Let me tell you why a cruise is the best way to see Europe. Especially if it will be your first time going there. Today it is so easy to get where ever you want to go. Traveling is easy and flights can be found relatively cheap.
Your Hotel Room Goes With You
You donโt have to book any hotel rooms. Since you have never been there before the hotel rooms are a complete mystery. The adventurous type may say, “this could be fun.” You may also get there and it is a complete disappointment.
Cruise ships are geared towards American aesthetics. The beds are normal length and size. A couple can have their twin beds moved together to create a king-size bed.
Your Luggage Goes With You
There is no having to book a room in one city for a few nights, getting on a train or plane booking another room a few nights and repeating the process all over again.
I don’t know about you, but packing and repacking is a royal pain. When you arrive on a cruise ship you unpack one time. The closet is sufficient for anyone on vacation. You never have to pack and move your luggage to another country.
That is a wonderful thing. Just carrying our luggage from our Air BNB in Barcelona to the metro and getting to the cruise ship was enough for me. It is so cumbersome to carry luggage around destination to destination.
No Rental Cars Or Taxis
Another expense and bother you do not have to worry about is a car rental or any type of transportation for that matter. As mentioned already, you just go to sleep at night and the ship travels to your destination.
The shore excursions will be parked outside of the ship in the morning waiting to take you to your wonderful tour. We saw the Colleseum in Rome, Pompei in Naples, and Notre Dame in Marseille. The tour guides were lovely and now I know what things I would really love to see more of next time I go to Italy, France or Spain.
You Don’t Know Where You Are Going?
Maybe I need to phrase that differently. If you have never been somewhere before, then you don’t know where to go. We have heard of all the places in Europe to go and see, for instance, the Colosseum in Rome, but we don’t know how to get there or how much it cost. A cruise ship has that all figured out for you and yes, it will cost more, but you are saving so much by staying on a ship, to begin with.
You can justify the expensive shore excursion you want to go on because you saved money in other areas, like car rentals, hotel rooms, and food. The cruise cost about 160$ a day per person. That includes your room, good food and a lot of free entertainment. Choosing the shore excursions you really want to see is the best way to spend your money.
We stayed in an Air-B-N-B in Barcelona. They were 2 different apartments. Both were very nice but extremely small. You may have heard that the showers are extremely small as well. That is all true. Although our accommodations were very nice they were small.
My husband is 6’3″ and the beds in Europe do not fit him well. His feet usually hang off the ends and generally, we were face to face. This is not too bad considering he is my husband, but the small space can become bothersome after a few days.
It was quite nice to arrive on the cruise ship and find our interior room was much nicer. Instead of searching for the perfect hotel in each city it follows you from port to port.
That is just one of the reasons a cruise ship is the best way to see Europe.
Sight Seeing
Another very important reason a cruise ship is the best way to see Europe is the sites. You are a tourist, and seeing the amazing sites is the very reason you went to Europe. Cruise ships do the work for you. They offer sites to see in each port.
Now, if you are more adventuresome, then your ship just pulled into one of the most amazing ports in the world. Your cruise ship has literally traveled hundreds of miles overnight for you and now the gates are open to the world.
You can get off of your cruise ship and book some kind of entertainment for the day with a company locally owned or you can just wander around the port and make discoveries on your own. Either way is good. Since we were totally unfamiliar with any of the places we went to, booking through our cruise ship just seemed like the best thing to do.
Why A Cruise Ship For Seeing Europe?
I don’t know about you but my French, Spanish, and German are pretty bad. Not knowing a foreign language well can make traveling in other countries difficult, not impossible, just difficult. You are going to want to eat in some of the countries you are traveling to. Eating in these amazing countries is a big part of the adventure, but everything you eat is not amazing.
The Cuisine
Especially if you do not know what you are ordering. If you like trying new things and being surprised by the texture of snails or octopus then you will have an amazing time.
The foods we ate in Italy and Spain were fantastic. I enjoyed the chance to eat authentic foods from each area, but I also enjoyed the fact that meals were included in my cruise. So each morning before leaving the ship I could eat a fantastic breakfast and head out ready to explore new worlds.
The cruise offers wonderful menus. They are there for you all day long. Buffets and fine dining are included in the cruise ship price. So, you can go to the countries to explore and food does not have to become a huge expense, but you can still taste and try what you want to.
After your day filled with fun, you can come back to the ship, sit down for a relaxing meal and travel to your next destination. Many of the ships will feature foods from the country you will be docking at. The chefs on each ship are from all over the world themselves and they will prepare meals just as memorable as your shore exertion.
Why A Cruise Ship May NOT Be The Best Way To See Europe
Now, after that has all been said, let me tell you some reason why a cruise ship may not be the best way to see Europe. You will not get to experience the real culture and lifestyle.
A cruise ship is really for tourists. I believe it will give you a taste of the culture there and you will get to see some of the most famous sites in the world, but it will not be any type of emersion into the culture.
You may not get to see all the things in one country you want to because of the time limitations in a port. The reality is that the ship will only be there for so many hours a day. If there are some sites you really want to visit longer and learn more about, a cruise is NOT the way to see them.
So To Cruise Or Not To Cruise That Is The Question
Why I Think A Cruise Ship Is The Perfect Way To See Europe
In conclusion some of the reasons I think a cruise ship is a perfect way for first-timers to see Europe is:
- Convenience
- Safety
- No moving from hotel to hotel
- Pack and unpack one time
- Tourist Guides are already reserved for you
- Food is provided
- Room is provided
- Travel is done while you sleep
If you have never gone overseas and felt a little inexperienced, then let a cruise ship do all the work for you this time. Go and enjoy the sights and experience a new place without having to worry about the stressful parts of traveling. I think you will enjoy your first time to Europe so much more and next time you go you will have learned exactly what to see.
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