MARINA LIVE!!! 12/03/2017 — Barcelona to Miami

Greetings everyone. This is the official kickoff for a live thread for this cruise. I’ve posted live from other cruises previously. Usually I start off with plenty of vim and vigor, only to peter out as the cruise progresses. Well, it will be difficult finding an excuse for either being too busy or just being too lazy because this is a Transatlantic Cruise. First week will be plenty busy with ports, but the second week includes SIX sea days. This is my first TA, but holy cow — six consecutive sea days!

There are a number of pretty active Cruise Critic participants. Our Roll Call is pretty active. And thanks to a couple of CC members, we have organized a decent sized Meet & Greet. I think over 70 people have RSVP’ed. I invite others on this cruise to weigh in on this thread.

Currently sitting in one of the American Airlines Admirals Clubs at Miami International. Flight departs at 6:00pm and happily we are on time.

UPDATE: Couldn’t post at MIA. Now in Barcelona.

Welcome to Cotton House. We're heading out in 5 minutes to Park Güell. Enjoy your day!

Jealous and will be following along. Sticky bun pics please :)

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Thank-you for posting your live review. I'll check back every ten seconds or so. We will board on the 29th and sail to Tahiti. Can't wait!

Quick update from Barcelona. Quite a bit colder here than our home base in Scottsdale, AZ as well as overnight in Miami before our flight to Barcelona. Was in the 80’s at home. When we landed this morning the pilot announced the temperature as 35 degrees. Probably no big deal for most of you, but a bit of a shock for us thin-blooded folk.

So arrival at Barcelona was surreal. Felt like I was starring in a post-apocalyptic movie. One where the entire population was wiped out by a plague. We were the only plane at the international terminal. Not a single soul standing in line at immigration. Awesome to breeze thru that process after a long international flight. Of course that meant what seemed like a crazy long wait for the bags to arrive. Taxi to hotel was also a snap. Once again, no waiting on line.

As Fam Cruise noted, we too are staying at the Cotton House Hotel. It’s a Marriott property. We stayed here previously in 2015 during its opening month. Unique and very attractive property. As I observed in 2015, the young staff here are amazingly friendly yet professional. We got to the hotel and 10:00AM, and praise the hotel gods — we got access to our room in 15 minutes.

Nothing on the agenda other than walking around. The entire population of Barcelona must have the same plan for Saturdays. Everyone was out shopping or otherwise out for a stroll. Bumped into a “surprise” Christmas market. Surprise only because I wasn’t expecting. Here’s a photo.

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Our hotel is around the corner from that market. Lots of fun. Some wonderful crafts available

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Love to hear who the GM is!

Boarded! Arrived at dock a touch before noon. No wait for the porters. No wait for the usual airport-like security screening. No wait to complete health questionnaire. No wait for check in to receive stateroom keys. Now seating in Terraces. First attempt to set up onboard wifi successful. And now I’m posting!

Here is a run down of the senior staff per an insert in today's Currents.

Captain: Leo Strazicic

GM: Claudio Melli

Exec Concierge: Juan Carlos Cortes

Cruise Director: Nolan Dean

Sr. Exec Chef: Alban Gjoka

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Something new for us — we are usually on the r ships. The daily gdr menu is available to view on channel 40. Long overdue

Staff very friendly. I have no idea what complainers are experiencing

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Exec Concierge: Juan Carlos Cortes

Something new for us — we are usually on the r ships. The daily gdr menu is available to view on channel 40. Long overdue

 

 

 

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Great news - long overdue indeed.

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Great “on the fly”get together at Waves Bar for sail away from a good chunk of the Roll Call gang for our cruise. I will say Barcelona’s winter weather sent a number of people back to their rooms for jackets. I don’t think anyone venture up to one of the higher decks for the sail away. Fun enough huddling at the bar.

Greetings everyone

First morning onboard the beautiful Marina, and my daily morning ritual has begun. It's 6:30am and I'm sitting in Baristas one macchiato finished. A few more to go. There are a number of other early risers it seems on this cruise. Fairly decent flow of guests making they're way up to this perch over the

Pool.

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Bitob noted earlier on this thread that the Marina has the daily GDR dinner menu posted on the TV. I definitely agree with that being an enhancement, belated, but nevertheless an improvement.

Here’s a first for me on this cruise: Upon embarkation, was doing the usual and having a light lunch in Terraces. One of the white jacketed wait staff approached the table and asked if I needed any other specialty dining reservation. Pretty any night, and any venue. Sharing or not sharing. Snagged a 7:30 time slot for the first night in Red Ginger.

Never seen the ship staff seeking out people for reservation slots in the specialties. On past cruises I’ve stood in front of a senior maitre de and grovelled for extra specialty reservations. He handed them out like he was giving you access to heaven. (Ha!) Maybe the routine yesterday upon boarding was a function of the ship not sailing at full capacity.

Bitob noted earlier on this thread that the Marina has the daily GDR dinner menu posted on the TV. I definitely agree with that being an enhancement, belated, but nevertheless an improvement.

 

Here’s a first for me on this cruise: Upon embarkation, was doing the usual and having a light lunch in Terraces. One of the white jacketed wait staff approached the table and asked if I needed any other specialty dining reservation. Pretty any night, and any venue. Sharing or not sharing. Snagged a 7:30 time slot for the first night in Red Ginger.

 

Never seen the ship staff seeking out people for reservation slots in the specialties. On past cruises I’ve stood in front of a senior maitre de and grovelled for extra specialty reservations. He handed them out like he was giving you access to heaven. (Ha!) Maybe the routine yesterday upon boarding was a function of the ship not sailing at full capacity.

Not that unusual for this to happen. Depends on the cruise and the demand. We have been on cruises where they wander through the terrace at lunchtime trying to get more diners into the specialties. It usually happens well into a long cruise when folks are tired of eating

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Not that unusual for this to happen. Depends on the cruise and the demand. We have been on cruises where they wander through the terrace at lunchtime trying to get more diners into the specialties. It usually happens well into a long cruise when folks are tired of eating

 

 

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Is that a real thing that can happen???;););)

It’s day2 and I’m tired of eating lol

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If anyone on Marina now is doing any cooking classes could they please check & see if there is a cook named Marco still onboard.... he works in the Culinary Centre. I would like someone to say hello to him from Rhonda from Australia & ask him what ship he is going to next. If he is left for vacation already may the chef knows where is off to next.

Thank you in advance.:D

Not that unusual for this to happen. Depends on the cruise and the demand. We have been on cruises where they wander through the terrace at lunchtime trying to get more diners into the specialties. It usually happens well into a long cruise when folks are tired of eating

 

 

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I agree. This happens from time to time - not often but occasionally.

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A few more comments

It’s a port day and the gdr is open for lunch

Our butler advised us that o has done away with all European butlers. All butlers are Indian now. Seems odd to me but just repeating what he told us

I do not recognize a single crew member on this ship. Not one. Considering we have 14 cruises on o that’s pretty amazing.

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Beautiful day in Alicante.

Warmer than Barcelona by maybe five degrees, making it something like high 50’s. Full sun and light breeze. Oceania arranged for a bus to pick up passengers at the ship for drop off at the edge of the city. I’m not sure the ride was even a mile. Unsure of the distance, we hopped on the bus for the ride in. Decided to walk back to the ship after wandering around town and visiting the impressive castle overlooking Alicante. Many others made the same decision to walk back to the ship. I’m sure most passengers though welcomed the fact there was a round trip shuttle for our first port.

Standard day for me so far onboard the Marina:

Too many macchiatos waiting for DW to wake up. Relaxing breakfast in Terraces. Run around in town for several hours in the morning and early afternoon. Lunch at Waves Grill. Lay by pool in the sun reading and dozing.

Take a steam in the Spa. Type some thoughts for this Thread.

The rest of the day will entail a visit to Horizons for afternoon tea. Team trivia in the Marina Lounge. Captain’s party this evening kicking off at 5:45pm. Dinner this evening probably in the Grand Dining Room. Maybe try my luck at some of the tables in the Casino. That will wrap up the first full day for the cruise.

Life does not suck.

Trivia poorly attended for a ta. But given the ship is not full ....... although I do not care for Nolan he has calmed down and I can tolerate. He did a decent job at trivia.

We are skipping the captains party (been there done that) and ordering in from Toscana.

Ditto: life does not suck

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Bitob noted earlier on this thread that the Marina has the daily GDR dinner menu posted on the TV. I definitely agree with that being an enhancement, belated, but nevertheless an improvement.

Follow-up on Executive concierge:

Due to last minute change Juan Carlos is on board until the 6th and Diego will come on board to replace him on the 8th.

Joanne mentioned that this was probably because Concierge cabins can now order in from the main dining room menu. Makes sense.

 

 

 

I doubt that’s the reason. Menus for the gdr were always delivered to staterooms the night before. They are saving paper and moving to improve their use of technology. Next accounts on line????

 

 

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