Spain: Valencia and southern coast

[beachbooles]

Hi!  This will be our 3rd SD departing on 18 October 2019.  The first SD was Greek Isles, the 2nd was St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  Now on to coastal Spain, Barcelona to Malaga.  I discovered, on the Greek Isles trip, that many of the excursions offered by SD did not actually happen due to lack of adequate pre-registrations.  We still had a fabulous time and enjoyed the islands very much.  On this trip, i want to be better prepared with some tours I know will work out by booking ahead of time off the ship, rather than risking being cancelled just a day before the port while on SDII.   

 

My question to anyone that's done that itinerary or similar, what times was all aboard?  I know in Greece it ranged for 18:00 to 02:00 the next day in Mykonos!  and everywhere in between.

 

I specifically have the question about All Aboard time for Valencia.

 

Thank you in advance to all that have some input for me!! 🙂

 

Sandy 

[Zimmy]

I understand exactly how you feel, Sandy. In summer of 2018 we did a European voyage where almost all of the excursions were cancelled for lack of participation. Last month on our Greece/Italy voyage all the excursions went. It all has to do with the passenger mix and it is all in the luck of the draw.

 

But in our 15+ years of sailing SD, with over 20 voyages, this is what I have learned. SD is a small ship. If seas are rough it has happened that SD has had to change a port, or even cancel one and go on to the next one. If you have private excursions planned and this happens, it is quite a hassle. For that reason, we now only plan private excursions in ports of embarcation or debarcation - SD never misses those. 

 

One alternative - there have been times when excursions have been cancelled and we have been able to make private arrangements last minute through the concierge. 

 

I hope you have a wonderful trip. We have done that itinerary and it is wonderful.

[beachbooles]

54 minutes ago, Zimmy said:

I understand exactly how you feel, Sandy. In summer of 2018 we did a European voyage where almost all of the excursions were cancelled for lack of participation. Last month on our Greece/Italy voyage all the excursions went. It all has to do with the passenger mix and it is all in the luck of the draw.

 

But in our 15+ years of sailing SD, with over 20 voyages, this is what I have learned. SD is a small ship. If seas are rough it has happened that SD has had to change a port, or even cancel one and go on to the next one. If you have private excursions planned and this happens, it is quite a hassle. For that reason, we now only plan private excursions in ports of embarcation or debarcation - SD never misses those. 

 

One alternative - there have been times when excursions have been cancelled and we have been able to make private arrangements last minute through the concierge. 

 

I hope you have a wonderful trip. We have done that itinerary and it is wonderful.

Thank you!  Most of what I"m booking has a 24 hour cancellation policy and aren't too expensive if we lose them all together.  In the two SD trips we've done, we only changed scheduled ports once...the one where we were most sad that all tours were cancelled, we did a private excursion they booked for us but it was incredibly expensive.

 

I am thinking they stay pretty late in these ports since we aren't traveling all that much nightly but I wish I had an idea if it's 6pm or 10PM.  LOL

 

Thanks!  We are looking forward to it!!

 

[JES4845]

We will be with you on your Barcelona to Malaga voyage (we embark on the prior voyage in Rome).  It can be frustrating when YLAs get cancelled.  One suggestion is to book now on the SD web site for the 10% savings so they see interest in the tours.  We have done that for both segments of this back to back for those tours of interest to us.

 

The material sent with the final payment shows the approximate arrival and departure times by port, with emphasis on approximate of course.  We have been on SD to most but not all the ports on this voyage.  The SD info says “morning” arrival (usually by 8 AM) and “evening” departure for almost all of them (usually that seems to mean 6 PM or so).  

 

Valencia says “evening” departure but if you email the SD office they will advise what specific time they expect at least as of now (I just did that for a port during the Rome to Barcelona segment as we were looking at booking a private boat, and they replied right away).  The only ports other than “evening” are Cartagena, which says “afternoon” which usually means 3 PM or earlier, and Puerto Banus says “late evening” since GIbraltar is close by, which usually means after dinner, maybe as late as 11 PM?  These are only my best guesses and no guarantee of course!

 

Also, I’m pretty sure this voyage has a high passenger count (though not sold out if anyone wants to us join us!) so of course that improves the odds of tours going as scheduled.  Finally, since this is shoulder season I’d suspect the ability to book private tours at the last minute is greatly enhanced.

 

Hope this helps.  Welcome back to SeaDream.  We look forward to meeting you on board.

[JES4845]

We will be with you on your Barcelona to Malaga voyage (we embark on the prior voyage in Rome).  It can be frustrating when YLAs get cancelled.  One suggestion is to book now on the SD web site for the 10% savings so they see interest in the tours.  We have done that for both segments of this back to back for those tours of interest to us.

 

The material sent with the final payment shows the approximate arrival and departure times by port, with emphasis on approximate of course.  We have been on SD to most but not all the ports on this voyage.  The SD info says “morning” arrival (usually by 8 AM) and “evening” departure for almost all of them (usually that seems to mean 6 PM or so).  

 

Valencia says “evening” departure but if you email the SD office they will advise what specific time they expect at least as of now (I just did that for a port during the Rome to Barcelona segment as we were looking at booking a private boat, and they replied right away).  The only ports other than “evening” are Cartagena, which says “afternoon” which usually means 3 PM or earlier, and Puerto Banus says “late evening” since GIbraltar is close by, which usually means after dinner, maybe as late as 11 PM?  These are only my best guesses and no guarantee of course!

 

Also, I’m pretty sure this voyage has a high passenger count (though not sold out if anyone wants to us join us!) so of course that improves the odds of tours going as scheduled.  Finally, since this is shoulder season I’d suspect the ability to book private tours at the last minute is greatly enhanced.

 

Hope this helps.  Welcome back to SeaDream.  We look forward to meeting you on board.

 

P.S. I think the correct departure date from Barcelona is Oct 19 not Oct 18 but I’ll check!

[beachbooles]

54 minutes ago, JES4845 said:

We will be with you on your Barcelona to Malaga voyage (we embark on the prior voyage in Rome).  It can be frustrating when YLAs get cancelled.  One suggestion is to book now on the SD web site for the 10% savings so they see interest in the tours.  We have done that for both segments of this back to back for those tours of interest to us.

 

The material sent with the final payment shows the approximate arrival and departure times by port, with emphasis on approximate of course.  We have been on SD to most but not all the ports on this voyage.  The SD info says “morning” arrival (usually by 8 AM) and “evening” departure for almost all of them (usually that seems to mean 6 PM or so).  

 

Valencia says “evening” departure but if you email the SD office they will advise what specific time they expect at least as of now (I just did that for a port during the Rome to Barcelona segment as we were looking at booking a private boat, and they replied right away).  The only ports other than “evening” are Cartagena, which says “afternoon” which usually means 3 PM or earlier, and Puerto Banus says “late evening” since GIbraltar is close by, which usually means after dinner, maybe as late as 11 PM?  These are only my best guesses and no guarantee of course!

 

Also, I’m pretty sure this voyage has a high passenger count (though not sold out if anyone wants to us join us!) so of course that improves the odds of tours going as scheduled.  Finally, since this is shoulder season I’d suspect the ability to book private tours at the last minute is greatly enhanced.

 

Hope this helps.  Welcome back to SeaDream.  We look forward to meeting you on board.

 

P.S. I think the correct departure date from Barcelona is Oct 19 not Oct 18 but I’ll check!

 

[beachbooles]

Thank you, JES4845!

 

You are correct, it's Oct. 19th!  I'm struggling because we leave from Florida 10/17 and arrive in Barcelona the 18th!  So in my head my trip starts that day! LOL

 

I have done the same, in signed up for some tours..i hope they take!  It looks like we still have some cabins still open.  I must have missed the approximate times but I will look!  I just saw morning and evening listed...I'll try emailing them today, 🙂

 

I went ahead and booked what i really wanted in Valencia and will cross my fingers. 🙂

 

How exciting that you are doing a B2B cruise!!  🙂

 

We look forward to meeting you when we board in Barcelona!

 

Sandy and Jason Boole