26 days on the Oosterdam-Venice to Fort Lauderdale-Report

[ZN1300]

Chilly windy grey day.

[ZN1300]

The cave.

[ZN1300]

Monkey feeding area. The babies are born with black fur.

[ZN1300]

Moorish castle.

View of Africa in the distance.

Oosterdam at the dock.

Road crossing the runway.

100 ton gun.

[ZN1300]

Here are two shots of Africa as we sailed away. The 'Straights of Gibralter' is also called the pillars of Hercules. The northern Pillar, Calpe Mons, is the Rock of Gibraltar. A corresponding North African peak, pictured here, is identified as Abila Mons, the southern pillar, though there are disagreements on that name.

[Sonora5]

Our next stop was Lisbon. The sail in to port through the Tagus estuary was lovely. We enjoyed it on our balcony for several hours despite the off and on rain.

 

When we finally got to port we were delayed in disembarking for about an hour. I think this was due to the rain and the water levels.

 

Unfortunately, even though we were an hour late getting off, our tour provider was nowhere to be found at first. We searched up and down the row of buses in the rain and finally the guide turned up. She appeared to be jittery and disorganized. Our "van" was not there yet. We milled around until it showed up. The guide was not helpful.

 

Our first stop was the Cathedral. Our group was larger than we anticipated, 16-18 rather than the 8-10 I thought we were getting. We had to wear annoying little hearing devices around our necks. Her commentary was not great anyway, and she did not make herself available for questions. We will never know who Senhor Dos Passos is, or why he was entombed in great style in the Cathedral.

 

On to Cascais, where she directed us to a restaurant that was full. We gulped down a small meal elsewhere, bought a couple of things and back on the bus.

 

On to the Pena Palace where again lack of communication was the order of the day. There was no info available from the guide about what to expect getting up to the Palace. Two gentlemen stayed behind and the guide expressed no concern or interest about this.

 

The Palace was interesting but the outside was an ugly orange/yellow. There is a large house near where we live that is the same color, we laughed about that.The grounds are nice and there is a tram that hauls you up almost to the palace. We were not told about the elevator until the tour was over, and I know there were people in our party who would have preferred to use it.

 

The interior of the Palace contains lots of nice things arranged in a scattershot fashion. The grounds are very nice.

 

Back down to the bus in the tram and off to Sintro, where the guide took off up a hill. We enjoyed a nice snack at a little cafe and then went back to wait for the bus.

 

We were then driven back to Lisbon and offered a tour (dark, rainy) of the City Center. Only one couple chose to do this, and the rest of us waited on the bus for them.

 

Dreary day, dreary night, when we are back in Lisbon in two years I will book a different tour.

 

Next: Finally, a sea day!

[kazu]

Sorry to hear about your tour in Lisbon.

 

Disappointing to hear about your guide.  Do you mind sharing who you used for Lisbon?

[Sonora5]

I decided I would share this info if asked. It was Spain Day Tours. I had never used them before, but I know they are a popular company with a lot of good reviews.

 

There were at least two other couples on the tour who were pretty unhappy. I think the owner of Spain Day Tours got wind that this tour was not all it should be, because he emailed me three times asking me how the tour went. I waited until I got home to respond.

 

We had a little bit of email correspondence. He offered me  a free tour which was nice, but he also claimed that everyone else was happy with the tour, which I know was not true. He offered another couple who complained two free tours.

 

I doubt I will accept the offered free tour. I appreciate the gesture, and his willingness to try to make it right. However, I am a little unhappy that he lied and said everyone else was happy.

 

My conclusion is that I would not use them again. I like smaller tours on vans, 6-10 people, where we can all get to know the guide and driver, and where plans can be amended if we all agree, and where we can ask questions and are not dependent on those listening devices you wear around your neck. That kind of shenanigans is best left for ship tours.

 

[kazu]

22 minutes ago, Sonora5 said:

I decided I would share this info if asked. It was Spain Day Tours. I had never used them before, but I know they are a popular company with a lot of good reviews.

 

There were at least two other couples on the tour who were pretty unhappy. I think the owner of Spain Day Tours got wind that this tour was not all it should be, because he emailed me three times asking me how the tour went. I waited until I got home to respond.

 

We had a little bit of email correspondence. He offered me  a free tour which was nice, but he also claimed that everyone else was happy with the tour, which I know was not true. He offered another couple who complained two free tours.

 

I doubt I will accept the offered free tour. I appreciate the gesture, and his willingness to try to make it right. However, I am a little unhappy that he lied and said everyone else was happy.

 

My conclusion is that I would not use them again. I like smaller tours on vans, 6-10 people, where we can all get to know the guide and driver, and where plans can be amended if we all agree, and where we can ask questions and are not dependent on those listening devices you wear around your neck. That kind of shenanigans is best left for ship tours.

 

 

Thanks kindly and for elaborating.

 

Would have been nice if they offered a refund or even a partial refund instead of a free tour. 😉 . 

 

I don't blame you for being unhappy with the misrepresentation regarding "you being the only unhappy one".

 

I'm with you - I prefer the smaller tours of 6 -10 people whenever possible.  There are a number of very good tour companies in Lisbon & Portugal.  

 

Thanks again for sharing your experience.  I'm sure it will be helpful to many.

 

 

[aa7yy]

Wow ! Guess I need to post the other side. I was going to keep quiet. I posted the tour on Cruise Critic, you signed up on SDT for a small group, all day tour.  Small group, as define on their web site, was a small mini-van up to 18 people. I SAID I HOPED IT WAS 8-1O.  Starting at noon, an all day tour needs to go till around 7-8 pm. Hour delay with docking. Fourteen out of 16 met the tour operator at the base of the elevator and walked over to the bus. You showed up late, didn't follow the instructions and exited the wrong end of the building.  Yep, rain and drizzle, not a nice day for a beach port or a walk in the mountains. I hate ear buds so I do not use them. I have a small set of headphones that work great.Three or four persons took the elevator, the guide showed it to them. You were off taking pictures and not paying attention.

Other unhappy passengers , yep. Didn't want to walk up to the castle in the rain. Yep, didn't want to  walk the winding streets in Sintra in the rain. Had four or five choices for lunch and picked the wrong one.  The couple behind us wanted to get back early for dinner. Yes my wife and I went for the walk in Lisbon in the rain. Yes, would of rather had a sunny beach and a bar, but when you have lemons make lemonade. I have had my own problems with Spain Day Tours, this was not one of them. Bad day, bad weather, cranky guests and a GREAT GUIDE.  In fact I have posted that tour for my next cruise and asked for the same guide. I want and hope to do that tour on a sunny day. Smaller group is easy, it's only money, spend it.

[Sonora5]

Don, I think you are mistaken as to much of what you have said. We were not late. The disembarkation was late.

We did not exit at the wrong end of the building. 8 of us in the group met on board and walked off together. There may have been two people who were late but they weren't us.  The guide was nowhere to be found. When we did find her-8 of us-she had no useful information about how long we would have to wait for the bus or anything.

 

I was rarely off taking pictures. The rain was bad luck but not the fault of Spain Day Tours. Leaving us out in the rain because their bus was late was. I am glad you had a good time, but I request that withdraw your comments about what I was doing because they are not accurate. I think you are thinking of a different couple.

 

We toured Gibraltar in the rain and it was a great tour.

[xjust4fun]

1 hour ago, Sonora5 said:

Don, I think you are mistaken as to much of what you have said. We were not late. The disembarkation was late.

We did not exit at the wrong end of the building. 8 of us in the group met on board and walked off together. There may have been two people who were late but they weren't us.  The guide was nowhere to be found. When we did find her-8 of us-she had no useful information about how long we would have to wait for the bus or anything.

 

I was rarely off taking pictures. The rain was bad luck but not the fault of Spain Day Tours. Leaving us out in the rain because their bus was late was. I am glad you had a good time, but I request that withdraw your comments about what I was doing because they are not accurate. I think you are thinking of a different couple.

 

We toured Gibraltar in the rain and it was a great tour.

We totally support and agree with the statements made by Sonora5, We were on this tour also and as a matter of fact we were part of the 8 that disembarked together for this tour.  There was 2 older ladies travelling with the Bollinger’s who were late getting off the ship to the point that Fran said they may not even go on the tour.  They showed up.  

 

We are big users of Spain Day tours and this tour was also in our opinion the worst we have ever taken.  We also received correspondence from Spain Day  about giving them reviews about the tour and reiterated that it was the worst ever.  I even used my ship internet to communicate with them. I gave them rave reviews for the Palma de Mallorca tour I took with them but they certainly missed the mark on this one.  

 

Upon returning home I received a lot of additional correspondence from Spain Day tours and wrote them a long review.  We were also offered free tours of which I will not be using. First of all we had requested small group, it is my understanding that there was more than 1 vehicle doing the tour.  I’m glad that certain people got free tours because there was 16-18 people so of course these people are not going to complain because we actually paid for their tour.  Fully understandable...... 

 

The tour guide was awful, her constant cackling and laughing at nothing was driving us all up a wall, had to remove the ear buds.  When we got to Cascais she made us walk to a restaurant and told us we had 45 minutes, the place was packed, we waited for a long time for a table, ended up with a sandwich, there was only 2 toilets in the place (1 for women, other for men) long line-ups to use.  We had no time to walk around and visit this town, which would of been a first visit for us, back to the bus we went.

 

The visit to the Palace was another big fiasco.  A group of us waited for a very long time by the gift shop for travelling companions to find us as the guide failed to tell certain people where to meet.  Several people needed to us the elevator but had not been made aware of it.

 

We had a great cruise, met a lot of very nice people and we did mostly private tours everywhere but this tour was the worst.  This was also our 3rd time going to Lisbon and we wanted to do something different.  WE DID..... would not recommend this tour..

[kazu]

1 hour ago, xjust4fun said:

First of all we had requested small group, it is my understanding that there was more than 1 vehicle doing the tour.  I’m glad that certain people got free tours because there was 16-18 people so of course these people are not going to complain because we actually paid for their tour.  Fully understandable...... 

 

Am I understanding this correctly?  You arranged a small group tour of 8 -10 (which I know is much pricier with SDT - we've done those) and ended up in a van with 16-18 people?  

 

If I am reading this correctly, that's absoltuely deplorable.  SDT does do small private group tours and, honestly, they are much more reasonable (and better) in Portugal with other operators.  I've done SDT and didn't use them again in Portugal.

 

I'm not a fan of that large a tour unless it is just a transfer or no other choice so I haven't used SDT for a number of years due to the "standardness" of their tours.

 

Sorry for you experience. 😞 

[xjust4fun]

53 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Am I understanding this correctly?  You arranged a small group tour of 8 -10 (which I know is much pricier with SDT - we've done those) and ended up in a van with 16-18 people?  

 

If I am reading this correctly, that's absoltuely deplorable.  SDT does do small private group tours and, honestly, they are much more reasonable (and better) in Portugal with other operators.  I've done SDT and didn't use them again in Portugal.

 

I'm not a fan of that large a tour unless it is just a transfer or no other choice so I haven't used SDT for a number of years due to the "standardness" of their tours.

 

Sorry for you experience. 😞 

Yes Kazu when we booked the tour we requested small group.  We did not arrange this Lisbon tour.  I understand that they could get up to 16-18 people on a tour.  We contacted SDT often to enquire if the tour was a go. I arranged the Mallorca one and we had 10.  We’ve also booked numerous tours with this tour provider in the past 6 years and this was not up to their standard.  The operator sent us 2 vouchers to take any of their future tours.  SDT is a reputable company, we never had issues with them before, thus reason we booked this tour.  The company requested feedback from us on numerous occasions and we responded with a fair assessment as a result they sent us this email,,,

 

“Dear Diane,

 

Thank you for your kind email and I hope you have safely returned home.

 

I just wanted to let you know that I have already updated our system with your complimentary fare and you can redeem it ANYTIME in the future- even 5 years from today.  If you wish to give it as a present to someone else, please ask them to use your email address as reference when contacting us and we will be happy to pass this offer to them in your name.

 

Thank you very much again and we look forward to the opportunity of being at your service again.  Best wishes to you from Spain!

 

Best regards,

Joseph”

 

As stated above SDT is a reputable and professional tour operator, we’ve used them extensively in the past and will again, we will just not recommend this particular tour and I support all the statements made by Sonora5.  Lots of people were so fed up that they wanted to just return to the ship.

 

Diane

[ZN1300]

Cruising into Lisbon.

 

[ZN1300]

Praça de Comercio (Commercial Square) plaza.

The port dock and terminal.

[ZN1300]

There was a long line to enter the monastery. Our guide seemed surprised.

Luckily the cathedral next to it had no line. The picture is the front of the cathedral and interior.

[ZN1300]

Palácio Nacional de Sintra and a view from Sintra towards a cloud covered Pena Palace.

[ZN1300]

My lungs are not in a condition that allows me to take a leisurely stroll on a mountain top during the best of conditions (sunny, dry). Had it been made known an elevator was available I may have attempted the tour of the castle. But it was not. Apparently it was after the tour group was in the castle.  I should have stayed in Sintra eating pastries and drinking coffee.

 

The castle - Pena horse - entrance -  gargoyle - balcony ... More to come, I have to go now.

[kazu]

More lovely pictures.  

 

You're bringing back some great memories and making me look forward to a new port stop next year!

 

thanks so much 🙂 

[Sonora5]

20 minutes ago, kazu said:

More lovely pictures.  

 

You're bringing back some great memories and making me look forward to a new port stop next year!

 

thanks so much 🙂 

Thanks kazu.

 

This is fun to do, it was a great cruise.

[ski ww]

Sounds like the tour was not fun. The Lisbon pictures bring back good memories. Love your posts.  

[ZN1300]

I'm back.. And thanks for all the nice comments!

 

Mosaic tile - China - Tile wall - Dining room - Tchotchkes and antiques - Settee and mural - Gargoyle - Ornate ceilings - Desk - Stained glass.

[ZN1300]

I don't know what room this is but it's pretty.

 

Edited December 14, 2018 by ZN1300

[ZN1300]

On the ship looking at Lisbon. Waiting for dinner and sail away.