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R Two Cruise Review
Paul M. Jaffe
paulmj@earthlink.net
R2 (Renaissance)
Mediterranean (7/99)
Introduction
The following is a review of a Renaissance cruise to coastal
Spain, Morocco and Portugal on the new R2. My wife and I embarked from Barcelona on July 10, 1999
and disembarked in Lisbon on July 20th.
Our cruise fare with Renaissance included a 1-night stay in a Barcelona hotel prior to boarding ship and a 1-night stay in Lisbon at the end of the cruise. It also included airfare from New York. We paid additional to fly from our home in the Los Angeles area.
The Cruise
We had been holding space on Celebrity’s Zenith for a 7-day
cruise to Bermuda from New York City on August 7th. In early May, we received an email from
Renaissance. Space was available at very low cost on the July
10th sailing of the brand-new R2 through coastal Spain, Morocco and Portugal. These were all places
we had never visited in the past.
Renaissance really made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. Not
only a longer cruise (10 days vs. 7 days) on a newer ship, but also a more exotic itinerary than
simply New York to Bermuda and back. Also included was a stay
in a first-class hotel in Barcelona at the beginning of the cruise and in Lisbon at the end. They
even threw in round-trip airfare to Europe from New York.
And, all of this for just a few hundred dollars more per person when compared to Zenith’s
cruise-only fare.
We had to make a very quick decision, so we cancelled the Zenith
and booked on Renaissance that very night.
We had read that there were some uncertainties in doing business
with Renaissance. For example, unlike most cruise lines, Renaissance does not have a refund deposit
policy. However, since we were already within the 60-day window before our sail date, a
deposit wasn’t the issue. We had to make full payment, right then, it wasn’t
refundable, and that was OK with us. We fully intended to go. The next day we took out trip
cancellation and interruption insurance from Access America at a nominal
cost.
We’ve taken a lot of cruises over the years, and the total is now somewhere around seventeen. In the last 20 months, this would be our fourth cruise. We have always preferred the larger, newer ships on either Princess or Royal Caribbean. This cruise would be not only our first experience on Renaissance but also our first in quite a few years on a smaller ship.
Renaissance advertises the ship to be completely smoke-free.
Also, they have instituted a new policy that children under 18 are no longer accommodated. This had
a lot of appeal to us.
Arriving in Barcelona
It’s a long way from Los Angeles to Barcelona. There is no easy or direct way to get there. Even though the connections by Renaissance-arranged air travel were pretty good…on United and Lufthansa…the elapsed time en route was about 22 hours. We finally arrived in Barcelona just after noon, local time. Barcelona resembles Southern
California from the air. It is sprawling, dry, and hilly, with a
metropolitan area of more than 4 million people. Renaissance met us at the impressive airport
arrivals terminal and hand-held us through the process
getting our bags and ourselves on the way to the hotel that they had assigned for us.
Barcelona was extensively renovated prior to their hosting of the
1992 Olympics. Thus the city represents a lot of the old antiquities that makes the city so unique,
while at the same time having all of the amenities which make
the place so appealing to visit.
Our overnight stay was at the Melia Barcelona Hotel , a fine,
22-story modern property located in the residential part of the central city. We would have been
happy to stay there under any circumstances.
Renaissance books you at a hotel commensurate with the category
cabin you choose. Our outside cabin category was second from the bottom. Those people in a higher
category had a presumably more upscale hotel, although again, the Melia did not disappoint us
in any way.
Renaissance had a representative at a desk in the hotel lobby.
Her primary function was to arrange pre-embarkation shore excursions, dispense maps, make dinner
recommendations and reservations, etc. We found this service to be very accommodating.
We opted for the Castanets & Flamenco Rhythms / Dinner
evening out. After a few hours of afternoon rest we were ready for it. We also booked ourselves for
the following morning on the Highlights of Barcelona 4-hour
excursion, leaving at 10:30 AM. At the end of the excursion we would be taken to the ship for
boarding. The ship sailed at 6 PM.
Touring Barcelona
The evening excursion was relatively expensive…$110 per person.
However, considering all that was included: dinner, drinks, a show, all tips, transportation, and
some hand-holding in a city totally unfamiliar to us, we
concluded that any extra expense we may have paid was a good value to us, especially if it were well
done. As it turned out, we feel we made a good decision.
We had a 45-minute entertaining tour of the city in traffic just
to get to where we had to go. The dinner-show restaurant was located on Las Ramblas, a must-see
strolling boulevard packed with people. The people and the
"attractions" on the street reminded us of what you encounter in the Fisherman’s Wharf
area of San Francisco.
We had an opportunity to walk around a little bit. We were
forewarned to hold on to our wallet. There are a lot of pickpockets in Europe and they naturally
congregate where the tourists go.
The restaurant itself was interesting and the local food
delicacies served buffet-style were well presented and very tasty. Unlimited wine in 3 colors plus
champagne was included. The 1-hour Flamenco show in a small
theater adjoining the restaurant was first-rate and everyone had a good time. The next morning, we
headed off on our Highlights of Barcelona excursion which
departed from the hotel promptly at 10:30. Our baggage had been picked up earlier that morning and
sent on to the ship. When we arrived at our cabin later in
the mid-afternoon, our stuff was there waiting for us. We visited the Spanish Village on Montjuic, a
sort of 1920s Spanish version of Sturbridge Village in
Massachusetts. We drove past the Olympic Stadium complex, stopped at a hilltop area called Miramar,
which is a panoramic vantage point where we got some good
pictures. We also visited the Gothic Cathedral n as well as the most famous site in Barcelona,
architect Antonio Gaudi’s masterpiece Church of the Segrada Familia.
The tour bus took us directly to the ship at the conclusion of
the tour. In this brief visit to Barcelona we were thoroughly impressed. Our only regret was that
our stay was so short. We will have to go back. We are pretty
well-traveled people. We found the city center, at least, to be really beautiful. The streets are
clean and well maintained. Most are tree-lined and
reminiscent of Paris, with all the finest trendy stores. The summertime weather is invariably
rain-free and humidity-free with daytime temperatures in the
80s, similar to what we expect in the Los Angeles area where we live. We saw no signs of smog when
we were there.
Street Crime
We had been forewarned about the scams and pickpockets that, among other large touristy cities, Barcelona is known for. This may be true, but we neither saw nor heard
of any first hand experiences. We later heard some third-party stories, not only about Barcelona but also about incidents elsewhere along the way. Throughout this trip, we took the same necessary precautions with money, purses, cameras, etc. that we would have taken anywhere in the world while traveling.
Naturally, not everyone takes self-protective measures and
invariably these are the people who find themselves victimized. For example, in one of the seediest
bazaars in Morocco, we were walking behind a fellow on the
cruise tour that had his wallet protruding from an unbuttoned jeans hip pocket. The Renaissance
shore excursion people gave warnings about street crime for
the stops we were to make in Morocco. Therefore, we decided at once that we would go only on
conducted tours in both Casablanca and Tangier. I’ll
discuss more on this later in the review.
Comparisons
In less than 2 years, we’ve been on the Dawn Princess (Southern
Caribbean); RCI’s Splendour of the Seas (Scandinavia & Russia); and most recently a Christmas
cruise on RCI’s Legend of the Seas (Hawaii). Illustrated
reviews on each of these cruises can be found on my website.
By coincidence, in Barcelona the R2 was docked just behind the
Legend of the Seas, now working the Mediterranean. From a hilltop overlook, the difference in size
between these two ships was pretty apparent n. As the cruise lines drop their fares and reach
out to a lower common denominator of mass-market passenger, we’ve noticed
that the ships get glitzier but customer service declines. Certain amenities that were once part of
the package now cost extra. Food quality, choices and overall customer
service are not what they used to be even a few years ago. In fact, we feel that with only 6 months
time interval from one cruise to the next, even on the same cruise
line, we can notice these changes.
This disturbs us, but having said that, we were looking forward
to compare our recent experiences with what was for us, a brand-new cruise line in Renaissance.
We also were mindful of the fact that like most things in life,
you get what you pay for. Renaissance advertises the fact that they give a lot of bang for the buck,
so we were curious if they really do deliver as promised.
The Ship
The R2 was brand-new really, having gone into service just 8
months previously. It is one of six identical ships either already in service or still under
construction. R1 has been doing the Greek Isles for awhile.
R3 starts service in mid-1999 in Tahiti, and R4 near the end of the year. The larger Princess and
RCI ships carry approximately 2000 passengers each. The R2
carries 684, or one-third that number when full. Our ship was full. It is our practice to choose
bottom-rung accommodations, either an inside cabin or a
minimal outside. Our rationale is that the money we save allows us to cruise more often. On the R2,
we had an outside cabin (#6037) with a fully obstructed view. We could
see a little bit around the hull of the lifeboat outside our window, but more importantly, we could
easily tell day from night and thereby do away with any claustrophobic
tendencies in an inside cabin. The cabin was well laid out and nicely furnished. From our
recollection, it was a little bit larger than the standard cabin on a
newer Princess ship, and even more spacious when compared to RCI’s Legend / Splendour
inside cabin. Bathroom size…always small on a ship…from our recollection was
comparable to the others. The furnishings and closet space were of good quality and ample
size. Hair dryers and a cabin safe were included.
There was a 20" Sony TV in the cabin. Satellite reception
including CNN and CNBC was excellent, much better than any shipboard TV we had experienced
elsewhere. Several movies ran all day long and were changed
daily. In addition to the TV in the cabin, there is a very inviting sports bar on deck 10 forward. A
surround wall of large-screen TVs showed satellite feeds of
sporting events throughout the day.
There are 2 each washers and dryers on-board. We never had an
opportunity to use them, but were told they were always busy. It was said that the best time to be
assured of getting a crack at them was while in port while most of the passengers were
ashore.
Because the ship is the size it is, there is no 8-deck atrium
court with soaring glass elevators. Instead of 8 shops there are only 2. The casino is tiny even by
cruise ship standards. In fact, everything from the pool
area, the number of Jacuzzi spas (two), the width of the stairwells, the capacity of the four
elevators, the size of the showroom and the fitness center is
scaled down from what you expect on the mega ships.
On the other hand, considering the much fewer people on board, we
found nothing lacking nor confining. Overall, we found the ship to be very elegant and missing
nothing but the glitz.
This downsizing is not necessarily a bad thing. There was hardly
ever any wait for anything. With so few passengers, you found yourself recognizing people you had
previously met a day or two before. Simply getting on or off the ship, walking here and
there, up or down, or from one end to the other, was easy. We got used to the
relative intimacy very quickly.
The stabilized R2 rode silently through the relatively calm
Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic very well. There was only an occasional very slight movement on
certain days, not any different than had been our experience
on larger ships. The sound and vibration in our mid-ships cabin was also virtually nil. The ship was
tastefully decorated and furnished, but again, glitz-free
when compared to the larger, newer ships. It was almost like being in a fine hotel instead of in a
shopping mall. The R2 was sedate and we liked it. It would be
up to the individual to decide after trying it both ways the relative importance of the glitz to
him/her.
The ship was advertised to be smoke-free, and we saw nobody
smoking at any time while on-board. Perhaps we’re
getting old, but there is something to be said about sitting up on the very appealing pool deck n, a
tall Sangria in hand, with no screaming, no yelling, no running,
no splashing, no water slide, very little saving of chaises for later, no horse race betting, and
best of all, never having to deal with other people’s kids!
Some other nice things about a Renaissance cruise are the total
lack of public address announcements, no occasions to have to meet and greet the captain and his
crew, no welcome aboard and no farewell dinners. We never saw
the captain, and don’t even know his name. We also received relatively little attention from the
ship’s photographers.
I can understand that some of these features of cruise travel
might be appealing to first-time cruisers or people who have only cruised infrequently. From our
standpoint however, once having been there–done that so
often, it was indeed a pleasure not to have to go through it again still one-more-time.
The Passengers
Age distribution seems to be important to many prospective
cruisers. At a glance, the passenger makeup seemed to be what we experienced on other ships. Perhaps
a little bit older, with the age distribution a bell-shaped
curve with the peak in the late 50s. We spoke to almost no passengers who had young children at
home. Renaissance recently instituted a policy requiring all
passengers to be 18 or older. Thus, there were no kids on board, and presumably neither were their
parents.
There was a very limited dress code. Renaissance calls dinner
dress to be "country club casual". This basically means that anything goes in the dining
rooms except shorts. We saw a few men in jackets and an
occasional tie. Most people (like me) wore open-neck sports clothes. I didn’t even bring a jacket.
Naturally, we saw no formal wear at any time.
The passengers in general seemed quite a bit wealthier, more
sophisticated, better educated and more well-traveled than what we recall experiencing on other
ships. It also seemed that most passengers came as individual
couples rather than in groups of couples. We met no international passengers, and most parts of the
US were represented, in particular the eastern seaboard.
Dining
All meals are open seating. Within a seating window of
opportunity of approximately 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours, you simply show up and they seat you wherever
there is space. At the main "Club" dining room, you
can ask to dine at a table for two if it is available. However, most tables are for four or more and
the maitre d’ asks if you would mind sitting with others.
If dining with friends, you get seated together when you show up together. It is just like getting
seated in a restaurant. The wait to get seated was never more
than a few minutes and there is a nice bar at the entry if you prefer to have a cocktail while
waiting before dinner.
In addition to the Club restaurant, Renaissance offers the usual
buffet on the pool deck, open for all meals. No dress code there, even at dinnertime. The selection
was good and like most things on this ship, there was almost
never a crowd. Dinner entrees were more or less the same as in the main dining room. There is a
side-bar that serves hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza and a
special of the day, such as spareribs.
Renaissance is somewhat unique in offering additional, separate,
more intimate "Italian" and "Grill" restaurants, both on deck 10. Both are
smaller than the Club dining area, and having somewhat unique
menus. It is necessary to reserve space by telephoning ahead on the morning of the day before. We
never had difficulty in getting into either place, although
they do fill up rapidly. We found all of the restaurants to be about equal in their relative dining
experience. Putting it another way, in the end it really doesn’t
matter where you eat.
We found the opportunity of sitting with strangers to be a
definite plus, giving us the chance to meet new and interesting people who were mostly well-off
world travelers. We hit a couple of boring duds, but most of
the people we met were quite interesting and entertaining and added to our overall cruise
experience. We made a few friends.
Food
The quality and the choices of the food were quite good, in our
opinion. Better than Royal Caribbean, and certainly comparable to what we have been experiencing on
other cruise lines in recent years. Certainly not like it used to be on any ship in The Good
Old Days. But then again, nothing really is anymore, is it? The portions were
adequate if not substantial…not necessarily a bad thing…and again, the selection was
fine. The dessert selection was especially very nice. I suppose there is room for
improvement in anything. Having said that, cruise ship food and the dining experience in
general is invariably far superior to anything we experience when usually dining
out. Any dinner on a cruise ship is better than…what…95%?…of the restaurant dining we
regularly do. What’s wrong with that?
In listening to some others while at sea…often complaining as
some people do…there seems to be a perception that dining aboard ship has to be an absolutely
perfect experience. I don’t think so. If that’s the goal,
I suppose there is always the opportunity to pay $1000 per passenger per day on SilverSea and get
"free" drinks too!
There were a greater number of menu choices in the Italian
restaurant and in the Grill restaurant than in the Club dining room. On the other hand, the menu for
the Club dining room changed every day; whereas the specialty
restaurants each changed the menu only once during the entire cruise. One disadvantage of open
seating is that you miss the opportunity to enjoy the
personal relationship you can establish with your waiter and his assistant. In the past, this has
often added considerably to our overall enjoyment of the
cruise.
On the other hand, there is a lot to be said for showing up for
meals whenever you feel like it. And it is true that even on other ships, breakfast and lunch are
now always open seating when the ship is in port and on the
R2 we were in port every day.
Service
We’ve never been impressed with the service you get during open
seating meals on other ships and we felt the same way on Renaissance. The only problem here was that
all the meals were open seating, so we felt that really good service was hard to come by. For
most meals, the service was good enough but that’s about the best you can
say for it.
One thing that bothered us was that Renaissance is unable or
unwilling to accommodate special food requests. For example, I often enjoy fresh berries for
dessert. I asked for this the first night out, and the waiter
had to take the request all the way to the maitre d’. He came over and I was politely told they
had none to spare. And, this was at the first dinner of a
10-day cruise! Evidently, they do not want to be bothered by this kind of request. In the past on
other ships, we have asked for a Caesar salad every day
instead of the usual offering, never with any problem. These guys were just not going to do anything
that deviated from what was spelled out on the menu. Period. Some
of our fellow passengers were complaining quite a bit about this kind of treatment, but in our view
it was simply representative of the kind of customer service decline
we have noticed everywhere on cruise ships in recent memory. I think you’ll soon see the other
guys doing this if they are not already. In general, the other on-board
services including room steward, bar, pool, etc. were fine…every bit of what we would expect
elsewhere. The evening shows were small and low budget. We normally
don’t attend shipboard entertainment anyway, so we really have no basis of comparison. Some people
said they enjoyed the shows, but most said they were unimpressed
and didn’t show up regularly. With a few exceptions, you had the same small group of performers
every night.
The Cruise-Tour
Renaissance has developed their cruise itineraries to be very
port intensive, and they call this kind of vacation a Cruise-Tour. This makes a lot of sense to us.
You don’t need to travel halfway around the world to lie on
a poolside chaise or on a nearby beach. Sightseeing is the operative word to describe this cruise,
and not a single day was scheduled to be at sea. You’re in
port during the day, and you sail to the next port at night.
This explains to us at least why the shipboard activities were
minimized. Most people are off the ship while in port and either recuperating or dining after having
spent a long day touring a hot Spanish or Moroccan location.
The passenger excursions offered by Renaissance was extensive. Pricing was comparable to what we
have experienced elsewhere. A complete list with detailed
descriptions can be found on the Renaissance web site. I’ve included a link to this site at the
end of the review.
We spent quite a bit of money on our shore excursions, but we
fully expected to do this. There is no point in coming this far without trying to cram as much as we
could in the few hours each day we were to be in port. Some
passengers seemed compelled to not want to take shore excursions. That’s fine. However, this
seemed to us to be more a matter of principle for them than
convenience or cost. Nobody likes to ride on a bus, but squeezing three passengers in the back seat
of a small cab with a driver who is not a tour guide and who
speaks marginal English is not sufficient reason to avoid the tours. Also, talking to people who
went it alone, it was evident that they missed some of the
principal attractions in many of the ports. Some stayed on the ship and saw nothing. We paid for the
excursions at the outset so we were committed. I suppose if
we had an option in some of the places we might have stayed aboard as well and missed a lot. So, we’re
glad we went.
In the end, any cost savings by skipping the tours as compared to
the overall cost of this vacation was trivial. We were
impressed with the TV presentations made by the Renaissance shore excursion personnel. Their talks
were objective, truthful, with never a push toward any particular
shopping store. We’ve come to ignore these payola-driven sales pitches on other cruise lines.
A description of the ports in which we stopped, in order, and our personal experience in each
follows.
Mahon (Menorca)
Menorca is located about 150 miles off the coast of Spain, one of
two Balearic Islands where we would be stopping during our first two days. The main port city is
Mahon, and we would be there all day. We opted for the
half-day afternoon highlights tour.
The R2 docked directly across the street from the principal area
of Mahon. All the usual souvenir-shopping experiences are close by. The air temperature here was
quite moderate…in the low 80s, and dry.
The island is very laid-back and very interesting to tour with
lots of history that goes back thousands of years. A couple of seaside resorts n we saw were
reminiscent of islands in Greece n. Many of the rich and famous find the Island to be a secluded
escape location and they maintain homes here n. Menorca was a very nice place to visit.
Palma de Mallorca (Majorca)
Our second port of call was a half-day at Palma, the principal
city on the Island of Mallorca. Mallorca is the largest island in the Balearic chain, located west
of Menorca. From the ship, Palma resembles a somewhat smaller
version of Acapulco, and like its Mexican counterpart years ago, it has become a magnet for the
so-called Jet Set. There were a number of mega-yachts in the
large marina n that fronts the semi-circular bay.
Unlike the pleasant weather the previous day in Menorca, Palma
was hot and humid. We elected to skip the tour, and instead took a taxi into the center of town ($8
each way). There is a large cathedral at the center just like
in most Spanish towns. Some street hustlers, too, but they presented no problem to us. Downtown
Palma is a rather bustling, busy place in which to walk
around. After a couple of hours of window shopping and people watching, we headed back to the
confines of our nice, air conditioned R2.
The ship sailed for the Costa del Sol at 2 PM. This was to be one
of two early departures on the entire cruise, the other one being on the last day out from Cadiz.
Almeria
Almeria (pronounced al ma’ ria) is located on the mainland of
Spain and we found it to be a hot and dusty place. Perhaps there were hidden treasures to be found,
but at a glance it was certainly not as modern and appealing
as where we had been thus far. It is well known for some good beaches in the vicinity. Dominating
the town on a hill is the Citadel of Alcazaba, a huge Arab
fortress. It seems most southern Spanish cities have their own Alcazaba. Since there were few
excursions offered by Renaissance, we elected to walk there
from the ship, which took about an hour. Again, it was a hot day and the walk to the Citadel was
mostly uphill.
All our time was thus spent in the old town, which was kind of
crummy. Later, when we were sailing away, we could see the new part of the city located to the east.
This appeared from a distance to be much more appealing.
Maybe, next time.
Malaga and Granada
It’s a 105 nautical mile distance from Almeria to Malaga (ma’ la ga). The ship’s schedule was to allow 14 hours to make good this distance, so the R2 was just moseying along. About 4 hours into the trip, about 10 PM, the bridge announced that we were turning back because of a passenger’s medical emergency (heart attack). We were assured that despite this turnaround we would still arrive on time the following morning in Malaga. And, we did. Considering all the old people on board, some obviously overindulging, the fact that such things don’t happen more often is somewhat surprising. Malaga n is in the heart of the so-called Costa del Sol, the southern coast of
Spain. It is a medium sized city of about 600,000 people. At a
quick glance…all we had an opportunity to do…it looks clean and modern. Instead of touring
Malaga, instead we took an all day bus tour to Granada.
Granada is a smaller city located about 85 miles northeast of Malaga. Getting there requires driving
on the Autovia limited-access road that climbs through some
beautiful agricultural valleys, somewhat reminiscent of the valleys located north of San Francisco.
The guidebooks say emphatically that if you see anything in
Spain, you must see the Alhambra n in Granada, a palace that represents 800 years of Moorish culture
in Spain. We toured the place for more than two hours and it
was really splendid to see.
It was crowded and it is supposed to be tough to get in there
this time of the year when not part of a group. Because of this and the logistics involved in
getting there, I would not recommend passengers going it
alone. After touring the Alhambra, we were taken to a large hotel-banquet facility in Granada where
we were served lunch and serenaded by local singers. It was
actually quite nice. It was a well-worthwhile excursion and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
Gibraltar
This daylong visit was probably our most enjoyable stop. We took the Renaissance "Compleat Gibraltar Tour", an excursion of about 5 hours in length which took us up, down, inside and around the big rock. The local tour company uses vans that hold about 22 people, and there were a limited number of vans available. Thus, this tour sold out the first evening we were on board the R2. If you want to get on it, you have to request it almost as soon as you get onboard the ship. The alternative for people who couldn’t get the excursion was a taxi tour. The disadvantage of the latter is that they can’t get you to the top of the rock via cable car n without a complicated arrangement.
They can drive you part way up the rock to the Ape’s Den n
which is OK, but the road doesn’t go all the way up. Gibraltar’s Main Street n has been made
into a pedestrian mall, and is about a 30-minute walk from
the ship. You can take a cab for the short ride for $5 each way. The street reminds you of the main
shopping street in Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas. The same
kinds of duty-free stores were selling the same kinds of things. Lladro ceramic figurines looked to
be a particularly good buy and the negotiated selling price
includes shipping charges to the US. So, we sprung for a nice representation of a Flamenco dancer.
Gibraltar can get pretty hot and humid in August, but the day of
our visit temperatures were relatively mild in the high 80s. Again, this visit here was one of the
highlights of the cruise.
Complaining
We were amused by the fact that two couples on our five-hour tour
of Gibraltar were complaining that the tour was taking too long and that they might not get back to
the ship in time for lunch. Here we were, visiting a place
that was interesting and unique, a place that relatively few travelers would ever be likely to visit
again, and all they were concerned about was missing a lunch!
It is ignorant people like these whom I feel represent the dumbing-down of the typical cruise
passenger these days. These low expectations and basic needs,
I think, justifies to the cruise lines the steady decline in quality offerings and in customer
service.
Casablanca
Casablanca is a large coastal city of 3.5 million inhabitants.
Like most of our fellow passengers, we elected to take the ship’s tour. With a few exceptions,
Casablanca is a grungy, dirty place, crowded with cars and
trucks all blowing their horns more or less constantly. It is not a city in which to be a
pedestrian. My thoughts as we were riding around were
that Casablanca is reminiscent of cities of similar size in Mexico or in Latin America. The ship’s
excursion people forewarned us not to eat anything in Morocco
while off the ship. Also, we were told to be aware of street crime, aggressive peddlers n, etc. It
wasn’t all that bad in this regard in Casablanca, although it certainly
was the following day in Tangier.
We have been in other places in the past…Russia comes to mind…where
there are potential problems for tourists. Like in Russia, in Casablanca they kept all of us from
our bus pretty well herded together, and when we stopped at
one particular shop in the center of the city, a security guard was there to shoo undesirables away.
The prime attraction is the Hassan II Mosque, a magnificent
structure on the water’s edge, completed only a few years ago. It is said the place can hold
40,000 worshippers inside and another 60,000 on the
outside. It was really impressive, but still nothing more than a monument to one man’s ego,
costing $800 million to build in an impoverished country,
with most of the funding coming from donations.
Because we were there on a Friday, the Islamic Sabbath, the
mosque was closed on the inside to all tourists. An exception was made for organized tours, like
ours, from the cruise ship. This was still another instance
of where the tours had made arrangements to take you to places where you could not readily get to on
your own. The inside was quite impressive.
Tangier
When you own a boat, there is a popular saying called The Ten
Foot Rule. That is, when you are admiring your boat and looking for dings and other imperfections,
if you step back ten feet and you can’t see any flaws, then
no flaws exist.
In Tangier, you use a half-mile rule. From that distance, this
dreadful city looks pretty good. It is a seaside city, sprawling across several hills. However, you
really don’t want to get too close. After spending a day
there, out and about, we came to the conclusion that this is definitely a candidate for a
"stay-on-the-ship" port.
For example, immediately astern the ship is an inviting beach, a
wide, relatively empty crescent of white sand on the Bay of Tangier. The ship’s excursion people
advise R2 passengers against going there. The reason is that if you leave anything on the sand…towel,
lotion, book, etc…and go into the water, when you come back all will have
magically disappeared. We elected to take an afternoon tour.
In the morning, from an upper deck we watched the tableaux
unfolding on the pier below. Tour guide hustlers were encountering passengers as soon as they
stepped off the gangway. Fast talk to old people, making all
kinds of promises to part them from their money. It was evident their pitch was effective. Many
people readily succumbed.
We were told that the city highlights tour, especially the visit
to the Infamous Kasbah, was dirty and threatening. Who needs that on vacation? Thus we decided to go
instead to Tetouan, a smaller city located about 50 miles to the southeast. It takes about an
hour to get there on the bus. The drive through Tangier and then through the
surrounding countryside was nothing more than a chance to see Third World poverty up close
and personal. The rural area resembled northern Mexico.
Tetouan was no better and the walk through the maze of the Medina
(Bazaar) was awful. Bad smells, great dilapidation, very aggressive street peddlers along the entire
route, extreme heat…I mean in our view there was absolutely nothing rewarding about this visit and
we would recommend it to no one. And, they said the Kasbah was worse.
I guess the only thing constructive that can be said is that it
puts those typical cruise passenger complaints…"There’s not enough dessert selection!"…into
its proper perspective.
My advice is that if you want to discover Morocco, it is best
done from the comfort of your own home on the Discovery Channel.
Cadiz and Sevilla (Seville)
We sailed the short distance to Cadiz (Ca’diz) overnight. It
was good to get back once again to western Europe. Cadiz was a 2-day overnight stopover. For the
first day, we arranged for the "must see" all day
tour to Seville. The following day…our last full day aboard ship, we planned to take the half-day
tour of Cadiz itself.
The difference in appearance between Cadiz and our prior day in
Tangier is striking. Cadiz is a modern, beautiful, immaculate seaside city of 145,000 population. It
is surrounded on three sides by the Atlantic, connected to
the mainland by a narrow isthmus. The temperature throughout our visit was very benign with
temperatures in the high 70s.
Besides miles of sparkling beaches, Cadiz comes complete with
narrow streets and handsome plazas and boulevards. Our bus
tour took us on a broad, tree-lined street and we exited the city on a toll motorway for the journey
to Seville, 80 miles distant. Seville was to us a grand place. We toured
the old Santa Cruz quarter with narrow streets and little restaurants n. In fact, later we had lunch
at one little place that served up a wonderful version of the Spanish seafood-rice delicacy known as
paella.
We toured the magnificent Cathedral n, supposedly the world’s
third largest after St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London
Inland Seville was very warm, temperatures of 104 degrees, but dry. Returning to coastal
Cadiz, the air temperature was in the mid-70s. The following day, the R2 was
scheduled to sail for Lisbon at 2 PM. We opted for the half-day Cadiz-at-a-glance tour. This
further added to our appreciation for this delightful place.
Lisbon
Lisbon was an interesting city, with a sprinkling of antiquities
surrounded by new high-rise luxury housing and single-family development. Wide boulevards, mild
temperatures, reminiscent of Barcelona.
Renaissance encourages a post-disembarkation tour because even
though they do take you to your hotel, you can’t check in until 2-3 PM and you have to sit around.
We elected to take the tour to the so-called Gold Coast of Portugal, located on the Atlantic about
15 miles west of Lisbon. Our first stop was in Sintra, a pretty little town on the
side of a mountain. It was a great walk-around place, with little shops and restaurants n and
we stayed there for 90 minutes. Then on to the coast, with an hour long stop in
Cascais, a resort on a bay across from the town of Estoril. This particular tour was
immensely enjoyable to us and one of the highlights of our cruise-tour vacation.
Renaissance arranged for us to stay at the Tivoli Hotel, a
first-class place in the center of the city. Like the Melia Hotel in Barcelona, we would have been
happy to stay here on our own at any time/
The bottom-line to us after this trip was all over was that our
vacation was great, the ship was magnificent, and we had a wonderful cruise experience. Based on our
earlier comments about the general decline in the cruise
experience everywhere, we felt that this particular cruise was on a par with any other we have taken
in recent memory.
If you have any questions or comments please send me an e-mail: paulmj@earthlink.net