Port report

[ToniL]

Just returned from a great trip on Oceania Regatta, and wanted to share our port experiences. I've posted info about the cruise itself on the Oceania board.

Barcelona - spent the afternoon on the Barcelona Tour on /off bus that left from the pier about 1 block from the ship. It was 16 euros which was a bit more than the other bus, but it was worth it to get headsets and hear about what we were seeing. Great architecture - interesting city.

Civitavecchia: We found 2 other couples via the Yahoo message board to share a trip to Orvieto, as we had all spent time in Rome. We use Paolo at http://www.driving-guide.com He charged 650 euros for the day to visit Tuscania, Montefiascone, Civita de Bagnoregio and Orvieto. The itinerary was great and we enjoyed the day a lot. Paolo took us to a rather expensive restaurant in Orvieto, and although I enjoyed it (I'm a foodie) I think it would have been better to ask who wants to sit down for lunch and who wants to stroll and munch. We probably spent 1 1/2 hours on the lunch adventure, and didn't have much time left for exploring Orvieto. We were cruising with 2 other couples who toured Rome with Nicholas of Bob's Limousines. They loved him! He was funny and informative, and they saw so much more than they would have on an excursion - the Vatican museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's, Trevi fountain, the "keyhole", Spanish steps and the colloseum. They grabbed a snack on the run, as they wanted to see as much as possible. I think they paid about 500 euros.

Livorno: we found a taxi driver on the pier for 300 euros for the day. He didn't speak English, but tried hard to communicate with us. He drove us to Lucca where we spent 4 hours in the old quarter, then Pisa for about 2 hours in the area around the Duomo. It was a rainy day so the strolling wasn't as much fun as it should have been, and our last hour in Lucca wasn't great as everything was closed so we were just walking in the rain. It's a nice stop though. We enjoyed Pisa as well. We bought admission tickets for the museums and duomo, but did not enter the tower. 2 hours was about right for that. In retrospect, I wish we had chosen 1 other place to visit to visit that day. Or better yet, booked a driver/guide. Our ship didn't leave until 9 that night as a number of passengers were stranded on a train back from Florence because of the rain. Also, we heard that doing Pisa and Lucca using trains was trickier than it sounded because of station locations and timing.

Portofino: the trip across on tenders was rough! We walked a bit in Portofion, then took the local bus to St. M. We got the tickets (1.50 euro return, I think) at the newspaper stand in the square where the bus stops. The rain kept up, so we went back to the ship earlier than we had planned.

Monte Carlo: we docked right in Monte Carlo which was nice. We went on the ships tour - morning visit to Nice market, stop in Eze, finished in Monte Carlo. I enjoyed the day a lot, in spite of the rain. With 6 of us, we would have been better off with a driver/guide though. I think we would have had time for the car museum that way.

Marseille: Our companions did a half day tour of Marseille & Cassis. They didn't enjoy it much (spent a lot of time waiting for bathroom breaks) as the tour didn't actually stop at any Marseille sites and Cassis was similar to Portofino & St. M. We took a half day tour to Aix en Provence (really beautiful and interesting I could have spent a whole day there), and shared a cab to the old port in Marseille with another couple for the rest of the day (our share was 8 euros). Grimy but interesting. We ventured into a church down the hill from the Notre Dame (maybe St. Stephen's but I can't remember for sure). Anyway, it had a great collection of reliquaries/bones on display - something you don't see at home. We took the number 35 bus from in front of the little church on the waterfront back to the port - people were very helpful in telling us how to find the bus and get off even though they didn't speak English and we don't speak French.

Malaga - we used Spain Direct http://www.spaindirecttravel.com/home.htm to go to Granada and the Alhambra. A fantastic day! They have a bus with high windows that seats about 20 people, so the 6 of us could stretch out. We went to the Moorish quarter in Granada after the Alhambra, couldn't have had a better day. Malaga looked good for spending a day, and we heard that it was a nice day for staying in port.

Cadiz - also a nice day to wander in the port, but we took a ship excurion to Seville. This is a great city, and we all want to go back. It was worth the time on the bus.

Lisbon - sorry, but this wasn't a city I enjoyed. However, we took 2 taxis with English drivers (200 euro per car) since there were no vans for 6 and headed to Sintra. We had a great visit to Pena Palace, even though it was raining hard. We travelled back through Cascais and Estoril. I would skip the overview of Lisbon, and spend more time in Sintra.

[Brahmama]

Malaga - we used Spain Direct http://www.spaindirecttravel.com/home.htm to go to Granada and the Alhambra. A fantastic day! They have a bus with high windows that seats about 20 people, so the 6 of us could stretch out. We went to the Moorish quarter in Granada after the Alhambra, couldn't have had a better day. Malaga looked good for spending a day, and we heard that it was a nice day for staying in port.

 

Hi Tonil,

And thanks so much for such a good and intesting post. My particular question is about Malaga. Do you recall the price of the tour with Spain Direct to the Alhambra? How long did it take to get there? That is one place I have always wanted to see!

 

Thanks,

Carol

[ClaudiaF]

Looking at Spain directs website it seems that they do tours in big buses ( just like the cruise ship). Did you get a private car /driver or did you do the bus?

[ToniL]

Although the company arranges group tours, they also have a smaller vehicle that they hire out. It is a lot like the type of bus that is used for airport hotel shuttles. We had a driver, a guide named Deborah, and also were met by a guide inside the Alhambra. The cost was about 650 euros and it included the price of tickets to the Alhambra. Their website isn't that helpful, but you can email them to describe what you want. I bet if you wanted to do it with less than 6 people, they would likely come up with a car. One thing of note is that you pay up front, and they have a cancellation policy that penalizes you if you cancel close to the date of the tour. We were okay with this, as we knew that even if one of us was sick the rest would go. It really was a highlight of the trip. I've posted some pictures at http://community.webshots.com/user/tonilachance I also think we could have found other people to fill the vehicle and reduce the price per person.

[Leejnd4]

Wow, ToniL, thanks for all the info on all those ports! We have a similar itinerary coming up in May on Radisson -- all of the ports you mentioned here except for Cadiz (as well as a few more). Sorry to hear about the rain, but it sounds like you had a wonderful time anyway.

 

Can you elaborate on why you weren't fond of Lisbon? I've been looking forward to that port. What is it you liked about Sintra?

 

I'd heard that Marseilles itself isn't much to see, and that we should instead try to get to Aix en Provence. Nice to hear that's a worthwhile trip.

 

LeeAnne

[zebra]

ToniL... thanks good review.

 

Can you tell me more about Aix en Provence, please!!!! Also did you speak to anyone that went to Les Baux and is it worthwhile visiting?

[ToniL]

I didn't take many pictures in Aix because of the rain, but you'll find some photos and tourist information at http://www.aixenprovencetourism.com/uk/ It is a beautiful place, the colour of the sandstone buildings contrasts with the sycamore trees and the effect in wonderful. It is a great place for walking, and the little shops are on narrow, scenic streets. I liked browsing through the Provencal products (food, olive oils, etc.) There are many spots where you get a glimpse of Roman and early medieval times.

 

In Lisbon, the old area (Alfama) doesn't have much of interest that we could see and the area where people stroll and shop is quite modern. I understand that the Alfama comes to life more at night, but that didn't fit for a port stop. The city is not very clean, so the buildings didn't seem impressive, especially as this was one of our last ports so we had seen some beautifully preserved buildings in comparison. The town of Sintra is lovely, and we all loved the Pena Palace. It is set in a forest that combines Mediterranean and German plants and the drive up is really nice. The palace still contains a lot of original furniture, but the main attraction is its fanciful look - a medieval monastery redesigned into a palace. There is some good information at http://www.portugalvirtual.pt/_tourism/costadelisboa/sintra/index.html Friends of ours also visited the National Palace, a short drive from town, and loved it. It was closed when we were there (Tues) and the Pena Palace is closed on Mondays. That might just be winter hours, though. The Cascais - Estoril strip is kind of interesting, too. It is pretty densely populated, but there are some nice buildings overlooking the sea. If it had been warmer we would have wandered there a bit. I haven't heard anything about Les Baux, but is does sound nice!

[ClaudiaF]

Wow, ToniL, thanks for all the info on all those ports! We have a similar itinerary coming up in May on Radisson -- all of the ports you mentioned here except for Cadiz (as well as a few more). Sorry to hear about the rain, but it sounds like you had a wonderful time anyway.

 

Can you elaborate on why you weren't fond of Lisbon? I've been looking forward to that port. What is it you liked about Sintra?

 

I'd heard that Marseilles itself isn't much to see, and that we should instead try to get to Aix en Provence. Nice to hear that's a worthwhile trip.

 

LeeAnne

Definetly get to Aix and Les Baux.. these are two wonderful places. you also have the option to do Arles or Avignon, but it would be way to much to try to do all ( and probably impossible) in one day in the short time we get on the port visits.. That is what makes it so much fun to come back again and again.. am at moment making plans for the most amazing chartered lux barge cruise for only 6 of us friends, in Provence - which will take us from Avignon to somewhere fabulous.. to see all the places we missed on our May Oceania cruise there.. so that is one reason a fabulous cruise is so great.. you get to see lots of places and choose where you must come back to.

 

P.S. for a great driver " Louisette" she speaks limited English, but hey, I speak limited french and we all did just fine, and she truly charming and gave us a wonderful tour of the area, try:

http://Http://www.taxidurand.com

[Leejnd4]

Thanks for all the details! I've definitely got Aix and Les Baux on my French agenda. And I'll do some more research into Sintra and Pena Palace, but from your report it sounds like that's what we'll do. That's great to know, because I hadn't actually gotten to my research for Lisbon yet.

 

Sometimes I don't know what's more fun -- the months of research into each port stop, or the cruise itself! ;)

 

Claudia, I'm hoping to be able to hire Michel of DreamTours in France, but that's contingent on my being able to find four more people to join us. So far, even though our cruise is sold out, I've yet to hear of a single other soul from either this board or LCT who is going on it with us.

 

LeeAnne