Ports
BARCELONA — This is our recollection of the first time we enjoyed Barcelona, four years ago… Drive in from a beautiful seaside resort. Pay a small fortune to park the car, somewhere near the tourist haven known as La Rambla. Wander the narrow streets. Get lost. Stumble across a church that's been in a [...]
VALENCIA, Spain — As we departed this port stop during the Oceania Riviera's Christening Cruise, one word seemed to cover the experience of visiting Valencia. Fascinating. When the America's Cup came to the city in 2007, the port had to be re-built. There was some controversy and, in the end, an "open vote" of [...]
BARCELONA — The Oceania Riviera was our christening christening, which is to say our first. If you're like us and you've never been able to enjoy the spectacle of seeing a cruise ship become official, what follows will give you a rough idea what happens… The ceremony begins with the pre-ceremony. Acrobats tie themselves [...]
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AIX-EN-PROVENCE — In Hollywood, famous people get their "star" or a handprint on a sidewalk. In this pretty little place, Paul Cezanne gets the sidewalk. You wouldn't likely find Aix-en-Provence (pronounced "ex-on-prah-vence) unless you took a guided tour from the Oceania Riviera, moored 28 kilometres away, like we did. By extension, you also wouldn't see [...]
MARSEILLE, France — We loved this first-ever Mediterranean seaport the last time we were here. Then we remembered why. We'd been travelling the roads of France with two teenagers and a pre-teen, squishing five people in hotel rooms built for four (or less), and when we arrived in Marseille, the people at the Novotel [...]
Continue reading about Marseilles: Two Ports Busier Than Ever
Now here's a novel way to help the stricken people of Haiti, still devastated by that 7.0 earthquake more than two years ago. Send a party to explore Haiti's rich history on its northern shore, where the cruise ships land, to see if shore excursions can contribute to rebuilding the country's equally devastated tourism [...]
Anybody who has been on a cruise ship and who has taken the time to find out already knows that cruise lines strive to be environmentally responsible, in as many ways as possible. Times have changed. Raw waste is no longer dumped into the ocean. Garbage from ships is no longer dumped into bins [...]
Only in the family of cruise ships can siblings be born 15 months apart and be called twins. As parents of boys born 14 months apart, it seems like a reasonable time to have an addition to the family, although we do recall the comments of well-meaning individuals that it was, er, a little [...]
Continue reading about Oceania Cruises: The Twins Are Alright
It's easy to find a good tour guide when you buy a shore excursion from a cruise line. These are professionals at what they do, and if they didn't do it well they just wouldn't last. Sometimes you just know when you've found one who is special. That was Sandy Cuadrado to us. The [...]
Continue reading about Cruise Tour Guide — This ‘Senor’ is Best
On many of our cruises, we inevitably wind up talking about ship size with people who work in the industry. One such discussion with a ship's captain led to the revelation (for us) that there's a bridge in Germany where captains have to wait for low tide to make sure their ship can clear [...]