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European Cruise cost


Lexster

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So, I'm already looking toward a cruise after my upcoming one and was looking into European trips. To me, I just don't see this ever being financially feasible unless you have a ton of money. Am I wrong? There don't seem to be any cruises which start in a US port, go to Europe, and come back which means I'd have to fly internationally, take the cruise, and fly back. That's already nearly $3000 for two people to fly round trip on top of the cruise cost. Do people usually get packages for this sort of thing or what?

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11 minutes ago, Lexster said:

So, I'm already looking toward a cruise after my upcoming one and was looking into European trips. To me, I just don't see this ever being financially feasible unless you have a ton of money. Am I wrong? There don't seem to be any cruises which start in a US port, go to Europe, and come back which means I'd have to fly internationally, take the cruise, and fly back. That's already nearly $3000 for two people to fly round trip on top of the cruise cost. Do people usually get packages for this sort of thing or what?

I'm afraid that's it.  As far as I can tell, there aren't any cruise lines that leave from the U.S. and go to Port(s) of Call in Europe and then return.  Even if they did, I don't think you'd avoid the cost as mentioned above.  However, you could fly, one way to or from Europe, spend some time there and return on a cruise repositioning to the U.S or fly back.  

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From what I've seen, typical trans-Atlantic cruises are 14 days, so one that leaves the US and returns would be almost a month, without any port stops in Europe itself.

We've been looking at European cruises for a couple of years now, and ended up booking one in October 2023 out of Italy the morning the itineraries were released. 

We're firmly in the US middle class...well, maybe occasionally touching upper middle class if we get a lot of overtime, although it's harder on my body every year...but by budgeting and being smart, we were able to book our 7-night cruise for just over $2300, staying in a deck 9 aft balcony cabin. 

Flight costs are always the wild card, however we decided to get an airline credit card after the spiel by a flight attendant on our last flight to Miami.  We received 60k miles for applying while in flight, so that will help cover the costs.  In addition, we schedule enough time off when we fly so we can volunteer our seats for $$ if offered.  Since the cruise restart, we've been able to "earn" $1500 that way.  While we've used some of it, we do have a small balance that we can apply to our Europe flights next year.

 

Where there's a will, there's a way....you just have to be creative.

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38 minutes ago, jay1021 said:

I'm afraid that's it.  As far as I can tell, there aren't any cruise lines that leave from the U.S. and go to Port(s) of Call in Europe and then return.  Even if they did, I don't think you'd avoid the cost as mentioned above.  However, you could fly, one way to or from Europe, spend some time there and return on a cruise repositioning to the U.S or fly back.  

You can sail the Queen Mary 2 from New York to South Hampton/ South Hampton to New York as a B2B. 14 glorious sea days in a row with maybe an excursion to see Stonehenge in the middle. Cunard makes this journey many times during the year.

 

IMHO, Royal should take a cue from Cunard regarding payments of cruises. With Cunard you pay in full when you make the booking, sometimes in full by the next business day. I think it would really help Royal instead of these modest down payments if they collected all the money upfront. This type of policy change would help Royal get out of their dire financial position.

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7 minutes ago, bobroo said:

You can sail the Queen Mary 2 from New York to South Hampton/ South Hampton to New York as a B2B. 14 glorious sea days in a row with maybe an excursion to see Stonehenge in the middle. Cunard makes this journey many times during the year.

 

IMHO, Royal should take a cue from Cunard regarding payments of cruises. With Cunard you pay in full when you make the booking, sometimes in full by the next business day. I think it would really help Royal instead of these modest down payments if they collected all the money upfront. This type of policy change would help Royal get out of their dire financial position.

I was not aware of any restrictions, by Royal, to limit when you can pay in full.  I usually try to make my final payment at the last possible moment but I have payed it off early.  BTW, only having to pay a down payment at booking allows MORE people to pick a cruise they want, early "cheaper" or doesn't matter because it will be reduced at one point or the other and pay over time. It's like an interest free loan.

Do you mean that Royal SHOULD REQUIRE full payment at booking?  "Not a good idea for a "Family Friendly" cruise line, though. 

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1 hour ago, YouthD said:

Unless you're flying premium seats, where are you seeing $3k for a roundtrip flight for two? Flight costs aren't that raised right now.

It was just a quick check using Google flights. I looked at CVG to Tel Aviv since Haifa Israel is where one of the cruises I was looking at left from. For two people the lowest is $2655 on American for a random day I picked for a few months from now.

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2 hours ago, Lexster said:

So, I'm already looking toward a cruise after my upcoming one and was looking into European trips. To me, I just don't see this ever being financially feasible unless you have a ton of money. Am I wrong? There don't seem to be any cruises which start in a US port, go to Europe, and come back which means I'd have to fly internationally, take the cruise, and fly back. That's already nearly $3000 for two people to fly round trip on top of the cruise cost. Do people usually get packages for this sort of thing or what?

Sadly it's the same for us Europeans looking at Florida cruises for next year, seeing much higher prices than we got for this year, personal feeling is both the airfares and cruise costs have increased.

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2 hours ago, Lexster said:

So, I'm already looking toward a cruise after my upcoming one and was looking into European trips. To me, I just don't see this ever being financially feasible unless you have a ton of money. Am I wrong? There don't seem to be any cruises which start in a US port, go to Europe, and come back which means I'd have to fly internationally, take the cruise, and fly back. That's already nearly $3000 for two people to fly round trip on top of the cruise cost. Do people usually get packages for this sort of thing or what?

We are going across FtL to Barcelona and then flying home for about $800 per person but I got creative - cheap flights within Europe are well under $100 each way so we are jumping Barcelona to Paris for about $59 each then Paris home to Chicago.  You should be able to search which major European hubs are the most reasonably priced and then cheap flights there.  Same with landing in the US - check flights to O'Hare and then a cheap flight O'Hare to Cincinnati. Or stay a day downtown and take the train for $42 a ticket (nice ride, I've done it) or even drive the .53-4.5 hours to Chicago or Detroit (which has a big international hub as well), depending on how much you can spend.  

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1 hour ago, Jill said:

Main cabin to Scotland in July is running us $3400 round trip for 2. 

Unless your flying Icelandair into Glasgow or Edinburgh forget it! 

Far better and cheaper flying into Heathrow then getting a connection to Scotland. 

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1 hour ago, Riley said:

We are going across FtL to Barcelona and then flying home for about $800 per person but I got creative - cheap flights within Europe are well under $100 each way so we are jumping Barcelona to Paris for about $59 each then Paris home to Chicago.  You should be able to search which major European hubs are the most reasonably priced and then cheap flights there.  Same with landing in the US - check flights to O'Hare and then a cheap flight O'Hare to Cincinnati. Or stay a day downtown and take the train for $42 a ticket (nice ride, I've done it) or even drive the .53-4.5 hours to Chicago or Detroit (which has a big international hub as well), depending on how much you can spend.  

I appreciate the ingenuity, but I'm definitely not someone who wants to have to plan multiple connecting flights (or drives between airports) and hope none of them get delayed along the way, especially in a country where I may not even speak the language. I guess those kind of cruises aren't for me if that's what it takes. I'll plan for more Mexico or Canada/Alaska cruises instead 🙂

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4 hours ago, Lexster said:

So, I'm already looking toward a cruise after my upcoming one and was looking into European trips. To me, I just don't see this ever being financially feasible unless you have a ton of money. Am I wrong? There don't seem to be any cruises which start in a US port, go to Europe, and come back which means I'd have to fly internationally, take the cruise, and fly back. That's already nearly $3000 for two people to fly round trip on top of the cruise cost. Do people usually get packages for this sort of thing or what?

To fly to Europe and cruise, figure up to $1,000 per day.  So a 7N trip is about $7K, a 12N trip $12K, etc.  That includes planning ahead for a reasonable price for ocean view room or cheap balcony.  But the issue is that you'll want to fly early, stay in a hotel a couple of nights (jet lag and sightseeing), plus you will have a lot of ports and perhaps many excursions.  I prefer to spend 2 weeks in Europe if I must pay $2500-$3k to fly there.   

However, It is still expensive to cruise in the US if you go the wrong time of year.  After Royal cancelled our cheap cruise (planned 2 years in advance), we got stuck paying for air fare to Texas in December for just a 5N cruise.  Before we are done our cost per night for two in a balcony room, etc., will be $700-$800 per night for a 7N trip (two in hotel, five on cruise).  So Europe, for us, is $200-$300 per day more after paying everything (including parking, transfers, cat sitter, etc.)  Now given a choice between Texas and Europe, I'll pick Europe.  Bottom line:  Save your pennies as long as you need to, but go somewhere you really want to go.  Looking back, I wish I spent more money when I was younger.....Nothing beats a good Med cruise, but I'd opt for a 12N trip, if possible.

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3 hours ago, Lexster said:

It was just a quick check using Google flights. I looked at CVG to Tel Aviv since Haifa Israel is where one of the cruises I was looking at left from. For two people the lowest is $2655 on American for a random day I picked for a few months from now.

Tel Aviv is not in Europe, it is part of Asia. And from the US I guess a longer flight then most pla es in Europe. Plus there are a lot less airlines flying there.

Have a look for cruises from Italay or Spain and the flight costs to Rome or Barcelona for example. They might be a lot cheaper.

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41 minutes ago, ckruetze said:

 

Have a look for cruises from Italay or Spain and the flight costs to Rome or Barcelona for example. They might be a lot cheaper.

This is for March next year, i dont mind long layovers as it give me a chance to explore new places even if only for a few hours 

Screenshot_20220325-185129_Skyscanner.jpg

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4 hours ago, Riley said:

cheap flights within Europe are well under $100 each way so we are jumping Barcelona to Paris for about $59 each then Paris home to Chicago.

Just a friendly warning that most cheap flights within Europe only include a carrier-selected seat and a personal item, nothing more. Choosing a seat, bringing a normal-sized carry-on and checking luggage are all extras, each of which may cost more than the price you paid just to get on the aircraft. When checking prices, you need to add in any of these extras that you might need in order to get the actual price for your flight. Note too that some carriers charge more for these items if you add them later than at the time of making the original booking. And they are very, very strict when it comes to excess weight. You will regularly see passengers at bag drops having to open their bags and re-arrange their stuff (e.g. by wearing several layers of clothing. I promise, it's true.).

In many cases, sticker shock will apply. I hope it doesn't in yours.

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Quote

In many cases, sticker shock will apply......

A I started at the beginning of this thread and read through it, I was going to post this very important consideration when flying intercity in Europe. They do have very inexpensive airfares ..... if all you're carrying when you board is a briefcase or purse.

If you're combining a cruise with transatlantic airfares and intercity flights in Europe, you're going to have a bag. Depending how frugal you are with packing you can get away with an "international carry-on sized bag" at no additional cost on most transatlantic flights. However, once you jump to larger sized "checked luggage" on an international flight flight your fares go up.

f you then book the so-called "cheap" intercity flights in Europe with either a carry on or checked baggage, the price of that formerly "cheap" flight goes up a lot. Weight requirements are strictly enforced within Europe and internationally. Get a hand held scale to weigh luggage as you pack. The overweight charges are astronomical.

I don't recommend taking international flights on economy fares where you don't have an assigned seat. On an 8+ hour trip, that is a personal disaster waiting to happen. Families with small children tend to book these fares and if you like spending 8 hours in a nursery of misbehaving and wandering in the isles children, fine with me.

I frequently fly and recommend TAP Airlines, Portugal's flag carrier. They originate out of Miami flying to several cruise port cities in Europe. We do a no-extra-cost stop over in Lisbon  enroute to Amsterdam. Then in 2-3d, fly on to Amsterdam or Geneva where, from either of those two cities, you can fly anywhere in Europe or catch a cruise out of Amsterdamn. If you book early you can find RT transatlantic fares in the under $800 range, basic economy and under $1500 for premium cabin which includes seat selection and two checked bags. TBH, airfares to port cities drives what cruise I'm going to take. Destination of Athens and Barcelona tend to have lower fares. Rome is OK sometimes but Civitavecchia (Rome's cruise port) is an expensive 1 hour haul from FCO these days.  Amsterdam and Venice can be expensive port cities to fly to.

TAP flys the Airbus 330NEO. The cabin seating configuration is 2-4-2, with a nice entertainment screen in the back of the seat in front of you, a plus as far as my travel is concerned. The A330NEO is also my favorite long-haul aircraft in it's class. To be frank, I'd avoid United and Delta translant flights (they still operate Boeing 767s on transatlantic flights, the worst aircraft from a comfort standpoint ever built). Swiss Air and KLM are nice except for price. Luftansa has a new fleet of Airbus aircraft flying transatlantic routes. I've not flown them in a while (747 my last Luftansa flight to Frankfurt), JMO. YMMV.

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59 minutes ago, JeffB said:

I frequently fly and recommend TAP Airlines, Portugal's flag carrier.

Yes, indeed, living in southern Portugal, we use them a lot and they tend to be underrated. They have renewed their fleet in the last couple of years, so the aircraft are nice and modern, the crew are invariably pleasant and helpful and the prices, as you mentioned, are generally very reasonable.

On the downside, their punctuality is seriously underwhelming, which is not great if you have a short connection, and they tend to shoot themselves in the foot with their poor customer service on the ground (admin-related stuff).

They fly from several airports Stateside. In addition to Miami, they have Newark, JFK, Boston and San Francisco, as well as a couple of others that I'm not sure if they've restarted yet post-covid. My son uses the San Fran one regularly to travel back home.

The absolutely essential thing is to compare prices. The low-cost carriers are ace at marketing and most people are so brainwashed by them that they don't even think to check the flag carriers' prices. Often they can actually work out cheaper once you add in all the extras!

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I have never done RCG when I do European cruises, I always do river, but if you plan properly, you can do it at a price you are comfortable with. There is a possibility that the flights might be the most expensive part of your cruise vacation. Which is definitely why you want to arrive a few days earlier and maybe depart a day or two later. If you plan to go a few days earlier, then you can probably get cheaper flights. I have flown premium economy/business to Scotland/Italy for less than $1600pp.......night flights. If you can get a balcony room for less than $1000pp, it might not be that much more expensive than staying in a suite during a Caribbean cruise. 

A European cruise will cost but I think whether or not it is expensive depends on personal level of what expensive is.

I do think currently flights in general are expensive as hell.... domestic and international. We can blame the pandemic for that.

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5 hours ago, FionaMG said:

On the downside, their punctuality is seriously underwhelming, which is not great if you have a short connection, and they tend to shoot themselves in the foot with their poor customer service on the ground (admin-related stuff).

Boy, do I agree with this. However, I'm very persistent and have found TAP, post COVID and with a new CEO, is working hard to promote and provide good customer service.

I had a translant flight COVID cancelled by TAP in October 2020 and was given a voucher. I had the two voucher numbers and tried to apply them during an on-line booking for July 2022. It didn't work and I abandoned the booking to try another way of booking the next day. I knew full well, calling TAP US results in hour long plus waits to talk to a CSR.

Surprisingly, I received a call the next day from a TAP CSR who noted I had abandoned an on-line booking and asked if was still interested. I was. He found the vouchers, applied them to the early booking and low fare and I booked with him in about 10 minutes time. Pre-COVID I could fly to Geneva one way via LIS for $500 pp. It's more now and the RT ticket I just booked for October 2022 was in the $1200 pp range. Got an email confirmation followed by the details of the booking. I was very impressed. That never happens with American or United. They don't care and thier fares are unjustifiably higher than TAP's.

TAP has issues one of which is a restructuring of debt undertaking that occurred recently to avoid COVID related bankruptcy but they have the backing of the Portuguese government and as far as I'm concerned, "they try harder." They have my business getting to the continent from the US.    

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On 3/25/2022 at 9:03 AM, jay1021 said:

I was not aware of any restrictions, by Royal, to limit when you can pay in full.  I usually try to make my final payment at the last possible moment but I have payed it off early.  BTW, only having to pay a down payment at booking allows MORE people to pick a cruise they want, early "cheaper" or doesn't matter because it will be reduced at one point or the other and pay over time. It's like an interest free loan.

Do you mean that Royal SHOULD REQUIRE full payment at booking?  "Not a good idea for a "Family Friendly" cruise line, though. 

FYI, Cunard ships have their own Adventure Ocean and dedicated Splash Water Zones. Some even have dog kennels. You can't say Cunard is not family friendly.

But the issue that would really help Royal at this point in time is increasing cash on hand. Yes, I think Royal should require any future cruise to be paid in full at the time of booking. 

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On 3/25/2022 at 7:55 AM, teddy said:

From what I've seen, typical trans-Atlantic cruises are 14 days, so one that leaves the US and returns would be almost a month, without any port stops in Europe itself.

We've been looking at European cruises for a couple of years now, and ended up booking one in October 2023 out of Italy the morning the itineraries were released. 

We're firmly in the US middle class...well, maybe occasionally touching upper middle class if we get a lot of overtime, although it's harder on my body every year...but by budgeting and being smart, we were able to book our 7-night cruise for just over $2300, staying in a deck 9 aft balcony cabin. 

Flight costs are always the wild card, however we decided to get an airline credit card after the spiel by a flight attendant on our last flight to Miami.  We received 60k miles for applying while in flight, so that will help cover the costs.  In addition, we schedule enough time off when we fly so we can volunteer our seats for $$ if offered.  Since the cruise restart, we've been able to "earn" $1500 that way.  While we've used some of it, we do have a small balance that we can apply to our Europe flights next year.

 

Where there's a will, there's a way....you just have to be creative.

I would caution against airline credit cards unless you intend to be loyal to one specific airline or one of the 3 major airline alliances (Star, OneWorld, SkyTeam). If you are looking for more flexibility and are not looking to be loyal to any one single airline there are better travel credit cards that earn points that you can then transfer to almost any airline for miles. I would take a look at Capital One Venture Card they have a whole suite of different Venture Cards, Chase Sapphire, American Express Gold, Citi Premier just to name a few. 

Another reason you may want to look at a non-airline credit card for travel is because over the past 2 years many US airlines have devalued a lot of their miles or points meaning that redeeming those miles/points for free travel now cost more miles/points than it did before the pandemic. 

There are positives and negatives to having an airline credit card or a non-airline credit card but if you for instance fly jetBlue this week, Delta, next week, Southwest, then United, American it may be better for you to go with a travel related credit card that doesn't lock you into one specific airline. And the good thing about some of the cards I mentioned earlier is you get more points than you do with many airline credit cards on everyday purchases and many of them will also allow you to transfer your points to an international carrier which in some cases have better mileage/points redemption offers than US carriers.

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6 hours ago, bobroo said:

FYI, Cunard ships have their own Adventure Ocean and dedicated Splash Water Zones. Some even have dog kennels. You can't say Cunard is not family friendly.

But the issue that would really help Royal at this point in time is increasing cash on hand. Yes, I think Royal should require any future cruise to be paid in full at the time of booking. 

I never said that Cunard WASN'T FAMILY FRIENDLY!  What I was saying, however so subliminally, was that the inability to make payments over time would/can seriously impact young families on a strict budget and timing.  Example:  A family finds a cruise they really want in, say, August that actually cruises/sails in Jun or July the following year.  It is, what they believe, a great price and itinerary for what they want in a cruise, they put down the minimum deposit of $250.00 per person and then rely on their tax refund, if any, to help pay for the cruise.  Or wait for a work bonus which is usually at the end of the year, etc etc etc.  Many young families can't afford to pay thousands of dollars, all at once.  If a cruise line, I'm assuming Cunard is one of them because that's what you are alluding to and I have no knowledge of Cunard their booking procedures, requires full payment at booking, that eliminates many FAMILIES.  Not that Cunard (A Carnival Company) is anti-family or anything of the sort.

I'm sure many families are happy for you and the fact that you can afford to make full payment at booking.  However, many can't but because of the ability to make interest free payments means they can afford to cruise.   

 

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On 3/25/2022 at 2:47 PM, FionaMG said:

Just a friendly warning that most cheap flights within Europe only include a carrier-selected seat and a personal item, nothing more. Choosing a seat, bringing a normal-sized carry-on and checking luggage are all extras, each of which may cost more than the price you paid just to get on the aircraft. When checking prices, you need to add in any of these extras that you might need in order to get the actual price for your flight. Note too that some carriers charge more for these items if you add them later than at the time of making the original booking. And they are very, very strict when it comes to excess weight. You will regularly see passengers at bag drops having to open their bags and re-arrange their stuff (e.g. by wearing several layers of clothing. I promise, it's true.).

In many cases, sticker shock will apply. I hope it doesn't in yours.

Yep - our ticket includes one small personal item and a carryon up to 10kg (HA HA) so I added one checked bag up to 25 kg as part of the cost and we will stuff everything even remotely heavy into it the night before.  Thanks for the alert.

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