Anyone taken HAL CASABLANCA or MARRAKESH tours????

[RDMOREU]

Hello,

We will be on the Westerdam when she visits Casablanca. Has anyone taken either HAL'S CASABLANCA CITY TOUR or the tour to MAGICAL MARRAKESH? Any information is appreciated! Thank you.

[baybeachgirl]

We took the city tour two years ago while on the Noordam. At the time, I thought I would not even get off the ship for this port. Thankfully, I changed my mind! It was a great tour. We had a wonderful, informative guide and a good over view of the people and culture. We visited a couple of mosques, a market place and a hotel where we were served a delicous mint tea. Also had a chance to shop and we bought some lovely leather items. As I recall, we were discouraged by HAL from taking the Marrakesh tour. I think they were concerned with passengers getting back to the ship on time with that tour. The market place was awesome, with the most beautiful produce and flowers I have ever seen...we bought flowers to take back to our cabin. The locals we met on this tour were very friendly. One guide offered my husband three camels and a goat in trade for me....thankfully he did not accept and I continued our cruise! Shop keepers were also friendly. This was our experience in April of 2002...hopefully it is still the same. I am glad we did not miss this port and if you decide to take the city tour, I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did. As it turned out, this was one of my favorite ports on that cruise.
Dee

[Stevesan]

We also enjoyed the city tour. Walked thru the old section and market place. Fascinating culture difference. Great bargains on Rolex watches for only $20 US! Such a deal.
Only disappointment was discovering that Rick's Place is now in the Hyatt Regency.:mad:

Marrakech would be fascintaing, but the travel to/from takes up too much time for a day trip.

[Randyk47]

Having lived in Morocco for 3 years I'd be tempted to say Marrakesh but I'd have to agree with BayBeachGirl that you can't go wrong with a tour of Casablanca. I'm actually surprised HAL even lists a tour to Marrakesh as that's quite a hike, depending on where you dock. Definitely don't stay on the ship, take a tour of Casablanca and see a famous and fantastic city of the world. If you had a couple of days in port then I'd say go for Marrakesh so you'd have enough time to export the city. Wow....I envy you! :)

[RDMOREU]

You 3 posters are wonderful and have made me glad we booked the City Tour (as described below). Does this seem to be the same tour that each of you took? I do hope so; you made it sound much more 'colorful' than HAL did.



Casablanca City Tour
Price Adult $39; Child $20
Duration Approximately 4 hours
Description Casablanca is the economic capital of Morocco. From your motorcoach you will walk through Place Mohammed V-the main square. At Casablanca's New Medina-a modern development in a traditional style-you will find the magnificent Royal Palace, the recently built Great Mosque, the Regional Law Courts and the central market. Driving along the coastal road, you will see the golden beaches of the Ain Dial Resort and enjoy a refreshment.
Notes Due to traffic congestion in Casablanca, it may not be possible to stop at certain sights.

[TedC]

We booked the Marrakech excursion with HAL. I didn't want to be that far away from the ship without the security of a ship-sponsored tour.

It'll be a long day but we're looking forward to it. Besides, there'll be several days at sea to allow us to recover.

[LizB1]

We also did the City tour in Casablanca and really enjoyed it. The one you signed up for sounds like the one we did several years ago. We felt the one to Merrakech was too long a day for us. I remember folks coming back from that tour back in 1973 and they were enhausted that is why we decided just to stay in the City of Casablanca.

[ekerr19]

We are doing the tour of Rabat in a couple of weeks... I will let you know how it is - we wanted to go to Marrakech, but 12 hours of a shore excursion is just too long for me.

[jazzsea]

We did the city tour and loved it. Were so glad that we took it. We went over to the Hyatt and saw "Rick's Cafe", bought a t-shirt and a few post cards and took pictures. Fun day.

[Lefty Bob]

The Rabat tour is nice. It is the Capital and have nice places to eat by the sea.
Lefty Bob