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I have done three cruises to the area you are interested in; two Mediterranean cruises and one to the Baltic countries.
The fisrt cruise that we did was a 12 day Mediterranian cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship, the Brilliance of the Seas. It had port stops in Villafrance(Monte Carlo/Nice), Florence, Rome and Naples, Italy; Athens, Santorini and Mykonos, Greece and Kusadari, Turkey. We went in October which is a great time to go as the weather is not hot and the crowds have subsided a bit. That cruie departed from Barcelona, Spain and we flew there a day early (which is always recommended now due to flight delays) and stayed at a very nice hotel and then took a taxi to the cruise port.
Royal Caribbean is a very nice cruise line and I like it much better than NCL (have been on many NCL ships too). The Brilliance is my favorite of all of RC's ships.
If you are going to a Med cruise there are 7 day cruises that are usually one way and 12 day cruises that are round trip (back to where you started from). Several cruie lines do Med cruises including NCL, Princess, RC, Celebrity and Holland America. Most Med cruises will depart from Barcelona but some depart from Venice or if they are longer cruises England.
The second cruise that we did was the Baltic countries including Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Finland, Norway, Eastonia, and Russia. It was a 14 day cruise out of Dover, England on the Celebrity cruise ship Constellation. That is a beautiful ship and the service was the best I have had on any cruise line. For this cruise we flew to London, took a commuter train from the airport (both airports have trains that will take you downtown), then took another train the next day to Dover. In London we stayed at a hotel near Trafalger Square (actually walking distance to the Palace) called the Thistle Carring Cross and it is right next door to the train station to Dover. So the morning of our cruise we walked out the hotel door right into the train station. The ride to Dover is about an hour or a little more and cost about $22. US each. I highly recommend this Celebrity cruise also.
The third cruise in that area that we took was just this past November to the Western Med on an NCL ship, the Gem. The cruise departed from Barcelona and went to a couple ports in Spain, to Lisbon, Portugal, to the Canary Island (2 stops), to Agadir, Morocco, and to Gibralter. This cruise was OK and so was the ship. We enjoyed it but it was not as good as the others. I don't care for NCL any more.
When you go on these cruises there are very few kids on board. For the most part families with kids go to the Caribbean primarily. On our Celebrity cruise I bet there were not a dozen kids among the 2500 passengers. About the same on the other Med cruises so that will not really be an issue. There are also fewer kids on cruises longer than 7 days.
The NCL, RC, Celebrity and Princess ships will have a mixture of ages between 40 and 60. Holland America tends to have the oldest passenger, typically 60 and up.
If you want to do the Eastern and Western Med cruises you can fly directly to the departure port in Barcelona. If you want to do the Baltic or Ireland cruises you can fly to either London airport and take a train into London where you can get a train to Dover, Southampton or Harwich. OR, you can ask that airport transfers be included in your cruise package. You can even add the transfers later if you want to look at the train options first.
Some web sites for you below for trains. You can order tickets and pay for them in advance and the Eurorail will mail them to you. |
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