The Caribbean vs Europe

[ngl]

So many great points here and I would say we are probably in the minority in that we like short cruises v long! (We are good with longer land tours) We started cruising with DCL when my kids were 5 & 3. They are now 14 & 12 and we generally go every other year. Having said that, we are Floridians and live about 2 hrs from Port Canaveral so it is easy for us. We have done the Dream and Wish. Love both for different reasons. We took kids to Europe first time last summer and did Paris & London w land tour (with a few days at DL Paris of course!) It was great. We debated on the cruise but as someone mentioned above, generally, port cities on cruises are far from the actual city you are going to see (for example, Rome from port is 40 min) and we really want to see the cities so would definitely be doing excursions each day. They are long days in European ports because you typically have to add 2 hrs in just to get from ship to city & back. We are off on a ABD trip to Italy this summer and also did a land tour with Tauck to Alaska when my kids were 9 & 7. Loved that as well. With all of that in mind, I would ask you what is your main interest in going on the cruise? To relax? To see different cities? If more relaxing then the Carib would be better. If touring, then Europe with the caveats mentioned. You just need to boil it down to your main goal and then decide. For whatever it is worth, we loved the new Wish (we generally do Concierge and if you aren't looking at that your 50% off makes it much more reasonable!). Good luck. Either way will be a great trip!

 

[msmama]

We did Norway/Iceland when my son was about 10, I think. Saved the Med for 14 and I'm not going to lie, the Med cruise is HARD CORE. We literally had day after day of full day tours and were exhausted by the end. I would NOT do that with a small child. And while there were little ones on our excursions, most of them had meltdowns at some point - heck, my teenager year old almost had a meltdown in incredibly crowded Rome. *I* almost had a meltdown!!

I, personally, am not a beach person so have no real interest in Caribbean (after doing it once) so I'd pick Norway of all your choices.

There were amazing sights in Norway and while my son may not remember everything, he remembers enough. And we were able to plan a mix of relaxing and more energetic excursions. It wasn't too hot. Nothing was too crowded. And unlike the Med, where you've heard off all the places you're going, there were some more off the beaten path things on the Norway Cruise.

Also, just to throw it out there, if your choice is going to Europe (with your discount) now or never, I'd most definitely pick one of the European itineraries.

Good luck deciding!

 

[KayKayJS]

My daughter turned 3 on the Norwegian Fjords cruise last year and we had a blast. She kept saying "this is amazing!"

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Someone else mentioned July being hot in Med and that might be something to think about. Walking around a city in 100 degree weather is miserable (that’s why haven’t been back to Rome since 1991 despite living in Europe) because my main memory is that it’s unbearably hot.

I'll point out, if the southern Caribbean cruise is being considered, July in that area is extreeeeemly humid and hot, also.

 

[MrMagoo]

I would say it really depends on what your daughter likes. If she likes a lot of water time, do Cozumel/Falmouth.
But if she likes seeing new things, do Norway. I think Norway would be more interesting than the Mediterranean
for her.

You can start by looking for shore excursions Disney currently has listed for Cozumel/Falmouth and also the Norway/Mediterranean cruises. At this time they do not have hardly anything listed for Norway ports. But on our 2019 cruise, we did the Troll Highway, had lunch in a big cave, saw houses with grass roofs, saw an old stave church, and beautiful scenery!
So as far as scenery, Norway has Cozumel/Falmouth beat by a mile!!!

You do not say how much time you would be allotting to Europe but you could spend a couple of days visiting
London seeing things like the London Eye, Tower Bridge (which I used to think of as the London Bridge, but it isn't),
Buckingham Palace, and so many other things! You could also take a couple of days and go to Paris and take in
Euro Disney since Paris isn't that far from London. Only about 2-3 hours by Eurostar Train. And that could be another new adventure for her!

The downfall to Europe would be the long flights to and from along with their price.
But the Cozumel/Falmouth cruise you would also have sea days to just relax and if she likes the kids club on the ship,
you could relax even more!

Bottom line, you know your daughter better than we do. However, I do believe she would enjoy Europe, especially
Norway and some sights in London.

 

[brentm77]

They are long days in European ports because you typically have to add 2 hrs in just to get from ship to city & back.

It really depends on the cruise and ports. The med cruise that starts in Italy and goes to the Greek isles and Athens isn't like that. Of course, coming from Rome is a drive, but you get to spend time in Rome prior to the cruise if you want. You port right at Athens, and the Greek isles are small, so there isn't much driving there. You could drive awhile on Sicily, depending on what you do, but we loved our tour to Taormina and the drive was only about 40 minutes and very enjoyable because it was scenic. The great thing about visiting the Greek isles on a cruise is that you would spend a lot of time catching ferries or airplanes doing it otherwise, but instead you get to sleep while traveling to them.

Even with young kids, I would jump at the chance to get a European cruise for 50% off. That's makes if rather affordable by DCL standards. None of our excursions would have been problematic for young kids. My teenager complained about the heat hiking the Acropolis more than most 8 year-olds would - it wasn't even bad since we went in early June and arrived first thing in the morning.

Our European cruise was amazing. We saw so many cool places, while only unpacking once, and coming back to the comfort of the ship each night. We still got to eat great local food at every stop too, which was a highlight for me. Yes, it was only a taste of each place, but that was perfect for some stops and now we know a couple of places we could spend an entire week. It's has a few downsides compared to land trips, but it was perfect for our style and the places we visited.

 

[Marthasor]

I would suggest looking at port adventures for the two European cruises to get a feel for what you might want to do in those ports and what your kid might enjoy. I think especially the classic Med cruise has too many ports where the real highlights are far from the port. Rome: 1 hour bus ride, Florence: 2 hour bus ride. 9 hour excursions touring a city. On my Norway cruise we loved it that we more or less docked in town, could just explore directly off the ship. Also they offered quite a few more active excursions there than in the Med. I think Norway ports have changed quite a bit since my cruise, but I think most are similar in that character.

Someone else mentioned July being hot in Med and that might be something to think about. Walking around a city in 100 degree weather is miserable (that’s why haven’t been back to Rome since 1991 despite living in Europe) because my main memory is that it’s unbearably hot.

I completely agree with this. OP, I'm not sure which Norwegian ports would be on your sailing, but, when we went, most of the ports were very walkable (Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger, Geiranger). We also combined some excursions with simply walking around the towns. The weather in the summer in Norway was also very pleasant for walking.

 

[cmph]

Truthfully, with hindsight now that my kids are teens - I'd pick what the ADULTS want. Definitely not trying to be snarky here (I don't buy into the whole "you can make the decisions when it's your money" thing). However, kids at that age are prime to love any new adventure, period. We made adventures out of boring trips to family weddings in midwestern small cities LOL! In a few years, they will have opinions and more nuanced preferences and tastes that you'll have to work around, which balances out the advantages brought by older age. At 8, you can sell any trip!

I would also look air airfare cost, rather than just the 50% discount. Airfare at the moment to fly transatlantic is so much more than it used to be.

Caveat to my previous statement - I 100% echo holula here, so price things out before you decide. That 50% discount will get eaten up and then some. We are going on a Baltic this summer (NCL, chosen for the itinerary), and the flights cost more than the cruise. Specifically: airfare for 4 in premium economy (which was oddly cheaper than economy on the outgoing portion), will cost more than the entire rest of the trip - and we have 2 staterooms plus excursions already booked that I'm including in that total.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Truthfully, with hindsight now that my kids are teens - I'd pick what the ADULTS want. Definitely not trying to be snarky here (I don't buy into the whole "you can make the decisions when it's your money" thing). However, kids at that age are prime to love any new adventure, period. We made adventures out of boring trips to family weddings in midwestern small cities LOL! In a few years, they will have opinions and more nuanced preferences and tastes that you'll have to work around, which balances out the advantages brought by older age. At 8, you can sell any trip!

I think this is really true. I will ask my kids where to go on vacay but ultimately it is my decision; however, largely it's because they are so happy to go on any sort of adventure. We have done weekends in Washington state that they have found just as fun as a week long cruise.

 

[cmph]

largely it's because they are so happy to go on any sort of adventure.

Which stops when they are teenagers, ha! We are often surprised by the things they are opposed to - they have a completely different perspective once they are old enough to have learned the culture and history of travel destinations. DH and I now maintain a list of places we'll be going to without them.

 

[jujubiee4]

I'll point out, if the southern Caribbean cruise is being considered, July in that area is extreeeeemly humid and hot, also.

I have to echo this. We went twice and one year I think we were on the same cruise because we both
came back and commented on it. The heat/humidity was no joke. We weren't the family to try this
on lol. DH and even my kids said never again.

 

[jujubiee4]

I would also look air airfare cost, rather than just the 50% discount. Airfare at the moment to fly transatlantic is so much more than it used to be.

This definitely can be a big factor. Everytime i look at summer schedule and think about
flying overseas the price drags me back to reality. I also refuse to clear out my miles/points for
over priced flights. We prob will try next summer unless some excellent deal comes around.

 

[ldo]

We literally had day after day of full day tours and were exhausted by the end.

With the kids, we limited ourselves to 1/2 days, some DIY where we could leave when we wanted to. This is a very good balance. For ex., Pompeii only--no Sorrento or Heracleum. A good meal/snack back on board and the pool Aqua slide revived our kids.

 

[kiford]

Such great points - I didn't even think about the weather!

Oh yeah, that was our only downside. We did the Med in September (not too bad) and June (42-45 degrees Celsius in Turkey and Italy - you are definitely not wearing those clothes again on your cruise unless you do laundry!). Baltic in July had temperatures in the mid 20's - a little chilly on deck but beautiful otherwise especially when touring around. We were all over Italy in last September, early October and it was beautiful weather.

 

[sheilafri]

Go to Europe! Our younger son had been to 19 countries by the time he was 19 years old. Most on cruises—one to the Mediterranean and one to the Baltic (Including Norway). We had a great time with him. He learned about other counties and cultures and has a much more open mind to new experiences than most people his age.

 

[Mango7100]

I would also look air airfare cost, rather than just the 50% discount. Airfare at the moment to fly transatlantic is so much more than it used to be.

So true. I’ve been looking at some European cruises and the cheapest airfare I can find is $1700 a person even with playing around with different dates/departure cities/ arrival cities. Thats double than any of our 10+ previous European flights.

 

[princesscinderella]

I would also look air airfare cost, rather than just the 50% discount. Airfare at the moment to fly transatlantic is so much more than it used to be.

I second this as I just had to adjust flight times that got changed by the airline. The airfare went up $1000 per person since I had booked when searching out alternative flights before calling to get our flights moved. For a family of 4 the cost of airfare is the same cost as the 50% off sailing price for the 10 day Norway one we are going on.

 

[o&smom]

So true. I’ve been looking at some European cruises and the cheapest airfare I can find is $1700 a person even with playing around with different dates/departure cities/ arrival cities. Thats double than any of our 10+ previous European flights.

Ouch! So glad we had frequent flyer miles for our trip/cruise in Europe this summer!

 

[holula]

So true. I’ve been looking at some European cruises and the cheapest airfare I can find is $1700 a person even with playing around with different dates/departure cities/ arrival cities. Thats double than any of our 10+ previous European flights.

I got transatlantic 2-3 times a year. I’m currently booked on the 8 night Alaskan cruise (September so not a peak time) and airfare is just outrageous. I keep hoping it will come down but I think I’ll just end up booking it in case it goes up. For me it’s about 30% higher than normal.

 

[Flossbolna]

I got transatlantic 2-3 times a year. I’m currently booked on the 8 night Alaskan cruise (September so not a peak time) and airfare is just outrageous. I keep hoping it will come down but I think I’ll just end up booking it in case it goes up. For me it’s about 30% higher than normal.

We found that Vancouver is just a far more expensive airport to fly into than other North American cities - for whatever reason.

I am surprised how affordable a lot of transatlantic air fare still is for us from Germany. For example I could book flights to Orlando in October for 550€ return right now. And not on the lowest restricted fare. We usually consider everything under 700€ return a good price.

Oh and I just priced out what it would cost us to fly to Vancouver for the cruise you booked. One stop from Nuremberg (our little local airport) 759€. To me that seems an ok price for the West Coast.

It seems that flight prices are all over the place and for some reason the airlines seem to think that Americans are willing to pay higher fares than Europeans. Now seems like people from UK are being as price gauged as the Americans…

But yes, summer, especially mid June through mid August always is the most expensive time to travel transatlantic.