Newcruiser34

Oh don't miss Malaga!! It's so wonderful. I can't vouch for the port area in Tenerife- if you're dead set on staying onboard on a port day you could always plan to spend a little time looking round the port area and then spend the afternoon on board. I loved Loro Parque but I see what you mean about somewhere you would take the kids- I guess it would depend on if you ever plan on being in Tenerife again? If not I would definitley go! I actually can't remember seeing discounted spa deals on the port days that much- the Spatopia ones they put in the dailies were actually for a sea day. I also still thought they were massivley overpriced- remember that you will pay 18% service charge on top of the advertised prices.

 

Regarding the photos- they often take a photo of you at dinner, and there's plenty of other photo ops if you seek them out. There is photo ops at each port when you disembark, after the shows and also photographers set up around decks 5,6 and 7 every night with back drops and props. Some of these are pretty cheesey- some are nice, like the photos against the chandelier. If you're after good photos of the two of (we were, as we never get any nice ones), then just seek these photographers out every night and spend 10 minutes posing. Don't be afraid to get this done lots as it will give you lots of photos to choose from, there's no obligation to buy and no pressure- you just go and view them the next night in your photo folder.

Thanks for the reply Squish and for the tips! I think we will probably just get off for an hour or two at Teneriefe to say we have been! lol.

In terms of the spa, I thought I had read on other reviews that the port days are when they discount treatments by about half? I could have misunderstood though? Still much more expensive than what you would pay at home but this is our first adult only holiday and I would love to give the spa a go, even if it is just to use the facilities :-)

Thanks again, have thoroughly enjoyed your review - you should definitely think about writing more - natural talent!

x

Squish I'm loving your review, quite sad it's coming to an end now to be honest :(

We are also first time cruisers doing the same cruise as you on 6th March! We are a couple in our late 30's and this is our first solo holiday without children :eek:

We are really looking forward to it now and getting quite excited with only 23 sleeps until we head to Barcelona now :D

A few questions for you if you don't mind? First of all the photos, I take it there are quite a number of photo opportunities? We rarely get photos just the two of us and had thought about pre paying for a package but we really weren't sure if there were enough opportunities to make it worthwhile?

Also we are booked on a few tours through our roll call for Morocco and Madeira. We plan on just having a wander round the beach at Gran Canaria if the weather good. But for Tenerife we didn't fancy much other than after seeing your day at Loro Parque. But hubby thinks it's way too on the expensive side to do something we would do with the kids on a normal holiday! 😂

Originally we thought go for a wander in Tenerife on our own and stay on the ship in Malaga. As I would like to have a day on the ship while in port to see if I can make use of discounted spa deals. But after reading your day in Malaga, I'm more drawn now to staying on at Tenerife and getting off at Malaga. Would you say that would be better? Having never been to either places I wasn't sure if getting off at Tenerife for a wander would be worth it?

There was definitely more I wanted to ask but I can't remember now! Lol

Thanks

Carreen

Hi Squish!

Thanks for this review! I've just came across it today and I'm loving it! So informative, honest and funny like others have commented!

My husband and I will be going on our first ever cruise on the 6th March sailing and we are really excited! It's so nice to read your review from a first time cruisers point of view as I find the more seasoned cruisers reviews tend to miss out some details or can be a little on the negative side.

Can't wait for the next instalment! :D

Carreen