Backstory: it’s our 25th anniversary this year, and my wife would like to do something like a European river cruise. We’re really open to anything from Scandinavian to Baltic to Mediterranean and points in the vague vicinity, with a leaning toward more shore time rather than less. We’ll also pay for luxury, since we have another 25 years to save for that 50th anniversary trip.
I’d also add that this isn’t the kind of vacation we’re used to. Typically if we go to Europe we (okay, I) prefer to driver to whatever places capture our interest, regardless of distance, so I don’t really know what it’s like to sit still for long hours, or to participate in guided tours. So general thoughts about the experience are also welcome.
My aunt and her husband took one in the fjords which they absolutely loved. She said it was “a real good hotel which moves; the water was too cold for my taste but each time I looked out the landscape would have changed.” She’s both very energetic and very laid back - if she’s going to see the Cathedral and sees an interesting store, she’ll duck in, maybe purchase something… if that means she misses the Cathedral because it closes at lunchtime, her reaction will be to say “oh, well” and look for a restaurant. Pretty and relaxing, not very varied.
Bro and SiL took one around the Mediterranean; this was before they had kids, so SiL was still more high-strung than a tightrope walkers’ ropes - not a good attitude for vacations, specially in someone who takes forever for any decision. I’d get tired just from hearing them try to describe everythinginasinglebreath. They liked Dubrovnic a lot; I think it was the only place where they actually had time to see everything they wanted to. Varied, but I do hope you’ve got a more relaxed attitude than those two.
When my college class took our “mid-studies trip” to Greece, some of my better-off classmates stayed for a second week and took a 1-wk cruise around the Greek islands. We’d already been to Athens and Crete. These were people from very rich families; I’m a “two-star hotel” kind of girl, most of these had never previously been in a hotel with less than four stars and considered those a hardship. They were also the ones who were more interested in beaches and bars than in “old stones” - they visited the Labyrinth only after those of us known as “the stones people” badgered them into it. They said that it was nice but really not that much worth it; of the islands they visited, the only one which offered something we could not have had in Barcelona itself or within a half-hour-by-train of it, or which we hadn’t already encountered during the trip, was Santorini. I’m sure my aunt would have enjoyed it, but she’s not a heiress and she doesn’t book trips without having a clear notion of what exactly do they offer.
I understand all of them offered your choice of taking guided tours or going your own way.
I went on one earlier this year in Italy. It only lasted for two and a half hours, but there were plenty of opportunities for night swimming.
Joking aside, the Rhein trip I did in Germany is one of the most boring things I’ve ever experienced. It was only a day, and that was exactly one day minus one hour too long.
