LIVE from Sirena Oranjestad to Barcelona - March 20 through April 10, 2023

[JoePDX]

10 hours ago, YoPhilly said:

Thanks for bringing us along on your lovely voyage.  Our next sail is in January on Insignia from L.A. to Auckland....our longest voyage ever.  We're so looking forward to it.  We love the smaller ships.

Exciting!   That trip or the reverse is on our bucket list.   😊   
 

Joe

[shepherd really]

This was a swell thread, thanks to @JoePDX for taking the time to share it with us all.

[cluso]

6 hours ago, JoePDX said:

Happy to share the name.  It is Mur-de-Barrez, a medieval village that is a former holding of the Grimaldi family in Monaco.  Located in the Aveyron region which is nearly unknown to North Americans.   But stunningly beautiful.

 

Market Day is every Thursday, year round.

The hills of Aveyron.  Our village is at about 950 meters above sea level.

 

Joe

 

 

Haven't made it there...yet.  We have been to a lot of places with minimal tourists. We used to charter the canal boats (DIY) and had wonderful adventures on the canals/rivers and doing all the locking ourselves..

Merci!

[commanders]

On 4/9/2023 at 4:50 PM, JoePDX said:

I didn’t know of any.   And no mention or rumors among  the many people we have met onboard.   

 

Did see medical staff all suited up returning from disembarking a passenger in Lisbon.  
 

A couple days after Lisbon a few announcements about hand washing and using the Purell  stations.   Saw enhanced cleaning of the hallway and stairway rails.   Also two bottles of Purell were left on the bed at turn down one night.   But no regular reminders after that one day.  Salt and pepper shakers remained on all tables in GDR and Terrace Cafe.

Joe

 

Oh, that’s what the tiny Purell is from. I thought it’s a personal gift from our cabin steward 😄.

i noticed a few people coughing and/or sneezing in the bus everytime we board one. And they did not try to cover their noses or mouths which was worrying during our 4hr roundtrip to Cordoba. 
We thought we were gonna use our covid test kits 🥹

[halfapair]

The nightly soufflé in the MDR was my favorite thing on our cruise. 

[JoePDX]

Hi All -

 

We are learning to cook, clean and make our own beds.   It is tough.   🙂

 

Here are the details on the private guides I used on this trip.  All were excellent and I would use any of them again with no hesitation.  I choose not to list the prices I negotiated as many of these tours were arranged while COVID was still impacting travel and prices were reflecting such.  That said, any of these guides will provide you a better tour experience, with a small group (I try for 6-8 people), for a fraction of what Oceania is charging.  

 

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain - Tour included Mt. Teide and a walking tour of La Laguna.  Lunch at a restaurant that only a guide could find.

 

Name:   Cristo
Email:  Touringcanarias@gmail.com
Phone: +34 618449896
Website:  www.touringcanarias.com

 

Portimao, Portugal - Tour included visit to Cape St. Vincent (Land's End), Ponta da Piedade and Lagos.  

 

Name:   Rosemary (Rosa) de Sa
Email:  info@precious-time.pt

Phone:   +351 917 217 778

Website:  www.precious-time.pt 

 

Tangier, Morocco - Tour of the Medina, Kasbah, Drive through modern part of Tangier ending at the coast where the Mediterranean and Atlantic meet.  Had a driver.   A guide who knows how to do things the opposite of the way the cruise ship tours - to beat the crowds.  We had the Medina/Kasbah nearly to ourselves.   There were three ships in port the day we were there.

 

Achraf Abdeddaim

Email:  info@tangier-privateguide.com
Phone:  +212 6 68 90 75 39

Website:  www.tangier-privateguide.com 

 

All three are on www.toursbylocals as well, but I am listing their personal company information instead.

 

Joe

 

 

 

 

[LHT28]

47 minutes ago, JoePDX said:

Hi All -

 

We are learning to cook, clean and make our own beds.   It is tough.   🙂

 

Yes  hard  when you do not have a cook & maid  😄

Enjoy your  vacation

[Sny]

Was on the same Sirena cruise with these guys/Team Trivia Champs.  We used Tours by Locals in several ports, requesting customization with minimal walking (I have had multiple spinal fusions and my spouse is pre-surgery and uses a cane). 

Our guide in Barbados was OK - certainly a fountain of knowledge; but the lunch venue was not a hit and she basically talked ALL the time (we got our money's worth in word per minute...). 

One guide in the Canaries was canceled, when he tested positive for COVID the day before our scheduled tour.

Our third guide was in Tenerife, John Reid.  He was outstanding - we did the Northwest with him.  Aside from school, he has basically lived all his life on the island.  It was an excellent tour, with many stops at breathtaking vistas.  I bet his choice of small local restaurant was just as good as the one Cristo used.  And, as a special service, he delivered the four of us directly to the ramp of the ship, with a gift of a book/novel he has written that is set in Tenerife.  

Post-cruise, we did another Tours by Locals in Lisbon that turned out to be a bit too deluxe for our tastes; so we did a tuk tuk the following day and loved it.

[shepherd really]

1 hour ago, JoePDX said:

Hi All -

 

We are learning to cook, clean and make our own beds.   It is tough.   🙂

 

Here are the details on the private guides I used on this trip.  All were excellent and I would use any of them again with no hesitation.  I choose not to list the prices I negotiated as many of these tours were arranged while COVID was still impacting travel and prices were reflecting such.  That said, any of these guides will provide you a better tour experience, with a small group (I try for 6-8 people), for a fraction of what Oceania is charging.  

 

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain - Tour included Mt. Teide and a walking tour of La Laguna.  Lunch at a restaurant that only a guide could find.

 

Name:   Cristo
Email:  Touringcanarias@gmail.com
Phone: +34 618449896
Website:  www.touringcanarias.com

 

Portimao, Portugal - Tour included visit to Cape St. Vincent (Land's End), Ponta da Piedade and Lagos.  

 

Name:   Rosemary (Rosa) de Sa
Email:  info@precious-time.pt

Phone:   +351 917 217 778

Website:  www.precious-time.pt 

 

Tangier, Morocco - Tour of the Medina, Kasbah, Drive through modern part of Tangier ending at the coast where the Mediterranean and Atlantic meet.  Had a driver.   A guide who knows how to do things the opposite of the way the cruise ship tours - to beat the crowds.  We had the Medina/Kasbah nearly to ourselves.   There were three ships in port the day we were there.

 

Achraf Abdeddaim

Email:  info@tangier-privateguide.com
Phone:  +212 6 68 90 75 39

Website:  www.tangier-privateguide.com 

 

All three are on www.toursbylocals as well, but I am listing their personal company information instead.

 

Joe

 

 

 

 

Thank you, I'll be stopping in Tangiers on an upcoming cruise so I'm going to bookmark this.

[marne-c]

5 hours ago, JoePDX said:

(snip)

Here are the details on the private guides I used on this trip.  All were excellent and I would use any of them again with no hesitation.  (snip

 

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain - Tour included Mt. Teide and a walking tour of La Laguna.  Lunch at a restaurant that only a guide could find.

Name:   Cristo
Email:  Touringcanarias@gmail.com
Phone: +34 618449896
Website:  www.touringcanarias.com

 

Portimao, Portugal - Tour included visit to Cape St. Vincent (Land's End), Ponta da Piedade and Lagos.  

Name:   Rosemary (Rosa) de Sa
Email:  info@precious-time.pt

Phone:   +351 917 217 778

Website:  www.precious-time.pt 

 

Tangier, Morocco - Tour of the Medina, Kasbah, Drive through modern part of Tangier ending at the coast where the Mediterranean and Atlantic meet.  Had a driver.   A guide who knows how to do things the opposite of the way the cruise ship tours - to beat the crowds.  We had the Medina/Kasbah nearly to ourselves.   There were three ships in port the day we were there.

Achraf Abdeddaim

Email:  info@tangier-privateguide.com
Phone:  +212 6 68 90 75 39

Website:  www.tangier-privateguide.com 

 

All three are on www.toursbylocals as well, but I am listing their personal company information instead.

 

Joe

 

@JoePDX  Many thanks for these.  We'll stop at Tenerife and Portimao (I had to type that 3 times to get past auto-correct) on our Sirena TA in March 2024.

 

 

--Marne

Edited April 13, 2023 by marne-c

[jackdeb]

Following along with Joe’s posts of his recent cruise was great! If any of the tours Joe organized were as good as the tours he put together for our cruise on the Riviera last September you are lucky. We met Joe & Jeff and

were on four tours with  them it was a great time and lots of fun. They are wonderful b@#c*$s ( Jeff will know).

 

[Livethedream100]

I have loved reading this thread.  We are going on the Sirena in July Venice to Monte Carlo.  Can you please share how the women were dressed at dinner?  For instance in the specialty restaurants and grand dining room?  I'm planning on black dresses and for my husband slacks and a button up.  How dressy did you feel they were?  Thank you for your help.  I have never understood Casual and Elegant in the same sentence so I tend to dress up a bit more but do not want to over pack.  Thank you for your help!

 

[osandomir]

1 hour ago, Livethedream100 said:

I have loved reading this thread.  We are going on the Sirena in July Venice to Monte Carlo.  Can you please share how the women were dressed at dinner?  For instance in the specialty restaurants and grand dining room?  I'm planning on black dresses and for my husband slacks and a button up.  How dressy did you feel they were?  Thank you for your help.  I have never understood Casual and Elegant in the same sentence so I tend to dress up a bit more but do not want to over pack.  Thank you for your help!

 

I’d say it’ll be more Elegant than Casual in specialities and GDR. You can wear black dresses if it’s what you prefer but you’ll definitely see much more of the colors around.

[LHT28]

9 hours ago, Livethedream100 said:

I have loved reading this thread.  We are going on the Sirena in July Venice to Monte Carlo.  Can you please share how the women were dressed at dinner?  For instance in the specialty restaurants and grand dining room?  I'm planning on black dresses and for my husband slacks and a button up.  How dressy did you feel they were?  Thank you for your help.  I have never understood Casual and Elegant in the same sentence so I tend to dress up a bit more but do not want to over pack.  Thank you for your help!

 

I wear  slacks/dress slacks & a nice top  not too much of  a bling type person

 Wear  what you feel good in

No sweatsuits please

[JoePDX]

16 hours ago, Livethedream100 said:

I have loved reading this thread.  We are going on the Sirena in July Venice to Monte Carlo.  Can you please share how the women were dressed at dinner?  For instance in the specialty restaurants and grand dining room?  I'm planning on black dresses and for my husband slacks and a button up.  How dressy did you feel they were?  Thank you for your help.  I have never understood Casual and Elegant in the same sentence so I tend to dress up a bit more but do not want to over pack.  Thank you for your help!

 

 

 

Glad you liked the thread.   I have a lot of fun doing it, plus it serves as a record of our adventure.  🙂

 

As for dress, for Jeff and I, slacks and a nice buttoned shirt (long and short sleeved) most evenings.  We also each take a sport coat and usually wear them when we are in the specialty restaurants, although certainly not a requirement.

 

As for the women on board, a nice dress, slacks, blouse.   As LHT28 suggested, wear what you feel good in.  For the GDR wear what you would wear for an evening out to a nice restaurant.   I don't remember encountering any one "dressed to the nines".

 

Enjoy your time on Sirena.   She is a lovely ship.

 

Joe

[PhD-iva]

On 6/15/2023 at 12:31 AM, osandomir said:

I’d say it’ll be more Elegant than Casual in specialities and GDR. You can wear black dresses if it’s what you prefer but you’ll definitely see much more of the colors around.

Elegant sounds “elitist”, at least to me it does. I was on the cruise w Joe&Jeff (Hi, you two!!). I was always in my Chicos (from the outlet/discount store, not the pricey boutique). So, classy, not fussy. Lots of choices. You’ll love it!