14 day Europe on Indy - good idea or not

[MattnTricia]

My wife and I love to Cruise and have always wanted to go to Europe. We have a 14, will be 15 year old son who would be going along with us.

 

He would not be super interested in the touring that my wife and I want to do but lives to be on the ships with FlowRiders.

 

We are contemplating burning miles to go on the Early June 14 night Europe Independence of the Seas Cruise during early June.

 

The cost of the cruise is within our budget and the only having to buy one plane ticket would also be good.

 

I have a few questions on a longer cruise like this that is stop intensive:

 

1)How do you deal with Laundry and how much would it cost

 

2)What are the odds they would do 10 drink cards in Europe? The 14 day drink plan would definitely be out due to the cost for us. I would love a package just for sea days but that obviously doesn't exist.

 

3)Does the cruise line typically do deals on Internet on the longer cruises?

 

I know how to budget for a 7 day cruise to figure out costs. Being the longer 14 day cruise I am struggling to figure it out.

 

Thanks for any advice on cost for this trip and whether or not this is a good way to see parts of Europe for the first time.

Edited June 19, 2016 by mattnday

[Clarea]

Laundry prices are at the end of the Google Doc linked here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=49955343#post49955343

 

There is also a $30 wash & fold bag that is for things like underwear, shorts, socks, t-shirts. They would likely offer this at least twice on a 14-day cruise.

Edited June 19, 2016 by clarea

[Newtoncruise]

It's the best way to see Europe for the first time. A floating hotel that moves around the med.

 

Enjoy.....and drag the son off the ship too!

 

No need to do expensive excursions either. Public transport is usually available and easy and cheap!

[mkam2821]

We did a 12 days Mediterranean cruise on another line. FABULOUS trip. Remember to budget the cost of excursions into your budget (which can runs as much or more than the actual cruise) whether they be with Royal or independently. We took an inside cabin and saved our $ for the excursions, as the ports were why we chose the cruise. It sounds like you intend to leave your son on-board while you go off the ship and tour the ports. Given that he's a minor, is that even allowed?

[judymag]

There's a bogoh and select drinks package available if u book in the uk or Ireland might be worth your while finding a uk/Irish based travel agant

[cinnamon]

As much as I love my home country (UK) if the Mediterranean is where you want to go, don't 'waste' 2 days each way getting there through the Bay of Biscay unless you are keen to be in England before or after the cruise.

Much better to fly to Barcelona, Rome or Venice and cruise from there. You can then usually take a 7, 10 or 12 night cruise and reduce costs slightly.

Edited June 19, 2016 by cinnamon

[Missusdubbya]

Much better to fly to Barcelona, Rome or Venice and cruise from there. You can then usually take a 7, 10 or 12 night cruise and reduce costs slightly.

 

This.

 

I do not agree that a cruise is the best way to see Europe for the first time, I think a land-based holiday is far superior.

 

Why not combine them both? :)

 

Whatever you decide, you will have a brilliant time, Europe is wonderful.

[Tin can]

As much as I love my home country (UK) if the Mediterranean is where you want to go, don't 'waste' 2 days each way getting there through the Bay of Biscay unless you are keen to be in England before or after the cruise.

Much better to fly to Barcelona, Rome or Venice and cruise from there. You can then usually take a 7, 10 or 12 night cruise and reduce costs slightly.

 

 

I disagree slightly, the two days on board at the start for a Med cruise from Southampton in our opinion is a great beginning to the holiday.

 

All opinions I guess [emoji846]

 

.

 

 

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[sky0000547]

I'm currently booked on a 13 night Indy Med cruise out of Southampton and apart from the 2 sea days at the beginning and at the end through the Bay of Biscay there are no sea days in between but solid 8 port days. The weather through the Bay of Biscay tends to be cooler and poor for a sea day by the pool.

 

If cruising out of Southampton I always feel I'm paying a premium for the privilege and tend to believe cruises out of mainland Europe such as Venice, Rome, Barcelona etc are cheaper. But if I remember rightly these are smaller ships like the Vision and Jewel.

 

If you struggle for laundry you will just have to use the onboard laundry service but I just tend to do my own laundry in my cabin even for 14 nights.

 

Again I tend to find cruises out of Southampton even through US travel agents deals are far and few between.

[nekzaadvakil]

Absolutely loved my Med cruises, I've done 4 (2 on Royal Caribbean and 2 on Celebrity) and 10-14N is the way to go. Airfares aren't cheap so it makes sense to see as much as possible on 1 trip.

 

The feeling of waking up everyday in a new city/ country is amazing. There is ALOT to see and do in Europe and many small ports also have a charm like no other.

 

Personally I found Celebrity's itineraries in Europe much better than Royal's and they were the only other cruise-line that I was willing to try since they are sister concerns. DW and I always had a super time which is why we kept going back.

[masonpips]

Just returned from 14 night Indy (June 4-18). We took our 17 and 18 year old. We all loved this "sample" of Europe. The first and last days were not spent outdoors but the rest of the time was great weather!

 

No drink packages for us, we took on 4 bottles of wine (2 rooms) and are Diamond. I think we bought 6 drinks all week

 

There was a Voom sale and I had internet for $127 or so for the entire time. We have two new dogs and my dad had just had back surgery so we appreciated being online

 

We did the laundry bag $30 and sent a few things for pressing up front and dry cleaned one item. I brought 9 dresses (easy to pack) and wore 8. We rented tuxes for the guys so that helped. We went to the buffet and Johnny Rockets and wore shorts.

 

The ports were amazing. We hiked the Rock of Gibraltar, took a train to Monte Carlo and wandered. Took private tours for Rome and Florence/Pisa, had a "down" day in Toulon where we wandered town, went to the beach in Malaga and did a private lunch tour in Lisbon.

 

 

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[mek]

You will each have the luggage allowance of 1 suitcase + a carry on, so you should be perfectly fine with not having to do laundry for 14 nights. Most people wear the same things more than once on a cruise. I know it can be hard to convince kids to do that, but it can be done.

 

I was just on an 11night cruise to Norway and no special internet package was offered.

 

The 10 drink package was offered sometime after the halfway point of the cruise.

[griffy116]

We've done the med cruise twice, on a 7-nighter, but we tacked on days at the beginning and end so we were packing for 13 nights. By the time we boarded, we had 3 days of laundry. We used the Wash 'n Fold and managed to stuff an incredible amount into the bag. We sent a couple of "favorite" items to the regular laundry to put back in our rotation. We started and ended both cruises in Italy. We had plenty of clean clothes and carried our Downey Wrinkle Release which worked wonders. If your son is fond of the FlowRider, then he will be disappointed if you pick a ship w/o it, so keep that in mind. We had a 17 year old, celebrating his high school graduation. He's tall and slim and he ATE his way through Europe, so he never wanted to miss a day of touring. With all the walking, we were stunned to discover that this was the first cruise EVER, that none of us gained a single pound with all the consumption of pasta in Italy, pizza in Naples, gelato EVERYwhere, Paella in Spain, crepes in France, etc. Of course in Europe, he was thrilled to be served wine. It's not all just museums and ruins. We had a private guide/driver in most of the ports which enabled us to see more and to customize our day. I'm pretty sure it's "legal" to leave your son on-board for you to tour. He won't be allowed to leave the ship without an adult. We saw some teens try to leave and the crew turned them away because they didn't have an adult with them. They can return to the ship without you, so in some ports you would be able to drop your son back off at the ship and let him enjoy the activities onboard while you finished your own thing in the port. We had a sea day in the middle of the cruise and it was MUCH appreciated since it was so port intensive and we were on the go non-stop in ports. There are tours he might not think he would enjoy, that will surprise him. It's a great opportunity for him, so please try to talk him into joining you on the tours. I don't think he will regret it. Do consider leaving from Italy or Spain if you can. I would take the trip again in a heartbeat.

[Newtoncruise]

As much as I love my home country (UK) if the Mediterranean is where you want to go, don't 'waste' 2 days each way getting there through the Bay of Biscay unless you are keen to be in England before or after the cruise.

Much better to fly to Barcelona, Rome or Venice and cruise from there. You can then usually take a 7, 10 or 12 night cruise and reduce costs slightly.

 

great advice!!!!!

[KiwiGal117]

We've done an Eastern Mediterranean cruise once on Splendour, and we're doing Harmony Western Med this summer - it is a great way to get a taste of Europe. We always extend the vacation to make the pricey airfares worthwhile and do a land portion. This year we are staying in apartments in a few different cities before and after our cruise.

 

Our 12 year old son is looking forward to Flowrider, the slides and the rock climbing wall - he loved the latter on Splendour. I expect we'll have a hard time getting him off the ship this time! In terms of tours, on the Eastern Med routes, we just did our own thing - easy to get transfers into town and wander around. On our upcoming trip, we are doing a tour out of Naples down the Amalfi coast, then doing our own thing in Barcelona (except for a short Segway tour) and Majorca. Marseille we think we'll take the train up to Aix and wander around on our own. If you are figuring out a budget, consider doing things on your own in the ports that are easy to get around, and look for cheaper tours in the others. Lots of great tips in the Ports of Call section here.

 

In terms of laundry, you may want to look around for a laundry mat in one of the ports where you can run a load through - not a fun way to spend part of a port day, but certainly cheaper than the ship. I remember reading a review a while ago where someone identified a laundry located off Las Ramblas in Barcelona that was convenient and not expensive. Sorry I can't remember whose review it was!!

 

Good luck and enjoy!

[MsPoppadom]

Dunno if you are already booked but UK travel agents have a number of Select Drinks Package included 'free' offers on RC departures from both Southampton and selected the Med sailing. We're UK based but always fly to the Med as aren't fan of sea days - unless on calmer waters. Besides, if you fly from US to London you would still need to make your way to Southampton - why not fly direct to Venice or Barcelona (actual port city)?

 

We just got back from Vision OTS (Eastern Med from Venice) a couple of weeks ago and we had the 10 drinks for about 90usd offer advertised onboard -don't think it was available immediately but at least a few days into the 7 day cruise.

[cinnamon]

Dunno if you are already booked but UK travel agents have a number of Select Drinks Package included 'free' offers on RC departures from both Southampton and selected the Med sailing. We're UK based but always fly to the Med as aren't fan of sea days - unless on calmer waters. Besides, if you fly from US to London you would still need to make your way to Southampton - why not fly direct to Venice or Barcelona (actual port city)?

 

 

 

We just got back from Vision OTS (Eastern Med from Venice) a couple of weeks ago and we had the 10 drinks for about 90usd offer advertised onboard -don't think it was available immediately but at least a few days into the 7 day cruise.

 

 

The only disadvantage for an American booking with a UK agent is that the US offers are often cheaper. The 'Free' drinks package comes at a price. Twice now we've booked onboard with the US deal and got the basic price much cheaper by not having the drinks included.

To be fair, we are a Diamond+ so those few drinks in the evenings are plenty for us.

[MsPoppadom]

The only disadvantage for an American booking with a UK agent is that the US offers are often cheaper. The 'Free' drinks package comes at a price. Twice now we've booked onboard with the US deal and got the basic price much cheaper by not having the drinks included.

To be fair, we are a Diamond+ so those few drinks in the evenings are plenty for us.

 

Yes, we're quite aware that the US prices tend to be lower..and your change of booking/cancellations terms are much more lenient than ours. It was just a thought, in case UK for once had a favourable price :)

 

With your D+ status you won't be needing a drinks package, I would think. Or maybe one of those 10 drinks for 90usd deals to supplement your free ones ;)

 

Enjoy your time in Europe :)

[Bcshur]

First and foremost, book this trip! My husband and I did two European cruises in the last two years and it was worth every penny. If you're going over there, I recommend extending either your pre or post cruise. We flew to Paris and then to Rome to get on the ship one time, and the other time extended our stay in Rome. If we could do it all over again, we would have added London in there. We just had a baby in March and I'm already trying to convince him to travel the med. with him next June!

 

Don't worry about laundry. We traveled for two weeks and didn't need to stop and do laundry. However, I do know some people will use the laundry services offered in port (like a laundromat).

 

Book all your excursions through your roll call and you will save a ton.

 

On the European cruises, we didn't find ourselves drinking as much on the ship so that was a big cost saver too.

 

We did what another poster suggested, got an interior cabin. This was worth it for us as if we just used it to sleep and change. We mostly spent time on deck.

 

Remember this is a trip that doesn't happen often, so do it up! We tried to stay conscious with our spending but not enough to not allow us to enjoy all the things Europe has to offer. :)

[bay guy]

If you don't mind doing a little work in the cabin for a few minutes every day or so, I'd suggest using a Scrubba to do laundry in your cabin for your trip. We just used it for an 11 day cruise and found it did a good job for underwear, socks, polo shirts, shorts etc. We did send some dress shirts and Docker slacks to the ship laundry but could have most likely done them with the Scrubba as well.

 

It's available on Amazon. Take liquid detergent with you and make sure you have some clothes pins and a clothes line you can put up in the room.

[cinnamon]

Yes, we're quite aware that the US prices tend to be lower..and your change of booking/cancellations terms are much more lenient than ours. It was just a thought, in case UK for once had a favourable price :)

 

 

 

With your D+ status you won't be needing a drinks package, I would think. Or maybe one of those 10 drinks for 90usd deals to supplement your free ones ;)

 

 

 

Enjoy your time in Europe :)

 

 

Thanks Ms Poppadom but we are English and live in Surrey. ;)

We don't actually buy any drinks other than the odd soda for DH on sea days. I tend to drink only water plus a little wine in the evening when away, or maybe the occasional Cosmo or Baileys in the CL or DL.

Love your board name BTW. :)

Edited June 21, 2016 by cinnamon