European Cruise Advisor

When you have finally booked your European cruise holiday and you’ve worked out all the details of your itinerary, you will most likely want to spend just a little bit of time considering what you are going to pack. Getting the right items of clothing packed in your suitcases will mean that once you are on your cruise you will be able to relax much better.

Start off with knowing what the climates will be like on your vacation, will it be hot, cold, or somewhere in between. Also consider that if you are travelling some distances, the temperatures in different ports may vary, also don’t forget that night time temperatures can be considerably colder that those in the day time, so you need to plan for this eventuality.

You should also think about what kind of events and activities will be part of your European cruise ship time. In general, however, most situations that you will encounter on your cruise come under the following three headings. These are; Casual, Semi-casual and Formal wear( or evening wear).

Casual wear is important, although you don’t want to be too scruffy, also don’t forget a swim suit, you can buy these on board ship, but you won’t necessarily get a great choice so your own is better.

Semi-Casual might be the kind of outfit you would be comfortable wearing on a night or day out back home, you will be using this style when you are on shore excursions as well as enjoying the evening entertainmenta on board ship, like live shows etc.

Formal wear is important too, at least one night of many cruises involve a dinner and dance, usually called the Captains dinner, for men this would be a formal dinner jacket, possibly with a bow i.e., but not essential.

Don’t try to take your whole wardrobe with you on the cruise, even though you can fit alot in your suitcases ( more than on a traditional vacation due to air freight limitations), try and select clothes that you can mix and match and that are comfortable, new shoes can be nice, but you don’t want to be uncomfortable on the best cruise vacation ever!

Also don’t forget to pack those little things that you think you might need, if you need to make a list of all the things you want to take, this can help you decide and also make sure that you don’t forget to pack anything important.

The Canary Islands are to be found off of the coasts and Spain and Africa and are extremity popular tourist destinations for European cruises. The Canary Islands are essentially made up of three Islands, each one providing interesting day trips and shore excursions allowing you to sample life in the Mediterranean.

The Canary Islands as a Cruise Destination

The Canary Islands that can be visited by cruise ship are namely La Palma, Gran Canarias and the one most people are familiar with from other European holidays, Tenerife. Each of the Islands are readily accessible by cruise liner and finding a cruise package that includes the Canary Islands as a European cruise destination is quite easy to do, there are many opportunities and packages available from most good tour operators.

In the canary island archipelago, generally the islands of Gomera, El Hierro, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote do not have cruise destinations in most cruise line itineraries – which is unfortunate. Many of cruise lines have destinations in the Canary Islands, however, that visit the three main Islands including P&O Cruises. The cruise lines are always updating the ports and areas that their ships visit so it worth rechecking which ships will call in what ports if you are thinking of a Western Mediterranean cruise to the Canaries this year.

The Canary Islands themselves offer many great sights to visit including plenty of volcanic scenery due to the islands origins as volcanic islands. With many of the towns having Spanish and Moorish influences the architecture and buildings are well worth making a part of any shore excursion you might plan if you find these things interesting. In particular, cruise ships will stop at Santa Cruz on the island of Tenerife (which incidentally is the largest of the Canary Islands). Also make sure you visit La Palma, known as La Isla Bonita which translated from Spanish means “the pretty island”, which as it turns out, it is very much so with lavish and outstanding natural landscapes.

When you are planning a cruise vacation, part of the process is also planning out the shore excursions that you will be taking, after all sightseeing is a major part of any cruise holiday. Making the right choices with your day and overnight trips is important to consider carefully because its at this stage you may end up causing the costs of your cruise to go sky high!

Typically Shore excursions can be bought onboard ship from the tour desk that most ships will operate. The range of trips are often numerous and will range from half a day coach trips which will cost about £30 / $50 up to exciting adventure excursions that may well cost up to £200 or $300 per person.

The possibility of arranging you own shore excursions or simply plumping for the shore excursion on offer by the ship will usually depend on a few factors; perhaps you know the area, or there is something specific you want to visit. Also consider the local language, if you speak Spanish or French you might be able to communicate easily with the locals, plenty of destinations speak English also, so by finding these facts out in advance can help you make the decisions when planning the days trips.

If you a planning to arrange private tours, some independent tour operators may be cheaper, you can either contact the tour operator directly before the cruise or hire a local guide when you have arrived in the port. Sometimes it can be a good idea to group up with some other people on the ship that you might have made friends with over the past few days; this can make the overall costs of the excursions cheaper too.

If you want a personalized shore excursion, then hiring a local guide is a really great idea. You will be able to plan you own timetables; with the guides advice and you will definitely get to see more than on the standard cruise line offering. You could even grab a guidebook and go off your own if you are really adventurous, most European cities have good transport links, with the major hubs having signs and translations in popular European languages especially English.

One important point to take note of is that if you are planning a day trip that is not planned by the cruise line, that you ensure that you get back to the ship in time for its departure, if a passenger misses a ships sailing, it their own responsibility to get to the next port to catch up with the ship, this could be a costly mistake to make and is something to avoid at all costs.

Sometimes it really is easier to stick with the standard excursion offered by the ship, if you want to just have a nice day out without any worries then this can be the best choice, in the end there a advantages and disadvantages of planning your own cruise shore excursion and you will probably want to make up your own mind at which ports you want to make your own decisions or just go with the standard day out packages.

One last point, is to make sure you have contacts number with you, each port will have a contact number for the port agent that you can get from the staff on your cruise liner, that way if there are any problems that mean you get stranded you can at least keep the ship staff up to date with what’s going on, and maybe they will be able to help you out.