janneke

Sorry folks, but we have been a couple of times on board of the Braemar and the Balmoral (in the upper resto) and i must say that the food is not fred's speciality (btw we are Belgian)

This however is subject to interpretation and one's taste; But the service is outstanding!

JP

Yes, a Dinner Jacket would be over the top.

 

steamboats

What, no need to dress with a dinner jacket, that's a first! And no formal night, hurah!!! And a buffet resto that is open at night. Waw! A never seen before! And on the last night no "baked alaska" dessert anymore and no waving of the napkins? And no dancing with the waiters on the tune of "volare"? What are we missing here?

What has Costa changed.

So there is no need to carry a tuxedo or a black suit in the suitcase?

I this really so? Please confirm cos i can't believe my eyes.

I'm going on the 19 july cruise in the med.

JP

Can someone explain to me why on the dinner menu the main part of the dinner is sometimes called "main course" en sometimes "entree", like on the Le Cirque diner menu. To me the main part is always the main course , and the starter is always the "entree". This is how we define these parts of the meal in Europe.

First of all : forget about getting a cabin on the Braemar for the Canaries around this time; I tried to book an outside cabin for NEXT year (yes 2014) and there are almost no vacancies anymore. So i will soon try for the year 2015!!!

Then secondly : i was on vacation in Tenerife from 25 feb till 13 march and i saw a 3 day storm from 3 till 5 march that blew the 2 ferries almost out of the sea, with winds around 100-120 kph! That perturbed most of the sea traffic in the area and stopped a lot of land traffic. Just to say that **** also happens in the Canaries.

Jean

Remember the Sceet Shooting on the aft of the ship with real buckshot? We'll never forget being on the lido and hearing the shot guns going off. First Cruise...had no idea...sprang out of our loungers and hurried to the aft railing only to see several men holding shot guns and a staff member launching clay disks off the aft of the ship. Fantastic...this image will forever be ingrained in my mind...wonderful!

It is actually called SKEET shooting, and yes i have actually done that on my first cruise back in 1976. It was not cheap, though, it costed 1 usd per shell. This was on a cruise on the Victoria, en route from Athens to South Africa thru the red sea. But we disembarked at the Seychelles to extend a land vacation of one week and then to return to London by plane.

I still remember the poor AC in the cabin : in the Med sea it was bloody cold and we stuffed the air diffuser with toilet paper to block the cold air, only till in the Red sea, where it was bloody hot, so we removed all the toilet paper from the air louvre to get as much as possible cooling. Dancing in the lounge wearing a tux was murderous in these hot conditions.

The Victoria went to Alang 10 years ago. The cabins were not very large and old style with lots of wood ( there was no SOLAS yet in those days)

Later we did numerous cruises with Epirotiki, Sun lines , Royal Olympic cruises, Ocean Majesty, etc ..., but i remember the old Vic the most.

Jan

 

Does anyone know what the tidal state was, when it happened?

Hi tide? Lo Tide? Mid Tide?

.

In the med sea there is practically no tide, at best they have 1 (one) meter

Woodofpine

as you said "she looks fine and well maintained"

I WAS on her for a 15 day cruise to the Azores, and i can tell you she does not look that fine at all.

I saw many rusty spots , especially round the anker holes and around the portholes, saw leaky ceilings, rotten teak deckplanks that squirt rusty water out when you step on them, soot in the morning, repaired carpeting, etc.

She is also not very stable and keeps rocking and rolling constantly, requiring a few "touristil" pills to keep the stomach under control. And the sea wasn't even rough! I compare her with the HAL Rotterdam who ploughs through the waves without a blink. In this case size matters.

Also she is not very cheap for a three star ship. I paid 2660 eur pp for a 15 day cruise with the Ath. In july i paid 2200 eur pp on a HAL ship for a 13 day Baltic cruise. Not much of a difference, huh? The food is very simple and the wine list is short.

In my opinion she deserves a one way ticket to Alang in India for recycling.

JP

Hello Wendy

Sorry for the late reply, but i just got back from a 2 week sea cruise.

For the Dourazul info, just google up "douroazul" and click on the "English" button, then on "7 day cruises" and then on "brochures". You will already see on that site how the itinerary loos like.

I have contacted our regular TA and got all the info via the mail.

The cabins were indeed small, as on all river cruisers, but we had a cabin on the top deck with a small balcony (though that takes up space from the cabin)

Food was excellent, buffet for lunch and a menu at night.

Advantage of Dourazul is that they dock right in front of the city of Porto, which you can reach on foot (just cross the bridge)

Hope this has helped you, have a nice cruise if you book this trip.

Cruising the Douro in oct should be fine. We have done this cruise (albeit with "Douroazul" cruises) in sept 2009 and it was bloody warm then, with temperatures in the 25 to 30 deg C, sunny days and blue sky.

Douroazul is a portuguese cruising company with an outstanding service. We sailed by ship while the tourbus followed by road for the daily excursions.

Advantage of this company is that they dock just across the river douro from the city of Porto in Villa Nova de Gaia. You can then do a city trip on foot, it is just a 20 min walk across the steel bridge. All other cruisers dock around the corner and it is a far walk to get to Porto, it is only reachable by bus.

Douroazul also does two dinners in a "quinta" and a "convento" , these can only be reached with a bus. Excursion to Salamanca inland are highly recommended!

In short , this cruise is a must do!

JP

I am booked on the allegra for the 21 feb Red sea cruise and was given the option to "repro" on one of these giants of the seas (an "osa" ship or some other big cupboard on its side) for a med cruise, or even a refund, in which case i would loose my train tickets to paris (from brussels). A med cruise this time of the year is not a pleasure (remember what happened to one of the Louis lines cruisers) and a cruise on board of a cupboard style ship does not appeal to me (i am not a fan of the RCI "Allure of ..." or any other funny name of the seas, where you can loose your wife for a week without being charged for matrimonial abuse)

So i decided to stick to the original planned cruise and dropping the egyptian ports is not a problem to me since i have seen all of egypt already anyway.

There is only one day at sea on the new scheme, which is not a problem to me either since i hate days at sea (i get bored then). Only drawback is that we stay too long in two ports only ( who will pay for the extra FULL days in the same port , Costa i suppose? That will compensate for the extra port charges for the partial days in egypt! A full 24 hr day equals three 8 hr days in port) and that some excursions may be different. One must realise that excursions for a boat load of tourists is something that must be planned carefully and well in advance.

The Marina ends cruising here anyway at the end of feb and goes then on its charter to Thailand early march. So there is no savings in fuel cost here!

The Allegra's last red sea cruise of march 28 leaves the region and ends in venice on april 10 and goes to the med on a cruise from venice and continues to cruise to the black sea and in the med afterwards! So i don't see where the fuel savings are when going half speed to Savona??? They have to stick to the planning as described in the costa book.

I realise that some cruisers are disappointed, but let's face it this is far better than getting shot somewhere in egypt (remember what happened in Hatshepsut/Egypt about ten years ago, the shooting!). Costa takes every possible precaution to avoid casualties or even lawsuits, especially when Americans are involved! It is irrelevant who the winner is here in the end, in my opinion there are no winners.

I did the Douro cruise on board of the DouroAzul Cruiser, sister ship of the Douro Queen in mid sept 2009. Temperatures were around 25 to 28 deg C

The CroisiEurope cruisers do NOT moore in Porto, but behind a river bend and 5 (FIVE) bridges away from Porto and in the middle of nowhere. One can NOT go on foot to Porto city unless by teh tour busses! The DouroAzul ships moore in Villa Nova de Gaia, right across the city of Porto, that can be reached by walking across the scenic Eifel river bridge.

We had a balcony cabin ( # 336, right after the ships bridge so we could look over the captains shoulder) , which takes away half a meter of room from the depth of the cabin. The balcony is barely 0,5 m wide, but during locking it gives yoe a tantalising view of the operation. During this phase one can not stay on the sundeck as the ship is going under very low beams of the locks, the sailors remove all standing structures from the top deck such as ralings, radar mast, sun shield and navigation lights.

At some points the river is so narrow than one could almost touch both river banks, and one can see the water level rising when the ship goes by due to the piston effect of the ship.

Excursion to Salamanca city is a must and takes 2 hr by bus (not 45 min as said in these treads) along a deserted plain in Spain (where it does not mainly rain) and where one can only see some donkeys, bulls and goats. Ideal for a morning nap and certainly during the return trip late in the afternoon after an exhausting city visit with a nice lunch, some Spanish wine and a touristic Flamencoshow.

The other "villages" such as Bitetos and Regua are less interesting, except for Lamego, with its church and its steps down the hill.

The service on board was excellent, typical cruise style, with very attentive waiters and good food. Plenty of cocktail parties by the captain accompanied by tasty appetizers.

Two visits are included in the trip, one to a convent and one to a vineyard house , both for a nice meal with excellent wines

JP