Review and Travel Journal of our Sun Princess Cruise From Barcelona to Southampton-“The Sun Also Rises”

[Cruisatic]

Loving your travel diary. It is informative and fun to read. Can't wait for the next installment.

[JimmyVWine]

Day Three of the Cruise-Cartagena, Spain (Continued)

On the Ship- Dinner and Entertainment

 

After our time outdoors at the all-new Sea View Terrace, we headed back to our cabin, freshened up for dinner, grabbed wine glasses and headed to Sabatini’s, our favorite Specialty Dining venue.  The restaurant was, and still is on Deck 8, Port side, across from one of the many shops selling watches that are way too expensive for me to consider buying.  The dining room itself is beautiful with most tables being what I would consider being in a desirable location.  There are four or five tables set up against opposite walls just as you arrive that are too close to the host stand and watch shop for my liking, and were I seated there I would ask to be moved.  Otherwise, the setup is nice with tables far enough apart that you don’t feel as if your neighbors are your dinner companions.  There is one piece of artwork that is oddly tucked in a corner where a larger table is situated such that only the people dining at that table can really see it.  But besides that, the décor is pleasant and the central lighting fixture lends a touch of elegance to the room.  Service was professional but not doting.  Wine service was handled by the wine director in the venue, and he kept our glasses filled with the $19 Nebbiolo that we ordered throughout the dinner.

 

The meal itself was from what I can tell, the same one that is found on the internet.  From time to time one will see changes to the Specialty Dining menus (for example, our menu at Love By Britto was very different from the one we found on the internet.) But here what we saw was what we expected.  We ordered as we always do, trying not to duplicate dishes so that we could see and taste as much as possible.  The Polenta Fries that were brought as the “for the table” opening were tasty, but unnecessary.  The mean itself would be more than enough food and we all agreed that fried polenta was a bit heavy and dense to serve as the opening act of what was to follow.

 

We ordered the Sabatini Salad, a Insalata Mista and Langoustine-Tomato Soup.  That was followed by orders of Arancini al Tartufo (as a general rule in our family, if there are truffles on the menu there will be truffles on our table), the Antipasto Platter and the Burrata Caprese.  Thar course was followed by Lobster Tortelloni, Seafood Linguini and Lasagna Bolognese.  It was at this point that we all chuckled at the fact that we hadn’t had our Main Courses yet and we were all stuffed!  The Lasagna was especially good (and filling).

 

The Mains were Branzino, Veal Scaloppine and Chicken Parmigiana.   I think that the Branzino was the winner here, perhaps because it was the lightest of the dishes and by this part of the mean we were almost force-feeding ourselves.  Afterwards, we took a fairly lengthy break to converse and finish our wines before putting in our dessert orders.  While the room itself was full, (save for most of the tables against the wall by the entrance), there did not appear to be a line of people waiting to be seated so we did not have any concern that we were overstaying our welcome.  Plus, we were seated at a four-top and most diners who came in were tables for two.  Even with the lengthy intermission, we still felt the need to order only two desserts for the three of us and we had the Cannoncini and Chocolate Hazelnut tart.  That, and an order of after dinner drinks finished off both the meal, and us diners.  All-in, our meal was a full two and a half hours, from 6:30 to 9:00.  A really nice way to spend family time.

 

While finishing up our dinner we consulted the app to see what we wanted to do for our evening entertainment.  At 10:00 there would be “Classic Rock Trivia” at Princess Live!.  This was right in our wheelhouse.  Even though it was not in the Wheelhouse.  Classic Rock is my and K’s genre, and S developed a love for Classic Rock at an early age when I first explained to her that while her generation bought individual songs from Apple Music, her parents bought entire albums many of which were themed.  Not quite sure what that meant, we sat down one evening and listened to Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” from start to finish, followed by “Animals” by the same group the next night, and on another night soon thereafter, The Who’s “Tommy.”  She certainly go the picture, as one day about 3 months later while we were driving in the car, (and she is around 10 years old, mind you), “Wish You Were Here” comes on the radio and she asks from the back seat: “Is this Pink Floyd?”  A father could not have been more proud!

 

So we killed some time in the Shops of Princess before heading over to Princess Live! to try our hand at trivia that was in our wheelhouse.  Not Princess’ Wheelhouse.  20 questions, two points for each question. 40 points in all.  We killed it.  Almost.  We scored 39 out of 40 and wouldn’t you know it?  A couple of teams reported perfect scores of 40.  So no prize for us despite a sense of true accomplishment.  Here’s a question for those who do back-to-back cruises, or back-to-back-to-back cruises.  Do the trivia sessions repeat?  Most, if not all of them seem to be pre-packaged PowerPoint presentations with pre-set music queued up.  Is “80’s Music Trivia” on one week the same as the next week?  I aske because we were very much in the minority on this cruise, just doing the 9-day itinerary from Barcelona to Southampton.  Many people had boarded in Athens, and many people were staying on for the Transatlantic, and a fair number were doing all three legs, going all the way from Athens to Fort Lauderdale.  Just wondering if people who are on the ship for longer stretches have any advantage when it comes to trivia games.  If you know the answer and are brave enough to reveal the truth, chime in.

 

After Trivia, Princess Live! converted into a Comedy Club for a thirty-minute set by a comedian who goes by the single name “Tucker”.  I’d seen the movie “Tucker” with Jeff Bridges, but had never heard of the comedian by the same name.  After the cruise I looked him up and it seems that he has been entertaining folks on the high seas for a number of years on a number of ships across a number of cruise lines.  He either loves the life or has a booking agent with no imagination. 

 

Still full from dinner, we didn’t feel like moving so we stayed put, ordered some more drinks and enjoyed the show.  His set was funny, entertaining, a bit cheeky, but not at all what someone would refer to as “blue”.  We were told that later in the cruise he would be doing a late set that would definitely be geared for a more mature audience.  Though that didn’t seem to matter here, as the number of children on the ship could be counted with one hand.  I don’t know that actual number, but I did see a sign on one of the kid’s clubs one day (I forget which age group the room was for) that said that the members of this group had been merged with the members of some other group suggesting to me that there weren’t enough of the former to constitute a quorum.  Again, given that many of the people on this cruise were doing back-to-backs, and many doing back-to-back-to-backs and the fact that this cruise was timed for the start of a new school year, it would come as no surprise that there would be very few children on board.

 

When the show ended, so did we.  Tomorrow would be a Sea Day and S was determined to hit up an exercise class since those were included in our package, and I was determined that once in my life I would get out of bed on a Sea Day before 10:00.  Spoiler alert—S met her goal.  I did not.

 

Next Up:  Our First Sea Day on Sun Princess.   

[JimmyVWine]

 Day Four of the Cruise-Sea Day

 

Our goal for the day, as it had been when we booked the cruise, was to explore the new build and see if the Sphere Class hips were going to be ones to covet or avoid.  Our other “must do” activity was to scope out a place to hang out for our passage through the Strait of Gibraltar.  This would be a first, (and possibly an “only) for us and we weren’t going to let this slip by.  Keeping the promise she made to herself, S got up way before K and I did and headed up to the Fitness Center for a class and a workout.  She knows the Fitness Centers far better than I do, and when asked for her opinion, she said that it was nice, but seemed small given the number of people on the ship.  She didn’t think that the square footage grew in relation to the increase in the number of people on board.  I half kept the promise that I made to myself and woke up earlier than I typically would on a Sea Day, but K wanted to sleep in, as this would be her first opportunity to do that in, oh, I don’t know…three years??  So I did some work on my phone using the ship’s internet.  On that topic, I did not use any high-tech speed measuring device to gauge the speed.  I just use my analog, binary method of assessment:  Did it work well enough for me—yes or no.  The answer was “yes.”  None of us had any complaints about the internet while on board.

 

I neglected to mention in my report of Day Three of the Cruise that we did have an operational issue arise, but since it didn’t really affect us, I didn’t report on it earlier.  But it would come into play today, so I’ll fill you in on what happened.  Shortly after departing from Cartagena, the Captain announced over the intercom system that there was a passenger in some distress who needed to be taken off the ship.  He indicated that we were making a 180 degree turn so that we could head back toward land.  The three options that were available were to either sail all the way back to the port, disembark the passenger and then head back out to sea, which would take us the most time and put us at least three hours behind schedule; sail part-way back to Cartagena and be met by a Pilot Boat that accept the passenger from our ship, and then resume our journey, which would put us a couple of hours behind schedule; or third, pair up with a rescue helicopter, but that seemed highly unlikely to the Captain at this point.  Long story short, we ended up with the second option and were now a couple of hours behind schedule.  I do not know the outcome of the medical emergency but the Captain seemed very optimistic when he came back on a second time to let us know that that the passenger and traveling companion had both been safely transferred to the Pilot Boat.

 

The reason I bring this up is because our unscheduled medical diversion would shift the time that we would pass through the Strait, and this alter our schedule for the day.  The Captain had given us a preliminary estimate the day before, but now, on the day of our passage, the noon announcement from the bridge would give us a far more definitive schedule of when we would be making our way pass the Rock.  And that was to be pretty much right through dinner time.  That announcement came after S had returned from the Fitness Center and after we had all showered, dressed for the day and partaken in a late lunch at the back of the Eatery that serves breakfast later than the main area.  Armed with the knowledge or our new schedule, we plotted out the day.  Earlier in the cruise S had asked me if there was going to be a Pub Lunch on the Sea Day(s).  I told her that I did not know for sure given that this was a one-off itinerary and I had no inside information on what each day would hold.  I also said that I doubted it for two other reasons.  One, it was reported that the Eatery served the same food every day, so I didn’t know if they would trot out pub food as a special offering, and two, I had heard that O’Malley’s would be open for lunch on Sea Days, and the food there, while not classic “Pub Lunch” fare, was probably close enough such that Princess was not going to give away Fish and Chips for free if it could charge for Fish and Chips in O’Malley’s.  So we consulted the Patter and confirmed that O’Malley’s would indeed be open for lunch today, (the Patter said that the operational hours would be “12:00-Late”) so that is where we would go for lunch around 12:45 killing two birds with one stone:  Getting something that closely resembled a Pub Lunch, and trying out a new venue that we had never experienced before on any other ship.  It would also place us directly across from Princess Live! where we wanted to attend the Enrichment Lecture for the day.

 

Our assessment of the lunch at O’Malley’s was that it was fine.  We were all glad that it was included in our package and that we were not charged$14.99 per person for the opportunity.  The Onion Stack (spelled with an apostrophe in the word “onion”) was tasty as were the Burger, Fish and Chips and Steak, Guinness and Mushroom Pie that we ordered.  But between the new Grill options on Deck 9; the expanded outdoor grill stations on Deck 17 with Tacos, Shawarma, Burgers and Salads; and the all-day menu at the Americana Diner, there was really no way to justify the $15 price tag of the food that was offered at O’Malley’s.  It was nice to be able to pair our meal with an ale and be served at a table with proper silverware and all that.  But in the end, our prior experiences with “included” Pub Lunches and the availability of so much other “included” fare on board made the meal at O’Malley’s one that we would never pay for.  Would I go again as part of an included package?  Sure.  But not otherwise.

 

Next up, and right across the hall, was “The Romans in Spain”  presented by Brian Brennan.  Given that we had spent a good part of the day yesterday touring what the Romans had left behind in Spain, would do so again in Cadiz, and most importantly, because S’s Masters Studies focused mostly in “The Romans in Great Britain”,  we really did not want to miss this.  Thankfully we arrived early and had brought some drinks with us from O’Malley’s.  The Princess Live! venue filled up to way more than standing room only, was insufferably hot, and it was next to impossible to get a drink from that bar.  Nevertheless we were undeterred and this proved to be the first of three enrichment lectures by Professor that we attended during our cruise.  S was familiar with some of his published work, but more of that later.  She was not familiar with his “Romans in Spain” material, and this was a very informative lecture that accomplished its goals of teaching me something new and making me feel like something more than a cocktail sponge for the balance of the Sea Day.

 

When that was over, we were all overheated and so we made a beeline for the Gelateria directly across from the theater.  I’ve seen many questions posed here asking if there is a charge for gelato.  The heck if I know.  I have heard “yes” and I have heard “yes, even if you have a package”, and I have heard “not if you have a package.”  I didn’t really care for two reasons.  First, we were all sweaty hot from the lack of air in Princess Live! and wanted something cool; and second, even if there was a charge, it would only be a couple of bucks so who bloody care?  In the end, we each got an espresso drink and two scoops of gelato and no charges ever appeared on our folio.  YMMV.

 

Our dinner reservation for that evening was at 7:00 at Horizons Deck 7 which I now understand has been renamed The Eclipse Dining Room.  7:00 would put us right smack in the middle of the Strait of Gibraltar so I used the app to cancel the reservation.  Tonight we would find some alternative depending on where we were and what time we were hungry.  Between our O’Malley’s lunch and the gelato, dinner was the furthest thing from our minds. 

 

At 4:30 we returned to Princess Live! for a round of “Let’s Quiz Again” and this time our “one point less than perfect” score held up and the 19/20 score landed us three awesome wine stoppers, one of which will become a liquor bottle stopper on our bar and two of which will serve the same purpose in S’s flat.  We do not store “leftover wine” in our house.  Don’t even know what that is.  Before leaving we grabbed a couple more cocktails, with K and S each trying some form of drink featuring the new “Pantalones” Tequila that Princess is pushing and me getting a Roku Gin and Tonic.  Around 6:00-6:30 it was time for us to stake out a great place for Strait of Gibraltar viewing.  I was pretty sure I knew just the spot, so we returned to our cabin to grab jackets in case the weather turned any cooler, and for me to grab my camera.

 

Next up-Gibraltar, Dinner and the Evening Entertainment. 

[deckrbert]

I have a Princess sailing booked on the Sun in March of ‘25. I am super stoked and I am going with some of my favorite people. I have some questions through, especially since I have never sailed Princess, and would like to get information from someone who is right in the boat. 

 

1-What is your experience with the medallions, and what’s your favorite/least favorite thing about them?

 

2-How is the service? (Includes room, dining, and overall attitude of the crew)

 

3-Most importantly, are you having a good time aboard?

[Sudoku]

JimmyVWine,

Regarding music trivia - We have 47 Princess Cruises. All music trivia on this cruise was new to us with exception of one, Music with Colors. My husband LOVES music trivia and regularly gets perfect scores in Classic Rock, Motown, 70’s, 80’s, and Country.  He’s not a ton of help in regular trivia, but kills it with the music. 

[JimmyVWine]

Day Four of the Cruise-Sea Day (Continued)

The Strait of Gibraltar

 

Prior ship reviews that I had read, coupled with walk-through videos and a study of the Deck Plan revealed that Decks 10, 11 and 12 all had open space at the bow where one could get a full “Grand Class Ship” view facing forward.  While the Grand Class ships afford this view as part of a full, wrap-around Promenade, here on Sun Princess the view stretched from Port to Starboard only at the front tip of the ship accessed by doors on either side.  Close in time to when the noon announcement predicted that we would be heading toward the Strait, we made our way out to this front viewing area on our Deck 10.  The viewing area was ideal for this sort of event and we hunkered down for about 90 minutes as we passed the time passing the rock.  A number of crew members gathered on the crew deck to do the same.  This was sort of a big deal to them as this would mark the first time that this ship passed through the Strait and exited the Mediterranean where it had roamed since its keel first touched water.

 

 

 

As you can tell from the photo above, a number of things conspired against me which made for a difficult time taking photos.  First of all, and most obviously, we were heading West, and the sun was setting in the West.  That meant that I would be shooting directly into the sun (such as it was) and it also meant that the light would be casting shade on the side of the objects that I wanted to capture.  It was also very hazy which washed most of the color out of the scenery, and there were rainstorms about.  All that said, I have vivid memories of our time out on deck if not vivid photos to capture the moments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A cargo ship that seemed to be sailing in circles.

 

 

 

The tip of Spain to the right, and Africa to the left.

 

 

 

As close as we got to the rock.  We looked for monkeys with our binoculars but couldn’t spy any.

 

 

 

It was now approaching 8:00 and the sun had said goodnight and darkness robbed any remaining chance at good viewing or photography.  Having cancelled our MDR reservation we were without a plan for dinner and decided that tonight would be a good opportunity to try out the newly redesigned outdoor food stations up on Deck 17.  So I dropped of my camera, we grabbed some outerwear and headed up to the Lido Slice/Tacos/Shawarma/Grill/Greens/Bar area for a makeshift dinner.   

[JimmyVWine]

Day Four of the Cruise Sea Day-(Continued)

Review of Dinner and Evening Entertainment   

 

 The deck area in the vicinity of cooking stations was largely empty, perhaps owing to the cool weather, or perhaps due to the cacophonous screeching of some fast and furious car chase movie playing on MUTS.  We moved as far away as we could from the burning rubber and set up at a Port side table where we would have a view of Tangier in the distance.  The city was larger than I expected and the horizon lit up like the Vegas strip.  Or so it seemed given the relative darkness that surrounded it.  We tried all of the offerings in the area except for the pizza.  Everything in the taco/shawarma area was served quickly and made to order though the food could have been hotter.  Perhaps it was the chilly breeze that caused the food to cool quickly.  Also, I found it odd that there was no form of ground beef or carne asada option the tacos.  Your choices were Seafood or Chicken.  There was a Pulled Pork Burrito offered and that proved to be both the best and hottest of the options.

While K and S went for seconds in Shawarma and Tex-Mex area, I went over to the Grill to try out one of the burgers.  The good news is that the burgers are cooked to order.  The bad news is that it took a good 10 minutes or more for me to get said burger, holding a light-up UFO thingy that would alert me to my burger’s readiness.  All the while, K and S finished their meals by the time I returned with my burger and fries.  They made a trip over to the Lido Bar to refresh our drinks while I finished off my dinner.  All in all, we were pleased with the food on Deck 17 but would recommend it more as a lunch option (something we would do on a later Sea Day) than a dinner choice.  But for today, it was just perfect as being outdoors gazing at Africa in the distance was the highest and best use of our time.

 

The entertainment for the evening focused heavily on “80’s” theming, with “All About the 80’s” trivia heading up the activities in Princess Live! starting at 8:00.  We were still enjoying our dinner at that time, so we missed that.  Danielle Grace Williams was performing in the Princess Theater again this evening, but we had already seen her earlier in the cruise.  At 9:00 there was another trivia event in Princess Live! called “We Play, You Say.”  That was followed by “80’s Music Trivia”.  We decided to give those two events a try.  And again we ended up with almost perfect scores, only to finish just behind one or more teams that achieved perfection.  No big deal.  How many Princess bottle stoppers does one need?

 

After the second of those two contests we headed to the Piazza where a “Back to the 80’s Party” was set to begin.  A band had assembled on the bandstand, and this was sure to be a rocking evening.  Unfortunately, we just didn’t vibe with the whole scene.  Yes, K and I both lived through and survived the 80’s.  It was an awesome decade.  But it seems that the party organizers think that everyone who lived through the 80’s dressed like Olivia Newton John

 

 

 

And Twisted Sister.

 

It was all too campy for us and we left after about 20 minutes.   Tomorrow was another port city visit, so a good night’s rest would serve us well.

 

Next up-Cadiz, Spain

[JimmyVWine]

Day Five of the Cruise-Cadiz

Port Visit

 

This cruise was marketed as having its next port stop being “Seville”.  Much the way cruises suggest that there is a port stop in Florence when the ship in fact will port in Livorno.   There is one big difference, however.  While Livorno may not be on anyone’s bucket list of places to visit and getting out of the industrial port area seems highly logical, Cadiz, where we would be docking, is an actual place of interest with history, art, architecture, and public spaces galore that are all worthy of one’s attention. When we were plotting out our day, we certainly did take note of the excursions, both ship-sponsored and private, that went to Seville and nearby areas.  But the trip to Seville is a full hour and a half from Cadiz and that time and distance would have to be repeated on the way back to the ship.  Three total hours on a bus on a day when the all aboard time was 5:00 just didn’t seem like a good investment for us especially given that Cadiz itself had so much to offer.  So we made the decision to plan out a self-guided tour of Cadiz that would capture the highlights and fill our day.

 

A simple glance at a map will reveal Cadiz’s maritime importance.  The Roman Empire surrounded the Mediterranean, and it stands to reason that if one could keep invaders out of the Mediterranean, one could more easily defend one’s territory.  And no one could gain access to the Mediterranean from the western waters except to go right past Cadiz on their way into the Gibraltar Strait.  So Cadiz became a heavily fortified stronghold with emphasis on the root word “fort.”  The Romans, Moors and Spanish all utilized Cadiz as an important trade city (being the first significant port outside of the Mediterranean from which further travels and exploration could commence) and as a strategic defensive watchpoint.  If one were playing the game of “Risk” in the 1300s, one would want to put a lot of armies in Cadiz to defend the territory to the east.  All this to say that Cadiz has history a plenty and lots of neat old buildings to enjoy.

 

With maps, videos and tour guides at hand, I plotted out what I concluded would be a manageable and enjoyable day of walking the circumference of the city leading from the port to the Cathedral by way of two gorgeous public parks and an easily accessible public beach.  There was also the opportunity to hop on a City Bus for a part of this circumnavigation if the heat of the day or the weariness of our legs got the best of us.  After reaching the Cathedral (and nearby ancient Roman Theater), we would take a Pythagorean trek back to the ship by cutting off the angles and walking through the heart of the City.  The whole walk would be around 3 miles as Cadiz is very manageable (and flat).  Funny story.  After I had planned everything out to the inch, I decided to see what ChatGPT would recommend for cruise ship travelers who wanted to do a self-guided walking tour of Cadiz and wouldn’t you know it?  The path it suggested and sites to be seen were almost identical to what I had figured out myself.  But it took me several days to put this all together and Chat GPT did it in 9 seconds.  Technology.

 

We awoke to a warm, cloudless day that would be just perfect for our itinerary which focused mostly on nature’s flora and fauna and less on manmade structures.  Sometimes one just needs to stop and smell the roses, or in our case, walk and smell the bougainvillea.  Much like Cartagena, and unlike Palma, the ship ports alongside the city with no need for any means of transportation whatsoever.  We repeated our timing of having a leisurely breakfast unburdened by any timetable that wasn’t our own.  The weather and direction of the ship convinced us that an outside table at the Eatery on the Port side would be a perfect place to fuel up with a view of the City right outside the gates of the port.  When consulting a map, look for the words “Muelle de cruceros Cadiz” which translates to “Cadiz Cruise Port” and you will see the one and only place where your ship would dock.  In mere steps you will arrive at Plaza de la Hispanidad and the “Monumento a la Constitucion de 1812” or the 1812 Constitution Monument.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Between the Monument and the waterfront are some wonderful residential buildings including the “House of the Four Towers” that must have at one time housed some rather wealthy people.  Thankfully, some of these are undergoing much-needed exterior work and I assume, interior renovations as well.

 

 

 

House of the Four Towers:

 

 

 

 

 

Along the two-block walk from here to the waterfront we passed a restaurant that had this sign outside of it.  I’m not sure that this serves as a ringing endorsement of the establishment.

 

 

 

Completing the two block walk takes you to an unrivaled pedestrian walkway along the waterfront interrupted on occasion by public parks, forts and the beach.  Once you arrive at the water, there is nothing west of you until you get to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obligatory pigeon photo.  The one on the right said to the one next to him: “Race you to Kitty Hawk!!”

 

 

 

One unexpected delight that we encountered at the start of our walk was the sight of a flock of parakeets.  Of course these birds must exist in the wild, but I don’t think of them as being city dwellers.  But there were many of them, all brightly colored green.

 

 

 

Next up, the parks of Cadiz.

[JimmyVWine]

Day Five of the Cruise-Cadiz (Continued)

Port Visit

 

After passing the fortress wall shown above you come to the first of two public gardens/parks that now peacefully occupy what was once a more threatening waterfront.  This one is called “Alameda Apodaca”.  This park features a number of statues and monuments to some of Cadiz’s most noteworthy artists, statesman and municipal leaders, some of whom I had heard of and many whom I hadn’t.  This clever statue honored a local poet who apparently was a spitfire who could not be kept in one place for too long. 

 

 

 

Cleverly, the escapee was depicted next to the pedestal that he had obviously stepped down from.

 

 

 

Small statuary and fountains are found in abundance, much to the delight of the avian visitors.

 

 

 

Arches and pergolas provide support for many varieties of plants and flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some larger statues pay tribute to more major events and people.  This one is called “Monument to the Marquis de Comillas” erected in honor of Don Antonio López y López, the 1st Marquis of Comillas who made his fortune in Cuba. 

 

 

 

But perhaps the most striking features of the park are the two giant Ficus trees that were planted at the beginning of the 20^th century from seeds gifted to the City by Australia.  It is difficult to capture just how large these are, but S did send me a picture that she took on her phone that shows K in the foreground allowing for some perspective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second of two Ficus trees.

 

 

 

At the very end of the park is a statue of “Fray Diego Jose de Cadiz”, a Spanish Capuchin friar who was a noted preacher throughout the Andalusian region.

 

 

 

And across the street is the beautiful Iglesia del Carmen.

 

 

 

The park ends at the most northern point of the waterfront, which would be a great place to put a fortification and lookout tower.  And, or course, they did.  What stands at that point now is the “Candelaria Bastion” built in 1672.  There isn’t much to see here, other than to admire the mere fact of its survival and the efforts that must have been taken to create it with 17^th century tools and technology.

 

 

S commented that it reminded her of the battle scene depicted in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride at Disney World.  Can’t argue with that.  And the time period certainly fits.

 

Turning the bend to head southwest, the street becomes somewhat uninteresting for a couple of blocks before you arrive at the main park of Cadiz, “Parque Genoves” which is an absolute horticultural wonder.  That will be covered in the next post after I finish organizing my photos.

[JimmyVWine]

Day Five of the Cruise-Cadiz (Continued)

Port Visit

 

Upon arriving at Parque Genoves which occupies the northwestern side of the pentagonal shaped main city, one would think that the landscape and horticultural designs were the result of a collaboration between Frederick Law Olmsted and Dr. Seuss. 

 

 

 

A variety of plants, trees and flowers, some native and some gifted, are laid out along well-groomed pathways that were being meticulously cared for while we were there.  And the topiary skills of the gardening staff is quite evident.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The growing conditions here must be quite unique in their ability to sustain both tropical and dessert plant life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toward the end of the park sits a manmade grotto, waterfall and bridge structure that is no doubt the setting for countless tourist and wedding photos. You can see a couple posing on the bridge in one of these shots.  I took a mix of “stop water” and “flowing water” photos so that I could choose which ones I like the best.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the park stands a luxury hotel and a bus stop in the event that anyone making it to this point wants to continue their journey in either direction by way of the easy-to-use city bus system.  Several of the bus lines trace the same path that we have been walking, around the circumference of the city on streets closest to the water.  But we opted to forge ahead on foot as just past the hotel is the Castillo de Santa Catalina, another obvious fortress built to protect the western side of the city.  And just past the fort is Playa de La Caleta, a large, wide, clean public beach that has been rated as one of the world’s best “city beaches”, meaning a beach that somewhat incongruously sits in the middle of a city. 

 

 

 

The photo above shows the first part of the waterfront that serves as a mooring point for small boats.  Past the yellow buoys that mark off the endpoint of the mooring area, the beach opens up to be a more typical, human-occupied beach with people laying out on chairs, blankets and beneath umbrellas.  I thought that I had taken a photo of that area, but apparently I did not.  The beach itself was indeed large, clean, safe, and had public restrooms that were decent.  S insisted that there was no way that she could come to the ocean and not get her feet wet.  So we all took off our shoes and waded into the Atlantic for a bit, picking up some colorful sea glass and shells.  (S is wearing the dress that she bought back in Palma at the outdoor market.)

 

 

 

At the end of the beach there is, or course, yet another bus stop since they are seemingly everywhere along the waterfront.  It was here that I thought that we would hop on a bus and make the short drive to the Cathedral area, eliminating about 15 minutes of walking time on stomachs that were ready for lunch.  I can usually predict when the rest of our tour group has had their fill of walking and when whining starts to supplant admiring.  But to my surprise, when I put it to a vote, both K and S wanted to soldier on, making the walk toward the Cathedral area that we could see in the distance.  Since I wasn’t sure where we were going to be at any specific time given the wandering, somewhat aimless nature of our itinerary today, I did not have a lunch reservation.  But I had picked out a few spots throughout the city that would serve our needs were we to find ourselves in that area when it was time to eat.

 

One such place that I picked out was very close to the Cathedral and Ancient Roman Theater.  It is called Puerta del Eden and serves Moroccan cuisine as opposed to all of the Spanish food that we had been enjoying up to this point.  Given our relative proximity to Morocco and the Moorish history that is woven into the local history and culture, we decided that this would be a good place for our midday meal.  It was highly rated in websites that specialize in Advising people on their Trips, so I figured that we were in for a good meal.  And were we ever.  Very inexpensive and very tasty.  And literally just steps from the Roman Theater.  The seating was both indoors and out, but everyone who arrived here opted for the latter as did we.  It was too nice a day to be indoors.  We enjoyed a lamb shank, a couscous dish and a Shawarma dish along with a local beer and everything was wonderful.  The crowd was a mix of cruise ship guests and locals.

 

Next up:  The Roman Theater, Cathedral, Government Square and return to the ship.  

[JimmyVWine]

Day Five of the Cruise-Cadiz (Continued)

Port Visit

 

About 125 down a narrow, pedestrian street from our outdoor lunch table stands the unassuming entrance to the Roman Theater of Cadiz, called the Theatrvm Balbi after the patron Balbo and his son who wanted and paid for the theater as a way to demonstrate that their City as a “real city”.  (For much the same reason that American cities build Hard Rock Cafes.  Can you be a real city and not have one??)   The story here is much the same as in Cartagena.  Theater was built (around 70 BCE). Theater was used. Theater was abandoned. Theater was forgotten about. Theater was covered over by subsequent construction projects. Theater was rediscovered late in the 20^th century (here, 1980), and theater is excavated.  Perhaps because of the nature of the surrounding buildings, or perhaps because of local funding, the excavation and museum here are not nearly extensive at that found in Cartagena.  Despite the fact that Balbo and son built one of the largest theaters in the Roman world, (estimated to seat 12,000-15,000 people as compared to Cartagena’s 7,500 people), the current site is much smaller.  It may be impossible to excavate the full extent of the site. 

 

Entry is free, and a small museum tells the somewhat sordid story of Balbo and his determination to build the biggest, bestest theater in the land.  Apparently Balbo was not well liked among the locals and there is graffiti that survives to this day that back this up.  A mirror is set up in the museum that allows one to see an example of such graffiti cleverly carved on the underside of a stone.  After completing the educational portion of the site, you walk down a remarkably well-preserved tunnel that would have served as an entry point to the theater.

 

 

Once inside the theater you are restricted to walking on wooden walkways and platforms.

 

  

You can see that the condition of the theater is rough, with all the marble and other smooth stones having been ripped up and repurposed once the theater was abandoned in the third century. 

 

 

 

 

 

The theater sits in the center of the old City, a mere 500 feet from the Cathedral.  Walking in either direction from the theater, either east or west will lead you to remains of the medieval city wall, impressively thick and well preserved.  This arch is on Calle Meson to the east.  But if you headed west toward the Cathedral, you would pass through the Arco de la Rosa that opens up to the Cathedral Square that that is just as impressive.

 

 

 

Upon entering the Cathedral Square, the edifice reveals itself and presents as a mix of architectural styles—Baroque, Neoclassical and Rococo.  I guess when it takes almost 120 years to build something, (1722-1838) some changes get made along the way.   Some restoration work was being done, so it was not possible to get a clean shot of the entire building.  And I did not take photos in the interior.

 

 

 

 

 

It was not time to begin our journey back to the ship.  All aboard time was 4:30 and it was now about 2:45.  Although it seemed as if we had walked a long way, and I suppose in terms of actual steps, we had, in reality, the pentagonal shape of the city meant that we were really only a half mile from the ship if we cut the angle and walked straight through the heart of the city.  While our path would not take us in a perfectly straight line, it did take us to the Government Center where City Hall sits at the end of a long, pedestrian street that leads back to the waterfront (Plaza de San Juan de Dios.)  The City Hall is a gorgeous building and was home to some sort of a Greek Art or cultural exhibit.

 

 

 

The balance of our walk was spend looking for the obligatory Christmas ornament and any other items that we just could not live without.  We made it back to the port, cleared security, dropped our stuff off at our cabin and headed out on deck to see if we could spy any runners who had gone to Seville and who were now rushing back to make the 4:30 all aboard time.  And there proved to be many.  Lots of people getting out of buses and taxis sprinting to the gangways.  Many of these people were likely saved by the fact that one or more Princess sponsored tours had also arrived late. Since the ship would wait for them, this bought some time for the solo travelers who also arrived close to 5:00.  And a note about the security process in Cadiz.  There are always questions about whether one can bring alcohol on board at a port stop and what happens if it is detected in the x-ray machine.  Oddly, at this port, security is done by the port staff and not the Princess staff.  The security x-ray machines that are used are those in the terminal, not on the ship.  And after one goes through the machines, one can then enter into a gift shop that sells all sorts of alcohol.  So you can buy liquor after you clear security, meaning that there is literally no way to confiscate it before it gets onto the ship.   Once you walk onto the gangway, you head straight into the Landing with access to the elevators and stairs.  Just passing this along in case anyone cares.

 

Net up: Dinner and evening entertainment on the ship.

[JimmyVWine]

Day Five of the Cruise-Cadiz (Continued)

Drinks, Dinner, Drinks and More Drinks-Review of a Number of Venues

 

All Aboard time was 4:30 and our dinner reservation at “The Catch by Rudi” was at 6:50.  That gave us a fair amount of time to try out some more lounges whose doorsteps we hadn’t yet darkened and perhaps return to some that we had.  After the last of the panicking stragglers had boarded the ship we made our way to Crooners, a venue that is often our “go-to” spot on many ships, but one that we had visited infrequently on Sun.  I think that the reason for this is that we enjoy the piano bar aspect of most Crooners and Princess is pretty good at placing talented, out-of-central-casting lounge singers there, and except for the seemingly obligatory nightly rendition of the grossly over-played “Sweet Caroline”, we enjoy cocktails or wine while listening to the Great American Songbook.  But on Sun the piano is merely décor.  Or at least it was for our 9 days.  I don’t recall a single ivory tickler in the venue, and a glance at our Patters does not reveal any that I might have missed.  On rare occasion there was a String Duo playing there, but even that was a rarity.  So as “just a bar”, Crooners had not become our go-to watering hole up to this point of the cruise.  That would change a bit as the cruise went on.

 

The drink menu at Crooners is unique to it (though as noted in an earlier post, some of the drinks served there look suspiciously similar to drinks served at other bars under pseudonyms, with a clever substitution or elimination of a particular ingredient being enough to avoid a copywrite infringement action.)  We each found one or more drinks there that were in our wheelhouse, (again, without us actually being in the Wheelhouse.)  For S it was the “Lavender Smoke,” for K it was both the “Sailing Through the Orchids” “Violet Haze” (I guess Jimi Hendrick’s estate would not grant permission to use the name “Purple Haze”) and for me it was the “Rum Brulee.”  We also ordered a glass of “Monkey 47” Gin which has become a bit of a “thing” to try out and see if a bottle deserved a place on our bar at home.  It is a pricey Gin, and the only drink we ordered all cruise long that exceeded even the “Premium” price point at $23.  But what the heck.  $3.54 was a pittance to pay compared to what a drink would run us at any land-based bar.  The verdict was that the spirit was, to us, not worth the price over what we currently stock at home and you won’t be hearing me quote Kurt Vonnegut when you enter my home bar. (“Welcome to the Monkey House.”) 

 

The bar at Crooners is beautiful as is the area surrounding it.  Once you move more toward the area open to the Piazza, the room becomes a bit more sterile, especially at night.  But while there is still daylight, the spherical windows opening up to the world around you fulfill their promise of making you fees like you are on a ship with an outward focus instead of an inward one.  Yes, sounds from Deck 7 below do intrude on your ability to converse and this is no doubt the reason why “Bert With an E” and other like him will likely never call this bar home.

 

After a single round (plus the Monkey 47 to share as a test), we headed off to the Cascade Bar which we found to be a relaxing bar with an air of sophistication.  There we found cocktails with similar flavor profiles to the ones we had just had, albeit with different names.  S tried the “Flowers in Bloom”, K had the “Purple Rain”, (Apparently Prince’s estate does not have the same issues as Jimi’s estate when it comes to name-borrowing) and I had “Frost.”  After relaxing with those cocktails, we each grabbed a glass of Whispering Angel to take back to the cabin as we changed for dinner.

 

Dinner tonight was at “The Catch by Rudi”.  This was the first time that we had sailed on a ship with this venue and we were excited to try it.  We had heard many great things.  I’m not going to go into too much detail here because as I noted at the very beginning of this Review/Journal, much about the Sun was going to change from when we sailed on her, and going into great detail about things that were not long for this world is pretty pointless.  So I could tell you how much we disliked the location in the back of the Eatery, but that has been rectified.  And I could tell you that we were a bit disappointed with the truncated menu, but I am told that that too is being rectified. (Though I don’t think I have seen confirmation of this happening.  If it has been confirmed, I missed it.)  What I can tell you is that everything we had was delicious, the service was excellent and the wine selection was appropriate for the venue, unlike what we had experienced at Crown Grill.  Behind us, on the other side of the glass partition that separated us from the non-Rudi’s portion of the aft seating area, we spied Chef Rudi himself conducting a tasting of dishes with some chefs and what appeared to be a dining room manager.  I had my back to the team, but K could see them clearly and she gave me a play-by-play of the dishes that were being placed before Rudi and team.  I cannot tell you if the purpose of this tasting was to find dishes that would bolster The Catch’s future menu, or perhaps to shore up (pun intended since what K saw was mostly seafood) some other menu, or perhaps was for purposes of hosting a private event.  Either way, the team was in serious tasting mode so some change somewhere is either in store or already implemented.

 

After our leisurely dinner we opted to check out Good Spirits at Sea (“GSAS”).  Unlike on other ships, here on Sun this venue is a in a standalone room tucked away from much of the rest of the ship.  And unlike on other ships where the cocktail demonstrations are a bit difficult to follow given the location and seating arrangements around the bar, here on Sun, the room is very much set up and purpose-built for cocktail demonstrations.  This proves to be both a feature and a flaw.  When we got to GSAS at around 9:15 when a demonstration was scheduled to begin, it was packed to the gills.  No problem, as there was another demonstration scheduled for 10:15.  So we roamed around the shops for a while with the intention of hovering outside of GSAS around 9:50, which was 10 minutes before the earlier show was scheduled to end.  When we arrived to see that others had the same plan, but not so many that there was any risk of missing out on three of the 40 seats available in the venue.  But when the earlier demonstration ended, very few of the people from that show got up to leave.  And that is the flaw.  The venue is set up as a demonstration venue with only 40 seats.  But it is also a bar.  So there is not requirement that the people who were at the earlier show leave, but maybe there should be.  Or maybe common courtesy (not so common on cruise ships) dictate that they do. 

 

We were able to get a table for the next demonstration as were only a few other people.  But the people who had already seen the demonstration and stayed in the bar had no regard for the presenter or the people who wanted to hear the presenter.  Why should they?  They already saw the show.  So the stayed and laughed and talked, louder and louder once the demonstration began, and the whole room became a blur of noise.  We finally leaned over to the table closest to us who had the loudest voices and told them that we were trying to watch and hear the presentation and that we could not hear anything over their table talk, asking politely if they could lower the volume a bit.  To their credit, they seemed a bit embarrassed and recognized that having seen the earlier show, it wasn’t really necessary for them to set down stakes in the bar during the second show, so they got up and left, opening a nice space for others who were forced to stand. 

 

So there’s the problem with a venue that sets up as a performance venue, but is not run like a performance venue.  Imagine watching the early show in the Princess Theater and then staying for the second show, talking loudly through it because you weren’t interested in the performance.  Unthinkable.  But at GSAS, there is nothing preventing people from doing this given that it is a bar.  It is up to Princess here to set some better guidelines, both as a courtesy to the presenters (who were noticeably perturbed by the number of people in the second performance who were not giving them their full attention) and to the people who come to actually attend the second performance. 

 

All that said, we greatly enjoyed the demonstration which focuses on making a number of drinks from ingredients specific to a particular region that Princess sails to, from Tahiti to Cartagena (Columbia) and the like.  Afterwards we had a pleasant conversation with the head bartender who put up full recipes of some of the drinks on the big screen for us to copy.  The drink menus tell you what ingredients are in each drink, but they no longer provide coasters/cards that have the full recipes.  We asked if such things existed and he said that he would put up each drink on the big screen and we could take pictures of the recipes.  Like this:

 

 

He also gave us his insights as to what we should order at Spellbound the following evening since he was the bartender who got that bar up and running and promised us that his suggestions would be to our liking. 

Tomorrow was a Sea Day, so we didn’t have to set any alarms.  Still, between the pre-dinner cocktails, the wine with dinner and the several rounds at GSAS, we had had enough, so it was time to call it a night. 

[h20skibum]

On 10/18/2024 at 4:29 PM, JimmyVWine said:

He also gave us his insights as to what we should order at Spellbound the following evening since he was the bartender who got that bar up and running and promised us that his suggestions would be to our liking. 

I have been breathlessly awaiting the Spellbound installment.  I have picked out what I want to order. Will see how it matches up. 

[Wishing on a star]

WOW!!!  We bow before you.

Incredible trip report and stunning images!!!!!