Thoughts on the Lisbon to Barcelona route

[RMS Olympic]

I’m considering this cruise itinerary on the Legend in 2026. I would appreciate thoughts/comments from those that have sailed this cruise.

Thanks in advance.

Tom

[Ski Mom 2]

In the fall of 2018 we sailed on 3 back to back to back cruises on Wind Surf: Lisbon to Barcelona, Barcelona to Rome, and Rome to Rome (Sicilian Splendors). Each cruise was special and we had a marvelous time! On some ports we did ship tours and some we just got off the ship and wandered around on our own which we really enjoy. It’s a wonderful itinerary.

 

Ours included Tangiers where we hired a private guide, met up with friends in the Peace Corp working deep in Morocco and had the most fascinating day.
 

If it also includes the stop with the tour of the Alhambra I highly recommend booking WS’s tour ahead of time. It’s an all day affair and just stunning!

 

I think my reviews are still up if you look under Wind Surf back to the fall of 2018. Here is the first part which may be close to your itinerary.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=637112

 

If you’re interested here is part 2 from Barcelona to Rome. 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=638116

Edited August 14 by Ski Mom 2

[Ski Mom 2]

I’m not sure you’re interested but here is the third installment of our back to back to back review (Rome to Rome). We had a marvelous time!!
 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=648607

 

I hate how little time CC gives you to edit your replies!

Edited August 14 by Ski Mom 2

[new_cruiser]

There have been a few different Lisbon to Barcelona itineraries. Currently, most of them are similar to the one we did in which all the stops other than Gibraltar were in Portugal and Spain. This itinerary has a stop in Almeria which is about 90 minutes from the Alhambra. The Windstar excursion to the Alhambra is very good and because it is a long excursion and a significant distance it's a good way to go. On our cruise, we had to skip the Almeria stop due to high winds but stayed an extra day in Malaga instead. That's a similar distance to the Alhambra so the Windstar excursion was switched to depart from there instead. We and about 6 others had booked a non-Windstar excursion and had to scramble working with the tour provider to get it modified to leave run from Malaga. 

 

The other itinerary stops in Tangiers and has some different ports in Spain. The current version of it doesn't stop in Almeria and doesn't have excursions posted so it isn't known whether they will have an Alhambra excursion from there. It does stop in Seville so you are right in town instead of needing to take a shuttle from Cadiz and that is an overnight stop which is pretty nice. Our cruise stopped in Seville, but they have stopped doing that with most of their cruises because the channel in the river is pretty tight - the ship had to back for a good bit of the way out. 

 

They have some new winter itineraries that are Barcelona to Malaga or round trip from Barcelona that hit Gibraltar and the Spain ports (except Cadiz/Seville) - I guess they stay in the Mediterranean to avoid winter seas in the Atlantic - even at other times of the year, the sea can get a bit rough on the way to Lisbon. Those have overnights for some of the stops.