Life on Board (more questions)

[Aurionno1]

Thanks JW the pictures are great. You had a lovely itinernary. We are doing escape to the med haven't been to Olbia Sardina before, do you have any advice on that port or excursions from there?

I hope that you aren't getting washed away in all this rain. Scarborough has been a washout all day:(

[Rebel Rouser]

Will post this tomorrow..to much info :D

[jenny wren]

Thanks JW the pictures are great. You had a lovely itinernary. We are doing escape to the med haven't been to Olbia Sardina before, do you have any advice on that port or excursions from there?

I hope that you aren't getting washed away in all this rain. Scarborough has been a washout all day:(

 

We hadn't been to Olbia before either and just wandered the town as that is what we normally do on a first visit....not much there really just a shopping street but about half way up on the right we turned off as there was a nice little church there and some little side streets to wander...there is a railway station not too far ...get maps from excursions desk....easily walkable so that might be worth investigating if you like to go independently....it seems to be a ferry port mainly for the Italians to come on holiday.....it was a nice sail out from there its up an inlet. I've just finished uploading the best of our pics to that link I gave earlier by the way (76 in total )

 

We've had a mainly dry day today but cloudy...but John informs me there has just been a red weather alert for heavy rain overnight...thankfully we live on a hill !!!! :eek:

[Rebel Rouser]

[moto9]

Hi! Great photos Jenny. :) Thanks for posting. Does look a great itinerary. Would have liked to do the Souks & Sangria but the dates did not suit us. Maybe next time! :D

Mo.

[jenny wren]

Nice photo RR .....did you take that with your phone camera ??? :)

[jenny wren]

Hi! Great photos Jenny. :) Thanks for posting. Does look a great itinerary. Would have liked to do the Souks & Sangria but the dates did not suit us. Maybe next time! :D

Mo.

 

Its in next years brochure Mo..... but dropping Valencia and inserting Ibiza in its place...we were surprised at how nice Tangier was and perhaps our favourite was Cartagena....Valencia was just a very busy city (35 degs the day we were there) although the cathedral was nice. :)

[Rebel Rouser]

Nice photo RR .....did you take that with your phone camera ??? :)

 

 

Was with my Panasonic ;)

 

Will post more when in control :p

[shipshape.com]

https://picasaweb.google.com/jojuspics/IslandEscapeMed2012#

 

Great photos Jenny, we haven't had time to look at ours yet. I think we sat with you at lunch one day though, can't remember what we chatted about though as met so many lovely people, could it have been bird-watching?

 

Sorry about your purse, glad it didn't spoil your holiday too much

[Rebel Rouser]

Couldnt figure out what cabin we were in from the outside so left the monkey hanging up in the porthole...so did 20 others lol quick thinking from my other half and she bought a bag of sweets and cut the name off? JW will know where I'm coming from with this :p

 

[jenny wren]

Yes Shipshape we could well have chatted about birdwatching as that is our hobby......didn't really see many on this trip though other than gulls and swallows ...oh and sparrows !!!:) As you say we met so many people at mealtimes and out on deck that it all becomes a bit of a blur...:)

 

The purse incident made me angry, rather than upset, that someone could invade my personal things...however, other than the inconvenience of stopping the card and the insurance claim, no harm was done so I'm thankful for that...:)

[Rebel Rouser]

jw..Did'nt we see a cuckoo? day @ sea and a flying fish :D

[jenny wren]

Very clever with the window thing.....we were just a few along from you ! :)

 

Oh yes I believe a cuckoo was seen (but not by me!) ..... we definitely saw a huge fish flying out of the water and dolphins on more than one occasion!! :)

 

The sun has just briefly put in an appearance here for the first time since we've been home !! :)

[Bellaburgundia]

Thanks, Jenny, the pictures are great and have definitely helped us make up our minds to book all 4 of us onto the Tangier city tour to see the caves and casbah.

We were going to do the beach trip at Cartagena just to chill out for a day but the port looks lovely so maybe we'll just explore. Do any of the other Souks & Sangria ports have a handy beach? (or 'sandy' beach;))

We've been so used to seeing 'big' attractions on our previous travels on IE like Rome, Pompeii, Barcelona that I'm not sure how S&S itinerary will measure up.

No one has yet responded to my roll call for 31/7...maybe we'll have the ship to ourselves :rolleyes:

Have prebooked cabin 6036, got lucky first trip with midship deck 5 but last time had the very bumpy 5525, I had to be calmed down the next night by the Captain (who kindly supplied me with 3 potent Brazilian cocktails :eek:

[shipshape.com]

There's a beach at Malaga, and one at Valencia both within a walking distance of the port, but you might still have to get the shuttle bus in Malaga if you are berthed out a bit.

 

Jenny and RR, did you see the peregrine falcon on our second day at sea? it was flying about just before sunset.

[jenny wren]

Oh no ...we missed the peregrine....probably at dinner or at the show during sunset ...what a shame...:(

[jenny wren]

Thanks, Jenny, the pictures are great and have definitely helped us make up our minds to book all 4 of us onto the Tangier city tour to see the caves and casbah.

We were going to do the beach trip at Cartagena just to chill out for a day but the port looks lovely so maybe we'll just explore. Do any of the other Souks & Sangria ports have a handy beach? (or 'sandy' beach;))

We've been so used to seeing 'big' attractions on our previous travels on IE like Rome, Pompeii, Barcelona that I'm not sure how S&S itinerary will measure up.

No one has yet responded to my roll call for 31/7...maybe we'll have the ship to ourselves :rolleyes:

Have prebooked cabin 6036, got lucky first trip with midship deck 5 but last time had the very bumpy 5525, I had to be calmed down the next night by the Captain (who kindly supplied me with 3 potent Brazilian cocktails :eek:

 

Yes we enjoyed the Tangier city trip...the caves are called Hercules caves and are amazing..it did make us laugh to see the vendors had set up stalls inside them...you could imagine people living there though!

We did like Cartagena (it was a Sunday when we were there) we walked up to the castle before it got too hot, there is a glass lift, but I'm scared of heights and could see there was a bridge from the lift to the actual castle, so we walked. The views were amazing from the top and showed the size of the place which is a lot bigger than it looks from ground level!! Then we walked down via the Roman amphitheatre to the main street.

 

I think Malaga is under rated as a city we quite like to wander there, there is a castle and some Roman remains set in a lovely botanical garden just up a bit and to the right of where the shuttle drops you off. there is also a cathedral and nice shopping centre......alot of people went to the beach here which is right by the port.

 

There is also a beach at Gibraltar which shouldn't cost much in a taxi...:)

[mcrterry]

Thanks, Jenny, the pictures are great and have definitely helped us make up our minds to book all 4 of us onto the Tangier city tour to see the caves and casbah.

We were going to do the beach trip at Cartagena just to chill out for a day but the port looks lovely so maybe we'll just explore. Do any of the other Souks & Sangria ports have a handy beach? (or 'sandy' beach;))

We've been so used to seeing 'big' attractions on our previous travels on IE like Rome, Pompeii, Barcelona that I'm not sure how S&S itinerary will measure up.

No one has yet responded to my roll call for 31/7...maybe we'll have the ship to ourselves :rolleyes:

Have prebooked cabin 6036, got lucky first trip with midship deck 5 but last time had the very bumpy 5525, I had to be calmed down the next night by the Captain (who kindly supplied me with 3 potent Brazilian cocktails :eek:

 

Hi I have only just seen your roll call post so have replied!

Maybe it should be posted on the IE forum or is that againts forum etiquette?

[jengef]

Malaga beach isn't really sandy more fine shingle and very dusty but only a 15 min walk from the port terminal. Valencia beach about a 5 euro taxi ride away lovely sand but extremely hot so keep ur flip flops on, burnt soles aren't much fun! :(

[Rebel Rouser]

Hi I have only just seen your roll call post so have replied!

Maybe it should be posted on the IE forum or is that againts forum etiquette?

 

 

Do a roll call on here like we did last month ;)

[Aurionno1]

The towel scorpion looks great:D. Maybe they will show you how to make it at the animal towel demostration:D

[jenny wren]

Yes we liked the scorpion but had to dismantle it as soon as I took the Pic as we were going to the beach that day and needed the towel!!!! :)

 

I'm sure if you asked they would show you how to make it ...:)

[Bellaburgundia]

Ahhh, I thought I had to join the roll call list on Thomson as there wasn't an Island option (still can't get used to there being no Island Cruises :() I will do one on here then! Thank you all :)

[mcrterry]

Not that we are irresponsable parents but my daughter who is 11 just asked me if she didn't want to wander round Malaga etc is she allowed to stay on the boat if the kids clubs are running. So my question(s) are.

Do the clubs run whilst in ports?

Are children allowed to attend if their parents are ashore?

Any experiences of this or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Bellaburgundia]

Not that we are irresponsable parents but my daughter who is 11 just asked me if she didn't want to wander round Malaga etc is she allowed to stay on the boat if the kids clubs are running. So my question(s) are.

Do the clubs run whilst in ports?

Are children allowed to attend if their parents are ashore?

Any experiences of this or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

As I recall, the kids clubs do operate when in port BUT parents have to write on the register they sign (when leaving child) where abouts on the ship they will be, so I think you need to be on board

Claire