Whose been on a cruise before? Especially to Europe?

tecah123

So we are raking our brains to try to plan a Europe honeymoon in September. The cost is so much more than we expected.  Thinking of a cruise but really didn't want to go that route.  Has anyone done a cruise and which line did you like better? Or advice on how to save on booking trips to Europe. Thinking of  Greece.

Thanks a bunch

dmkane

I did a 2 week Mediterranean cruise w my family this past aug...we went with the Royal Caribbean ship Enchanted. Being able to go from country to country was amazing but it was very low key on board compared to a carribean/mexican cruise.

ourwedding111111

For my college graduation my parents took us on a trip to Europe, we spent a few days in Rome, then went on a week mediterranean cruise including islands in Greece and a stop in Turkey.  After the cruise we stayed in Florence for a few days before heading back.  It was amazing, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  There is nothing wrong with a cruise.  I think it was on Royal Caribbean .  

Galaxy8227

I haven't gone to Europe but I have done a cruise with Royal Caribbean and it was amazing!  Best trip we ever took, I would totally recommend that line. 

noodle_oo

We did a cruise since my DH loves cruise ships (for some reason that I don't understand).  I told him I'd try it once.  I have to say, I hated it.  We did a Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Dawn.  I guess I'm just not a cruise person.  I loved the time we were in port, but I hated being on the ship.  It was just boring.

Anyway, I just wanted to throw that out there so you think about it.  I would look at the amount of time you actually get in each city vs. the amount of time at sea.  Europe might be better since things are very close together, hopefully you sail at night and then get to spend a lot of time each day in each city.  It coudl be very good.  But for us, we had to be back on the ship by like 3 PM, so you really didn't get much time in each port.  And there wasn't much to do on the ship, so I didn't enjoy it.  The cruise might be cheaper, but you might not get to do everything you want to do. 

We also went to Italy a few years ago, flew into Venice and drove to Tuscany.  That was by far the best trip of my life.

october010bride

I've been on cruises and I've been to Europe, but never a European cruise.

To be honest, I think a European cruise is the worst way to see Europe. On a cruise you only have a very short amount of time in each port and thats no way to see Europe. Although you can go to several different ports and see a nice overview, you miss out on so much of the culture of the cities.

My best friend went on a European cruise for her HM. They went to 2 different ports in Spain, a port in France and one in Northern Italy. She loved the time she had there but wants to go back because she didn't think she saw enough of the cities she was in.

sboston06

We took a Med cruise for our honeymoon on the NCL Jade.  We started in Barcelona and stopped in Rome, Athens (didn't dock because of strikes, but we went to Crete instead), Ephesus, Alexandria/Cairo and Malta.  We really loved it and would definitely cruise again, on NCL.  In fact, we put a deposit down on a future cruise and are planning to visit the Baltic capitals soon.  I know NCL has cruises that go to the Greek islands or Italy/Greece.  Take a look - they have a lot of options.

It was very low-key on board.  Lots of older people and very few honeymooners.  This suited us because we are not partiers and would HATE a "spring break" type of cruise.  We made friends with some other honeymooners so we had people to hang out with for the whole trip.  The freestyle concept really suited us as well.  When we travel we like to choose where and when we want to eat, and that is a huge perk on NCL.  Some people like traditional cruising and don't like this, but you might.

We found the price to be very reasonable because we went in the off season.  We didn't mind sailing in an inside cabin, which is the least expensive, smallest room.  Our total honeymoon probably came out to about 8K for 16 days in November/December.  A lot of that (4K+) was for spending money, either alcohol on board or souveniers in the ports.  So I think it could be done inexpensively but you might have to go in the off-season.  Temps were mild in the countries we visited.  We wore jeans, tshirts and a light jacket most days.  We are not sun and sand or lay by the pool people, so this didn't bother us one bit!

Good luck!

bmoruzzi

We're doing a med cruise for our honeymoon in July.  It's about 6k, 3k for plane tix (direct from Boston to Rome) and 3k for the cruise itself.  It's pricey, but hopefully will be worth it.  We're going on Royal Caribbean and starting in Rome.  We go to Sicily, Crete, Athens and Turkey.  When we return we'll stay 4 nights in Rome to explore more of the city.

jonchrissy

I've only been on one cruise and hated it. I agree with Noodle, we didn't have enough time to really enjoy any of the islands, we had only a few hours on each island. 

My whole family and I found the food to be horrible, the hot was cold, cold was hot, some was still frozen, etc. The whole point was the all inclusiveness, but we ended up going out to eat at each port. 

tecah123

Thanks for all your advice. My Fiance and I talked it over and we agree with alot of your comments. We are the type of people that like to be in the action and culture. So I'm not sure if will get that being on a cruise. We are just tight on our budget but hoping we can make it work. Thanks a bunch.