paumarier

My friend and I are staying in Porto for 2 nights after our Douro River cruise. I've looked at several travel sites for hotels and where the best locations for them are, but would love to hear from fellow cruisers. Thanks

Thanks for the info, Cruisemom.

My husband and I have just booked a Mediterranean cruise for 2022 and one of the ports is Kavala/Philippi Greece. I cannot find any information about this port in the Greece forum. Does anyone have any info to share regarding this port of call. Thank you so much.

My husband and I had a day on Guernsey from our Oceania cruise in April. We hired Dave Gorvel for a private tour and we are so glad we did. Dave gave us almost 4 hours of touring the island and showed us so many historic, picturesque and interesting places. His family has lived on Guernsey for generations and you could hear the pride in his voice when he described all the sites he showed us. Whether it was WWII German occupation history including his family's role in it, the best fishing and swimming beaches, the island's beauty or island economy. He was very interesting and kept us involved for the whole tour. We wished we had more time with him. We highly recommend Dave to anyone looking for a tour of Guernsey and we would definitely hire him again.

We used Levent Solmaz for private tours in Turkey.  The first time we docked in Kusadasi, he took us to Ephesus including the terrace houses. On our second visit, he took us to a small village up in the mountains. They were both excellent. We highly recommend him. He's easy to work with, speaks English perfectly and is extremely knowledgeable. 

Due to our ship moving from Bordeaux to Le Verdon, my husband and I and possibly some others, need a ride from Bordeaux to Le Verdon. We are looking mostly for a private ride vs train. Any suggestions?

Thank you !!!!

Thank you for all the great info. We will be on the Oceania Marina departing Southampton on the 19th. 

We're only staying one night prior to ship embarkation. Any suggestions for a hotel in a walking around/restaurant/pub area? We don't mind taking a taxi to the terminal the next day.

Thanks for your great info and details. 

Thanks for all you info and advice. 

Is it possible to find out which terminal/dock/berth the Oceania Marina will be located at on April 19 2019 in Southampton, UK?  I'm looking to book a rental car and Auto Europe has a rental return office at Southampton Port Office, Dock Gate 8.  I'm trying to find out if that is close or walking distance to the Oceania berth or will I have to walk a long way to get to the ship. Other return offices are at the train terminal and the airport.

Thanks

Is it possible to find out which terminal/dock/berth the Oceania Marina will be located at on April 19 2019 in Southampton, UK?  I'm looking to book a rental car and Auto Europe has a rental return office at Southampton Port Office, Dock Gate 8.  I'm trying to find out if that is close or walking distance to the Oceania berth or will I have to walk a long way to get to the ship. Other return offices are at the train terminal and the airport.

Thanks

We're on a cruise that stops in Malaga on May 1st. We booked a 3.5 hour Wine and Tapas Tour with Spain Food Sherpas.  We'll walk around the town after that so it will be a relaxing day for us.

We're on a cruise that stops in Cadiz in April. We are doing a tour with Spain Day Tours to Seville. It has lots of great reviews.

Going ashore we did not have any baggage/luggage but we did have a small backpack and my purse. There are baggage x-ray machines at immigration but they did not have us use them. Going back to the ship, we did put our things through the x-ray machine but I don't know if that's because we were leaving Cuba or because we were going onto the ship. I did not see anyone have a problem.

We didn't go for the government. We went to meet the people. We met and supported many locals by going and spending money with them which they truly appreciated and needed. We did not go to even one government owned restaurant, bar, store or hotel so we did not support the government. The scenery is beautiful and the people are lovely, friendly and very curious. There's always two ways to look at things.

We learned a lot about socialism and communism from our tour guides. Very sad. Isn't it ironic that after Fidel Castro died, his estate was valued at over $900 million dollars! Keep your people starving and put all the money in your bank account. 

My husband and I returned from a cruise to Cuba on the Sirena 3 weeks ago. The ship is in beautiful shape. There was nothing worn out or shabby. Every staff person we met throughout our cruise was friendly and helpful. We heard people at the next table saying that the staff was not friendly and not up to par. Then we heard them complaining about everything else. These people must not be happy unless they have something to complain about. So please do not think the Sirena is worn out or shabby or that the staff is under par. That is just not the truth. Also, the food was delicious. I have a picky stomach and cannot eat anything in a rich sauce. I found plenty of wonderful meals on every menu at all dining venues.  Again, people like to complain, I guess.

We spoke with a couple who brought their own wine on board so maybe you could do that. Also, even if you have the prestige package, you can buy a bottle of champagne through the butler and have it in your room. My husband did that with a bottle of scotch which he poured from for our whole trip. I was told that if you put a spoon into the neck of an open champagne bottle, it will keep it fresh another day. I do it and it does work. 

All three of our private guides were fantastic. When corresponding with them prior to the cruise, they all responded within a reasonable time frame considering Cuba's lack of wifi, were agreeable to tailoring our tours around what we wanted to see and do, and answered all my questions about what to see and do. I needed to make sure the cars that we were going to be using were large enough to be comfortable for my 6'2" husband with new knees and were air conditioned. All three guides assured me that would not be a problem and that my husband would be very comfortable. 

Havana:  We hired Raul of Blexie Tours. We enjoyed our day with Raul and our driver very much. Raul spoke English very well and he showed us a great deal of Havana and the countryside. We drove around in a 1958 Buick Belvidere which was immaculate and in amazingly perfect condition. Since it was in the high 90's, we really appreciated the air conditioning. Raul kept us very well entertained by sharing his knowledge of Cuban history and showing us all the important landmarks that you'd want to see if you were going to Havana. We didn't want to wait at the terminal to exchange our money so he took us to a bank where we just walked right in and had no problem. My husband wanted to buy cigars so he brought us to a store where he was able to purchase real cigars. He also took us to Fusterlandia which most tourists do not see. To get there we drove along the coast, through the area where most of the embassies are located, especially interesting was the Russian embassy, and saw some very affluent neighborhoods where high level government workers live. When he heard I liked gardens, he took us to a botanical garden with enormous banyan trees. While walking in Havana, he showed us small grocery stores locals used and explained how food was distributed to people depending on their income. He took us to a small family run restaurant where we had delicious pork sandwiches and nice cold beers. No "Cuban sandwiches" here. In other words, Raul really listened to what we wanted and made sure our day was tailored to us. We would happily hire him again and recommend him to anyone going to Havana.

Cienfuegos and Trinidad:  We hired Gio Guerra of Gio's Cuba Photo Tours to take us to Trinidad. Since we were docked in Cienfuegos for two days, we decided to do one day in Trinidad and one day walking on our own in Cienfuegos.  Gio picked us up with his driver in a clean, good sized, air conditioned taxi. Gio spoke English very well, was very friendly and extremely knowledgeable about Cuban history, geography and current social events. We learned a lot from Gio. Our drive to Trinidad took just about an hour and Gio kept us very well entertained during the drive. Once in Trinidad, Gio brought us to an old locomotive steam train depot and explained it's interesting history. Then he took us for a tour of the center of Trinidad. Since my husband couldn't walk the cobblestones, Gio got us a horse drawn carriage to take us all around the town while he explained all the sites. We stopped a few times to see different landmarks, go to a local bar for a drink, and even shop in a woman's home where she sold hand sewn, embroidered and crocheted clothing and linens. Again, it was very interesting talking with this lady while Gio explained that they could sell their hand made products, made by all the women in the family, out of their home (literally her living room) in order to make a little money.  After touring Trinidad, Gio brought us to the Valle de los Ingenios, the Valley of Sugar Mills. Back in the day, this gorgeous valley was filled with sugar cane and the mills that processed them. Gio gave us a great tour of the ruins of a sugar mill plantation that is currently being excavated and restored. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant Gio recommended and had a delicious lunch of paella, octopus and shrimp with all the usual sides. It really was very good. Once we got back to Cienfuegus, Gio had the driver take us all around the town to show us where to go the next day when we were on our own. He added several little touches like that to make our visit extra special.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time with Gio and would definitely hire him again. We recommend Gio to anyone wanting to go to Trinidad. 

Santiago de Cuba: We were in Santiago for two days and hired Maikel Alvarez for both days. He has a taxi service but also is also a tour guide. Miakel speaks English well, is very personable and very knowledgeable. He picked us up in a clean, well maintained, air conditioned taxi which he drove. Maikel took us all over Santiago where we saw all the major sites including San Juan Hill, Morro Castle and the cemetery where Fidel Castro is buried. Maikel brought us to a paladar for lunch, a private home where they serve meals. We sat at a table on the front balcony overlooking the ocean and beautiful islands. My husband and I both had the octopus and it was some of the best we ever had. You could compare the meal we had at this paladar with any restaurant back home. He took us to Helechos Garden, a fern botanical garden that has over 10,000 types of ferns. I was in heaven. What a great way to spend an hour or two having a private guide by the botanist who planted all these ferns. Maikel also took us to El Cobre, the church out in the country near the copper mines. On the way back, we stopped at a little shack where a man cut open coconuts for us to drink the coconut water and eat the coconut meat. Maikel made sure we saw the best of Santiago and also added in a few hidden gems. It's little things like this that make a great tour guide. Maikel was very entertaining and informative. We would definitely hire him again and recommend him to anyone going to Santiago de Cuba.

They had Sandy Cares who was the speaker on board for all things Cuba. We enjoyed all of her talks. Some were about Cuba before and after the revolution, about the ports we were going to, and a final talk about bananas which was very entertaining because we did not know how big a part bananas played in the Caribbean.

They had a string quartet that played several times throughout the ship. There was a concert pianist. And there was a singer and a magician but we didn't either see them.

We would have loved more enrichment talks about different subjects. We find those more enjoyable.

We just returned from the Oceania Sirena which stopped in Havana, Cienfuegos and Santiago.

We checked off "Support the Cuban People" on the affidavit and then hired private guides for each port. Oceania processed the documents, charged the fee to our ship account, and had the visa ready for us when we embarked. No problem.

The only time there was a line through immigration was when the ship's excursions were leaving the ship. Since there were so many people leaving at the same time, obviously a line formed. Because we had private guides, we set a time to meet them a little later than the excursions so we did not have to deal with the large groups leaving the ship. When we were ready to leave, we just walked through immigration and handed them our passports and visas. They looked at the passports and visas, then looked at us, then handed our documents back to us and off we went. That was it. Absolutely no problems.

We asked our guides in Havana, Trinidad and Santiago to join us for lunch and they accepted. We enjoyed talking with them throughout lunch and it was also great having them translate the menu and make suggestions.

There is always going to be someone asking to give you a ride, or sell you something, or show you some place. All we did was just say, no gracias, and kept walking. No problems at all.

We just returned from the Oceania Sirena to Cuba. We stopped in Havana, Cienfuegos and Santiago. We hired private guides in all three places and had absolutely no problems.

We hired Raul of Blexie Tours in Havana. He and his driver took us all over Havana for the day in an immaculate, very well maintained 1957 Buick Belvedere with air conditioning.

We hired Gio of Gio's Cuba Tours for a day in Trinidad. He and his driver picked us up at the terminal in Cienfuegos and drove us in an immaculate, well maintained and air conditioned taxi to Trinidad which was 1.5 hours away. We spent the day sightseeing and he returned us to our ship at the end of the day.

We hired Maikil Alvarez in Santiago. He drove his own taxi which also was immaculately clean, well maintained and air conditioned.

All three of these young men gave us fabulous tours of their home towns. They all spoke English very well. They showed us all the main sights but also little known and off the beaten path places that added immensely to our tours. They brought us to small family restaurants, out of the way bars/cafes for drinks and shared lots of historical/cultural information with us. We recommend all three of these young men if you are interested in private guides. They will make your visit to Cuba very enjoyable.