Anything like a rail pass available for cruises?

[okgals]

I'm new to cruise world but I was thinking how the negative is going on the ship schedule; this amount of time in each port etc. It would be so great if you could "hop on, hop off" and spend extra time in a port, say get off in Amsterdam, spend 3 days there and, having reserved a room, hop back on a ship next time in port. Is there anything like that out there? It would be great!:)

[LHT28]

Look at the ferry services in areas you want to travel

EG: DFDS

[paul929207]

One big difference between a cruise ships an da hoho bus it that the ship depends on virtually every cabin to be filled every night. Allowing people to get off and catch the next ship would lead to people being left off when they ran out of space.

[Shmoo here]

I'm new to cruise world but I was thinking how the negative is going on the ship schedule; this amount of time in each port etc. It would be so great if you could "hop on, hop off" and spend extra time in a port, say get off in Amsterdam, spend 3 days there and, having reserved a room, hop back on a ship next time in port. Is there anything like that out there? It would be great!:)

That would require cruise lines to have a fleet of ships dedicated to the same itinerary, running on a loop. And how far apart do you space them? A day? Every 2 days? Once a week?

[donaldsc]

Look at the ferry services in areas you want to travel

EG: DFDS

 

+1.

 

In Alaska, it is called the Alaska Marine Highway. Problem is that if the trip is overnight, they may not have available cabins so you will have to sleep in your tent on the deck.

 

DON

[Velvetwater]

Because Western European trains are generally frequent and great some people actually cheekily do what you have described even when the cruise line doesn't like it...especially between Italian ports and French/Italian ports.

 

They 'miss the ship' or ring and say they are in a hospital in Livorno for example and board it the next day in Naples after a hotel and a high speed train. The trains are high speed and often ports are hours apart so why not?

 

I know people shouldn't and it can affect port times but if you are somewhere on a once in a lifetime trip then I don't blame people at all.

[Hey Tina]

No.

[navybankerteacher]

Take a look at Mediterranean ferries - there are several different lines connecting virtually every major port with every other one. Many of them have comfortable accommodations - but nothing like cruise line, food, service, entertainment of facilities --- which can only be provided at affordable pricing if all cabins are filled all the time --- and that would be virtually impossible with a hop on/hop off arrangement.

[Floridiana]

Plenty of ferries along the Norwegian cost (Hurtigruten), across the Baltic Sea and in the Mediterranean, especially in Greece. KD is a local ferry line on the Middle Rhine. You can get off and on.

 

Independent travelers do this kind of travelling all the time, using trains, busses and ferries. Cruisers do it as well by combining a cruise with land trips at both ends. In Asia, we combined a land trip on our own with a cruise and a guided land tour at the end. It took some meticulous planning to put the pieces together, book flights and hotels. We did it again the following year in different countries with different companies. We put the cruise at the end before flying home.

[jocap]

I think there's still a ferry pass for the Isles of Scotland, though you'd still have to book in advance if you're taking a car; Island hopping in Greece is very popular. Some ferries even have balconies- see the ferry from UK to Northern Spain.