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All in Cruise Port
On Valentines day I was thinking about the title of ‘Most Romantic City in the World’ in relation to cruise destinations and for me the most romantic destination for cruisers it just HAS to be Venice! I know the title is meant for Paris, but much as I like Le Havre it doesn’t seem a very Romantic cruise destination!! So I’m voting for Venice (for as long as they’ll have us!) and it was while I was looking for some pictures from my various visits that I thought that I should tell you the story of how PortExplore was born in Venice…
Saga’s 2021 season is scheduled to begin on 27th June when Spirit of Discovery will set off from Tilbury a six day trip Scottish Highlands and Islands Cruise visiting the Shetland Islands and Scotland ports.
All guests will be UK passport holders, in the over 50 age group and must have completed a full vaccination cycle. Pre-departure testing will take place in the London Cruise terminal before boarding, and include a full medical screening.
DOVER... The majority of visitors to Dover arrive through the frankly uninspiring Ferry Port on the Eastern side of Dover Harbour, drive off the ferry and get out of Dover as fast as they can Others arrive at the Western Docks by cruise ship and are herded onto a coach trip to see the sights of London! So while most of these arriving passengers will have spotted the famous white cliffs from the sea and some may even have noticed the famous Dover Castle perched high above the port they are missing out on some real hidden gems. There is a lot more to Britains oldest port than white cliffs so make time on your visit for a little portExplore.…
One of the crucial elements of a cruise is good preparation - it's important not to underestimate the amount of background work that needs doing beforehand. Thiats why we wrote the Cruise Planner - it's a great way to keep all your information to hand. It shows you what still needs to be done and keeps everything neatly in one place.
Sitka, on the Pacific Coast of Barenof Island in Alaska, is one of the more unusual ports to see featured on an Alaskan itinerary. Originally built by Russian traders in the early 1800’s it has a very different feel to the wild west, gold rush mining towns that form most of the other ports of call in the area and is definitely worth a visit if you get the chance!
I wanted to share my thoughts on our ‘worst ever’ port excursion as we learnt some important lessons from it, both about the questions you should ask when booking a shore excursion and also about what we took ashore with us that day. We were visiting Laem Chabang in Thailand on a Princess Cruise, which is what we call a ‘FOR’ port - a large industrial port ‘FOR’ Bangkok which is actually 125km away…
One of the crucial elements of a cruise is good preparation - it's important not to underestimate the amount of background work that needs doing beforehand. Thiats why we wrote the Cruise Planner - it's a great way to keep all your information to hand. It shows you what still needs to be done and keeps everything neatly in one place.
CLIA's top ten list of ‘must visit’ destinations for 2020, includes both cities and more remote regions all of which can be visited on a cruise holiday. Not quite convinced about some of them, see what you think.....
VOLUMEJust a small section of the incredible 8000 pipes being used in the construction of the organ of La Sagrada Familia, in favourite cruise port Barcelona - due for completion bu 2026: the centennial of Antonio Gaudí's passing away. it will be awesome in the true sense when 8000 pipes fill this unique acoustic space with sound...
DOVER... The majority of visitors to Dover arrive through the frankly uninspiring Ferry Port on the Eastern side of Dover Harbour, drive off the ferry and get out of Dover as fast as they can Others arrive at the Western Docks by cruise ship and are herded onto a coach trip to see the sights of London! So while most of these arriving passengers will have spotted the famous white cliffs from the sea and some may even have noticed the famous Dover Castle perched high above the port they are missing out on some real hidden gems. There is a lot more to Britains oldest port than white cliffs so make time on your visit for a little portExplore.…
Meet Lucky, Nate and their entrepreneurial friends from Sitka, Alaska - who have changed my thoughts about cruising and made me want to be a more conscious cruiser in future.
As I spend my life writing about cruising and what do to ashore in port I am often asked, “Which is the best port, which one is your favourite?” I can't really answer because of course, I don’t have one! It is impossible, there are so many wonderful places that you can visit on a cruise that one individual port in the whole world won't stand out above all others. But the question got me thinking... I decided that there are definitely a few things that would go together to make my perfect port - see if you agree…
Although we had a plan for each port, it wasn’t as detailed as we would normally expect to have! So on this particular morning our plan was simple… leave ship, get taxi to the fictional Honoré, in reality a pretty village called Deshaies on the north coast of Basse-Terre, a forty kilometre, one hour drive to the north coast of the island. Sorted!
