Europe String

Ahoy Captain Stubing

by Jacy Meyer on July 24th, 2008

  Okay, maybe it won’t be THE love boat, but it could be a way for you to reconcile your European travel dreams with your budget reality. European cruises come in many forms and offer a number of advantages for the budget conscious traveler.

First, as is true of any cruise - you’ll pay a large chunk of money upfront - and this will take care of nearly all your expenses: Accommodation, food, transport and a lot of entertainment. Often flights can be added on as well. Getting these things paid for and out of the way easily helps keep you on budget. Another plus is you won’t be affected by fluctuating currencies. The price you are quoted is the price that you pay and if the dollar dives again comes cruise time it won’t as adversely hurt your budget than if you’d planned a typical pay as you go holiday.

Depending on your interests and what you’d like to see, you can have a varied cruise experience and see a lot of Europe. Barge cruising brings you inland, floating down the rivers of Europe. Popular destinations include France, England, the Netherlands, Germany and other central European countries. This may be a good choice for those looking for a more intimate cruising experience - the boats are obviously smaller and hold less passengers. You’ll also get a much closer feel to the local landscape, culture and people of the region. How affordable is it? Viking Cruises offers an 8-day Danube tour floating through Budapest, Vienna and ending in Nuremberg priced from 1,799 USD. That’s three countries and includes 7 guided tours. Another option could be Avalon Waterways. Their Danube trips are longer - for a 12-day Prague to Budapest, prices start at 2,399 USD. This tour offers you more city time than boat time.

But maybe you need the open air of the ocean. There are many cruise lines offering a variety of European itineraries. easyCruise is owned by the easyJet airline magnate. It follows the same budget-minded string as its flying counterpart. Prices are low and food and beverage is sold separately on board. Their itineraries are mainly Mediterranean-based - a Classical Greece tour is 6 or 7 nights and includes stops in Kiato and Corinth. Prices start at 238 GBP per cabin, per cruise. It’s hard to compare prices with easyCruise’s style, but Costa Cruises offers Mediterranean trips as well (and hits northern Europe in the summer months.) An 11-day cruise that includes Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Egypt starts at 1,049 USD for 2009 sail dates.

Priceline has its own cruise site. If you are thinking of doing Europe this way - get booking! Many sites are offering early bird discounts for their 2009 cruises.

Photo Credit: Juergen Kurlvink@Flickr

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