None of us have been immune to the word “inflation” in recent years. And for all the talk of grocery prices at home, there’s another quieter kind of inflation happening in Europe right now. A weakening U.S. dollar means that, for many of us, trips to the land of the euro will soon cost more.
In fact, the euro climbed to an almost five-year high against the dollar in January; it’s up more than 13 percent over this time last year. Put another way: a dinner in Rome or Paris that might have cost $200 last February would now convert to $226.
That new reality has many travel advisors suggesting a clever hack. This summer, the best move may be to book a cruise.
“With currency swings still driving up the cost of euro-priced land vacations, cruises priced in U.S. dollars are proving to be a smart value,” says David Crooks, SVP of product & operations at World Travel Holdings, the parent company to brands including Cruises.com.
MSC Cruises
“Average per-diem prices are only up about five percent,” Crooks tells T+L. “That kind of pricing stability, combined with what’s included in [many] cruise fares, is why more travelers are seeing cruising as a better value.”
In a few cases, cruise trips have actually gone down in price. Mathy Wasserman is co-owner of New York-based Flying Giraffe Travel, and she’s found trips that are selling for less than she would’ve paid last year. Consider the seven-night cruise from Barcelona to Athens she booked for a client last July. That departure, in a high-end Sky Suite Retreat aboard Celebrity Ascent, was priced $10,936, including internet, a beverage package, and taxes for two.
“This year, the same itinerary, departing July 4 on Celebrity Xcel, a comparable ship with the same suite category, is $10,396,” Wasserman says.
There are many other deals to be had at lower price points, too. Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas has seven-night departures out of Ravenna, Italy, with balcony cabins priced under $1,500 per person. Princess Cruises’ Majestic Princess will sail 12-night circumnavigations of the British Isles this summer, with balcony cabins for less than $250 per person, per night. And MSC Cruises, which is scheduled to operate 17 ships out of a variety of European ports this summer, has many seven-night sailings priced under $1,200 per person in balcony cabins.
Princess Cruises
Even factoring in extras like drinks, upgraded dining, or a spa-day splurge, those prices are particularly attractive against the broader cost of travel in Europe these days, Wasserman says. “At the Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens or the Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona, where most of my clients stay pre-cruise, the entry level room can cost more than $1,000 a night—without a balcony, food, drink, or entertainment.”
Luxury lines are also offering significant deals against the backdrop of higher prices in Europe and the slide in the dollar’s purchasing power. Explora Journeys, for example, will have three ships in the Mediterranean this summer following the debut of Explora III in July. A recent search turned up nearly two dozen itineraries, ranging in length from seven to 14 nights, at prices less than $800 per person, per night, including all meals, drinks, Wi-Fi, and tips. Other mostly inclusive cruise lines, such as Seabourn and Silversea, are priced about the same, according to recent searches.
The best deals, of course, are available to travelers who are flexible when it comes to the exact timing of their trip. And it helps to have lots of free time in the first place, says Teresa Tennant, Seattle-based SVP of Cruise Specialists. “We find a lot of people don’t want to take a long-haul flight to Europe,” Tennant says. “Instead, a seven-night trans-Atlantic crossing on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, from New York to Southampton, England, is basically traveling business class for less than the price of business-class airfare.”
Tennant says the cost of such a trip is even less than it was a year ago: in September 2025, a balcony cabin on the ship was priced at $3,878 for two people. “That same crossing today, for September 12, 2026, is $3,698,” Tennant says.
Even better, you can lock in that price in dollars—which are down more than six percent against the British pound over the past year.
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