From Barcelona to Copenhagen aboard the Journey

[almostnewtocruise]

A picture is supposed to be worth thousand words - so this is in lieu of a really long review of our Journey Western Europe cruise ( May-June 2010).

 

Here is the link (on Flickr) for our collection of photos of this cruise - 14 delicious days from Barcelona to Copenhagen..

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gigiush/collections/72157624287268326/

 

The collection is made of sets.. Each set depicts one of the ports - and there is also a set of the ship itself (cabin, public areas, entertainment, the crew, etc. etc. etc.)

 

The best way is to watch each set separately as a slideshow..

(just click on the set you'd like to see - and then on the "slideshow" icon on the right upper side. Very simple!)

 

The ports we visited were:

Barcelona, Gibraltar, Lisbon, St. Malo, Antwerp, London (yes, cruising up the Thames !), Amsterdam - and Kiel Canal (not really a "port", but such a beautiful "sea day"!)

 

It was a wonderful cruise (and, if I may say so myself, the photos are not so bad either! :o).

 

It was actually a repositioning cruise, as the ship was being moved from the Med. to the Baltic.. So it was different in many ways..

And sadly (in my opinion) there won't be anything like that offered in the future (or maybe just next year?).

 

Happy sailings to all!

 

Miriam:)

[Susan-M]

Miriam,

Thanks for sharing your photos ... I really enjoyed them! Nice format with putting them into categories.

 

Glad to hear how much you enjoyed your cruise.:)

 

Susan

[TERRIER1]

Loved your pictures. We will be taking a similar cruise next year at the same time going from Barcelona to Copenhagen. If you don't mind may I ask you some questions especially seeing your wonderful pictures?

 

How many days did youstay in Barcelona pre-cruise? Where did you stay and did you like your hotel?

 

How did you get from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the port?

 

How did you get around Barcelonea - bus, taxi, train?

 

Any susggestions as to where to visit and where to eat?

 

i know this is a lot of questions but you pictures show beautiful places and scenes and would love your advice. Thanks.

[TERRIER1]

Forgot to ask - how was the weather?

[WarmH2OSailing]

Almostnew...thank you for the pictoral journey (pun intended) with such high quality photos and packaging. We'll be doing almost the reverse itinerary in Aug/Sep and are hoping for the same type of weather and cruise you had in May.

 

WWS

[almostnewtocruise]

Loved your pictures. We will be taking a similar cruise next year at the same time going from Barcelona to Copenhagen. If you don't mind may I ask you some questions especially seeing your wonderful pictures?

How many days did youstay in Barcelona pre-cruise? Where did you stay and did you like your hotel?

How did you get from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the port?

How did you get around Barcelonea - bus, taxi, train?

Any susggestions as to where to visit and where to eat?

i know this is a lot of questions but you pictures show beautiful places and scenes and would love your advice. Thanks.

 

Terrier1 - Ok.. I'll try to answer..

We arrived in Barcelona 2 whole days (and one afternoon) before our cruise. In our case - no jet lag, so we started our explorations immediately.

The Hotel - The Continental Palacete (you saw the photos of it.. and check it on tripadvisor). We liked it, and would definitely go there again, but it may not be to everybody's taste. And its historical building status doesn't allow to have a "real" lift installed, so if you have a problem with stairs... :(

 

Transport from airport and to cruise port - by taxi.. efficient, fast.. reasonably priced..

Around Barcelona - we used the HOHO bus for 2 days.. and also walked..walked.. walked...(the Ramblas, Barrio Gotico, the Cathedral..)

 

Places to visit - well.. That's up to you.. But the HOHO stops are a very good indicator what is "there to see".. You can make one whole round trip just to get oriented, and then start getting off the bus wherever you like. Or just zoom on the places that you think may interest you, and do the rest on the upper deck of the bus (don't forget a hat and sunscreen! :))

 

And it will of course depend how many time you have there. You could easily stay there for a week plus, and not get bored. (not to mention trips to Monserrat and Figueres)

 

I don't remember the actual places we ate in - just saw something interesting and went in. Our hotel had an open "buffet", so we snacked there too. There are also nice restaurants in the waterfront. And lots of fresh fruits on the market on the Ramblas..:D

 

The weather was mostly very good to us. But that comes without guarantees - as you know. London started rainy and ended gloriously! So hope for the best (but be also prepared for a little rain here and there)

(By the way - check the CC boards on "ports" -> Europe/Spain.. I am sure there are lots of threads there about Barcelona!)

 

 

WWS - I know you'll enjoy your cruise in Aug/Sep!!

 

 

Miriam

[crzrr]

Loved your pictures. We will be taking a similar cruise next year at the same time going from Barcelona to Copenhagen. If you don't mind may I ask you some questions especially seeing your wonderful pictures?

 

How many days did youstay in Barcelona pre-cruise? Where did you stay and did you like your hotel?

 

How did you get from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the port?

 

How did you get around Barcelonea - bus, taxi, train?

 

Any susggestions as to where to visit and where to eat?

 

i know this is a lot of questions but you pictures show beautiful places and scenes and would love your advice. Thanks.

We stayed in the Royal Ramblas hotel last September. We liked it's location on Las Ramblas and they had a "cruise special". They picked us up at the airport (at 8:30am), room was ready when we arrived at the hotel, the next day they drove us to the ship. We loved having a room available at that hour of the morning and were able to shower and freshen up before heading out on our explorations. We also received a bottle of Spanish wine in our room. The hotel was very nice, clean, and, believe it or not, quiet even with everything going on right outside the door.

[janmcn]

Just looked at ALL your awesome photos on Flickr since you have photos from many ports we'll be visiting over the next year. (St. Malo, A'dam, Iceland, Faroe Island, etc.)

What camera were you using when in Iceland on your Golden Circle Tour? Many photos were shot out of a window, yet were extremely clear. I'm trying to figure out what camera/lenses to take on our trip from Amsterdam to NYC via iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, etc. next month.

Love your photos though...definitely many that you will enjoy looking back at many years from now! Happy cruising to you!

[almostnewtocruise]

Janmcn - I am so glad that you liked our photos..

(I call them "ours" even though they are mostly (like 99.9999%!) Emmanuel's.. My own contribution- if at all - is maybe one photo per set, and it's done with a small camera that - according to Emmanuel - should have been replaced long time ago! :()

 

To your question.. I am not sure that we're allowed here to mention brands :confused:..

So just to be on the safe side... the camera that Emmanuel uses lately (Iceland,- including the Golden Circle, Western Europe..) is the one that starts and ends with a "N" - the D90 model . His travel lenses are 18-200mmVR - and he uses them now for both in and outdoors.. You can see that he has quite nice results with it even with the evening entertainment poor lightening ..:cool:

Enjoy your sailing (and take a lot of photos:)!)

 

Miriam