We booked this cruise August 18, 2021, with C J White from McCabe travel. We booked a penthouse B Suite…room 861. The total cost of the trip was $44,926. We did not realize we had actually booked two cruises back-to-back. The first segment was called Iberian experience. It began in Barcelona and ended in Lisbon Portugal. The second segment was called Wine and whiskey. It began in Lisbon and ended in Southampton, England.
We flew Delta STL to Atlanta Georgia to Barcelona.
June 23 and 24 the flights went very smoothly. We arrived in Barcelona and regent was very prompt in picking us up and transporting us to the Hotel Sophia. We were assigned room 1012. We had wine and tapas for dinner at the hotel.
On June 25, we took a bus to Tarragona to board the ship. Check in has never gone so smoothly and there was no line. We had a light lunch at the pool grill, and we were allowed to go to our room at 1:30. Our room is very lovely. Our Stewardess is Lou, and our Butler is Vijay. We had dinner at compass rose.
June 26 Ibiza Spain, (Balearic Islands) we did a panoramic tour past the old salt mines. We stopped in San Jose village at the beach. We walked around San Antonio. We went to Portinatx and had a nice lunch in Tardir Del Mar Restaurant overlooking the water. The view was amazing. We had dinner at compass rose.
June 27 Almeria Spain, a port city on the Mediterranean Sea. After the fall of the Roman Empire the Moors ruled much of Spain from 711 until they were finally driven out by Christian forces in 1492. Almeria has heavy walled fortresses and castles built by the Moors during their long residence. When they were not fighting Christians, they were fighting each other for regional domination. We drove to the city center. We saw a statue of John Lennon…he wrote the song strawberry fields here. We did a walking tour of the cathedral and Alcazaba. We had room service for dinner.
June 28 Malaga Spain, we did a panoramic drive to Castillo de Gibralfaro. Then we did a panoramic drive to downtown Malaga. We did a walking tour of the Cathedral and a visit of the Alcazaba palace. We then had a wine tasting at El Pimpi. We had dinner in compass rose.
June 29 Cadiz Spain, we did a panoramic drive of Cadiz. We did a walking tour of the old city. Then we went to a Flamenco show and had tapas and wine at La Cava. The show was amazing. We had dinner in Chartreuse.
June 30 Casablanca Morocco, we drove to the Hassan II Mosque. We stopped for drinks overlooking the beach. We walked the Anfa district. We drove to Mohamed V Square and the Habbous quarter. We went to the central market. We shopped in United Nations square. We had dinner in Compass Rose.
July 1 Portimão Portugal, we drove to old town. We went to a sardine museum. We visited the nossa sra da conceicao church. We had a glass of wine in the noso Italia restaurant. We had dinner in settee Mari.
July 2 Lisbon Portugal, today six hundred passengers disembarked, and five hundred passengers embarked. It was confusing for the one hundred of us remaining and going on our excursions. We finally did get off of the ship and to our bus…late but we made it. We did a panoramic tour of the city. We stopped at the Nautical Museum. We had dinner in compass rose.
July 3 Oporto Portugal, today we arrived in Oporto at the mouth of the Douro River in a thick bank of fog! It was a chilly start to the day, especially after the warm sunny Mediterranean. After a walking tour of the old part of the city, we crossed the river for a port tasting at Ferreria Cellars. We had room service for dinner.
July 4 Ferrol Spain, we drove to the historic city of Lugo. We did a walking tour of the city. We had lunch at Porta Santiago restaurant. We had dinner in compass rose.
July 5 Bilbao Spain, we docked at the harbor at the mouth of the tidal estuary that runs several miles inland to Bilbao, the largest city in the Basque region of Spain. Well known for its iconic Guggenheim Museum designed by world-famous architect, Frank Gehry. In Aug. 1983, a tremendous flood severely damaged or destroyed most of the shipbuilding yards and factories that were located along the estuary. The city turned the tragedy into an opportunity to reinvent itself by cleaning up the estuary, making the city more livable, and moving towards tourism and culture starting with the building of the museum whose exterior evokes the ships that used to be built on its site. We enjoyed a walking tour of the medieval section of the city which today is neatly integrated with 19th century and 21st century buildings and we toured the Guggenheim Museum. We attended the show Duo Esencias…the rose, a violinist and Flamenco dancer. We had dinner in prime seven.
July 6 Bordeaux France, we began the morning with a man who had a stroke being airlifted to the hospital. We sailed into Bordeaux under The Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas is a vertical-lift bridge over the Garonne in Bordeaux, France. In the evening we traveled to the nearby Medoc wine region for a lovely wine dinner at Chateau Du Tertre.
July 7 Bordeaux France, we did a tour of Fort Medoc and a wine tasting at Lanessan castle. We saw the finish of the tour de France from the ship.
July 8, we had a relaxing day cruising the Celtic Sea. We had to meet with the Irish immigration to check our passports for entry. We had dinner at Chartreuse.
July 9 Cork Ireland, we did Panoramic Cork and the Blarney Castle. We had dinner at compass rose.
July 10 Dublin Ireland We were greeted with typical rainy Irish weather as we anchored at the entrance to Dublin harbor. The tender ride to the pier was an adventure of its own as we rode the waves with our awesome driver and crew. We enjoyed a cruise on the Liffey River through the center of the city and then a panoramic ride though the city and its parks. We had room service for dinner.
July 11 Fishguard, Wales. The clouds and brief showers gave way to blue skies and sunshine today as we were thrilled to set foot in Wales. Fishguard is a charming town in Pembrokeshire, Wales that was settled around 950AD by the Vikings; the Normans came in the late 11th century. It was one of the largest suppliers of herring during the 17th and 18th centuries. Until the schools of fish moved south. Today locals put out lobster traps and lobster is featured on many menus. There is a stone monument outside of town and a 100-foot tapestry in a local church commemorating the signing of a Peace Treaty with the French after the last attempted invasion of Britain in 1797 occurred in Fishguard. We did a wonderful coastal tour.
July 12, we had a relaxing sea day and packed for the trip home. We had dinner prime seven.
July 13 Saint-Malo, France, we docked at our final port, in the Brittany region of France, an historic walled city and port on the English Channel. The old town was destroyed by the Americans during WW2 and has been rebuilt exactly the way it used to be. At low tide it is possible to reach two forts that further protect the city. Today fishing continues but it is tourism that is the main economic force of the area. After a walking tour of the city, we visited the gardens of la malouiniere. We had dinner at Compass Rose.
July 14 Southampton England and HOME We flew united London to Chicago to STL home. Everything went smoothly…however we only made our last flight with 4 minutes to spare. I hate travel days.
