Planning for 2013 Norway/France/River Cruise

Since all your listed destinations are within the Schengen Agreement countries, you do indeed have a time limit. You can stay only 90 days in any 180 day period in Schengen countries. If you want to stay longer, you need to get a long stay visa (I forget if it is from from the country where you will entering, or the one where you will be staying longest). Getting such a visa is possible for the retired, but it's not easy. If this is an issue, search the boards here for more on these restrictions. Note that the British Isles are not part of Schengen, and Croatia, Morocco, Bulgaria and Turkey are not either (to list some of the more popular places). Time spent in these do not count on your 90 days, but the 180 days are still being counted, so you cannot pop over to London or Istanbul for a week and get another 90 days. If your whole trip is less than 90 days, then you have no worries, and can proceed with your planning.

Thanks Harold, I was not concerned with time limitations, but rather how I should tackle this trip? Where to first, how to get from point to point?