Seriously thinking of cruising Europe

[Lisa63]

Sorry to be such a pest...

These are our two choices:

Choice 1: Celebrity Century, 12 nights (+2 night Amsterdam pre-cruise)

1 Amsterdam(Rotterdam),Holland Depart 5:00 PM

2 At Sea

3 Alesund, Norway Docked Arrive 8:00 AM Depart 6:00 PM

4 Arctic Circle (Cruise) Cruising

5 Alta, Norway Docked Arrive 8:00 AM Depart 6:00 PM

6 Honningsvag, Norway (N.Cape) Docked Arrive 9:00 AM Depart 6:00 PM

7 Tromso, Norway Docked Arrive 8:00 AM Depart 5:00 PM

8 At Sea

9 Molde, Norway Docked Arrive 7:00 AM Depart 6:00 PM

10 Olden, Norway Docked Arrive 8:00 AM Depart 5:00 PM

11 Bergen, Norway Docked Arrive 7:00 AM Depart 5:00 PM

12 At Sea

13 Amsterdam(Rotterdam),Holland

Choice 2: Sea Princess, 7 nights (+2 night London pre-cruise)

1 London (Southampton), England 5:00 PM

2 Amsterdam 2:30 PM 11:00 PM

3 At Sea

4 Oslo, Norway 8:00 AM 3:00 PM

5 Copenhagen, Denmark 9:00 AM 11:00 PM

6 Helsingborg, Sweden 8:00 AM 2:00 PM

7 At Sea

8 London (Southampton), England 7:00 AM

I'm leaning toward the first, for several reasons. There is so much to do in Amsterdam, so I'd enjoy a pre-cruise stay. Plus, a North Cape cruise has long been a dream of mine. My husband is reluctant, though, due to the length of the trip (we had hoped to also squeeze in a week in Nova Scotia), and because he wasn't too thrilled with Celebrity earlier this year when we took Infinity to the Caribbean.

My husband likes the second choice as we visit more countries. He also loves London, as do I. I am not opposed to this itinerary, but the isolation of the Norway coast is more appealing to me. I work in a city every day, and it would be nice to have an escape.

Thoughts? (And, sorry again to bug you all...)

[JoeyandDavid]

That is a tough choice... But you said it yourself "There is so much to do in Amsterdam" I think personaly we would lean towards the first choice......

Although London ... is well LONDON!! :grin:

Glad we dont have to decide :wink:

[Lisa63]

You are all great... thank you for putting up with me.

Out of the blue, after I typed the above post, DH says, "How about the British Isles? We love Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada, so I'm sure we'll love Scotland."

Now he tells me. Anyway, here's the itinerary. We will have just been on the ship three months earlier, so that could be nice, too. Doesn't have my Norway, though, but still seems like a nice cruise.

Choice #3: Grand Princess, 12 nights (+pre-cruise London)

1 London (Southampton), England 5:00 PM

2 Guernsey (St. Peter Port), England 7:00 AM 1:00 PM

3 Holyhead, Wales 7:00 AM 6:00 PM

4 Dublin, Ireland 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

5 Belfast, Northern Ireland 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

6 Glasgow (Greenock), Scotland 8:00 AM 7:00 PM

7 At Sea

8 Kirkwall (Orkney Islands), Scotland 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

9 Inverness/Loch Ness (Invergordon), Scotland 7:00 AM 6:00 PM

10 Edinburgh (South Queensferry), Scotland 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

11 At Sea

12 Paris/Normandy (Le Havre), France 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

13 London (Southampton), England 5:00 AM

[JoeyandDavid]

Lisa ...oh no another choice in the mix...... :grin:

I dont see how your going to make the decision; those are 3 great Itineraries

[TheSkipper]

Hi Again Lisa,

I vote 3,2,1. In that order. We did the UK on the Royal Princess a couple of years ago and loved it! Did it with another couple and we flew over to London a week early and rented a car and went to the Cotswolds to an old coaching inn for that week and toured the entire area. Talk about getting away from the city life!

We then drove down to Southampton and dropped off the car and boarded the ship. Did almost all of the ports you listed and had a fantastic time. In France my wife and the other couple headed for Paris, but since I've been to Paris several times, I went to the beaches of Normandy and had an experience I will never forget! As a former Army Ranger and Green Beret the walk trough the American Cemetery will always be with me. Especially this time of the year, Memorial Day and the anniversary of the Normandy invasions.

Anyway what we did in most other ports was to set up private tours via the internet. In Dublin we had a stretch limo that everyone stopped to look at as we drove about. Commented about this to the driver and his response was, "Well, Mr. Wynn, there are only two stretch limos in all of Ireland, and the other one belongs to the President."

Ireland and Scotland were both fantastic as well.

Oh well, I've made my choice. One thing you might throw into the mix, Celebrity has no laundramats on any of their ships. Having one on board means you can pack less and on a trip to Europe, that's a big plus.

We have sailed three times on the Century, although she was just renovated, so not up to date on her. Nice ship, not too big or too small.

Have sailed on the the Grand Princess too, so can fill you in a little on both ships. The Sea Princess is the one that was on fire a couple of months ago. We are considering her for our Baltic cruise next spring.

I also lived in London for a couple of years, and like you, love it.

[JoeyandDavid]

and we would vote 1, 3, 2

[jbond]

Life's tough when you have to make such difficult decisions. :shocked:

I'd vote 1,2,3. The only problem with 2 is that it's a long way to travel for a seven day cruise.

#3 isn't really a European cruise, the only place in Europe that it visits is Le Havre. It does stop at some neat ports. Guernsey and Holyhead are two very unusual places to visit. I loved Anglesey and from Holyhead you would be able to get out into the North Wales countryside and see some truly beautiful scenery.

Tough choices. In a few weeks I'll be able to tell you how beautiful Alesund and Bergen are and what a great time we had in Amsterdam, Le Havre, Dublin and Greenock.

If you want to see what we did in the Baltic, checkout http://community.webshots.com/user/jbond105/1 under Brilliance of the Seas. On page 3 you can also see what we did on our Brilliance Med cruise.

[Lisa63]

You're right, jbond -- tough choices that we are fortunate to have to make. :)

Now, if the Jewel of the Seas 2006 British Isles/Norwegian Fjords itinerary was going to be repeated in 2007, we'd be onboard in a minute!

We've eliminated #2 -- the 7-nighter to Holland and 3 Scandanavian ports -- as we don't feel 7 nights justifies the long trip, as jbond says.

I think it may come down to logistics. #1 will require that I take 10 days off from work, whereas #3 will require 12 days of vacation (due to mid-week departure date). Problem is that both are fairly unique itineraries. Wish we could do both.

Stay tuned...

[JoeyandDavid]

Lisa did you notice when you identified THE CHOICES remaining you desciribed them like this:

#1 WITH BEING OFF WORK..

BUT

... # 3 WAS A VACATION....

INTERESTING.. maybe you have already made your mind up... :grin:

just teasing

[Lisa63]

:grin: :grin: :grin: That's so great, Joey! I never thought of that. :grin: :grin:

Anyway, the choice has been made. We will be cruising to...

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North Cape!

The excellent advice about pinpointing a "must-see" location is really what did it. We'll make it over to the British Isles some day, but for now, this Norway cruise was too good to pass up. Plus, the price difference enabled us to get a much nicer cabin on this cruise (Century) than the other (Grand Princess), an important consideration when traveling as a family of three.

Thank you again for all of your help. It is greatly appreciated, and certainly assisted with the prioritization.

jbond, have a wonderful cruise! I can't wait to hear all about it.