Final Itinerary

As you've already read in the footprints, we had a number of itinerary changes on our 26-Day Ancient Empires & Spanish Farewell cruise aboard Oosterdam.

Some of these were self-induced ... we opted to board in İstanbul, Türkiye instead of Piraeus (Athens), Greece.

Others happened well before the cruise set sail... lost Sete, France ... but gained an overnight in Barcelona, Spain.

The more serious changes that resulted in the loss of five ports — and the gain of two ports — happened during the cruise ... all weather-related. Our losses were Kotor, Montenegro; Cartagena & Cadiz, Spain; Lisbon & Funchal, Portugal. Our gains were both in the Canaries ... Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

The most important thing in travel is to go with the flow. So, that's what we did. Yes, we were disappointed with the loss of so many ports, but we took it in stride ... and enjoyed the ports that we did visit, and the eight-day crossing back to the USA.Read more