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Diane C Cerruti
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@Diane C Cerruti

 

Howdy Diane and welcome to Cruise Critic! emo22.gif

 

As Floridiana mentions above, your Roll Call thread is the place for you to get to know the other Cruise Critic members sailing with you before the cruise. Your fellow Roll Call members may have important information posted in your Roll Call thread, especially ones that have sailed your line, ship or itinerary before. Also, your Roll Call thread for your cruise is the ONLY place on Cruise Critic where you and your fellow Roll Call members are allowed to post personal ads about sharing tours, excursions, transportation etc. with each other. There is a "captive audience" since you are all sailing together! emo3.gif  You will receive a much better response to your share request if you take some time to read the entire Roll Call thread, post an introductory post about yourself, and continue on with more posts to get to know the other members and allow them to get to know YOU first before you post your share request. That is the spirit of our Roll Calls.

 

Since you did not mention your sail date, I assume you need to click here Crown Princess - March 26, 2020 Transatlantic Ft. Lauderdale to Rome for your Crown Princess TA Roll Call thread.

 

For finding the Roll Call threads for your cruises in the future, please read What is a Roll Call? Everything you Need to Know and How To: Create A New Roll Call . For more information about our famous Roll Calls, please read the Roll Calls and Our Policy Regarding Facebook and Roll Calls sections in the Guidelines.

 

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I sincerely hope this information will be helpful to a new member. So sorry this is such a long post, but we are so glad to have you aboard Cruise Critic and just wanted to give you some of the highlights about being a member. emo35.gif

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat emo32.gif

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I am just adding a couple of remarks to the very helpful posts that have already been posted. 

 

I go to the Ports of Call section and spend a lot of time reading posts going back a ways.  That way I get a feel for what the majority of people liked, what a few people found and I was able to add, and solid recommendations for good tourguides.  Don't go by a single post, either good or bad, but get a flavor for what a lot of people have to say.  Then use that information to either join existing tours that others have put together, or try to put together a tour that you think you would like.   Private tours are economical with a total of four, six or eight people depending on the tour. 

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 Hi Diane,

 

Probably best to do what most folks do - using ship's tour, or private tour, or vans at the pier, start with a van tour of the Upper Rock reserve. 

The standard tour, which lasts about 1hr 45 mins, takes you to an overlook at the southern end, at the Jewish monument, where you can see across the Straits to Morocco (photostop only).

Then high on the Rock to St Michael's cave - about 20 minutes there. Those who don't want to go in the cave, or can't  (steps & one part with poor headroom, but fine for those with tolerable mobility), can stay outside for the panoramic western views over the Bay of Algeciras & Atlantic.

Then the upper Apes Den, near the summit. The road is narrow and with no parking area -  your van joins the back of the line and you walk up the line of up to a dozen vehicles to the den. The apes roam freely, they're not aggressive but they are a bunch of thieves so watch your hats, cameras, snacks, etc. Again great westerly views, and climb a dozen steps at the den for easterly views over the Mediterranean - tho' sometimes this is obscured by clouds which roll up the vertical eastern face. You re-join your vehicle when it gets to the front of the line. 20 minutes is about average. Anyone unhappy to mix it with the apes can stay in the van and still see the apes - they climb over the vehicles (I wish I had the windshield wiper concession for Gibraltar :classic_biggrin:)

Then on to the 18th century Great Siege Tunnels and dioramas (not to be confused with the WW2 tunnels) for about 20 minutes. Great northerly views from the top of the sheer northern face, looking down on the airport, the border, and the Spanish mainland. 

Then back down the Rock past the WW2 tunnels and the Moorish Castle to the town. Most folk choose to bail out at Casemates Square at the norther end of pedestrianised Main Street for the town's pubs, bars, cafes, shops, duty-frees, and minor sights like the Governor's House and the little Trafalgar Cemetery (those who died at Trafalgar were buried at sea, those who subsequently died of their injuries in Gib are buried here). For those who choose to bale out at Casemates Square, the walk back to the ship takes 20/25 minutes.

Gib has been running this format for years, they've got it off to a tee and the time-scale suits the vast majority of visitors..

 

That's the standard tour, and it costs around £22/€25 per person, and includes all entrance fees.

But since you are a group of 8 (the ideal number) it makes sense to pre-book a private tour. That will probably save you a few shillings, more importantly it keeps your group together as one unit and allows you to customise - for instance adding Levant Battery, or the WW2 Tunnels (allow 1 hour+), or the 100-ton gun, or a sea-level circumnavigation of the Rock at sea-level - Europa Point, the road tunnel under the water reservoirs and Caleta Bay on the eastern shore, & the Jewish cemetery & airport area (about 20-to 30 minutes).

Just bear in mind that due to the steep and narrow roads & sharp bends on the Upper Rock there's limits how much you can customise that route .

Check out this website

http://www.gibraltartaxiassociation.com/

Or contact John Lopez of Gibraltar Rock Tours at info@gibraltar-rock-tours.com.

 

There's the alternative of the cablecar to the summit. But there are difficulties.....

- The lower cablecar station is a 35/45 minute walk or taxi from the cruise pier.

- After about 9.30am, when the coachloads of day-trippers start to arrive from the resort towns of the Spanish Costa Del Sol and Costa de la Luz, there are often  long lines for the cablecar.

- The cablecar service is suspended (awful pun intended :classic_rolleyes:) in moderately high winds

- The summit is tolerably handy for the upper apes' den, but it's a bit of a hike to St Michael's Cave and a longer hike in the opposite direction to the Great Siege Tunnels - from which it's easier to walk down to the town rather than return to the top cablecar station. 

The cablecar suits those who enjoy walking and who want total freedom to do their own thing in their own time-scale.

 

Whatever you fix up, do allow time at the end for folk to explore the town.

 

JB :classic_smile:

 

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