What % of people who start cruising from the U.S start cruising in Europe, I think it is small.

[wowzz]

14 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

.  A good one from Harrwich

Sadly, no longer possible, as no cruise lines sail from Harwich currently.

[VMax1700]

18 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Sadly, no longer possible, as no cruise lines sail from Harwich currently.

As a spotty teenager I remember sailing from Newcastle upon Tyne on a school cruise to Gibraltar, Lisbon and La Coruña.  (early/mid 60's).  Even the Bay of Biscay was calm in the face of so many raging teen hormones. 😁.

Any sailings for Newcastle currently?

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

As a spotty teenager I remember sailing from Newcastle upon Tyne on a school cruise to Gibraltar, Lisbon and La Coruña.  (early/mid 60's).  Even the Bay of Biscay was calm in the face of so many raging teen hormones. 😁.

Any sailings for Newcastle currently?

I think Fred Olsen occasionally cruise from Newcastle. 

[VMax1700]

57 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I think Fred Olsen occasionally cruise from Newcastle. 

Thanks. Interesting as Ryanair have direct flights from Cork to Newcastle. 

[SbbquilterUT]

We are at the point in life where itinerary and visiting new places are most important to us so travel longer and combine sailing and land.  The flight to Europe is long so we look to combine a transatlantic for one of those legs then enjoy Europe (currently less expensive to sail than to fly Business).  Have truly enjoyed river cruises as well as large ship though the crowds on larger ships mean much longer disembarkation times which impact port time.  Having said that we are sailing from the west coast of the US for the first time this winter for an easy break meant to enjoy the sea and ship.  

[navybankerteacher]

6 hours ago, wowzz said:

Sadly, no longer possible, as no cruise lines sail from Harwich currently.

Too bad - The Pier was a lovely place to spend the night before, and getting there from London was fairly easy.

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, navybankerteacher said:

Too bad - The Pier was a lovely place to spend the night before, and getting there from London was fairly easy.

Shame for us as well - my Mum lives 20 miles away, so could spend the night before the cruise at hers.

[whogo]

Our first cruise was on a boat around the Galapagos Islands, our second was on a boat down the Danube, kind of an atypical beginning for cruisers from the US. It was vacation time constraints that forced us into some 7 day Caribbean cruises.

[jocap]

On 9/24/2022 at 10:13 AM, VMax1700 said:

As a spotty teenager I remember sailing from Newcastle upon Tyne on a school cruise to Gibraltar, Lisbon and La Coruña.  (early/mid 60's).  Even the Bay of Biscay was calm in the face of so many raging teen hormones. 😁.

Any sailings for Newcastle currently?

Fred Olsen and Marella usually have a ship home ported in Newcastle during the summer; next year the newly formed company Ambassador looks as though it will also be using the port.

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, jocap said:

Fred Olsen and Marella usually have a ship home ported in Newcastle during the summer; next year the newly formed company Ambassador looks as though it will also be using the port.

Thanks for that!  They sail from Belfast 😁We would have free travel to Belfast by train.

[wowzz]

34 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Thanks for that!  They sail from Belfast 😁We would have free travel to Belfast by train.

I'm not sure that they actually start cruises from Belfast, but will be happy to  be  proved wrong. 

[VMax1700]

10 hours ago, wowzz said:

I'm not sure that they actually start cruises from Belfast, but will be happy to  be  proved wrong. 

Proof positive!

https://www.ambassadorcruiseline.com/no-fly-cruises/

https://www.ambassadorcruiseline.com/cruise/a22319bl-arctic-voyage-to-the-north-cape-land-of-the-midnight-sun/

https://www.ambassadorcruiseline.com/cruise/a22319-arctic-voyage-to-the-north-cape-land-of-the-midnight-sun/

Embark in Belfast on 24th July or Liverpool on 25th July (2023)

I think I may have a busy Sunday afternoon searching for info (after the F1 of course!)

[VMax1700]

Embark in Belfast on 24th July or Liverpool on 25th July (2023) for North Cape cruise.

I think I may have a busy Sunday afternoon searching for info (after the F1 of course!)

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

Embark in Belfast on 24th July or Liverpool on 25th July (2023) for North Cape cruise.

I think I may have a busy Sunday afternoon searching for info (after the F1 of course!)

Thanks for the information.

Every day is a school day !

[Skippy]

For most US folks, cost of getting to Europe can cost more than the cruise itself, especially if you don’t live near a major international hub. I don’t think my kids would appreciate a Europe vacation. They could care less about visiting museums and looking at building architecture and history. We like doing adventure type of vacations.
 

Caribbean cruises are inexpensive and the ports are easy to get to. 

[weltek]

I agree with the OP, it's probably a small percentage. As others have said, cost, number of vacation days needed, and comfort with different languages are the biggest reasons why. For some people, navigating a U.S. airport is really, really hard and they probably have paralyzing anxiety about an international airport. It would detract from their enjoyment of vacation, so they probably think "why would I put myself through that for a VACATION?" 

For me, I have zero desire to cruise anywhere but the Caribbean and Panama Canal. I take plenty of land vacations elsewhere, and it's how I prefer to experience those destinations. And I can't justify spending the money on a cruise "add on" when I'm on other continents. I'd just rather spend that money on land, trying more local food and entertainment rather than the cruise ship's food and entertainment.

FWIW, I also have zero desire to only vacation a week anywhere where my flight is longer than 4 hours. If I'm spending all that time and money flying, I'm there for a minimum of 14 days. And if others have that same attitude, that's logistically and financially unachievable for many.
 

Edited October 4, 2022 by weltek

[wowzz]

On 10/3/2022 at 9:38 PM, Skippy said:

They could care less about visiting museums and looking at building architecture and history.

That's really sad. 

Do they have no curiosity at all ? Not even the D Day beaches, or, going back,  the civilisations of Greece and Rome ?

 

[Essiesmom]

4 hours ago, wowzz said:

That's really sad. 

Do they have no curiosity at all ? Not even the D Day beaches, or, going back,  the civilisations of Greece and Rome ?

 

Yes, it’s sad.  But there is a very large population of people who have no interest in exploration, education, enrichment.  All they want is a beach somewhere, or a series of beaches.  I had wanted to explore the world from the time I could read.  EM

[jocap]

17 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

Yes, it’s sad.  But there is a very large population of people who have no interest in exploration, education, enrichment.  All they want is a beach somewhere, or a series of beaches.  I had wanted to explore the world from the time I could read.  EM

After visiting Santorini on a cruise, four of us found an end of season package trip out of the UK for a week- I think they were needing to fill the plane- and stayed at the other side of the island, next to the beach. We hired quad bikes, a car, used the local bus, used local boats, climbed the volcano, visited just about every inch of the beautiful island.

Waiting to fly home, we met people who'd never left the beaches, which were volcanic ash and fairly unpleasant to walk on. Volcano? There's a volcano on here?   🙄

[Skippy]

22 hours ago, wowzz said:

That's really sad. 

Do they have no curiosity at all ? Not even the D Day beaches, or, going back,  the civilisations of Greece and Rome ?

 

 

They like fun, adventure and hiking. National parks are more up their alley. They are 11 and 14. Looking back, did you like going to museums at that age? I know I didn’t. We were in NYC last summer and we went to Ellis Island and I thought it was fascinating, but they walked around for 30 mins and were done. They enjoyed children’s museums when they were younger. 

They might like Pompeii, but if we go to Italy, we’d want to see everything, so we might as well wait till they have an interest. Otherwise, Hubby and I will go back ourselves once the kids are out of the house.
 

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Skippy said:

. Looking back, did you like going to museums at that age? I

I was born in Colchester,  also known a Camulodunum,  the Roman capital of Britain, until Boudicca torched it around 63BC, so yes, I enjoyed museums as they resonated with my heritage.

You don't know who you are, until you know who you have been. 

[DarrenM]

On 9/15/2022 at 3:30 PM, Hlitner said:

Some of the reasons are pretty obvious.  1.  Money - it costs more in terms of airfare    2. Many folks have limited vacation time and heading to Europe takes a few extra days   3.  Many American cruisers do not have a valid Passport   4.  We have talked to quite a few folks who are simply afraid of the unknown (heading to Europe).

 

Hank

Seriously is that a thing?

 

Fear of the unknown?

[DarrenM]

On 9/24/2022 at 10:13 AM, VMax1700 said:

As a spotty teenager I remember sailing from Newcastle upon Tyne on a school cruise to Gibraltar, Lisbon and La Coruña.  (early/mid 60's).  Even the Bay of Biscay was calm in the face of so many raging teen hormones. 😁.

Any sailings for Newcastle currently?

I dont think there are any cruise ships stops at newcastle. Infact even if they did its wouldnt actually be in Newcastle but north shields.

 

There is a a ferry service to amsterdam.

 

Wish they did though. I would be on board in 40 minutes from home

 

 

 

[jocap]

1 hour ago, DarrenM said:

I dont think there are any cruise ships stops at newcastle. Infact even if they did its wouldnt actually be in Newcastle but north shields.

 

There is a a ferry service to amsterdam.

 

Wish they did though. I would be on board in 40 minutes from home

 

 

 

Darren- lots of cruises out of North Shields... we don't sail from anywhere else now, because it takes too long getting down south. Even the new Ambassador line is sailing from there next year. 🙂

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, DarrenM said:

Seriously is that a thing?

 

Fear of the unknown?

Oh my yes   There are many folks who are simply afraid or very ucomfortable with the idea of visiting a foreign land, especially places that are not English speaking.  Consider that fewer than 50% of Americans even have Passports.  

 

We have some friends who cannot understand how DW and I can simply jump on a plane to Europe, Asia or elsewhere without much thought or having a structured tour.  We once pointed out to a friend that is faster for us to fly to Europe than to Hawaii.  They truly had no idea!  Consider that a family of 4, wanting to take a European cruise, may need to spend around $600 to just get valid Passports!  

 

Hank