HelenaBr

Dear all

I am getting married in November 12th 2011 and have already started thinking about our honeymoon trip.

We are in our 30's and by November 2011 I imagine we will be somewhat tired after planning our wedding party, doing apartment search/move plus our regular days of work. This also means we will not be planning to have a very expensive honeymoon. That said I was looking at cruises in Europe where we could relax and enjoy interesting ports.

Unfortunately due to our wedding date ( November 12th) there are not that many options available. I have been in 3 Celebrity cruises with my family in the past 10 years ( 2 to the Caribbean and 1 to Antarctica) and had a great great time in all occasions. My fiance has been on a quick cruise to the Bahamas a long time ago which he can't barely remember.

These are the possible options with Pros and Cons ( please do correct me if I am wrong):

Royal Caribbean - 14 Night Transatlantic ( Vision of the Seas)

Itinerary - Lisbon, Portugal; Las Palmas, Gran Canaria; Tenerife, Canary Islands; Recife, Brazil; Salvador De Bahia, Brazil; Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; Sao Paulo (Santos), Brazil

Pros - VERY CHEAP!! - $599 for an outside stateroom; we would get lots of resting as there are 6 days at sea in a row; we live in Rio so we would only have to pay one way ticket to Lisbon. Weather will be good as soon as the chip enter South America waters.

Cons-There are only 2 calls of port in Europe and we have already been to Recife and Salvador. I have read not very good reviews about this ship ( too old, food, etc). Also I read a review from a guy complaining that he got very bored at the transatlantic since there was no entertainment specially at night, no parties at the pool, no gala dinner, etc

Royal Caribbean - 7 night mediterranean cruise - ( Splendour of the Seas). RCI website says cabins are N/A - does it mean they are ALREADY sold out????

Itinerary: Venice, Italy; Split, Croatia; Naples, Capri, Italy; Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy; Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy; Provence (Toulon), France; Barcelona, Spain

Pros: Very interesting itinerary; as it is a short cruise we could also spend some days in somewhere else in Europe after the cruise is finished e.g.: Paris.

Cons: the ship is somewhat old. At this time of the year some ports will be really cold for onshore tours?Will we get even more tired after so many ports?

Celebrity- 10 Day Eastern Mediterranean ( Celebrity Equinox)

Itinerary - Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy, Sicily (Messina), Italy, Valletta, Malta, Chania (Souda),Crete, Greece, Rhodes, Greece, Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey, Athens (Piraeus), Greece, Naples/Capri, Italy, Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

Pros - Interesting itinerary. The ship seems to be really nice. Good balance between ports and sea days in therms of resting/ touring.

Cons- Much more expensive than Royal Caribbean - $1549 for an ocean view ( triple the price); also the more we stop at nice ports the more we spend! Will it be too cold to enjoy such places?

Celebrity - 12 Night mediterranean cruise ( Celebrity Solstice)

Itinerary - Barcelona, Spain, Nice (Villefranche), France, Florence, Italy, Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy, Naples/Capri, Italy, Dubrovnik, Croatia, Venice, Italy, Kotor, Montenegro, Barcelona, Spain

Pros- Interesting itinerary. Very good reviews on this ship.

Cons- Much more expensive than Royal Caribbean - $1449 for an Ocean View. And again, the more we stop the more we spend. Will weather be a problem when touring the cities?

Thanks for those who had the patience to read all the way through here. I would really appreciate your comments and advice.

Many thanks,

Helena

Aristotle

I have been to many of those places and think the Med itineraries are great. You might be bit cold, but the stops will be interesting. The prices seem good to me. I do prefer a balcony but nthat is more. If you have cruised a line before you might get a better deal. The one cruise is 599 for a reason. Probably not a lot of takers and boring. My advice: pick a trip that you like and try to come up with the money. I think Celebrity is a nice line and except for the super deluxe lines, food is proably not a consistent factor for a decision.

HelenaBr

Hi Aristotle

Thank you for your advice. So in other words do you think the $599 cruise is very prone to be a disaster?

spurs

Why dodn't you consider Caribbean or Pamana Canal? November is a very month there, prices are low except for Thanksgiving week, choice of ships is huge, flights are shorter and cheaper than to Europe.

spurs

Sorry, of course it is Panama Canal and November is a very good month.

Aristotle

I wouldn't say it would be a disaster necessarily, but there are reasons for the price. Probably relocation. But you may not like it if ports etc. are important. Personally, I enjoy a day at sea, but I would go nuts with several in a row.