Which Eastern Europe Itinerary Sounds More Interesting? (By Water)
 

Sometimes life is just too good! My dilemma is we can either take a Vantage Eastern Europe River Boat cruise that begins in Budapest with stops in Pecs, Vukovar Croatia, Belgrade Serbia, Veliko Tarnovo & Arbanassi & Ruse Bulgaria, and Constanta Romania, ending in Bucharest Romania.

Or, we can take an Azamara Black Sea cruise beginning with 2 days in Istanbul, Yalta Sevestopol & Odessa Ukraine, Varna Bulgaria, Volos Skiathos & Mykonos Greece, Ephesus Turkey and ending in Athens.

Which has the most interesting itinerary? I know nothing about the Ukaraine and very little about the former Yugoslvia, hoever I have spent a little time in Croatia & Slovenia. I love Budapest and Istanbul. They are probably my 2 favorite places to visit. Any opinions are welcome, and I do take into account that an opinion is subjective, so if you can tell me why you would pick 1 trip over the other it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

C'mon its my birthday. Surely, someoone reading the forum has an opinion. I'm really stumped!

Hi zwho, your choice should depend on the time frame, among other things.

Middle of the summer i would opt for the first alternative.

in Spring or Fall, the second alternative.

The first is very much of the same thing and can start to get boring, whereas the second is very varied and you get antiquety, beach, night life, nature combinations.

Finally, i would be unhappy about missing Ephesus, Mykonos, Athens (am not mentioning Istanbul because you've been there) but will not care that much about missing any of the other trip stops.

I should have mentioned that we have been to Ephesus and loved it, also Mykonos, I loved the shopping, my husband loved the beach. Neither one of us is much of a night life person, although listening to music, people watching & drinking a glass of wine while we do it sounds great. You don't think this is possible on the Rivercruise? We have also been to Athens and really didn't like it, except for the Acropolis. I guess my question should have read, which is more interesting, the Ukraine or cities & villages in the former Yugoslavia? Any opinions when I word it that way? Thanks in advance.

I'm totally not a cruise person, but if forced to take a cruise on one of these itineraries I'd certainly opt for the second if you haven't been to the Ukraine. You might like to take a look at my pix and TR from a trip that included Ukraine - see kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/Europe-2006 and wilhelmswords.com/eur2006/index.html

Ukraine looks fabulous! Ya know, I think we can't go wrong doing either, so maybe we'll do 1 this year and the other next year!

Curious why you chose Vantage, a packaged tour company, over one of the riveer boat cruise companies..Viking, AMA...they include so much, you don't need another tour company in addition.

Happy Trvlr, I hope you see this and can answer my question. We chose Vantage on a friends recommendation. It includes airfare and pre tour lectures and the tours are included, not optional. As I read about rivercruises, it seems the tour are always included no matter what. Is this correct? What is the difference between Vantage and Viking or AMA? The itinerary looks good. Do you recomend another river boat co. that you like better & why? Thanks in advance for your help.