A cruise along the European coastline, wouldn't that be just a dream come true? If only you had the time and money to go on board a cruise ship and visit all those ports in the Mediterranean, to then go around the Iberian Peninsula to the North Sea up, up, and away almost to Siberia. It's a dream, isn't it? Wrong! If you are planning on traveling to Europe and you think cruising is the most expensive way, you are making a serious mistake.

There are many ways of getting to know Europe. You can go on your own, stay at a Bed & Breakfast, rent a car, have lunch at diners, and really spend serious money on overpriced European goods. Traveling on your own apparently seems less expensive, but if you write down everything you spend, you might be alarmed at the expenses. Let's say you're walking around London and you feel thirsty, wouldn't it be terrible to pay for bottled water at a price three times what you pay at home? Paying a local tour guide is almost always more expensive and not always do they have understandable English. The best option for land traveling is going on a package deal if you want to save on a travel guide but that is about it. If you are going on a package deal you might as well go on a cruise!

Think about the advantages of a European cruise. All your food and drink is already paid for, so you won't pay European prices on food and drink, you will pay what you would pay at home. When the cruise arrives at a city, you have a tour guide with good English. The only downside to cruises is the time limit for exploring the cities ashore, but the advantages totally overshadow this. If you take the total expense for cruising and divide it by the total number of days you will be traveling, the outcome might be much less expensive than land traveling.

So you should stop thinking that cruises are just for rich people because they are not. It is just a question of class and self-allowance. If you believe you can go on a cruise, you will because it turns out less expensive than land traveling.

There are two main routes on European cruises. You can take the cold Northern route, which is the Baltic Sea (Scandinavia and Russia), Norwegian fjords, the Arctic Circle, and British Isles. Make sure you take plenty of winter clothes, because out at sea is much colder than on land. It is a beautiful cruise, although it is more indoors. You can also take the Mediterranean course, which is probably more appealing. You get to know Barcelona, Southern France, Italy, and Greece. It is warm and pleasant there and you can go to the pool on the cruise ship and enjoy the outdoors. There are also possibilities of making a connection between both courses and get to know the entire European coastline.

It is just a matter of being wise with your money and knowing how to save up. It is not impossible to go on a European cruise, it is worth every cent.