EU Western and Atlantic Islands is a diverse cruise destination covering the Atlantic Islands in the South and ranging up the Atlantic Coast of Europe from Spain to Germany.
Cruise Types
The Atlantic Island comprise the Canaries and Madeira and are located off the north west coast of Africa. Cruises here also often include a visit to African ports especially Casablanca. These cruises are often escapes from the colder weather in Northern Europe and mostly commence from UK ports, however there are also cruises origination in the Mediterranean that cruise here.
Western Europe cruises focus on the Atlantic ports of the Spain, Portugal, France and Germany and enable passengers to visit some of Europe’s great cities including Paris (from Le Havre), Berlin (from Hamburg) and Amsterdam.
Repositioning cruises between the Mediterranean to the Baltic also cruise down the west coast of Europe.
While cruises are available year round generally the Atlantic island cruises are escapes from the northern winter (October to March) while cruises to the European Capitals are scheduled through the northern summer (May to September)
Main Ports
The key embarkation ports include Southampton, Dover and Liverpool in the UK as well as Amsterdam and Hamburg. Mediterranean cruises depart from both Spain and the western Italian ports (Genoa, Savona, Rome). Key ports visited include Tenerife, Funchal, Casablanca Lisbon and Vigo.
Weather
The Canary Islands has a warm, sunny climate with an average temperature of 19-22° C (66-72° F) throughout the year. In the summer the daily highs are about 27C and nightly lows of 18C from June to September. In the winter the daily highs are about 16C and nightly lows rarely much below 8C.