Why Does Royal Caribbean Call La Rochelle "Bordeaux"?

[Texas_Traveler.]

Anthem of the Seas docks in La Rochelle, but Royal Caribbean markets the stop as "Bordeaux," even though it's two hours away.

 

I'm considering sailing on Anthem next year, and made the mistake of planning what I want to see in Bordeaux before realizing the ship docks two hours away.

 

Do they do this to sell expensive excursions? What excursions do they have from La Rochelle to Bordeaux? How much do they cost?

 

And... is Bordeaux worth traveling four hours round-trip?

 

Royal Caribbean does something similar with Le Havre, which they call "Paris," but Paris is a world-class city.

[edinburgher]

13 hours ago, Texas_Traveler. said:

Anthem of the Seas docks in La Rochelle, but Royal Caribbean markets the stop as "Bordeaux," even though it's two hours away.

 

I'm considering sailing on Anthem next year, and made the mistake of planning what I want to see in Bordeaux before realizing the ship docks two hours away.

 

Do they do this to sell expensive excursions? What excursions do they have from La Rochelle to Bordeaux? How much do they cost?

 

And... is Bordeaux worth traveling four hours round-trip?

 

Royal Caribbean does something similar with Le Havre, which they call "Paris," but Paris is a world-class city.

 Total guess here, but it may be the same as saying Paris when it is le Havre, Florence when it is Livorno and Rome when it is Civi. A marketing ploy.

 

As many more folks will have heard of the bigger names rather than the smaller ones, it makes the itinerary appear much more attractive to those looking to book something and la Rochelle may be unfamiliar to many non Europeans who are already  familiar with the word Bordeaux..

 

la Rochelle is actually a very pleasant and attractive town to visit with more than enough to fill a day without sitting on a coach for hours each direction.

 

Pull up previous threads and posts about la Rochelle by going to the general France Ports forum (not an individual thread)and inputting le Havre in the empty search box under your user name, then hit the little spy glass and within seconds all previous threads containg that word(s) will appear ready for you to read.  This would give you a start (with a second link on post #5)

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2865177-alternatives-for-la-rochelle/#comment-63535027

 

Edited June 22, 2023 by edinburgher

[John Bull]

And why do cruise lines call Southampton or Dover "London"?

Or Ha Long Bay "Hanoi"? Or Laem Chabang "Bangkok?

Or Nynashamn "Stockholm"?

 

Easy.....

Same reason why RyanAir call Girona "Barcelona" and Beauvais "Paris"

 

JB 🙂

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

Oceania Cruise Lines goes to Bordeaux, and docks on the river.  But their ships are smaller, so they can do it.  But first they sometimes have to sit on the river for a couple hours after coming from the sea, as the tides are not OK for heading up (or is it down?) the river. So if you can cruise on Oceania, you may have a chance of walking off a cruise ship and right into Bordeaux.  I imagine some other lines are able to do the river trip too - maybe Azamara?   Of if you see "Le Verdon sur Mer" on another line's itinerary, that cruise may get to Bordeaux.  But by cruise ship from there to Bordeaux on Oceania is almost 4 hours. At least when you're there, though, it's easy to go explore Bordeaux.

[Texas_Traveler.]

I've heard of Bordeaux, but I'm not sure I'd consider it a major enough destination to the point of warranting questionable marketing. Maybe Bordeaux is a more prominent city than I realize. 

 

I understand the practice for places such as Paris, London, Florence, or Rome. 

 

 

 

 

The central Bordeaux port is in a great location- walking distance to the main commercial district. It's too bad mainstream ships are too big to dock there. 

[edinburgher]

32 minutes ago, Texas_Traveler. said:

. Maybe Bordeaux is a more prominent city than I realize. 

Many will have little interest in the city itself being far more interested in the Bordeaux wines and the wineries all around for which it is very well known . In the world of wine, the name Bordeaux is very prominant.

Edited June 24, 2023 by edinburgher

[sleepingcat]

On 6/22/2023 at 12:55 AM, Texas_Traveler. said:

Anthem of the Seas docks in La Rochelle, but Royal Caribbean markets the stop as "Bordeaux," even though it's two hours away.

it would appear they dont want you to realise that La Rochelle is one of the most lovely seaside ports in Western Europe with a beautiful historic harbour, lovely 18th c buildings, market, nice beaches, parks. and some nice restaurants of course. and you can visit it easily with a short taxi ride or bus direct from the cruise terminal. 

 

Previously on this thread there has been some detailed information about how to get in to the centre and what to see and do.

[jsn55]

I agree, it's all a marketing plan.  I'm 'sailing to Venice' in October ... it's astonishing how many people have no idea that Venice is now closed to large cruiseships, and we are docking in Trieste, two hours away.  This obfuscation is causing a great deal of anguish from people who want to see Venice, or who have booked a flight home from Marco Polo airport instead of Trieste.  Never before has it been so important to 'read the fine print'.    

[marazul]

2 hours ago, jsn55 said:

I agree, it's all a marketing plan.  I'm 'sailing to Venice' in October ... it's astonishing how many people have no idea that Venice is now closed to large cruiseships, and we are docking in Trieste, two hours away.  This obfuscation is causing a great deal of anguish from people who want to see Venice, or who have booked a flight home from Marco Polo airport instead of Trieste.  Never before has it been so important to 'read the fine print'.    

Or look at a map....

[rj59]

It's about capturing wine lovers, which are huge profit drivers for cruise ships (Celebrity and other app dinner menus will be 90% wine lists). So a SF stop will advertise itself as a wine cruise, for those who want to sit on a bus all day for a Sonoma winery stop, and even Carnival in Ensenada has lots of wine tours. Livorno is Tuscany for the same reason. For ports like Le Havre or Warnemunde, they put Paris or Berlin, since people don't realize how far inland the cities are, how expensive the excursions, and how limited the time at the city. I'm going Anthem, partly because it visits smaller ports with close options, like Honfleur or Santiago de Compostela. I've looked at blogs and videos of previous visits to the ports, for hints and suggestions, and on any European cruises I look at distances and excursions and reviews. So now I know never to go to Nynashamn, because cruising in and out of the Stockholm archipelago was one of my favorite cruise experiences. I can't imagine that any true wine lover or foodie would go to Europe and dine and sleep on a cruise ship, though.

[jsn55]

Cruiselines seem to be quite adept at naming things what they want and nonevermind reality.  I think it's dishonest, but what are ya gonna do?  My next cruise ends in Venice ... NOT.  They're docking in Trieste, 2 hours away.  If I have 10 hours in port, I'm surely not going to waste more than 4 of them on a bus.  Driving time to Roma may be 47 minutes from Civi, but the traffic gets more horrendous every year.  The bus does not drop you at the city limits, they have to drive into central Roma ... that's what takes the time.  And yes, when novices book cruises they just see "Paris" or "Berlin" and don't find out the truth until months later.  Unless you read the fine print and do your research, it pays to use a good TA to book a cruise so you know what you're 'buying'.  

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

On 9/30/2023 at 3:06 PM, rj59 said:

It's about capturing wine lovers, which are huge profit drivers for cruise ships (Celebrity and other app dinner menus will be 90% wine lists). So a SF stop will advertise itself as a wine cruise, for those who want to sit on a bus all day for a Sonoma winery stop, and even Carnival in Ensenada has lots of wine tours. Livorno is Tuscany for the same reason. For ports like Le Havre or Warnemunde, they put Paris or Berlin, since people don't realize how far inland the cities are, how expensive the excursions, and how limited the time at the city. I'm going Anthem, partly because it visits smaller ports with close options, like Honfleur or Santiago de Compostela. I've looked at blogs and videos of previous visits to the ports, for hints and suggestions, and on any European cruises I look at distances and excursions and reviews. So now I know never to go to Nynashamn, because cruising in and out of the Stockholm archipelago was one of my favorite cruise experiences. I can't imagine that any true wine lover or foodie would go to Europe and dine and sleep on a cruise ship, though.

I got to Santiago de Compostela from Vilagarcia in April.  I'm another "small, unusual port" lover!   I didn't see much of Vilagarcia, but that was ok - the train ride to Santiago was fast and easy.  But yes, you start out cruising, and make some mistakes.  Then you learn from those mistakes -- go to embarkation city early, don't be swayed by the allure of embarkation/disembarkation ports, visit Whats in Port to get quick answer of how close to anything a port is, etc. 

 

[marazul]

9 minutes ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

I got to Santiago de Compostela from Vilagarcia in April.  I'm another "small, unusual port" lover!   I didn't see much of Vilagarcia, but that was ok - the train ride to Santiago was fast and easy.  But yes, you start out cruising, and make some mistakes.  Then you learn from those mistakes -- go to embarkation city early, don't be swayed by the allure of embarkation/disembarkation ports, visit Whats in Port to get quick answer of how close to anything a port is, etc. 

 

And look at a map to understand where you are going!