some amazing deals recently.

...

 

Which makes me hope that they'll consider leaving a ship behind again (in Florida) some future summer - or should I say May, June, July, August, September, October!!

 

Tom

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Good point about the Epic--it really is a different beast. I'm looking at the 7-day if I do it 2013 as I'll have already had several weeks off work and won't have much additional time. That said, I'm already booked on the Glory for Canada/New England so may just follow through and do that one and postpone to 2014. If I do that, I'd want longer than 7 days.

 

Good to hear about how NCL handled the port change and I'm pleased that you found the service and such decent. I also don't care about the activities--you hit the points I'm curious about. I appreciate your responding. Thanks! :D

 

I have no idea about the Epic since it seems to be a different beast all together. I don't think it is too much like their other ships. The Jade had a lot of public space outside. I know the studio price on the Epic would be the cheapest by far, but it is only a 7 day cruise. I would make sure it is hitting the places you really want to go.

 

NCL itself was fine. I actually like the freestyle dining and all the different restaurants. The shows were fantastic. I have no complaints about service, etc either. I can not comment on activities since I don't pay much attention to them. I will say that we had a major port change (we were supposed to go to Egypt, but the riots broke out when we were on the ship and we went to Istanbul instead). NCL handled it very well.

 

As for the rest of the ship, it was a cold weather cruise so I can not comment on the pools, etc. It will be interesting to see what it is like in the summer.

[remharri]

We did the Med. last year on Carnival (I've only sailed Carnival) and I thought they did a great job. It was obviously a different crowd then what you see in the Caribbean. With that being said, we were never on the ship it seems, I don't even remember what the Magic looks like, we were so busy in port with 1 sea day that I don't believe the ship would matter. With that being said, we are doing the British Isles next year on the Carnival Legend because of the ports and cost and not so much the ship.

[LIV 2 CRUISE]

You didn't ask about Princess, but both of my European cruises were with them. I had a wonderful time, and the ships were beautiful. They tend to be a little more expensive, but they also run deals from time to time. In fact, my aegean cruise was down to $799/pp and my transatlantic $599/pp. And I cruised both solo, so I had to pay 200%.

 

Don't think you will be sorry no matter what line you take. They all have their own good and bad points. A European cruise is like no other.

 

My favorite port -- so far -- is Istanbul. Is is SO exotic, and you get the best of the east and the west. Egypt was also fantastic, but Istanbul is still my favorite.

[DebBrown]

Wow! There are some great comments on here!! Thank you for all of your input. I have pretty well concluded that there is not much time on the ship so I will probably just look at itineraries and make my choice based on that....and cost of course. LOL.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Wow! There are some great comments on here!! Thank you for all of your input. I have pretty well concluded that there is not much time on the ship so I will probably just look at itineraries and make my choice based on that....and cost of course. LOL.

 

 

That's what I'm thinking, too. On most cruises, the ship is definitely a consideration, too because we do spend time in the cabin. But, for a European cruise I think I'll think of it more as a hotel and make the itinerary by far the biggest consideration. :D