SoA Western Med, March 2023

Lady Meer · March 28, 2023

SaraSailing

The curtains annoyed me too! We had a mid-ship suite which had a sofa along the side wall of the bedroom so when seated your only view was of the balcony divider - a very poor design. We would have preferred to have 2 chairs to position in front of the window.

Sorry about your breathing problems, hope you feel better soon.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

Brenda

JoJo1947 · March 29, 2023

21 hours ago, SaraSailing said:

DAY AT SEA - from Cartagena to Lisbon

Past the usual dolphins by Gibraltar at breakfast.

I realised my breathing had gone from being able to power up eight decks to struggling up one. So I phoned the medical centre. Nurse Jo was up in no time to covid test me (negative) and then book me in to see the doctor in the afternoon. Doctor Geo said lots of people had a cough and he was getting low on cough medicine. But I also had a wheeze in my lungs. He said the soot would be problematic for anyone sensitive - and that it seems it has made my very dormant asthma into something acute. He also said we should treat me as though I had a chest infection. So now I have two inhalers, cough medicine and antibiotics for the reast of the week.

Photo of northern Africa, going through the straits.

Haven't yet been on the two ships when people didn't cough

SaraSailing · March 29, 2023

19 hours ago, Lady Meer said:

SaraSailing

The curtains annoyed me too! We had a mid-ship suite which had a sofa along the side wall of the bedroom so when seated your only view was of the balcony divider - a very poor design. We would have preferred to have 2 chairs to position in front of the window.

Sorry about your breathing problems, hope you feel better soon.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

Brenda

You reminded me of the deluxe single - great walk in wardrobe, but huge lump of walk just where you'd want to sit to look out. I'm used to the side sofa on Silversea, but then there's also a chair, and a wider balcony, so the angles work better. Which is also my gripe about glass balconies - impossible to keep clean, and they spoil the view from the bed/low chair.

SaraSailing · March 30, 2023

IT'S LISBON, IT MUST BE TUESDAY

Woke up to find we we're moored next to the Silver Moon, with the Iona trying (but failing) it hide behind her.

(Yes, someone did really bagsy a chair while they went to breakfast!)

We were told that due to intricacies of port rules that we had to exit via the main terminal, which required a port shuttle bus for the 200 metres distance, no walking allowed. (But we'd be allowed back in the building right next to the ship - no shuttle required. Not really a problem, if the shuttle just keeps running up and down - but we were there about 25 minutes. Then they packed a tour group in, which meant several people had to stand.

Because we weren't on a tour, there wasn't a huge amount of guidance for where to get the Saga shuttle up the hill. But eventually we found a yellow jacketed Saga man who sent us to a random gap between two of the Iona shuttles. We were expecting to get the second shuttle at 9:30am, and the bus finally rolled in somewhere maybe 10 minutes later. Then a local rep spent a while putting up the information sheets before we were finally allowed on. Most people dodged the dog poo on the pavement (probably why Iona didn't want that space. Huge coach, totally inappropriate for a shuttle, obviously not accessible.

Then we waited some more. Getting good at waiting. Just before 10am, the coach pulled out. There's a one way system which apparently required the first 15 minutes of the shuttle ride to take us lurching through tiny streets back to the ship we'd stepped off an hour previously. The next 25 minutes were more lurching and back-rolling up the hill to the designated drop off at the Hotel Mundial. Which the driver flew past, without stopping, without a word, nothing. The crowd were starting to get edgy. When challenged, the driver said something like "No one get off, I just drive." We phoned the ship, who agreed this was very wrong - but without having a rep on the coach there was no one to take charge. Under increasing pressure, he dropped us off - right across the road from the ship. It was just after 11am, and truly a horrible hour.

Some people were so distressed they went straight back to the ship. We started to walk, then found the coach was following us around a very tight corner. Didn't stay to see how that went.

We found a lovely little café, and a couple of other guests were already there enjoying coffee - and once we'd ordered Portuguese tarts, they got some too! The coffee was lovely, the tarts brilliant, and we started to feel a bit better.

Then we had a stroll through the tiny lanes between houses. LOTS of steps, lots of steep slopes and twisty turns, lots of shiny tiles on the pavements. It's such a beautiful city, and we came across many more gorgeous looking cafes perched on sloping pavements.

In amongst the very strange bus ride, I'd noticed a shop I wanted to go back to, to buy a birthday present for my husband. So we weaved through the lanes to find it. Shopping done, we walked back to the ship, through the small terminal and straight on.

The later phone call from "Explore Ashore" explained they think the driver had a mental aberration of some kind. If I believed that, we were essentially kidnapped for an hour. However, they also mentioned he'd been re-briefed, and had no further issues during the day. So, I think that the issue might have been total lack of appropriate briefing of the driver before he set off. Otherwise it feels like incredibly irresponsible behaviour from Explore Ashore. For some reason, I was sent chocolate-dipped strawberries with their tops off, and an apology note.

The dinner menu had changed since I'd had to pre-order, no more curry - which disappointed both parents. However, I got mine because it was already ordered. The sauce was pleasant if watery, but very bland for a jalfrezi, the chicken was extra dry. And none of the promised "condiments" appeared. They did make me nice poppadums (the thing I've drained myself to eat to help keep allergy less bad). Parents went for the veggie options, which are generally more interesting than the meat offerings.