hey ,
so i am travelling to europe by aug 5th and taking a 7 day long cruise from rome. my problem is i can't seem to plan ahead.i have 3-4 days after my cruise to europe , an i really want to go to Norway or turkey. what should i do ? what is the smartest route i should take after my cruise, that ends in rome btw. and the cruise is eastern europe!! please help asap

I really am having trouble understanding what you wrote. Maybe you could lay it out like this,

Arrive Rome August 5th
Leave on cruise August ___
Return to Rome (?? didn't understand) August ___
Return to home from ??? on August ___
Between August ___ and August ___ I'd like to see Norway or Turkey.


Both Turkey and Norway are a long way from Rome. Could you fly home from either of those countries? If not, it would take a day to get there and a day to get back to Rome, so you'd have very little time in whichever place you choose.

So your cruise starts and ends in Rome - is that correct? And you'd like to go somewhere for three or four days after your cruise. Which cities can you fly home from? With just three or four days, you would be best advised to stay in Italy.

Well to get to Turkey or Norway from Rome, would be by far easiest to buy a plane ticket. With Turkey being a smidge closer than Norway.

Will you have 3 days or 4? Traveling to another country will eat up half a day minimum, even if the flight is short. You would still have travel time to the airport, time through security, etc. If you have to return to Rome, another half day gone, plus, depending on flight time, you may have to be in Rome the night before your flight home.

Have you already booked flights into and out of Rome? If so, then stay in Italy. If not, you could fly someplace and return home from there. If you have four days, can fly out asap after cruise, still have three full days left, and fly home from that destination, it could be reasonable to do it. Otherwise, no, especially Turkey.

I know it's difficult when writing in a foreign language - but we are really confused by your exact timing - and we need that to determine where it makes sense to see after your cruise. If it's 3 or 4 days matter a lot. Also, what time you will actually disembark from the ship (not the time it docks but when YOU will hit land - this may take most of a 1/2 days).

If you have not yet bought your round trip tickets strongly suggest you buy ticket into Rome and return from wherever you end up.

Also to keep in mind is that Norway is VERY expensive (probably the worst prices in europe) and Turkey is usually a bargain - so going to Norway could easily cost twice as much as Turkey. Is this an issue.

If it were me I would stay and see Rome (unless you have done so before) or head to someplace else in Italy that interests you - to avoid spending 2 of your 3 or 4 days just in transit.

hello yes sorry for the confusion
i am already taking a cruise from rome for 7 days.
its a roundtrip so it ends in rome.
i don't want to roam in italy after my cruise is done. which other country in europe can i go to which is near fun happening and has all branded shopping !!also only for 3-4 days as i will go to london after this!!

i hope this clears the confusion.

Turkish Air offers a non-stop Rome-Istanbul and I see the ticket is $180 round trip (I picked random days but the price should be around that).

Ryan Air has a $40 Rome-Athens flight. Aegean has one for $185. Both are non-stop.

Point is, you can fly from Rome to pretty much any other major city in Europe inexpensively.

Fly to Geneva?
Fly to Paris?

Sure, you can pretty much fly anywhere. However, if you have only 3 days, you will eat up 1/2 day coming and going (have to include time getting to/from airports, not just flight time) and have only two days left for seeing anything. Some places, 2 days may be enough. Istanbul is not really one of those. If you have 4 days and can squeeze out 3 whole days (not just parts of days), then maybe. One problem is the need to return to Rome for an onward flight.

The "branded" shopping and "fun happening" is another issue. No point going someplace like Istanbul with fabulous sightseeing if shopping and fun happening is to be the focus.

You could go on to London a couple of days early.
Also, fly to Paris, then take the train to London.
Other fun cities would be Amsterdam, Barcelona or Prague, and a couple of days would give you a decent feel any of these cities. Don't know about the "branded" shopping though.

We scheduled a cruise from Bergen, Norway, to Istanbul, Turkey. We have been following the political tensions in Turkey closely and our cruise line has just changed the itinerary. We will NOT be going to Istanbul. Before planning to go to Turkey make sure you look closely at the (I assume you are US?) travel alerts for Turkey. Right now most of the alerts have been for Southeaster Turkey, but there have been recent bombings. The Turkish government has also taken control of all Christian churches.
Just some thoughts while you are making these decisions. Things could get better or things could get worse. Just keep an eye on the political climate.

There is definitely risk in visiting Istanbul, especially in groups and close to any large crowds and security forces or their buildings.

Whether similar risks exist in some other European or American cities and the difference in risk cannot be said or calculated.

However the comment above, that

"The Turkish government has also taken control of all Christian churches. " is an unfortunate untruth or mistake.

As far as I have known, never in the hundred years of history of Turkey and even the previous hundred years of the Ottoman Empire, have the government ever taken control of Christian churches.

gt3mr, please cross-check your source. Sounds a bit like an enemy of USA attempting to launch a campaign saying that Trump and/or Hillary will take control of all Islamic institutions and mosques as well as Buddhist temples in the United States if they get elected. -