cruisin73

It is now Saturday. Yay only 1 more day until the cruise. We went out to another coffee shop for more cappuccino and croissants. Then got on the hop on hop off bus to the aquarium. My husband is really into tropical fish so he was pretty excited to visit the aquarium. They have this tunnel you walk through and the fish including sharks and stingrays swim all around you. They also have penguins which I really enjoyed seeing. Of course we had to walk through the gift shop. They got us as usual and we purchased some t-shirts. Then back on the HOHO bus to Montjuïc castle. But first we got on the montjuic cable car to the castle. We didn’t go inside the caste but we did walk around the outside. There are great views of the city and the port. We stayed long enough to watch some of the cruise ships sail away. It was fun to watch. We went back on the cable car to catch the HOHO bus back to the hotel. We went to a nearby restaurant for dinner and then back to the hotel. We had to repack our carry on for the cruise. We only wanted to carry our back packs on the ship. The HOHO bus for a one day pass is $33 per person. You can buy The tickets online or on the bus but we got our tickets at the hotel. The bus runs from 9am -7pm daily. it may not have been the most cost effective route but for us it was worth it especially to see some of the sites of the city. There are a few different bus routes so just make sure you get on the right bus. https://www.hop-on-hop-off-bus.com/barcelona/barcelona-city-tour-hop-on-hop-off-ticket_5850

Happy anniversary! What a great way to celebrate. Congrats to your son too.

This is all from the winery

Pictures from the very cute cafe.

That sounds like a great trip.

Day 2 was Friday May 5th. After our 17 hours of sleep we woke up refreshed. We walked to a cute little coffee shop. El Fornet coffee shop. Very good coffee and croissants. From the coffee shop we walked to our meeting spot for our winery tour. The meeting place was just a block from Casa Mila. We stopped and took pictures from the outside. You can pay to get inside but time was short for us so we just stayed outside. The winery we went to was Can Bas winery. They pick you up in a small bus and drive you 45 minutes to the winery. https://can-bas.com/en/tourism/ If you take the tour you will go to a second winery close by that has all cava wine. The tour was about 6 hours in total. After the tour those in our tour group decided to go out to dinner after. It was a great day and highly recommend the winery tour.

Our cruise went to Palma de Mallorca Spain, Marseille France, LeSpezia Italy, Rome Italy and Naples Italy. we actually stayed at 2 different hotels. The first one was AC hotels by Marriott https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/bcndl-ac-hotel-diagonal-lilla/ the second one we stayed at just for 1 night which was after the cruise. Renaissance Barcelona also by Marriott. The second one seemed nicer in my opinion. The first hotel we were able to use our points which was why we stayed there. I would honestly recommend both. The first one was only a 5 min walk to the hop on hop off bus and there were many restaurants to and coffee shops near by. The second one had an excellent paella restaurant near by that was only 6 blocks away. We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel. No problem getting a taxi to the hotel there are plenty.

First day pictures we took from the hop on hop off bus.

This was our first time in Europe and our 25th wedding anniversary celebration cruise. Nothing short of amazing. Little bit about us. We are Andy and Nancy from New Jersey. In our late 40’s. This was our 5th cruise with Royal. 3rd time on an Oasis class ship. We stayed in a grand suite which was our 3rd time in a grand suite. Once you go to the suite class it’s hard to go back. We originally booked a land vacation to the Canary Island's. After about a month my husband said you wouldn’t want to do a cruise would you? Before he could even finish that sentence I booked this cruise. Lol Im a researcher so I had everything planned out before we left. We flew to Barcelona from Newark airport on Wednesday the 3rd. Jet lag is no joke when we landed we were exhausted and our hotel wasn’t going to be ready until 3 PM. We decided to get on the hop on hop off bus and just ride around and see the sights. By 2 PM we were completely exhausted and couldn’t go anymore. Went back to the hotel to ate a late lunch early dinner. By the time we were done the room was ready for check-in. It is now 4 PM and we crashed. Woke up at 9 AM the next morning best sleep we’ve ever had. to be continued…

Roger sorry about that meant to say thank you to you. It really was a great recommendation. Thanks for all your help in planning this day.

Just got back from bellaneario. Not sure I’m spelling that right but it was a perfect beach day. Only 15 min taxi ride to beach club from cruise port and 15 euro with taxi. Didn’t get sun bed just chose to lay on towels but even at 12:00 still plenty available. Made reservations for lunch before we came and had a delicious lunch. High recommend this beach club.

I just realized all aboard is 3:30 we have lunch reservations at 12:30 at Balneario Illetas. Will we have enough time to get back to the ship or should we cancel lunch?

We will be celebrating out 25th wedding anniversary on a mediterranean cruise next month. Does anyone have a favorite jewelry store you like? We will be in Barcelona and Palma De Mallorca Spain, Marseille France, Rome, Naples and La Spezia Italy.

I'm really enjoying going on this cruise with you even if it's just virtually. Love all the pictures.

Thank you! I did look into them however they don't do tours to cruisers in Rome anyway since we are only there for 5 hours. Also we will be in Rome on a Thursday and they don't do the tour I wanted on Thursdays. I did however find a friend of a friend able to give us a short tour while we are in Rome.

I got 11am for our cruise too and I checked in right away. Maybe they aren’t allowing 10:30 check in time anymore.

Thank you everyone. We did get a euros from out bank so all set for that. And our credit cards don’t have foreign transaction fees.

We will be on a mediterranean cruise on Symphony of the seas in May leaving out of Spain. Should I brush up on my Spanish or will the predominant language be English on the ship.

I just checked in for our mediterranean cruise. No problem. Maybe it will work now for you.

If Staying in a Suite on Oasis does the tips go to Coastal Kitchen staff?

That's good to know. I was thinking maybe we should grab lunch outside of the beach club but so much more convenient if we just eat there. Now that you are saying how much you enjoy it I'm glad I made the reservations. We will be there Monday May 8th.

From doing a little research it seems Vernazza is a favorite of many.

Thanks again. I did make a reservation for lunch.

Thanks Roger!

We will be spending a few hours in Cinque Terre in our upcoming Symphony of the seas cruise. Not sure if we will be able to see all 5 villages without rushing. Which ones would you not miss? The only village I know I want to see is Monterosso since that's the one that's on the beach. Looks like a nice spot to stop and have lunch.