Spain and Portugal Cruise

[GolfGuy1948]

My wife and I are considering a 10-day September 2021 cruise on the Celebrity Infinity to Spain and Portugal.  Ports of Call include Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, Gibraltar, Seville, La Coruna, Porto Portugal, and Lisbon.  If anyone has done this cruise what are your thoughts?

[leaveitallbehind]

Along with your post on this board, I would also post this on the Celebrity board as well for additional responses there.  Here is the link to that board:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/16-celebrity-cruises/

 

The Europe board will also be a good place to look as well regarding information on the different ports of call you are considering.  Here is that link:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/8-europe/

 

You may also want to add more detail regarding specific information with your post on what you are looking for to generate more informative responses.

 

That being said, this looks like a very interesting cruise!  Celebrity is one of our favorite cruise lines as well.  We enjoy their level of service, attention to their passengers, and their more traditional style of cruising.

Edited November 27, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, GolfGuy1948 said:

My wife and I are considering a 10-day September 2021 cruise on the Celebrity Infinity to Spain and Portugal.  Ports of Call include Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, Gibraltar, Seville, La Coruna, Porto Portugal, and Lisbon.  If anyone has done this cruise what are your thoughts?

I've  visited all those places, bar Porto, but not on a cruuse. Just do a little research beforehand, and in every case you can do your own thing, without the need for expensive ship tours. 

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, GolfGuy1948 said:

My wife and I are considering a 10-day September 2021 cruise on the Celebrity Infinity to Spain and Portugal.  Ports of Call include Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, Gibraltar, Seville, La Coruna, Porto Portugal, and Lisbon.  If anyone has done this cruise what are your thoughts?

I’m waiting for comments from our British posters about your including Gibraltar as a port of call in either Spain or Portugal —- they are inclined to think that particular territoriality was definitive settled centuries ago.

Edited November 27, 2019 by navybankerteacher

[LizikinsLivesToCruise]

I am looking forward to reading the responses. I'm interested in a similar itinerary, but in April 2021.

[gfkcruiser]

Any European cruise is great.  Have you been to any of these ports?

We stopped at Cadiz for Seville but have not been to La Coruna or Porto.  

Sounds like a great itinerary.

[Hlitner]

My thoughts are that its a decent itinerary for those who want to cruise Spain.   Personally, if we wanted to see a lot of Spain/Portugal  we would simply rent a car and try to spend about a month driving in Spain and Portugal and use quite a few Paradors and Pousadas.  Consider that a day trip to the Alhambra (Seville) is pretty good, but spending 2 or 3 nights in the excellent Parador located inside the Alhambra is a far better options.  Another problem with trying to experience a country via cruise ship is that you generally do not get the chance to enjoy night life and dinner.  In many European countries (including both Spain and Portugal), the cuisine and dining is part of the culture.  Having time to enjoy Flamenco in Spain and a nice dinner show with Fado in Portugal are the kind of thing we really enjoy when traveling in Europe.  And consider that some very important cities (such as Madrid) are not generally visited on cruise vacations.  As to being able to grab an early dinner when a ship leaves late does not work well in Spain where many restaurants do not even open their doors until around 9pm and few dine much before 10.

 

Hank

[dolittle]

Have not done them all but barcelona ,Lisbon and Porto are great stops sounds like a great cruise.

[dabear]

We're on this itinerary in August, 2020 & are excited. We've been to Barcelona, Malaga & went to Alhambra from another port. The posts we've visited were great and looking forward to visiting the new ones .

[hiccups]

We did a similar itinerary on Azamara with PerryGolf—if you’re truly a golf guy, you should check out that option.

 

My husband played golf at most of the ports, and I went sightseeing on private excursions with other Cruise Critic members.  I enjoyed all the ports, especially Malaga and Gibraltar, and would do a similar itinerary again.

[SRF]

13 hours ago, Hlitner said:

My thoughts are that its a decent itinerary for those who want to cruise Spain.   Personally, if we wanted to see a lot of Spain/Portugal  we would simply rent a car and try to spend about a month driving in Spain and Portugal

 

This.

 

 

[CPT Trips]

15 hours ago, Hlitner said:

My thoughts are that its a decent itinerary for those who want to cruise Spain.   Personally, if we wanted to see a lot of Spain/Portugal  we would simply rent a car and try to spend about a month driving in Spain and Portugal...

 

Seems like the same couple be said about almost every mass market cruise itinerary. 

 

OP will be well served by researching the ports and possibly purchasing admissions well in advance.

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, CPT Trips said:

 

Seems like the same couple be said about almost every mass market cruise itinerary. 

 

OP will be well served by researching the ports and possibly purchasing admissions well in advance.

When it comes to Europe we think that is very true.  Although we really enjoy cruising in Europe it is not a substitute for spending some quality time ashore.  We have long thought the perfect European vacation was to combine both cruise and land which can often be done with a pre or post (or both) cruise stay.   Some cruise lines (especially HAL) have enhanced their European cruise experience with some overnight stays.  This is a real win-win since it gives the passengers a chance to do things they cannot do on a shorter day stay and it also boosts crew morale by giving them extra time off the ship.

 

Hank

[cmalagngl]

We did an itinerary very similar to this one two years ago.  We spent three days in Madrid and two in Barcelona before the cruise.  We loved this whole trip.  Spain is fantastic and Portugal just as great.  I'd go again and maybe will someday.  One of the best vacations we have taken and we have taken a lot.

[jocap]

Sailing out of the UK, we've been to most of the Atlantic ports several times, except for Porto- and also the ones in the Med... are you wanting to know about the ports? Are you heading out of Barcelona, then into the Atlantic? 

Gibraltar (OK, NBT!), is UK, and usually around the half time port from Barca to the rest of the UK, or vice versa... weather in the Atlantic can be cooler or windier than the Med, but not too noticeable in September; there's some of our favourite ports on there, especially Cadiz, Lisbon and La Coruna.

[Host Kat]

@GolfGuy1948

 

Your two threads on different forums for same subject have been merged into one thread on the Celebrity Cruises forum.

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat

[ldubs]

On 11/27/2019 at 8:02 AM, GolfGuy1948 said:

My wife and I are considering a 10-day September 2021 cruise on the Celebrity Infinity to Spain and Portugal.  Ports of Call include Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, Gibraltar, Seville, La Coruna, Porto Portugal, and Lisbon.  If anyone has done this cruise what are your thoughts?

 

Have not done this specific cruise yet, but we are booked for the fall of 2020.  We are tying it to a land trip using Madrid as a base.  We have previously been to and enjoyed Valencia, Malaga, Gibraltar and Lisbon.  Even though we will have some repeats, there is plenty new for us to see.  I think this will be a good itinerary.