Cruise Europe
SPAIN
ITALY
FRANCE
Sardinia
Corsica
Ibiza
Menorca
Rome
Civitavecchia
Ajaccio
Olbia
Valencia MahonToulon
200 milesT
For expert guides
to your favourite
destinations, plus
more cruise news
and the most
luxurious ships
to book now, see
our dedicated
travel website:
thetimes.co.uk/
travelTravel
spiky mountains and forested hills.
Pastel-coloured buildings in shades of
dusky pink and lemon yellow with faded
green shutters line the narrow streets.
Several of the shops are closed for winter,
but a few people lounge on St François
Beach, which fringes the town, enjoying
the last warmth of late summer.
From Toulon we join a tour to Cassis,
another port that is delightfully sleepy as
it gears down for the season. A few locals
are taking part in a t’ai chi class on the
beach, while fishermen are selling their
night’s catch from little stalls in front of
their boats. We produce our vaccination
certificates — you need a pass sanitaire to
go anywhere in France — and sit in the
Continued on page 10→pink-white beaches slope into
aquamarine lagoons, with smooth
granite rocks clearly visible just under
the surface. Only a few scattered yachts
are anchored in the autumn sunshine.
Back on board Seabourn Ovation, a
sunset champagne-and-caviar deck party
quickly gets into full swing with a live
band. My partner, David, and I lounge in
the hot tub on the aft deck, with Gregory
Porter playing on the sound system and
the sky streaked with burnt orange, as
the mountains of Sardinia are thrown
into jagged silhouette.
I feel a sense of freedom in Ajaccio,
where we’re allowed to wander
independently. The Corsican capital lies
in a deeply curved bay, surrounded bylocator form for Spain was dropped;
France has just changed, so you can now
go ashore independently; Portugal,
where we’re going on our next cruise, is
only allowing passengers off in bubbles,
except in Madeira, where you can go
ashore alone. We just have to keep
checking with our local agents every day.”
In Italy bubble tours for cruise
passengers are still the rule, which means
you can’t go ashore alone and have to stay
with your guide. It’s slightly frustrating,
although the Maddalena archipelago
scattered between Sardinia and Corsica
— and, in October, almost completely free
of tourists — is worth the restricted liberty
for its sheer beauty. Away from the ferry
dock in La Maddalena, on the main island,‘H
ow many weeks are
you on board for?”
It’s becoming a
common refrain
aboard Seabourn
Ovation. This is the third person to ask.
“Er, just the one,” I reply. At which point
the questioner assumes a sympathetic
expression. “We’re doing this one and
the week after, and then we’re staying
on all the way to Miami.” Other responses
have included: “We’re just squeezing this
one in and then we’ll be back for longer
once the ship’s in the Caribbean.”
There’s no question — for some, after
two missed summers of cruising, time
and money are little object.
Life is unhurried for those on this
ultra-luxurious ship who, after days or
weeks at sea, aren’t anxious to jump off
in every port and explore. We’re enjoying
glorious weather as we cruise the
Mediterranean as the summer season
winds down, and the pool deck is packed.
Waiters buzz back and forth with trays
of champagne. On several occasions I see
one couple tucking into a bowl of caviar
at about 5pm as though it were a perfectly
normal afternoon snack. But this is the
point of this lotus-eater experience;
everything is included on Seabourn
Ovation — gourmet food, drinks, intuitive
service from crew who never say “no”.
And don’t even expect to tip.
The ship isn’t opulent or flashy, just
elegant, like a private yacht, with
polished wood, chrome and navy-blue
accents. My marble bathroom is stocked
with Molton Brown goodies, custom-
made for Seabourn. Freshly sliced fruit
arrives every day, along with ice to cool
my gin, two bottles of which have been
thoughtfully left on the minibar.
We’re cruising from Civitavecchia,
the port for Rome, via Olbia in Sardinia,
the Corsican city of Ajaccio and Toulon
in France, and the Menorcan capital of
Mahon, Ibiza, Valencia and finally
Barcelona in Spain. After a summer
blighted by ludicrous amounts of admin
simply to visit one country, I’m slightly
apprehensive about the prospect of this
cruise taking us through three of them.
By the time we land in Rome I’ve filled
in the Italian passenger locator form, the
British Airways e-document form and
the ship’s online check-in form and
health declaration, and printed off my
vaccination certificate and the result
from the PCR test that Seabourn requires
before embarkation. I’ve also prepared
the declaration of health for France and
am braced for whatever Spain throws at
me when I cross from Toulon to Menorca.
But nothing happens — no more forms.
We’re tested at the terminal in
Civitavecchia and again before we arrive
in Barcelona, but no further paperwork
is involved. “The situation changes all the
time,” Chelsey Tinker, the guest services
manager, tells me. “Two days ago theOne couple
tuck into
a bowl of
caviar as
though it
were a
perfectly
normal
afternoon
snack
A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR
OVATION
The ultra-luxurious
Seabourn vessel
offers the perfect
way to see the Med
as the season winds
down. By Sue Bryant
FRANCESCO RICCARDO IACOMINO/GETTY IMAGES; ERIC LAIGNELLeft, Cala
Napoletana, on
the Italian island
of Caprera, part
of the Maddalena
archipelago
between Sardinia
and Corsica.
Below, aboard
the Seabourn
Ovation