Please join us - Spain to the New World on a new ship - LIVE from Oceania Riviera

[TheDarkestBlue]

This is our FIRST cruise on Oceania (why I said new ship in the title) and although we felt like ducks out of water, the kindness and patience of this board have given me the confidence to "swim".

 

Hi Kazu! Welcome to O! I must also credit the helpfulness and general lack of drama on this board in my decision to make the switch to Oceania from HAL, so a big thanks to all of you on here :)

 

Glad your flights worked out! We're saving up miles to do the same, hoping to get some sleep for once and not be a zombie that first day. Just curious, sounds like the airline made no distinction in service for miles vs. paying $$ customer?

 

We are 2* Mariners and made the jump from HAL - so glad we did! I don't think I can go back :eek: Oceania exceeded our expectations with great food, intuitive service, a gorgeous ship that was immaculate, internet that worked, with no nickel and diming. I used to be a sailaway addict ;) We were in a concierge veranda cabin (usually NS on HAL) which was spacious and had a beautiful bathroom, the bed may have been the best I have ever slept in. Cabin stewards were lovely, they will stock your fridge with whatever (non-alcoholic) drinks you like, and nice chocolates on the pillows for turn down. Awesome linens, too.

 

We were on the Riviera last May for Rome to Venice and really had a terrific time, with nice long days in some beautiful but off the beaten path ports like Kotor, Montenegro and Koper, Slovenia. I hope to do a Lisbon to London, along the Bay of Biscay with a stop at Bilbao (looking forward to your review) and up the west coast of France. We found that Oceania has a casual but refined atmosphere, everyone very friendly and well traveled. I followed your thread on Elegant Explorer crossing a while back, and I think you will love Oceania :)

 

Have an excellent journey - may you have fair winds and a following sea!

Edited November 11, 2015 by TheDarkestBlue

[PirateShark]

Bon voyage to Kazu and the rest of the HAL gang on their first Oceania voyage :) You are all in for a wonderful treat.

[travelingTW]

See you soon Jacqui, enjoy good internet while you have it, slow on board right now.

 

Edit, It's ORV posting, seems I'm logged into my wife's account, her first post, but not really.

Edited November 11, 2015 by travelingTW

[retiredkid]

I'm in! So interested in hearing about O vs HAL

[SusieKIslandGirl]

Hi Jacqui-Glad things are turning out on the positive side. The only problem with First Class or Business Class is that you get spoiled and the back of the plane is such a let down! My son and his wife just finished a First Class on Emirates (including shower) and they had wonderful stories.

Have a great tour, cruise and safe travels and will see you in April.---Susie

[kazu]

See you soon Jacqui, enjoy good internet while you have it, slow on board right now.

 

Edit, It's ORV posting, seems I'm logged into my wife's account, her first post, but not really.

 

Dam on the slow internet ORV. Not good news at all. Well, I will still do my best and since we plan to go to our favourite spot in Malaga I can catch up there if need be, but I hope not.

 

 

I'm in! So interested in hearing about O vs HAL

 

happy to share :)

[kazu]

and I will switch to tapatalk to upload pics ;)

 

Bilbao is incredible. A beautiful city. The gateway to Rioja (if you want to go) and an easy way to get to San Sebastian.

 

Bilbao is one of the safest cities in the world - you can walk anywhere at night or in the day - alone or as a couple - no worries. We still take standard precautions but there is little begging, little robbery and life is good.

 

But there is so much to see in Bilbao I don't know how anyone can do it in one day - you will have to make choices - GRRRR.

 

We will have been here 3 days but will not have seen all I had planned but better to see some things well than a bunch of stuff way to fast.

 

Our first night we were too wasted to do too much. The stress of the Lufthansa worry and the travel had taken it's toll and we opted to just have a full pinxtos a bit of wine and go to bed <sigh>

 

But the next day was a whole new story.

[kazu]

We got up at a reasonable hour (8 a.m.) after Jose (aka DH) waking me up at 1:30 a.m. to tell me it was 7 a.m. GRRR

 

and headed down for breakfast. After a bit of research I had opted to stay at the Hotel Melia. It is a sure walk to the Gugghenheim, Bellas Artes and about a 20 minute walk to Casco Viejo (Old City) in Bilbao.

 

 

Bilbao is divided by the River Nervion with New Bilbao on one side (although there are lots of old buildings intermingled) and Casco Viejo on the other with some of the old history, intriguing buildings & history.

 

 

Across the river you can see a real contrast of the old and new.

 

 

Our first day was spent exploring Casco Viejo and all that i held. We were really worn out by the end of the day and caved and took a cab back to the hotel but not before we had stocked up with a bit of lovely wine, baguettes (the bread here is fabulous), manchego cheese & jamon to make our own pinxtos in our room.

 

 

 

one of the typical little stores in Casco Viejo. Everything is so charming and lovely.

[kazu]

On our next day, it was museum time and here we are definitely at the new. First on the agenda was the famous Guggeheim museum. The architecture is incredible. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but there is no question that it is a wonder unto itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sadly (IMO) the architecture is more fascinating than the art that was on display. It seemed like "vacant" art to me and the "out of Africa display" was just not my cup of tea. The art displays rotate though, so who knows when any of you are lucky enough to come here.

 

DH likes modern stuff and he gave it a 6.

 

After that we headed to the little Bistro area and discovered that a lot of locals come here just to have a drink and enjoy the space.

[Cruzin Terri]

Jacqui,

Thank you for taking us along and for the beautiful photos. This is a journey i and DH have longed to do. Now we will have to do it though your eyes and we will probably never be able to do it.

 

Enjoy every bit of it.

Terri

[kazu]

And there we discovered the famous Gugghenheim dog that is not display. It is incredible and pictures cannot do it justice but here they are..

 

 

 

The "dog" is all encase in grass plants and blooming flowers - I tried to do a close up to show you the effect but it may not be that good - sorry.

 

 

After a refreshing break here we headed off to the Bellas Artes museum (yes we were really cultural today) and I must say that the art here incredible. I know that we are here in slower season but the place was practically deserted. I think there were more people guarding the paintings than there were people looking. There were posters going back to the 1800's - DH and I were entralled with the bull fighting ones and the Pamplona run ones and then it was to the classics ... going back more centuries than I can count with artists included like El Greco.

 

The art is very impressive and certainly worth a visit and we really enjoyed it. We were going to take a break there but somehow it didn't seem right and I was intrigued with a place down the street - Talk about a woman's intuition working :)

 

Wow! We settled in the outside terrace surrounded by parks, beautiful buildings and DH had the menu del dia & I had the squids cooked in their own ink. Sorry, I forgot to take a food porno pic and I should have. The food was absolutely incredible. Along with that we had a lovely bottle of Rioja. This is for the people that might be coming to Spain and want a nice bottle of white...

 

 

 

It was a young wine but very nice. Rioja always is (IMO) and the whites are very impressive. Rejuvenated and having eaten with the timing of siesta over, it was time to carrry on...

[kazu]

So ready to go, it was time to see more of the "new town" area and there are just parks, flowers, beautiful buildings everywhere.

 

 

similar to Barcelona the buildings curve outward to allow for widening roads. Just so incredible to see. (above).

 

It may be fall here but there are plenty of flowers still in bloom - on balconies and in parks. parks everywhere!

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

There are just so many things to discover in this lovely city.

 

Just a small sampling and detail everywhere - but look at the detail here in this lovely building:

 

 

 

and this church as we were walking was so enchanting with the sunlight falling on it

 

 

 

We were getting tired and I saw another park and I was SURE that it looked like the park we saw out our window. (keep in mind I get turned around a lot)

 

So, I told DH it would be a short cut and yes, I was right. There was our hotel.

 

 

this is the park and the view out our window...

 

[kazu]

If you have a bigger room in this hotel, it borders on the park and your views are very nice...the only noise you hear are dogs barking and that is music to our ears. (there are two little windows you can open and we choose to open them).

 

 

The other plus with this room is that breakfast is automatically included. Now, breakfast in Spain is not usually a good deal as it is usually Continental or you pay an arm and a leg. I have to say this one is incredible. Along with "American" of fried eggs (they are not really fried, they are what I call basted and my favourite way to do it), there are sausages, bacon and scrambled eggs for those that want that. The pastries are beyond imagination. The teas and coffee offered cover every stratosphere of wishes. Fruit, fresh juices abound and for those that like the European approach, the cheese choices, cold meat choices, salmon, fishes, pinxtos, etc are absolutely incredible. There is even still and gas water at the end, champagne and wine for those that care for it. We haven't done the latter yet, but tomorrow is our last day so who knows? LOL.

 

Probably the best breakfast I have ever seen offered in Spain - suitable for anyone and everyone and with so many choices I don't see how anyone could be unhappy.

 

So, here'a bit of food porn to give you an idea...

 

 

 

the above is all the pastries and the churros (yes, churros - yum :) with all the fixings above)

 

 

all the eggs & hot meats you could want above

 

coffees, teas, nexpresso machines (and they are REALLY good teas)

 

[kazu]

We came late to breakfast and I was very impressed to see them consistently refreshing it.

 

 

every kind of fruit imaginable (above)

 

and at least 8 choices of cheese

 

 

 

cold meats galore along with smoked salmon, capers, etc.

 

 

the buffet stretched the length of the room, was never lined up because of the length of time it was offered, plates were cleaned promptly and the girls were there to ask questions or help.

 

I have been very impressed with the breakfast and Kazu is fussy.

 

 

people here have been very helpful. So the hotel gets a pretty good rating from Kazu.

 

Now I do have to check into our flight tomorrow and prepare for our next visit - Madrid. We are staying at the Gran Melia Fenix there which hopefully I haven't set my expectations too high for !

[ger_77]

Oh my goodness, looking at your beautiful photographs makes me want to go to Bilbao !!!

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

[ski ww]

Enjoyed your pictures, weather looks great.

Allan

[taxmantoo]

Hi Jacqui, seems like you are having a great time so far. Bilbao is certainly a charming city.

 

The sculpture in front of the Museum reminded me of the one in Ottawa in front of our National Gallery. There are six in the world, by Franco-American sculptor Louise Bourgeois.

[kazu]

Hi Jacqui, seems like you are having a great time so far. Bilbao is certainly a charming city.

 

 

 

The sculpture in front of the Museum reminded me of the one in Ottawa in front of our National Gallery. There are six in the world, by Franco-American sculptor Louise Bourgeois.

 

 

It is similar indeed, but this one has more detail I think. DH took the detailed pic and to get his camera card can be a struggle, but I will try. It is amazing though that the similar sculptures are there. Wonder if the sculpture comes from your area? or got permission?

[roger b]

If you have a bigger room in this hotel, it borders on the park and your views are very nice...the only noise you hear are dogs barking and that is music to our ears. (there are two little windows you can open and we choose to open them).

 

 

The other plus with this room is that breakfast is automatically included. Now, breakfast in Spain is not usually a good deal as it is usually Continental or you pay an arm and a leg. I have to say this one is incredible. Along with "American" of fried eggs (they are not really fried, they are what I call basted and my favourite way to do it), there are sausages, bacon and scrambled eggs for those that want that. The pastries are beyond imagination. The teas and coffee offered cover every stratosphere of wishes. Fruit, fresh juices abound and for those that like the European approach, the cheese choices, cold meat choices, salmon, fishes, pinxtos, etc are absolutely incredible. There is even still and gas water at the end, champagne and wine for those that care for it. We haven't done the latter yet, but tomorrow is our last day so who knows? LOL.

 

Probably the best breakfast I have ever seen offered in Spain - suitable for anyone and everyone and with so many choices I don't see how anyone could be unhappy.

 

So, here'a bit of food porn to give you an idea...

 

 

 

the above is all the pastries and the churros (yes, churros - yum :) with all the fixings above)

 

 

all the eggs & hot meats you could want above

 

coffees, teas, nexpresso machines (and they are REALLY good teas)

 

 

What a treat you are going to have when you see the spread on Riviera !!!!

[LHT28]

love the photos

is it possible to post a smaller version though ??

have to scroll from side to side to see them ;)

[cle1]

Thank you for taking us along on your adventure. Carol

[PirateShark]

Dang! Now I must plan a trip to Spain when I finish figuring out the British Isle piece :eek:

 

Beautiful pictures Kazu.

[Mura]

Don't forget Portugal when you're going to Spain ....

[Vict0riann]

Hi Jacqui, seems like you are having a great time so far. Bilbao is certainly a charming city.

 

The sculpture in front of the Museum reminded me of the one in Ottawa in front of our National Gallery. There are six in the world, by Franco-American sculptor Louise Bourgeois.

 

LOL! I, too, thought that Kazu had goofed and gone to Ottawa by mistake! Do you know where the other 4 spiders live?:)