When is the best time to vacation Europe by cruise?

Question

When is the best time to vacation Europe by cruise?

Answer 1

The Europeans travel in August, so they fill the southern countries and resort areas. Sept. and Oct. are gorgeous as is the spring. The important thing to do is to find the cruise you want, see when the cruise lines offer them, and go then. You will be more comfortable with a light jacket in the fall or spring than in the heat of summer.

Answer 2

Spring or Autumn. Definately avoid August. In the UK, at least, the weather starts to go downhill at the beginning of November.

Answer 3

There are two factors to consider in deciding what is best for you. First, when is it most crowded and second, when is the weather the best.

Travel in Europe covers a lot of territory and temperature/weather zones.  While it may be mild in the Mediterranean, it may be much cooler in the Baltic areas.

Most of the tourists go to Europe in late Spring and Summer.  So crowd and long lines will most likely abound.  We went on our Mediterranean cruise in October and both the weather and crowds were perfect.  Daytime temperatures in France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey were in the mid to upper 70's.  There were a few brief rainshowers.

When we went to the Baltic in May the temperatures were great also.  daytime temperatures were 60 to 70 degrees and the only place that it rained was in Norway.  That to me was perfect temperatures.  

In both of these cruises there were a lot of people at the port stops, but not like the summer months.

Answer 4

if you are going to the Mediterranean, Spain, Italy etc: May -June, its hot but bearable.

The Baltic, St Petersburg, Helsinki etc: July - August

Middle East, Egypt, Jordan etc: March - April

North Cape,  Norway - Denmark  July

I have found the weather to be good at these times.

Answer 5

We came back from a cruise along the Mediterranean.  We went the first week in June and it turned out to be the best time.  May is a little cooler, but by late June, temperatures soared to record highs.