Western Europe? What do you think?

[Shanti]

What do you all think of DCL's Western European itinerary for July 14th, 2019? Here are the details:

Day 1 Barcelona, Spain
Day 2 At Sea
Day 3 Cadiz, Spain
Day 4 Lisbon, Portugal
Day 5 At Sea
Day 6 Brest, France
Day 7 Portland (Stonehenge), England
Day 8 Dover, England

I had hoped for northern Europe, but that is scheduled too late in the summer for us, and the 11-night Norwegian Fjords cruise will undoubtedly be too expensive. We're going to Italy for my son's school trip next March, so the Mediterranean isn't worth it for us next summer.

We haven't been to any of the western European ports listed. Anyone have thoughts or experience with those areas?

 

[Dug720]

This one was on my list to possibly have my TA price, but I spent some time this afternoon looking at the excursions they currently have for the ports (all but Brest, which I guess they have not visited before or at least in a while) and other than Portland - where I wanted to do about 3 - none of them really enthused me, so I've removed it from my list.

 

[Shanti]

Anyone been to Brest?

 

[DCSWO]

I think it’s going to be hot

 

[starvenger]

Barcelona is worth arriving a couple of days early and exploring the city, or going to Montserrat.

According to Google Maps Stonehenge is a good 90 minutes from Portland. Worth seeing at least once imo, but as an excursion it could be pricey.

Brest and Lisbon I'd probably just get off the boat and explore.

 

[bbel]

Cadiz and Lisbon were in my top 5 ports from the Europe season, but I felt there wasn't enough time there, especially Lisbon, took ages to get to and from the port.
Not been to Brest.
And the Portland and Dover are England...which for me is home, especially Dover as I spent half my life in Kent...

 

[Shanti]

Someone mentioned heat. Would these locatations likely be hot in July? I'm a native Texan & am accustomed to 100+ degree daily temps in the summer, but don't want to pay big bucks to sweat all through our European vacation.

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

I grew up in Europe: these are not really high-interest ports imo.

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

Someone mentioned heat. Would these locatations likely be hot in July? I'm a native Texan & am accustomed to 100+ degree daily temps in the summer, but don't want to pay big bucks to sweat all through our European vacation.

Lived in Florida the last 10 years, before that in Europe. I've never considered it hot in Europe.

 

[GPaLarry]

Check out Rick Steve books and/or videos for info on European ports. He has been a great help to us in sorting out which cruises to take and where to go, when to get somewhere early, etc. Good luck!!

 

[GPaLarry]

Check out Rick Steve books and/or videos for info on European ports. He has been a great help to us in sorting out which cruises to take and where to go, when to get somewhere early, etc. Good luck!!

Sorry, it is Rick Steves, out of Seattle.

 

[Shanti]

I grew up in Europe: these are not really high-interest ports imo.

Why? Because they aren't major cities? We'd actually enjoy a laid-back, small town experience more than touring big cities. We're doing a land trip to Italy with his school next March that will be all about rushing from city to city, cramming in sights of famous places. Very nice in its own way, but that's not what I'm looking for in the cruise. I'd like for it to be sort of a taste of Europe. Seeing the towns a bit, noticing the different styles of architecture in the different countries, and enjoying the seaside landscapes. All at a relaxed pace. Do these areas seem like they would be good for that sort of thing, or all wrong for it?

 

[o&smom]

This is our pick! Myself, DH, DS who will turn 16 the day before we board and DD 10 have already been to Barcelona and Dover with previous Disney cruises. We LOVE Barcelona and cannot wait to spend some more time there before the cruise and celebrate our son's birthday with a fun day at Cosmo Caixa (his choice). We also had a great day in Dover before a cruise and are happy to get to go back. Fish and chips and WWII tunnels, here we come! Without knowing what port adventures will be in Brest, we are looking at either the aquarium in Brest or just my husband and I going to Quimper. It will probably be fairly warm in Barcelona, Cadiz and Lisbon, but the others could be somewhat chilly.

 

[o&smom]

Why? Because they aren't major cities? We'd actually enjoy a laid-back, small town experience more than touring big cities. We're doing a land trip to Italy with his school next March that will be all about rushing from city to city, cramming in sights of famous places. Very nice in its own way, but that's not what I'm looking for in the cruise. I'd like for it to be sort of a taste of Europe. Seeing the towns a bit, noticing the different styles of architecture in the different countries, and enjoying the seaside landscapes. All at a relaxed pace. Do these areas seem like they would be good for that sort of thing, or all wrong for it?

I think this will be just what you want. The architecture in Barcelona is wonderful, especially all the things designed by Antony Gaudi. Make sure to reserve a time to visit La Sagrada Familia before you go. I think you now have to reserve a time for Parc Guell as well.

 

[deanimal]

It could be an interesting itinerary, Lisbon is a beautiful city and a smaller port in France might be good for exploring. One thing to keep in mind though, would be that it could be much rougher than the med, as much of it is out in the Atlantic. I remember taking ferries between France and England, and also to Ireland and that stretch of water can be super rough. Maybe not quite so much in a cruise ship, but those ferries were pretty big and we were rocking and rolling, even on a summer's day when it wasn't stormy at all on land.

 

[MUN]

According to Google Maps Stonehenge is a good 90 minutes from Portland. Worth seeing at least once imo, but as an excursion it could be pricey.

I've been to Carhenge and that was pretty cool. Do you think I need to see Stonehenge as well?

 

[starvenger]

I didn't know that Carhenge was a thing, but google educated me on that.

As I mentioned, it's worth seeing. Is it worth visiting? I suppose that depends on how much you like ancient mysteries and being in the presence of them. A limitation here is that you don't get to walk IN Stonehenge, but around it, so anyone hoping to get a picture whilst leaning against a stone, you're you-know-what outta luck.

Looking at the excursion, it costs $120/adult ($95/kid) for a 6 hour excursion, 3.5 hours of which are spent travelling to and from the site. So it's basically a 1.5 hour viewing, which doesn't seem like a lot, but should be plenty of time to see everything. So from that perspective you're getting your money's worth.

Now, say you are in London and want to go see Stonehenge. It's a 2 hour drive so you'd need to arrange transportation plus pay admission (about 18GBP/pp or 48GBP/family of 4). Not a bad price, but you'll have to be willing to drive a stick shift on the left side of the road to get there.

For me, I was lucky, as my in-laws live in Birmingham and my nieces had also never been, so we were able to make a trip of it.

 

[anricat]

I'm going to be pricing this one out. We really want to do Norway or N. Europe but they are too late in the season for us. My daughter is a gymnast and has meets later in the summer. This one is right on the edge of being doable for us. We're doing Mediterranean this summer so we don't want to do that again. I'll see what the pricing is like but I'm definitely intrigued.

 

[cruiser21]

Lived in Florida the last 10 years, before that in Europe. I've never considered it hot in Europe.

Come check out Phoenix in July if want to know what hot is. I can't imagine Europe being what I would consider hot.

 

[Trera]

Lived in Florida the last 10 years, before that in Europe. I've never considered it hot in Europe.

We live in Florida also and spent a week in Barcelona in July of 2016...................and we found it to be hot. Not 100 sweltering heat but I noticed it being hot during the day.