Advice - Barcelona to Lisbon

[thunderbird56]

No, the "stash" ..still....I would hate to imagine that we could drink our money's worth....am I in denial? :eek:

 

Only you can gauge it's worth depending on your own consumption. Obviously, if Hawaiidan can spend 110 pp per day it's well worth his while. I typically enjoy two double martini's before dinner (happy hour prices) and enjoy the pre-dinner socializing in Martini's. Others have said they avoid the crowds and go at other times. I'll have an occasional beer with lunch and occasionally an after dinner drink in the lounge. Wife has a glass of wine at happy hour (two glasses) and carries the second into the dining room for dinner. Now, looking back at our charges I'd say we average less than $40 per day FOR BOTH of us. No package for us. You also need to consider the type of drinks you prefer. If you have $18 glasses of Champagne or pricey single-malt scotch it can add up in a hurry. Enjoy your cruise.

[jpalbny]

It does appear that we're interchanging the Alhambra Palace (in Granada) with the Real Alcazar (in Seville). They are both worth seeing! But, you do not want to try to go from Cadiz to Granada - it's about 300 km!

 

Seville is easy to reach by train from Cadiz. It's a bit of a long ride (it's been >5 years, but I think it was almost 2 hours). The train station is an easy 5-10 minute stroll from the pier. You can buy tickets upon arrival, or pre-purchase them online at renfe.es if you like to plan ahead. We've done it both ways and prefer to have our tickets in hand prior to arrival. There are plenty of trains back and forth so you shouldn't worry too much about missing the boat on the way back. Take a look at a map of Seville, and figure out which train station you want to stop at; there are at least two if not three, IIRC.

 

If you're looking for a shorter train ride, and/or have already seen Seville, you can take the same train about one hour and stop in Jerez de la Frontera. Someone else mentioned this, and we agree that the sights here are worth a stop - the riding school, sherry houses and tours, and the town itself. Cadiz is pretty as well but I think that staying in Cadiz would be my third choice at this port (Seville first, Jerez second).

 

The Alhambra is on a hill just outside / at the edge of Granada. Can't tell you where in relation to the train station, because we drove there and parked in their (large) parking lot. This is a huge complex that is worth at least a half-day to visit. Afterwards, you can walk downhill into town for a bite to eat, and a tour of the church where Isabella and Ferdinand are buried (the Capilla Real).

 

Lovely part of the world! Have a great time. :)

[Cornishpastyman1]

WOW! Thanks for all these tips, Tony! As you can see, I'm trolling the boards rather than prepping dinner for tomorrow (or for tonight, for that matter) and cleaning house.......but I need a BREAK!!!!

 

Do you have any advice for Morrocco?

 

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer

We all need a break sometimes, and seemingly no-one more than I, who somehow thought one could do Granada and Cadiz on the same day (thanks JP and Chris).

 

Stony ground on Morocco - sounds very exotic though, and somewhere I wish I'd been. Somewhere way down the link from my 'signature' are 3 vids from Barcelona - I think there's a fee to visit Parc Guell now. Merry Christmas to you and all on CC - may we all continue to enjoy the good luck and good health to pursue these wonderful trips in 2014.

[studebhawk]

OK, we have deviated a bit off topic, so back to Spain! I appreciate the advice thus far. Our itinerary is the following

 

Barcelona, Spain

Provence (Marseille), France

Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Valencia, Spain

Cartagena, Spain

Malaga, Spain

Gibraltar, United Kingdom

Tangier, Morocco

Seville (Cadiz), Spain

Lisbon, Portugal

 

We plan to book our own tours or take the shuttle to city center for a DIY tour. Alhambra is a must - some have easily taken the train into Seville, others have done tours (with a guaranteed return to the ship! - I must admit I'm a bit anxious about missing departure!)

 

Also, in searching the board, it seems that the spa experience is a bit underwhelming. It seems there is a new thallasso therapy pool which is bigger. I was on a Celebrity cruise years ago where there was a huge indoor thallasso pool with about 10 massage stations - really worth the up charge. The pool (even the new one) on Marina looks dinky. True?

 

Thank you in advance!

 

We did this itinerary on the Riviera last September.

Almost all of the ports are the same.

We had a memorable cruise.

Contact me at: jlevthal512@gmail.com and I will send you more specific information if you want more information on the ports.

[orchestrapal]

We did this itinerary on the Riviera last September.

Almost all of the ports are the same.

We had a memorable cruise.

Contact me at: jlevthal512@gmail.com and I will send you more specific information if you want more information on the ports.

 

Have been to all these ports several times and what they DO have in common is that they are all ports.:rolleyes:

[roothy123]

Well, I interpreted that "Amost all of the ports are the same" to mean almost all of the ports that the original poster mentioned were ones that the writer went to, but who knows? In any case, I am going to almost all of the ports for this itinerary so I will be emailing studebhawk for more information. You cannot have too much information! By the time my cruise rolls around, I may need another bag, though!

Edited December 24, 2013 by roothy123

[Mura]

Cadiz and the Alhambra in the same day? Yikes, even if they were close together -- which as you now know they are not -- there's too much to see in each place. If you been to the Alhambra before (about an hour or 90 minutes just to get there from Malaga) Malaga itself is very interesting. They have a lovely Alcazar, as does Seville.

 

Our first time in Tangier was with Renaissance and we just did the "hire a cab" bit which worked out fine for us. Of course, you did end up at a typical shop but if you are firm enough you can convince the driver to forego that stop.

 

The second time we were there our group had a private tour with a guide who everyone said was fabulous, but I had torn my meniscus and chose to stay on board that day. I don't have a record of that guide's name but I'll contact the person who arranged the tour and see if she still has that info.

 

I do know a guide who we used in Alicante some years ago who can do Cartagena and Valencia (I think). He gave us a great day in Alicante. Drop me an email if you'd like his contact info.

 

Cadiz is a charming town (as others have said) and there is plenty to do with one day in port, or even two. But it's also close to Seville and Jerez which indeed have much to offer. In Jerez there is a lovely Clock Museum but when we were there (Nov '05) you had to be with a group in order to tour it. (We were 8 people.) That is also close to the Spanish Riding School.

 

Mura

[Mura]

The guide we used in Nov '05 is Abdelhamid Idrissi Kaitouni.

 

Here is what Laura (who organized that tour) wrote to me:

 

I tried the website on his card but it brought me to a porn website so I looked up the following: http://www.privateguide.com/tangiertour/ and http://casablanca-privatetours.com/about-us.php. There are also facebook and other links but I don't do facebook or those things. Can't vouch for any of the e-mail addresses contained in the links!

 

Hope this helps!

 

Mura