Please Advise - Casablanca or Marrakech

[Chelly]

On Oosterdam's TA in Oct, there will be a 14 hour port call in Casablanca. Are there souks near the port in Casablanca? I understand the mosque is magnificent and rather close by. Is it best to take a taxi to the mosque? Is Casablanca really just a huge unimpressive city with not much to see?

 

Many posters have remarked that the ship's tour to Marrakech is long, disappointing and not worth the cost. Any advice will be appreciated, I just can't decide between Casablanca and Marrakech. thanks.

[Aussie Gal]

I too would be interested in hearing what others would recommend. We too will be docking in Casablanca and if we decide to go to Marrakech we would have to take a ship's tour as we are only there 12 hours altogether.

 

Is it worth the cost and the time involved to visit this city or should we stay in Casablanca for the day?

 

I have also read that some posters have visited Rabat. Is this worth a visit too?

 

Jennie

 

Jennie

[newfarmers]

there is a souk literally right outside the port gates. some people on our visit october two years ago spent most of the day wandering there and loved it.

 

if you could get enough interest on your rollcall I'd investigate organising a private tour to marrakech. the good memories of that day certainly outweighed the bad ones.

 

what ship are you visiting on jennie?

 

just read your sig and there it is ocean princess

[Aussie Gal]

Newfarmers,

 

Thanks for that. We may be able to get a group together which would be great. Do you know of any good guides in that country that we could contact? We are going to some unusual ports on this cruise. The Ocean Princess is doing it in reverse in September this year when it will still be called the Tahitian! We are all hoping to learn from their experiences.

 

Jennie

[newfarmers]

Newfarmers,

 

Thanks for that. We may be able to get a group together which would be great. Do you know of any good guides in that country that we could contact? We are going to some unusual ports on this cruise. The Ocean Princess is doing it in reverse in September this year when it will still be called the Tahitian! We are all hoping to learn from their experiences.

 

Jennie

 

 

hi Jennie

 

how are you coping with that crazy Melbourne weather? 40, 23, 30+

 

so much more reliable up here;), hot and humid, hot and humid....

 

I arranged a tour of casablanca with tangiertour. we ended up going on the HAL shorex to Marrakech that hadn't originally been offered. When we came back onboard in Lisbon we had a flier in our cabin advising us they were looking for interest due to us being in port longer.

 

Our roll call went ahead with the tour. This company also offered a tour to Rabat. To be honest, not sure if I would recommend him or not as we didn't go on the tour and the group that did were disappointed due to communication problems. Maybe email him and see what he comes back with?

 

Charif abdelhamid Idrissi

 

 

tangiertour@yahoo.co.uk

 

pete

[Aussie Gal]

Newfarmers,

 

Yes our weather has been very iffy this summer but alas no rain. I don't mind the cooler temps if we could have some water from the sky, but unfortunately, it is just cool and windy though now that the Tennis is starting the weather is warming up and next week will be quite hot.

 

Thanks for that. I will take note of his email address and name and see what he offers.

 

Jennie

[JaneBP]

I was in Casablanca on the day after Ramadan ended and it is a family holiday, so we couldn't see the Mosque and the souks were closed. And it was raining! There was one government shop open for the cruise trade, that was about it. Not much to see, architecture-wise, at least from the street. I did find some flower stands only and got some lovely roses (with more thorns than I have ever seen, btw.)

 

This fall I will be back for a long day. I doubt even I can sit still for the 8 ht RT to Marrakesh. But a trip to Rabat is an option, that's ony about 2 hrs RT. Anyone been there? Is it worth seeing? I do need to buy some spices..... Last time I had a car, driver, and English speaking guide, arranged by the ship. Since I usually travel alone, I want them to know with whom I am going and where.

[nna]

I went to marrakesh in the spring and casablanca and rabat in the winter this past year.

 

I would not go to marrakesh on anything but ship's tour--it is a 2-3 hour drive. we ran into bad traffic on the way back and were 2 hours late to the ship. it is worth the drive to me. we spent some time in the market--that was the total highlight. expect to be guided through the market--too confusing to manage on your own.

 

casablanca was not that interesting--we couldn't go into the big mosque due to religious holiday. it is within walking distance of ship. rabat had some neat roman ruins and forts, and the country side was interesting-but not as interesting to me as marrakesh.

 

you could see casablanca with a guide and that would make it better.

[kruzin']

thanks for your post...we are on the Jade and plan on walking to the mosque with others (about 6 of us) to do the English speaking tour..I do read however, you need dirhans to pay for admission do remember an atm's and do you think this will be a problem for us..I did verify it is not a holiday and the mosque is open to tourists only by tour..thanks

[Chelly]

I am willing to endure the long drive to and from Marrakech if the time spend in the souks is worth the drive and tour cost. My concern is the guide leads you through the markets for a short period of time so shopping and browsing is limited.

[lambs2]

thanks for your post...we are on the Jade and plan on walking to the mosque with others (about 6 of us) to do the English speaking tour..I do read however' date=' you need dirhans to pay for admission do remember an atm's and do you think this will be a problem for us..I did verify it is not a holiday and the mosque is open to tourists only by tour..thanks[/quote']

 

They will happily take your credit card at the mosque. It is 120 dirhans per person. Ask for your credit card to be charged in the local currency. We used our Capitol One Card and so had no fees. There are bank ATM's in Casa Blanca. We were on a private taxi tour and found one in the newer downtown area, so used our debit card to get dirhans for our next port stop in Agadir.

[MercedMike]

This is a tough one.

 

The mosque in Casablanca is a stunning place to visit. Even if you have been to some of the great cathedrals in Europe, there is still much to see. To be honest, there was not much else in Casablanca that thrilled us.

 

Check out our review and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/morocco10.html

 

Marakesh is a long drive from Casablanca, but a very interesting one. Absolutely, one of the highlights of our trip to Morocco was the Djeema el-Fna, The Marketplace of the Nobodies. It is the souk of all souks, populated by the most amazing people of all types.

 

Check out our review and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/morocco9.html

 

So -- what is your pick? Magnificence in the great mosque, or rubbing shoulders with the nobodies in the market place? A hard decision. Good luck making it.

[Chelly]

You have changed my mind for sure. I'm going with the magnificent Hassan II mosque.

[Kimjergen]

Hi there,

 

We (my husband, two school aged sons, and brother) hired a private driver and guide with a very large air conditioned bus to drive us r/t from our ship to Marrakech while in port in Casa Blanca. The driver was extremely courteous and prompt and spoke very good English. Once we arrived at the city of Marrakech he picked up a local guide and dropped us off for 3 hours to walk around the city and explore. We had to get a bit pushy in refusing to enter a rug shop and a spice shop with him so we could have longer in the souks etc and he was a bit disappointed but agreed to let us continue with our tour and visit the souks and we all had a wonderful time.

 

The first part of the drive going there was unremarkable but the 2nd half was quite interesting with the desert having homes carved right out of the sand etc Marrakech literally looked like right out of an indiana Jones movie. The roadways looked newly paved and were not very crowded other than just before entering Marrakech and reentering the Casablanca area. The sights, sounds, and smells were all interesting. The souk was just as we had pictured it to be with clothing, purses, linens, leathergoods, jewlery, spices, and food everywhere with pedestrians and scooters sharing the walkway through it. The palace was amazing and comparable to the Alcazar in Seville yet less pretencious, and is worth touring. My sons got to ride camels right near the city wall. But be warned they are extremely pushy trying to sell things and follow you trying to bargain even when you are no longer interested yet there are deals to be had. The food smelled good but we were afraid to eat it and had purposely grabbed fruit, crossiants and cereal at breakfast before leaving the ship and brought them along with bottled water and that's all we ate in our 12 hour adventure. ON the way back to the ship, we also visited the Mosque as well and it was quite beautiful from both afar and up close when we got out and walked around the exterior. Casa Blanca itself appeared to very unimpressive, dirty, and from what I heard from fellow passengers, full of pick pocketers. I was so glad we ventured off and made it to Marrakech and was very pleased with our tour guide and driver. We were dropped up an hour and 20 minutes before our ship sailed and had no problems. We used a tour company called mysticaltours.ma email info@mysticaltours.ma and Sarhan Hajjaj in the transport dept arrancged our trip. He tried to make us pay via credit card ahead of time and I declined and said I would pay cash to driver at the end of our tour and he agreed.

 

We were picked up at 6am (he was right there waiting as we disembarked) and back by 6:40pm, the van was comfortable and we even ended up inviting 2 other shipmates (couple in their late 50s) to join us the night before and they came along as well and enjoyed it too. Unfortunately I forgot the price of this tour and the name of our driver but I do know that it was quite reasonable and much less than the ship excursion and much more personable etc

To give you an idea of what we saw and did in Marrakech, here are a few photos from this adventure for us. I know this isn't for everyone but if you like adventure and seeing cities that are truly foreign in their customs and appearance then you will truly enjoy experiencing Marrakech, just be prepared for pushy, pushy sales routines and keep your wallet in a safe place.

 

 

 

 

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[CruseKrazy]

We'll be stopping in Casablanca next April on Oceania but alas, only for 8 hours. That rules out an excursion to Marrakech...darn :(

 

A colleague in the office who lived in Morroco for many years says Marrakech has much more to see and offer than Casablanca which is just another large city in his view. The mosque does look interesting. :)

 

Thanks all for the info here regarding each of these cities.

 

 

Dave