European Cruises (Differences, Ports / Excursions, etc.)

[shb5007]

Looking at a few European cruise options for 2026...

1.) Does anyone have any good websites / videos / resources for some of the differences in Disney cruises in Europe versus USA? Food? Rules? Tips & tricks? Things to know / be aware of?

2.) For ports / excursions... Are there any websites / forums out there which discuss various things to do at / around ports? Things NOT through Disney?

Thanks for the help!!!

 

[RedHead0186]

Viator and Get Your Guide are two tour websites that you can book independent yours through (I know there's more, that's the two I can think of).

Rick Steves does a lot of articles about Europe travel, but honestly you can just do an internet search and you'll find a lot. One of the big differences, for example, is tipping. Tipping is much less of a thing in Europe than in the US (and can vary a bit by country).

 

[Mommb]

The Disney Cruise itself will be very similar for European as for North American cruises.

The only rule change I can think of is that parents/guardians can sign a waiver allowing guests aged 18-20 to drink alcohol in the parent/guardian’s presence. There will still be 18-20 Society activities for that age group that don’t involve alcohol.

The main dining room and Palo menus stay the same. The buffet may have a wider variety of items based on what is available and appealing in Europe but doesn’t change much.

If the cruise leaves from, returns to, and stops only in ports in the EU, the ships onboard will charge Value Added Tax. If you spend more than a certain amount (which varies by country) you can get a receipt and file for reimbursement at your departure airport from the EU.

I second the recommendation of Rick Steves’s books and website. The Cruise Critic website forums have pages on cruises to various areas with discussions of activities, hotels, and such.

 

[anricat]

These are pretty broad questions and answers can also vary depending on the itinerary you're thinking of. Med vs. Iceland and so forth. For me, I love reading other peoples' trip reports to get ideas of how their vacation flowed, things they did/ate/recommend.

For me, one of my big pieces of advice is to steer clear of any type of middleman/third party excursion booking website like Viator, Trip Advisor, Shore Excursions, etc. I love using them for research, but when it's time to book, I always book directly. We got burned badly booking through Viator and when the tour company ended up being shady, Viator did NOT have our back at all. And because I didn't know who the company was when I booked, I wasn't able to fully research them ahead of time. Plus I like keeping money in the local economy. I don't feel like a big corporation needs to take a cut.

We've taken a couple of European cruises and while there is a slightly different vibe in some ways, in most other ways, you're going to get the same experience when you're actually on the ship as you do anywhere else. My trip reports are in my signature if you'd like to read about our adventures on our Mediterranean cruise in 2018 and our France/Iceland/Norway in 2022. This year we are bound for Mediterranean with Greek Isles.

 

[DCLMP]

Looking at a few European cruise options for 2026...

1.) Does anyone have any good websites / videos / resources for some of the differences in Disney cruises in Europe versus USA? Food? Rules? Tips & tricks? Things to know / be aware of?

2.) For ports / excursions... Are there any websites / forums out there which discuss various things to do at / around ports? Things NOT through Disney?

Thanks for the help!!!

The cruise is the same. I would search you tube. You would be amazed at what you can find. I just went to Japan and anything I was curious about including how to navigate the train stations, buy tickets, how to dress, where to eat etc...somebody made a video about it.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Looking at a few European cruise options for 2026...

1.) Does anyone have any good websites / videos / resources for some of the differences in Disney cruises in Europe versus USA? Food? Rules? Tips & tricks? Things to know / be aware of?

2.) For ports / excursions... Are there any websites / forums out there which discuss various things to do at / around ports? Things NOT through Disney?

Thanks for the help!!!

I am from Europe, and have spent a lot of time vationing in America over 20 years. I have also been on 3 Disney cruises in Europe, on The Magic and The Dream, with a 4th booked on The Fantasy for August 2025.

I have also lived in multiple European countries and have been to multiple European countries on land trips.

Disney in Europe home ports in 2 places.

Barcelona, Spain for Mediterranean cruises
Southampton, England for Northern, Western Europe and British Isles cruises

The main onboard differences are that Disney has to use EU food suppliers so American passengers comment that food tastes different, as many American artificial colours, and flavours are banned in EU.

I do all ports DIY, I have never used cruise ship excursions. I use a mix of Google maps and YouTube to plan what to do and see in each port.

Theres a huge amount of YouTube videos about every port, and basically anything you can think of has been covered.

As I research I save things on Google Maps and then download the map to my phone to use offline when walking around the port.

 

[jwalk03]

I am from Europe, and have spent a lot of time vationing in America over 20 years. I have also been on 3 Disney cruises in Europe, on The Magic and The Dream, with a 4th booked on The Fantasy for August 2025.

I have also lived in multiple European countries and have been to multiple European countries on land trips.

Disney in Europe home ports in 2 places.

Barcelona, Spain for Mediterranean cruises
Southampton, England for Northern, Western Europe and British Isles cruises

The main onboard differences are that Disney has to use EU food suppliers so American passengers comment that food tastes different, as many American artificial colours, and flavours are banned in EU.

I do all ports DIY, I have never used cruise ship excursions. I use a mix of Google maps and YouTube to plan what to do and see in each port.

Theres a huge amount of YouTube videos about every port, and basically anything you can think of has been covered.

As I research I save things on Google Maps and then download the map to my phone to use offline when walking around the port.

They also port in Rome as well. (Or the port for Rome I can’t think of the actually name)

 

[RedHead0186]

They also port in Rome as well. (Or the port for Rome I can’t think of the actually name)

Civitavecchia

 

[msmama]

I don't know how or where you've cruised DCL before, but every home port is slightly different. It's not like PC where there's a dedicated Disney terminal, most of the workers checking you in are working for a different cruise line every day. While everything generally goes smoothly, issues can take a minute to get sorted out (once they had to dig through a box of paperwork for me to find the one I needed, though that was debarking, I accidentally packed the wave phone and had to return it).

When looking at excursions (I'd use Disney excursions as a guide, though you could book through someone else) be aware that some popular excursions could be hours away from the port. Rome, for example is more than an hour away from the port.

I feel like every Disney cruise has it's own personality and European ones can be slightly different. Generally there are a mix of Americans and Europeans and depending on the cruise some of the Europeans stay on board (like a lot of cruisers treat Nassau, because they've been there before, for example).

You'll definitely need a passport, sometimes the food tastes slightly different. I've done more European cruises than North American ones (not a beach person, so Caribbean doesn't appeal to me). I'm planning a non-Disney European cruise right now (no Disney for my visit and the dates I need) and I'm missing Disney. People say Disney is much more expensive, but with all the nickel and diming from other cruise lines, I feel like my Disney cruises were cheaper, or at least close to the same.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

For our 9 nite med trip last year I joined a popular social media site for my cruise group. It was a well run group and the admin was fantastic. Lots of ideas etc. That person still has a social media presence and a page dedicated to DCL in Europe. Lots of people write reviews after their cruise with recommendations. Try a search for it. We ended up doing mostly private excursions. They were fantastic. We used our group, their suggestions, and Trip Advisor, to get us started in planning. When we booked our private excursions, we booked direct and not through third party sites. The cruise is quite similar, but has a different vibe from the Caribbean. In a good way. Lots of people from different countries. We loved it and enjoyed meeting cruisers from places other the the US. The food can be different, but fine. The only real disaster was the chicken tenders. Not the same and not good- LOL. I found planning for that cruise was busy and took a lot of my time, but was well worth it.

 

[ldo]

I'd start with looking at the ports and see what you're interested in. Shorexcshoreexcursionsgroup.com is a good resource that will list excursions for your proposed cruises, so you can get an idea of what there is to do at the ports. Cruiseciritic.com forums is also an excellent resource (like disboards for cruises).
Norwegian Fjords, Baltic, British Isles, and W. Med are all very different. E. Med (with Greece) is more similar to W. Med than the others. For a 1st trip to Europe, I usually recommend W. Med to see some iconic cities (Rome, Barcelona, Pisa, Florence). But, all of the itineraries offer interesting places to visit. Take note that some ports are far from the city (like Rome and Florence) and require more travel time.

 

[asunutgirl]

One of the smartest things we did was book a private tour in Rome. It was expensive but 100% worth the money. We were on RCL but booked a private tour with a tour company. (Sorry I don't remember the name - our travel agent booked it for us.) We had an amazing local guide, breezed past all the long lines, saw parts of the Vactian that isn't accessable via the public entrance and learned so much. When we were hungry, our guide found us a local restaurant for lunch that was incredible. It was our one big splurge on that cruise and we are so glad we did it.