Short Port Stays

[sheridan88]

I never think about taking a Costa cruise because most of the cruises never seen to stay in the ports all day - 4 hours and maybe 6 hours seems to be common durations. What can you do in that small amount of time? Do most people even bother to leave the ship?

 

Please let me know your experience. Thanks.

[Capricruiser]

It usually depends on the touristic importance of the port. Here in the Med the stops at ports like Athens, Cairo, Istanbul, etc, are all 8 to 10 hours or more. At the lesser ports where it usually only takes 3 or 4 hours for shore excursions to complete their itineraries, the stops are consequently shorter. I believe the other cruise lines follow more or less the same principle. Hope this helps.

[Scribbler Deb]

That worried me about our eastern med costa cruise before we sailed, especially for the 4 hour tender stops, but it ended up not being a problem because we would get footsore about the same time that we needed to head back to the ship anyway. In Thira, for example, we had time to visit the cathedral and the museum (to see the Minoan wall paintings), to have Greek coffee in a cafe and buy some postcards. I was most worried about having enough time in Olympia but it actually turned out to be plenty of time to look around the museum exhibits. Then it would be back to the ship for afternoon tea, a shower, dinner and the evening's entertainment. I was glad we chose Costa.

[laminar]

Considering the Magica for Spain and Portugal but i saw the short time in these 3 ports and i am having my doubts.

 

IN Malaga the ship arrives at Noon and departs at 6 pm. If we want to go to Granada and see the Alhambra. Is not enough time.

 

In Valencia if we want to explore La Mancha region we are out of luck. We arrive at Noon and depart at 7 pm

 

And the worst : IN Barcelona the ships arrives at 8 am and leaves at 1 pm. That is not right. The city that has a lot to see and just a few hours. Monserrat is out of the question for sure.

 

I know that they want to keep the passengers onboard to create more revenue. But i think Costa is pushing the envelope here with the "short stays in ports".

[peabody99]

I agree about pushing it regarding keeping people on the ship to spend. 5 hours in Barcelona is a joke. I prefer to have a good eight hours + in any port, and then decide how I want to use it. If there is less to see or we are tired we will come back to the ship.

We have been in full out runs to get back to ships in Valencia and St. Martin- fun places that do not need too short stays! :D