Trade Winds of Middle Ages

[Gcc52]

Taking this cruise itinerary on 4/3/23 on Viking Jupiter (Barcelona to Bergen Norway). Any feedback on excursions would be helpful. I have been to Barcelona so no need to comment on those excursions.  Thx

Edited January 15, 2023 by Gcc52
added info

[OneSixtyToOne]

The Alhambra is probably the highlight of this voyage. It is a must see. There are a very limited number of tickets allowed per day to ALL cruise lines so it will be the first tour to sell out. The requirement to enter is a ticket with your name on it so even if there are onboard cancellations during the cruise, the spaces cannot be resold.
 

The CARTAGENA FOUNDATIONS WALKING TOUR was one of the best tours we’ve been on. The city contains the most extensive Carthaginian ruins on earth. The Roman amphitheater and subterranean houses are a great experience. 
 

Avoid the Paris tour from Le Havre. It’s too long a bus trip. You won’t see much. Instead take the Honfleur excursion. It’s a fantastic medieval town right across from Le Havre with a lots to offer. The picturesque harbor full of sailboats and lined with shops and restaurants is a pleasure to wander around. The tour is fascinating. The town has the largest wooden church still standing in France. The inside is shaped like a ship’s hull as is the salt hall. The whole town looks like a fairy tale.

 

In Portsmouth take the early include tour and asked to be dropped at the naval yard. There you can buy a ticket to visit Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory. The Mary Rose museum is incredible and I highly recommend it. It contains the remains of the wreck of Henry VIII’s flagship and this special building was constructed to display it. Three or four stories high, it’s one of the most impressive displays I’ve ever seen. The wreck has been placed upright and you look at the cross section while intermittently video is projected on the decks showing what life was like on the ship.

Edited January 15, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[MSEm]

In Amsterdam we took the Tulip Farm tour. We had been to the gardens before this cruise.

The Tulip Farm was very informative. The farm produces tulip bulbs to ship worldwide.

I agree that the travel time to and from Paris makes the bus drive very long (2 1/2 hrs) each way.

 Trip to the Mary Rose (ship) tour in Portsmouth, England was excellent. Not only did we tour the museum with a museum guide we also visited other sites in the city.

The Scenic Tour of Flanders was a disappointment.

In Bergen (our 2nd visit) we choose the WWII bunker tour. This took us out of Bergen.

Enjoy your cruise.

[lackcreativity]

As mentioned previously, definitely skip Flanders included tour to go to Bruges. We enjoyed the On Your Own tour there, it is very easy to navigate. I imagine a good guide could add a lot to that visit as well. (To be honest, we have never been to Knokke-Heist or even Flanders, but Bruges is such a great place to be that I cannot imagine the included excursion would be a worthy substitute!)

 

The Naval Dockyards in Portsmouth was a really good tour, unlke any other place we have toured. In particular, we found the walk on board tour of Admiral Nelson's ship HMS Victory fascinating. To see the living conditions for the sailors and then those of the officers was quite interesting. Then, to go back to our Viking ship was another wow moment.

 

We also went to Honfleur instead of Paris, but we had been to Paris previously. We enjoyed Honfleur very much. If I had never been to Paris, I might have made a different decision. To be within driving distance of that iconic city would be a great temptation. You might plan to see Paris on another trip, but sometimes things get in the way of those future intentions.

 

[Mich3554]

I thought Monet’s gardens and home and Stonehenge were the best tours we did,  unfortunately, we did not get Alhambra, but it’s supposed to be spectacular.  
 

It poured the day we went to Stonehenge.  Even in the rain, it was fantastic.  
 

We did not do Paris for 2 reasons, despite it being one of my favorite cities in Europe.  One we had been there and the very long bus ride to get to the city did not leave sufficient time to do anything justice.

[Twitchly]

We loved Monet’s Garden and Rouen. Even more than the Alhambra. We were there in April, and it was a riot of color. The excursion also included the best meal we had on the entire cruise, which was at a repurposed mill. 
 

Great cruise. 
 

 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

3 hours ago, Twitchly said:

We were there in April, and it was a riot of color. The excursion also included the best meal we had on the entire cruise, which was at a repurposed mill. 

We have been to the mill for lunch as well as to Monet’s garden twice, both with Viking. The mill is very picturesque and the garden is incredible. When on the Normandy river cruise we took the “in the steps of the impressionist” excursion which not only visited the garden but also the town where Van Gough lived the final days of his life. We visited his grave where his brother Theo is buried along side of him. 

[Cienfuegos]

Another vote for the Catagena foundations tour. The Roman ampitheater there is amazing.  And, there's a monument facing the harbor honoring the many sailors who lost their lives in the 1898 Battle of Manila Bay

 

We had a combined tour of Salisbury Cathedral and Stonehenge.  Enjoyed both, this was a full day from Portsmouth. The cathedral and church yard are steeped in history, and a copy of the Magna Carta is on display.

 

Stonehenge requires a considerable amount of walking from the guest center. Although the walkways are paved, there are rolling knolls. 

 

Our port stop at Falmouth was cancelled due to high seas and winds, much to the chagrin of the Poldark fans who hoped to take that tour.

[OneSixtyToOne]

4 hours ago, Cienfuegos said:

Our port stop at Falmouth was cancelled due to high seas and winds, much to the chagrin of the Poldark fans who hoped to take that tour.

We took the included Falmouth tour and it was the worst of the dozens of the tours we’ve ever been on. It was a bus ride to nowhere. At one time the guide on the bus actually said “There is a beautiful beach and coastline down the road to our left but you can’t see it from here.” This has been our running joke every time we are confronted with mediocrity.

 

4 hours ago, Cienfuegos said:

We had a combined tour of Salisbury Cathedral and Stonehenge.

On an independent visit to London we took the London Walks day trip to Salisbury and Stonehenge. It was definitely a site to see. 

[CCWineLover]

On 1/15/2023 at 10:51 PM, OneSixtyToOne said:

We took the included Falmouth tour and it was the worst of the dozens of the tours we’ve ever been on. It was a bus ride to nowhere. At one time the guide on the bus actually said “There is a beautiful beach and coastline down the road to our left but you can’t see it from here.” This has been our running joke every time we are confronted with mediocrity.

 

Ahh... I remember that Falmouth included tour!  It was indeed really bad.  But we laugh at it now.  It's true - you really remember the really good and the really bad tours!   Wish we'd done Monet out of LeHavre.  We were scheduled, but as you may remember, they had the Yellow Shirts protests going on in France and we had to choose between that and Rouen - which fortunately was a good tour, thanks mostly to the guide!

[Cienfuegos]

I'm glad to hear we didn't miss much with bypassing Falmouth.  But we did get to enjoy (!) the remnants of Hurricane Lorenzo in the Bay of Biscay. Waves crashing on the ship, and occasionally outside the windows at Mamsen's. The ship was rocking and rolling.

 

[sugarside]

We had a wonderful tour out of Falmouth.

Consider doing one of the optional tours. We visited a beautiful garden which even had a replica of Monet's bridge and had a secluded beach as a bonus.

[Hobson1754]

Whilst we didn’t do the Alhambra tour on our cruise (we had visited on a previous holiday to Spain), I would encourage you to do this tour if you do no other - so worth seeing - absolutely beautiful.

[Twitchly]

18 hours ago, Cienfuegos said:

I'm glad to hear we didn't miss much with bypassing Falmouth.  But we did get to enjoy (!) the remnants of Hurricane Lorenzo in the Bay of Biscay. Waves crashing on the ship, and occasionally outside the windows at Mamsen's. The ship was rocking and rolling.

 

The Bay of Biscay gave us a pretty dramatic ride, too — but that was on a clear, sunny day. Can’t imagine it in a hurricane!