Overall, I like your trip.

I would book Eurostar to Brussels and from Paris to London soon as you can. Use www.eurostar.com Eurostar, the chunnel train, is priced like an airline. The cheap seats sell out first and the price goes up. If you can’t find reasonably priced seats on Eurostar, try Ryan Air and www.whichbudget.com to look for cheap flights. Check our “cheap flights” forum for more links, tips and help with flights.

I’m not sure how your transatlantic flight works with the cruise, but if you haven’t already bought your airline ticket, seriously look at flying out of Paris. It will probably cost more than a round-trip to London but less than the total of a roundtrip to London plus the cost of getting back to London from Paris. Use the multi-city option on flight searchs.

Budapest to Rome and Cinque Terre to Paris are long hauls. Look for cheap flights or train options that include overnight trains.

Thanks for the tips! I know people do it all the time, but I am finding the getting from a-b difficult to grasp. I will look into those trains. This site recommends the eurorail 5 country pass, so would that still be a good choice if i were to take the eurostar and/or book flights for the longer trips? (I know this may be better suited for the travel section) How far ahead can you book overnight trains?

Should i be booking any other hostels/hotels beforehand? I know generally it is okay to book a few days ahead, but I don’t know how busy the rest of western europe will be during the olympics.

A friend of mine who works for an airline in Canada (where I am from) has booked me a cheap direct flight out of london to canada at the end of my trip, and at the start, i already have a cheap flight booked from barcelona (where the cruise ends) to london with my family to meet my friend there for the start, so the start and end are set. However, I will be coming from vietnam into europe before the cruise, and still need to book that flight.

Thanks! If you think of anything else i should look more into, please let me know!

Eurostar trains aren’t covered by any rail pass, but there is a special “pass holder fare” discount. That can be a real money saver if you’re over 25 and traveling at a day and time when cheap leisure fares and other specials aren’t available from Eurostar.com. Pass holder youth fare and regular youth fare on Eurostar are almost exactly the same, so the discount doesn’t matter with a youth rail pass. I would guess that some sort of rail pass will probably save money even if you fly some of the legs. Change your itinerary in the trip planner to fly a couple of the legs and see how that changes the recommendation.

Outside of London you probably don’t have to book hostels in advance, although Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam may be busier than usual, so I’d probably book those in advance, too. I usually suggest booking 3 days in advance for overnight trains — longer if you can for trains on Friday and Sunday nights. While there’s often only 1 direct option for an overnight train between two cities, there are usually a couple of additional choices that involve a connection or two, so even if you wait until noon on departure day, you should be able to find something that will get you from A to B overnight, even if it’s not the most comfortable option.

I would consider dropping Budapest for Prague. As far as I’m concerned, Prague is the most beautiful city in Europe, and it would be a shame to pass right by it if you are going from Berlin to Vienna. Budapest is great as well, but is much further out of the way.

I’d drop Vienna for either Budapest or Prague…

Agree 100% with Oldlady…