My 2027 European Trip Has Expanded
By LooeyVille
@LooeyVille (63)
United States
September 23, 2026 12:15pm CST
Many months ago my friend and I booked a Seine River Cruise trip for July 2027. Then after I had all the issues with the Danube last month I told her I might want to cancel that trip because it was all places in France, which doesn't add a new country for me, and that the last river cruise was really hard on me (low water, busses, etc.)
In the interim, her daughter, who is 50 years old and has never been to Europe, got an offer she couldn't refuse for a Mediterranean Ocean Cruise in July of 2027 and booked it for her and her 17 year old daughter. My friend asked me if I wanted to do that with her and join her family. We can't get the amazing deal the daughter got ($161 for an 8 day cruise, per person, so $322 for her and the granddaughter). But it wasn't a bad price really for a European cruise.
So while we're figuring all that out, the River Cruise Company gives us a very generous gift of 50% off any future European River Cruise has an apology for the Danube River situation with low water and busses and itinerary changes.
Well now that set the balls in motion. 50% a European River Cruise is a HUGE SAVINGS! So we got to thinking, how do we get the most out of a trip but only have to fly to Europe once?
The Answer? We moved the July European River Cruise back two weeks, which aligned perfectly with the Mediterranean Ocean Cruise. The River Cruise ends the day before the Mediterranean Ocean Cruise begins. So we're doing them back-to-back!!! And . . . as it turns out, we're paying the same total price inclusive of both cruises that we would have originally paid just for the European River Cruise. Isn't that crazy how that turns out?
So it's going to look something like this:
River Cruise: July 7-15 Paris, Conflans/Auvers-Sur-Oise, Les Andelys, Caudebec, Rouen, Vernon/Giverny, and ending back again in Paris. One of those ports will offer us an excursion to The Beaches of Normandy.
Ocean Cruise: July 16-25 Barcelona, La Goulette (Tunisia), Palermo (Sicily), Naples (Italy), Ajaccio (Corsica), Marseille/Provence (France) and then ending back again in Barcelona.
On that second part of the trip, the new countries for me will be Sicily, Tunisia, and Corsica.
THEN - we're staying an extra two days in Barcelona so we can take a day trip over to Andorra (another new country for me) and then we fly home on July 27th.
So all-in-all a 3 week adventure.
6 people like this
5 responses
@xFiacre (15379)
• Ireland
12h
@looeyville Excellent value. Just don’t let the Sicilians hear you refer to their island as a country!!
1 person likes this
@LooeyVille (63)
• United States
11h
Right about Sicily. You see, there is this "chart" out there for World Travelers and even a group you can join if you've been to at least 100 "countries." They have their "approved list" which includes some places like Sicily which isn't technically a "country" but is an independent municipality. They explain it, in part, like this (it's a much longer document)
1. Government/Administration: Any geographic area with a sovereign government or separately administered as a colony, protectorate, trusteeship territory, territory or mandate shall be considered as a separate country or territory.
2. Enclaves/Continental Separation: Continental land areas having a common government or administration but which are geographically discontinuous either by reason of being separated by foreign land not under their control, by being located on separate continents, or by being separated by a natural body of water shall be considered as separate territories provided their population exceeds 100,000. Multiple fragments separated by the same foreign country shall only count for one territory.
3. Federations: A geographic entity which is a federation of separate geographically definable entitles, each of which is a separate republic/emirate/kingdom in its own right, shall be counted as separate territories.
@RasmaSandra (101205)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
7h
Sounds like you'll have a really good time just cruising and having fun and seeing some amazing places,
1 person likes this
@Wrexxo (8022)
•
10h
Wow that is a crazy good deal, back to back cruises for basically the price of one is amazing. Love that you're picking up Tunisia, Corsica and Andorra too, thats a lot of new stamps in one trip. Hope the river part goes way smoother for you this time around.
1 person likes this








