Pullmantur Empress - Lisbon -Sept. 22, 2014

Think I have managed to change to 1st sitting. Husband is diabetic so I said 9.45 was too late for him to eat.Also pointed out it was our 8th cruise with them & no probs before.

Look forward to meeting in a few weeks

Well done, that is good news. 8pm for dinner is a much more civilised time if you ask me.

Looking forward to meeting you at Reception on the 20th.

We're booked for the late dinner. We wanted to change it to the earlier one since we're not used to eating that late but I guess we'll see if we can.

This will be our fifth cruise but first on the Mediterranean so quite excited. Haven't quite planned our days in Morocco or Gibraltar yet but we're thinking of venturing out on our own.

It would be nice to possibly meet for a drink sometime. We have ourselves quite the international mix... Australia, England, and Canada.

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Hi Julia,

Good luck with changing your time for dinner.

I would assume they will have to have another lifeboat drill when new people join the cruise, so maybe we could do the same thing and meet at Reception straight after that to go for a drink.

Maybe Tiggywig could confirm if that is what happens?

Will be another lifeboat drill before leaving Lisbon but only for passengers embarking in Lisbon. It will say on daily program what time it is so could try same arrangement. Look forward to meeting you all. I think ship mst be going to be quite full as dinner has never been a problem before. Usually 1st sitting is the quiet one as Spanish normally eat very late. 11.00 pm is not unusual especially in summer.Were often tucked up in bed by then!!

Thanks for confirming how that works, so glad we don't have to attend yet another lifeboat drill :)

Looking forward to meeting everyone too.

Should hopefully receive our cruise documents in the next week or so.

We've had a cold wet winter here in Adelaide, so really looking forward to some warm sunshine!

Got our documents on Friday. Have booked an excursion in La Coruna, the one that goes out of the city,And the half day one in Casablanca. Will do our own thing in Lisbon & Gib. Do you finish in Malaga or go on to Valencia? Very hot here just now 35+ during day and 26 at night. Have to walk the dog early am.

Wow, you've got your documents quite early. I was told you can't book excursions until you get on board but that is obviously not the case.

We depart the ship at Malaga, as we then head inland to Granada.

Glad to hear the weather is good, although hopefully it will have cooled down to a pleasant 25-30 by the time we get there :)

Probably not that hot but should be nice. Maybe 18ish to start going up to 23 at finish. You'll love Granada. Look forward to meeting & hearing your plans. When do you leave Oz?

Oh well, early 20's is ok, any higher would be a bonus. We leave Oz on 11th September, so hoping to receive our documents sooner rather than later. Spending 3 nights in Dubai on the way and then 5 nights in Barcelona before flying up to Bilbao and joining the cruise.

We fly Malaga to Bilbao early am on 20th so will probably arrive at port before check in starts.By the way when you check in there usually is a specific counter for international guests which will be much quicker,so look out for it.Never know we may bump into each other earlier than planned. Barcelona is beautiful. I prefer it to Madrid.

Thanks for the tip. I think our flight arrives around lunchtime, so we are expecting to get to the port early afternoon. Like you say, we may bump into each other before getting on the ship. What part of England are you originally from?

Just to wish you a safe journey.Hope documents have arrived & look forward to meeting on 20th. We are from the lake district in NW England & also spent 19 years near Newcastle.

Hi

Dont know when lifeboat drill will be for Lisbon as we sail late so if we don't manage to meet at reception afterwards how about the next morning as it is a full day at sea? Say around 10.30 at reception?? Look forward to meeting you. When do you leave Canada?

Thanks for that. We started packing on the weekend, but still have a way to go. We don't finish work until Wednesday, so will be busy finishing the packing on Thursday before we fly out Thursday night.

You are from a bit further up in the Country than us, we originally come from Plymouth in Devon. Both lovely areas of the country though.:)

We still haven't received our cruise documents, apparently the agent doesn't usually receive them until a week before. Apparently Pullmantur are pretty laid back though and the booking e-mail with booking number should be sufficient. Hopefully thats the case, but we should have access to our e-mails when in Barcelona so all should be go, I hope.:)

Looking forward to meeting you after lifeboat drill on the 20th in Bilbao.

See you soon.

Julia, hope to see you when you join the ship in Lisbon.

Very chilly 10 Celsius here in canada this morning. We depart on the 20th and stay a night in Lisbon before boarding the ship. Haven't received our documents yet either; hopefully this week but we have our email confirmations as well. Safe journey to you all and hope to meet you soon!

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Don't worry about documents. They hardly look at them.Sure confirmation & booking ref will be fine.

Still in the 30s here in Andalucia which is very hot for Sept. It should be low 20s in Portugal.

Have a safe journey & look forward to meeting you.

My husband and I are going on that cruise too! Total emersion - we have been trying to learn to speak Spanish for over three years. Hopefully, we will get lots of practice!

Woohoo, me and my husband have just booked the cruise on the Pullmantur Empress departing Bilbao on 20th September 2014. This is only our second cruise, first one was around Hawaii. Really looking forward to not having to pay for drinks on this one! Anyone else going???

My husband and I are going on this cruise too! We have been trying to learn to speak Spanish for quite some time and this is our Total Emersion Cruise. We will be going on from Malaga for another week too on the same line, same room! Can't wait!

Lucky you going for 2 weeks. We did the legends of the med last year but later & the ship was Sovereign. Very good. Were on Empress in June doing the Norwegian fjiords which was wonderful. Where are you from? Hope to meet soon.

My husband and I will be on that cruise! Never been on Pullmantur, but sailed with Royal Caribbean once.

I don't know how to use this site, but my husband and I will be on this Pullmantur cruise leaving Bilbao, and also staying on the cruise from Malaga until October 3, 2014. Never been on Pulllmantur, but have cruised with Royal Caribbean in 2012. We didn't sign up for any excursions. The sole purpose of this trip for my husband and me in total emersion in the Spanish language. We are hoping to leave the cruise ship on October 3rd and say that Spanish is a second language!

Lucky you going for 2 weeks. We did the legends of the med last year but later & the ship was Sovereign. Very good. Were on Empress in June doing the Norwegian fjiords which was wonderful. Where are you from? Hope to meet soon.

We are from the United States - New Jersey.