Nov. 15 Riviera Transatlantic Review

[aZ4me]

LIIC, love seeing your pictures of Barcelona and Montserrat...brings back a lot of memories. We stayed at Hotel 1898, too and loved it. Will stay there again next November.

Thanks for taking the time to post about your TA cruise.

[Love.II.Cruise]

Lovey, what a gorgeous church!!!! Just beautiful!!

 

Glad you are enjoying the pictures! ;)

 

LIIC, love seeing your pictures of Barcelona and Montserrat...brings back a lot of memories. We stayed at Hotel 1898, too and loved it. Will stay there again next November.

Thanks for taking the time to post about your TA cruise.

 

 

This was our first time to Europe, which made me excited to do this review. I'm glad you like the pictures and that it brings back memories for you. Just writing the review feels like I'm reliving the vacation again! ;) We'd stay at Hotel 1898 again in a heartbeat!

[Love.II.Cruise]

Pre Cruise Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012, Visit to the Market and Casual Strolling of Barcelona

 

Today we decided to go to Barcelona’s Boqueria Market on Las Ramblas. We snacked at 2 places for lunch and then decided to pick up expensive sliced meats, fresh fruit, cheese, mini baguettes and Catalan chocolate. Below are pictures of this beautiful market.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Love.II.Cruise]

Nov. 13, 2012, Continued

 

Some more pictures of this market...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Expensive sliced meats?

 

I love your pictures--what kind of camera were you using?

 

(But please people, don't include all the pix when you "quote" a reply, okay?)

[Love.II.Cruise]

Nov. 13, 2012 Continued

 

And another picture from the market...

 

 

 

The food we bought was in preparation for the strike on Nov. 14. We didn’t know what to expect. My parents didn’t want to leave the hotel on Nov. 14, so this food was to eat on the rooftop during the strike/protest. Our hotel rooms had refrigerators to keep the food at proper temperature. We also picked up some truffle oil and olive oil to bring home.

 

My DH and I then split from my parents and ventured out on our own after the market. We went to the W Hotel on the beach and had a small snack (you'll see our bartender cutting the iberian ham for us). Below are some photos of the Mediterranean and pictures from the hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterward we went to a small hole in the wall bar called El Vaso de Oro. This place was awesome! People drop their napkins on the floor to indicate the tapas are good. They only have 2 beers on tap (brewed themselves), a light and a dark. The bartender didn’t know English and we didn’t know Catalan. But we learned a little Catalan and had some fun! Next time we are in Barcelona, we plan to go here for tapas and beer - it’s close to the port.

[Love.II.Cruise]

Expensive sliced meats?

 

I love your pictures--what kind of camera were you using?

 

(But please people, don't include all the pix when you "quote" a reply, okay?)

 

Expensive indeed. I believe some meats were about 20EU/pound. But oh so good! :D

 

We have a Canon EOS 60D DSLR base and most of the pictures posted were taken with either the 18-135 lens or our 55-250 lens. We didn't use our 70-300 lens at all on this trip. We also have an older Sony TX7 to carry around in our pocket if we don't feel like hauling the larger camera with lens'. A few pictures were taken with the Sony.

[gillianrose]

Expensive indeed. I believe some meats were about 20EU/pound. But oh so good! :D

 

We have a Canon EOS 60D DSLR base and most of the pictures posted were taken with either the 18-135 lens or our 55-250 lens. We didn't use our 70-300 lens at all on this trip. We also have an older Sony TX7 to carry around in our pocket if we don't feel like hauling the larger camera with lens'. A few pictures were taken with the Sony.

 

Thank you for your review and for the details about your camera and lenses. I especially enjoy market photos, and the church pictures are stunning.

[Details39]

We are booked in cabin 7135 on Riviera, Mar. 4, Miami to Miami. Very interested in your comments on that cabin and your pictures of it. Have stayed in 11058 previously.

[Love.II.Cruise]

We are booked in cabin 7135 on Riviera, Mar. 4, Miami to Miami. Very interested in your comments on that cabin and your pictures of it. Have stayed in 11058 previously.

 

You won't want to leave the cabin on disembarkation! It is wonderful! :D Pictures are coming soon - I'll post them when I get to the embarkation day - Nov. 15. ;)

[beachlovergirl]

Love the pictures !! A few years ago I watched a series of shows on PBS with Mario Batali and Gwyneth Paltrow in Spain......they visited Barcelona and that was the first time I saw Gaudi's church and other buildings. I'm sure seeing them in person was just amazing !!

 

Dee

[Love.II.Cruise]

Love the pictures !! A few years ago I watched a series of shows on PBS with Mario Batali and Gwyneth Paltrow in Spain......they visited Barcelona and that was the first time I saw Gaudi's church and other buildings. I'm sure seeing them in person was just amazing !!

 

Dee

 

Thank you! I'm glad you are reading the review. Seeing Barcelona in person is amazing. My in-laws say they can travel through our pictures... but there is something to be said for going somewhere in person. :)

[Love.II.Cruise]

Pre Cruise Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012, Strike Day in Barcelona and in Several Countries Across Europe

 

 

My DH and I decided to venture out the evening of Nov. 13 which extended into the early morning of Nov. 14. We walked down Las Ramblas towards the sea and went into several bars. We were surprised at the mini-casino type places. We didn’t gamble but had nightcaps. The strike was supposed to start at midnight, but some places stayed open a little longer. Others did close.

 

Later today (after sleeping), was a little scary. We woke up to cherry bombs going off and headed to the rooftop. You could hear sirens throughout the city, police choppers were in the air and occasionally we could see several police vehicles coming down Las Ramblas. The major protesters were not to come down the area of Las Ramblas where we were staying - they had a designated path planned, but there was still concern. A wonderful restaurant next to our hotel (wonderful brick oven pizza there) put up paper on all the windows and closed completely.

 

For lunch that day we stayed on the rooftop of this beautiful Hotel (1898). We brought our goodies up there for lunch and ordered drinks - we were surprised there was a bartender working. A couple people walked by us and said we had the right idea.

 

That afternoon, my DH and I utilized the indoor pool and steam room of this hotel. We were there for a couple hours. The whole time we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was wonderful! At times we heard cherry bombs going off, but we felt safe down in the basement of this pool area. To see pictures of the indoor pool click on the following link:

 

http://www.hotel1898.com/en/barcelona-spa-wellness.php

 

 

In hindsight, I wish we would have taken our own pictures of this wonderful underground pool area, but I also knew the pictures on the hotel website were great.

 

That evening my DH and I ventured outside. All the small shops in the middle of Las Ramblas were closed. We saw restaurants that would open their steel shutter doors after protesters went by... all the while with guests inside eating! :eek: We stopped at La Poma. This is a two story restaurant and they seemed afraid to open. We were nearly the first ones there. They kept all the lights off downstairs and secretly led us upstairs. We sat by the window and could see protesters go by. I felt guilty that my parents were back at the hotel, so my DH went back to the hotel to convince them to come out to dinner with us.

 

At that time my DH ran into the couple we met on the first tour that had flights today that were cancelled. My DH already knew the cost to get to/from the airport, which isn’t close. Hotel 1898 didn’t exchange dollars to euros and this couple didn’t have enough euros to get to the airport the next day. In addition, the banks they went to were closed and the atm’s had been painted (due to the strike) making them un-usable. My DH gave them 20 euros in exchange for $20. They wanted to give him $30, but my DH wasn’t going to stiff them on the exchange rate and said “don’t worry about it” and wished them a good trip home.

 

Back to the La Poma, it was a wonderful meal and the pizza there was great. When we left, there was a line out the door on the side street of Las Ramblas. The downstairs area was still closed with the lights off when we left.

[fairbourne]

Thank you so much for this delightful review - and more to come! :)

 

I remember a trip to Barcelona just as they were getting everything ready for the Oylmpics, but was it really 1992! It seems like just not that long ago! Yikes! I was but a mere girl you understand!!! ;)

 

Now as for that funicular at Montserrat, I will never forget taking one look straight up the track, and shaking my head going no way, no way, not now, not ever, never! It's not for the faint hearted! So they made me sit in the middle of the coach on the way back down the road from Monserrat to Barcelona - also not for the faint hearted - with the curtains closed! I'm such a woose!:eek:

 

Looking forward to more! :)

[Love.II.Cruise]

Thank you so much for this delightful review - and more to come! :)

 

I remember a trip to Barcelona just as they were getting everything ready for the Oylmpics, but was it really 1992! It seems like just not that long ago! Yikes! I was but a mere girl you understand!!! ;)

 

Now as for that funicular at Montserrat, I will never forget taking one look straight up the track, and shaking my head going no way, no way, not now, not ever, never! It's not for the faint hearted! So they made me sit in the middle of the coach on the way back down the road from Monserrat to Barcelona - also not for the faint hearted - with the curtains closed! I'm such a woose!:eek:

 

Looking forward to more! :)

 

 

You are right that it is not for the faint hearted and I was a little scared... but not near as scared as what happened later in the cruise... which I'll get to later. :) I'm glad you are enjoying the review.

[Love.II.Cruise]

Nov. 15, 2012, Embarkation in Barcelona

 

I want to make a note that this review is from our perspective and not from my parents perspective.

 

Embarkation was smooth. They boarded us in groups by Vista and Oceania suites, followed by Penthouse Suites, then Concierge Class, etc.

 

Despite having cruised many times, we somehow forgot our cruise documents and luggage tags! :eek: We were fortunate to have someone at Hotel 1898 from Oceania and asked them about our dilemma. They said as long as we had our passports and did not let our luggage leave us without tags at the dock, that we would be fine. At the dock we were given luggage tags.

 

After the first checkpoint at embarkation, to make sure we were in the penthouse category (he asked us our cabin number), we encountered a woman asking about cabin numbers again. She told us to proceed up the escalator as crew members (huh? :confused:). We asked her about needing our cruise cards. She then asked if we were crew (because she assumed we were)! We said no, and then she embarrassedly pointed us in the correct direction after indicating it was her first time doing this. I know we look young for Oceania and are young, but it was kinda funny how all this played out. We have never been mistaken as crew before during embarkation.

 

When we did get our cruise cards, we were told that our cabin would not be ready until 1pm and we were encouraged to eat lunch. We went to the Terrance Cafe and had a wonderful lunch.

 

We proceeded to explore the ship as we do with any ship we first board. We started at the top and worked our way down going through each floor (including top floors that are split into separate aft and forward sections). We were pleasantly surprised by various abstract art pieces and small details. I’ll share some pictures of art during sea days.

 

We were fortunate to get all our luggage before muster and we were completely unpacked as well. We stayed in a Penthouse Suite: 7135. My parents stayed in 7130. These rooms have smaller closets compared to other Penthouse Suites, but there is so much drawer space throughout the room that if two people were to fill it, they would have had to carry on many suitcases. Below are pictures of 7135.

 

 

 

[Love.II.Cruise]

Nov. 15, 2012 Continued

 

More pictures of 7135...

 

 

 

 

 

[Love.II.Cruise]

Nov. 15, 2012 Continued

 

More pictures of 7135...

 

 

 

 

[Love.II.Cruise]

Nov. 15, 2012 Continued

 

We watched sail-off from Barcelona on the top deck. Departure was at 6pm. There was a crescent moon that evening.

 

 

 

For dinner we decided to go to Terrance Cafe. Everything we ate was wonderful. We especially enjoyed the sushi.

 

When we went to our room to retire and relax, we found a small USA Today, along with an ordering form for newspapers with a price list.

 

We had difficulty finding our In Suite Breakfast Service Menu and had to ask about it. It wasn’t with the 24-hr menu or on our bed; it was with the stationary area. I knew that our room would get hot breakfast and there were different types of eggs on the menu, including omelets, oatmeal, cream of wheat, pancakes, bacon and sausage. On the bottom of this menu it stated “An extended menu is also available through your Butler.”

 

We did get a notice in our room informing us that due to statutory requirements, all guests sailing to Spanish ports, and ports within 12 nautical miles of Spanish coastal line are subject to 10% Value Added Tax (VAT) on beverage purchases made during their cruise. It’s not eligible for reimbursement and was reflected on our on board receipts.

 

The artist they had on board for this cruise was Geri Gventer. The chef instructors for this cruise were Chef Noelle P. Barille and Chef Melanie Dunbar.

[Details39]

You have posted the best pictures of 7135 I have seen on this site! My concern was the narrower cabin resulting in less walk in closet space vs. the other PH suites. That of course is offset by the veranda. Was there furniture on both sides, the pictures seem to indicate so. We have several sea days of warm weather, in fact the whole cruise is warm weather, and this expanded veranda seems perfect. The pictures you have posted so far are great and bring back fond memories of when we were in Barcelona several years ago.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Wonderful pictures, really! I'm assuming that the VAT would be added even if you have a beverage package? I wonder how they figure that one out.

 

We opted for a regular PH for similar crossing next year--the cabin looks great, wouldn't have even noticed it was narrower than normal!

[Details39]

If not too personal, what does DH stand for? Designated hitter? Dear heart?

[TERRIER1]

If not too personal, what does DH stand for? Designated hitter? Dear heart?

 

I believe it means Dear Husband.

[RuthC]

We did get a notice in our room informing us that due to statutory requirements, all guests sailing to Spanish ports, and ports within 12 nautical miles of Spanish coastal line are subject to 10% Value Added Tax (VAT) on beverage purchases made during their cruise.

Is this true for the entire cruise? :confused: Or only for that portion of the cruise that is in Spanish ports, or within 12 nautical miles of Spain?

 

Once the trans-At portion starts, is the VAT still assessed??? :eek:

[Mura]

I was wondering the same because I do NOT remember that restriction in the past, and we leave for Rio from Barcelona next November ... I sure would hate to have to pay that surcharge for all the days when we are out of Spanish waters! (Then again, this could be new because of the financial problems Spain is having.)

 

That could make me spring for the drink package except for the fact that I would only want it for the first few days and NOT the entire cruise!

 

Mura