Navigator and Malaga Spain

[tomjohnsonjr]

How has the food and srevice been and what do you think about Malaga has a city to board the ship?

[sandbox]

Originally Posted by tomjohnsonjr

How has the food and srevice been and what do you think about Malaga has a city to board the ship?

I live in Malaga and it is a wonderful city.
As an article recently stated a very under-rated place.
Its one of the more REAL Spanish citys and is still somewhat unspoilt.
Very historical and cultural-the weather is wondeful 320 days of sunshine per year and at the moment its still in the late 20's which is exceptional for this time of year.

Forget the stigma of the Costa Del Sol with all the forigners living here,many have never been to Malaga and live further along the coast.

[tomjohnsonjr]

Originally Posted by sandbox

I live in Malaga and it is a wonderful city.
As an article recently stated a very under-rated place.
Its one of the more REAL Spanish citys and is still somewhat unspoilt.
Very historical and cultural-the weather is wondeful 320 days of sunshine per year and at the moment its still in the late 20's which is exceptional for this time of year.

Forget the stigma of the Costa Del Sol with all the forigners living here,many have never been to Malaga and live further along the coast.

If I miss going to the Costa Del Sol its no big deal?

[roysmith99]

I folks,

We head to Malaga next Saturday to board Navigator on Sunday 25th. We decided to explore Malaga itself rather than head to the "seaside" for the same reasons as mentioned by Sandbox.

I hope we have chosen a good hotel, the MS Maestrano, and really look forward to seeing some real Spain.

.

[English_in_Spain]

From a purely personal point of view I wish they had not changed from Barcelona.

From where I live (Alicante) Malaga is difficult to get to. I am sure there will be lots of people who will find this - especially Europeans. You can fly to Barcelona from almost anywhere - not so with Malaga. There are also not such good train connections for those who prefer train.

Although Malaga is a city worth a visit and is probably far more Spanish than Barcelona, I don't think it will have the same international appeal as Barcelona. There is just so much to see and do in Barcelona.

[bilyclub]

Last time I docked in Malaga aboard the Brilliance, we docked at the begining of the harbor. Did they build a facility to enable basing a ship there?

[tomjohnsonjr]

Originally Posted by bilyclub

Last time I docked in Malaga aboard the Brilliance, we docked at the begining of the harbor. Did they build a facility to enable basing a ship there?

I would like to know this also? I was there a few years ago and nothing was there. I think they were starting to build something?

[BMT]

Originally Posted by sandbox

I live in Malaga and it is a wonderful city.
As an article recently stated a very under-rated place.
Its one of the more REAL Spanish citys and is still somewhat unspoilt.
Very historical and cultural-the weather is wondeful 320 days of sunshine per year and at the moment its still in the late 20's which is exceptional for this time of year.

Forget the stigma of the Costa Del Sol with all the forigners living here,many have never been to Malaga and live further along the coast.

Hi Sandbox - we are on the Brilliance for three weeks in December and then beginning of January we are flying to Malaga and going down to Estepona to look for an apartment to rent for the winter. I chose Estepona as I hear that its still very 'Spanish'. Do you know the town? All advice gratefully received.

[Missus Makkem]

The new berth for RCCL is not far from where the big ships berth when visiting the port.About three quarters of the way from the dock gates to the port entrance.
It is where they have been working for years.
It isnt the old one at the port gates.

We are looking forward to departing from Malaga,it is very easy to get to from the UK and we like the city.
I am sure it will ease the problems they were beginning to have in Barcelona with so many ships docking there and it is only for a couple of ships, there will still be departures from Barcelona.

[sandian]

Originally Posted by BMT

Hi Sandbox - we are on the Brilliance for three weeks in December and then beginning of January we are flying to Malaga and going down to Estepona to look for an apartment to rent for the winter. I chose Estepona as I hear that its still very 'Spanish'. Do you know the town? All advice gratefully received.

Hi

We are just back from our Timeshare in Estepona where we go every October.

Its a lovely town with something for everyone.

Try the Marina, the old town with narrow walkways and flowers everywhere.

The lovely square in the old town filled with cafes and Tapas bars.

And also the esplanade lovely to walk along.

Out of town visit lovely hilltop villages such as Casares just above Estepona, also Mijas.

Ronda Grenada and Seville have to be visited.

On the coast visit San Pedro de Alcantara.

As you can see we love this corner of Spain, every year we find something different to see and do.

[BMT]

Hi thanks............just maybe we have chosen the right place to settle for a while?

We are booked at the Marriott Playa Andaluz - is that your timeshare? Looks lovely anyway. Staying 4 nights and looking for an apartment at that time. Fingers xxxd.

Difficult for us - but quite an adventure.

[AHBingley]

Got off the Navigator on Thursday morning at 9.15. We got to our hotel at 9.45. Lovely 4 star hotel opposite the port but no room safe. We headed for the beach for a couple of hours taking our passports etc with us as the hotel lobby was too busy to bother putting our belongings in a safety deposit box.

We arrived at the beach at about 11 a.m. and were laid on the beach with no one within 25 metres. My wifes small handbag was between us at about knee level. We were both on our fronts reading. I dozed off and at 12 noon my wife was horrified to find her handbag missing. I recall 3 people passing very close to our heads talking in spanish and thought nothing of it. However, on reflection they were probably causing a distraction whilst a fourth person was at our feet stealing the handbag. We lost passports, driving licences my wifes credit cards and approx £500 in cash. We are always so careful.

The next 3 hours were spent at the police station and on the phone cancelling the credit cards and the following morning at the British Consulate paying for emergency passports to get home. Our last two days of the holiday were ruined and we will not recover the cost of everything we have had stolen. Whilst waiting in the Consulate I read a newspaper article that beach thefts were on the increase and that one person had recently been caught and confessed to 35 offences. A lady then arrived and she had also had her passport stolen.

On returning to the UK the officer at customs control said he sees many emergency passports each day.

Please be vigilent.

[sandian]

No we are just along the road at Villacana, you will love it I am sure so much to see and do.

All the tiny hilltop villages are so pretty, also Marbella and Puerto Banus well worth a visit.

Any ? just ask away.

[Costafox]

Originally Posted by English_in_Spain

From a purely personal point of view I wish they had not changed from Barcelona.

From where I live (Alicante) Malaga is difficult to get to. I am sure there will be lots of people who will find this - especially Europeans. You can fly to Barcelona from almost anywhere - not so with Malaga. There are also not such good train connections for those who prefer train.

Although Malaga is a city worth a visit and is probably far more Spanish than Barcelona, I don't think it will have the same international appeal as Barcelona. There is just so much to see and do in Barcelona.

We however take a completely opposing view, it is a wonderful convenience for us to have a ship sailing out of Malaga. For once we are able to get in the car and arrive at our ship in just over an hour without the hassle of having to get a flight. I think from what I hear that the 5 day Navigator cruises from Malaga have been a great sucess - last weeks sailing had 10 coaches of passengers departing from Gibraltar -and I understand that RCL have invested in the developement of Malaga port so I don't think that Malaga will de dropped as an embarkcation port anytime soon.

Best Wishes

Gill

[BMT]

Hi Sandian,

Didn't like Marbella or PB. Hoping Estepona will be more of a town for a winter sojourn.

Do you live right in Malaga or on the outskirts? Do you ski from there?

[alid]

Hi Tom, Just got off Navigator last Thursday and felt that I had to let you know of our experience.

Malaga was a complete disaster.

We landed at Malaga airport around 11:00am collected our luggage and were swiftly bussed to the quayside. It must have been around 12:00 or just a little after (earliest time for embarking) when we went into the new port building.
The entire building from one end to the other was ram packed with people. We are new to cruising and didn't quite know what we should do - when we asked someone they advised us to stand in one of the lines. We hadn't realised these were lines.
To cut a long story short - we and everyone else, stood in line for 3 hours. There was absolutely no organisation whatsoever. Some people tried asking to see someone from management, but nobody came out. Disabled and elderly people were also waiting hours. There were fist fights between men, ladies fainting, kids screaming - I would have flown home if someone had given us that option. There was nothing to eat or drink (and we had been travelling since 4:00am). When we got to the front there seemed to be absolutely no organisation whatsoever - it took 15 minutes per couple to get our embarkation pass.

Once on board, of course, everyone headed for the restaurant and there were no seats - people were standing to eat.

At no time during our embarkation or during our short cruise did anyone from RC apologise or explain why there were such problems.
I will never cruise with Royal Caribbean again.

[cinnamon]

Originally Posted by sandian

Hi

We are just back from our Timeshare in Estepona where we go every October.

Its a lovely town with something for everyone.

Try the Marina, the old town with narrow walkways and flowers everywhere.

The lovely square in the old town filled with cafes and Tapas bars.

And also the esplanade lovely to walk along.

Out of town visit lovely hilltop villages such as Casares just above Estepona, also Mijas.

Ronda Grenada and Seville have to be visited.

On the coast visit San Pedro de Alcantara.

As you can see we love this corner of Spain, every year we find something different to see and do.

Hi, was it Villa Cana? We own there but are currently at our first timeshare in Plas Talgarth, in Wales of course. We are sailing out of Malaga on 9th November.

[The Big Booper]

Originally Posted by alid

...>>SNIP<<..Malaga was a complete disaster.
We landed at Malaga airport around 11:00am collected our luggage and were swiftly bussed to the quayside. It must have been around 12:00 or just a little after (earliest time for embarking) when we went into the new port building.
The entire building from one end to the other was ram packed with people. We are new to cruising and didn't quite know what we should do - when we asked someone they advised us to stand in one of the lines. We hadn't realised these were lines.
To cut a long story short - we and everyone else, stood in line for 3 hours. There was absolutely no organisation whatsoever. Some people tried asking to see someone from management, but nobody came out. Disabled and elderly people were also waiting hours. There were fist fights between men, ladies fainting, kids screaming - I would have flown home if someone had given us that option. There was nothing to eat or drink (and we had been travelling since 4:00am). When we got to the front there seemed to be absolutely no organisation whatsoever - it took 15 minutes per couple to get our embarkation pass..>>SNIP<<....

We are on the Nav TA in November and certainly hope that the Malaga Port Authority gets it's act together before then. We have been on 15 RC cruises (out of 30 total) and have never heard of anything like this before.

[tomjohnsonjr]

Originally Posted by the big booper

we are on the nav ta in november and certainly hope that the malaga port authority gets it's act together before then. We have been on 15 rc cruises (out of 30 total) and have never heard of anything like this before.

sounds like no one showed up for work!

[AHBingley]

Hi Alid.

I arrived at the cruise terminal at 11.30 and it was chaos at that time. It seems that the Spaniards all arrived very early and caught everyone off guard.

My worst cruise ever. RCI very poor in every department. Back to HAL for our next one. Anyone who honestly says RCI is good has not been with either HAL, Celebrity or Princess. Everything on the Navigator was second rate. The only good thing was the show by Beatlemaniacs.