Sep 26

Sep 26 Day 04 - Vigo, Spain

Ship: Princess Cruises Sun Princess
Itinerary: 16-Night Transatlantic - Southampton to Fort Lauderdale

This morning, Sun Princess is docked in Vigo, Spain. I should mention up front that this is our first time to visit Vigo, a fact that will become more important as this blog continues.

We meet this morning at 9am for our walking tour of Vigo. There are two groups for the walking tour and we are given a Green 3 sticker to wear on our sweaters (yes, it is still a little cool this morning).

We disembark Sun Princess down a very long and steep gangway this morning. We were told that our guide would meet us outside of the cruise terminal building. Then, things got a little screwy.

As we exited the cruise terminal, a Princess rep was pointing for Green (our color) to walk to our left (his right). I actually captured all of this on video! We walked as directed and were following a few other guests, who we assumed were also in the color green group.

We never saw another Princess rep so we just followed the group onto the coach below. Since we were not familiar with Vigo, we thought perhaps the coach was going to take us to the location of the walking tour. That was a wrong assumption.

The tour guide on the coach greeted us and welcomed us onboard. However, I thought it was strange that he never asked for our tour tickets.

There were about 18 people on the coach, which seemed correct since we were told there were only 20 people in our tour group. The coach left the staging area and began a tour of the city, we drove through a park, and eventually up a mountain to a fort. At this point, the guide started talking about how we would be having lunch in town at the end of the tour. Rickee and I looked at each other, puzzled, wondering how a $35 walking tour could include a meal?

When the tour guide said we would be having lunch at 1:00pm, I turned to Rickee and said “We are on the wrong tour”! It took more than an hour for us to realize this! In 146 cruises (now 147), and hundreds of excursions, we have never been on the wrong coach!

When we stopped at the fort, we told the tour guide that somehow we ended up on his tour by mistake. He was very gracious and said that we were welcome to ride their bus back into town where we could get off before lunch.

There were some other Princess tour coaches at the fort so I approached one of the tour guides and explained our situation. She graciously used her phone to call and order a taxi to pick us up at the fort and take us back to the port. In a few minutes, our taxi arrived, with a driver that spoke no English. Fortunately, Rickee was able to use a little Spanish to explain that we wanted to go back to the cruise port, which he understood.

He dropped us off right in front of the cruise terminal building. The cost was only 10€ for the ride and it was worth that price just for this story!

We decided to do our own self-guided walking tour as we could see some other guests crossing the street to walk into town. Now we understand that the town is right across the street from the cruise terminal and does not require a coach. Getting to the town pedestrian area requires a walk up some pretty steep steps.

Once at the top of the steps, there is a huge plaza lined with cafes, shops and restaurants. Vigo is a very easy city to walk through, or at least this part of the city is.

It was nice that the streets were not too crowded today. We enjoyed walking leisurely and checking out the local shops.

We walked into one shop selling all sorts of sweet cookies and nuts. They lured us in with a free sample of toasted coconut, which was so delicious we had to have some.

There were plenty of souvenir shops in Vigo, so we were able to get our magnet and Christmas ornament!

I found one particular shop selling Iberico Ham irresistible. I love Proscuitto and Iberico Ham and this place was amazing.

Just look at the ham sandwiches displayed in the window. If we did not have reservations at The Chef’s Table tonight, I would have bought one of these to eat as we walked around town. I did purchase a pack of Iberico ham to take back to our stateroom to enjoy later.

After spending an hour or so exploring Vigo, we decided to walk back to Sun Princess, which is prominently docked right in the middle of town.

Sun Princess Docked In The Middle Of Town

This evening we have dinner reservations at The Chef’s Table, the ultimate dining experience on Sun Princess. The Chef’s Table is limited to twelve guests and comes at a pricey $149 per person. We are greeted at Makoto at 5pm by Claudio, Director of Restaurant Operations. We were given glasses of champagne and soon we were being escorted to the galley. Each guest was given a white coat to wear into the galley and then we were introduced to Executive Chef Guido.

After a brief galley tour, which is always interesting, we are taken into the dining room and to a special table which is separated from the rest of the dining room by an elegant curtain.

The Chef’s Table experience will be the subject of an upcoming video on our YouTube channel, but suffice it to say it was truly amazing. We have dined at two other Princess Chef’s Tables on other ships, and this one was the best. We have also dined at Chef’s Tables on other cruise lines and this experience ranks up there with the best. The quality and presentation of the various courses exceeded our expectations.

Trio of Amuse Bouche at The Chef's Table

An extensive wine pairing is included with The Chef’s Table.

Presentation was second-to-none, like the pouring of the asparagus soup below. And, yes, that is 24-carat edible gold on top of the olive oil pearl in the middle!