Cruise- Malaga was better than we expected
Trip Start
Jun 26, 2011
1
29
32
Trip End
Oct 09, 2011
Where I stayed
On board Oriana
What I did
Not a lot
Málaga, Andalusia, Spain
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Our last port of call, Malaga, was a bit of a surprise despite having visited many times before, and always at feria time, when the streets are full of performance tents and flamenco dresses. This time the streets and squares could be appreciated as they should be, and impressive they are too, and with excellent shopping.
We didn't visit the cathedral or the castle this time, but if you are around this way, do visit them. We have also heard a very good report about a new car museum which has opened, so visit that too. www.museoautomovilmalaga.com/
So the cruise comes to an end, and we are off to Hong Kong for our stopover on the way home.
Two photos of the sailaway party on leaving Malaga, as it was the last night of the cruise.
Sixteen nights on board, but with half the days spent at sea in order to get down to and back from the Mediterranean from Southampton meant a small number of ports on this cruise, and I am left feeling that flying down to the Med and then having a port almost every other day of your cruise is better. The other effect that a Southampton to Southampton cruise involving no flying has is that it attracts a large number of very elderly and infirm passengers who would not (and in many cases could not) choose to fly. Great holiday opportunity for them, but we prefer more of a mixture of ages- a bit like a retirement village compared to a real life village. If children are on board, there are also young parents, providing a good age mixture. Oriana is in any case moving further into the retirement village cruise segment, as it’s being converted to a "no children" ship shortly.
We have very much enjoyed our reunion cruise with the two couples we met on Oriana previously in 2008- it’s so much more pleasant to have good friends already on board when you join a cruise!
And Christine is pleased with herself, as in the absence of having a husband who could play and thus beat her, she became ship’s table tennis champion on this cruise.
More from a slightly smaller boat in Hong Kong soon,
Richard
