Summer 2027 Itineraries (specifically Europe)

[Maryrachel713]

Your mid to smaller ships can go to Venice but usually in Fusina which is the industrial port on the mainland about a 20min or so bus ride from the old terminal on Venice island itself. Your river ships are the ones that so long as they are small enough can actually dock in Venice. When we did our cruise in 2023 (the ship had a max of 600 passengers) we were out of Venice with the terminal being Fusina. A Uniworld river cruise ship was docked in Venice proper. We flew into Venice and stayed on the island of Murano. That hotel had a boat that took you from the airport to their hotel.

The cruise line we do Venice is a common start or end destination and our cruise did Venice to Athens with stops in Croatia, Montenegro and several others in Greece. However, it's not one that is suitable for children not because there's a minimum age limit but that there is nothing for children and consequently you don't typically see them on there.

A word of caution about Venice is because it's transportation is boats make sure your grandfather can adequately get in and out of the boats. We used their public boat transportation and they don't wait for no one when they pull up to the docks. We kept saying I don't know what people do when they get elderly here because you don't really see mobility considerations. I'm not talking about the obvious cobblestones and bridges I'm more meaning transport. If that is a big bucket list place for him I would honestly suggest making that the priority trip. For us we flew in 2 days ahead of the cruise and stayed 2 days after the cruise to explore Athens.

Trieste and Ravenna are used for larger ships that cannot dock in the Venice area. Trieste would be much more preferable to Ravenna but Fusina is the best. I know on our 2023 cruise there was an MSC ship also docked there but I can't recall which one. The upper lines (luxury/ultra luxury as well as certain premium lines) are the primary ones to use Fusina as they are mid to smaller ships.

The itinerary he likes is actually Viking but that obviously does not allow kids. Do you know of any smaller ship lines that do allow kids that I should look at?

There are no mobility concerns--he's in perfect health but I think doesn't want to wait to do something and then have mobility concerns. My mom was hit by a car while riding her bike two years ago (also very healthy--she was biking to the pool to swim and the driver blew a stop sigh) so I think that was really a don't wait to all of us. We went to Alaska less than a year after it happened but she had to use a wheelchair a lot. Barring any further crashes though, they should be have complete mobility for the foreseeable future.

 

[Marthasor]

Have you looked into Oceania Cruises? I believe they have a Venice to Pireaus (Athens) itinerary. It's very Greece heavy though, if it matters. If you don't have to end in Athens, perhaps consider a Ponant Adriatic cruise which typically starts and ends in Venice and visits, mostly, Croatia. We did Ponant with an Adventures by Disney trip (which, unfortunately, has been discontinued) and on that itinerary we also stopped in Montenegro and had a chance to do a shore excursion to Slovakia. It was incredibly and Ponant does a wonderful job.

 

[asgur5]

We definitely hope to spend more time than just the cruise, but are limited by vacation time as well. He plans on going to Roma as a separate trip before this one.

You dont need to do rome on a trip that leaves from rome as all the towns are short travel distances from rome. We did the rome cruise last year and did florence and siena first. Not Rome. You can easily do Venice and Ravenna and then catch a train to board the cruise in Rome on the morning of embarkation which wont start until midday. Its less then a 4hr train from Venice/Ravenna to Rome central station followed by a 30 min train to the port from Rome central station. Dcl cruises are worth doing if you can get them.