Mt husband and I are cruising on these ships as he recovers from a serious illness. Is this a suitable trip? Some folk have told us that without being involved in most activities, we will find it boring. We are used to travelling on our own and doing our own thing.

I recently spent 23 days on the QM2 (RT transatlantic) and still did not see and do everything offered.
The trip included a "cruise" portion from Southampton via Hamburg and Oslo. I took 2
bus tours but other days in port stayed on ship….. nice with the majority ashore !
There are lots of quiet nooks and crannies on the ship to read, etc. You can certainly
do your own thing. There's a good (but expensive) computer center, great library,
swimming pools, spa and nice lounges in which to have a drink .

This was my third time on the ship.

It's hard to say if this is suitable or not. Where are the cruises going? Are you doing a Transatlantic crossing or some other trip?

Since the passengers on these cruises tend to be older, there are a lot of low-key onboard activities. It seems to me as if a ship would be a great place to get over a long illness as long as you were on the road to recovery. But if you are asking about excursions, I have no idea. I'd need to know where you are sailing to know if the ports were going to be suitable for someone with limited mobility.

Thanks for your help. The trip is transatlantic and we'd too will be going via Hamburg and Oslo up to St Petersburg and back to Belgium. We have booked the 2day tour of St Petersburg but wondered whether we could still do our "0wn Thing" in some of the other lay-overs. The side trips seem very expensive and I would be interested if you could let me know which ones you think are worth the money and can we take in some of these places on our own.
Cheers Pawsha

Those sound like good cruises for you. Hopefully by the end of the first week, your husband will be feeling better and can get out and do more.

Cruise line shore excursions are almost universally expensive. While you really have no choice but to take an organized excursion in St. Petersburg, you don't necessarily have to go with the one the ship provides. There are companies that are licensed to provide you with visa-free excursions in St. Petersburg that will have fewer people. They won't cost less (and perhaps a bit more) than what is offered by the ship, but the quality of your experience will be better. But you have to plan all of these in advance.

Aside from St. Petersburg, there's really no need at all to use the ship's excursions. In fact, Scandinavia is so expensive that it is usually to your benefit to simply get off the ship, do something in the morning, and then go back on for lunch. If you're not too tired, go back out in the afternoon. Or band together with other passengers and arrange something private. You can often do this through a Cruise Critic Roll-Call forum before the trip.

Almost all the places you're likely to visit are low-key places that can be enjoyed on your own. Buy a good guidebook (we have a guide to European ports that may cover almost all the places you go with just a few top recommendations in each place, or choose another book). Pick out the things that seem to fit your interests, and do those.

Just realize that many of these places do not take the euro, so the advantage of a ship excursion is that you don't have to get as much local currency.

Bus tours in Oslo and Hamburg were enough for me to get the flavor of each place.
A friend did a walking tour in Oslo. If you liked you could walk on your own there,

Lucky you visiting St. Petersburg! Doug's advice is good.

Thanks for your help. I've ordered the book on cruise ports and am looking forward to studying it.
Cheers Pawsha

We would like to do the tour of Berlin from Warnrmunde to Berlin. There are many to choose from. Should we stay with the liner tour? Has anyone used the I dependant tours advertised on line and what Did they think of them?

You'll probably get a lot more information if you check in with cruisecritic.com
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