Help me pick a travel destination with these parameters(xp)

[Frwinkley]

Can you tell me more about this? How’s the weather there in summer? I want to escape the triple digits this summer. Are there lots of adventure activities?

That was our goal as well. We live in the East Coast of the US and are always looking to escape the heat and humidity. The weather was lovely in early July.

At the time, we were a couple in our late 50s. We did so much walking, hiking and sightseeing. Walked out on glaciers, saw so much wildlife! It was wonderful.

We flew from Pittsburgh, connected in Minneapolis, and flew onto Calgary. Banff is about an hour drive from there. We spent 3 days there, then drove the Icefields Parkway (google it for some glorious sights) all the way to Jasper. Spent a few nights there, returned to Canmore (close to Banff) and then spent two nights in Calgary.

Banff, Jasper and Canmore are all lovely little walkable towns with dining, etc. Jasper is probably the smallest of them all.

 

[DCLMP]

I've been reading through the thread and have lots to respond too, individually!

We have done port days Aruba, Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Bahamas, Jamaica, St.Kitts , St. Marteen, Grand Turk, Cozumel, and Puerto Vallata, etc...Somewhere new is our hope.

San Diego is on our list, driving down from L.A. or over from Vegas, but it feels crazy to pass up a chance to leave the country.

The information about European travel has helped greatly. We are leaning towards a cruise if we go this route for a few reasons. Overall, after all the input, I think it just may be to difficult to do otherwise with our special needs son. From the smaller rooms to access to food he'll eat. Still weighing options though.

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We enjoyed Odyssey of the Seas out of Rome. New ship and very nice. Italy, Greece and Spain are the most affordable. Northern Europe is a lot more expensive. DCL is probably out of the question. Even if you're not on a budget their prices on European cruises can be hard to justify.

My kids always got bored fast in hotel rooms. The ships kept them busy, and food was always available. We always do a couple of nights in a hotel pre or post-cruise. That's always been enough.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

4 adults are going to need two rooms in Europe. Keep in mind hotel rooms in Europe are not made for families.

My son and I did a 12-night Greek Isles cruise for 3500k. Throw in everything else I'm sure we were somewhere around 7-8k. I still think cruising is the cheapest way to travel as a family. You could probably find a cruise for under 1k a person and then budget from there. At least your room, meals, and transportation from city to city are already paid for.

If you can stand having four adults in a stateroom the third and fourth passengers are usually close to free. I think two inside rooms is a better option for 4 people. Inside rooms on cruise ships are usually a really good value. If we had gotten an inside room on this particular cruise it would have been 2200.

To save money you need to choose an itinerary where touring is easy...meaning getting from the ports to the tourist sites is easy. Greek Isles was easy. So was our Norway and northern Europe cruise. Med cruise not so much.

If you have to sacrifice so much to make a budget work is it really worth that particular type of trip? Sacrifice is obviously in the eye of the beholder but it's more just a general comment. Everyone has their limits of what they consider not worth it.

Inside rooms can save money but aren't always suited for everyone and that's not just considering no view whatsoever. There's sleeping habits to consider as well as noise levels from the hallways and other things around them.

I would never put 4 grown adults in 1 room unless that room was a large suite with good sleeping options meant for adults not for kids and many rooms are meant for kids for those additional passengers as well as considerations for space, 4 adults trying to get ready in 1 space isn't necessarily the best just to save money. I wouldn't count on a 3rd or 4th passenger being free as a basis. It often depends on the occupancy of a cruise normally as it helps them sell more. If a cruise doesn't need to offer it it they won't. I do agree on getting 2 rooms.

Norway and Northern Europe are expensive places to cruise for the most part for many cruise lines. Madrid was a cheaper place to fly to from the east coast when we checked in fall of 2022 for summer 2023 but that meant sticking around that part of Europe (Portugal, Spain, France). On average that probably is a less expensive option though you would want to keep in mind sea conditions. The part of the Med we were in for the Adriatic Sea is about as calm waters as you can get thus helpful for those with sea sickness.

While I know our situation was an outlier for a 7 day Med cruise we were out of town 14 days. If the OP is talking about 8-9 days max that's pushing it for a even a 7 day cruise to Europe and wouldn't be the time frame I would recommend. You absolutely should never fly in the day of the cruise and you need to account for travel delays and for Europe in particular airport/airline strikes as well as rail strikes. About 30 people missed our embarking in Venice due to Italian airport strikes. They just had strikes for the Eurostar in London cutting off rail traffic to Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels and just had a flooding also the other day that cut off rail traffic as well. You also would be pushing it if you chose to arrive the evening before your cruise due to potential flight delays. It takes a long time and multiple time zone adjustments to get to Europe.