The Great European Adventure: Choosing a Cruisefeatured

I admit it: I’ve been putting off writing this for a little while.

There were a few legitimate distractions (Cancun, Phoenix, the blog redesign, work), but I was also dragging my feet a little here for probably the same reasons I still have a suitcase filled with souvenirs sitting and waiting to be unpacked in my closet. Writing this closes the book on what was, thus far, the best trip and greatest adventure I’ve ever been on, and part of me wanted to hold onto it for just a little while longer.

Europe was always a dream for all of us, each for a slightly different reason. For me, it was this great, unknown Pandora’s box of adventures unlike anything I’d ever done. The last thing on my pre-30 travel bucket list. The only part of this trip that I was comfortable and familiar with was the fact that we’d be doing it by cruise ship and we had almost 20 cruises under our belts over the past 11 years. Everything else? New. Different. Exciting.

This trip was all I could talk about from the moment we booked it to the moment we left. I’d told my friends I was half convinced I was going to burst into tears the moment I stepped foot in Barcelona because this anticipation was so much.

((For the record, there were no tears on the outside, but on the inside, I was crying, grinning like a damn fool and trying to work out hair-brained schemes that involved quitting a job I generally love to spend the rest of my life taking pictures of the European countryside and drinking a lot of wine))

Why a Cruise?

It might seem like an odd choice to some to do a cruise on a first trip to Europe, but to me, there wasn’t much consideration to other choices.

First of all, we love cruises. We’re comfortable on cruises, we know what to expect on cruises and with that, we could fully immerse ourselves in discovering these new places without worrying about transit between countries, hotels and meals.

And that brings me to the second reason we decided to explore Europe via cruise ship: cruising is (and continues to be) one of the most cost effective means of travel. We’re not a backpack-and-hostel kind of family (not that there’s anything wrong with that), and hotels in Europe can be incredibly expensive.

And, airfare to Europe was going to be expensive in and of itself, so going to visit one place wasn’t enough. We wanted to visit as many places as we could in the two and a half weeks we were traveling. A cruise provided for 12 nights of accommodations, all meals, non-alcoholic beverages, nightly entertainment and transit to seven ports in five different countries.

Choosing a Cruise

While most of our cruises have been on Carnival, we’ve also traveled on Princess and Royal Caribbean and we don’t feel particularly loyal to any one brand. We have Platinum status on Carnival, so on Caribbean itineraries, they often win, but with a trip as big as this Europe trip was becoming, we were open to any line that offered the best itinerary and the best rooms at the best price.

We knew the time frame we needed to travel in (using the Memorial Day holiday to maximize our time off and vacation days) and we knew that we wanted a cruise that was at least ten days but no more than 14.

Around Thanksgiving, we narrowed it down to two options: a 12-night Grand Med cruise on the Norwegian Spirit or a 12-night Grand Med cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas. The ships were nearly identical in age and size and the itineraries only differed slightly: both visited Florence/Pisa, Rome, Naples and Athens. Norwegian also touched Provence, Mykonos, Istanbul and Venice while the Royal Caribbean itinerary offered Cannes, Kusadasi, Santorini and two more sea days.

Cannes vs Provence. Mykonos vs Santorini. Istanbul vs Kusadasi. Sea days vs extra port time. I wanted to visit the Blue Mosque and Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, but I also wanted to see Santorini. Two sea days seemed like too little, but did four seem like too much? The price was comparable. This became my own personal version of Sophie’s Choice.

We ultimately chose the Royal Caribbean itinerary. One, because it would put us in Cannes during the film festival, two, because nothing would compare to Santorini (or so I was told) and three, because at the end of all of this, we all had to go back to work and two “days off” would certainly lead to some kind of exhaustion.

Choosing a Room

It was apparent from the get-go that no matter which type of stateroom we would choose, an interior room would never suffice. Three adults in an interior room for nearly two weeks seemed like some kind of special version of hell. Suites were generally out of the question because they seemed like a luxury and we’d decided we would rather spend that extra money on excursions and shopping.

In December, a new category of room opened up for online booking: Family Oceanview. These rooms had either a window or a porthole, a king sized bed and a separate sitting area, but it also had a separate room with bunk beds. While this was more than enough sleeping area for the three of us (and, technically, would sleep double our party), it meant we’d have more room than we’d have in a balcony. Plenty of room to move around, plenty of room for our stuff, perfect for an extended stay. And while I love balconies, we’d barely be on the ship as it was. The ship wasn’t the destination on this one.

Figuring Out the Rest

Once we had the cruise portion planned, there was still…everything else. Pre-cruise time in Barcelona was a must (not only had I dreamed of visiting Spain since I was 13, but because we were cruising, the number one cruising rule of thumb is you always give yourself a buffer in case your flight gets delayed), but there are no direct flights from Chicago into Barcelona, so we also had to figure out where, when and how to connect – none of us had ever flown a non-direct flight before. None of us had even flown internationally. We had a lot to learn.

And then, there was the post-cruise. We had a few days before we had to be back in the US and back to work, and it didn’t take any time or thought to decide to spend those days in Paris. Mom’s biggest unfulfilled dream in life thus far had been to visit Paris and see the Eiffel Tower, and just as the stars had aligned the year before to put us in St. Lucia on her birthday, they aligned once again to put us in Paris on her birthday this year.

So that left us figuring out flights and hotels, and like it’s own kind of Jenga puzzle, this trip slowly came together. There was only one direct flight a day on American from Charles De Gaulle to O’Hare, so we knew which flight home we had to be on. I have unlimited vacation days at my job, but Mom and Stephanie don’t, and Stephanie literally had not another day to spare for this trip, so our only option to get to Barcelona was a late afternoon flight that connected in London. Our options to get from Barcelona to Paris were a flight on EasyJet or Air France (neither of which came highly recommended) or a seven hour train ride (which was a big time suck but all of my friends told me was a beautiful and scenic trip), so we booked a one-way train ticket. Little by little, it came together.

I found our hotels for pre- and post-cruise on Expedia, booking off of one night free specials (Barcelona) and extra savings promotions (Paris). Hotels in Europe are notorious for being small and the condition of the rooms can vary greatly depending on where you stay and the rating of the hotel, so I gave due diligence and spent a great deal of time on TripAdvisor reading reviews. I couldn’t play the Priceline game this time.

We didn’t really know what we were doing, but piece by piece, it all somehow came together.

The Final Itinerary

Day 1: Chicago to London
Day 2: London to Barcelona
Day 3: Barcelona
Day 4: Embark the cruise ship in Barcelona and set sail for the Mediterranean
Day 5: Cannes
Day 6: La Spezia (Florence/Pisa)
Day 7: Rome
Day 8: At Sea
Day 9: At Sea
Day 10: Athens
Day 11: Kusadasi (Turkey)
Day 12: Santorini
Day 13: At Sea
Day 14: Naples
Day 15: At Sea
Day 16: Disembark; Barcelona to Paris
Day 17: Paris
Day 18: Paris
Day 19: Paris to Chicago

Last Odds and Ends

I spent literal months (basically my entire winter) reading cruise reviews on Cruise Critic and travel guides for the ports we’d be visiting. Nothing could have prepared us for the adventure that was awaiting, but it helped build the anticipation.

We booked all of our excursions through Royal Caribbean, mostly because this was our first time in Europe and it felt like the safest option. We’d consider booking through outside companies now that we’ve done it all once, but we have no regrets. Excursions booked up early, and many sold out (some before the ship even set sail), so if you’re planning on booking excursions through the ship, do it early.

I’ve been shooting with a Nikon D60 for the past six years but a trip like this called for something major. So after six years with an entry-level SLR, I purchased a Nikon D7000 on Black Friday (Best Buy had a great deal on a package that included an 18-140 lens, which would basically cover all of the range I’d need for this trip) and though it was a big purchase, the quality of the pictures far exceeded what my D60 was capable of. No regrets. All of the pictures in this review will be from either the D7000 or my iPhone 6+.

So that’s how it begins. I hope you all enjoy reading along as much as I’ll be enjoying reliving this trip. If you have any questions about cruising Europe along the way (or tips for the next one), you can shout ‘em at me in the comments section here, on Twitter or Instagram (@nicolesonthego), on Facebook or on Cruise Critic.

Here we go…