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Casablanca - What to see and how to see it?


Ti2m
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Our ship is offering a trip to Marrakech but we really don't want to spend a total of 6 hours on a bus on a 12 hour excursion.

 

I've been searching the internet about the Casablanca port. Confusing. Since we are in port for 15 yes 15 hours, we have plenty of time to explore. I think my wife and I can do it on our own but not sure how big the city is and how to get around. We will have Euros and US$. Will that work? Some say they will accept some say exchange.

 

What are the top sites that will easy to travel to and from the ship?

 

Any information on your recommendations for sites, food, tours, anything would be appreciated.

 

Timm

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Been to Casablanca several times, and never voluntarily.

Business forced me to visit that horrible place. The name sounds romantic, but it is anything but. The sort of place that gives the Arab / Muslim world a bad name.

On several occasions colleagues of mine (all experienced and seasoned travellers ) were attacked and robbed at knife or gun point. In broad daylight on busy streets.

Absolutely not a place to roam around.

Not particularly interesting for tourists. Better sights, museums and mosques pretty much anywhere else.

BUT other places in Morocco ARE lovely.

Marrakech is absolutely stunning and SO worth a visit.

It is a bit of a pain to get to on your own in only a day. Reconsider that ships tour. I doubt you'd regret it.

If you really don't want to do that, Rabat the capital is quick-ish train ride away. The place is nice, easy to get around once there and there is a really nice fort / walled Medina and good market. And the people THERE are friendly, welcoming and hospitable.

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Been to Casablanca several times, and never voluntarily.

Business forced me to visit that horrible place ... On several occasions colleagues of mine (all experienced and seasoned travellers ) were attacked and robbed at knife or gun point. In broad daylight on busy streets.

Absolutely not a place to roam around.

 

Oh my !?!? I think we will be reconsidering doing anything on our own and will take another look at the MSC excursions. Thank you for your frank reply and recommendations. I think we would be finished with traveling if we had the same experiences as your colleagues.

 

 

Timm

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  • 2 months later...

We are looking at a MSC cruise with this stop too.Please let us know what you decided to do and how it went! DH and I would like to do the ship sponsored trip to Marrakech. We do have concerns about the safety of the travel there and some of the reviews were not good. The one review that sticks out was a few years old and hopefully things have changed. The reviewer felt it was a day of visiting places where you were forced to listen to long sale talks (i.e. carpets) and barely anytime to enjoy the sights and marketplace. I see your post is from May. Have you done this trip yet or is it still upcoming? Curious about the other ports!

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We are still up in the air about what to do in Casablanca. A person on the MSC board told me they hired a taxi to give them a tour of the city. That is the most appealing idea to us as of today lol.

 

As far as Marrakesh, we just can't imagine 6 hours on a bus. We will probably end up deciding on the ship when we are forced to make a decision.

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We are due in Casablanca in November on a smaller ship. We had considered Rabat but decided we would just stay in Casablanca as we are off to the Far East for five and a half weeks in February, so our autumn break is really a chance to relax in some warm weather.

 

There is quite a bit on Trip Advisor, which is CC's sister site, both in the Casablanca forum and under Casablanca as a place to visit/stay. The main suggestion is to get a taxi to the Hassan II Mosque, which can be visited for a tour at certain times of day - mainly in the mornings, (I have read that entry cost for the tour is 120 dirhams - the equivalent of £10pp and you may need local currency, but there are ATM's around). Pictures of the Mosque do look impressive though:-

 

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/morocco/casablanca-hassan-ii-mosque

 

Taxis can be easily picked up from there to other places and all taxis have to have working meters apparently - though the drivers will like to tell you otherwise of course. Lots of other suggestions on TA, but the mosque seems to be the main attraction.

Edited by tring
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We were last in Casablanca in Fall of 2015(4th time, but not by choice)(I have not been there as many times, nor over as long a period as buchhalm; we saw tourists a few feet infront of us have their backpacks pulled off their backs while taking pictures, and experienced a few minor things ourselves, but hearing his colleague stories is scary!I certainly don't want to encourage someone to go there and then they have problems!!) It is a basic large city. It does not have the charm of Marrakech, Fez, etc. Our opinion is that there are 3 tourist things to see; with the Mosque being number 1, "Ricks" bar(Humphey Bogart), and the Medina. Go by taxi only.

 

If you have 15 hours, I would try to go to Rabat. You can still see the Mosque in Casablanca. Or Marrakech(about 3hours one way), the trip there is beautiful, so it shouldn't be a boring trip there, but the trip back will be the same scenery and probably dark by then. Yes, it is a tour with a guide whom you need to stay with, but it didn't feel like a "sales" tour to us. Our guide took us to the souks, but simply walked us through so we could have the experience. You will have to "put up with" a carpet vendor spiel with local drinks, but we all told our guide we did not want to spend our time in sales pitches. He did ask and alloted more time to the requests of the majority of our group. This trip IS a long time on the bus, so you do need to think of that.

 

Safe and fun travels!

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We have done a lot of travelling in North Africa, including a two week hotel holiday in Marrakech and cruise stops in Agadir and Tangier, though have not as yet been to Casablanca.

 

Regarding safety for those who are perhaps not used to Africa, you do need to be sensible how you present yourself. A backpack or wallet in an unsecured pocket is not something we would ever consider, though I have seen a suggestion of carrying a backpack at the front of your body if you really must carry one with you. A bag carried loosely over the shoulder is also easily snatched by passing moped riders. Having said that places like Barcelona and other large cities have the same sort of problems from what I have heard, and some people do have a habit of being more careless about these things than they would in any large city in their home country.

 

It is also necessary to consider local feelings regards dress, so covering shoulders and knees is necessary, especially in Mosques, but we would never consider wearing anything more revealing anywhere in a muslim country, unless in a hotel or on a beach. We always take some fairly old clothes for such ports - things like what I would call lightweight jungle pants and a loose over blouse for me. We do not take the 'posh' camera with us either and of course any sort of jewellery or expensive watch should be left behind. We were once advised by a holiday rep to buy a local cheap necklace to show you have been around and of course if you are asked if you have been to Morocco before - the answer is emphatically, "Yes".

 

Showing any sort of interest of items for sale will produce a fairly hard sales pitch, so do not handle or look at anything you do not want to buy. The only time we have had problems with vendors in a Medina was in Tangier, when someone said, "Hello", to us. I turned round to see a table companion from the ship, who was with a tour group, all wearing their stickers! The vendors then approached us from all sides when they realised we knew the tour group. It seems the group had been given free time in the Medina - not a good idea. We immediately backtracked and went another direction and had no problem whatsoever after that.

 

Everyone has to do what they are comfortable with though.

 

The reason I came back to this thread is that I have asked about the Mosque on the TA forum and have had replies to say that one can pay by credit card in the Mosque and that there are a number of ATM's near to the port. I was told that Dirhams will be needed for the taxi though and I would also suggest Dirhams will help you blend in, rather than seeming a bit 'green'. Current entrance cost to the mosque is apparently 120 Dirhams.

 

I also asked about toilets and was told there are clean toilets downstairs in the Mosque, near to the ticket counter. One reviewer said was difficult to find the ticket counter, so it may be signposted in French, (guichet means ticket booth and the French word for ticket is billet).

 

The trip to Rabat sound good as an alternative to Marrakech - we would not think a six hour journey was worth it either, but some people like coach journeys.

 

Let us hope we all have a good time, whatever we choose to do in Casablanca.

 

Cheers

Edited by tring
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Regarding safety for those who are perhaps not used to Africa, you do need to be sensible how you present yourself......

 

Let us hope we all have a good time, whatever we choose to do in Casablanca.

 

Cheers

 

Excellent post! Great advice. Thank you ... Timm

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Excellent post! Great advice. Thank you ... Timm

 

You are welcome. It is pretty much the standard patter you would get at a welcome meeting on any package hotel holiday in North Africa, but cruise ships seem to focus more on selling their trips and admittedly some cruisers would prefer to be tripped as they feel safer that way and it is just easier not to plan ahead. I am not totally convinced they are safer though, as it seems to be the tour groups and big gatherings that are targeted and Morocco has not had a history of that to date anyway.

 

The post by buchhalm does seem a bit worrying, but it does seem to be a one off, both here and on TA. His colleagues were also likely to be business people so could have been in quite a different situation to us and may have been carrying large amounts of cash or valuables. We also hold our money in a number of places, knowing what is where, so we do not need to fumble in a purse/wallet which contains all our cash and we could always give something with a small amount of cash over, should we be accosted by a thief.

 

Another common scam in many countries is for someone to come up to you in the street, saying they are a waiter in your hotel/ship and would like to be your guide etc. Common sense tells you how to deal with that. Thing is you will see a lot of poverty and many of these people are just trying to make some cash, so we do not really blame them for doing so. Though people targeting tourists will not be those in most need of course. Islam is a very giving society and you will see locals giving to beggars. I often keep a few very small coins of the local currency in my pocket and give a little if I feel someone looks genuine, but if there are other beggars nearby you will be targeted by all of course. I have had some great thank you smiles for just the equivalent of a few pence/cents at times, though the beggars on the main tourist tracks are obviously more 'professional' than the ones I would give to.

 

We cope fairly well with French and will likely speak French in Morocco as it has a French history and it will also makes us look like any tourist, rather than from the English cruise ship that is in port, since cruise passengers are normally looked upon as more gullible and I can see why at times.

 

I am quite looking forward to Morocco now as it brings us back to some very enjoyable holidays we have had in North Africa. Hope you enjoy.

 

Barbara

Edited by tring
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