Best Europe Cruise and Ship?!?

[hamlettm]

Hey everyone,

 

I want to take my daughter (for her graduation next year) on a 12 - 15 day Europe cruise. What do you guys suggest for a ship and cruise itinerary ??

 

We enjoy staying in suites, love the Jacuzzi on the balcony and my wife and daughter want to hit Italy and London to name a few places.

 

Any suggestions on a good ship and cruise??

[cruiserfromalabama]

Have you thought about a cruisetour? We did a four day cruisetour of Italy with RCCL with 7 day Med. cruise. We had two days in Venice, one day in Florence, and 2 days in Rome. We saw all the best sights in all these three cities with escorted tours and even a train trip from Florence to Rome. The hotels were amazing and several meals were included! Once on the ship we saw Sicily, Turkey, Athens, and Crete. It was a wonderful trip and I would recommend it very highly! You could go to London either pre or post cruisetour and get all your daughter's wish lists taken care of!

Edited June 8, 2014 by cruiserfromalabama

[cruisead]

Answering BEST is really difficult because what's best for you might not be best for anyone else. So, what kind of cruise are you looking for? Do you have a budget? Is food the most important part, or don't you care about that? Do you want a big ship or a small one (big ships can't get into some ports in Europe because they're too large).

 

I suggest finding a good local travel agent and talking to them, asking every question you can think of. There's no need to book with the TA, but they can give you some perks that you don't get booking directly with the cruise line.

 

There are so many choices out there, so what you have to do first is decide where you want to cruise. There's the Western Med, Eastern Med, British Isles, Baltic, Norwegian Fjords and the North Cape. Once you decide on where you want to go, then you pick the ship. I would say that a 7 day cruise is really too short, so I recommend a cruise of 10 days or longer.

 

Also, be aware that if you book your daughter in her own cabin, you'll be paying double the fare as what's known as a single supplement. For example, if the per person fare is $1000, she'll pay $2000 because all cabins are based on double occupancy.

[boulders]

Have a look at Anthem of the Seas. It will be departing out of Southampton, so you could have a stay in London before or after your cruise. It will be a brand new ship with quite a few innovations. It will be 14 night cruises to the Med, hitting Florence and Rome on some of its itineraries.

[In Retirement]

Hard to come up with any specific recommendation, except assuming this is a high school graduation and your daughter is an only child? Does she have a favorite aunt? Are you sharing one cabin?

 

Adults who experience the stress of a vocation would see a personal jacussi on a balcony as relaxing and a luxury. A young lady graduating high school would not be so interested?

 

The great value of a European cruise is an introduction to our world, often just read about in a history course. If this would be her first experience in Europe, I would suggest a Mediterranean cruise (12 nights) and, instead of a "surprise" bring her and your wife into the planning. A cruise as a moving hotel room can be quite exciting, especially if selecting an itinerary that includes many of the highlights. Cruise critic can also be helpful in a Roll Call finding similar families, or if your daughter has a close friend with parents similarly inclined and port calls can be turned into adventures using the services of a private driver for a small group or a private guide and small bus for a larger group. Great experiences can be had with a Barcelona to Venice itinerary that samples Provence, Italy (Florence, Pisa, Rome) Greece (Athens) and Turkey (Ephesus, Istanbul). These 12 days plus two for travel and two or three in Barcelona and Florence would be ideal. Is this for now or next June?

 

Let us know what you plan and how it worked out. In short days MDW and I go on our fourth long European vacation, this time including a Rhine river cruise, days in Belgium, and a intense cruise to Norway from Amsterdam. Last summer I took my immediate family (7 adults, 3 children) on a RT Seattle Glacier Bay Alaska cruise and everyone had a great time (poured into three adjoining balcony cabins with children either on excursions with family, at camp on board, or going in and out of cabins from the joined balconies. In 2016 we plan to revisit our Barcelona/Venice cruise with our oldest and her boys who will be 9 and 15 years. On a cruise like this time spent in planning port activities is far more important than food -- although with a group I would never do "anytime" dinning and would at least review possible ships to locate best cabin options. Another issue is to look at possible specific cruises and map them out on a calendar to see where Sundays and Mondays fall. You are likely to find that activities possible on these days are often limited.

DJ:)

[jocap]

Have a look at Anthem of the Seas. It will be departing out of Southampton, so you could have a stay in London before or after your cruise. It will be a brand new ship with quite a few innovations. It will be 14 night cruises to the Med, hitting Florence and Rome on some of its itineraries.[/quote/

Yes, this brand new RCI ship is exactly the one I would have suggested for people wanting to see both London and the Med. There will be similar cruises from Southampton with Cunard, Princess and Celebrity, but other ships from this port will be biased more to UK/Irish/European cruisers.

[In Retirement]

Have a look at Anthem of the Seas. It will be departing out of Southampton, so you could have a stay in London before or after your cruise. It will be a brand new ship with quite a few innovations. It will be 14 night cruises to the Med, hitting Florence and Rome on some of its itineraries.[/quote/

Yes, this brand new RCI ship is exactly the one I would have suggested for people wanting to see both London and the Med. There will be similar cruises from Southampton with Cunard, Princess and Celebrity, but other ships from this port will be biased more to UK/Irish/European cruisers.

 

Our Princess Cruise in 2012 RT Southampton did, of course, have people from the UK and Australia, but the vast majority were from the US and Canada (and only English was used). I understand at one time local (UK) travel agents had access to excellent rates. Later this month and in 2011 we will be/were on Celebrity RT Amsterdam and the composition is/was the same. I really don't understand how you can say this? Princess has been part of Carnival Lines for many, many years. I'm not certain that access to London is a benefit of Southampton when the goal is the Mediterranean as you see the additional at sea days required (unless you find Gibralter more of a benefit than Istanbul or Athens? On several Barcelona/Venice itineraries, there is only one Sea Day, which I see as a benefit (this is not the Caribbean or the Canary Islands in the winter where relaxation and dressing up for dinner is a primary objective.

DJ:)

[jocap]

 

Our Princess Cruise in 2012 RT Southampton did, of course, have people from the UK and Australia, but the vast majority were from the US and Canada (and only English was used). I understand at one time local (UK) travel agents had access to excellent rates. Later this month and in 2011 we will be/were on Celebrity RT Amsterdam and the composition is/was the same. I really don't understand how you can say this? Princess has been part of Carnival Lines for many, many years. I'm not certain that access to London is a benefit of Southampton when the goal is the Mediterranean as you see the additional at sea days required (unless you find Gibralter more of a benefit than Istanbul or Athens? On several Barcelona/Venice itineraries, there is only one Sea Day, which I see as a benefit (this is not the Caribbean or the Canary Islands in the winter where relaxation and dressing up for dinner is a primary objective.

DJ:)

My poor explanation- by other ships from the UK, biased towards UK/Irish I meant P&O, Fred Olsen, Saga, Cruise and Maritime and so on....not Princess, Celebrity et al. Basically, if it's American run, then it should be fine; if it's British managed then things might be a little different to expectations.

[Host Jazzbeau]

If you're going to be booking a suite, consider Celebrity. By next summer they will have implemented the new suites-only restaurant that promises to have better food than the main dining rooms on other mass-market ships.

[In Retirement]

For myself, I usually invest a good deal of time in understanding ports and planning each visit, and often see a cruise ship as a floating hotel. In this context, a lot of meals not prepared or cleaned up after are pretty swell?

 

Our just past 12-night Celebrity Norwegian Fjord cruise RT Amsterdam was marvelous with good weather throughout and developed or selected port activities to gain some understanding of Norwegian history and current society. The only negative experience was brought to our Cruise Critic event by the ship's Cruise Director (in the presence of the captain) who stated directly that Cruise Critic would be the cause of cruise company's failures! Really would like to share this experience with Cruise Critic management. Can't understand how maybe 50 from the US will bring Celebrity down? Sort of like how to cope when people don't drink or don't gamble? Perhaps it is unrealistic for a cruise line to think that it can attract all of its passengers to its excursion offerings. Got the absolute impression that Celebrity reads its Roll Calls -- seems rather creepy and will keep useful information off of the boards: unless the goal of CC is to promote all cruise ship offerings? Really appreciate CC and TripAdvisor as resources and the facilitation of travel information. Who will be most interested? I'm a stockholder and need to identify the individuals best to inform among Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.

DJ

[donaldsc]

You must be kidding. There is no "best" tour or "best" ship. There is only the best tour and best ship for you. You need to sit down with her and define exactly what she is expecting and what she wants to see and then perhaps sit down with a good travel agent to figure out your best.

 

I do not mean to sound negative but all of these "what is the best" questions are basically unanswerable.

 

DON

[Keith1010]

I have sailed on many cruise ships in Europe and what best is for us (a luxury line) probably would not be best for your daughter.

 

Since you mentioned suites, if this was me I would take a look at Celebrity. They have terrific suites and amenities and I think would be a great choice for you to consider.

 

Keith

[marco]

What's more important to you, the ship and it's suite amenities or where you're going? the ports can be VERY different. IE: A Baltic cruise compared to a Greek Isles cruise. For this part of the world, I would choose first by itinerary, then the specific length and dates that fit into your schedule and after you've narrowed it down to that criteria, compare ships/lines by posting more specific questions on that line's thread on CC. Sorry.... but I'm not that "fluent" in comparing top of accommodation on multiple lines and though I really like "X", I don't have anything to compare them to.