Is a Cruise Worth It? A Die-Hard Backpacker’s Honest Take on Multi-City European Travel

If you’ve spent years exploring Europe with nothing but a hostel booking and a rail pass, the idea of a cruise probably isn’t high on your list. 

Backpacking across Europe gives you something a fixed itinerary can’t: freedom. You can linger in places you love, leave early when a destination doesn’t click, or even change your plans entirely on a random Wednesday afternoon. That kind of control over your travel can be hard to give up. 

But once you actually experience a cruise first-hand and look at the cost and convenience, your opinion might change…

Why Most Backpackers Write Off Cruise Travel 

Cruises can sometimes feel like you’re traveling in a more passive, less intentional way. And the freedom that backpacking offers is undeniable. 

You can spend four days in Ljubljana because you love the vibe of the city, or reroute through Slovenia after a conversation with someone at a hostel bar. It isn’t usually the kind of thing that a ship’s set schedule accommodates. 

The spontaneity has value. But the assumptions about cruise travel deserve more scrutiny. 

The idea of being herded through tourist sites on a clock, eating buffet meals, being confined to one place, and never leaving the ship’s social bubble is only true if you let it be. 

Shore excursions are optional, and independent exploration at port is actually standard practice for a lot of travellers. There are also plenty of itineraries, like those for Mediterranean cruises, that go further than “playing it safe” in the obvious capital cities. 

What a Cruise Does Better Than Backpacking

There are plenty of positives to cruise traveling, and sometimes, it can give you even more freedom than backpacking can, just in a different way. 

Firstly, you can see multiple cities without the constant transit days. The average European cruise calls at 3-5 ports, usually in the span of a week. That means you see multiple destinations without any train bookings or budget airline fees. And transit fatigue is real. It can sometimes even take away from your experience in a specific city.

Secondly, only needing to unpack once seems like a relatively small advantage. But it can add up. Repacking every two nights is fine when you’re 24, but not so much when you’re trying to rest between cities. A ship cabin stays the same while the destination changes. 

Lastly, predictable costs matter more than many travelers would like to admit. Rather than traveling to a new city on a whim (where you may not have a choice of where to stay and how much it costs) eats away at your travel budget pretty quickly. 

On the other hand, cruises bundle everything up (accommodation, meals, entertainment, transport) in one fee. 

The Cruise Advantage That Changed the Idea of Multi-City European Travel 

The ports that are worth visiting are often the ones that weren’t originally on your “must-see” list. For example, Kotor and Dubrovnik are cities that don’t always make the shortlist for a solo itinerary but end up being your favorite destinations when the ship pulls into the harbor. 

Additionally, you would need to plan several separate trips as a backpacker if you wanted to see multiple cities in one go. Sure, you could probably fit two or three into one trip, but what about five or six in the same timeframe? 

Cruises allow you to let go of all the logistics planning you need for backpacking. For instance, booking a European cruise changes what would have been weeks’ worth of transport planning into a single reservation. And the days at sea are perfect for a little rest and recharge before you reach the next port. 

Is a European Cruise Worth It for a Backpacker?

If you want to cover several European destinations within a tight two-week vacation deadline, a cruise is an incredibly efficient way to do that. 

Some travelers book a cruise to find out which cities are worth backpacking to. Either way, just like backpacking, cruises also include slow travel with a lot of local immersion. You just have to know how to plan your excursions.

Credit writer: Jimmy Morris