I am wanting to go a cruise..?

Question

I have always wanted to go on a cruise, My problem is the most I see online about them are the ones that start and finish at the same port.

I know I can get off at any port and stay but that seems like not a good idea since i am paying for the whole trip.

What I am wanting to do is fly overseas, like Italy or Greece and take a cruise back home to the states, like Florida since I am with in driving distance of Fla, I can rent a car and drive to nashville where I would be flying from. Which is were my car would be parked.

I can not find any info about what I want to do online. I dont mind going into a travel agent but I was wanting to get all the infor before hand or a reallly good idea of what I want, like which cruise lines are the best and which port I would really like to leave from and which air port I should fly into that is closet to the port.

Anyone got any ideas. ?

Answer 1

Yes , you can take Trans-Atlantic cruises from Europe back to the US. Cunard cruise line runs them regularly between New York City and Europe. Several other cruise lines also have one way cruises, usually at the time of year when they do what is called "repositioning'. For example, a ship that sails in the Caribbean for the winter will be repositioned to the UK or Spain, to making cruises to the Baltic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Poland) during the late spring and summer months, or to do Mediterranean cruises. These cruises may run from Miami or Ft Lauderdale to the UK or Spain.

Just go to the cruise lines listed below and search for "transatlantic cruises".

Answer 2

An "Alaska Inside Passage" cruise would be the most exciting for me. Ports of call typically include Ketchikan, a town set in a rainforest setting with a heavy native culture, Skagway - the starting point of the great Yukon gold rush, Sitka - with architectural remnants of the Russian era, and Juneau - the capital, and home to the Mendenhall Glacier.

Answer 3

Tinkertoy said it best--the problem with repositioning cruises is only that they are not as nice as a regular cruise. Transatlantic means you don't have ports to stop at and everyday will just be a day at sea. It is also very choppy so it is important to know that neither you nor your boyfriend are the slightest bit motion sick. Good news is the price is cheaper due to no port taxes and since they are less popular.

Many repositioning cruises go into NYC just for an easier destination; a very common one I've had friends go on is through the canal to go to San Diego port from Florida. However, if you find one that goes to Florida I would not be picky as to if it goes to Miami, Ft Lauderdale or Canaveral. It's all about the same price to rent a car from any of those and drive back. Just as it would be about the same if a great cruise was coming in to Norfolk instead.

As far as your destinations--think of some that would interest you. Would you prefer Italy? There are not as many repositioning cruises as you think though so I would look up how many there are before limiting yourself to Only leaving from Italy or only Rome. There may not be as many to chose from. That being said--Rome is one of the more common starting points in the med.

As far as which cruise lines as the best, it's more important to figure out your budget. Of course you get what you pay for in cruising. Celebrity, Princess are better lines but also about 3times as expensive as Royal Caribbean and Carnival. If you figure out about how much you wish to spend an agent will be able to help you pick a line from there. My only suggestions is to avoid Holland and NCL. Horrible experiences on NCL and Holland you would be about 50 yrs younger than all the other passengers, and the on-board entertainment caters more to the 50+ clientele.

I would also spend some time looking at the ships. If you are going to spend that many days at sea, I'd like to research the ships first. Go to a travel agent and talk about which ones are available during the months you would like to go--and which ones are in your budget. You will probably be able to limit it to about 5 cruises. Then I'd go surf the internet and pull up the layouts of the ship. I know on Carnival I'd rather go on a newer bigger ship--Spirit class more than likely. On Royal Caribbean, they are launching/have launched several new ships since summer 05, new ones this summer. I would definitely rather be on a bigger ship. Then you can look at the deck plan and virtual tours on most websites, call the travel agent back with the cruise that you picked.

Also if my cruise were leaving from Rome, which airport to fly into doesn't really matter. I'd want to get there 2 days early and spend a bit of time in Italy so whichever airport is cheapest. Same if it was going out of France. I'd probably still fly into Paris as it's cheaper and I could do a couple days touring Paris before traveling to the coast and boarding my ship. After all, flying into Paris can be several hundred less than flying into a smaller French airport (and still originally landing in Paris). The money savings and the time seeing the City would be worth it to me.

I wouldn't limit your travel agent to merely one line or merely one departure point. It may be more worth it to discuss which ones are leaving Europe to Florida--after all budget and time of year are probably more important to you. Pick those first--even if its just as broad as "anytime this fall".

Answer 4

You definitely need to call a travel agent to get this set up. I think it's possible and also a lovely idea which I hadn't thought of until you mentioned it. A travel agent will know all about this and will be able to provide you with the information you made. Great plan and happy travels!!

Answer 5

Look into what is called a "repositioning cruise". It is when a ship is getting ready to embark on an entirely new intinary (SP?) and need to "reposition" the ship at its new starting point. These cruises are generally cheaper.

HAve Fun!

Answer 6

carnival!! It has a transatlantic cruise that is planned for sometime in april next year. It is on their newest ship, Carnival Freedom. Its leaves from Miami and ends in Rome. Here is the link. (I am sure there are more cruises like this)

http://www.carnival.com/Itinerary.aspx?embkCode=MIA&itinCode=TA3&groupInd=&shipCode=FD&durDays=14&subRegionCode=ET

Answer 7

Call Carnival. We have a PVP that we deal with there, and he always gets us great deals. They do offer several transatlantic cruises each year.

Answer 8

well the only really long cruise i went on was in egypt i dont think it was a u know the real crusing experience but it was fun for me coz i love ancient egypt and plus there was this really cute egyption waiter flirting with mee throughout the cruise and we cudnt keep our eyes of each other lol that was fun an dhe was sooo hot!! lol well ive never really gone on a real cruise all small one another was in the great barrier reif i think anyway am not really sure abt cruises but they are real fun esp if u go with the one u love but i can never stay in the lower deck i get sea sick lol hey guess what i didnt answer ur question at all haha