spain cruises

[Aroxen]

Hello All,

 

I was thinking of seeing Spain via cruise. However, I was surprised to see that only a few lines (ex. RCCL or Azamara) offer Spain-intensive cruises. Most start in Barcelona then head to France and Italy. Is there a reason for this? Is seeing Spain by cruise the best idea? I prefer cruising because it's more economical for us at this time.

 

Thank you for your insight.

[jocap]

It depends which bit of Spain- we like the northwest coast, and choose ships which go to Bilbao, La Coruna, Vigo etc. If you want Med Spain, you'll have to look at the sites you want to see, and notice which cruise ships visit there...eg Cartegena, Malaga.

Have you looked at Pullmantur, or MSC, Costa etc, to see where they're visiting? Also Thomson, which has a ship based in the Balearics in summer.

Jo.

[FTLcruisers]

Our transatlantic cruise (Celebrity Constellation) will leave Barcelona and stop at Alicante, Palma de Mallorca and Malaga. Haven't seen typical Med-type cruises with this many stops in Spain.

[neil5054]

Our transatlantic cruise (Celebrity Constellation) will leave Barcelona and stop at Alicante, Palma de Mallorca and Malaga. Haven't seen typical Med-type cruises with this many stops in Spain.

We are taking a HAL tour in May 2011 Barcelona to Dover and it stops in Gibraltar, Cadiz, Lisbon, Vigo before going north.Otherwise RCL has cruises from Barcelona taking in a few Spanish ports also

[vancojo]

We had the same issue. Finally settled on a Windstar Cruise the leaves Lisbon and sails to Barcelona. They have a couple of different itineraries.

Lisbon/Barcelona or Barcelona/ Lisbon, but only a few dates per year.

MSC also has some Spain oriented itineraries. There do not appear to be many options if what you want to do is see lots of Spain/Portugal by ship. I even considered doing it by ferry, but never quite worked out the details.

[keltic]

Spain is fairly big at least in the european sizes standards. It´s big an full of interesting places, many times not close to the docking areas. Cruises go around Spain just by chance, of because our location between north and south (UK and the Cannary Islands), Transatlantic hopes from the Med to America, or simply positioning cruises at season basis, when ships go from the Med to the North of Europe or viceversa.

 

As it´s the country which separetes the Atlantic & the Mediterranean it´s a mandatory route to follow. The Spanish cruises either Pullmantur, Happy Cruises or Iberocruceros, are not playing much atenttion in Spain, since we want to visit other parts or the world and not cruising in our own shores. You will be able to find some routes from Malaga, or Cadiz, to the Cannary Islands, which are popular for us who are seeking the sun in the low season of even using our ports to go up or down to the North of Europe or the Mediterranean.

 

All routes are partial. You may expect visiting either Vigo or Coruña which are used to come to Santiago, Malaga, sometimes Cadiz, Barcelona, Palma, and exotically ports of Alicante, Palamós, Gerona, or even Mahon, or the Cannaries. But you won´t find anything like "visit Spain by cruise".

[jocap]

Another way to see northern Spain is to go by overnight ferry from the UK, Ireland, France etc, and either hire a car or take a hotel in Santander, and do short trips. As keltic says, it's a large country, and has so much to offer, as well as the Med ports.

Jo.

[louhun88]

We are booked on RCI's Grandeur of the Seas to do a Spanish Med cruise in May next year - we depart from Palma de Mallorca, then to Ibiza, Barcelona, Day at Sea, Malaga, Gibraltar, Day at Sea and then back to Palma De Mallorca.

 

You can also do this as a back to back cruise with an Italian Med.

 

Louise X

[Specs]

We have booked this cruise:

 

Spanish Splendor

14 day Holland America Line / ms Prisendam

Sailing date:September 12, 2011

Tilbury (London), England / Cherbourg, France / @ sea / Bilbao, Spain / Gijon, Spain /

Vigo, Spain / Lisbon, Portugal / @ sea / Seville, Spain / Gibraltar, British Territory /

Alicante, Spain / Barcelona, Spain / Sète (Carcassonne Castle), France / Scenic cruising Strait of Bonifacio / Civitavecchia (Rome).

 

I am so excited!

 

And I find an another one for You:

 

Western Europe Reflections

14 day Holland America Line / ms Ryndam

Sailing date: Aug 14

Dover, England / Rotterdam / Zeebrugge / Guernsey / St- Malo / @ sea / A Coruna, Spain /

Leixoes (Porto), Portugal / Lisbon, Portugal / Portimao, Portugal / Cadiz, Spain / Ibiza, Spain / Barcelona, Spain (2 day).

 

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