Cruise Ship Ports Visited in 2022, I Would like to Revisit in 2023 – All Things Cruise

2022 was the year life took a giant step towards returning to normal and we started traveling again. Here are a few places I would like us to see again and why.

1. Bordeaux, France. My wife and I are wine fans. We visited while sailing on the Azamara Quest this past summer. Bordeaux is both a city and a wine region. Some of the most famous chateaus (wine producers) in the world are located in close proximity. Where you have good wine, good food is nearby. I would like to spend several days at the start or completion of a cruise. I would build a list of properties to visit. I would be careful to focus on ones that are in close proximity, easy to reach.
2. Southampton, UK. If you sail anywhere from England, this is usually where you board your ship. Although the city has its charms, the main selling point is its proximity to London. As an FYI, having seen countless Agatha Christie films where the Poirot boards “the boat train” to head to Southampton, I discovered it no longer exists! We try to always spend a couple of nights in London enjoying the world class shopping, theater and dining.
3. New York, NY. We live 70 miles from the city, so we do not need to book a cruise to get there. Having grown up in Brooklyn, I can understand why many people consider Manhattan the center of the universe. We recently traveled back to Brooklyn and I was amazed at the number of skyscrapers that have popped up. In many ways, NYC is a new city for us. New York has it all. You could visit dozens of times and always be discovering something new. On the other hand, you build your own list of favorite spots and keep going back.
4. Frankfurt, Germany. OK, this would be a river cruise port. We love the Christmas markets in Germany, but the region is also famous for wine, specifically Riesling. The cars are great, mass transit is easy to use and English is widely spoken. The shopping and dining are spectacular too. We are already thinking about a Spring or Summer visit. The hotel explained the practicalities of hiring a car and driver, then visiting the vineyards in the area.
5. Bilbao, Spain. This was another port on our Azamara cruise. The Guggenheim Museum on its own makes the city worthy of a return visit. Unfortunately, the museum was literally the only sight we saw because we arrived on a Sunday, when everything in Spain tends to be closed. I would enjoy exploring the food and wine aspects of Bilbao.
6. Lisbon, Portugal. If my wife had to pick one favorite city, it would be Lisbon. The people are friendly. There is plenty to see. Beach towns like Cascais are a thirty-minute trip by rail. The city is walkable. English is widely spoken. The wine is great. This would be another “start or end of a cruise” destination.
7. Porto, Portugal. We are wine fans. I am a huge fan of port because it is full of flavor and can last almost forever. We spent a day while on our Azamara cruise. The one sight we saw was the Quinta do Noval port house, where we had a wonderful tasting experience. There are many other port houses to discover.

Let me put this another way – There are few if any places we would want to skip!  Cruise lines do a fine job of picking ports that have much to offer, regardless of your interests. We cannot wait to book our next cruise vacation.

Cover photo: Porto at sunset, credit Bob L

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Shore Excursions – Ports, Day & Weekend Trips