FAVOURITE PORT OF CALL

[Selbourne]

1) New York

2) St Petersburg

3) Istanbul

3) Ceuta

[happy v]

Where to start? Right in no particular order.

Rome

Venice 

St. Petersburg

Reykjavik

not a port but Prince Christian sound Greenland. Indescribable, you just have to go.  

and Lisbon. Every time we go, and it's a lot, we find something new.

[No pager thank you]

From our Cruises so far (in Europe only):

 

Four Favourites:

 

1) Madeira - spectacular, afternoon tea at Reid's a must!

2) Flam - wonderful scenery and railway

3) Guernsey (for Sark) - bliss/peaceful

4) Livorno - for the city of Florence.

 

Four "lesser favourites"

 

1) Arrecife de Lanzagrote (awful port, tatty, run down).

2) La Rochelle (everytime I've been - the French have closed for the day).

3) Lisbon (controversial, but would happily miss it and do Oporto instead).

4) IJmuiden (the P&O "save a bob" on port fees shuttle nonsense to Amsterdam winds me up and I don't appreciate nearly being run over by cyclists every few minutes)!  Plus there is absolutely nothing else in IJmuiden within walking distance.

 

Although I have never been on a cruise there, a number of lovely holidays on Malta (Valletta) and in particular a trip to Mdina.😁

 

Anywhere at the moment (except Lanzagrote)!!

 

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

I found it quite emotional Graham. 

Thanks for the pics. 

Andy 

You are welcome Andy.

Graham.

[Adawn47]

No particular order.

Madeira 

Cadiz

Corsica

Malta

Lisbon 

We enjoy ports where we can walk straight off the ship and leisurely wander around or sit and have a coffee and maybe lunch and watch the world go by. 

Avril 

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

I found it quite emotional Graham. 

Thanks for the pics. 

Andy 

A couple more pictures Andy.

Graham.

[showingdiva]

Rotterdam.

As an avid ship spotter, the sail in is a dream.  Lots of shopping, sitting in a cafe watching the world go by and finally an overnight stay next to the illuminated Erasmus Bridge.

[AchileLauro]

So many favourite ports that we have visited to choose from but without having to give it a great deal of consideration the following ports immediately spring to mind as being favourites for one reason or another;

Elba

Gibraltar

Lisbon

Funchal

Korcula

Dubrovnic

Venice

Mahon (Menorca)

Cadiz

Bastia (Corsica)

Copenhagen

Tallinn

 

I suppose our choices will have been influenced by our own personal enjoyment and experiences in each port. Some of these places we have been to several times but they are places we never tire of. No doubt that other people may not have the same likes but we particularly enjoyed them.

 

There are many other ports that we have enjoyed visiting but once was enough and we would be in no particular rush to re-visit and some ports that we would never want to go to again, one of which that immediately comes to mind is Bari in Italy.

 

Sydney is one port that I have sailed out of but never into and for very personal reasons would love to sail into one day. New York is one place that that has been mentioned by others as being a favourite but they can keep my share of the place. I've seen it but have no desire to return, though it would be nice to re-visit San Francisco.

 

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by AchileLauro

[Monorail Orange]

Can I give an honourable mention to Cartagena? I love the way you can easily walk fro the ship straight to the town centre.

 

Sure there are other ports that offer this proximity, but there's something wonderful about that marina area in Cartagena.

 

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, Monorail Orange said:

Can I give an honourable mention to Cartagena? I love the way you can easily walk fro the ship straight to the town centre.

 

Sure there are other ports that offer this proximity, but there's something wonderful about that marina area in Cartagena.

 

It is a nice little town. Unfortunately it does get swamped when a cruise ship is in port. If you get the chance, visit it on a non-cruise day. A totally different ambience.

[Selbourne]

2 minutes ago, Monorail Orange said:

Can I give an honourable mention to Cartagena? I love the way you can easily walk fro the ship straight to the town centre.

 

Sure there are other ports that offer this proximity, but there's something wonderful about that marina area in Cartagena.

 

Agree. We love ports where no shuttle buses are needed and Cartagena is amongst the best. 
 

Rome is one of my favourite cities but I didn’t include it in my list as it’s not a port, involving a bit of a drag from Civitavecchia. 

[Eddie99]

There seems to be a trend, which I’m happy to follow, of destinations where the ship ties up within easy schlepping distance of town.  Cadiz, Funchal, Malaga, Lisbon and many of the Caribbean Islands, though admittedly some of these have a not so idyllic hinterland

Shuttle buses are not the best, though possibly preferable to tenders

[jh1809]

15 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Nobody has mentioned Southampton yet? 😊

Copenhagen is one of our favourites as is Olden, but we also like Alesund with the road train up the hill, but take me anywhere please. 

Andy 

I was tempted to mention Southampton, as by the end of a cruise I'm usually looking forward to going home. 😉

[Selbourne]

26 minutes ago, Eddie99 said:

There seems to be a trend, which I’m happy to follow, of destinations where the ship ties up within easy schlepping distance of town.  Cadiz, Funchal, Malaga, Lisbon and many of the Caribbean Islands, though admittedly some of these have a not so idyllic hinterland

Shuttle buses are not the best, though possibly preferable to tenders

Very true. Shuttle buses are a drag, especially as my wife is a wheelchair user and we usually have to wait longer for an adapted one, but preferable to tender ports which go to the bottom of my list for two reasons. Firstly, my wife is unable to get off the ship in tender ports and secondly I feel that P&O makes a bit of a meal of tender operations and it’s a hassle that I don’t enjoy, however nice the port. Had a few bad tender experiences in Monaco, so if we go again we shall both stay on the ship enjoying the view and listening to the cars flooring it through the tunnel!

[BrianI]

Monaco is not always a tender port. We have been twice, once on Ventura when we tendered and once on Azura when we docked. On the latter, we arrived at 6pm the evening before we were due as we had not been able to dock in Livorno due to high winds. It was brilliant having an overnight in Monaco right in the harbour overlooking the gin palaces and watching the exotic sports cars running round.

Brian

[amfc_lenny]

Cadiz, lovely town to wonder round for the day.

st Lucia, we wanted to go to explore the botanic gardens and the sail round the pitons, it didn’t disappoint.

 

Venice, but I’ve not been there on a ship yet, given the anti cruise backlash there I may never get the sail in and out. But I loved the flitting between islands on the water boats if you’re lucky enough to be near the water outside.

 

[P&O SUE]

Well I’m not as well travelled as many of you but Lisbon and Funchal immediately we’re my first thoughts.

[wowzz]

Ayres Rock

[P&O SUE]

2 hours ago, Eddie99 said:

There seems to be a trend, which I’m happy to follow, of destinations where the ship ties up within easy schlepping distance of town.  Cadiz, Funchal, Malaga, Lisbon and many of the Caribbean Islands, though admittedly some of these have a not so idyllic hinterland

Shuttle buses are not the best, though possibly preferable to tenders

This makes me sad as my cancelled cruise this year was taking me to Cadiz, Malaga and Cartagena 😢 all first time visits for us.

[brian1]

Sydney,Marlborough Sound NZ,Mekong river going to Ho Chi Ming City,Venice,Stockholm,Kotor.Tilbury especially the sailby of the Canvey gas works.

[P&O SUE]

14 hours ago, No pager thank you said:

From our Cruises so far (in Europe only):

 

Four Favourites:

 

1) Madeira - spectacular, afternoon tea at Reid's a must!

2) Flam - wonderful scenery and railway

3) Guernsey (for Sark) - bliss/peaceful

4) Livorno - for the city of Florence.

 

Four "lesser favourites"

 

1) Arrecife de Lanzagrote (awful port, tatty, run down).

2) La Rochelle (everytime I've been - the French have closed for the day).

3) Lisbon (controversial, but would happily miss it and do Oporto instead).

4) IJmuiden (the P&O "save a bob" on port fees shuttle nonsense to Amsterdam winds me up and I don't appreciate nearly being run over by cyclists every few minutes)!  Plus there is absolutely nothing else in IJmuiden within walking distance.

 

Although I have never been on a cruise there, a number of lovely holidays on Malta (Valletta) and in particular a trip to Mdina.😁

 

Anywhere at the moment (except Lanzagrote)!!

 

Aah I loved La Rochelle, very pretty. We ate lunch outside by the harbour, lovely memories. Mussels for hubby and a savoury crepe for me.

Although the port at Lanzarote isn’t very pretty I really enjoyed our day there as we went to the volcanoes.

[wowzz]

27 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

Although the port at Lanzarote isn’t very pretty 

The inner harbour, near the city centre, with all the bars and tapas restaurants is very picturesque,  and a great place to spend a couple of hours with a cold beer or three, and watch the world go by. 

[ann141]

3 hours ago, jh1809 said:

I was tempted to mention Southampton, as by the end of a cruise I'm usually looking forward to going home. 😉

I would include Southampton because of the excitement I feel when we arrive to go on a cruise!! Other favourites are

Valletta

Monaco

Guernsey

Ajaccio

Tobermory

[catz0026]

definitely Venice, beautiful city with lots to do

 

[AchileLauro]

4 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

Aah I loved La Rochelle, very pretty. We ate lunch outside by the harbour, lovely memories. Mussels for hubby and a savoury crepe for me.

Although the port at Lanzarote isn’t very pretty I really enjoyed our day there as we went to the volcanoes.

I forgot about La Rochelle another favourite of ours to be added to our list as too is Marseille.