Jump to content

Riviera: Canary Cruising Live


Skyring
 Share

Recommended Posts

A long-awaited cruise. But aren't they all?

 

This ship is full of repeat cruisers. Oceania has built up quite a reputation, and some of the folk I'm meeting have dozens of cruises under their belt. I'm seeing why, and I've only been here for a day.

 

This cruise comes as the final three weeks of a month away. Paris road trip to Bordeaux with a group of friends via Bayeux, Mont St Michel, and Saint-Malo, and then a day or two at a gathering of an internet community.

 

Great fun, but now for some relax and private time.

 

We took an Uber from our Airbnb. Thoroughly recommend both for travellers; no hassling with local currency, every party is rated, there are reviews, you know what you are getting.

 

In the frenzy of packing for my low-cost carrier flight, I managed to leave a few things behind. Two packets of documents: all our printed-out hotel and flight details, travel insurance schedule, and that lovely personalised book from Oceania.

 

Of course, we didn't realise this until somewhat later. I'd extracted the page for our next flight and tucked it into my travel wallet, so I had everything I wanted immediately.

 

In the Uber, we found ourselves in slow-moving traffic, and suddenly the two hours we'd allowed getting to the airport, check-in, and board didn't seem quite so generous.

 

I looked up the airport website to check on departures, and instead, Apple presented me with a canned synopsis of everything I wanted to know. I guess they knew I had a flight coming up, I was moving towards the airport, and what else could I possibly be doing.

 

Kind of freaky, really. Reminds me of the two teenaged girls I overheard yesterday saying that some creepy dude was listening to them.

 

Anyway, we had plenty of time, my checked bag was 22 kilos out of a possible 23 and my carryon bag only a little overweight. Travelling with four cameras, you see.

 

41623992721_a318a1b9fe_c.jpg

 

We had to walk to our plane, an Airbus A320, where somehow we'd managed to score exit-row seats in the single-class cabin. Best in the house, I guess, though I usually prefer not to have a wing obscuring the view. My wife had the window, anyway.

 

Great view over the Pyrenees as we headed south to Barcelona. Sit on the starboard side to get the snowy mountains leaning up against the window to say hello.

 

Lunch was buy-on-board. Six Euro fifty for an admittedly delicious club sandwich. I could have had a beer and a coffee for a few Euro more, but I wanted to be fully on board for the hassles with immigration and taxi-drivers and stuff.

 

41624067411_7bf7fc6a2a_c.jpg

 

Amazing how much they cram into a simple sanger. The list of ingredients read like a novel.

 

41583995592_9e09687dee_c.jpg

 

We flew along the coast, gliding down to the airport, and I picked out the cruise berths. Several ships in port and one of them was Riviera, looking like a rowboat behind the behemoth Symphony of the Seas.

 

I gazed fondly upon the sight. Soon.

Edited by Skyring
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks all! Most kind.

 

Goodness, how time flies past. Now on day three. A day in Seville after a sea day. Perhaps a bit more updating after dinner tonight.

 

Lots of photos to share.

 

Bottom line. Loving Riviera. This is one sweet ship!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We took a taxi from the airport. First, though, I found a website giving the current names and locations of the ships in port - I'd seen at least three from the plane - and showed it to the taxi driver.

 

I was able to identify our ship - "The one with the big O on the funnel" - and he set us down near the terminal entrance. A chap waving a wad of Euros hijacked our driver before he could run off. As if. I've been a taxi driver, and if you can get one warm bum in the passenger seat a few seconds after the previous one leaves, that's good going for a cabbie.

 

There were about three hours before the gangway closed, so I guess this chap wanted to get into town - saving himself a kilometre walk - and buy stuff. Like alcohol, maybe.

 

I waved away the luggage handlers and gave my big bag a good going through. No documents. Bummer.

 

Oh well. We gave our cabin number to the blokes and showed our passports to the check-in folk, and they gave us our cards in a nifty little wallet that also included a map of the ship.

 

I'd been studying up for months beforehand, so I had a reasonable grasp of the layout. Our cabin would be available after three o'clock, we were told, and in the meantime we were welcome to lunch in the Terrace Cafe.

 

Trundled our carry on bags up to deck 12, found a table for two, and had a second lunch a sight more delicious and filling than that served aboard Vueling.

 

After lunch was done, our cabin was ready. Again, I had a reasonable idea of what to expect, but oh, the sweet delight of opening the door onto our pristine little home!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The cabin.

 

Quite a bit bigger and better appointed than our inside on P&O Aurora a decade ago. Midships and not too high; my wife, although an ex-naval officer, isn't the best of sailors, and I selected a cabin where the boat wouldn't be leaping about too much.

 

I looked in the reviews for warnings about crew noise, proximity to machinery and so on. Being anywhere near the thrusters or crew access doors isn't a good sign.

 

As it turned out, I'd chosen well, and we'll have a solid, steady, quiet room for the next nineteen days.

 

I grabbed a few photographs before we started strewing our stuff about. Carry-on bags hidden from view, and main baggage not yet arrived, so the room is tidy.

 

41613635382_fa0b90f8fd_c.jpg

 

Queen size bed with a generous metre of passing space. This is, as usual, two singles pushed together, but the mattress topper and sheets conceal it well. Supremely comfortable to sleep upon.

 

40942385784_294e8eba14_c.jpg

 

A lounge, coffee table, desk and chair make up the outer half of the cabin. Again, the space is generous, and we're not in each other's way. Masses of room in stowage nooks here and there, and when we unpack everything slots away out of sight.

 

41652848871_d90261e661_c.jpg

 

Apart from the inevitable ratsnest of cables and chargers and adapters. We have American and European sockets, but all our gear works on Australian power, so there's a universal adapter feeding into a power board, giving us four sockets and four USB outlets in total. More than enough for all our needs.

 

Oceania has a policy of not leaving power chargers plugged in when unattended, and it only takes one gentle reminder from our cabin attendant before we get the message, unplugging the whole tangle when leaving the cabin.

 

41652812521_472088088d_c.jpg

 

The wardrobe is generous, well-supplied with hangers, and a lot more accessible than I'd been led to believe. In some cabins there isn't a great deal of room between the nightstand and the wardrobe door, but ours is easily accessible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Day five of our nineteen-day cruise, and this report is not so much live as comatose. It's our second sea day today, between Lisbon and Funchal, and I have a chance to catch up.

 

Yesterday was long and challenging, and I shall report on that in due course - sometime in May, given my current rate of progress - but today had the perfect start.

 

Our last act before boarding the ship was to visit a cafe to buy four of the little custard tarts they do here. Nata - otherwise Pastel de Nata - are famed. They can be bought elsewhere - the Euro cafe in Fyshwick markets does them at home - but the best are Lisbon natives.

 

Three of the four were consumed immediately on our balcony with a glass of sherry for Madam, and a cold beer for your humble narrator. Bless you, Oceania, for allowing grog to be carried aboard!

 

26820573387_3bfb432fc2_c.jpg

 

But this one spent the night cooling its heels in the bar fridge, and we smuggled it into Baristas, to be washed down with a couple of the most excellent Illy coffees served there.

 

Moments after making the picture, I divided it with a teaspoon and offered the plate to Madam, who selected her half. We used this technique with the kids: one cuts and the other chooses, and you get halves perfectly equal down to the last molecule.

 

Not that we'd fight over a pastry treat after decades of marriage...

 

Scrumptious! The perfect beginning to an otherwise grey day on the heaving Atlantic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Day Four was a mixed bag. I enjoyed getting out and about in Lisbon, but there were other challenges...

 

Laundry. Our previous cruise - the final third of a three-month world cruise - was problematic in the laundry department.

 

TBC - wife wants the internet...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Day Four was a mixed bag. I enjoyed getting out and about in Lisbon, but there were other challenges...

 

Laundry. Our previous cruise - the final third of a three-month world cruise - was problematic in the laundry department. The largely British passengers were fine people, but after two months at sea, somewhat set in their ways. When my wife used two machines to do two loads - one whites, one coloureds - she got told off very sharply that she was wasting time and hogging the machines.

 

After that, I was deputised to do the laundry, and because dividing clothes along coloured lines - or any lines at all, really - isn't something I'd ever do, I got along fine with the resident washerwomen. Just chuck 'em in, hit the go switch, and come back when they are done.

 

Riviera has a laundry on our floor, tucked into the crew territory in the middle. No inside cabins here, just serviceland. Through open doors I glimpse the occasional corridor and stairwell, looking plain and spartan compared to our areas.

 

Our laundry is small but perfectly formed. A bank of three washers and three driers, seating for those waiting, a bench for sorting clothes, a couple of fold-down ironing boards. Tokens for the machines may be obtained from a dispenser - which accepts American dollars, so no joy there - or from reception downstairs.

 

27820322428_3aece4fb90_c.jpg

 

I’ve already done one load of washing on our first sea day, much needed after a week in France, and I’m confident about the second.

 

Over-confident. I load my clothes into the washer, pour a serve of detergent in, slot in my token and press the go button. “45 minutes”, the display reads. Oh well, must be the cycle I’ve chosen.

 

Forty-five minutes later, I return, pull out my washed clothes into a laundry basket. “Hang about,” I think, “these are dry.”

 

And they are. They haven’t been washed at all!

 

Machine must be faulty. I load them into the next washer, add a slug of detergent, feed in another token, select the same cycle, hit the button. “23 minutes” for this machine. Hmmm.

 

A memory from two days earlier surfaces. The dryer cycle is 45 minutes. The banks of machines have their control boards very close together. Could it be that I fed my token into the wrong machine, drying an empty load while my washing sat idle?

 

41650111022_55c24a298c_c.jpg

 

Guess I’ll never know. Oh well, my clothes are sloshing merrily about now.

 

In a half-hour I return. I might mention at this point that we are gliding up the Tagus into Lisbon, and the view outside is superb, so I’m a little distracted.

 

I pull my freshly washed clothes into a laundry basket, sort out a few delicates I don’t want to go through the dryer, and load them back in.

 

Feed a third token into the dryer, double-checking that it’s the dryer, hit the go button and retreat.

 

Forty-five minutes later I’m there to collect my clothes. Which, I notice, are in the washing machine, right where I put them, and not in the dryer.

 

Of course, they are sodden wet, and I have run out of time before we have to leave the ship.

 

Luckily our cabin bathroom has a pull-out washing line, over which I drape my stuff.

 

“I might do the laundry from now on,” my dear wife observes, watching me fill the bathroom with dripping clothing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was ten thirty local time - a concept which had puzzled my Apple Watch - by the time we were docked at Santa Apollonia. Half an hour late, which we'd spent idling about in mid stream, gradually inching closer to the quay. Something to do with clearance, we were informed, but dreadfully frustrating to those of us keen to get ashore in Lisbon.

 

A favourite city of mine, where I'd spent a week a couple of years back enjoying the food and the beer and the codfish and the street libraries.

 

The cruise up the river was delightful. In between battling with the laundry and finding every table with a view in the Terrace Cafe solidly occupied, that is.

 

40978544044_82b38ba4f7_c.jpg

 

40978553914_0b57070a69_c.jpg

 

40978570074_847178d13d_c.jpg

 

The message came over the Tannoy about passengers congregating in the corridors, so we lingered over coffee, and later peered over the balcony railing until the gangway was in place and the pent-up tide began to flow. Seemed to take forever, and doubtless everyone was checking their watches every few minutes. Just as I was.

 

We joined the flow, grabbing a bottle of water on the way out. (Memo to self: keep one for stowing in the fridge the night before so it is cold.)

 

Warm and sunny outside, and once on the streets, we sought the shady sides. The view out over the river was superb, but the sun was baking those strolling the banks, and we didn't want to get too well baked before the day has hardly begun.

 

The day. Well, we were pretty solid on Lisbon itself, but Sintra up in the mountains had been a source of frustration on our last visit. We'd hired a car, driven along the coast, and planned to look into the palace in Sintra and have a quiet lunch. More fool we. There was not a vacant car park anywhere near the old town, and though we'd eventually found a park of dubious legality - at least we weren't ticketed - and had a very pleasant lunch in an old restaurant, none of the fabled delights of Sintra had revealed themselves to us, except in the odd tantalising glimpse.

 

This time, we'd studied up, and the plan was to take the train to Sintra, about an hour, and my dear wife reckoned there was a bus that went around all the good bits. She wanted to see Pella, whatever that was.

 

So I pulled out the CityMapper app which had been so useful last time, said we wanted to go to Sintra from our current location, and just followed the guidance.

 

Brilliant app, by the way. It knows every bus stop, every timetable, every street. You can set it for walking, driving, public transport, Uber, taxis, jetpack... Just make sure you leave time to buy tickets for public transport.

 

It led us through the old city centre to Rossio station. A bit of a tourist trap, the old town. I don't think anybody lives there but Airbnb, but it is old and delightful.

 

With cute trams. Everyone loves the trams.

 

26829041937_377eb9e130_c.jpg

 

We bought day tickets from the machines in the station foyer. They promised a day of unlimited travel on trains, buses and so on. I was kind of hoping the "so on" included trams for the way back.

 

Did they? Who knows? Things didn't quite go to plan on the return to the ship.

 

But the train trip up was pleasant enough. Sintra is at the end of the suburban trainline, and once out of the centre, it's pretty much just lots of Seventies apartments, with plenty of greenery, and mountains in the distance. Takes about an hour.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was interested in the new internet packages. I'm not big into streaming, so I just went for the free package, now standard across Oceania.

 

How it works is that only one account is included per cabin, and only one device at a time. So the second occupant can create an account, but they won't get free internet. The first one to sign up gets the free internet.

 

However, there's no checking of email or anything in creating accounts. You can create a cabin account "Cabin 12345", for example, and it will work.

 

The person online MUST log out before a fresh device can use the account, so it's impossible for both occupants to be online at the same time. There may be some trickery with phone hotspots possible, I dunno. Yet.

 

The speed is good enough for most purposes. Occasionally in peak times, things will slow down a little, and sometimes stop altogether. But hey, it's free.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was interested in the new internet packages.

Hi Pete,

Did they offer you the high speed internet option at $10/day per person? If so, have you ran into anyone that has tried it yet?

Thanks,

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Pete,

Did they offer you the high speed internet option at $10/day per person? If so, have you ran into anyone that has tried it yet?

Thanks,

John

 

Not Pete, but..

They offered it on our recent Nautica cruise but as the "regular" wifi was just fine (and free) I didn't see any reason to upgrade.

As I posted before, at times I could watch YouTube videos as well as a basketball game (not always).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not Pete, but..

They offered it on our recent Nautica cruise but as the "regular" wifi was just fine (and free) I didn't see any reason to upgrade.

As I posted before, at times I could watch YouTube videos as well as a basketball game (not always).

Hey Paul,

Yes, I read your post last week or so while you were cruising. I'm going to be on Riviera two weeks from today so was wondering if that ship had the WiFi upgrade you had on Nautica (figured this has to be a hardware upgrade). Really hoping the Dubs will still be playing then and would love to stream the games :D

Cheers,

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome!!!.... another photo review on this forum. I'll be following.

Does your itinerary visit Lanzarote?

Yes; in two days' time. The place sounds a little bleak in both history and aspect.

 

But there are wineries involved...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes; in two days' time. The place sounds a little bleak in both history and aspect.

 

But there are wineries involved...

We're on Marina in November this year doing the coast of Spain and the Canaries from Barcelona to Lisbon. I have found lots of things to do in Lanzarote.

 

I think you are also going to Santa Cruz de la Palma - now it seems harder to find tours there. Looking forward to your reports.

 

Happy cruising!

Marilyn

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're on Marina in November this year doing the coast of Spain and the Canaries from Barcelona to Lisbon. I have found lots of things to do in Lanzarote.

 

I think you are also going to Santa Cruz de la Palma - now it seems harder to find tours there. Looking forward to your reports.

 

Happy cruising!

Marilyn

 

This might help - we followed this outline and it is very easy as it is a small place:

 

Exploring Santa Cruz is like walkingthrough a paint chart. Burgundy, apricot, ochre, olive… every house is adifferent shade along the narrow streets of the capital of La Palma in theCanary Islands. The town has a distinctly Caribbean feel, which is not sosurprising as it was once one of the most important ports in the Spanishempire, linking Europe and the New World.

In the pristine covered market, stacks ofsugar cane were piled up alongside mangoes and papayas at the Trapiche juicebar. I was soon sticking a straw into a sugar cane and passion fruit juicetopped up with a dash of rum, made in the north of the island.

That morning I had been learning about thetown’s history at the Museo Insular in the 16th-century monastery, where theexhibits are displayed in rooms with elaborately carved ceilings around acloister planted with citrus trees. After Santa Cruz was founded in 1493, sugarbecame the mainstay of the economy and was shipped to Europe by Flemishmerchants. English settlers planted vines, and malmsey was soon an importantexport too. Wine is still produced on La Palma, although bananas are the maincrop these days.

At the nearby Museo Naval, I found outthat the Spanish conquistadors had taken sugar from the Canary Islands to Cuba,and in the 19th century thousands of people had emigrated to Cuba from La Palmato work in the sugar industry. When they returned to their native island, theybrought tobacco with them, which is still grown here.

Improbable as it sounds, the museum is housedin a full-sized caravel, plonked at the end of Plaza de la Alameda. It turnedout to be a concrete reproduction of the Santa Maria, aboard which ChristopherColumbus discovered the West Indies in 1492.

I walked along the cobbled main street knownas Calle Real and cut down a lane to see the back of some of the grand houses,which give onto the waterfront. Looking up at the Canarian-pine balconies, Isaw that most had a little wooden cubicle at one end with a hatch at eye level.The original occupiers of these houses would have taken shelter there from thetrade winds, sliding the hatch open to look out for pirates approaching theshore.

At the Plaza de España, the heart of SantaCruz, an elderly man in a panama hat was sitting at a stall in front of theRenaissance town hall with a pile of tobacco leaves in front of him, totallyabsorbed in rolling cigars for anyone who wanted them.

As I continued along the Calle Real, I cameacross an ironmonger’s where machetes for cutting bananas were on sale.Intriguing as this was, I had been hoping to find some shoes by Manolo Blahnik.The designer was born in Santa Cruz and is still a regular visitor to theisland. No such luck, but I consoled myself with the thought that stilettoswould have been a nightmare on those cobbles anyway.

Where to eat

Mambrino £

Housed in an 18th-century building oppositethe market, Mambrino is an unfussy bar and restaurant serving traditionalCanarian food such as octopus salad, garlic prawns, grilled tuna, braisedrabbit and steaks (Avenida El Puente 19; 922 411873).

Parrilla Las Nieves £

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...