Regent Med. Excursions - Malaga, Cadiz, Lisbon, Bilbao, Le Verdon

[Casemaker]

Happily booked to go on the Voyager Monte Carlo to Dover in a few weeks and was wondering about the excursions for these cities and whether anyone can compare the offerings by Regent vs. do yourself via taxi, etc. Seville, rather than Cadiz?, for example, is a drive, but seems interesting. Some of the excursions seem great but are relatively short, which seems to mean that you're only off the ship for 4 hours or so shortening sightseeing opportunities. Would like to visit a number of wineries near Bourdeax rather than just stopping for pictures in front of them, for example. Looking forward to the trip! Input appreciated.

[poss]

Just to say that we did the Dover-Monte Carlo (actually, Nice) Voyager cruise last year and absolutely loved it. (Our ports were slightly different.) Because we've been to Seville several times and didn't know Cadiz at all, we chose simply to walk around Cadiz-- which we loved. I hadn't expected to find that city anywhere near as interesting as we in fact found it-- we thought it was terrific. But Seville truly is one of the "greats" of Spain and if you haven't been there, I think you should jump at the chance to go. My memory is that it's quite a haul, however-- a long drive and very full day.

We also liked Bilbao better than we thought we might. As in Cadiz, we just walked the city on our own-- spent about a third of our time wandering around the museum and about two-thirds wandering the city itself; we thought the walk along the river and into the old town was handsome and interesting.

In Lisbon, we had a complimentary tour to Sintra, a city which we remembered fondly from an earlier visit to Portugal. And then we wandered for a couple of hours through the Alfama-- which we adore. (The ship docks right there; very easy to get around.)

Malaga wasn't on our itinerary, but from previous visits to that area of Spain, I remember that one of our favorite things was visiting the caves at Nerja, a little to the east of Malaga (if I'm remembering correctly). I don't know whether that'll be one of the excursion options, but if you happen to like caves, Nerja is a very impressive one.

In Bordeaux, we took the ship's excursion to the town of St Emillion, which we found quite charming, despite its being fairly touristy. We weren't especially interested in visiting wineries, but we loved the ride from the port to the little village-- miles and miles of vineyards, all very handsome.

By the way, on our two Voyager cruises (other was to the Baltics) we never hired private tours or rented car or took train or anything like that: we always either did the town on our own or booked one of the ship's excursions. We didn't think there was a single "miss" in doing it that way; truly enjoyed every single one of the excursions (and much enjoyed all the ports we did on our own on both cruises.)

Mainly posting to tell you that we loved the cruise and the ship. If I might be able to answer any specific questions, I'd be happy to try. Will check back later.

Bon Voyage!

[NCCruzQueen]

Hi Casemaker, My family and I are on the Voyager this cruise, too. I have been to some of these ports on past cruises. Here are a few suggestions.

 

Malaga - I love Granada and the Alhambra. Boy, have the excursion costs gone way up. I want to go to the Picasso Museum. Planning to take a cab.

 

Cadiz - Seville is great, but if you plan to stay in town, the Old Town area is just a few minutes walk or take the HOHO bus which stops right outside the port area.

 

Lisbon - Everything here is great to see. I am hoping the ship shuttle takes you to a central location.

 

Bibbao - Go to the Guggenheim Museum..... very different type of art.

 

Le Verdon - Poss has it. If you don't like wineries, St Emillion is a lovely town to visit.

 

St. Peter Port - unsure about what to do here. It's my first time.

 

Honfleur - Bayeaux is a lovely town to visit. The tapestry is really interesting to see. In Honfleur, I liked the Eugène Boudin Museum. He was Monet's teacher. The Vieux Bassin area and side streets are nice to wander around. Honfleur is just a lovely seaside/tourist village.

 

Hope this helps some, Beth

[Leejnd4]

Malaga - I concur with the above, do the Alhambra excursion. It's truly an amazing place. We did mostly private excursions on our Med cruise, EXCEPT this one, which we did with Regent because of the distance, and also not having to wait in lines at the Alhambra...you get right in.

[MICone]

We did this cruise last year. In a word, superb. If it"s available, join the Regent circle of interest food and wine. We had an amazing wine tour to Chateau Baychevelle including lunch and then another winery tour. For some reason, my memory of the events after these two tours are a tad fuzzy. It was well worth the money and it was Expensive

[poss]

Alhambra is fantastic! (We stayed at that parador for 3 nights some years ago-- gorgeous.)

Repeating: Much as we liked the Guggenheim in Balbao (esp the outside), we enjoyed the town every bit as much. Plenty of time to do both.

[Host Dan]

As much as I enjoyed the Guggenheim in Balbao (especially the building itself), did anyone notice the lack of wall space for fine art? Strange...

 

Host Dan

[RachelG]

We did the Nice-Dover cruise last year and loved it. In Malaga, we had already been to Granada and the Alhambra, so we decided to rent a car and go to Ronda. Except it didn't work out that way. The car we got from Avis was a total wreck and stopped about 10 miles out of Granada on the freeway. Talk about a scary experience. We were almost killed as there are no shoulders on these freeways. Anyway, we got back to Malaga and went to the fortress, which was actually fairly interesting. The Picasso museum, which we would have loved, was closed because it was Monday! So we just walked around some. Should have just stayed in Malaga the whole time.

In Cadiz, we got a taxi at the port (there are plenty) who took us to Jerez. We went to the horse show and to a sherry winery. Very nice. Then we walked around Cadiz--also very nice.

In Lisbon, we took the ship's shuttle (free) downtown, went to the old fort, then got a taxi and went to the Maritime museum--highly recommend this. We had a great time.

In Bordeaux, we took the train to St. Emilion. Easy to do, and again, a great time.

We also loved Honfleur. Just mostly walked around, but it is a very nice town.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

We also loved this cruise (slightly different ports.)

 

We did a private tour for the day (for 6) in Bordeaux--spent some time in St. Emilion, went underground under the cathedral, had a nice simple bistro lunch, went to two chateaux, both excellent, informative and fun. All in all had a great day.

 

In Lisbon we just walked (had only half a day there.) But, I believe where you dock will vary--we were docked a long way from Alfama, over west of Belem. The ship provided a shuttle bus to a central location.

 

Honfleur is a lovely town--we just walked. It was full of French tourists, being a weekend. We were charmed.

 

We didn't stop in Bilbao but in Santander--we had a great tour guide who took us to the medieval town of Santillana del Mar. Our tour guide was great, highly recommended. I'm betting they could organize tours around Bilbao as well.

[cruiseluv]

As others have said Honfleur is a very picturesque port. From here you could also do the tour to the landing beaches, which is very emotional. I visited them during a land trip though. It makes for a very long day if done from Honfleur.

 

In Bilbao I would say the 2 better options is to just spend the day there, visit the museum and the old town. You can do this on your own, no need to purchase the tour. Bilbao is a pretty compact city. The other option could be to go to the beautiful seaside resort of San Sebastián, approx 1 hour from Bilbao. Again here I would do it on my own, there is frequent public transport between the 2 cities.

 

If you have never been to Sevilla (and think you will not have the opportunity to do so in the future), then i would recommend you take the tour there from Cádiz. Cádiz is a lovely city but it doesn't compare to Sevilla.

[Casemaker]

We also loved this cruise (slightly different ports.)

 

We did a private tour for the day (for 6) in Bordeaux--spent some time in St. Emilion, went underground under the cathedral, had a nice simple bistro lunch, went to two chateaux, both excellent, informative and fun. All in all had a great day.

 

In Lisbon we just walked (had only half a day there.) But, I believe where you dock will vary--we were docked a long way from Alfama, over west of Belem. The ship provided a shuttle bus to a central location.

 

Honfleur is a lovely town--we just walked. It was full of French tourists, being a weekend. We were charmed.

 

We didn't stop in Bilbao but in Santander--we had a great tour guide who took us to the medieval town of Santillana del Mar. Our tour guide was great, highly recommended. I'm betting they could organize tours around Bilbao as well.

 

Other than an excusrsion, how and with whom does one arrange for such a Bordeaux tour? In advance? Spur of the moment from tour companies at the dock?

[RachelG]

Other than an excusrsion, how and with whom does one arrange for such a Bordeaux tour? In advance? Spur of the moment from tour companies at the dock?

 

It is easy to go from Bordeaux to St. Emilion by train. Then go to the tourist office there, and they have all sorts of tours that can be booked spur of the moment. We did a winery tour which was very nice and went to 2 chateaux, but the underground cathedral is right by the tourist office and would be easy to visit too.

We had lunch at an outdoor cafe, did our tour, had lots of time to shop, and still got back to the ship in time for dinner at 8.

[Casemaker]

It is easy to go from Bordeaux to St. Emilion by train. Then go to the tourist office there, and they have all sorts of tours that can be booked spur of the moment. We did a winery tour which was very nice and went to 2 chateaux, but the underground cathedral is right by the tourist office and would be easy to visit too.

We had lunch at an outdoor cafe, did our tour, had lots of time to shop, and still got back to the ship in time for dinner at 8.

 

How did you get from the ship to Bordeaux?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Oh, I forgot, they are going to Le Verdon now. Pity, but I can understand why, since the tides in the estuary dictate very tight arrival/departures times. I'm assuming that there would be ship's transportation to Bordeaux. Anybody docked at Le Verdon instead of Bordeaux?