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Is this a good idea for Europe grand tour in December?

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Is this a good idea for Europe grand tour in December?

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Old Sep 27th, 2022, 01:10 PM
  #21  
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Originally Posted by Sassafrass
Did you go to vacationstogo.com and plug in any dates and ports you could depart from. There are literally hundreds of cruises in Europe.
I do not know where you are allowed to travel, what ports you are allowed to depart, when you want to go or your budget for a cruise. If you do not mind sharing that, I would look up a few for you or give you links to a few.
Again, there are so many. Just between Nov 2022 and Feb 2023, there are a thousand. In Summer, there are even more, to Turkey for example. You have to narrow things down to what is possible for you and what you want. There are the Greek Islands, the Med from Italy to France to Spain, etc. There are the Scandinavian Countries. Join vacationstogo.com. Study the vacationstogo website and figure out how to plug in and search for things.
Yes i visited the website the thing is i want to use the most trusted cruise companies and visit warm places, but in the winter there is only one option with NCL Canary islands cruise, but i read the reviews and they say the ship is bad. I also found scandinavian cruises but they were like 2500$ and more for 10 days and my gf won't be happy about it)))
About looking out some options for me: that would be so helpful thank you very much, i will share the info!
1. I can depart from european ports, since we want to visit Europe this winter (otherwise we could've go to Malaysia, then to Singapore- get on a Royal Caribbean cruise to Thailand and back, after that we could fly to Bali and get back to our country)
2. We want to go this December but if it doesn't work out, then January 2023,
3. Since we don't want to have only cruise vacation this time, we can spare 1000$ max (500$ each) for a cruise.
4. I would love to go to scandinavia on a cruise in winter, i will ask my gf about it😊
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Old Sep 27th, 2022, 02:16 PM
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https://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=28500

In a very quick search, I did not find any cruises to Scandinavia in your price range.
I did find the MSC cruise above which sounds interesting. Food and entertainment is very good on their ships.
I will look again later.
Unfortunately, your price range is low, prices have gone up and you have other fees like gratuities of about $15.00 per day, per person, so another $105.00 per person. Things like WiFi are extra. There is usually a 20% added to drinks. Any excursions are extra or on your own. For example, just getting from the port to Rome takes time and costs. Seeing Sagrada Familia in Barcelona costs. Cruise costs can really add up quickly. You have to keep that in mind and not look at only the base price.

On the other hand, you can see many places for a short time without paying for planes, trains, etc.

I love cruises and will go just about anywhere on any ship, so I liked the Norwegian Sun cruise. The ship is really small (which I like) and older (which I do not mind). That is a personal thing. The weather would be nice on that cruise too.
I don’t love huge ships like Grandiosa, but in winter they are nice when you are inside more.

Read reviews of ships and itineraries on cruisecritic.com, cruiseline and TripAdvisor.
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Old Sep 27th, 2022, 05:42 PM
  #23  
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Originally Posted by Sassafrass
https://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=28500

In a very quick search, I did not find any cruises to Scandinavia in your price range.
I did find the MSC cruise above which sounds interesting. Food and entertainment is very good on their ships.
I will look again later.
Unfortunately, your price range is low, prices have gone up and you have other fees like gratuities of about $15.00 per day, per person, so another $105.00 per person. Things like WiFi are extra. There is usually a 20% added to drinks. Any excursions are extra or on your own. For example, just getting from the port to Rome takes time and costs. Seeing Sagrada Familia in Barcelona costs. Cruise costs can really add up quickly. You have to keep that in mind and not look at only the base price.

On the other hand, you can see many places for a short time without paying for planes, trains, etc.

I love cruises and will go just about anywhere on any ship, so I liked the Norwegian Sun cruise. The ship is really small (which I like) and older (which I do not mind). That is a personal thing. The weather would be nice on that cruise too.
I don’t love huge ships like Grandiosa, but in winter they are nice when you are inside more.

Read reviews of ships and itineraries on cruisecritic.com, cruiseline and TripAdvisor.
Thank you very much for helping me, i didn't know about extra prices on a cruise ship, now i will always keep that in mind! yeah i guess the only cruise we can afford is NCL's Canary islands cruise, i will think about doing that, but if we fail to get shengen visa (which happens very often in countries like mine) we will travel to asia and get on a Royal Caribbean cruise from Singapore. i am grateful for your help!
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Old Sep 27th, 2022, 07:18 PM
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I hope you get your visas. I also hope that someday you get to go to Italy and Paris in Spring and some beautiful places in winter. Switzerland is expensive, but you could look at Germany (Bavaria) in winter. Look at some pictures of Garmisch Partenkirchen and Berchtesgaden. It is beautiful and less expensive. Other people can make better recommendations, I am sure. Whatever you eventually decide, you and your GF are going to have a wonderful time.
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Old Sep 27th, 2022, 09:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Sassafrass
I hope you get your visas. I also hope that someday you get to go to Italy and Paris in Spring and some beautiful places in winter. Switzerland is expensive, but you could look at Germany (Bavaria) in winter. Look at some pictures of Garmisch Partenkirchen and Berchtesgaden. It is beautiful and less expensive. Other people can make better recommendations, I am sure. Whatever you eventually decide, you and your GF are going to have a wonderful time.
The places you mentioned are stunning, maybe we can make our way up there! Thank you!
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Old Sep 27th, 2022, 11:03 PM
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Generally the cheaper places to visit are Portugal and then the eastern European areas like Greece, the Dalmatian coast, Romania, Hungary, Poland (but that is getting more expensive) then the three small Baltic states. You can throw Czech and Slovakia into that mix especially if you stay to the east in Czech.
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Old Sep 28th, 2022, 04:29 AM
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If you are planning on going this December then you need to get things tied in so you can get your visa application in asap. You need to submit travel details and bookings with your visa application, and it can take some time to process your application. You also need insurance.
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Old Sep 28th, 2022, 04:07 PM
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Originally Posted by hetismij2
If you are planning on going this December then you need to get things tied in so you can get your visa application in asap. You need to submit travel details and bookings with your visa application, and it can take some time to process your application. You also need insurance.
Yes, i am on my way to do that all thank you!
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Old Oct 2nd, 2022, 03:51 PM
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I'm joining in a little late here so I hope my comments aren't redundant. I also think your itinerary is too ambitious -- too much time moving and too little time to enjoy places. I would cut out Amsterdam and Portugal, and try something like this:
Paris (4 days) - Barcelona (4) - Nice (3) - Rome (4) - Venice (1) - ? That leaves you 9 days to fill. Some thoughts:
There is snow and skiing in the Pyrenees Mountains, near Barcelona, but I'm not familiar with this.
Don't spend the night in Monaco. Expensive and no need. There's a bus that runs from Cannes, through Nice, to Monaco. It costs about 2 euros (used to anyway). Great sightseeing if you get good seats. (My wallet was stolen at this bus stop, be careful.) You could also stop in Avignon on your way to Nice.
I don't know how badly you want to see snow but you could do some of that with these 9 days. Either go into the French Alps from Nice or the Dolomites from Venice.
Are you flying home from Paris? That would make a difference.
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Old Oct 6th, 2022, 05:28 AM
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No you are not late, i always check the answers, thank you for your help, Yeah we decided to cut out Portugal, your suggested itinerary is good, but i think 2 days in Nice in winter will be enough for us)) We will have one night in Venice and live in the end of second day (i think) yes we will not spend a night in Monaco, for sure i would like to add some snow in my trip, your suggestions are great, the thing is we don't know how to ski and don't have our equipment i just don't know about the prices... i will post more detailed and renewed itinerary soon !
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