First time visit to Europe w/ kids - Liberty cruise or land vacation?

[cawhite]

Hi everyone,

 

Well, our family of 4 has been on 2 cruises... both to the Caribbean. My husband wants to go to Europe next summer for 3 weeks (the kids will be 15 and 11 at the time) . We are thinking of taking a cruise for part of the vacation (Liberty - 12 nights - starting and ending at the port closest to Rome). The other week will probably be in France, but that's not set in stone.

 

Since this will be our first vacation to Europe, will we miss a lot of culture, etc. by spending over 1/2 of our vacation time doing a cruise? Would it be better to to stay in hotels or villas for a 1st time visit, than to stay on a ship? Is there enough time in port to adequately see things?

 

Also, my DH doesn't like the "cattle car" feeling (everybody stands in a line to get on the ship, then everyone stands in another line to get on a boat to shore, or a big bus to be taken into town, etc.).

 

Any suggestions? The kids love cruising and I am thinking it would be fun for them... but I just don't want DH saying that this was our big trip to Europe, and we spent so much money, and we saw more ship than towns, or spent more time with cruise passengers than getting to know the locals, etc.

 

Should we save our next cruise vacation for a different destination... like another Caribbean cruise, or an Alaskan cruise?

 

Thanks for your help!!

 

Carole

[Legend]

You'll find that a cruise works out much, much cheaper than a land vacation in Europe. Hotels are not cheap and the rooms are small and most of them require two people per room. Breakfast in a London hotel ran me $28 per person. You need to research some things on the internet like hotel rates and some menus, entrance fees into places of interest, ransportastion costs around the countries. I think for your first attempt at Europe a cruise where everything is pretty much done for you and at least transportation and hotel and food are included may be a great choice for you.

[cawhite]

Thanks Legend!

 

That's what I had heard. Is it better to take just a cruise (and do our excursions on our own), or take a "cruise tour" where many excursions are included? The cruise tours I looked at on Royal Caribbean (haven't checked the prices out for Carnival yet) added a lot to the price of the cruise (something like 80% more for the cruise tour, than the cruise :eek: ). Should we do the ports on our own, or is it worth the $$ to take the tour?

[BeckyR]

We (with kids 16 & 12) did our first trip to Europe last year on a round-trip cruise from Rome. It was fantastic. We stayed in Rome a day before the cruise and a day after. Wish we had had more time there. But on the ship, We were happy to have a couple of sea days because we needed the break. We were very happy with our decision. We felt we got to see more places (Greek Isles, Malta) that we wouldn't have with a land vacation. Also, the girls were more comfortable having more familiar foods on the ship so I know they had something to eat during our time abroad. We did try foods in the ports, but it wasn't the only option.

 

We do not like ships tours because of the herding cattle feel, so by using the port of call board, I was able to get great recommendations and booked all private tours. Excellent idea! May cost a little more, but I didn't think it did. And MUCH better tour. We are not big into shopping, so didn't have to spend the mandatory time at the gift shops. Instead we used that time to sightsee more and visit places of interest to us.

 

One more thing about cruise vs. land. Our 12 yo got very tired of all the sightseeing. Knowing that she would be back on the ship and doing her own thing helped her stay in a better frame of mind. I vote cruise!

 

Becky

[cinnabun]

Hi Carole,

 

I would definitely do a cruise, you get to see more countries, travel greater distance and are not stuck with your luggage all the time. While travelling from one city to another, you have plenty of things to do on the ship as if you do a land tour, you're always driving somewhere. My kids (9 and 11) don't particularly enjoy watching the scenery yet so the trip would not have been as enjoyable as the cruise was. Also with a family of four, you'll have a hard time finding hotels that will accomodate you in 1 room.

On the negative side, it is true that in some of the ports you won't have time to see all that you want to see so you will have to go back someday to the cities that you really enjoyed.

As for the excursions, I would do most of them on your own, much cheaper and more liberty. We just got back last Friday and the only 2 we did with a tour were Messina and Naples.

In Naples we hired a private guide from Driver in Rome and toured Pompei and the Amalfi coast and it was fantastic.

In Messina, we took Carnival's Taormina and Mt Etna tour and it was well worth the money.

These 2 tours have a lot of distance to cover so it's nice not to have to worry about the train schedules.

 

Hope this helps

Dominique

[LauraG]

Hi Carole,

 

My husband and I took our two older kids to Europe for three weeks a few years ago. They were 10 and 11 at the time. We spent about a week in Spain with a rental car, a week on a Med cruise (Royal Carribean, Splendour of the Seas) and a week in Paris. I preferred the land based portion simply because the ports of call on cruises are long and exhausting. You get to sample a lot of stuff, but by the time you get off the ship, get a cab to the train station, get to where you want to go, stand in long lines, buy tickets, run through the attractions, etc, it is time to return to the ship. I suppose that if you do all ship excursions, some of the time pressures will be ameliorated, but ship's excursions are unbelievably expensive-- count on about $100pp per port-- and part of the fun is planning your own trip. At the end of a day in port, we were usually too tired to sit through a two hour dinner or even attend the shows. We decided that, with kids in the future we'll do the apartment rental for a week or two in a European city. For cruises, we'll stick with Carribean!

 

Feel free to email me if you want some details or suggestions. Three years later, the kids and I still talk and laugh about our European adventure. You will have a wonderful time no matter what you decide!

 

Laura G

[nrdsb4]

My vote would be to see Europe as a land based vacation. I think your time in port is too limited with a cruise. With a land based vacation, I think you get a more authentic view of the places, culture, and language. You have time to get off the beaten path a little bit as opposed to just quickly taking in the most touristy sites.

 

Just my .02! I hope you have a wonderful time regardless of your mode of travel.

[CruiseMark]

I totally agree that land based is the way to go (Heresey!)

 

I feel like you're husband does when it comes to places with so much to explore. One of the wonderful things about Europe I've found are the people in just about every country I've visited and the little windows into daily life that are just so memorable.

 

You just don't usually get that when your time in a city is measured in hours (a cruise) versus days (land). On an excursion, most of your interface with the people of that country will be either tour operators or people in shops, etc, which only gives you a portion of the view.

 

On a land based vacation, if I get ovewhelmed at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and just want to sit and linger and look at the Monet's, I can take all the time I want, then wander the streets and find a nice little restaurant or cafe, without the deadline hanging in the back of my mind of having to return to the ship in the next few minutes.

 

I picture this discussion kind of like an international food mall. If you're cruising, you get a little appetizer at each country and it's very quick and convenient. If you're on land, you get a nice full meal, get to chat up the waiter, try different things, etc.

 

For Europe, I like to linger.

 

Having said all that, we're still doing the Liberty to the Caribbean in December!

[Pugs]

I think a cruise because you can get a overview of the area and then go back latter and see the areas of most intrest. I am doing the Liberty 7/18/06 with my family... First trip to Europe.