Birthday Europe Cruise or Las Vegas?

[DaisesOnAChain]

I'm hoping to surprise DH with a holiday for his 30th.

Option 1: 10 day cruise 🛳 Italy, Croatia and Greece. On a Celebrity Ship. We've not been to any of these countries. Think this would be quite a chilled option. We've never cruised before.

Option 2: 10 days in Las Vegas, with helicopter tour of Grand Canyon. Not been to LV but been to US a fair bit so don't mind the long flight.

Cost wise they're very similar.

Has anyone been to these destinations? What would you recommend?

These would be for Spring time next year so we could go any time between March and late May.

For 10 days I'd go with the cruise, 10 days in Las Vegas feels like too much to me. I spent 6 nights there when I went, had one day trip to the Grand canyon and the rest exploring the strip and downtown Las Vegas and that was plenty. If you do go to Vegas, then do the plane or bus trip to Grand canyon south which is within the National Park and is the Grand canyon you'd see on TV. Helicopter trips from LV to the Grand canyon are to Grand canyon west which I understand to be much less impressive /awe inspiring.

@RichardMarxisinnocent thanks for this. We aren't stuck on 10 days, I just thought we'd need it after the long flight. Good to know we could do it in less days!

Oh fab, I'll keep grand canyon south in mind too. Thank you!

If you do Vegas I’d make it into a bit of a road trip and mix up the city with the great outdoors. There are several national parks within a few hours’ drive, and a couple of state parks and Lake Mead close by.

I would spend that long in Vegas but there's places you could drive to.
We did a road trip around California and drive to Vegas (through Death Valley) in 15 days.

Sorry wouldn't spend that long in Vegas!

The first time we went to Vegas we did 10 days and didn't fit everything in that we wanted to do, so in my opinion 10 days definitely isn't too long. We had a road trip to San Diego booked in for 2 days in the middle of it as people said we would be bored but we ended up cancelling it in the end as we had so many other things we wanted to do in Vegas and couldnt fit the road trip in.
Its definitely a marmite place but I absolutely love it personally.

I wouldn't want either. Like others said, ten days in Vegas is too long. As for the European countries, they are close by and it seems like a faff to be stuck on an expensive ship rather than using their excellent transport systems to get around.

Hey OP, I’ve been to Vegas & done a small plane trip to the Grand Canyon south rim, flying over the Hoover Dam & Lake Mead. I’ve also cruised parts of Italy, visited parts of Greece but never been to Croatia.

I agree with some others that 10 days in Vegas is a tad too long, but maybe if you combined it with some other places (a loop road trip to Page, Moab, Flagstaff maybe, or Los Angeles) it would work better? But I suppose it depends on what exactly you plan to do when you get there whether you feel you could fill 10 days?

Of your 2 options I would go for the cruise. Cruising is fab but it may not end up the relaxing time that you think. It’s likely you will be off the ship every day you are in port exploring the areas & back on for dinner, drinks & entertainment. Repeat for 10 days!!

Since you’ve never cruised before this could be the more special option for his birthday?

Thanks, I'm going to go ahead and book the cruise for us!

I would book the cruise too. Lucky DH!

We went to the US for 2 weeks and did Las Vegas for 4 nights, LA for 6 (for the usual sights plus Disney) and San Diego for 3 (due to the time difference we only paid for 13 nights accommodation but arrived back 14 days after we left).

4 nights in Vegas was my limit. There was still more we could have done, but it was already starting to irritate me. We're not big drinkers, gamblers or partiers, so the fact that everyone else was was annoying! The food quality in the restaurants is terrible, yet it's really expensive.

We did a Grand Canyon helicopter and Sky Walk tour and it really was excellent.

We came back feeling like we needed another holiday to get over it! We loved it but it was quite full on.

Cruising on the other hand is very relaxing. We did one for DH's 40th and it was brilliant. Celebrity are quite a luxury brand and the service and ship will be beautiful. The ports are interesting too, which makes the cruise extra special. We like the mix a cruise gives in terms of busyness and chill.

We prefer to sail from the UK as it's easier on the luggage allowance, but that cruise would tempt me too!

Great that you chose the cruise! What a lovely surprise for your DH.

We just do vegas for 5 nights in may! Weather was beautiful (30 degrees but windy so not unbearable!)

We had a fab time! So I'd say vegas! We spent a lot of money though! We had 1200 dollars, and 1200 on the travel card plus we spent extra on his credit card! X

Apart from shows, casinos and looking at canyons what else is there to do in Las Vegas?

Ignore that - I'm on the wrong thread!

I have never been on a cruise. I would vote for that.
Absolutely, hated Vegas so glad we were doing our own driving tour. We cut the days short and went to far more interesting places.