All That Glitters Might Be Silver and a Bargain Cruise !

Oceana is one of my favourite ships, not too big, not too small with good food and friendly staff, so to find a really good bargain cruise on her is just an added bonus and it`s exclusive to Cruise.co.uk aswell!

She will depart from Southampton on 7th November, already a bonus as you can take as much luggage as you like, and head down towards Morocco, where the weather has to be warmer than it is here today! The voyage is 12 nights duration and will visit Casablanca, Agadir, Seville, Lisbon and La Coruna, a nice itinerary with a few really interesting ports of call.

I went to Casablanca on my first ever cruise, on Fred Olsen Braemar, and whilst it is not, in my opinion, the prettiest place I`ve ever visited it does have lots of interesting thing to see and do, and it is a very different culture to many cruise ship ports of call. The huge Hassan II Mosque is a must for most visitors, completed in 1993 it is the 2nd largest mosque in the world and also has the world`s tallest Minaret. The prayer hall can accommodate 25,000 worshippers with another 80.000 in the  courtyard . Intricate decoration covers every inch of the surface. It is located on rocks high above the ocean and can be visited every day by tourists.

On a lighter note you could also hunt out Ricks Café – designed to replicate the setting for the famous film, Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, sit back, relax and soak up the atmosphere will listening to ” As Time Goes By”, oh with a Gin & Tonic in hand too!

Casablanca also has a large bustling Souk or market to explore. I visited the market with my friend and we did something that I would NEVER advise anyone to do but it worked for us!. We arrived think we`d just have a quick look around and were immediately pounced on by a ” guide ” who offered to show us around – for  free of course! In the end, as it did all look a bit intimidating, we gave in and said ” oh go on then “, he seemed nice enough and spoke really good English, so off we went. He took us to all his brothers, uncles and cousins shops, which we had expected, but actually we had a really good time without buying too much rubbish! He took us to a jewellery stall where I spotted a lovely ” silver ” necklace that cost all of about £5, I bought it and thought it was no doubt not silver, would last about 5 minutes and my neck would probably go green, but that’s the sort of thing you do on holiday.

I have worn and worn that necklace, and the cruise was about 8 or 9 years ago, my neck hasn`t gone green, or dropped off, and the strangest thing is it has tarnished a bit but a good polish with a silver cloth brings it back to its original sparkling colour! I have to say though I do  think we were lucky, and accepting offers from local guides is something I would never normally do !

Lisbon is a city on Oceana`s itinerary that I would love to visit, Portugal`s capital is the oldest city in Europe one of the oldest in the whole world. There are so many things to see and do in this city that I really wouldn’t`t know where to start, so probably an excursion would be the best option for the first time visitor here.  A good one we can book for you is this:-

Essential Collection – Half Day Tour of Lisbon

Beginning with a drive down Liberty Avenue, you’ll head for Rossio and the heart of Lisbon. From there you’ll set your sights on Lisbon Cathedral and one of the most spectacular parts of the city. Heading on further you’ll reach Miradouro de Santa Luzia, from where you can enjoy some wonderful views out over the city and the river. Finally, there’ll be time to go and investigate the Jerónimos Monastery before you wrap up your tour. That’s Lisbon in just half a day for £ 28pp a bargain !

So we have a lovely ship, lots of interesting places and some winter sunshine and with prices from just £ 479 – that is only around £ 40 per day ! An absolute bargain !