Hi Joann!

The ship has to enter the Gironne River to reach Bordeaux, so the arrival & departure times must coincide with tide conditions. The ship's travel time on the river is around 6 hours. We arrived sometime between midnight & 6 am in Bordeaux, did the all-day excursion with Alain, had the dinner at Chateau Carbonnieux that evening, did the St. Emilion visit the next day & left around 4 pm. They had the derring-do helicopter pick-up for the river pilot around 10 pm. It was good we had a sea day afterwards to get ready for St. Malo.

We docked in the middle of downtown Bordeaux, which was great. There's a tram system that's right near the ship for those who are doing a little sightseeing in Bordeaux proper. The main shopping district is walkable from the ship. I think you'll find some of the wine stores near the ship will offer free tastings.

The ride to Paulliac was around 1-1/2 to 2 hours from the ship. The winery tour & tastings took about 45 minutes. The area to & from Paulliac is a lot of rolling hills with occasional little towns & some chateaux off in the distance.

The ride to Chateau Carbonnieux (which is very close to Smith-Lafite) from the ship was also around 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Scenery is similar to Paulliac.

The trip to St. Emilion (which is east and across the river) was also about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. St. Emilion is very picturesque; all limestone medieval buildings. There are some steep sections to get to the UNESCO world heritage sites where they have the underground city area. That part of the tour takes about 45 minutes and only registered guides get the keys to take you through that part of the town. Most of the wine shops in town will also do tastings for you.

We found the wines in Bordeaux to be about 50% more expensive than identical ones we could buy in the US. It was fun to find a few labels that aren't readily exported to the US and try those wines.

Hope that helps. Cheers, Anne