Honeymoon cruise or land tour in Europe?

[FSU Girl]

I have too much time to plan out my honeymoon and now I’ve begun questioning our original plan of doing a European cruise for our honeymoon.

So my dilemma is our wedding will be in the winter and there aren’t cruises in Europe in the beginning of the year, so if we do our honeymoon on a cruise we’ll have to wait until summer and could potentially be 10 months after the wedding.

So now I’ve thought of an alternative and was wondering if this sounds crazy to plan:

Go to Europe in January (I’m from Florida will it be snowing then?) We’d fly to Paris, spend a few days there then take a train to Amsterdam and maybe London since it’s nearby. Do this for a week then fly back and do a week Disney cruise to the Caribbean.

I am a crazy planner so I’m sure I could figure out details for this, but doing a cruise does seem a little easier and we wouldn’t be able to see as many countries.

Or do two weeks in Europe and go to more countries. Would going over New Years be fun or hectic? Right now we have a hotel booked at Disney world for New Years as a mini moon until we did our full honeymoon in the summer.

My future hubby is very go with the flow and says either works so it’s up to me. I’d like to hear your opinion on what you think I should do

 

[kaseyC]

There are low season Med cruises in January and February. Viking Ocean has a few as well as a few other cruise lines.

 

[FSU Girl]

There are low season Med cruises in January and February. Viking Ocean has a few as well as a few other cruise lines.

I’ve never been on a small ship like that, I’m not sure if we’d like it when we are used to the bigger ships with all the shows and entertainment on board

 

[SDJEL]

After your wedding, you will likely be tired and in need of some relaxation. Seeing two major cities in a week or several countries in just a few weeks is very tiring. I would find a nice cruise ship or an all inclusive hotel on a beach.

 

[FSU Girl]

After your wedding, you will likely be tired and in need of some relaxation. Seeing two major cities in a week or several countries in just a few weeks is very tiring. I would find a nice cruise ship or an all inclusive hotel on a beach.

We definitely want to do Europe some way. It won’t be right after the wedding we will still have a month since I won’t have enough vacation days until the new year starts. I was thinking if we just go on our own it will be a little exhausting which is why I thought doing a Caribbean cruise for the second week might help it be more relaxing

 

[ldo]

Europe in winter is wet and snowy. Fantastic skiing easily accessible. Low lines for tourist attractions. But I’d much rather go in better weather. I would also want 2 weeks for Europe. OTOH you can likely get a great flight price and much lower hotel rates. Paris and London are easily done in your own. I would think AMS as well. As long as you understand it will likely be icky weather. Cold and maybe snowy or wet snowing/sleet/rain.
Also, the med gets very rough in winter. Imho I would wait until early June. Decent weather and before massive heat and crowds either for land or cruise.
But, If you are skier, then I’d say go for Europe. Skiing also costs less than in the USA. Spending time in a great European city and 3 days at a ski resort would be awesome.

 

[mmmears]

I wouldn't fly all the way to Europe for just one week, but that's me. I also wouldn't choose to tour there in the winter. It's generally cold and wet in the winter, so while it will be less crowded it could be quite unpleasant. As some else said, London and Paris are very easy to do on your own. A cruise can make it easy to see lots of sights but you won't get to spend much time in any place, so it really depends on what you think you would prefer.

 

[olafLover]

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[kiford]

I wouldn't do Europe in winter unless you're going there to do winter stuff like skiing. DH's aunt lives in Bavaria and their weather is pretty much the same as ours in winter. Sometimes they get significantly more snow than we do. And London in winter is going to be cold, wet and grey. I'd wait until summer; maybe just go away for the weekend after the wedding to decompress and then go do a European cruise when you're more relaxed. That would give you the opportunity to consider it as a "recon" mission and see where you'd like to visit again for longer and where you've been-and-done that. You could go for two weeks, stay a few days before and after the cruise (London or Barcelona, for example, depending on the cruise) and do a 7-day cruise in between. I've always thought that the honeymoon should come a few months after the wedding rather than right away. Too much stress, cost, time away, divided focus on the planning, fatigue right afterwards. And then you can pick the right time to travel based on what you want to do and see (and cost) rather than being bound by the wedding date and just focus on the trip instead of a thousand other things.

 

[FSU Girl]

I think I'll stick with the cruise in the summer. I've been to England in January before and actually liked the cold, although the rain wasn't that fun. We don't ski, so I don't think we'd be doing any winter specific activities while there.

I'm just scared they are going to charter my cruise away. I might wait to book a year out even though the prices will be higher. Not sure if this is an irrational fear since they aren't that common, just scared with my luck it'll happen to me.

 

[MnkyGirl]

I personally love Europe in the winter. It's just easier. Less crowds, cute winter clothes, awesome food. I know you're looking at January, but if you ever get the chance, go in December. Christmas Markets are amazing. I spent two weeks in Germany and Italy during December and it was fantastic.

 

[Geomom]

I think I'll stick with the cruise in the summer. I've been to England in January before and actually liked the cold, although the rain wasn't that fun. We don't ski, so I don't think we'd be doing any winter specific activities while there.

I'm just scared they are going to charter my cruise away. I might wait to book a year out even though the prices will be higher. Not sure if this is an irrational fear since they aren't that common, just scared with my luck it'll happen to me.

I think it is extremely rare that DCL would charter out a European cruise. DCL does so few of them as it is, and they seem to be very popular unless you're at the extreme ends of the European season when school is in session. I would not worry about it being chartered. I would book early to get the cheapest price and your choice of rooms--if you decide to cancel, you can get your money back anytime before PIF.

 

[Jess_S]

I'm actually a fan of Europe in winter as well. I studied abroad in Europe in college and travelled around a bit. When I did a European vacation as a "real adult" during the summer, I found the crowds and heat unbearable as compared to my experience in the off-season as a student. (You should know that it does get dark very early in Europe in the winter though.)

I do think that 3 cities in 1 week is too ambitious if you want this to be a relaxing trip. Don't forget that you will probably be jet-lagged on day 1. I would pick 2 of the cities you listed.

 

[FSU Girl]

I personally love Europe in the winter. It's just easier. Less crowds, cute winter clothes, awesome food. I know you're looking at January, but if you ever get the chance, go in December. Christmas Markets are amazing. I spent two weeks in Germany and Italy during December and it was fantastic.

I would go in December except the wedding is in November and I won't have enough vacation days to take off for the wedding and take off two weeks for the honeymoon. Having it in the following year when my vacation days reset makes to easier to do.

I think it is extremely rare that DCL would charter out a European cruise. DCL does so few of them as it is, and they seem to be very popular unless you're at the extreme ends of the European season when school is in session. I would not worry about it being chartered. I would book early to get the cheapest price and your choice of rooms--if you decide to cancel, you can get your money back anytime before PIF.

I think it is probably rarer on Disney. I had never heard of it until recently when people on cruise critic mentioned it about Celebrity. They seem to have a lot get chartered out so I'm a lot more hesitant to book with them now.

My plan is to book a placeholder cruise on my upcoming Disney cruise in a week and use that for the honeymoon. I do like that until PIF it's not too much risk. Except me asking my boss for two weeks off which I've never done before

I'm actually a fan of Europe in winter as well. I studied abroad in Europe in college and travelled around a bit. When I did a European vacation as a "real adult" during the summer, I found the crowds and heat unbearable as compared to my experience in the off-season as a student. (You should know that it does get dark very early in Europe in the winter though.)

I do think that 3 cities in 1 week is too ambitious if you want this to be a relaxing trip. Don't forget that you will probably be jet-lagged on day 1. I would pick 2 of the cities you listed.

I studied abroad too in college in Prague. Where did you study? I was there during the summer and it was actually a record heat wave while I was there so I know it can get really hot. But being from Florida I'm pretty used to the heat.

My thought if I did a land tour was two days in every city. Since everything is pretty close for traveling, but I agree a week is probably not enough time with the flying and jetlag. The downside for me with a land tour would be all the planning, whereas with a cruise they kind of do it for you. I do like planning, but I think I'll be pretty busy planning my wedding that I might get overwhelmed.


Are all the big tourist attractions open during the winter? Specifically I want to go to Versailles and I'm not sure if they would be open in the off season.

 

[dcassetta]

Europe is winter is fine, just colder and shorter days. All of the major attractions and museums will be open. Versailles is free on the first Sunday of the month in winter.

I would not try to do three cities in a week. There is enough to do in Paris, London and Amsterdam to spend the entire week in one city.

Since you seem most interested in Paris, have you considered combining that with a side trip to Disneyland Paris?

 

[FSU Girl]

Europe is winter is fine, just colder and shorter days. All of the major attractions and museums will be open. Versailles is free on the first Sunday of the month in winter.

I would not try to do three cities in a week. There is enough to do in Paris, London and Amsterdam to spend the entire week in one city.

Since you seem most interested in Paris, have you considered combining that with a side trip to Disneyland Paris?

I have actually lol. I love all things Disney, not sure future hubby loves it as much as me, but he likes it. He's been to Paris before for work, I've never been. I might be able to talk him into going, is it something we could take one day out to do or is more time needed there?

We have to go to Amsterdam, it's pretty much his only request because it's where his family is from and he wants to show me around. He lets me have my way with almost everything so I figure I should fit this into the schedule

 

[Jess_S]

I studied abroad too in college in Prague. Where did you study? I was there during the summer and it was actually a record heat wave while I was there so I know it can get really hot. But being from Florida I'm pretty used to the heat.

My thought if I did a land tour was two days in every city. Since everything is pretty close for traveling, but I agree a week is probably not enough time with the flying and jetlag. The downside for me with a land tour would be all the planning, whereas with a cruise they kind of do it for you. I do like planning, but I think I'll be pretty busy planning my wedding that I might get overwhelmed.


Are all the big tourist attractions open during the winter? Specifically I want to go to Versailles and I'm not sure if they would be open in the off season.

I studied abroad in Paris. My experience was that all of the tourist attractions were open, though sometimes with shorter hours. (Smaller crowds more than made up for that. We waited in line more than an hour to climb Notre Dame in the summer. In the winter, you just walk up). Versailles is open during the winter. The hours are on the website. If you are going to Versailles, then you definitely need more than 2 days in Paris. One full day will be eaten up by Versailles. FYI, it's easy to get to on the metro and we did not need to pre-book our chateau tickets in the winter. We just walked up and bought them.

I still have not been to Prague. So many places to see, so little vacation time. It must have been a cool place to study abroad.

 

[WannaBeImagineer]

Add me to the list that would go to Europe in the winter! I've done Paris in the winter and while it was cold we didn't mind, and most of the cafe's have overhead heaters so you can still sit outside and sip your cappuccino while all bundled up, it's actually one of my favorite memories from our trip. Also as others have said there are great deals on flights that time of year, you can seriously get a flight for half the cost as compared to the summer.

Also we did three Europe cities in a week. Left home Friday night, arrive in Paris Saturday morning, stayed three nights, then flew to Venice, stayed two nights, then train to Rome and stayed three nights and flew home on Sunday back to work on Monday. Was it as relaxing as a cruise, no but we had a blast and would do it again.

Personally we did our honeymoon on a Celebrity Caribbean cruise in November, we got the premium drink package to make it all inclusive and loved everything about that cruise. I know you are worried about them chartering it but that's rare. We actually found out that our cruise had an American Girl doll group on it. It was funny but worked out great because that meant less adults in the adult only spaces since the cruise was full of families with little girls.

Good Luck!

WBI

 

[ldo]

Versailles in winter is MUCH better. Virtually no lines and 1/10 the crowd. Also, it's very easy to pop over to DLP from Paris on the train (35 minutes) directly to the front gate of DLP. Winter hours will be shorter. You can definitely do DLP in 1 day, esp. if you just do DLP and not the Studios, which is just next door. We have park hopped on a long summer day and did both. V would be a full day, as well as another day for DLP, plus a day to see P. So, with that plan, 4 days in P. You could do L+P or A+P, but not all 3 in a week. With V+DLP on the agenda, I think that winter would be fine.

 

[wanderlust7]

I'm just scared they are going to charter my cruise away. I might wait to book a year out even though the prices will be higher. Not sure if this is an irrational fear since they aren't that common, just scared with my luck it'll happen to me.

Not sure I understand the logic to this. What the difference between booking now vs later with regard to charters? Do you feel like you're going to jinx yourself?