Our tickets are booked for summer 2017 — New York, New York to Milan, Italy.  We’ll have approximately five weeks to explore, but where should we go and what should we do?  Reading up on Milan, I have discovered that it is a hub for no-frill airlines and is a jumping off point for all parts around Europe.  While that is exciting and opens up the possibilities, it is also problematic because it opens up so many possibilities.  Now, instead of focusing on Italy, we could potentially look at the entire map of Europe and figure out where to go!

Alas, after doing more reading on Italy, Milan is only a three-hour train ride to Venice.  And after further research, I found a cruise that leaves Venice and goes around Italy to end up in Rome.  Better yet:  the itinerary is ideal and the price is jaw-dropping.  Our cruise budget is around $100 per person, per day.  This $100 per day is for the basic cruise fare plus port fees and taxes.  Ideally, it would also include gratuity at $13.50 per person, per day, but lately we have realized that those parameters are very difficult to find.  Yes, sometimes we’ll see a deal where tips are included and/or there might be an onboard ship credit.  But for $100 or less per person per day, it is not often.

Well, we’ve found a deal that includes cruise fare, port and taxes, tips and some onboard spending money for under $100 per person, per day.  Details:

The sailing is on the Celebrity Constellation, an older ship that we are very familiar with because we have sailed on her sister the Millennium.  We like the Celebrity product, ranking it our second favorite cruise line.  As a matter of fact, my first ever cruise was on a Celebrity ship — the Mercury.

Here’s the cost breakdown:

Cruise Fare:  $649 + $87.15 (taxes/fees) = $736.15 per person x 2 = $1472.30

Add $13.50 x 2 = $27 x 9 nights = $243

Total:  $243 + $1472 = $1715

$1715 x 9 nights = $190.55 per day / 2 = $95.25 per person, per day.

This covers our room, food, onboard entertainment and activities, plus of course the transportation to take us to six different cities.  And we’ll debark our cruise just outside of Rome, so we can continue our travels in Rome and then make our way north through Tuscany and Cinque Terre en route back to Milan.  And who knows?  Maybe another great cruise deal will pop up that will be hard to pass up.

So for now, we have a cruise booked and then two and a half weeks that are open for the possibilities.  We have plenty of time to make plans — it is always exciting to read about places that we could go to, and then make plans to actually get there!  Stay tuned…