What to do in/from Bordeaux?

For some reason, this is one of the ports I'm having most trouble with so far as excursions go.

E.g. we rarely do the upcharge excursions, but the list has maybe 5 or 6 visits to various chateaux for wine and either lunch or dinner. I'm thinking maybe we'll try one of these. I have no idea how to distinguish among them. If any of you have done any such excursions from Bordeaux, I'd love to hear about them.

Which town is more handsome/interesting: Bordeaux or St Emilion?

What are some of the best Bordeaux excursions? (We're not oenophiles.)

Merci!

Poss -

it is hard to compare Bordeaux to St. Emilion. Bordeaux is a city, whereas St. Emilion is a small village in a picturesque setting. We had the opportunity to enjoy them both, but if you have to make a choice, it depends on your personal interests.

We stopped at a winery on our way to Bordeaux for a tasting. The wine was pathetic (some people were about to spit it out); but note that this is coming from someone who does not like French wine.

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When we were in Bordeaux, before excursions were included on Regent, we took the train on our own to St Emilion, wandered about and ate lunch, then went on a wine tour that we booked there on the spot. They have a little wine museum. Lots of cute little shops and very steep cobblestone streets. Definitely a place to wear good walking shoes.

Poss,

I think you would like the excursion called "Explore a Historic Chateau." I also recommend "St. Emilion Exploration" or St. Emilion Vinyards & Village."

Thanks for the responses. It seems that no one is pushing for Bordeaux itself. And since we're more country mouse than city mouse (especially as we're getting older, cities kind of exhaust us), we'll not choose any of the Bordeaux tours.

DaveFr, it is so like you actually to look up the excursions for exact details! You are certainly one heckofa helpful fellow. And guess what: You put your finger right on the 3 excursions I'd checked, truly. Btw, your upcoming trips have me salivating. Bon Voyages to you and Joan.

Rachel, happily we won't have to train it to St Emilion on our own. Ship excursions are so much easier for us these days. I wonder what the folks in St E thought about the handsome chap walking around in a cowboy hat.

BBWC: NO French wines? Mon Dieu!

Disclosure: We've been to St Emilion. But all I remember is that we enjoyed it a lot; can't remember many details. (Dear Jack, of course, remembers zilch.)

So: I guess the times of the excursions will determine whether we go back to St Emilion or do the "Historic Chateau" trip. Can't do real early in the morning anymore (though sometimes do just that, ha).

Thanks!

I believe St. Emilion js a half day tour. If you have time afterwards, you could just walk around Bordeaux by yourself, the ship docks right downtown (assuming you are going to Bordeaux and not Le Verdon). It is a very pretty (small) city.

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St. Emilion is a great place! The monolithic church is quite impressive to explore.

Great — thanks.

Btw, our itinerary indicates that ship goes to Bordeaux first and then moves to Le Verdon. Don't know why or when. I wish we were going to be in Bordeaux in the evening because I've read that there are pleasant things to see then, e.g. an especially handsome lighted fountain maybe?

Great — thanks.

Btw, our itinerary indicates that ship goes to Bordeaux first and then moves to Le Verdon. Don't know why or when. I wish we were going to be in Bordeaux in the evening because I've read that there are pleasant things to see then, e.g. an especially handsome lighted fountain maybe?

Poss,

Funny but when I look at your itinerary on the Regent website, it shows the ship arriving in Bordeaux at 8 am on day one and leaving Bordeaux at 5 pm on day two. I believe that in the past, the ship has moved to Le Verdon, which is at the mouth of the river or estuary between the Atlantic and Bordeaux, due to tidal considerations. I would suggest that your TA verify the schedule with Regent.

Assuming the Explorer does move to Le Verdon, you will spend the night in Bordeaux and then the Explorer will leave Bordeaux for Le Verdon at about 10 am on day two. Excursions on day two will meet the ship in Le Verdon. BTW, if you stay on the the ship between Bordeaux and Le Verdon, IMO there is no reason to get off the ship in Le Verdon. There is nothing there worth seeing by a visitor.

Hope this helps.

It all depends on the tides. The ship can go up and down to Bordeaux only at high tide. So you may or may not have an overnight. We luckily did, and Bordeaux at night is very special.

Got it — thanks! And now I realize that there'll be two excursions that we'll be able to take from Bordeaux (if I'm understanding correctly; I also spoke with Regent). We can choose on Saturday, and PDF still not available. Gads.

Weirdly, this is not an itinerary I'm real excited about, but as I've mentioned before, we're restricted on where we can travel, i.e., can't do the very long air travel or be too far away from Stateside medical resources.

I very much appreciate the help, you know that.

I would definitely check whether there will be repositioning or not. We too were lucky to have the overnight in Bordeaux without dealing with the repositioning. As others have said it's very walkable and plenty to see. Even having lunch on board at a window table while docked was lovely. If Chartreuse is open one day try to get in.

Poss,

We went on the "Explore a historic chateau" (2days ago) and very much enjoyed it. There were some steps and some walking but not bad (this trip I'm a bit mobility challenged). If walking is not a challenge for you, and the port is overnight in the same place, the town itself is very nice to walk around. You are docked right downtown and there is much to see, especially in the old town.

Like you, we were hesitant to book Explorer. The ship is very nice, they corrected the door whistling the day after we called, and we are having a good time.

If you have questions, please post. I may not get back to you immediately, but I will get back.

TC2, I understand why you love this ship.

Best, John

Hi John, I'm glad you very much enjoyed your cruise and ship. Actually, we've been on the Explorer (last summer Copenhagen-Oslo). I was pretty reluctant to book Explorer, but we've always wanted to do the Norway fjords, and I wanted to stay with Regent (only cruise line we've ever sailed with). We expected to be turned off by the glitz and glamor (not usually our thing, far from it), but in fact we found the ship very handsome indeed. I could've done with less large crystal, less shiny gold, no funny blue lights in CR, etc., but despite those things we thought the ship was very elegant and not too overpowering. The thing that I think bothered me most was the more narrow space looking out the sliding doors than on the other ships; I definitely felt a bit more "confined." In addition I didn't like the shower as much as the one on Mariner — but a fine ship she is!

Which of the historic chateaux did you visit? I tend to be more interested in architecture and grounds than in inside spaces, furniture and the like.

As for repositioning: I somehow can't get a firm handle on that. Only thing I can say for sure is that the tour descriptions of Bordeaux each speak of a bus taking people into the city — which makes me sad, since I thought that part of the pleasure of being in that city is being docked right there, pretty much in the center. LoonCall: Lunch in Chartreuse at a window table sounds lovely. Since my husband turns a whopping 89 on this trip, maybe it'll help us score some window tables. (Actually it's not something that we care a whole lot about, but in the case that you mention, it sounds great.)

Poss,

We toured Chateau de Roquetaillade. It was mainly a tour of the inside of the "new" castle (only from the 11th and 12th century with an "update" several hundred years ago) and the separate chapel building. Quite nice and historic. The tour guide at the castle turned out to be a member of the family so there were special insights to the tour. The outside was pleasant but unremarkable -basically pretty countryside but no formal gardens etc. Still, for us, quite a good tour.

On another note, the casual deck dining has been implemented on the Explorer and I think it is great to have choices but we still prefer "cleaning up" and dining in one of the restaurants inside. The deck BBQ was held the other night and was announced to be "relaxed casual" and when we walked by it there were some jeans, shorts and other "relaxed" clothing but everybody seemed to be enjoying it. Again, we prefer to eat inside in a bit more sedate surrounding and so ate at CR. The garish blue lighting in CR is apparently gone as we did not experience it.

Have fun planning your trip.

Best, John