• BRIEF: Funchal.
• CURRENCY: Euro
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: A version of Portuguese spoken here. English spoken.
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: Rhapsody of the Seas, AIDAstella, Azura, Ventura.

• BRIEF: A small Madeira Island, Porto Santo is a cruise stop for some smaller ships. Its glorious beach stretches the length of its southern coast
• CURRENCY: Euro
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: A version of Portuguese spoken here. English spoken.
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: Rhapsody of the Seas, AIDAstella, Azura, Ventura.

A long time traditional restate from the UK winter, the Canaries might get windy, but sun is almost guaranteed. It has found a new lease of life with cruisers who either do not like to fly, or can no longer fly, as it is easy to find a no fly cruise to the destinations in this route. Shaking it up a bit, look for itineraries that include interesting additions like ports in West Africa.

• BRIEF: Santa Cruz, La Palma.
• CURRENCY: Euro
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Spanish. English spoken
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: Rhapsody of the Seas, AIDAstella, Azura, Ventura.

• BRIEF: Lisbon. Major City. Fishing is a main activity here.
• CURRENCY: Euro
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Spanish. English spoken
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: Pullmantur Zenith, Ventura, Crystal Serenity, Aegean Odyssey.

• BRIEF: Santa Cruz, Tenerife is the port shown, but there is a second cruise port at Los Cristianos. The bus service is excellent as shown in our film guides below where we get in town and to the beach easily, all in one day.
• CURRENCY: Euro
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Spanish. English spoken
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: Marella Dream, AIDAaura, Ventura, Azura.

• BRIEF: Gran Canaria, great bus service, easy to get to the beaches. See our films.
• CURRENCY: Euro
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Spanish. English spoken
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: Azura, Ventura. & many ships.

• BRIEF: Arrecife, Lazarote. Great bus service to markets and beaches and Puerto del Carmen. Sundays it can be very closed in Arrecife so plan to travel. See film.
• CURRENCY: Euro
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Spanish. English spoken
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: Oceana Marina, Azura, Ventura, Boudicca, Deliziosa.

• BRIEF: There are two ports of call possible in Fuerteventura, the Puerto del Rosario is shown on the map, the smaller Gran Tarajal is here and that is used by Fred Olsen’s Balmoral and Braemar.
• CURRENCY: Euro
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Spanish. English spoken
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: Marella Dream, AIDAnova, P&O Oriana, Marella Explorer.

This coast of Morocco, on the Atlantic Ocean is very cosmopolitan, influenced by so many from the French, Berber, Arabian and European visitors amongst many others. Morocco is considered the 5th safest country among the tourist destinations studied, tied with Japan and Canada according to a ranking established by the British magazine “Which? Travel”, with a score of 6.1.

• BRIEF: Agadir, Morocco.
• CURRENCY: Moroccan Dirham, Euros taken
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Arabic, Berber, French and some English spoken.
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: Marella Dream, Marella Explorer.

The group of islands feared by cabaret acts – because they normally work a four day shift which means it is likely to be their change over port, flying on. But, the Azores is a port that is often missed because of poor weather which means the acts lose their next gig. They can see four seasons in a day, weather can change fast, but they are beautiful, have some of the best diving of anywhere, and are relaxing. There are nine major Azorean islands and an islet cluster. The main ones for cruise stops are listed below with guide films and information. You can see the weather and what people wear. Main trade is fishing.

• BRIEF: Horta is a small city with a fishing and yacht port on a group of islands, the biggest being Faial Island. Though Portuguese and the Volcano you can see considered to be the furthermost part of Europe (excluding Caribbean adoptions), there is a section of this group of the Azores which sits on the North American Plain. The port is small, a marina you can walk round and a cafe.
• CURRENCY: Euros
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Portuguese, some English spoken.
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: Star Pride, AIDAcara, Seven Seas Explorer, Artania, Azamara Pursuit.

• BRIEF: This is the administrative capital of the Azores, on Sao Miguel Island. A proper cruise port, which means most of the larger ships will stop hear. Good diving, but book in advance, see our films. The film also shows town, easy to walk to walk round, bus tour or horse and carriage. War museum is very cheap, see film.
• CURRENCY: Euros
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Portuguese, some English spoken.
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: P&O ships, AIDAdiva, Silver Spirit. Busy port.

• BRIEF: It translates as beach of Victory, but I guess that depends which side you were on, because someone lost. It is the second largest administrative authority on the island of Terceira. Administrative duties spread between the islands. A large marina and a good size port, which means many mid size ships can dock there. There marina is all based around a bay with a nice beach.
• CURRENCY: Euros
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Portuguese, some English spoken.
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: P&O Oriana is a regular, Queen Victoria, and AIDAcara is also a regular spending Christmas eve there.

• BRIEF: Small port, few cruise ships visit. A short transfer to the small town of Sao Filipe.
• CURRENCY: Euros
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Portuguese, some English spoken.
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: The Phoenix Amadea is the only ship we can see that stops there.

• BRIEF: A port which attracts the smaller ships.
• CURRENCY: Euros
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Portuguese, some English spoken.
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: Saga Pearl II, Black Watch, Azamara Pursuit

• BRIEF: A small port, little used by cruise ships.
• CURRENCY: Euros
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Portuguese, some English spoken.
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE: Artania, Crystal Symphony

• BRIEF: The main island of Cape Verde, the capital and the most interesting. It is very like an African island, and the villages and small restaurants in coves cooking fish straight from the sea are wonderful. From our experience, investing there with the protection of Europe and Portugal is a non starter, it has been our experience over 12 years that the courts are very apart from laws we understand.
• CURRENCY: Euros
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Portuguese, some English spoken.
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE REGULARLY: Artania, AIDAcara, AIDAmira and TUI ships.

• BRIEF: Sal is an uprising of sand that formed an island, there is nothing there but sand. The most wonderful beaches have meant holiday developments, and because it is windy, the wind surfing world championships have been held there. Wind Surfers paradise.
• CURRENCY: Euros
• LANGUAGE/PHRASES: Portuguese, some English spoken.
• VISA: Entry with cruise card.
• SHIPS SEEN HERE: Artania, ms Europa 2