TransAtlantic 2008

[amoisakis]

Looking for some helpful pointers from fellow cruisers. We aredoing a translatlantic that leaves Barcelona and goes to Malaga, Casablanca, Seville, Lisbon, Punta delaga. What tours should we do what should we do? Restaurants? Shopping?

[Hlitner]

Transatlantics are our favorite cruises and an important part of our yearly travel plans. We particularly love the many sea days with lots of time to read, eat, and drink. As to the ports, since you specifically ask "what tours" I will not say much since we hate tours (we generally go off on our own). Casablanca does not offer a lot, but the Hassan II Mosque is truly one of the great buildings in the world (we walked there from the ship...but it was a couple of miles). Many elect to take long tours to Fez or Rabat,,but its one of those "each to their own" ports. Barcelona is easily done on your own (just grab a guide book and look for all the freebees at the local tourist offices). Malaga, lots of options here but many of the out of town tours involve long days. You might want to just enjoy a nice lunch in Malaga and walk around this touristy town. As to other options, Granada is a great destination for a tour to the Alhambra. Another option in Malaga is to simply rent a car and do your own thing. Sevilla (never understood why its translated to Seville) is a nice place to visit, but you will need to take an overpriced bus from the port or go it on your own. Sevilla is one of those cities that should be visited for a couple of days to just sample the night life (tapas is famous here) and restaurants. Lisbon,,, you can spend your day in Lisbon seeing the city and its churches (on your own or with a tour) or you could take a tour to other interesting towns such as Sintra (one of our favorite little towns). Its normally pretty easy to get into Lisbon from the ship, but this is somewhat dependent on where they dock (there are two different docking locations). Can't help you on Punta delgada since we have never been to that port (maybe next year). As to shopping, keep in mind that the dollar has lost about half its value over the past few years, so most European goods will be much cheaper in Boston (thats why Europeans are coming the US with empty bags). Your best bet (if you must shop) is to concentrate on local crafts and art works. Of course if you like Olive Oil, you will find lots of good selections in both Spain and Portugal. As to restaurants, since you are on a cruise you are generally limited to lunches. If the weather is good, any well located outdoor cafe is where you want to eat (the people watching is always fun). Your best bets (financially) will be to stick with the daily menus (sometimes called tourist menus) which generally include an appetizer, entree, dessert, and often (in Spain) wine. These are almost always shown on blackboards (or on an easel) outside the cafes and are normally the best deals.

 

Hank

[amoisakis]

Transatlantics are our favorite cruises and an important part of our yearly travel plans. We particularly love the many sea days with lots of time to read, eat, and drink. As to the ports, since you specifically ask "what tours" I will not say much since we hate tours (we generally go off on our own). Casablanca does not offer a lot, but the Hassan II Mosque is truly one of the great buildings in the world (we walked there from the ship...but it was a couple of miles). Many elect to take long tours to Fez or Rabat,,but its one of those "each to their own" ports. Barcelona is easily done on your own (just grab a guide book and look for all the freebees at the local tourist offices). Malaga, lots of options here but many of the out of town tours involve long days. You might want to just enjoy a nice lunch in Malaga and walk around this touristy town. As to other options, Granada is a great destination for a tour to the Alhambra. Another option in Malaga is to simply rent a car and do your own thing. Sevilla (never understood why its translated to Seville) is a nice place to visit, but you will need to take an overpriced bus from the port or go it on your own. Sevilla is one of those cities that should be visited for a couple of days to just sample the night life (tapas is famous here) and restaurants. Lisbon,,, you can spend your day in Lisbon seeing the city and its churches (on your own or with a tour) or you could take a tour to other interesting towns such as Sintra (one of our favorite little towns). Its normally pretty easy to get into Lisbon from the ship, but this is somewhat dependent on where they dock (there are two different docking locations). Can't help you on Punta delgada since we have never been to that port (maybe next year). As to shopping, keep in mind that the dollar has lost about half its value over the past few years, so most European goods will be much cheaper in Boston (thats why Europeans are coming the US with empty bags). Your best bet (if you must shop) is to concentrate on local crafts and art works. Of course if you like Olive Oil, you will find lots of good selections in both Spain and Portugal. As to restaurants, since you are on a cruise you are generally limited to lunches. If the weather is good, any well located outdoor cafe is where you want to eat (the people watching is always fun). Your best bets (financially) will be to stick with the daily menus (sometimes called tourist menus) which generally include an appetizer, entree, dessert, and often (in Spain) wine. These are almost always shown on blackboards (or on an easel) outside the cafes and are normally the best deals.

 

Hank

why thank you. That was a great. Tx again

[transplant320]

amoisakis-you might want to consider this site for Ponta Delgado in the Azores- www.amazingtours.se used them in May of 2006 and found ricardo amorim to be an excellent tour guide, very accommodating in trying to fulfil your requests.

hope this helps

martin

[luvnorway]

There was a lengthy thread about Ponta Delgada on this board recently, including very helpful and detailed replies from a local resident.

Suggest you use the "Search this Forum" tool for Ponta Delgada (make sure you spell it correctly so the threads will show up) and for the other ports you mentioned - just type in the name of each individually and you'll find lots of information in responses to previous posters asking about the same places that you are visiting.

 

Also, don't forget that Casablanca is in Africa -> go to the Africa & Middle East board to find info about it.

[pirokp]

The first reply to your thread was very good. I will add that Malaga is a larger city and it has the larger city feel. To go way out of town, such as Granada, it will be an all day trip with traffic and too rush-rush for me.

 

In the alternative, you could rent a car and drive to Mijas. Mijas is a white stucco touristy type town in some places. It is unique. Also, there is a local train that travels to the west from Malaga about 35 km. At the end of the line is the town of Fuengirola. This town is about 1/10 the size of Malaga. It has a huge craft market on Tuesdays. It is a nice town (with beaches) to stroll. It is about a 35 minute train ride and I believe the trains run every 1/2 hour. You might have to taxi it from port to the train station. Check out:http://www.malaga.us/

[corkpopr]

i agree with the previous poster and the great info he provided. we are doing our 3rd TA and love the sea days. two yrs. ago rome to ft. lauderdale stoping in Lisbon, punta delgada, and bermuda. last yr. rome to ft. lauderdale stops in gibraltar, casablanca, madiera, and across. We love Lisbon and are going this yr. we picked up a cab off the ship with our driver mohammad (of course) and had a great day (six hours) besides the usual places we went to the marketplace, beach, the expensive residential community, and a local bar that was a total kick. 6% beer about .85 cents each. no pretzels or peanuts but sardines as a snack item.

In punta delgada we rented a car and drove to blue/green lake and down into the village there. frm there we drove to the other side of the island and ended up driving up to fire lake. took a harrowing short cut back to the city and raced back to the ship. we were the final pax back on board with 5 minutes to spare. that was our fault though becasue we didnt get off the ship until 11:00.

have a great time.