It’s boom season for cruise ships in Europe this year — with more cruisers from the U.S., Canada and the U.K. looking for an experience that differs from the North American routes this spring, summer and fall.
The standard cruises are in northern and southern Europe, and of course the Mediterranean. They’re easy to find. Here are some we thought you might find that are a little off the beaten path:
• May 19 — Holland America’s Eurodam, from Rome, two cruises connected to wind up in Dover after three weeks, with stops in Marseille, Barcelona, Seville, Lisbon, St. Peter Port in Guernsey, Le Havre, Dover, Copenhagen, Tallinn, St. Petersburg (overnight), Helsinki and Stockholm.
• May 27 — Princess’s Crown Princess, Venice to Rome in 12 days, a cruise that includes six stops in Greece plus Dubrovnik and Naples.
• June 21 — Celebrity Constellation, from Amsterdam, with seven stops in Norway and a day inside the Arctic Circle. It’s 12 nights, returning to the Dutch capital.
• July 17 — Norwegian Gem, from Venice, where you stay on the ship for two nights before leaving on a seven-day cruise to Split, Corfu, Koper in Slovenia winding up back in Venice.
• July 22 — Cunard’s Queen Victoria, from Southampton, a one-off 10-day cruise to Cherbourg, Cork, Dublin, Liverpool, Belfast, Rosyth and Glasgow.
• August 10 — Oceania Insignia, from Copenhagen, a 14-day trip featuring unique ports due to the ship’s smaller size: Oslo, Amsterdam, Bruges, Le Havre, Brest, La Rochelle, overnights in Bordeaux, Biarritz, Bilbao, La Coruna, Oporto and finally Lisbon.
• September 9 — Celebrity Equinox, from Rome on what is called the Holy Land Cruise, stopping in Athens, Rhodes, Ephesus, Haifa, Jerusalem, Alexandria (overnight), Naples and then back to Rome 13 days later.
Details (and prices) are on the cruise line websites.
That’s it…we’re done.