P&O Excursions

7th May Going on the P&O Britannia. Stopping at Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz (Tenerife) Maderia, Lisbon and Vigo booked one excursion to volcano + camel ride. If anyone's been is it easy to get from the port to the above cities? Usually just like to do our own thing. Any help appreciated.

Yes. The only one we've not visited is Vigo. All the other ports are an easy walk in to town if my memory serves me correctly.

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All ports are quite easy to DIY. Not much in Santa Cruz, but nice walk in town. Pretty little shops and houses. Madeira, you could do hopon bus, just outside the port.

7th May Going on the P&O Britannia. Stopping at Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz (Tenerife) Maderia, Lisbon and Vigo booked one excursion to volcano + camel ride. If anyone's been is it easy to get from the port to the above cities? Usually just like to do our own thing. Any help appreciated.

The Lanzarote volcano and camel ride is great. If not on a tour then the shuttle is advised to get into town as it's a trek.

Gran Canaria, you dock in town, next to a shopping centre. You can walk through to the beach in about 10 mins. We've also taken a local bus down to the old town where the cathedral is.

Santa Cruz, a bit more of a walk to get out of the port but then you are in town. We've taken the tram up to La Laguna which is the old capital and very pretty. Last time we took the ships tour to Loro Parque which was wonderful but a bit tricky on your own.

Madeira, about a 20 min walk into town. We've done the chairlift, viewed the toboggan starting point, back down, through the old market then wandered through the town back to the ship. We've also done a south west tour with these guys which for €75 per vehicle was excellent value with great views: http://www.madeira-island-taxis.com/Funchal-Cruise-Ship-Port/SouthWest-Tours.html

Lisbon, you may dock at one of two ports. The one under the bridge is further out but you can walk to the station in about 3 mins and it's one stop to the centre and inexpensive. If it does at the tobacco quay then it's an easy 10 min walk onto the centre. We've done 2 segway tours in Lisbon which were great fun.

Vigo, you dock right in town next to the shopping centre.

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Thanks for taking the time to reply, very helpful information and much appreciated.

If you are fit and able to do camel rides why not consider something from the viator range at some of the ports. There is a great one in Lisbon:

Private Tour: Best of Lisbon by Sidecar You get a driver that can take you round on his motorcycle combination

max two pax on that one but lots of other interesting tours for small groups which are too small for main line cruise lines to offer.

Regards John

7th May Going on the P&O Britannia. Stopping at Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz (Tenerife) Maderia, Lisbon and Vigo booked one excursion to volcano + camel ride. If anyone's been is it easy to get from the port to the above cities? Usually just like to do our own thing. Any help appreciated.:cool:

All the ports are easy to get from port to town. If we remember correctly, all city centres except for Lanzarote is within WALKING DISTANCE from the port area.

In Lanzarote, you could get a bus that takes you to town/city centre, arranged by P&O or its associates at the port (usually, there was a charge for the bus ride for Early Saver fare passengers but free for Select Fare passengers). Your personal passenger card would be scanned before you get on board for each trip.

In Madeira/Funchal, there was also a bus transfer although you could walk to town ( a couple of mins approx). The charges for the bus ride were the same as for Lanzarote.

For Vigo, many passengers may opt to take an excursion or hire a car to visit the historic city of Santiago de Compostela. Vigo is quite a nice city too. It has a lovely park that sits on a hill , and if you are able to climb up to the top, it will give you a breathtaking view of the city and the port below. - you will be able to see where your ship is docked! Don't forget to get a city map..

For Gran Canaria, your ship will likely be docking in Las Palmas. As mentioned, the city centre is within walking distance of the ship. However, if you wish to visit Playa del Ingles and those beach resorts in the south of the island, you will have to either hire a car or take an excursion. You could not walk there (at least, not within the few hours which you have when your ship is there), it's just too far.

For Tenerife, the city of Santa Cruz is not the most interesting city on the island. Having said that, it is certainly not ugly but there is not much to see and do there. Most tourist would probably try to visit the more luscious and greener western part of the island , to resorts like Puerto de la Cruz, or the northwest. With just a couple of hours, many passengers could opt to take an excursion on a ride to the centre of the island which would give them a view of the majestic Tiede volcano.

In Lisbon, the city is fairly large, it is advisable to either take the underground or the bus to get around. Or you can take a tram for the older parts of town. Or simply walk. The underground is the quickest. One suggestion: try visit the Aquarium and its surroundings. It is situated in the new part of Lisbon, which has been transformed because of an Exposition. With those new buildings, that part of Lisbon is a bit like the city's version of Canary Wharf. The great thing is most tourists have not discovered the place yet, so it is still relatively "tourist free"!!!

By the way, unlike many other cruise lines, we found the prices of excursions offered by P&O were usually not much more than if you go with other private excursion companies you find on the internet. For other cruise lines, their excursion fares were sometimes quite exorbitant. So, even if you arrange your own excursions, you might find you are not saving yourself very much.

Enjoy your cruise.

In Madeira you can get a taxi or walk to the bottom of the cable car station. It's easy to see where it is from the quayside. Take a car to the top and slide down on a toboggan. Get a taxi from the bottom of the run into town and walk back to the ship after doing the town. I got a bit tired in the hot sun walking back to the ship so I got a guy to pedal me back to the ship on his pedal tricycle costs 7 euro for a couple 5 euro for a single fare.

Regards John

Last time in Lisbon we had a fabulous day with http://www.wehatetourismtours.com/

Really good.

Also if you haven't already been do visit Sintra, beautiful.