Archive for the Tag 'Europe'

In 2008, I wrote that Celebrity Solstice breaks the mold in every conceivable way. From such innovative features as grass lawns to thoughtfully designed staterooms, Celebrity Solstice-class vessels are strong contenders for your vacation dollars. But how do you know that Celebrity Solstice is right for you? Watch the video for a tour of Celebrity Solstice.  Read more... (173 words, estimated 42 secs reading time)

When is the best time to book your cruise? The answer depends on where you’re going.

The only part of your cruise where you can’t relax is in booking it. Planning on cruising Europe’s rivers in the summer of 2010? Better hurry, or you’ll miss the boat.

You’re somewhat better off if planning an ocean cruise in Europe — or if you’re wanting to skirt the Alaskan coast. Ocean-going vessels have more capacity than European river cruisers, but even on big ships, it pays to book early.  Read more... (196 words, estimated 47 secs reading time)

The Cruise Report’s Ralph Grizzle talks with the vice president of AMAWATERWAYS about why river cruising is such a great way to see Europe.

You can't do this from an inside stateroom. Tip # 1. Balconies are better.

It’s one thing to get a great deal, but it’s another to budget so tightly that you extract any possibility for pleasure on your cruise. Yes, inside cabins are cheaper than balcony cabins, but balcony cabins can be much more rewarding.  Read more... (784 words, 1 image, estimated 3:08 mins reading time)

Beautiful Norway: Made For Cruising

[Frommer's writer Heidi Sarna contributed this story.]

I cruised with my family last summer aboard the Costa Atlantic round-trip out of Copenhagen to the Norwegian fjords. In a word: ohmygod.

My boys were six at the time, and the stunning scenery even kept their attention on all-day bus tours and long hikes. The 7-night itinerary called on five ports, with a convenient sea day at the start of the trip. We called on Flam, Hellesylt /Geiranger, Bergen, Stavanger and Oslo, with long 9- to 12-hour stays in each port, with the exception of a five-hour stay in Stavanger.  Read more... (2214 words, 10 images, estimated 8:51 mins reading time)

The Avid Cruiser visits Gammelstad, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that represents the best-preserved example of a “church village.” Villages like Gammelstad were once found throughout northern Scandinavia. The 424 wooden houses that radiate from the early 15th-century stone church, were used only on Sundays and at religious festivals to house worshippers from the surrounding countryside who lived too far away from home to return on the same day. Gammelstad is fewer than 20 minutes by car or bus from where the cruise ships dock in Luleå.

The Avid Cruiser visits Swedish Lappland, where reindeer and elk (called “moose” in North America) are still herded by the local Sami people (also known as Lapps).

The Avid Cruiser visits Storforsen, one of Europe’s largest rapids and only an hour’s drive from Luleå, Sweden.

With two new ships in the pipeline for 2011 and 2012, it makes perfect sense that Disney is expanding its horizons and cruising Alaska in 2011. This news comes on the heels of the announcement a few months back that the line is also heading back to the Med in summer 2010 and offering fist-time calls on Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Warnemunde, Germany, the gateway to Berlin and St. Petersburg, Russia.  Read more... (83 words, 1 image, estimated 20 secs reading time)

“Attention ladies and gentlemen. We are approaching a very low bridge, and we kindly ask that you vacate the Sun Deck until we have passed.”

Welcome to river cruising in Europe, where the experience is unlike any other you’ve ever encountered. Floating down the Moselle River toward Germany’s border with Luxembourg and France, Peter Deilmann River Cruises’ Heidelberg is passing under a bridge — a low bridge. The crew moves to remove not only all tables and deck chairs from the Sun Deck but also the side railings, and even the captain’s pilot house must be lowered so that it is flush with the upper deck.

With the bridge only 100 yards away, I squeeze my head through a canopy draped over the stairwell to the Sun Deck, completely flush except for the captain’s bald crown poking above the deck from the pilot house.

We make it under with only two inches to spare. “The captain has been with us a very long time,” jokes Wilhelm Bahrs, Heidelberg’s affable hotel manager. When I fail to get the joke, he rubs his head to indicate that the low bridges have scraped the captain’s noggin bare.   Read more... (732 words, 1 image, estimated 2:56 mins reading time)