Cadiz

So, the sail backwards into Seville under narrow bridges wasn’t to be this time.

The ship developed some sort of propulsion problems which prevented us from leaving Gibraltar for several hours, by which time we had missed the tide into Seville. Everyone, not least the captain, who has been selling this cruise to passengers for the past 3 years as a “special” experience and telling us that it would be the last time Azamara would offer it, was very disappointed. But the crew worked really hard overnight sorting out all the arrangements to get us into Cadiz instead of staying in Gibraltar and all the same tours were still on, just a slightly longer drive, so all was not lost.

Since we had not booked a tour, we didn’t fancy the rather restricted 90 minute shuttle bus into Seville and back, so we stayed in Cadiz which was lovely. It’s a great place to just wander round with the Castillo de San Sebastian, the Cathedral, the old town, great beaches and some nice little bars where you can just sit with a beer and some tapas and just people-watch. We sat just outside a little church where a rather large wedding was just finishing and all the guests in all their Spanish finery were outside waiting for the bride and groom to appear, which they duly did; a great spectacle.

The Azamazing evening, which is a complimentary evening of local culture, was brought from Seville onto the ship in the form of a Flamenco show. This proved to be a hit with most people but wasn’t really our thing. All in all it was a great substitute port at short notice, which many other companies just wouldn’t have managed to do, so we went to bed happy. Oh, and as a gesture of goodwill for not being able to sail into Seville we’ve been offered some free credit off our next cruise, which we have already chosen, so a great result as far as we’re concerned : ))