are there cruise lines THAT HAVE WEEK-LONG EXCURSIONS?

Question

I want to go to greece but do not want to fly, so I believe a cruise is my only option.....can I get off for about a week then sail back on a return trip...Thanx

Answer 1

The regular cruise lines like Royal Caribbean, Princess, Celebrity and Norwegian do not have cruise ships that stay at one island for that long. But you can book with some lines what is called a "cruise-tour" where they will arrange for you to tour one or more cities before and/or after the normal tour. The cruise line will arrange travel and lodging in a city or two.

Last year we cruised the Mediterranian and had stops on 2 Greek islands, and Athens, Greece. Each stop for for only one day. If you want to cruise from the US to go to Greece you may be able to finda cruise that does a trans-Atlantic and offers tours in Greece. But then you would be booking a second trans-Atlantic to get back to the US.

I suggest going to the web sites for Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Princess and Norwegian and see what they have to offer. What you are wanting to do is going to be expensive, especially if you have a cruise line do it. In addition, the cruise lines only do trans-Atlantic cruises certain times of the year. So you have to go when the cruises are available. And some ships take 7 days going one way and then the next seven they spend coming back. So you may have to use two different cruise lines to have a week between crossings.

I highly recommend that you have a travel agent find the cruises available and also book hotels and land transportation for you. The agent will not charge for the services as they are paid commissions by the cruise lines and hotels.

If you are very savy with the internet you can do it yourself. I did all of my own land tours and hotels before my last two cruises in Europe. n both cases I took the train between cities. But you would have to find alternate transportation to get between the Greek islands. However, there are many ferry ships running between the islands (I saw them when we were in Mykonos and Santorini) which you ay have to use.

Answer 2

Most of them do, if you look under search cruise lines, they have where you can do a search for duration and you can pick how long you want to go on. I know for a fact that Princess cruises does one, my family is more than likely going on them in May to Alaska for a 7 day cruise. (I am a member of the Captain's circle as i've been on a cruise with them before and can get a certain amount discounted on our trip) I highly recommend Princess. Good luck!

Answer 3

You will find that most cruises that visit Greece will start in Europe, so there are probabilities that you will have to fly to your destination

It is highly unlikely that a transatlantic or a round the world cruise will return a week later. You might have to look at two one way tickets.

Answer 4

If you want to avoid flying althogether, and I'm assuming your in the US, then you would have to get to NYC, take either the QE2 or QM2 to Southampton, train to London, take the Chunnel Train or Ferry across the English Channel, take a train from Paris to Athens, board a ferry for the island you want, stay for the time period you want then have to do all in reverse. Very pricey!

You would at least have to fly to some place in Europe and, if you're considering staying on a Greek island, then it woudl need to be a flight to Athens. At that point you could take one of the many ferries that island hop in the Aegean Sea and go to the island of your choice and return when you are ready and with the ferry schedule to get you back to the mainland.

Answer 5

The answer is no. The only way you can do something like that is if the cruise originats or ends at that port. You cannot get off at a port and just wait for the next ship.

Answer 6

There are not many lines that have this option. You should get some brochures. Holland has a cruise that leaves in July, but you won't get back until Aug.