<p>Just about every major cruise line with head offices in the  U.S. is  in a race to increase capacity in Europe next summer. Right  now, the  same cruise lines are finishing off the European summer  season and,  while a few are going to operate out of places like  London and  Barcelona right through the winter, the rest are coming  to this side of  the Atlantic.</p>
<p>And they have posted their cruises for Europe in  2011. Some are  same-old, same-old or new back-to-backs, but there are  others that  look interesting. Keep in mind these are all starting  prices, do not  include taxes and fees, are based on per-person, double  occupancy  and were available at time of writing.</p>
<p>Here's a head start on some of next year's European cruises:</p>
<p>-  Carnival's new (2011) Magic, a sister ship to the Carnival Dream,  will  operate in Europe for much of the summer. When it's time to  cross the  Atlantic, the Magic offers an interesting back-to-back en  route to its  winter base in Galveston, Texas.</p>
<p>It starts on Oct. 16 with a 12-day, round-trip cruise of Europe  from Barcelona.</p>
<p>Ports  include Marseilles, Savona, Rome (Civitavecchia), Naples,  Dubrovnik,  an overnight in Venice and finally Messina (Sicily)  before returning to  Barcelona. That night, Oct. 28, the ship sails  for Galveston on a  16-day journey.</p>
<p>There are lots of sea days on this leg, with only  Palma de  Mallorca, Malaga, Las Palmas, and Grand Turk in the Caribbean  as  scheduled ports.</p>
<p>Combine the two and you have a 28-day  cruise. Starting price on the  European cruise is $1,099. Starting price  on the Atlantic cruise is  only $839. Put them together and for only  $1,938 US, you have a  28-day cruise.</p>
<p>- Still with the new-ship  theme, Holland America's Nieuw Amsterdam  (launched this summer) has an  interesting 27-day Seafarer's Sojourn,  which is also two cruises in  one, departing from Fort Lauderdale for  Venice on April 3, 2011. While  there are only few ports on the way  over, you get to see a lot of  Greece and Italy before they fill up  with tourists.</p>
<p>Here is  where the ship is going: Funchal (Madeira), Cadiz  (Seville), Gibraltar  (British Territory); Cartagena, Valencia,  Barcelona, Monte Carlo,  Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Civitavecchia  (Rome), cruising Strait of  Messina; Nafplion, Katakolon and Corfu in  Greece, with a final port  stop in Dubrovnik. Prices start at $2,972.</p>
<p>- There's another one  from Holland America, aboard the Eurodam,  embarking from Barcelona on  May 12 and disembarking in London  (Dover), 22 days later. Variety is  the key on this cruise. You have  two overnights in Lisbon and St.  Petersburg, and the rest of the  ports are Gibraltar, Cadiz (Seville),  Vigo, Cherbourg, Zeebrugge  (Brussels), Dover (London), Copenhagen,  Warnemunde (Berlin),  Tallinn, Helsinki and Nynashamn (about a one-hour  high-speed train  ride to Stockholm), disembarking in Dover. Starting  price: $3,344.</p>
<p>- One more.</p>
<p>This is one I like for its  ports, and how close together they are,  which allows for many days  where the ship arrives at 7 a.m. and  doesn't leave till 6 p.m. or  later, affording a longer day in port.</p>
<p>The Crown Princess departs  Southampton on May 22 for 12 days, with  stops in Guernsey, Cobh (25  kilometres to Cork), Dublin, Liverpool,  Belfast, Glasgow (Greenock),  Inverness (Invergordon), Edinburgh  (South Queensferry) and Paris (Le  Havre). Then it's back to London  (Southampton).</p>
<p>Prices start at $2,089.</p>
<p>-  If cruising over Christmas Europe interests you, look at Royal   Caribbean's Independence of the Seas for a Christmas and New Year's   cruise departing Southampton on Dec. 17, 2011.</p>
<p>You can check all  these with an experienced cruise travel agent or  online at  royalcaribbean.com, princess.com, carnival.com and  hollandamerica.com.</p>