Costa Favolosa Review
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This was a 9-night "Beyond the Pillars of Hercules" Mediterranean cruise on the Costa Favolosa. It was our first cruise on Costa (we live in the US and previously had been on Carnival and Celebrity in the Caribbean). We enjoyed the trip very much.
First, we chose this cruise primarily because of the ports (Malaga, Casablanca, Cadiz, Lisbon, Valencia, Barcelona) and had wanted to board in Barcelona, however that was sold out, so we booked the next day out of Savona, because we couldn't find any other cruises that competed with this one on ports. a bunch of great places to visit and we'd go back to any of them. (But come on Costa, leaving Barcelona at 13:00? That needs to be a longer stop.)
First question we had: how to get to Savona? We took the transfer to and from Nice train station. They take your bags onto the ship right from the bus as you board, but during disembarkation you must claim your luggage and take it to the bus yourself. I would highly recommend Nice as an "extra" place to visit if anyone is wondering how to get to Savona. We flew to Paris, took the train to Nice, and stayed 3 days before and 2 days afterwards. We did a day trip to Monaco (25 minute train ride from Nice) and explored Nice itself and the beach. The transfer was US $34/person if I remember correctly.
Cabin Review
Premium Inside
Queen size bed, nice cabin with no issues.
Port Reviews
Malaga
Walked off the ship to explore. We lucked out because both the Castle of Gibralfaro and Alcazaba don't charge admission after 14:00 on Sundays. Bring plenty of water for the hike up the hill but the castle is certainly worth seeing - fantastic view of the city as well.
Lisbon
Another port where it's easy to walk off the ship and get right to exploring. We went right to the Castle of São Jorge and from there worked our way to the University Botanical Gardens, and came back via the metro/walking. We also visited the Roman Theater museum.
Valencia
In Valencia, you are not allowed to walk from the ship into the city yourself. There are two options: take the port's bus which is free and takes you to the outside of the port, and the cruise line also had its own bus which takes you into the city and runs every half hour, but you have to pay for this one of course!
We visited the central market, the cathedral (don't miss the museum part of the cathedral with its underground area and archeological site), and Torres de Serranos. We also wanted to visit the City of Arts and Sciences, but didn't have time as it's too far of a walk from the other sights we saw, and we had to get back to the ship.
Barcelona
Biggest gripe about Barcelona is there is so much to do and it was a half-day stop. We walked off the ship (it may not look walkable, but there's a sidewalk the whole way from the dock to the city, across the bridge and all). From there we took the metro to Casa Batllo and did the tour. We saw the Sagrada Familia from the outside and then we had to head back, we walked back through the city to the ship to do some city street sightseeing along the way.
Seville
Cadiz is great for walking around, we pretty much just wandered around exploring. There is a scenic walk along the water (Paseo Canalejas), and the city itself is very pretty. We happened upon a Roman salt-fish factory museum (a little archeological dig site in the basement of a building) which was free and a nice stop. We also visited the Yacimiento Arqueologico Gadir, this is an hourly presentation/museum about Phoenician Cadiz in an excavation site and is excellent. Visitors are only allowed in on the hour and they limit the number of visitors at a time, so keep that in mind as you time the visit.