IWantToLiveOverTheSea

So I'm a little lost. Could someone please match the CD's to the correct ship for me? Regatta? Insignia? Sirena? Nautica? Marina? Riviera? Ray Carr Peter (Carson??) John Clelford Dottie Kulasa Paul Baya Who else?

oops, mistake. ignore.

He was our favorite. But now he's gone....I believe, anyway.

For anyone who had to stay in Le Verdon and be taken by bus to Bordeaux, were you aware that you wouldn't be going down the river to Bordeaux beforehand? What did your itinerary look like? Did it show you'd be in Le Verdon 3 hours and then arrive in Bordeaux later the same day? I'm trying to second guess whether our river cruise day will turn into a bus day! And so far I've found info on Bordeaux as a port, with history, but the site has no schedule. And while sites like cruisemapper are helpful, I'm pretty sure they're based on initial itineraries developed a few years in advance and often tentative. And I can find tide tables, but don't know how to use them!

One of the few differences between Sirena and Insignia is the restaurant situation. Instead of Polo and Toscana, Sirena has a combination of the two, called Tuscan Steak. It also has Red Ginger, which many of us love. It's the only small ship to have Red Ginger and Tuscan Steak. I love the decor in Red Ginger, and on Sirena it was great - never crowded or loud. There's some good info on the website under the Frequently Asked Questions section, kind of hidden at the bottom of the home page of O's website. Many people miss it.

Sirena doesn't have an artist loft, as previously stated. However, there are opportunities to learn and do needlepoint. I never bothered with that until one day I said "why not?" and joined the group. They have small kits you can take, and if you've never done needlepoint before, the "social hostess" (one of the entertainers) will show you how to do it and help you along. It's held in the Horizons lounge in the front of the ship, and always offered on sea days and possibly other days. There's no need to sign up; just look for it in the Currents paper and go. It's fun, informal, and you can also look out the big windows in Horizons, or chat with the social hostess or group, or whatever while you work away. In May there was also some other kind of artsy/craftsy thing offered a few days but I don't remember what it was. We only had one full sea day out of 10, so I wasn't really looking for things to do. So I didn't check it out.

I definitely agree with that - CI Car (very close to ship's berth) gave us a wonderful car, plus a CD to listen to about attractions, history, etc. Roads were excellent and navigation was easy.

I absolutely loved Madeira. We did a 3 hour taxi tour mostly outside Madeira. There are several very worthwhile viewpoints out on the island; well known if you google. We wen to Monte to see the pretty church and watch the toboggan basket rides go off - crazy! (But we didn't go; didn't want to risk an accident while on our cruise.) We took the gondola back down to town and met the driver. He took my spouse back to the ship and stayed to visit the old town part of Madeira and its painted doors. On the island of Lanzarote we rented a car from CI Car and drove to Timanfaya National Park. I loved it. Great for dramatic scenery. I haven't been to Tenerife or Gran Canaria, but they're likely beautiful, just like the island of La Palma, which we did visit and loved. The Iberian cruise is a great one - we loved Gibraltar and Lisbon.

How does that work with the reservation? Do you reserve it online with a specific time, print out confirmation, and then still wait in a line at the door? We're going in April so maybe it won't be too long a wait, but is there a way to guess how long the wait will be once you get there?

Late to post, but in case it helps others: Barcelona port site used to include all ships, but now you have to look here for Costa and I think Aida: http://www.palacruceros.com/schedule and also main port site: https://www.bcncruiseport.com/cruise-schedule?https://www.bcncruiseport.com/cruise-schedule?fromDate=09/24/2022&toDate=09/30/2022&cruiseLine=0&pageIndex=2&pageSize=10&pageLastDate=undefined

My experience on a Friday in May was great, but of course it might depend upon which terminal your ship uses, how many people are departing your ship, etc. But we found Barcelona departure from the ship to be amazing - no wait to get off ship at 8:30, easy to find our luggage in the terminal, walk out, get a cab, and get to the airport. We had a noon flight and made it in plenty of time. But we were on a smallish cruise ship (Oceania Sirena) with only 550 passengers on that cruise, so maybe it's harder later, or earlier, or on another ship in another terminal (there are a number of them!) But we've disembarked in BCN at least 2 or 3 times now and found the port quite easy, with taxis waiting and no (or very short) lines.

Barcelona does a great job of getting cruisers off their ships and on their way. In May we strolled off the ship around 8:30 and found only one or two people in front of us looking for cabs. Granted, we were on a small ship (Oceania's Sirena, which had only 550 passengers on that cruise). And I forget what time our flight was, but I think it was around noon....whatever it was, it was no wait to get off ship, easy to find luggage, no formalities in terminal, quick to get cab, not too much traffic, so fairly quick to get to airport.

I liked Cadiz, but I also liked Seville, available by train, though not a fast trip. There's a bus in Cadiz that goes around the outside of the older area of the city. I enjoyed that. I think I caught it somewhere by the park that's not far from the ship's berth. And if you're in Cadiz for the evening including sunset, I'd head to the beach area (Caleta?) for sunset. Just keep walking along the waterfron on the (I think) western side of the old town area of Cadiz. I found that nice, with lots of local flavor. From Cadiz you can probably also go the Andalusian white towns - by excursion or drive. In Motril I took a third party vendor's excursion to the Alhambra. The vendor got us tickets. It wasn't too terribly far to go for such an awesome place as the Alhambra. I forget the vendor's name. I didn't really see much of Motril, but that was OK. I believe it's the closest port you can use if you want to visit the Alhambra on a cruise. I'm thinking it was maybe only about 45 minutes or so. It was worth it. Portimao is in the Algarve. I'll be there this year and am thinking about renting a car and driving around to various towns along the coast. And/or I want to go visit the Benagil Cave, either from Portimao or another town. I've heard the town itself is just OK.

I'm trying Granvia Hotel. It's not swank, but looks quite nice. I booked 7 or 8 months in advance (refundable price) and the price was right for me. Now it's more..... In the past we stayed at Room Mate Ana, a somewhat quirky hotel with a tiny balcony that gave us a glimpse of Casa Batllo. It was basic but nice and in a great location. As long as I'm close to Barcelona's great Metro, I'm happy. Staying really close to the port hasn't appealed to me. However, there IS a hotel there, expensive, if that's what you want. It's called Grand Eurostars or something like that.

I'm pretty sure that when we went to the Alhambra (On Oceania) it was from Motril. One way, I think it was at most one hour to get there. The guide told us some information on the bus and the time passed quickly. We used a third-party vendor, not the cruise line, for a small group tour, as it was cheaper to do it that way. I don't remember the vendor's name; sorry. I'd recommend the Alhambra!

This is Ruth. Nice to see some more action on this thread. It's definitely Bali time in the cruise world. People on a couple Facebook pages I browse for Viking and Oceania cruisers often ask for Bali information. I've given Dewa's contact info by FB messenger (not publicly) to at least 4 or 5 people now. Hopefully at least one or two of them will ask him to show them Bali on their pre or post cruise stay or just for a day. Canadians, that's a lot of wonderful info you gave mrs. f! Wish I had seen that in 2019 when I was looking for info. But the book on Bali I found at Barnes & Noble helped. I did find, though, that ultimately my plans for touring turned out to be almost too optimistic, as that heat and humidity slowed me down a bit! As for the beach question (Diddlydi), I only went to one beach in Dec. 2019, and that was Sanur. It's about a half hour from the airport and less than an hour from Ubud. From what I had read, it was more sedate/less party-oriented than the beaches closer to the cruise/ferry port. I'm not really into beaches when cultural experiences are around, but my choice of spending our first night there was a good one. And I enjoyed my evening/morning at the beach, though like the Canadians, wasn't totally blown away by it. We mostly just walked up and down the path, looking at things and marveling at these boats (first photo) ...And then the next day, as we drove up to Ubud, we stopped at a few places of interest, including Setia Darma Mask & Puppet Museum (see collage; Goa Gajah's in there, too). As for food, in Sanur we ate at the restaurant where we stayed (Segara Village Hotel, restaurant on beach). The next day we were kind of tired from touring (in the heat) and just ate dinner at a nearby casual restaurant in Ubud. I had researched an outdoor dinner place in the country that sounded great; but we decided to stay in Ubud. During the day with Dewa, we let him choose the place, and that worked well. I remember snacking at the restaurant at Jatiluwih Rice Fields. And my photos show we ate one lunch at Semar Kuning, but I forget where it was. My spouse also wanted to go to McDonalds to see what it was like in Indonesia. There was rice, no fries! Oh, and hotels. We liked our Ubud hotel, especially the location. But it was very modest; maybe too modest for most cruisers. But a cousin living in Singapore recommended Warwick Ibah in Ubud, though pricey.

As for tours, we enjoyed our "Side Car" tour with Daniel of "Bike My Side." It wasn't cheap, but it was certainly fun, informative, and certainly different! My spouse loved his surprise birthday present that year (the tour). Of the many sights in Lisbon, I especially enjoyed the Bica elevador, the sail in and sail out, Belem attractions, Palacia Fronteira's garden/water, visiting various miradouros, and looking at graffiti plus artwork in some of the Metro stations. (Is the grafitti still there? I read it may have been made illegal!)

If you haven't found a place, or left for Lisbon yet: We're going to be staying in one of the On/Set Cinema Apartments in Alfama. It's about 140 euros a night in early May and looks very nice. They have a website, and are also on a couple hotel booking sites like Booking.com. I was also looking at Tempo FLH in the Baixa area near the Santa Justa Elevator. It's reasonable. But I haven't actually stayed at these places. We DID stay in 2014 at The Lisbonaire - good location, etc. and reasonable.

Another Fronteira Palace photo.

If anyone wants to go to a somewhat unknown but beautiful place in Lisbon, I found this when I was in Lisbon in 2014: Palacio Fronteira near the Parque Florestal de Monsanto. It was built as a manor house’s hunting pavilion for 1st Marques de Fronteira 1640. I was one of only two people there when I went to the gardens. It was quite beautiful. For my visit this spring to Lisbon after a cruise, I'm trying out the On/Set Cinema Apartments in Alfama. In Porto, I'm hoping to ride the Gundais Funicular from the Ribeira waterfront up to the top part of Porto. I'm really excited about visiting Lisbon again, and maybe even more excited about visiting Porto (with a day in Portimao, too, Algrave).

There's also Agoda. They seem to list a lot of apartments if you specify that's what you want. But you need to specify you need 2 rooms, not just 4 people. And everything is likely to be quoted in euros, since I don't think it's a U.S. booking site. I saw at least one place (called Cosmos Apartments) that looked possible/reasonable, though a few more reviews would have helped me feel more confident if I were booking. But it could be new. And the kitchen is painted orange - fine for me, but your kids might like that more than you! I agree that as long as you're near a Metro stop (usually red M on google maps) you'll be in good shape.

I don't know what prices are like for later in the year, especially for 4 people. However, I found decent prices at Hotel Granvia near Catalunya Metro (149 euros for superior room 2 people with breakfast, can cancel) for a late April one night stay. I also considered Casa Mathilda, 166 USD. For each, you'll be charged the city tax, something like 2 euros per night per person. There's also Hotel Jazz. And booking.com has places that are apartment rentals. We're using one in Lisbon. It may be worthwhile to check that site, especially with the "apartment" block checked. Good luck. Barcelona gets a lot of money from tourism. Beware the high charges to enter any Gaudi buildings! But you can look at the outside for free, of course.

I'm trying Hotel Granvia in late April, near Catalunya Metro, 149 euros for a superior room, OK to cancel rate, includes breakfast. Looks interesting from an architectural point of view. City tax is extra, but that's true for all Barcelona hotels.

I'm curious about that too. I'd prefer something concrete, but I know that's not always possible, especially when you're going to be the only ship in port, and it's a small one like those of Oceania, Azamara, etc.