Non-DCL Europe Cruises

[MunFam]

Have you taken a non-DCL cruise somewhere in Europe?

What was the cruise line?

What was your itinerary?

Did you enjoy it?

It appears that our next duty station will be Naval Base Rota (in Spain), so I am dreaming up all the cruises in Europe that we can take over the next 3-5 years.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Have you taken a non-DCL cruise somewhere in Europe?

What was the cruise line?

What was your itinerary?

Did you enjoy it?

It appears that our next duty station will be Naval Base Rota (in Spain), so I am dreaming up all the cruises in Europe that we can take over the next 3-5 years.

We did an 8 night Mediterranean on the Carnival Vista last summer. Ported out of Barcelona with 4 stops in Italy, then Marseille and then Palma de Mallorca. Loved the cruise and loved Carnival! Shocked the hell out of us that we would like them so much. Vista's sista, Horizon is launching next spring and doing a short European season before heading to NY in May 2018. The third Vista class sets sail in 2019, then CCL's new Mega ships will be seeing sail in 2020 and 2022. The Vista class ships are being built in Italy so they'll probably both be doing Mediterranean. The next class is being built in Finland so I'm hoping for Northern Europe cruises on them. Hope this helps.

 

[Capt_BJ]

River cruises!

 

[Dug720]

Last summer I did a 12-night Med/Venice cruise on RCCL's Brilliance of the Seas and loved it.

Next summer I'm doing a 7-night Greek Isles cruise on RCCL's Jewel of the Seas and cannot wait!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Emerald of the Sea, Princess, Baltic in 2009, it was wonderful! In and out of Copenhagen.

 

[kaseyC]

Have you taken a non-DCL cruise somewhere in Europe?

What was the cruise line?

What was your itinerary?

Did you enjoy it?

It appears that our next duty station will be Naval Base Rota (in Spain), so I am dreaming up all the cruises in Europe that we can take over the next 3-5 years.

All of our European cruises have been on other lines.

2006 - NCL Jewel - 7 day Western Med - Spain, France and Italy (w/o kids)
2011 -NCL Epic- 7 day- Western Med- Spain and Italy
2013- NCL Star - 9 night Baltic - Denmark, Germany, Finland, Russia, Sweden and Estonia
2016- Carnival Vista - 10 night Eastern Med - Spain, France, Italy, Turkey and Greece

We have an MSC Iceland cruise booked for June 2018 but we may cancel that for a Danube river cruise.

We have loved all of our European cruises. The European itineraries for us were all about the ports. Cruise line and ship were not a major factor. We felt the savings from a non DCL cruise was better used on private tours and pre and post cruise stays.

 

[jdb in AZ]

We cruised the British Isles with Princess, and did a Baltic cruise with Celebrity. Would recommend both.

Two months ago we did a river cruise with AMA Waterways from Amsterdam to Budapest. Loved having free WiFi all the way, which was fortunate because there wasn't much else going on at night. While we enjoyed the larger cities (Cologne, Vienna, and Budapest) the smaller cities' highlight was a walking tour of the local Cathedral. One of the guides referred to it as the ABC tour -- Another Bloody Cathedral. lol. The youngest passengers on board were college students traveling with their parents. AMA is the cruise line chartered by Disney for the ABD tours. The service on the ship was phenomenal. Next year we're doing another AMA river cruise, this time from Amsterdam to Basel Switzerland for a week, followed by a land-tour of Switzerland.

Then in Oct 2018 we're doing a cruise from Venice to Rome with Azamara.

 

[suedon70]

We did a 7-night Scandinavia on the Emerald Princess in July 2016 - Southampton with stops in Bruges, Copenhagen, & Oslo (we were supposed to stop in Helsingborg Norway but the seas were too rough for tendering) - It was a great cruise! Very different demo of cruiser than DCL, skews older, with not a lot to do during the day (we don't really gamble much and had three at-sea days) especially since it was too cold to hang out by the pool, but we had a great time and the food was great overall.

 

[Capt_BJ]

btw a lot of folks, espcly families, use QM2 when moving to/from EU ..... if you book early enuf you can even bring the dog!

 

[aggiedog]

I'll tell you in 8 days when we get off our MSC Med cruise, in concierge. It was 1/3 the cost of non-concierge DCL, allowing extra money to do a custom tour of France first. I'm typing this from a B and B in Provence.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

We were on the same 10 day Carnival Vista cruise as KaseyC! It was absolutely fantastic.

Our next Europe cruise will be in 2019 and if my oldest DS goes it will be a Baltic cruise on Norwegian. If he does not go it will be another Mediterranean cruise most likely on Royal Caribbean.

 

[rlk]

We took a NCL 12 night Med cruise in 2015 and will be on a NCL Baltic cruise in just under a month.

 

[cruiser21]

We took a NCL 12 night Med cruise in 2015 and will be on a NCL Baltic cruise in just under a month.

When you get back can you write a review on the Baltic cruise. I'm thinking about doing this next year on the Breakaway. Also do you have kids?

 

[rlk]

When you get back can you write a review on the Baltic cruise. I'm thinking about doing this next year on the Breakaway. Also do you have kids?

I have two sons, ages 15 & 16. They are the ones who asked to do another cruise this summer. We are sailing on The Getaway and will try to write up a review when we return.

 

[darnheather]

btw a lot of folks, espcly families, use QM2 when moving to/from EU ..... if you book early enuf you can even bring the dog!

I doubt the military is paying for that!


@MunFam I'm totally jealous. Enjoy Rota!

 

[MunFam]

btw a lot of folks, espcly families, use QM2 when moving to/from EU ..... if you book early enuf you can even bring the dog!

Yeah...we get to fly Patriot Air...which is pretty much a cargo plane to Europe. Lucky us!! Haha.

 

[cruiser21]

I have two sons, ages 15 & 16. They are the ones who asked to do another cruise this summer. We are sailing on The Getaway and will try to write up a review when we return.

I'd like to know what they think of entourage if they go. The last time We sailed on Getaway they were in the 10-12 group and didn't care for it. My youngest will be almost 14 next summer.

 

[PlutoIsHerFav]

We went on a 12 night cruise to Italy (Venice, Naples, Rome), Greece (Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Athens, Olympia), Croatia (Split) & Turkey (Kusadasi) with Princess! We left out of Venice and returned to Rome, so we had time in both cities before and after. It was wonderful. It was our first cruise and very port intensive with only one day at sea. We were definitely some of the youngest in our early 30's (saw very few kids), but met some of the best people. The service, food, etc. was all wonderful. That was 7 years ago.

 

[MunFam]

We went on a 12 night cruise to Italy (Venice, Naples, Rome), Greece (Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Athens, Olympia), Croatia (Split) & Turkey (Kusadasi) with Princess! We left out of Venice and returned to Rome, so we had time in both cities before and after. It was wonderful. It was our first cruise and very port intensive with only one day at sea. We were definitely some of the youngest in our early 30's (saw very few kids), but met some of the best people. The service, food, etc. was all wonderful. That was 7 years ago.

What a fantastic itinerary!!!

 

[rlk]

We went on a 12 night cruise to Italy (Venice, Naples, Rome), Greece (Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Athens, Olympia), Croatia (Split) & Turkey (Kusadasi) with Princess! We left out of Venice and returned to Rome, so we had time in both cities before and after. It was wonderful. It was our first cruise and very port intensive with only one day at sea. We were definitely some of the youngest in our early 30's (saw very few kids), but met some of the best people. The service, food, etc. was all wonderful. That was 7 years ago.

Our 12 night cruise started in Barcelona and ended in Venice; that was a big factor in our choosing a cruise. We had three days on either end to explore those two cities.