Shore Excursions: Dover-Monte Carlo

[poss]

We'll be on that Voyager sailing and I'm beginning to try to plan our shore pleasures. I know what we'll probably want to do in about half the ports, but I'd welcome in-put about the others, viz. St Malo, Bordeaux, Cadiz (We know Seville well, so aren't interested in Seville this time.) There are two nights in Bordeaux and we don't know the area at all, so I'm eager to hear suggestions. We're not especially interested in wine tasting, though don't mind doing wine tours if the secenery is wonderful. Main thing we enjoy is exploring handsome/interesting towns (I suppose we'll do St Malo on our own?), seeing wonderful scenery, and doing great hikes (easy-moderate). We feel no need to do private tours. What Regent offers I'm sure will be fine-- I just don't know what to sign up for. Feedback from folks who've done these ports much appreciated.

[Iamboatman]

I would suggest in St. Malo that you take the ferry over to Dinard. It is a charming town which has very nice streets to stroll and a few wonderful restaurants both in town and along the beach walk. (We found a great little restaurant where we had awesomely fresh and delicious oysters and then mussels in white wine, garlic and light cream with a great local rose - the wine of choice!. I do not recall the name, but it had red and white awnings, which we sat under.) You will still have time to take the ferry back to St. Malo and have a good walk around.

 

In Bordeaux strolling the city is very nice with interesting shops, markets and bistros. (Just know if you stroll too far down river it gets a bit seedy.) I would also recommend a tour of the chateaus; especially if the particular vineyards or tastings are not of great import. The scenery is wonderful. Finally, there are some wonderful restaurants which you may want to try out one evening.

 

In Cadiz we weren't thrilled with the tour we went on, but we had a wonderful late afternoon finding a nice local al fresco restaurant where we drank local wines and ate local foods for a few hours...with great atmosphere.

[poss]

Thank you, Eric; your response is very helpful. With the cost of these cruises, we can't imagine spending money for on-shore meals unless we absolutely must (as we did on all of our St Petersburg outings, and it wasn't a problem). But your other suggestions seem exactly right for us. I'd be curious to know, by the way, what tour you did in Cadiz (the one you didn't like). If there's not much to do in that area, perhaps we'll haul over to Seville, since we love the city, but we'd rather do something totally new. (We know Lisbon and Barcelona fairly well also, but haven't visited in almost two decades, so are looking forward to re-exploring.) Thanks again for your in-put-- much appreciated.

[Iamboatman]

In Cadiz we saw the Andalusian horses and then went to the Tio Pepe sherry winery. The first part was to be interactive, but it was anything but (basically sitting and watching a semi-rehearsal with no explanation and then a quick tour the stables - no photos allowed). The second part was actually quite fun. The tour was interesting and then we "sampled" the sherry...possibly a bit too much! I though that would be a let down and the first part be the highlight. Who knew?!

 

I think you will miss out if you don't have a lunch or snack or two in these ports. Unlike the US/UK, food and dining is an essential part of life and living. In fact, Cadiz is the port where the "hamburger incident" happened last summer (That incident is not relevant here.)...because we ate so well in town we just didn't need dinner and just enjoyed the sunset as we sailed off.

[Host Dan]

I agree whole heartedly with Eric. I too did the EXACT shore excursion (Andalusian horses and Tio Pepe) We too had a bit too much sherry, and so early in the morning! Dining locally is a MUST. Have a great time in Cadiz!

 

Host Dan

[ridolphi]

When we did this same cruise in 2005, we spent the day wandering in St. Malo, a little shopping and eating at a little cafe. Its a charming and delightful city and we loved it. We had bignets, a light lunch and then Gelato (but its something else in French). Some others on our cruise went to Chauteau (sp?) St. Michele.

In Bordeaux we again did a lot of wandering around town, bought some flowers for our cabin and some wine, stopped for a refreshment in a little place and then in the afternoon did one of the wine tours thru RSSC - we did St. Emilion and it was wonderful and the countryside was spectacular.

In Cadiz, we just again wandered on our own, visited the Cathedral, walked out to the waterfront, stopped at the small Roman ruins, shopped a little and had Tapa's at a little place and just sat for a couple of hours enjoying the scene, and just took our time walking back to the ship. Lots of restaurants for Tapas and maybe some wine, agree with everyone above, you can enjoy a light snack and a drink and just "people watch" in all three of those places and not have to spend a lot of money for a huge meal.

 

Have a great cruise - that itinerary is one of our favorites ever.:)

[ChatKat in Ca.]

We used a private guide, Alain - well known on the boards and he showed us a most marvelous day in Bordeaux - we went to St Emilion, he arranged a bistro lunch at a wine cave with aview over looking St Emilion, took us to two Chateau's, and took us on some very photographic scenic points. We did a tour of an underground church, which for us was too long (we're were not into tours of churchs since we just had returned from two weeks in Italy - with many churchs included in the touring). The ports are different this year, I believe than last year. A highlight for us was Honfleur, and I don't think you have that as a port of call

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Poss, I was with Kathy on these tours last year, and I must say that the visit to St. Emilion was lovely, apart from any wine-tastings. The bistro lunch was quite modest, we stipulated that, and if you did a half-day just to this town you could avoid that. It's a beautiful little town. Bordeaux itself is indeed a "handsome" town, and fully deserving of a stroll as well.

[TedC]

We caught a hop-on hop-off bus across the road from the port in Cadiz. The "green" one cost 9 Euros for all day. There's also a "red" one - I don't know what the difference is but I heard the red line was more expensive.

 

Cadiz is an attractive old city with some nice architecture, beaches and gardens.

[poss]

I'm happy to be getting these positive reports on Bordeaux! I'd been reading a number of postings on Fodor's on the region, and there seems to be virtually 100% agreement that Bordeaux is not very interesting or scenic. Most everyone (dozens of posts) seem to be saying that almost anywhere else in France is better than the Bordeaux area; it's even pointed out that the Michelin Guide gives it their lowest rating (don't bother going out of your way, etc.)-- ouch. And yet Regent has decided to stay in port there for two days. I do wish they'd done that extra day in, say, Barcelona or Lisbon rather than Bordeaux. Well-- we will definitely do the St Emilion tour and hope that the Regent excursion is worthwhile. Thanks again for responses.

[freddie]

St. Malo is a very easy little town to explore on your own, as long as you like to walk. If you can fit in the visit to Dinard or another Breton town, that will be a bonus.

 

I am quite astounded that any guidebook would suggest (much less that 100% of them would do so) that the area around Bordeaux is "not very interesting or scenic". Frommer's certainly doesn't take that position. In any case, there are some areas near Bordeaux that are quite lovely, in particular St. Emilion. We were on a private tour for six with Kathy and Wendy (and their husbands) and entirely agree with them that St. Emilion is a remarkably charming little town, set in lovely rolling hills and vineyards. My partner and I have visited most of the regions of France and feel strongly that St. Emilion is a town to which we'd like to return on an extended land trip in order to explore more fully the whole area. We'd have loved another day in Bordeaux on our Monte Carlo to Dover cruise. Please don't think that you're being in any respect shortchanged by Regent by reason of spending two days in Bordeaux. Quite the contrary - most of the people on our cruise felt that we did not have enough time there.

[Iamboatman]

I'm happy to be getting these positive reports on Bordeaux! I'd been reading a number of postings on Fodor's on the region, and there seems to be virtually 100% agreement that Bordeaux is not very interesting or scenic. Most everyone (dozens of posts) seem to be saying that almost anywhere else in France is better than the Bordeaux area; it's even pointed out that the Michelin Guide gives it their lowest rating (don't bother going out of your way, etc.)-- ouch. And yet Regent has decided to stay in port there for two days. I do wish they'd done that extra day in, say, Barcelona or Lisbon rather than Bordeaux. Well-- we will definitely do the St Emilion tour and hope that the Regent excursion is worthwhile. Thanks again for responses.

 

I actually would agree with Fodor's that given a fixed amount of time, going out of your way for Bordeaux may not be the best use of it. However, if you are going to be there and - for a day or so - it is nice. For example, being taken on a tour of the vineyards passing by is very nice, but if you were traveling independently, there really aren't that many WOW places to stop at. (There are a few, but not many.) Also, as Bordeaux city was really a commercial center - albeit a fairly pretty one - it isn't graced with large parks and tree lined streets.

 

As a cruise port, however, it is good. A nice taste is pretty much all you can get...and all you will need. Enjoy.

[JoAnne B]

Much of our dissatisfaction with Bordeaux was the August time frame, when many of the wineries were closed. Why do a food and wine theme cruise and then go to a totally inferior winery (the wine was barely drinkable, and literally everybody ran out of the tasting room to the bus without buying a drop). We tried to be gracious and bought a bottle of white, only to find it was as undrinkable on the ship as in the tasting room.

 

If you go in a non-August month, you can go to some of the more interesting wineries, even on your own iself-arranged tour f you have a preferance. Just don't expect much in August.

 

JoAnne B

Housotn

[Iamboatman]

I agree. Go for the scenery; not the wine tasting! Ours was a huge disappointment.

[RachelG]

Are you sure you are really in Bordeaux for 2 days? On the Nice-Dover cruise which we are booked on for June 2 (yea!!), we arrive at 2 am on day and leave at 1 am the following, so while looking at the schedule, it appear we are in Bordeaux 2 days, it is really just one 24 hr period. The second day listed as Bordeaux is actually a sea day. I think it has to do with the tides since Bordeaux is really on a river with a very wide variation in level due to tides--they can only bring the ship in and out at high tide.

 

Check the times on your schedule.

[Iamboatman]

Yes, that was a bit of sore point on our cruise. We were to have a full afternoon/evening and then the entire next day, but wound up arriving in the morning of the second day. This was not announced until the cruise has commenced and it was blamed on the tides.

 

While tide charts and local knowledge should have avoided that miss, it seems now that it didn't only happen to my cruise.

 

I would, therefore, make sure you have Itinerary A if you get the full time and Itinerary B in case you don't. That way you can see and do what you really want...with a plan...rather than, as we had, frustration.

[poss]

Thanks so much for all the replies. And duh-- of course you're correct abt the time thing: I realize now (with a little help from my friends) that it'll actually be only one touring day in Bordeaux. In fact, looking more closely at all the times, it seems as if excursion time will be much shorter on this cruise than on our last (first) Voyager cruise-- Baltics in 2005. We had, e.g., 3 nights in St Pete, which allowed lots of time for all sorts of explorations. And plenty of time in the other ports. This appears to be a very different sort of cruise, but I'm expecting to enjoy it just as much. We're 70-somethings, have avoided cruising (except on our own sailboat) all these decades because we were fairly certain we wouldn't enjoy it. Surprise!

 

Again-- thanks for such informative response!