Lanzalady

If you're tipping room service staff on a Med cruise, they will probably spend the money locally. So euros will be well-received as they can spend them when they go off the ship for a few hours. But I'm sure that they will also be happy with whatever tips they receive. We've just come back from an Eastern Mediterranean cruise and gave them 1 euro for a breakfast tray on the days that we had an early start and 2 euros for anything more substantial. We had prepaid our obligatory tips, so we thought that this was enough. And we Europeans aren't used to tipping in the same way that Americans are.

Hi Ayasha,

It's good to hear from you! We miss you and your family and all the rest of the people that we did all those tours with. We talk about it a lot. I was trying to edit my post to add some more photos but my time ran out and my post went without the photos. They weren't anywhere near as good as your photos, so I think that we'll just let everyone imagine our cruise with your photos!

Hi Melissa.

Ayasha was great and organised some fantastic trips. We met some really nice people through her and also through the trips organised by Theresia.

I've also been following your trip!

Thanks.

Day 1 was Barcelona and we stayed on the ship.

Day 2 was Cannes. We went ashore by tender and walked about the town enjoying the scenery and the sunshine. We had planned on taking the train and seeing a bit of the coast but there was a transport that day, so we just stayed in Cannes. Had a nice lunch in a local restaurant and then went back to the ship. A good first day!

Day3 was Livorno for Florence and Pisa. We were met outside the port by our driver/tour-guide Clara, who was born and bred in Livorno and knew everything about the area. Clara was a fantastic guide, with excellent English and a good sense of humour. She kept us entertained the entire way to Pisa, which was our first stop. The van was air-conditioned and also had Wi-Fi, so we could also catch up on our emails etc. and this was a great plus. After a short stop in Pisa, we moved on to Florence where we were shown some interesting places and then onto a tiny restaurant in the back streets, where we ate one of the dishes of the day, with fresh bread and accompanied by a bottle of Chianti. We then had a couple of hours to ourselves before returning to the van and then the ship.

Day 4 was Civitavecchia for Rome. We were met by our driver/tour guide who drove us to Rome. First stop was the Coliseum where we spent a couple of hours looking round and then our whole group went for a relaxed lunch in one of the local restaurants. In the afternoon we moved on to the Vatican, where we spent some time looking round the museum. This is an amazing place – full of treasures and fabulous art work and of course, gold! Whether you are a believer or not, there is no doubt that the top guys of the Catholic Church have amassed some pretty fabulous artefacts for themselves over the years! We then moved onto the Sistine Chapel and saw the works of Michelangelo and his students and finished up in the Basilica of St. Peter’s. When we left the Basilica, we went to take a look at the Swiss guards who were guarding the outside of the building. We then drove back to the ship and sailed off into the sunset.

Day 5 was a sea day and was just what the doctor ordered for a lovely relaxing day! Sitting on the balcony enjoying the sun and watching the waves go by. Fabulous sunset that evening.

Day 6 was another sea day, so more of the same and another wonderful sunset.

Day 7 was Piraeus for Athens. We met our driver outside the port for the short drive into Athens. This was an early morning start and we arrived at the Acropolis at 7.30h before all the crowds appeared. After walking up the 100 or so steps to the top, we were free to wander around for the rest of the morning. So after coming back down all those steps, we went on to visit the old administrative area of the Agora and to visit the Temple of Hephaestus and then for a wander around the Plaka district. A pleasant lunch in a local restaurant completed the morning and then it was on to Parliament Square to watch the changing of the guards. As this was a Sunday, the guards were dressed in full regalia (including the pom-poms on their shoes) and proceeding to go through their entire routine. After standing in the hot sun for an hour or so, watching this spectacle, it was good to get back to the van and then back to the ship.

Day 8 was Kusadasi for Ephesus. We picked up our van and driver who drove through the countryside towards Ephesus. On the way we stopped off at the so-called House of the Virgin Mary, which many of the group wanted to visit. Once we arrived at Ephesus we were taken on the tour of the ruins and saw the old library and the other buildings, some of which are now being re-built. We then moved on to the amphitheatre and then back to the van. Next we went to a carpet factory where we were shown how the silk was produced and the carpets made by hand. None of us wanted to buy a carpet nor go on to a leather workshop, so we went back to Kusadasi. We then had some time to wander round the local shops and to relax for a while in one of the local cafes where Internet was available. Now a warning to anyone thinking of buying Turkish Delight… don’t buy the boxed stuff from the stalls around the port. It’s not proper Turkish Delight and the box is only half full. Apparently there are some places where you can buy some fresh Turkish Delight nearby but it certainly doesn’t come in these boxes.

Day 9 was Santorini (Thira) and was to be the highlight of my holiday. The ship moored off the coast in the middle of the caldera. We took the tender to the shore and then had the choice of going up the cliff to Fira by foot, by donkey or on the cable-car. We chose the cable-car, which only took a couple of minutes to get to the top. From the top, the views of the bay below are spectacular. We wandered around the town for a while and then took a local bus along the coast to Oia, which is a delightful town to the north of the island that is built on the top of a steep cliff. This is where most of the photos of Santorini are taken as many of the buildings have those distinctive dark blue domes on the roofs of the buildings. We stayed in Oia for a few hours and had some lunch in a pleasant restaurant with spectacular views down to the sea. There were several cruise ships down in the caldera and the sea was so blue from above. We returned to Fira on the local bus and waited for the tender to take us back to the Serenade. Thira was a magical place and somewhere I would like to return to one day. Another fabulous sunset!

Day 10 was a sea day and another wonderful day relaxing on the balcony and another gorgeous sunset.

Day 11 was Salerno for Pompeii and the Amalfi coast. We picked up our driver and were taken to Pompeii where we met up with our tour guide. She took us on a fantastic tour of the huge complex and regaled us with stories as well as the history of the place. Pompeii definitely left its mark on everyone who visited it with us that day. I think that everyone had a quiet moment whilst looking at the “bodies” of some of the dead. After Pompeii we drove along the coast road, which is narrow and full of sharp bends and is not for the fainthearted. If you suffer with travel sickness, don’t take this road! We stopped off at Sorrento for a short visit and then went on to Positano where we stopped for lunch in a small restaurant perched high up on the side of the mountain. The lunch was great and so was the wine! Back on the twisty road down to the town centre and then back on the coast road to return to the ship. On leaving Salerno harbour, some dolphins were jumping behind the ship. We had been hoping to see some dolphins since the first day and here they were at last! Another sunset to add to the collection.

Day 12 was our last sea day and time to reflect on the wonderful holiday that was just about to end.

We had had fabulous weather and gorgeous sunsets every night, great drivers and tour guides and visited some wonderful places and met some lovely people. The ship that had been our home for the past 12 days had kept us safe and comfortable and fed.

We were going home!

Back in Barcelona, we were expected to disembark from the ship at the ridiculously early hour of 6.30 a.m. We had a hotel reservation but had not expected to arrive there until around 11 a.m. We disembarked just before 7 a.m. and we were lucky enough to pick up our bags almost immediately and managed to get a taxi and arrive at our hotel just after 7 a.m. Luck was with us there too as the receptionist told us that they had a room available for us and we were able to check in and go back to sleep for few hours.

We later walked back to the port in time to see the Serenade of the Seas sail majestically out of the port again on her next cruise. Goodbye Serenade - thanks for a great cruise!

We flew back to Lanzarote the following day with wonderful memories of our Mediterranean cruise. I would give the whole experience 9 out of 10.

Serenade of the Seas – Review – 12 day Eastern Mediterranean Cruise – 16th June 2014

We are very lucky to live in the fabulous Canary Islands but still like to get off “our rock” to go and visit some other wonderful places and I had always longed to visit the magical island of Thira – better known as Santorini. So after quite a lot of research into the various cruise lines to see who had an itinerary that fitted in with our employment restrictions and also included Thira, we plumped for a 12 day cruise on the Royal Caribbean “Serenade of the Seas”. We liked the sound of this ship as it wasn’t one of the new, mammoth ships that can accommodate 4,000 guests who might want to sky-dive or ice-skate whilst they are at sea. We liked the fact that the Serenade was older and had less going on and only accommodated around 2,100 guests. So we booked an E1 starboard balcony cabin –Nº 7654, which had received a good review on Cruise Critic, as being located in a quiet part of the ship, well away from the Centrum and having an extra-large balcony. We like our peace and quiet and generally do not participate in any of the “activities” on offer and just like to enjoy being at sea. After all, isn’t being at sea and visiting the places that you stop off at, what cruising is all about?

We flew into Barcelona the evening before embarkation and spent the night at a small, inexpensive hotel not far from the port. We were only there to sleep and eat breakfast, so we didn’t need anything fancy. After breakfast we took a taxi down to the port and were ready to board at about 11.30 a.m. Our bags were taken away and we went through the boarding procedure almost immediately and were walking the decks within the hour. The cabins were blocked off until 1.30 p.m, so we went up to the Windjammer for some lunch. It was busy and full of people running around with plates piled high with food and acting as if they hadn’t eaten for a week! Eventually we were allowed to our cabins and we found ours and were very pleased with it. Our luggage wasn't delivered to us until almost 6 p.m.

Cabin 7654 is located aft, just 10 cabins from the end of the passageway and so doesn’t get too much passing traffic. The shower room to the left of the entrance was small but well-laid out and we were pleased to see a proper shower cubicle with a door, rather than a plastic curtain. It was a very small shower cubicle though and it was necessary to open the door if you wanted to get down to soap your feet and then close it again to turn the water back on to wash it off afterwards! But we managed! Opposite the shower room was a good sized wardrobe with doors and plenty of storage space with shelves and a hanging rail with plenty of hangers. Quite a bit of this space was occupied by 4 life jackets but we put these on the top shelf so that we could put our shoes on the floor. Then there was a dressing table area with several drawers underneath and a large mirror above and a further ledge, on which sat the TV. Above the TV there was another cupboard which contained the safe and some shelves for storing more items and below the TV was the mini-bar. Opposite the TV were the bed and a couple of bedside tables. We did feel that the end of the beds, when separated into 2 singles, were very close to the TV unit opposite and left very little room to walk past to get to the balcony but we managed. The balcony was wonderful! The 7th floor aft balconies are deeper than the rest of the row and protrude outside the general line of balconies above. Great for sunbathing! It’s a pity that we didn’t get any loungers but the 2 terrace chairs were quite comfortable to sit in for long periods, whilst watching the ocean pass by. We’d give the cabin 9 out of 10.

Our cabin attendant was an elderly man and I did feel a little uncomfortable having an elderly male looking after my cabin. I know that we now have equality but I can’t help the way that I feel. We are not messy people and we don’t need to have someone tidying up after us twice a day or even once a day. I like to make my own bed and I always hang my towel up after using it so that I can use it again, so I don’t need to have constant attention from a cabin attendant. We did tell him this and often left the “do not disturb” sign on the door when we were not in but unfortunately his trolley was almost permanently stationed outside our cabin door and it was impossible to escape his attentions.

We didn’t leave the ship to explore Barcelona as we have stayed there on several previous occasions and know the city quite well and just preferred to explore the ship and find our way around. Even though the Serenade is considered a medium-sized ship, it seemed vast to us and took quite a long time to wander round. There were lots of bars, restaurants and lounges and things to do but we were also quite surprised throughout the cruise, how easy it was to find a quiet corner away from the hustle and bustle.

We ate all our meals in the Windjammer as we prefer to eat when we’re hungry and not be tied down to mealtimes nor to have to share our meals with strangers.

We found the food plentiful but very average. There was mashed potato at every meal and for the first 4 or 5 days, this was incredibly lumpy and somewhat undercooked. I felt that I needed to comment on this and from then on it was a little less lumpy but still not what I would call proper mashed potato. Even though this was a European cruise and had people from some 62 countries aboard, the majority of the guests were from the U.S.A. I think that there were only around 350 British guests compared with 1,650 Americans. There was also quite a large group from Canada and a number of people from Australia and New Zealand. There was a sprinkling of Spanish speaking guests from both Spain and South America and a mixture of other European nationalities. A good mix of people but the feeling was that the cuisine was generally aimed at the American palate. It’s an American ship so no surprise there! The frozen French fries and burgers were in constant demand on one side of the Windjammer and the pasta station offered a very limited choice of sauces each day – usually just tomato. We didn’t see any prawns or other shell-fish at all and hardly any cooked vegetables. Most of the things available on the salad bar were mixed up with peppers and onions, so if you didn’t happen to like peppers or onions, you were stuck without a salad either. Even the tuna sandwiches had peppers chopped up in with the tuna and the egg-mayonnaise sandwiches had onion in them. Why can’t they just leave everything alone for people to choose their own items? The bread selection was extremely poor – there just was no choice at all - small, hard bread rolls or burger buns. Even Thomson’s cruise ships offered a better selection of freshly made breads! On a positive note, the soft ice-cream machine was available and self-service whenever the Windjammer was open. Yummy!

The toast at breakfast was often soggy as it had obviously been made in advance and then kept warm wrapped up in a cloth, where the steam had absorbed into the bread. Not very appetising! The fried eggs at breakfast were a bit hit and miss as the egg station staff had all the pans in use for omelettes and if someone wanted a fried egg instead, they grabbed the nearest pan that usually still had the residue from the last omelette stuck to it and dropped the eggs into that. Quite a few people were asking for fried eggs, so why not keep a couple of pans aside just for those? The crispy bacon however, was wonderful! In general, the food was edible but somewhat reminiscent of a work’s canteen. I’d give the food 7 out of 10.

The staff in the Windjammer were generally lacking any training and any leadership. There were several men in black uniforms wandering about, presumably supervising the area but they didn’t seem to have any interaction with the staff who were clearing the tables. It was often necessary to sit down at a table still covered in the debris from the previous occupants whilst the clearers cleared another table somewhere else that was not needed at that moment. Certain members of the staff were more conscientious and tried to keep their areas clean but many did not and none of the superiors seemed to be bothered. They didn’t seem to be doing much either!

We ordered a bottle of wine once but they didn’t have the one that we chose and it took about 15 minutes for the bottle to appear by which time we had finished our meal. The wines were vastly overpriced and were about 4 times the price of the same wine in a local restaurant. We were in Europe, ordering a European wine and expect to pay a little extra but not 4 times more! Needless to say, we didn’t order any more wine and didn’t spend any more money on the overpriced drinks available on the ship. If the prices hadn’t been so rip-off, we probably would have had a few drinks in the evenings, so they lost out on anything from us. We’re not huge drinkers anyway and just stuck to the delicious lemonade on offer and made tea in our cabin. We didn’t have any tea-making facilities in the cabin but brought our little heating element with us, along with a stainless steel teapot and our own tea-bags. The choice of tea available on the ship was excellent though and the Twinings Breakfast Tea was very nice.

The ports of call were all great. The efficiency of the tenders, when they were in use, was very good.

We didn’t do any of the ship’s excursions as we thought that they were very expensive and consequently arranged to do them all through private tours with some groups that we found on the “Cruise Critic Roll-call” (thanks Ayasha and Theresia). The tours were all really well organised and offered comfortable air-conditioned vans with professional and friendly drivers and tour-guides.

We visited Rome, Florence/Pisa and Salerno/Pompeii with “Rome-in-Limo” and would definitely recommend this company to anyone considering doing some private tours.

Thanks very much for the information. :)

I shall be sailing from Southampton next June on a P & O cruise to the Baltics and would like some advice on which airport to fly into in order to get to Southampton with the least complications. We live in the Canary Islands (Lanzarote to be precise) and we can more or less fly into any of the UK airports (apart from Heathrow) but getting from the airport down to Southampton seems to be far more complicated. It seems that if we could fly into Heathrow we could get a direct coach down to Southampton but there doesn't appear to be any such service from any of the other airports. So, if there is anyone out there who has had this same problem and can give me some hints on the best way to do this, I would be very grateful.

When we boarded the Serenade of the Seas in Barcelona last month and tried to declare the 2 bottles of wine in our suitcases, nobody was interested. We could have probably brought in a few more!

I really do not understand this obsession that Americans have with obligatory tipping. Whatever happened to doing a job and getting paid for what you do? Why should I pay to eat a meal in a restaurant and then have to give the person who plonked the plate in front of me, a tip for just doing his job? That said, if I receive a really good service and feel that the waiter has gone out of his or her way to advise me on my choice and has given me an excellent service, then I'm happy to leave him or her something extra for the service I received. I don't see why I am forced to pay an exorbitant amount of money on top of what I have already been charged for what I am buying. My husband and I chose My Time Dining and had to pay tips up front for the service that we might or might not receive on the forthcoming cruise. We never went into the MDR and ate all our meals in the Windjammer. There was virtually no "service" up there and meals were often eaten surrounded by other people's dirty plates that were often left on the table for extended periods after they had left the table. There were several men in dark uniforms wandering about, who were presumably supervising the area but they never seemed to interact with the staff who were employed to clear the tables. Quite often these young people left dirty tables that other people were trying to sit down at to eat and went to clear dirty tables that were empty. They didn't appear to have had any training nor seemed to be working to any system and often quite happily wiped all the debris from the tables onto the floor. I'm not sure whether they are entitled to any tips but they certainly didn't seem to be offering much in the way of service. I worked in the hospitality industry for more than 20 years and took pride in my work and got paid for what I did. If a customer gave me a tip, then it was greatly appreciated but not expected as a matter of course. Obligatory tipping gives the staff no incentive to do anything as they'll get it whether they work or not. Earning your tips from giving a good service is how it should be as it sorts out the good workers from the not so good workers.

I have just spotted an error in my review. The cabin number should ready 7654 and not 7651. Oops!;)

I would just like to confirm the truth about the cheap and nasty product that passes as Turkish Delight and which is being sold on all the stalls around Kusadasi port area. I had been longing to buy some real Turkish Delight from Turkey and imagined that gorgeous gooey mouthful, tasting of real rose water. But what was sold on that market is nasty hard gelatin, flavoured with an artificial flavouring. And the box that it is packaged in is twice the size of the actual product. Beware of this rubbish and look for the genuine article. Ripping off your tourists is not a good way to encourage tourism!!

Ship – Serenade of the Seas

Deck - 7

Stateroom # - 7651

Stateroom Category – E1

Starboard or Port Side - Starboard

Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – Very quiet aft cabin located 9 cabins from the end of the ship. The only noise that we experienced was our cabin attendant’s enthusiastic greeting of every occupant of every cabin in the passageway. This was because his trolley was always located outside our cabin door. Luckily this only happened twice every day! He gave us an excellent service though.

Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - No

Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. – Wonderful balcony. We chose it because of a recommendation on Cruise Critic and everything that they said was correct.

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Oversized for class. The last 10 cabins on the 7th deck had double depth balconies that extended beyond the balcony line of the rest of the ship. Good for sunbathing.

Was wind a problem? - No

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? - No

Any specific problems with this cabin? - The sofa had seen better days and was a bit uncomfortable and the curtains smelled of smoke but it was not a major problem.

Any other comments? – We spent a lot of time in the cabin and on the balcony and thought that this enhanced our trip tremendously

Hi Ayasha,

Well here we are again. This is where it all started for me ... planning my Mediterranean cruise!

What a fantastic review so far! It's almost as good as actually being there and certainly brings back lots of wonderful memories.

Hi to you and your family and also to anyone else here who was on this cruise and was part of your "elite touring group".

Your photos are great and your witty descriptions really bring them to life. You have some fantastic shots of the Serenade - much better than mine.

Wasn't our Vatican guide called Luigi? He was extremely knowledgeable and entertaining at the same time.

I am looking forward to reading the rest of your review and can't wait for the next bit. :)

All the best,

Margaret

Convince your husband to stop smoking. Problem solved

Hear, hear! We've just come back from a 12 day cruise in the Mediterranean and whilst the no-smoking rules seemed to be adhered to more or less (we had a guy 2 cabins away who was often sitting out on his balcony with a cup of tea and a ciggie) I did notice that the curtains (drapes) in our cabin stank of stale smoke and could do with a good washing. Removing the remnants of other people's bad habits takes a little longer I suppose. I'm just happy that I am now 10 years and 1 month smoke-free. It's a great feeling!

Hi. My husband and I were on the Serenade of the Seas last month and arrived in Barcelona at around 6 a.m. and the ship was cleared by 6.30 a.m. and we were one of the first groups to disembark. Straight off the ship to collect our luggage - really quick and efficient and then to a waiting taxi. At that time of the morning (it was a Saturday) there was no virtually no traffic about and a quick comfortable drive to our destination. You shouldn't have a problem!

Don't worry! Every time you move into an area where there is a time-change, you will be informed about it beforehand in the "Cruise Compass". We have just returned from 12 days in the Eastern Med and had to put our watches forward an hour when we reached Barcelona and then another hour when we reached Athens and then put them back again when we got back to Italy and then back again at the end of the cruise. Can be confusing if you change your watches too early (our Cruise Compass always arrived during the evening of the day before and quite a few people changed their watches that night instead of the following night, resulting in missed appointments) I envy you having all this to look forward to. Have a great cruise!

Ahhh.... those elusive dolphins! My husband and I were enjoying a wonderful cruise on the Serenade of the Seas last month and had a standing joke about seeing some dolphins during our cruise. I loved sitting on the balcony and staring at the sea and telling the dolphins that they could come out now and visit - but they chose not to make an appearance. Then late one afternoon as we were leaving Salerno, there they were..... my dolphins had come out to see me at last. They were just small Mediterranean dolphins and there were only 3 or 4 of them but they were there to wave us out of the port. Thanks dolphins...we'll be back!

You think that's expensive? Here in the Canary Islands, I recently paid over 10€ for a 500g jar of Marmite. Now that WAS a bit expensive! You used to be able to have a meal for that!

I'm a musician who worked smoky bars and now suffer from lung problems. It is not the stench, but the chemicals which make some people truly sick. Times are changing, countries, states...the minority of smokers cannot freely foul the air. I have empathy for smokers and watched my father try to quit over and over. It is not a war on smokers, it's the reality check that tobacco smoke kills. When you cannot breathe, you have no freedom at all. Peace!

Well said!

Having been a smoker and addicted to the drug nicotine I do understand the pull of the drug will make smokers defend there need to get a fix. But this seems a bit strange that you would only book a balcony for a place to smoke, have you never thought it is also a good place to get fresh air and look at the view? Looking at the cost, those cigs on the balcony were very expensive if you were booking a balcony just to smoke.

I was about to say the same thing! Imagine booking your holiday with your only thought being of where you can safely poison yourself as often as you can. Why bother going on a cruise? Why not just stay at home and puff away to your heart's content? In these days of political correctness, it isn't the done thing to actually speak against such things ...... but why not? We all know that smoking is bad for us. It is anti-social, makes our mouths, bodies, hair and clothes stink and there is absolutely nothing positive to say about it. So let's stop beating about the bush and admit that addicts will make all the excuses that they can to carry on their addiction. There is nothing to argue about..... It's an addiction that causes discomfort and annoyance to others and can kill, not just those who are addicted but many others around them. I also used to be a smoker and finally managed to quit the habit 10 years ago next month. I still count the years and months and give thanks that I was strong enough to kick the habit. I also used to say that I enjoyed a cigarette and that it was my right to smoke and all the other rubbish that other addicts say. It's not true you know.... you would all love to stop! And well done to those who have and good luck to all those who would like to. Here's to a healthier life.... without smoke!

One aspect of the "second-class citizen" argument is often overlooked. When the person sitting beside you at a bar or casino does not smoke, when a person eating in a restaurant does not smoke, when the person next to you in the workplace does not smoke, there is no negative impact to anyone within the environment of the area. The reverse is never true. Smoking always immediately impacts the area exposed. It isn't and never has been a valid argument. Air free of smoke does not impose; smoky air does.

Exactly!

I never liked Marmite as a child but when my own children were small, I developed a taste for it. I love it on hot-buttered toast and cut into "soldiers". It's also yummy spread thinly on top of cheese on toast and then popped back under the grill again for a couple of minutes. Mmmmmm....:)

Great Review! I have really enjoyed reading all about your cruise and will be following in your footsteps in exactly 8 weeks time. It all sounds so wonderful and thanks so much for the tips and advice of what to do and what not to do. We'll be very careful with those mules on Santorini! Yippee... not long to go now and I have some idea of what to expect. Thanks again! :)

Jewel is the last ship in the fleet with a Sea View café, and that will be lost in the refurb.

Hi Karen. I have a question for you as I see you have just been on the Serenade of the Seas. Does the TV in the cabin have a USB socket, just in case we want to bring some of our own movies etc.? We'll be on the Serenade visiting the Mediterranean/Greek Isles in June. Thanks, Margaret

Are you sure all your stops are EU countries? Does the cruise include a Canary Island, Gibraltar or North Africa stop as these are non EU.

 

 

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The Canary Islands are part of the EU. We just have certain tax differences due to our isolation from the Spanish mainland. 20 years ago we were tax-free but now our VAT has crept up to 7%. It's called IGIC and is now charged on food, drink and any type of service. I don't know how this is reflected in a cruise that leaves the Spanish mainland and then visit the Canaries though!