Cruise from Southampton to France/Spain

[AnonymousAllie]

We are looking at the RCCL Southampton to France & Spain cruise but this itinerary does not seem popular. We were looking at this since we’ll be visiting London beforehand, otherwise other cruises from Spain/Italy seem a lot more appealing with ports like Rome, Pisa, Cannes. Other than Le Havre (we’d like to do a Paris excursion), all the other ports seem to be smaller, lesser known cities.Anyone have any thoughts on these ports?

 

Ports are La Rochelle, Bilbao and La Coruna. Anyone ever do this cruise?

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, AnonymousAllie said:

We are looking at the RCCL Southampton to France & Spain cruise but this itinerary does not seem popular. We were looking at this since we’ll be visiting London beforehand, otherwise other cruises from Spain/Italy seem a lot more appealing with ports like Rome, Pisa, Cannes. Other than Le Havre (we’d like to do a Paris excursion), all the other ports seem to be smaller, lesser known cities.Anyone have any thoughts on these ports?

 

Ports are La Rochelle, Bilbao and La Coruna. Anyone ever do this cruise?

This isn't a Mediterranean cruise. All of the ports are on the Bay of Biscay side of Europe. To get to the Mediterranean, the ship would have to go all the way around the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and through the Straits of Gibraltar. That is a much longer cruise than this one.

 

If you would like to do the Mediterranean, I would suggest flying from London to embark at a Mediterranean port.

[AnonymousAllie]

1 hour ago, gnome12 said:

This isn't a Mediterranean cruise. All of the ports are on the Bay of Biscay side of Europe. To get to the Mediterranean, the ship would have to go all the way around the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and through the Straits of Gibraltar. That is a much longer cruise than this one.

 

If you would like to do the Mediterranean, I would suggest flying from London to embark at a Mediterranean port.

I know it’s not a Mediterranean cruise… It’s why I posted in the Britain forum instead of the Mediterranean forum. I’m just asking for those that have visited these specific ports for input on whether it’s “worth it” because they’re much less popular or well known then the Mediterranean ports.

Edited April 5, 2022 by AnonymousAllie

[gnome12]

Despite the fact that these aren't Mediterranean ports, CC has them under Mediterranean ports, specifically

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/462-france-ports/

and

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/465-spain-ports/

 

For what it is worth, I started a cycling trip in Bilbao, and it is a fascinating city. It has a Guggenheim museum designed by Frank Gehry, which is a gorgeous building, even if you don't go inside. I know nothing about it as a cruise port.

[edinburgher]

Some would argue that these ports are also highlights, just different from Florence, Pisa etc.

la Coruna i can tell you nothing about despite having ported ther as we did the trip described below.

 

It is one of two ports giving  access to Santiago de Compostela(the other is Vigo)and most folks onboard did that trip including ourselves.. It is worth doing and you should be able to find much info on S de C online.

 

On the FrenchCC board, there is at least one very recent thread on la Rochelle.

 

Bilbao has a wonderful old town in addition to the Guggenheim, itself a major draw for folks. The Guggenheim put Bilbao on the map.

 

Try searching the CC boards, port info websites or other general websites for info on all these ports

Edited April 5, 2022 by edinburgher

[CruiserBruce]

Curious why the OP thinks these are not very popular?

[edinburgher]

I have no idea.

 

We did several of these Atlantic Coast itineraries, although none as short as this one. With the number of days of no importance to us, we usually sailed much further south including several ports in Spain and Portugal, usually finishing in Lisbon, but of course these take much longer.

 

I think this shorter one is for folks who have not enough time for a longer one and  this route is popular for shorter cruises. I think if the OP looked he/, she would see the same or very similar being offered by other lines.There is nothing actually "wrong"with it IMHO

Edited April 5, 2022 by edinburgher

[edinburgher]

post deleted

Sorry.

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by edinburgher

[AnonymousAllie]

7 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Curious why the OP thinks these are not very popular?

Lot less similar itineraries. This specific route is only offered max once a month by RCCL and I didn’t see any comparable ones by other major US cruise lines for this summer whereas Mediterranean ports are back to back weekly and offered by almost all cruise lines. Could be what Edinburger said - these ports show up in longer cruises but I’m specifically looking at ~week long cruises. Also, for these 3 ports, lot less # of RCCL shore excursions.

 

think I’m leaning towards a Mediterranean cruise instead, will just need to tack on a day or so for travel from London to Barcelona/Rome

Edited April 5, 2022 by AnonymousAllie

[CruiserBruce]

@AnonymousAllie, how often a cruise line runs a route has a little to do with popularity, but also with logistical issues and costs/revenue/return on investment. Cruise lines shrunk their fleets at the start of Covid...so the US oriented cruise lines have less ships to put into that market. Mass market lines like RCI tend to go where their passenger base wants to go, so yes, something like the Med or the Baltic is more popular with American clients. But there are frequent questions here from UK based cruisers about ports in Portugal, Azores, etc, because Europe and UK based cruise lines and pax are interested.

[edinburgher]

i didn’t see any comparable ones by other major US cruise lines

 

Did you check Princess and Celebrity?They run near identical itineraries but perhaps their dates didn't suit your plans?

 

And many other cruise lines visit these ports, but if if you are only interested in "major US cruise lines" you restrict your choices. On a shorter itinerary,there may be times when the line itself is of less importance if the dates fit an already planned trip which hasn't much scope for tweaking flights etc.

Edited April 6, 2022 by edinburgher

[AnonymousAllie]

5 hours ago, edinburgher said:

i didn’t see any comparable ones by other major US cruise lines

 

Did you check Princess and Celebrity?They run near identical itineraries but perhaps their dates didn't suit your plans?

 

And many other cruise lines visit these ports, but if if you are only interested in "major US cruise lines" you restrict your choices. On a shorter itinerary,there may be times when the line itself is of less importance if the dates fit an already planned trip which hasn't much scope for tweaking flights etc.

Celebrity does not, but Princess may.
Anyway, the point of the thread was to get input on the specific ports and suggestions for the ports, not debate cruise lines and the popularity of the ports. If I were to take this cruise, it’ll be with RCCL but trying to decide if it’s a good choice based on the ports.

Edited April 6, 2022 by AnonymousAllie

[Globaliser]

2 hours ago, AnonymousAllie said:

Anyway, the point of the thread was to get input on the specific ports and suggestions for the ports, not debate cruise lines and the popularity of the ports. If I were to take this cruise, it’ll be with RCCL but trying to decide if it’s a good choice based on the ports.

 

IMHO, these are better ports to call at by cruise ship than ports like "Paris", "Rome", etc.

 

If you want to see Paris or Rome, you are better off flying straight there and spending two weeks there. You'll still have only just scratched the surface of these places. The idea that someone can do a one-day port call at Le Havre and usefully use that to see Paris is faintly insane.

 

In contrast, if you go to A Coruna or Vigo, you could easily organise to spend a pretty full day in Santiago de Compostela, which is probably about the time that you need there (unless you really want to do the entire pilgrim thing). This makes a conventional cruise ship call at a port like these a much better experience.

 

Similarly, you could spend a day in Bilbao and feel like you have seen the best of what it has to offer.

[AnonymousAllie]

38 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

IMHO, these are better ports to call at by cruise ship than ports like "Paris", "Rome", etc.

 

If you want to see Paris or Rome, you are better off flying straight there and spending two weeks there. You'll still have only just scratched the surface of these places. The idea that someone can do a one-day port call at Le Havre and usefully use that to see Paris is faintly insane.

 

In contrast, if you go to A Coruna or Vigo, you could easily organise to spend a pretty full day in Santiago de Compostela, which is probably about the time that you need there (unless you really want to do the entire pilgrim thing). This makes a conventional cruise ship call at a port like these a much better experience.

 

Similarly, you could spend a day in Bilbao and feel like you have seen the best of what it has to offer.

That’s a good point. It could be an opportunity to visit places I probably wouldn’t fly into.

[seba1]

We booked this cruise for June. We are going to London the week before and were looking at this cruise as a way to get a taste of the countries and for our children to get exposed to other languages and cultures. We do plan to do the train to Paris one day while in London too. 

 

I think it depends on what you are looking for in a cruise. I looked up all the ports of call and there is definitely enough to do each day. 

 

Stephanie

[AnonymousAllie]

On 4/7/2022 at 9:43 AM, seba1 said:

We booked this cruise for June. We are going to London the week before and were looking at this cruise as a way to get a taste of the countries and for our children to get exposed to other languages and cultures. We do plan to do the train to Paris one day while in London too. 

 

I think it depends on what you are looking for in a cruise. I looked up all the ports of call and there is definitely enough to do each day. 

 

Stephanie

That’s the same one I was looking at - for either June or July! I think UK removed their testing requirements (we are flying in from US) but not sure how testing will be at France & Spain ports

 

i think I’m warming back up to this cruise. I think it’ll be a good “intro” to these countries for us too like you said

[LondonTowner]

On 4/5/2022 at 8:55 PM, AnonymousAllie said:

Lot less similar itineraries. This specific route is only offered max once a month by RCCL and I didn’t see any comparable ones by other major US cruise lines for this summer whereas Mediterranean ports are back to back weekly and offered by almost all cruise lines. Could be what Edinburger said - these ports show up in longer cruises but I’m specifically looking at ~week long cruises. Also, for these 3 ports, lot less # of RCCL shore excursions.

 

think I’m leaning towards a Mediterranean cruise instead, will just need to tack on a day or so for travel from London to Barcelona/Rome

We have booked a very similar cruise on Celebrity. It has an overnight in La Rochelle. We’ve visited the ports before on land holidays, but thought we’d enjoy going again on a cruise. Hopefully, it will be less crowded than the Med ports.

[wjfan417]

We’re doing a similar itinerary on Azamara. I’ve booked a tour to Santiago de Compostela from La Coruna with Spain Day Tours.

[SteveH2508]

If OP is in London and wants to see Paris, then Eurostar is probably the best option.

 

OP could then fly/take a train to a Mediterranean port (Rome?) to start their cruise.