Lisbon

Has anyone booked the ship's shore tours in Lisbon? We are undecided between Obidos or Sintra and Cascais.

I suggest you post this on the 'ports of call' section of the forums.

The tours tend to be the same for all cruise companies as they use local agents in each port to run the trips. The American lines do rack the prices up a lot more though for the same trips.

I think public transport is fairly good from Lisbon, so you may find it possible to travel to those places independently if you have long enough in port to make sure you do not risk getting back late - again the ports of call section is the way to go. Also, searching CC could well pick up past threads which are relevant for you.

Happy Searching,

Barbara

Thanks for that, I never thought of posting in the ports of call forum.

Looks very easy to get a train to Sintra and Cascais - I picked up an old thread which said there were trains every 15 mins to one of them and I think they are very near.

I want to look into that ourselves at some stage. As much as there is a lot to do in Lisbon, we have been a few times now and our next return (Nov on Braemar) is from early morning to late night as it is a turn around day, so a very good chance to swan off for quite a long time - much better then trips.

Be aware that there is more than one cruise terminal in Lisbon. I think the big ships moor near the bridge, but Fred usually goes under it and further on.

Hi Barbara, we are Carolyn and Bob and we are on Braemar on 7th November too. We, like you, have visited Lisbon several times and I have always wanted to go to Estoril or Sintra, and as we are going to be there a full day and evening as you say it gives much more time. We docked in Lisbon in March this year and they were developing a new port and there seemed to be quite a lot of work to improve the older buildings so I think by November we will see some improvements. Look forward to meeting you. Carolyn

Hello Carolyn and Bob,

We will be on board Braemar for 31 nights from Southampton, but we have a couple of other Fred cruises before then so there is quite a bit on my mind at present. We are being tempted too much by the, "book three offers" and are determined to resist next year. We should start a roll call sometime.

We have been on Braemar the last two autumns, starting in Southampton for 23 nights in 2014 and a two week fly cruise last year - we then booked the subsequent cruise on board so had four weeks in all in 2015. The seas were very bad when Braemar sailed from Southampton to the Canaries both years, (the bit by Madeira was much worse than Biscay when we were on board in 2014), so make sure you are well stocked with pills just in case. Braemar is a lot less stable than the other Fred ships in bad seas, as you may know. We have booked a very central cabin accordingly. We do like Braemar though, especially our table for two in The Grampian, but we were too late booking the Mystery Cruise to get The Grampian for dinner.

We have always docked in Santa Apolonia in Lisbon, both on Braemar, Adonia and even Oceana. As it is upstream of the city, it is less well placed for the trains and Belem - both of which are still on our to do list. Mind you we tend to make lots of possible plans and ignore most of them when we get there! Is that were you docked in March and where is the new port to be?

We docked in Santa Apolonia last year and got to the Tower of Belem, Mosteiro dos Jeronimos and the Monument to the Discoveries (according to my granddaughter, the paving is a bit like the Blackpool Comedy Carpet but more academic) by the E15 tram along the waterfront. It was a modern electric tram (not one of the heritage ones) and you pay at a machine inside - very easy, because everybody is telling you what to do and waving their arms about, great fun. On the way back, the machine wasn't working so, oh dear, it was even cheaper than expected!

To get the tram, from the Black Watch we turned left along the river and walked to the big "commercial square" and then the tram for about 20 minutes. They run very frequently so no worries about getting back in time.

We docked in Santa Apolonia last year and got to the Tower of Belem, Mosteiro dos Jeronimos and the Monument to the Discoveries (according to my granddaughter, the paving is a bit like the Blackpool Comedy Carpet but more academic) by the E15 tram along the waterfront. It was a modern electric tram (not one of the heritage ones) and you pay at a machine inside - very easy, because everybody is telling you what to do and waving their arms about, great fun. On the way back, the machine wasn't working so, oh dear, it was even cheaper than expected!

 

To get the tram, from the Black Watch we turned left along the river and walked to the big "commercial square" and then the tram for about 20 minutes. They run very frequently so no worries about getting back in time.

I have read about that tram and understand you get good views along the river as you go. We may well do that this year.

We have done the historic tram route which goes up and down the roads of the city, but we got a day ticket from a newsagent in the centre of the city. If you paid into a machine as you got on the tram, can you remember how much the fare was? I presume we would need the exact change to do that.

I have read about that tram and understand you get good views along the river as you go. We may well do that this year.

 

We have done the historic tram route which goes up and down the roads of the city, but we got a day ticket from a newsagent in the centre of the city. If you paid into a machine as you got on the tram, can you remember how much the fare was? I presume we would need the exact change to do that.

The views weren't so much of the river, but of the town itself, although we did go under the bridge and had a good look up. The fare was about euro 2.50, each and each way. I think there is still a one-day travel card which might have been better value at 6 euro but I couldn't cope with buying that from a Portuguese machine as we swung down the road. I was having enough difficulty trying to work out what "over-60s" and "children" tickets were :-}

We walked back a little bit (between the tower and the monument) along the water and it was so clean. We sat having an ice-cream, with our feet in the water, watching the fish no more than 30 cm away. I was going to say foot, but decided it sounded a bit confusing!

PS You don't need the right change for each ticket. It's electronic so you can buy several tickets at once with a single payment. Anyway, IIRC it gives change.

The views weren't so much of the river, but of the town itself, although we did go under the bridge and had a good look up. The fare was about euro 2.50, each and each way. I think there is still a one-day travel card which might have been better value at 6 euro but I couldn't cope with buying that from a Portuguese machine as we swung down the road. I was having enough difficulty trying to work out what "over-60s" and "children" tickets were :-}

 

PS You don't need the right change for each ticket. It's electronic so you can buy several tickets at once with a single payment. Anyway, IIRC it gives change.

Thanks for that, sounds like you had a good day.

I always find ticket machines a bit off putting when abroad, but at least these will be in Euros so change will not be a problem as I always keep some from previous holidays.

The time we got the day ticket we were on a P&O ship and they run a shuttle buses from Santa Apolonia whilst Fred do not. The ticket shop was just across the road from the shuttle drop off and we knew it was there before we went, so could get into the shop nippily before the queue built up too much.

Cheers,

Barbara

It is very easy to get to Sintra on your own. You leave from Rossio station. If over 65 take proof of age (passport) to get a reduction. You need to get a Viagem card, but go to the ticket desk and the attendant will sort it all out for you. It was €17 return for 4 of us last month. Terrific value.

Rossio station has some lovely tiles to look at.

So much to see in Sintra. All walkable if you are semi fit, but a shuttle bus costing €5 will take you between the 3 main attractions.

Enjoy!