Review: SDI Barcelona to Lisbon, Oct18-27, Part I

[whatnot]

Well. I've been back to reality for almost a week now and hopefully got my life back to normal. Still miss all that fabulous food and service on SD.

This was a great cruise, but very different from my 2 previous SD cruises in the Caribbean. This was an end of the season cruise in the Med and the last SD cruise before the Crossing. This cruise was all about the ports, the service , the food, and the great people we met. Most people got off the yacht at every port, unlike the Carib. The weather was fairly cool for the first 5 days of the 9 day cruise. By cool, I mean low 70's for highs and low to mid 50's for lows. That is cool in the morning especially since sunrise wasn't until after 8:00 (because of day light saving time). The time changed in Seville on Oct 25 to the regular time. Consequently breakfast was served in the Dining Room the first 4 or 5 mornings. Lunch was always served Topside. Dinner was always in the Dining Room. I really did miss dinner served Topside! The only Cocktail Hour by the pool was on the evening we were sailing down the river leaving Seville for the Atlantic. The mosquitoes were so bad that we all retreated to the Lounge. There was no Champagne and Caviar Splash! That was OK with me, because having it at the pool would just not be the same as having it at Jost or Virgin Gorda. There really wasn't time either, because those lost few days, when the weather was warmer, we were in good ports with lots of things to do.

We arrived about 10:00 in Barcelona on Friday, October 16. Our room was ready for us when we arrived at Hotel 1898 at about 11:00 am It was a lovely hotel, in a wonderful location on the upper end of Las Ramblas. Barcelona is a great city to visit with lots to do and see. We spent 2 nights and wish we had stayed 3. Las Ramblas is an experience in itself with all the street performers and just people walking everywhere. The market (probably the best I've ever seen) was only a block from our hotel. ( we go to markets everywhere we visit) It is a must see and remember, it is closed on Sunday. We did the Hop on, Hop Off Bus Tour. It's really the only way you can see the city in a short period of time. The architecture is amazing! It takes about 4 1/2 hours to do both routes, only getting off to change buses once. We did the Picasso Museum on Sunday morning prior to going to the yacht. Lots of things are closed on Sunday morning so that was a perfect time to do that. There are so many restaurants and Tapas Bars in Barcelona that it's difficult to decide where to eat. If someone wants suggestions I give them by request later.

Of shucks, since I don't have Chef Tomasz to prepare my dinner this evening, I must go do it myself!

Next installment will be Embarkation

[DisneyJen]

Excellent start to what sounds like a wonderful cruise!

Will be very interested in the compare and contrasts facet of your review as it relates to the Caribbean versus non-Caribbean

Please share those Barcelona tips! We will be visiting what sounds like a wonderful city before our crossing on SD2 in Nov. '10.

Many of us know the pain of adjusting to the real world after SD. We so enjoyed Chef Tomasz and his cooking on our March 2008 cruise in the Caribbean.

Looking forward to more. Thanks!!

[Cammiem]

I was excited to see the beginnings of your review this morning.

So glad you enjoyed Hotel 1898. We enjoyed it, too. I snatched an ashtray from the rooftop bar before we left - it's a nice souvenir (I use it as a spoon rest at our home bar). Did you happen to have brunch/breakfast at the restaurant there?

I wish we were able to visit the Market, but it was Sunday when we were there. Ugh. Sounds like we missed a spectacular one.

The C&C Splash during our Med cruise was on the pool deck. We had a blast. Keep in mind, though, it was our first one ever. While in the Caribbean, it was in the ocean in Mayreau. I can certainly understand how it's not the same. I wonder why you didn't have one at all?

DJ - you'll love Barcelona pre-cruise. We tried to take it all in post-cruise. All I could do was weep because we weren't on the yacht anymore. No one told me I'd have to get off!

Looking forward to your next installment. Welcome home!

[whatnot]

DJ - Here are some of the places we ate.

Taverna IRATI - which features Basque pintxos. They are small tapas with toppings on bread slices. It may be seafood , ham , cheese and there are even dessert ones. Some are very interesting taste combinations. They are lined up on top of the bar. You order your wine or whatever, get a small plate and choose your pintxos from the many, many trays on the bar. Each one has a toothpick and costs 1,80 Euro. When you have finished, they count the toothpicks on your plate and multiply by 1,80 plus your drink and that's what you pay. There is a more formal dining area in the back. It's a fun lunch or a light dinner. It could get pricey if you were very hungary! Located at 17 Cardenal Casanas, in the Barri Gotic, not far off Las Ramblas. You can google it and find reviews, but I could not find a web address.

Taller de Tapas -Just a good tapas restaurant, not far off Las Ramblas. It serves more small plate size portions. Located at 9 Pl. Sant Josep Oriol. http://www.tallerdetapas.com

Cal Pinxo - A seafood reastaurant reccomended by our Hotel, located in Barceloneta, which is on the waterfront near the cruise ship dock. They had a lovely outdoor seating area overlooking this beautiful area of the city by the water. We had an excellent Seafood Paella for dinner here. At Pl Pau Vila. http://www.calpinxo.com.

Don't eat on Las Ramblas. It's over priced.

[whatnot]

DJ - Here are some of the places we ate.

Taverna IRATI - which features Basque pintxos. They are small tapas with toppings on bread slices. It may be seafood , ham , cheese and there are even dessert ones. Some are very interesting taste combinations. They are lined up on top of the bar. You order your wine or whatever, get a small plate and choose your pintxos from the many, many trays on the bar. Each one has a toothpick and costs 1,80 Euro. When you have finished, they count the toothpicks on your plate and multiply by 1,80 plus your drink and that's what you pay. There is a more formal dining area in the back. It's a fun lunch or a light dinner. It could get pricey if you were very hungary! Located at 17 Cardenal Casanas, in the Barri Gotic, not far off Las Ramblas. You can google it and find reviews, but I could not find a web address.

Taller de Tapas -Just a good tapas restaurant, not far off Las Ramblas. It serves more small plate size portions. Located at 9 Pl. Sant Josep Oriol. http://www.tallerdetapas.com

Cal Pinxo - A seafood reastaurant reccomended by our Hotel, located in Barceloneta, which is on the waterfront near the cruise ship dock. They had a lovely outdoor seating area overlooking this beautiful area of the city by the water. We had an excellent Seafood Paella for dinner here. At Pl Pau Vila. http://www.calpinxo.com.

Don't eat on Las Ramblas. It's over priced.

[DisneyJen]

Much appreciated whatnot! Will add to my growing Barcelona file

[whatnot]

Sorry I haven't posted more, but I have had problems (tried 3 times) submitting a new thread, so I'm going to try posting on this one.

Sunday, Oct 18,Embarkation Day- Barcelona Spain
We arrived at the North Pier at the World Trade Center at about 2:00pm. after a 15 min cab ride from Hotel 1898. The port terminal was almost deserted but someone was there immediately to take our bags to SDI. Upon boarding the yacht, checking in went quickly and smoothly. Of course the never empty champagne glass always helps the process!
Since we had been on SDI in Jan of this year, it was like coming back home to see old friends. Although there were some new crew members, it was so much fun to see familiar faces from our Jan cruise. And the really amazing thing was that many of them remembered us!
We had booked a Deck 2 GTY and got Deck 2. Several days prior to departure, we were offered an upgrade to a Commodore Suite for a very reasonable fee, but we decided it really wasn't worth it since we spend such a small amount of time in the room. We've been on Deck 3 and Deck 4 before, but found that Deck 2 was quite acceptable. We did not mind the 2 portholes instead of the large window. We had rough seas a couple of nights on this cruise and I do think Deck 2 does much better in rough seas. We knew some people who had booked Deck 4 and wished they were on Deck 2.
There were 98 guests on this cruise and 80 were from the United States. More than I had expected. There were 5 from the UK, 5 from Belgium, 2 Australians, 2 Norwegians (one of the owner's daughters and her significant other), and the other 4 I don't remember. And over 50% were repeaters on Sea Dream. It was a quite interesting and fun group of people. Since there were so many Americans, the dress in the evening was not quite as dressy as I had expected in the Med. Some men wore jackets and some even wore ties but that was certainly the minority.

Next Post will be Port of Call!

[DisneyJen]

Thanks for the update whatnot!

We have been on Deck 2, 3 and 4 as well. I agree that the ride on Deck 2 is smoother when Mother Ocean is in a bad mood.

[whatnot]

Monday Oct 19, Palma de Mallorca, Spain 9:00am -10:00pm.
It was a cool morning, low 50's and the sun didn't rise until 8:06am. Therefore, we had breakfast in the Dining Salon. That was a first for us on SD and I must admit I really missed eating Topside. Palma is a beautiful city, probably more like the French Riviera, than mainland Spain, but also showing remnants of its Moorish past. We did not do a tour here, but took the shuttle into the center of town and walked the lovely streets and old part of the city, visiting the castle and the cathedral. The cathedral, with its interior designed by the Spanish Modernist architect Gaudi, was particularly stunning.

Tuesday, Oct 20, Formentera, Spain, 8:00am-1:00pm.
The only shore excursion here was a bike ride around this small island. We aren't bikers, but we went ashore and walked enough to see that there really wasn't much here- some old salt ponds, some boat docks and a few fishermen, a few restaurants, and some summer tourists rentals. It was very laid back and no one was here because the season was over. Also there are some very nice beaches, but it was in the 50's again, so it was too cool to enjoy the beach. I'm sure it is very nice in the summer.

Tuesday, Oct 20, Ibiza, Spain, 2:00pm-10:00pm
After a short 1 hr sail, we arrived at the island of Ibiza. Entering the harbour we had a very picturesque view of the the old walled city at the top of a high hill. Lots of old Spanish towns were built on hilltops. There was a tour that took you to the top, but we decided to do it on our own. After a fairly strenuos trek up the steps and inclined walks , we reached the top about the same time the tour did( they came part of the way by bus). Since it was Spanish siesta time, both the church and the museum were closed, as well as most of the shops in town. I would have been unhappy to have paid for the tour and had all those things closed. Again, we were dealing with the fact that all the tourists are gone and these islands are in their off season. It was a charming town to wander through.
In my opinion, the two islands could have been switched. If we had gone to Ibiza in the morning, everything would have been open. And it would have been warmer in Formentera in the afternoon. But frankly, we could have skipped Formentera altogether and spent more time somewhere else. It was a good place to walk or bike off some of those calories from all the great SD food and drink!

To be continued!

[whatnot]

Wednesday, Oct 21, Alicante, Spain, 8:00am-1:00pm
We took our first ship tour here, a bus tour 27 km into the countryside to the small town of Novelda. It was a nice tour to a small but lovely church designed by a follower of the Spanish Modernist architect Gaudi. It sat on a hilltop where there was a stunning view of the valley covered with grape vines, olive trees, marble pits, and the remnants of the summers' saffron fields. We also visited the winery, Heretat St Cecelia, for a wine tasting and snacks of olives and Spanish ham. It was a very nice tour.
Since we sailed at 1:00pm we did not get to see the old town area of Alicante, which is where the other ship tour went. We could have spent more time here, but that wasn't possible since we had 260 nautical miles to sail in order to be in Malaga by 8:00am the next day.
As we sailed south down the coast of Spain, the seas started getting rough, and as we made the more westerly turn to go to Malaga they got worse.
We had a lovely dinner that evening with Capt Berg and he promised the seas would subside after midnight. Several people didn't make it to dinner that evening, which was quite a shame because Chef Tomasz prepared a Spanish Theme Dinner (in addition to reglar dishes) which included Gazpacho and Paella. Delicious as always.

Thursday, Oct 22, Malaga, Spain, 8:00am-11:00pm
We awoke to a rainy morning as we docked in Malaga. Today was the much anticipated tour to Granada and The Alhambra. During the 2 hr bus ride to Granada, the rain poured. Shortly after our arrival at The Alhambra, the rain stopped and the skies cleared. How lucky were we! We had a fabulous 3 hr tour with a private guide. This is a don't miss tour if you are ever in this part of Spain. Afterwards, we had a lovely lunch at Ruta del Veleta in Granada.
That evening was the Sea Dream Club Members Cocktail Party. Since over 50% of the guests were repeaters, it was held in the Main Salon. Capt Berg apologized for the rough ride the previous evening and explained what had happened. A crew member had become quite ill and they had considered having that person airlifted, but the rough seas prevented that. So they proceeded full steam ahead to arrive in Malaga as quickly as possible, and that is what caused the seas to be so bad. The person was quickly taken off the yacht upon arrival and flown home for medical attention.

Friday, Oct 23, Gibraltar, UK, 8:00am-12:30pm
What a fantastic tour of the Rock! Our guide, Karen, gave a continuous commentary of interesting and entertaining information, interspersed with great British humor and a quite theatrical personality. She was the best tour guide I've ever had. It was really a quite interesting port. And the monkeys that live on the Rock are so cute!

Friday, Oct 23, 4:00pm-9:00pm
The ship tour here was as bad as the one in Gibraltar was good. We did have a nice bus ride down to Cap Spartel, where the Atlantic and the Med meet, but there was a cheezy show with acrobats, a belly dancer, camels, and horses. Our guide was really bad. He did take us on a nice walk through the Medina or old town, but took so long that the museum was closing as we arrived. At 8:00 we were just arriving at the Kasbah, and we were suppose to be back on board SD at 8:30pm. He insisted on taking us to the rug shop and spice store where he got kickbacks and would not let us shop anywhere else. Several of us wanted to buy saffron threads. The spice store person wanted to give a presentation (which we didn't have time for) so we asked if he had saffron threads. When he responded that he didn't carry threads, only powder because it kept better with olive oil added to it, we all get up and walked out in protest! What a bunch of bull! Of course, our guide had left us there, so we are standing in a dark crowded alley in the Kasbah, waiting for him. Luckily it wasn't for long and it was a short walk back to the bus and a short ride to SD. We were so late that as we boarded we were told that we could go to Dinner as dressed. There was one group that had a private tour with the guide suggested in Rick Steves book and they had a great tour.

To be continued!

[Cammiem]

Originally Posted by whatnot

We had booked a Deck 2 GTY and got Deck 2. Several days prior to departure, we were offered an upgrade to a Commodore Suite for a very reasonable fee, but we decided it really wasn't worth it since we spend such a small amount of time in the room. We've been on Deck 3 and Deck 4 before, but found that Deck 2 was quite acceptable. We did not mind the 2 portholes instead of the large window. We had rough seas a couple of nights on this cruise and I do think Deck 2 does much better in rough seas. We knew some people who had booked Deck 4 and wished they were on Deck 2.

Yes, Deck 2 is much better in rough seas. We experienced that ourselves in the Med.

While in in the Caribbean, we had one of the two forwardmost staterooms on Deck 3 and were miserable in mild seas.

Looking forward to more.

[whatnot]

Sat ,Oct 24 and Sun Oct 25, Seville, Spain, 9:00am, overnight til 4:00pm
My Favorite Spanish City!
We arrived in Seville after a 4 Hr sail up the river from the Atlantic. We went through locks and a drawbridge on the way. This was our first morning to have breakfast Topside and it was fun to watch us go through the locks and dock in Seville. The pilot turned the yacht around before we docked and if we had been any longer we would not have made the turn. Larger cruise ships must dock at Cadiz and bus their passengers to Seville. We docked in a very walker friendly part of the city which was close to all the major sites. It was a beautiful, clean city with lots to do and see, and you could do most of it on your own.
And we finally had 80 degree weather. We did an over view tour, but other wise just walked and walked - Highlights were the Bull Ring and Museum, The Cathedral, The Alcazar, and the Plaza de Espana. There was a great Flamenco tour after dinner when we overnighted here.
There was a Sangria sailaway party as we left Seville and went back through the locks, etc. We had our 1st cocktail hour by the pool that evening as we sailed along the river but the mosquitoes were so bad we all retreated to the Lounge. The Menu Degustation Dinner was that evening and it was fabulous as always.

Monday, Oct 26, Portimao, Spain, 9:00am-5:30pm
We took the tour to the old town of Silves and the castle and the Cork Museum, where we how cork was harvested and made into to wine corks. We also visited one of the beach resorts on this beautiful area of Portugeese coast. In the afternoon, we took the shuttle into Portimao and visted their very nice shopping area. A nice and interesting port.
Sadly this was our last evening on SDI and we said goodby at dinner to lots of new friends and lots of old friends from past voyages. We had a lovely Portugeese dinner this evening.

Tuesday Oct 27, Debarkation, Lisbon, Portugal, 9:00am
We sadly left the yacht about 9:30 for the Lisbon, Marriott, deposited our bags and headed out to explore. Did the hop-on -hop-off bus tour and kept running into SD people almost every place we went.
But somehow, I just couldn't fall in love with Lisbon. It was a nice city, but I just couldn't get into it. I think I was suffering from the Cammien Syndrome - a severe case of Sea Dream Withdrawal!

I plan to make one more post, giving general observations on crew, food, drink, tours,etc

[Cammiem]

Originally Posted by whatnot

I think I was suffering from the Cammien Syndrome - a severe case of Sea Dream Withdrawal!

ROFL, whatnot! Of course, it's only related to me if you spend a portion of disembarkation day sobbing in your hotel room!

Looking forward to another post.

[fredpebbles]

Whatnot--

Only now recovered my password to post again but have been generally lurking and enjoying your posts as always.

Sounds like a very interesting cruise and look forward to your summary.

Trust you are well and just enjoying intraholiday mojitos rather than posting reports!

Take care.

[whatnot]

Hi FredPebbles!

Good to hear from you and thanks for your interest! Yes, I just got so busy and then I thought no one was probably interested in whether I finished the last part or not since it had taken me so long to get back to it. You have inspired me to finish it. Although it won't be tonight, I will try to do so soon!

[whatnot]

Sorry for taking so long to write this summary, but it has been a busy Holiday Season!

So here are my final observations!

CREW
Just can't say enough about how professional and efficient they all were. Never met one person that I could complain about. Any and all requests were were cheerfully responded to. Capt Berg did a great job of guiding us through rough seas and also telling us what was going on. Richard the AD did a great job and it was fun meeting his Mother and his wife that were both on board. Rico, the Hotel Manager, got us our group table every night as requested, and our favorite waiters, Mike, Brian, Angelo and Job were always attentive to our needs. And our quiet, shy little cabin stewardess, Rutzie, not only kept our room perfectly, but did double duty singing with George the guitarist for one evenings entertainment. She sings like Celine Dion!

FOOD
Excellent as always! This was our first cruise with Chef Tomasz and we were quite impressed. He was quite approachable and answered lots of questions about how dishes were prepared. My husband is quite the chef and he had questions about a recipe in the SD Cookbook that he he gladly answered. His country themed dinners were outstanding, in addition to the old SD favorites.

DRINK
The Bar staff was all different from our Jan cruise. Jamie had moved to SDII and the new head bartender was Rick. He was quite likeable and capable as were the other 2 new bartenders. Free wine pours varied from night to night and we thought they were quite acceptable. Also thought they were better than on our Jan cruise.

SERVICE
Excellent as always!

PORTS
Most were excellent. Formentera was shaky for the time of year, as was Ibiza for the time of day. Not a well planned day.

SHORE EXCURSIONS
Most were quite good. Tangier Morocco was a disaster, but the yacht probably has limited tour choices there. Richard the AD said parts of the tour were a little cheezy! I would be hesitant to do a tour on my own there unless it had been highly recommended. In addition SD probably only visits there once a year, either as the first cruise after the crossing or the last one before so they don't have a lot of influence on what kind of quality they get.

WEATHER
It was too cool for much sunning at the pool or sleeping on the Bali Beds until the last 4 days of the 9 day cruise. The weather was glorious in Seville and in Portugal. Only a little rain one morning, so we were lucky there. In late Oct in the Med do not expect beach weather! But most of us had come on this cruise for the enjoying the food and service of SD and the great ports, not the sun and beach.

SHIP
Holding up well for its age. Was always spic and span. There was one issue - We returned to our room one evening before dinner and there was a big wet spot on our bedspread that went through the coverlet and linens, etc. Our stewardess immediately got someone to check it out and got everything changed before we returned for the night. It was a leak resulting from work that had been done on the sprinkler system. We were lucky. On Deck 4 a couple of rooms had really bad water problems. All was taken care of satisfactorily.

GUESTS
A great mix of very interesting people. It was interesting to me that out of the 50% plus repeat passengers, I never met anyone who had sailed SD in the Caribbean. All had either done the MED or crossings.

All in all a fabulous cruise and I would reccommend it highly. Spain is a beautiful country and Sea Dream was a wonderful way to see some of it's great areas.

We booked our next SD cruise while on board with the great 15% discount. We will be sailing Sea Dream II in Sept from Rome to Venice with 4 ports in Croatia. We've been to Rome and Venice but booked this cruise for Croatia.

We can hardly wait til our September cruise!

[DisneyJen]

Thanks for checking back in and following up whatnot!

Interesting about the water/sprinkler issue

Chef Tomasz was our chef on our March '08 SD1 cruise. What a talented chef and enjoyable person! I agree that he genuinely seemed interested in our thoughts on his meals.

Have to love that on board booking discount

[Cammiem]

Hi whatnot! I enjoyed reading your final observations. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

Congrats on booking what sounds like a fabulous cruise in September! I've had my eye on that itinerary for a long time.

Happy New Year!

[whatnot]

Why don't you join us on that cruise! It's SDII, Sept 11-19.

[Cammiem]

Originally Posted by whatnot

Why don't you join us on that cruise! It's SDII, Sept 11-19.

Oooooh, how I'd love to! We have to recover from the recession first. Stupid arse economy.