Winter is my favorite time to cruise in the Mediterranean. The crowds are less, the weather is not scorching hot, the atmosphere is more calm and relaxing. A winter cruise in the Mediterranean is a completely different experience though. While the weather is usually still milder than many places, it is definitely not a beach-y […]
Eastern Mediterranean Cruise: 3 Continents Cruise
Bucket List Cruise with Celestyal Cruises 3 Continents – 6 Countries – 5 UNESCO Sites – 8 Days: The 3 Continents Cruise by Celestyal Cruises offers you an itinerary where one highlight follows the next. In early December, my husband and I were invited on board the Celestyal Crystal to experience this cruise and share […]
8 Reasons To Take a Viking Homelands Cruise
8 Reasons to do a ‘Viking Homelands’ Cruise It’s easy to think of Vikings for what they’re known for as opposed to where they sailed. Yes, they did raid communities, but they also participated in trade. Their fine shipbuilding skills are also familiar. They ventured along The Baltic Sea, aligned by present-day countries including Denmark, […]
A Christmas Market River Cruise on the Viking Baldur
My husband Bill and I were invited to take a cruise with Viking River Cruises and decided that a Christmas Market Cruise on the Danube could be a fun way to get into the holiday spirit. Our 7-day river cruise started in Passau, Germany and ended in Budapest, Hungary. This was our first river cruise on […]
Devouring European Cities and Cuisine Viking-Style
Onboard Viking Odin, I left the Port of Amsterdam and cruised north to the fishing village of Volendam. I was lucky enough to have the experience thanks to Viking River Cruise, who had invited EuropeUpClose.com on a three-day mini cruise after the christening of their new longships. My cruise companions and I would visit Volendam, […]
Europe’s Best River Cruises
Cruising in Europe doesn’t mean you are limited to the ocean on large mega-ships. River cruises are a great way to see a variety of locations, without the hassle of repeatedly packing and unpacking or moving from place to place. And unlike ships that cruise the seas, river boats tend to be much smaller and […]
All Aboard for a Europe River Cruise
Longing to see Europe in a new way? Well, river cruising might be the answer. You pay with the dollar before you go and there are few out-of-pocket expenses when you are there. There are cruises for most budgets and there are a myriad of destinations including some wonderfully new, popular destinations in Eastern Europe and Russia. A river cruise experience is quite different from […]