The 12 MISTAKES to AVOID on a European cruise, from an expert

hey guys welcome back to cruise blog this is Ali and today I'm going to be talking about the 12 mistakes that I see people continually make when cruising in Europe let's get into it [Music] as someone who cruises for both work and Leisure I've seen Cruisers make a lot of the same mistakes over and over again on European sailings everything from not booking excursions soon enough to taking a poorly planned transatlantic flight seems that first time Cruisers make these same mistakes when taking these European cruises at this point I have visited most of Europe by cruise ship at least the ones that you can visit my cruise ship and European itineraries make up the bulk of my cruising history so I'd like to think I know a thing or two about cruising around Europe which can really make a difference in planning your overall cruising experience even still I see Cruisers making so many of the same mistakes on European cruises so here are the top 12 mistakes that I see Cruisers make when sailing around Europe number one is waiting too long to book excursions if you're planning to book an Excursion through the cruise line listen very carefully do not wait to book those excursions as soon as you're able it is best to book those excursions and lock in a spot on my recent cruise to Israel we booked our full day excursions as soon as they were available even months before the most popular tours sold out many were left to only book third-party excursions at this point or they were left to plan their port days on their own I saw many people on the pre-cruise forums frantically looking for other excursions remember that you can usually always cancel an Excursion within 24 to 48 hours depending on the cruise line for a full refund there's no hurt in Booking an Excursion that you might be interested in since you can change your mind later number two is booking too many excursions the first time I sailed to Europe my family booked an Excursion in every single port after a few days we realized that this wasn't really necessary and it made our vacation feel more rushed than we wanted I see many Cruisers feel like they need to book an Excursion each day of a cruise and that's just simply not true for my European cruises I look at which ports have easy access to the city and I typically choose to do my own thing in those ports so many European cities are very accessible from the port area you can find many ships docked right in the city Center actually this makes it very easy for Cruisers to independently explore without spending too much time or money on Logistics however if you're docking somewhere like civichavekia and you want to see all the sites in Rome then this is an Excursion that I would certainly book long days of touring especially cities that are not close to the port should require an Excursion to ensure that you see as much as possible during your time number three is not reading the tour's fine print this is probably the most common mistake that I've seen on European cruises many Cruisers will book an Excursion or tour without reading the fine print then many with mobility issues will find themselves on tours that are not well suited for their travel style Europe has many cobblestones and Hills much more than we're used to here in the United States if the tour States you must be able to walk two miles on uneven services and Uphill then this should really be a consideration when booking you do not want to find yourself on a tour that is not suited for your Mobility or accessibility Comfort level this is not only dangerous for your own safety but it also slows down the tour as a whole there are usually excursions offered through the cruise line that are geared towards being accessible friendly these are great options for those who might have mobility issues or need to just take things a bit slower number four is waiting to get tender tickets it's likely that one of your ports will require tendering in Europe which means that you aren't able to actually dock on the ship and instead you need to board a smaller boat from your cruise ship to get ashore if you're sailing on a very large ship with thousands of people this tendering process can become quite tedious most cruises will provide you a tender ticket which gives you a slotted time to disembark the ship on a tender you can find information on tender tickets onboard your cruise likely the night before or the morning of I would highly encourage you to obtain these tickets as soon as you can also choose the earliest tender time possible because even if you miss that you can board a tender whenever you are ready if not you will probably be waiting close to an hour to get off the ship if you do not have a ticket some suites and loyalties statuses also come with priority tendering so be sure to check if you qualify for those number five is booking your European flights too close to departure you already know that you should fly into your cruise departure port at least one day before your cruise departs because this is to ensure that you can make your cruise If you experience any delays or cancellations during your travels flying to Europe for your cruise means that you will likely fly through the night and arrive the next day however if your flight is canceled for some reason you're now flying the following night and arriving the same day as your cruise I've met many Cruisers who have encountered flight issues and then they nearly miss their Cruise when they fly in the morning of departure as such I would highly recommend flying in at least two days before your cruise departs this ensures that you will have ample time to get to Europe If you experience any delays and also this gives you a full day to either sleep off that jet lag or explore the embarkation city which leads to my next mistake number six not exploring the invocation city or country that you're visiting one of my favorite aspects of taking a European cruise is mixing together a land-based vacation and a cruise into one trip if you're making the long and expensive Trek across the pond Europe considers flying a few days early to explore the port city or country beforehand nearly every European cruise that I've taken we will fly to Europe a few days before we leave on our cruise to explore the country traveling around Europe in general is very cheap and easy compared to the United States you can take flights literally as cheap as like 17 on budget carriers Europe also has an excellent train system and public transport system so I would highly recommend optimizing your trip to Europe with some land-based travels beforehand this is also a good opportunity to visit destinations that you can't cruise to number seven is underestimating the heat during our second European cruise we flew into Rome and went directly to the Coliseum for a history tour it was so miserably hot that we were not only fighting off the jet lag but also the 90 degree heat with little to no shade or water my sister nearly fainted with this heat being from the Midwest we really hadn't experienced heat to this degree before or at least we were just very unprepared for how hot it would feel if you're cruising around Europe in the Mediterranean especially In the Heat of the summer it's more than likely going to be very hot you'll be touring ancient sites with many crowds which can make it even more stuffy not everywhere has air conditioning either so prepare yourself for that so to combat that heat make sure you pack plenty of lightweight clothes that are breathable pack plenty of sunscreen and water for those long day trips I try to hydrate as much as I can when I'm on board the ship each night in preparation for a long day in the Sun the eighth mistake is booking only new or big cruise ships many Cruise Lines will send their newest and biggest ships to Europe during their inaugural sailing season in the summer but this doesn't mean that you need to spend a premium to sail on those big ships for your European cruises many Cruise Lines will also debut their brand new ships in Europe before sailing to North America such as celebrity Ascent debuting later this summer while love sailing on new and big cruise ships I absolutely do not mind sailing on older and smaller ships in Europe I actually prefer a smaller Cruise in Europe because you often visit more of those unique ports that you can't always visit on a bigger ship then you're also dealing with less crowds additionally your cruise will be very Port intensive anyway in Europe so you won't be spending that much time on board save your money to sail on these newer ships in the Caribbean instead book an itinerary based on the destinations you want to visit rather than prioritizing a newer or bigger ship number nine is not experiencing local food growing up we almost never ate local food on our European cruises we would always have a big breakfast on board and then enjoy dinner once we return to the ship however I now think this is a mistake when people make European salines and join the local food in places like Italy France and Spain has now become one of my favorite ways to spend the day you can't travel all the way to Italy and not have some local freshly made pasta I love getting to experience local dishes rather than trying to save money and only eating on the ship consider finding a place to grab lunch during your Port days or even just a snack for me this means sangria and Tapas in Spain pizza or pasta in Italy and a warm croissant in France I even enjoyed a really nice Chicken Souvlaki in Greece on my Israel Cruise the experience in the local food is all part of the European cruising experience in my opinion even if you just get a little something that's grab and go or you try out a little coffee shop you won't regret trying to make the most of your stay and visiting those local places number 10 is not packing good walking shoes during my last European cruise I traveled with just a backpack for my two night sailing on Norwegian Sun from Spain to Portugal and as much as I wanted to pack some really cute shoes I decided to only bring my one good pair of walking shoes I've seen time and time again where people do not pack proper walking shoes for their cruises in Europe even if it's not the most stylish it is very practical you'll be walking way more than you're used to walking on a Caribbean cruise in fact some people said they even lost weight during my recent European Cruise because they were walking so much much make sure to bring shoes that you've broken in as well you don't want to be getting blisters which will painfully slow you down throughout your European sailing number 11 is taking too much cash I see many Cruisers that take out cash before their cruise and this really is not necessary almost everywhere in Europe accepts credit cards and if you want to get some cash for your European Cruise consider using an ATM in Europe and avoid the hassle of traveling to Europe with a big wad of cash most places such as the UK use credit cards exclusively during my last cruise to Europe I spent a week there and I didn't take out any cash and I never needed it we traveled to places like London Spain and Portugal during our week in Europe I would recommend getting some cash when you arrive in Europe to have during your cruise if you are someone who wants to have cash normally about a hundred euros is probably sufficient if you're visiting places that use the euro but a little bit of research can go far on how much cash you need to bring and if you need cash at all number 12 traveling with only Amex or Discover Cards while American Express and Discover credit cards are very common here in the US this is not the case in Europe you'll want to travel with either a Visa or Mastercard for your European Cruise Visa is the most widely accepted credit card in Europe and I absolutely never cruise or travel to Europe without one I like to use my AmEx whenever it's possible but it's not accepted very often the best place that I've had luck with American Express is in London but everywhere else has not been very accepting of it also make sure you have a credit card that does not incur any foreign transaction fees I travel with a few options just in case I run into any issues with my credit cards to ensure that I am never left without money alright everybody those are the common mistakes that I see on European cruises comment below if you're someone who loves to cruise to Europe and any hot tips that you have as well thanks for tuning in today everybody and be sure to like And subscribe to cruise blog so you can be notified every time we have a new video until next time happy cruising

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Length: 11min 12sec (672 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 18 2023