kate52

Oh, glad you are enjoying the trip, Linda! Been following the ship on marinetraffic (or trying to- it keeps disappearing!)

Also following the weather! Looks good so far.

Can't wait to hear all about it

kate

If it's your first time in Lisbon I would stay there as there is plenty to see and it's a very attractive city. The castle of St George is especially nice with a café, shady areas and gardens, and stunning views.

We did a trip to Sintra and Cascais on our second visit. I was a bit disappointed with it as there wasn't long enough in either place, but particularly in Sintra where I felt we missed out on the beautiful castles I'd heard about. It was a 4-5 hour tour so we had to stay in the main centre of town, while the castle area is a bit further out. The tour would have been great if it had just gone to Sintra.

kate

Last year the little train had a stall set up just along the dockside. We bought tickets there and boarded the train at the main road a few steps away.

There was some information about the town and buildings as well as the ride up to the viewpoint. Sadly it was raining and visibility was not very good! (July)

kate

Hope you have a great time and look forward to hearing all about it.

kate

Our judgements are certainly coloured by our personal experiences!

Loved Helsinki- wasn't expecting anything but thought the layout of the city was attractive, and the buildings. The people were really kind and helpful, and the quayside market was interesting. And the sun came out for the first time on our May Baltic cruise!

And Stockholm- yes it was ok, sail in was better than sailaway. We explored the old town for hours trying to love it, but not really enjoying it.

Also loved Casablanca and Naples because we had such a nice time there!

Now I was distinctly underwhelmed by Talinn, thought it was a bit tacky and touristy, though the rooftop view was nice.

As for Brindisi- I've been "reminding" my OH for 9 years that it was the place we should have gone on a trip but he didn't fancy it!!

kate

Do have a look at sailaway's cabin review thread on here if you decide to book a specific cabin- there are quite a few spirit cabin reviews on there. A lot of deck 7 cabins have a restricted view but the agents on the phone can tell you exactly what the situation is with any cabin.

We loved our deck 7 cabin on spirit- it was really quiet and convenient. We did have the bottom of a lifeboat in the top of the window, but it only obstructed about a quarter. Think it was 151.

kate

I would certainly agree with all the suggestions so far (been to most, not all)

I would like to add Lisbon to the list- it's a very tourist friendly city, easy to get around, plenty to see, but not overcrowded.

kate

I voted for cabin booking, though it was really a tie with charging for the safe!

kate

kate52

 

My partner and I are early 60s, but still tend to be a lot younger than many of the Fred passengers. Having said that, we have met some friendly and fun loving people. Mind you, there are quite a lot of old fogies too, but you can avoid them. We don't really mind that, except that we tend to be in the minority when it comes to staying up late. We also always prefer late sitting for dinner. When we have been out all day there is no way we would want to have to rush back to get ready straight away for dinner. We like to take our time and have a pre dinner drink.

 

You can easily find out how long you have in each port of call by looking up the port authority information. I always look it up so we can organise our days. It is very rarely we ever take a ship excursion. We did a Canary Island excursion a couple of years ago and hired cars in a couple of the ports. Car hire and petrol are cheap in the Canaries and we picked the cars up in the ports. In Madeira we booked an excursion through Madeira Happy Tours and were really pleased with it.

Thank you for the tips, especially the port authority info- I should have thought of that! Really looking forward to it- just hope is weather is kind to us.

kate

I'm following this thread as we are stopping at El Hierro in March.

Saw a review on the other site that reported the giant lizards as being "miniscule" !

kate

Hmmm- you don't seem to be able to get a 3/4 day stay before the cruise, only a 7 day one.

When you click on the cruise and stay option in the search panel, another box opens up to tick if you want stay before cruise.

There are plenty of flights from the uk, and the cruise only prices are quite good, especially when they have run out of flight availability!

kate

I've gone for a "maybe". Adults-only would be good for some cruises, regardless of itinerary, but don't see any need to exclude children from all the cruises. I think the Calypso was only adult-only because it just wasn't safe for children and didn't have the facilities.

The staff seemed happy though!

kate

Hi- I'm not sure what's going wrong. I tried a search for cruise and stay 28th June from any SW airport and all the options that came up had two listings- one for hotel and deluxe, one for hotel and other cabins. There were no hotels that did not show two. Was it a stay and cruise rather than cruise and stay? Did you try putting the details in the search box or go through other search menus?

kate

Thanks both of you for the excellent (as always!) advice.

We are going on the 12th March so will look out for Linda's impressions of El Hierro.

In La Gomera we dock at Valle Gran Rey and then San Sebastian.

In Fuerteventura it's Puerto del Rosario and then Gran Tarajal.

That's a good tip about room service, Linda, especially as we are on second sitting. Do you know if it's usual to tip room service at the time?

I'm hoping to be able to get a dry martini and lemonade on the drinks package, as that's my usual tipple, but not sure if it's included as it only mentions beers, wines and spirits.

kate

Hi all- we've been to Madeira on a land holiday, but never visited any of the Canary Islands before. So we've booked a cruise for March, not with Thomsons but giving Fred Olsen a try and going on the Braemar.

Apart from one trip from Liverpool with Cruise and Maritime it's our first non-Thomson cruise, so will be an interesting adventure.

I know Cruising Linda has been with FO so any tips would be gratefully received.

We are visiting

LaPalma (sounds like a straightforward diy)

Fuerteventura (2 stops in 1 day here so not sure)

Lanzarote (fire mountain exc or beach transfer)

Gran Canaria (another diy, )

Madeira (been before and think we might go to Camara de lobos)

and a couple of more difficult ones-

El Hierro- looks a bit desolate! Maybe a trip to see the giant lizards.

La Gomera- another 2 stop day. Not sure if it's worth doing a trip?

I've looked up some older posts about the main ports, but if anyone has any info about where there are sightseeing buses or plenty of taxis I would be very grateful.

Thanks

Kate

Thanks for the reply.

We got our confirmation letter today with some more details (actual flight times etc) so I am feeling a bit better prepared!

We've never been to the Canaries before, either (except Madeira) so it will all be new to us, which makes it quite exciting!

We are in our 60s so don't think we will be the youngest onboard. And not looking to wear cut-off jeans or shorts in the MDR- just that OH gets a bit grumpy about wearing ties on holiday.

Fingers crossed there's a "house" martini!

kate

I like a Sea Breeze- not too sweet.

kate

Hi- we have cruised several times before, mainly Thomson, Island Cruises, Cruise and Maritime. Because of the dates and itinerary, we have just booked Secrets of the Canaries on the Braemar, and are wondering how different it might be to our previous experiences.

Thinking about dress code, ability to take drinks to cabin, smoking areas?

The excursions are available to book online, but as we are visiting 2 ports in one day on both La Gomera and Fuertoventura it's a bit difficult to know how much time we have in each one. Will there be a presentation of the excursions onboard, and is this likely to be at the beginning of the cruise? (There is only one sea day quite late on)

We have taken the £10 pp per day drinks package, does anyone know if I can get a dry martini and lemonade on this package?

Thank you for any help you can give,

kate

We did the Adriatic in 2010 - the last year the Spirit went from there I believe.

 

We haven't been on the Dream yet - this will be our first time. Hoping we have made the right choice as we have so loved the Spirit & Celebration!

 

If it was my choice & I hadn't done the Black Sea, I would chose that one; 2nd choice Ancient Wonders. By the way we didn't get to Mykonos in 2013 due to rough seas & they routed us to Bodrum - we know the Bodrum area very well & had a fantastic day there in a nearby beach resort village.

 

If you enjoy the Black Sea, you can always go back again in 2015 if they decide to do more 2 weeks - I would definitely return to the Black Sea; one of our best cruises!

I agree with julessmiles - one cruise to the Black Sea is unlikely to satisfy your curiosity, so why not take the Celebration one this year, and if next year's look interesting, then go again! We went two years running to Sevastopol, Nessebar, Constanta, Istanbul- there was plenty to see even if Constanta was a bit lacking.

kate

Oh I would love to see Spirit based in a Greek port and visiting some of the less obvious places.

Parga, Itea, Limnos, etc were lovely ports of call for The Calypso. Adults only would be a bonus but not a necessity!

kate

We used the Hoho bus on our second trip to Istanbul. Like you, we had seen the main sites and wanted an overview of the rest of the city.

Well it did the job, and the price was reasonable. It was interesting and relaxing (we didn't get off) but not memorable. If I were to do it again, I would try to get a ferry across the Bosphorus or explore the main shopping area.

kate

I'm a "maybe"- sitting on the fence again! I think there could be a lot more variety in what they offer ex-uk in terms both of ports visited and starting points.

Having done the Baltic, and the Fjords, in the last 2 years, we are ready for something warmer! However we would be very tempted by cruises from the North West visiting places like Zeebrugge, Honfleur, Guernsey, Cornwall etc. We don't always want to go North.

kate

Wouldn't hurt if they put them where Explorer's is..... It's a hardly used place :(. Was hoping they could make that another bar though????...

I'm really surprised to learn people think explorer's isn't well used. Not been on Celebration, but on Spirit this year and last year, the area was nearly always busy with people sitting reading/ chatting/ playing cards/ some organised games etc. Not sure if you could get served there or had to go to the bar, but lots of people drinking mainly tea/ coffee / soft drinks. I wonder if this is because they were ex-uk cruises and people spend more time inside?

I don't like the thought of there being less public space inside the ship just to provide 26 balconies so hope they don't go too far with this policy.

kate

When we went to Norway in July this year, the Spirit was not listed at Gereinger on the port timetable. This was a bit worrying, but I found it WAS listed for Hellesylt.

And of course, everything went to plan and the sail in to Gereinger was just beautiful, despite the rain and low cloud.

So while I'm not saying there is no problem, it could be that the ship is, again, registered to arrive in Hellesylt. I think I checked on cruise tt website, but I know there is another one. Hope it all works out and you have a great cruise,

kate

Cabin Review Format

Cabin Number: 151

Cruise Ship: Spirit

Date of Cruise: 13/07/2013

Bed Formation: parallel twins. Two drawer units between beds so not cramped for space.

Bath/Shower?: bath with shower (fixed head)

Adjoining Cabin?: No

Balcony?: No

Comment on the Size of the Cabin: very spacious, seating/ sleeping areas could be separated with curtains. New flat screen tv. Fridge.

Comment on any Noise Issues: None- last in row so neighbours only one side.

Comment on Storage Space: Loads of drawers and more than ample wardrobe space.

Comment on the Bathroom: Lots of storage space. Wall tiles looking a little tired. Big mirrored cabinet. Shower gel awful!

Any Other Comments?: View partially obscured- we could see the bottom of a lifeboat in the top of our windows, but it did not spoil the view.

Would You Recommend this Cabin?: Yes

Link to any Images:

Score out of 10: 9.9