Northern Europe vs Mediterranean?

[UpstateAddict]

We are trying to decide between crushing Northern Europe or the Mediterranean. What say you good friends of the DIS? Length and cost are similar.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are trying to decide between crushing Northern Europe or the Mediterranean. What say you good friends of the DIS? Length and cost are similar.

Well, I'd pick northern Europe, but only because we haven't done that one yet.

 

[Dug720]

I did Med this summer (on RCCL) and would go back in a heartbeat.

Scandinavia I'm interested in. Russia not so much. And pretty much any cruise I've found on any line that does Scandinavia also does Russia. :/

 

[disneyholic family]

6 of one, half a dozen of the other...
for me it's the ship, i really couldn't care less where it's going...(except in alaska)..
so i would just pick the cheapest disney cruise i could find in europe and leave it at that (cheap of course being a relative term when speaking of DCL)..

DD is on the disney magic right now...on the 7 day med cruise....she picked sept because the rates were slightly lower..
as for the med? so far she hasn't gotten off the ship (stayed on the ship in naples and rome).....the ship's the destination for us

but thinking about the european destinations...
the fjords are beautiful, so maybe you want to do that one?
the northern europe fjords cruise......
on the other hand, that cruise is usually very very expensive..

as for the northern european cities cruise - i actually like russia much better than scandinavia these days (scandinavia's not the safe place it used to be)...
russia's quite beautiful...though also not that safe....(but then again, neither is the med...ha ha.....)
but i'd probably pick the med every time....

but again, i would go for the cheapest date possible....
but if money is no object? possibly the fjords

.

 

[jdb in AZ]

What time of year are you considering? The med gets a bit steamy in the summer. But we've sweated through London and Paris and St. Petersburg as well. If you're going in August I would stay in the northern countries, and hope the places you're visiting have air conditioning.

 

[linetbo]

We did both,as jdb in AZ said the Mediterranean it's super hot in summer and Northern Europe we did the cruise July 6th and the weather was so good. We loved St Petersburg that was the best port of my cruise and we did a private tour so no lines, no large bus, not waiting for anyone. But the Mediterranean Cruise was awesome, there's nothing I would change, Barcelona, Rome, Monte Carlo and Eze, Capri. I want to go back. We are doing Norway next year.

 

[kiford]

Really tough to say. We did both Eastern (11 days) and Western Med (10 days) as well as Northern Europe (12 days) and all three were fantastic. I'd do all three again in a heartbeat (and may well do so). I'd never really thought about visiting Sweden or Finland or even that part of the world ever but it was beautiful and we are possibly considering spending some time in Stockholm and Copenhagen in the future. Finally got to visit the Hermitage (2 days) which was on my bucket list but it wasn't long enough. I have to see it again.

Got to see the Acropolis in Athens. I was prepared for it to be only ruins and not very impressive but it was so much more than I expected. I could have spent another day or two in the Athens Museum. Also on the bucket list was Pompeii but I didn't see nearly enough of it so I have to see it again. We spent time at Vesuvius at the peak and I'd love to do that again. I'm glad we got to Turkey given the problems there now. Went to Ephesus, Didyma and Miletos. Totally fantastic excursion. The Colosseum and Trevi Fountain in Rome, Vatican Museum, climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Old Town in Stockholm, the architecture in Florence, seeing where Napoleon spent his time fighting for Corsican independence in the hills of Corsica, the cathedral of the Knights of St. John in Malta and the Caravaggio that hangs in there, and, and, and,..... I could go on forever about all of the ports in all three cruises. You simply cannot go wrong with any of them if you have the least amount of interest in history or architecture.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We have done both,on Disney as well as other cruise lines.

i would say that it depends what is on your bucket list and where you are least likely to have a chance to go again.

We have been on several med cruises which is a great way to get an overview of France, Greece, Italy...wherever the ship goes these days. So it gives you a chance to see some sites for a few hours and then decide where you want to go back to. The last med cruise we did on disney started and stopped in Venice and did Athens and a couple Greek isles. My husband and I had been to most ports before but we took one of one of daughters and grand children. To see her experience Venice and athens for the first time and fall in love with Venice especially was worth every penny.

But Italy, France and even Greece are relatively easy to do your own so you might want to do a more in depth tour from land. We are going to Rome next week and then driving up into the Abruzzo region because we have never been before.

As for Northern Europe, depending on the ports, those may be places you would never have a chance to see otherwise. Copenhagen, st Petersburg, tallin, etc are all great places but I would never choose to go again

Norway is also a wonderful place to see via a cruise ship.

 

[RedSox68]

When researching cruises, it seems that the northern European routes offer more ports/choices than the Med. We have done both (the Med in 2007 and loved it; the British Isles last year and it will be our favorite by far). I think it really depends on what cities/countries you want to see and check off your list. Something including Scandinavian countries and/or Russia would be next on our list.

 

[Ofinn]

Hopefully you'll eventually get the chance to do both. DCL's September prices in the med are pretty good. I'd probably choose that.

 

[scgustafson]

We have done the 12-night Med cruise in 2014 and 7-night Northern Europe in 2015. If both cruises are 7-nights, I would do Northern Europe since you need more than 7-nights to do the Med properly, since you want to go from Barcelona to Venice or vice versa and maximize ports. Med was really warm in June compared to Northern Europe at the same time. We actually had snow pulling out of Finland.

 

[sabrecmc]

We did the 10-night Med and 7-night Northern European (and 7-night Norway b2b). All were outstanding cruises. Depends on what you like. Med was very port-intensive. In retrospect, I would have done the 11-night to have a day of rest in there. Definitely better weather for swimming on the Med cruise. If you told me I could pick either to do again, I'd probably pick the Med cruise b/c there are more things from each port that I want to try, whereas with the NE, places like Estonia were lovely, but I don't feel like I missed a huge part of it that I must go back to see. Russia was probably the only port where I really felt that there was no way to really choose among all the different options. Everywhere else, we really enjoyed, and I'd definitely go back, but it isn't like Rome, Florence or Venice where I feel the need to spend days there. YMMV! Really, you can't go wrong, though.

 

[MPS516]

We have done regular Med, the Med from Venus to Barcelona including Greece and Turkey and Baltic (northern), loved them all. I think I am glad we did Med first maybe just to get used to European cruising. Would not trade one for the other and will be picking up the British Isles to complete the circuit. All our our cruises were 11 days or longer, would not do a 7 day personally.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

I would base it on the weather as well, but it all depends on your preferences. My personal answer? Do them all!

 

[Dug720]

6 of one, half a dozen of the other...
for me it's the ship, i really couldn't care less where it's going...(except in alaska)..
so i would just pick the cheapest disney cruise i could find in europe and leave it at that (cheap of course being a relative term when speaking of DCL)..

DD is on the disney magic right now...on the 7 day med cruise....she picked sept because the rates were slightly lower..
as for the med? so far she hasn't gotten off the ship (stayed on the ship in naples and rome).....the ship's the destination for us

but thinking about the european destinations...
the fjords are beautiful, so maybe you want to do that one?
the northern europe fjords cruise......
on the other hand, that cruise is usually very very expensive..

as for the northern european cities cruise - i actually like russia much better than scandinavia these days (scandinavia's not the safe place it used to be)...
russia's quite beautiful...though also not that safe....(but then again, neither is the med...ha ha.....)
but i'd probably pick the med every time....

but again, i would go for the cheapest date possible....
but if money is no object? possibly the fjords

.

FWIW my not wanting to go to Russia has nothing to do with perceived safety or lack thereof ("I'm a New Yorker...fear's my life") and everything to do with just not wanting to go there. It has never held any interest for me.

I don't let fear decide what I'm going to do or where I'm going to go. I have always believed that when it is your time, it is your time - for example: if you weren't on a plane that crashed and it is your time, something else will get you; if nothing happens to you, it was simply not your time - not some angelic intervention that kept you from being on the plane.

 

[Ofinn]

I guess we're all different. The only port that would really interest me would be Russia. Im looking forward to doing a Scandavia cruise one Summer mostly to escape the oppressive desert heat of Summer. Im a runnner and I would love being able able to run in Finland and Sweden vs the 110 temps of the So- Cal desert. It was great escaping the heat in the Norway and Iceland this Summer.

 

[ctnurse]

Hard question. We did the 12 Night Northern Europe in 2015 and the 12 Night Med this past summer. They both were fabulous, and I don't know if I could pick one or the other. Sorry, not much help.

I am looking at Norway/Iceland/Scotland for next summer on a different line. I am less than thrilled about DCL prices and the DCL Iceland cruise interferes with the last week of school, but there are four sea days which are nice.

 

[disneyholic family]

FWIW my not wanting to go to Russia has nothing to do with perceived safety or lack thereof ("I'm a New Yorker...fear's my life") and everything to do with just not wanting to go there. It has never held any interest for me.

I don't let fear decide what I'm going to do or where I'm going to go. I have always believed that when it is your time, it is your time - for example: if you weren't on a plane that crashed and it is your time, something else will get you; if nothing happens to you, it was simply not your time - not some angelic intervention that kept you from being on the plane.

i'm sort of going off topic here, but scandinavia really isn't what it used to be...i grew up spending a lot of time in scandinavia (even went to 1st grade in norway)...
i was pretty in love with all the countries, but things have gotten way out of hand there....

probably going by cruise ship is the safest way to go...
i definitely would not recommend a DIY land trip anywhere in scandinavia...well...maybe finland...but certainly not sweden or denmark...absolutely not...

as for russia...i love it....the history, the art, architecture, and even the people ( ).....

but as for cruising.....again, for us the ship is the destination...
when i want to see a place, i like to be there on the ground for a while...not pop in for a day....

As i mentioned, DD is on the magic in the med....she got off the ship for the first time today (in livorno)..
and that's it....she'll be on the ship for all but today.....it's the ship that we're paying for....not europe

i should add, we live on the european side of the atlantic, so europe is kinda been there, done that..

for us, it's terribly exciting when a DCL ship makes it to our side of the ocean!!! woo hoo!!!!!

one of these days i'm going to get myself on board one of the transatlantic voyages.....just sea days....sounds good to me..

 

[disneyholic family]

Hard question. We did the 12 Night Northern Europe in 2015 and the 12 Night Med this past summer. They both were fabulous, and I don't know if I could pick one or the other. Sorry, not much help.

I am looking at Norway/Iceland/Scotland for next summer on a different line. I am less than thrilled about DCL prices and the DCL Iceland cruise interferes with the last week of school, but there are four sea days which are nice.

scotland's one that i would like to visit on the ground, not on a cruise....it's such a wonderful magical restful place...
perfect for a week or two of vacation!!! so perfect!!!

 

[Dug720]

i'm sort of going off topic here, but scandinavia really isn't what it used to be...i grew up spending a lot of time in scandinavia (even went to 1st grade in norway)...
i was pretty in love with all the countries, but things have gotten way out of hand there....

probably going by cruise ship is the safest way to go...
i definitely would not recommend a DIY land trip anywhere in scandinavia...well...maybe finland...but certainly not sweden or denmark...absolutely not...

as for russia...i love it....the history, the art, architecture, and even the people ( ).....

but as for cruising.....again, for us the ship is the destination...
when i want to see a place, i like to be there on the ground for a while...not pop in for a day....

As i mentioned, DD is on the magic in the med....she got off the ship for the first time today (in livorno)..
and that's it....she'll be on the ship for all but today.....it's the ship that we're paying for....not europe

i should add, we live on the european side of the atlantic, so europe is kinda been there, done that..

for us, it's terribly exciting when a DCL ship makes it to our side of the ocean!!! woo hoo!!!!!

one of these days i'm going to get myself on board one of the transatlantic voyages.....just sea days....sounds good to me..

You're allowed to like Russia. I'm allowed to not like Russia. That's why god made chocolate and vanilla!

I never said that Scandinavia is on the top of my list of places to visit - just that while I would like to one day but NOT if it includes having to go to Russia.