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Where should Shertz and Mr. Shertz go on their honeymoon?

Where should Shertz and Mr. Shertz go??

  • Venice to Athens cruise

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Stockholm to London cruise

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Venice, Athens and Istanbul

    Votes: 1 100.0%

  • Total voters
    1
  • Poll closed .
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shertz1981

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Aug 3, 2009
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478
We''ve been agonizing for a while -- we want a fun, luxurious trip where we "see stuff."

Option #1 - Delay the honeymoon from August until November and go to New Zealand for 14 days (16 with travel). We''d base out of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown, and Dunedin.

Option #2 - Take a Stockholm-to-London Baltic cruise (it goes to Copenhagen, Denmark; Oslo, Norway; Visby, Sweden; Helsinki, Finland; three days in St. Petersburg, Russia, with option to spend a day in Moscow; Tallinn, Estonia; Amsterdam, The Netherlands), with a few days in London post-cruise

Option #3 - Venice-to-Athens cruise (lots of Croatia, plus Corfu, Santorini and Mykonos in Greece), with a few days in Venice and Athens pre- and post-cruise.

Option #4 - Find a way to include Istanbul in option #3

#2, 3, and 4 are all August trips.

Sooo ... what would you pick????
 
I''m not voting because I''m just as torn as you are!

Just wanted to tell you those all sound FABULOUS, shertz. My only question is to whether or not you and FI have been on a cruise before? If so, then two thumbs up. If not, you may want to take what I like to call a "training cruise"...a 3 or 4 nighter somewhere to make sure you enjoy it. Some people have found they really hate cruises, and some love them. I''m in the love category and so I''m working on a training cruise for my SO because he''s afraid that he''ll feel "trapped" on the boat during days at sea.
 
FI and I are veteran cruisers ... him b/c his mother wanted him to see the world, me b/c my parents liked nothing better than turning their children loose on the boat. :) I''ve been on mostly Caribbean itineraries (Bahamas, Eastern, Western, Southern, Panama Canal), which is why we nixed that region for the trip.

Tell your SO that even on a small boat, he won''t feel trapped. Or maybe go on a port-intensive cruise so he''s tired at the end of the day! I like to do the more outdoorsy stuff (such as sailing or hiking or seeing ruins) so I''m always exhausted by dinnertime when in port.
 
I voted for the Scandinavian cruise for two reasons:

1) You would hit a number of places that are terrific for one day trips (Tallinn, Oslo, Helsinki, etc.) AND you will get to spend significant time in the places that you might want to explore more (St. Petersburg, Option-Moscow, and London)

2) The greek cruise sounds like it''s essentially the same as above, but from experience, I can tell you that you WANT to have a land trip to the Mediterranean region! There is sooooo much to see and it''s different in that the shops, cafes, etc, don''t practically shut down at 8PM the way that they do in many of the Scandinavian areas...

They all sound great, but I am actually hoping to take my sister on the Scandinavian Cruise, not this year, but next as a graduation gift to her.
 
Date: 12/3/2009 10:50:53 AM
Author: shertz1981
FI and I are veteran cruisers ... him b/c his mother wanted him to see the world, me b/c my parents liked nothing better than turning their children loose on the boat. :) I''ve been on mostly Caribbean itineraries (Bahamas, Eastern, Western, Southern, Panama Canal), which is why we nixed that region for the trip.

Tell your SO that even on a small boat, he won''t feel trapped. Or maybe go on a port-intensive cruise so he''s tired at the end of the day! I like to do the more outdoorsy stuff (such as sailing or hiking or seeing ruins) so I''m always exhausted by dinnertime when in port.
Well, based on your reply, and what MrsH said, I''m also voting Scandanavia! It''s one of those places you don''t *generally* think to travel to, and I think it will be a gorgeous, exciting, and fabulous vacation! I''d definitely take the option to Moscow, too!

SO is DYING to go to Alexandria...Egypt, that is. (We live in Alexandria, VA.) I think we might combine a trip there with a Nile cruise and possibly Istanbul for our Honeymoon. I''d love to do Italy and Greece, but those to me are separate, stand-alone trips...I want to immerse myself in those countries/cultures for at LEAST a week!!!
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Date: 12/3/2009 12:28:13 PM
Author: vc10um
Date: 12/3/2009 10:50:53 AM

Author: shertz1981

FI and I are veteran cruisers ... him b/c his mother wanted him to see the world, me b/c my parents liked nothing better than turning their children loose on the boat. :) I''ve been on mostly Caribbean itineraries (Bahamas, Eastern, Western, Southern, Panama Canal), which is why we nixed that region for the trip.


Tell your SO that even on a small boat, he won''t feel trapped. Or maybe go on a port-intensive cruise so he''s tired at the end of the day! I like to do the more outdoorsy stuff (such as sailing or hiking or seeing ruins) so I''m always exhausted by dinnertime when in port.

Well, based on your reply, and what MrsH said, I''m also voting Scandanavia! It''s one of those places you don''t *generally* think to travel to, and I think it will be a gorgeous, exciting, and fabulous vacation! I''d definitely take the option to Moscow, too!


SO is DYING to go to Alexandria...Egypt, that is. (We live in Alexandria, VA.) I think we might combine a trip there with a Nile cruise and possibly Istanbul for our Honeymoon. I''d love to do Italy and Greece, but those to me are separate, stand-alone trips...I want to immerse myself in those countries/cultures for at LEAST a week!!!
9.gif

OMG, there''s a cruise on Princess(?) that goes to Istanbul, Cairo, and Alexandria. Randomly, my BFF growing up lives in Cairo, but FI isn''t interested in the other stops on the boat (Israel).
 
Date: 12/3/2009 1:09:44 PM
Author: shertz1981

Date: 12/3/2009 12:28:13 PM
Author: vc10um

Date: 12/3/2009 10:50:53 AM

Author: shertz1981

FI and I are veteran cruisers ... him b/c his mother wanted him to see the world, me b/c my parents liked nothing better than turning their children loose on the boat. :) I''ve been on mostly Caribbean itineraries (Bahamas, Eastern, Western, Southern, Panama Canal), which is why we nixed that region for the trip.


Tell your SO that even on a small boat, he won''t feel trapped. Or maybe go on a port-intensive cruise so he''s tired at the end of the day! I like to do the more outdoorsy stuff (such as sailing or hiking or seeing ruins) so I''m always exhausted by dinnertime when in port.

Well, based on your reply, and what MrsH said, I''m also voting Scandanavia! It''s one of those places you don''t *generally* think to travel to, and I think it will be a gorgeous, exciting, and fabulous vacation! I''d definitely take the option to Moscow, too!


SO is DYING to go to Alexandria...Egypt, that is. (We live in Alexandria, VA.) I think we might combine a trip there with a Nile cruise and possibly Istanbul for our Honeymoon. I''d love to do Italy and Greece, but those to me are separate, stand-alone trips...I want to immerse myself in those countries/cultures for at LEAST a week!!!
9.gif

OMG, there''s a cruise on Princess(?) that goes to Istanbul, Cairo, and Alexandria. Randomly, my BFF growing up lives in Cairo, but FI isn''t interested in the other stops on the boat (Israel).
Oh my. Sounds like I need to get Future Mr. vc10um on a training cruise post haste!!!
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I said NZ partly because I am just dying to get there after seeing a friend''s parents'' photos. I''m not as keen on the #2 or 3 cruise, because although they both go to TONS of fabulous places, in my experience with a cruise in Europe (Barcelona, Nice, Monaco, Florence, Rome, Naples, Malta), you just don''t really get to experience each city/country for long enough to get the best experience.

But I guess it depends on your travel style! I like to immerse myself at least for a few days in each city so you really get the feel of it and don''t feel so rushed and like you have to hit up all the "must-see" spots in a short amount of time. If you just want to see the few main tourist spots in town and then move on to the next, then go for it!
 
I voted #2. Those are super-cool places to visit. Don''t get me wrong, I love the Mediterranean as much as the next gal, but I would not go on this cruise in August. Whichever city you debark in will be absolutely overrun and Istanbul will be sweltering.
 
I think it depends on what you really see yourselves doing on your honeymoon.

Taking a cruze is alot different to the type of activities you can get up to in NZ.

I vote NZ because I live here and have to support the local economy
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but personally, as great as NZ is, I would be put off by having to wait so long for the honeymoon.

Any of the cruses sound like good options to me.

ETA: One pro about NZ though is the exchange rate is more often than not strongly in the tourists favour which will allow alot of "luxury" on your trip. I used to work at a "luxury" cinema and we had American back-packers come in and hand over wads of cash for the whole experience and laugh about how cheap it was.
 
I picked option 3 because I am Croatian-American, and my family still has a home on an island on the Dalmatian Coast. So, I am partial to Croatia. I hear that Venice is beautiful too, and I went to Athens a few years ago and loved it.
 
I admit Mr Shertz and I are sort of hoping for NZ ... the issue is the timing. My boss is flexible (he was like, "I assume you''re only getting married once, right? OK, we''ll work it out.") but the other boss is less so -- just the nature of Mr Shertz''s job.

Mr Shertz also brought up the idea of a Hawaii cruise ... so tempting. So many choices!
 
New Zealand... For no reason other than I *so* would like to go there... And I''m not a fan of cruise ships.

But really, all those choices are pretty incredible. I so long to be a world traveler!

Can''t wait to hear what awesome destination(s) you''ve chosen!!!
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I''m happy you''re leaning towards NZ- I''ll live vicariously through your photos!
 
I vote for NZ if the timing and length of time after the wedding are okay with both of you. We''ve been to each of those places and loved our time there. It''s a great active vacation with wonderful scenery and very friendly people. We''d love to go back.
 
Shertz,

Have you thought about a cruise tour? They are offered with many itineraries and cruise lines. My DH and I are heading off to our honeymoon in two weeks and that''s what we''re doing. 13 days of cruising around NZ and the 7 days of the cruiseline''s land package around Australia...then spending our final days in Sydney to do our own thing.
 
I vote NZ! We spent 2 weeks there (only on the S. Island though) and drove around the island. It is an amazing and beautiful place, and we had a fantastic trip.

Link with pics
 
OMG, BEG, I just saw this -- that is SO helpful :)

Thank you!
 
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