LIVE from the Mariner of the Seas Barcelona to Dubai

[gaechann]

Thank you Rico for taking the trouble to post your views and your wonderful photos!

 

It truly felt like I was a "silent" passenger along on your holiday and what a trip!

 

My eyes were opened to parts of this world that I've never ever contemplated visiting! Maybe that may change now!

 

Enjoy your well-earned rest and once again, loved, loved, loved it all!

 

Gae

[sandravb79]

Hello Ricardo!

Only catching up on your trip report now (and mine isn't even written, ugh... but my review of the Mariner has been published on CC now)

Good to know what we missed during the Suez canal transit... we never saw those other cruise ships?? I think we were too exhausted from our 2 days in Cairo :)

[Clarea]

Incredible review and photos. I feel like I've been on the trip with you.

[TPCRUISER2]

Rico: Thanks for all your hard work. You are one lucky young man. Enjoyed your adventure!

[petronella]

Have really enjoyed your review Rico and your photos are wonderful. Hope you all have many more adventures to come.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Rico: I am leaving from Barcelona on a repo cruise for the Legend this October 30. Can you tell me a little more about the experience leaving from Barcelona?

 

Is it easy to carry on water and/or soda? I know officially this is not allowed. But, I have never been denied. [i have heard others have had difficulty with this in some ports]

 

What time are you able to board? I know documents give a certain time--but, often it opens earlier than this.

 

Is it practical to drop off luggage and walk the Las Ranblas on embarkation day?

 

Any information will be appreciates.

 

We will arrive Sunday for a Wednesday cruise.

[rednancy1]

Ricardo, your review was absolutely fabulous! Thank you so much. :)

[LDR]

Rico, your review was amazing! I have taken most of today to read it, but SO WORTH it!

We loved the Mariner when we were on her in 2009-Mexican Riviera:) I am already trying to figure out an excuse to get to the Maldives after reading about your experience!

[RicardoC]

WOW. All I can say is WOW. I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed your journey. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. :)

What is your next trip going to be? I ask' date=' because this would will be VERY hard to top!!! [/size']

Thanks again, Rico.

 

Thanks again!

 

Hahah you'd be surprised with the cool itineraries I have in my "bucket list" :rolleyes::p We have nothing really planned because we're moving in a couple weeks, but might go on Enchantment for my mother's bday weekend and I'll be in Toronto for a weekend with my friends (going to a music festival), which obviously won't have a review around here :D That besides the Hawaiian cruise I mentioned...we'll see!

 

Rico, what a fantastic month you had and thanks for posting all the photos and your travel log. We went to the Mall in Dubai too and was totally blown away by it. Didn't see it all either. We flew to Frankfurt on that same Lufthansa 1.30am flight as you and was so tired by then that I slept all the way. That goodness for lay flat seats. We had to transfer to Amsterdam to catch the United flight back to Houston and we had 5 minutes to spare. Those are huge airports and it takes a while to get from one gate to another, especially when it's from the furthest terminal.

 

Please post again live from your next trip. It was great to have met you and I'll be following your travels.

 

Jo

 

Thanks Jo!

You were lucky to have flat seats; I used miles both ways to flew business to BCN but didn't get seats for the way back...it would have been much better :rolleyes:

 

Great meeting you too! Wish you all the best!

[RicardoC]

Hi Rico,

 

Thank you for all the time and effort you've put into this! Am absolutely in LOVE with the Maldives pictures. Sigh! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

Stef

 

Thank you for following! Glad you enjoyed!

 

 

Rico, you had me hooked when you shared the security measures taken by the Mariner as she traversed the Gulf of Aden. I couldn't wait for your next installment to see if you made it to safety! When you were in the Taj Mahal and environs, we could practical feel the stifling heat just reading your vivid descriptions and imagery. We couldn't wait until we, I mean, you made it to the Maldives, because we, I mean, you really needed a few days to chill out and relax.

 

Thank you for sharing your past month with us on a trip of a lifetime.

 

And btw, did you have any delicious pastries at Fauchon?

 

Hahah I'm glad you liked the "Aden Adventures", but I guess "feeling" the heat wasn't that good, though I, I mean, we could relax in the Maldives after ;)

 

Can you believe I didn't!? I went there for them but the meal was so good was portions so much larger than expected that I couldn't handle :eek:

 

Thanks for following!

[RicardoC]

Rico thank you again for sharing this incredible adventure with us. I'm twice your age and you have inspired me immeasurably to continue to pursue my travel dreams. Bravo!

 

I'm glad of the positive outcomes :) Just remember, the key is research; we would never go on this cruise if I didn't like to "pass time" looking for options. I almost never go look for a specific itinerary, but just see all the options, even the "less likely" like Asia and South Pacific. In this example, the cruise was listed under "Asia" but was probably the cheapest prices we have ever seen (and suspect will ever see)! Don't judge that "this cruise or that cruise" will obviously be expensive, like many of our friends thought about ours only to be astonished by the prices! Good luck!

 

One word: FABULOUS !

Two words: THANK YOU !

 

Thanks!

[RicardoC]

Ditto:)

 

Its been fun following you on your trip.

 

Where do you want to go next???.....Have you any plans..??

 

Thank you for reading! The only thing for sure is my weekend in Toronto in early August, but we might go on a weekend cruise in June, depending on how moving goes. There might also be Hawaii for xmas, but nothing for sure yet. I think a review on that should be interesting, as I never wrote one for our first time on the Pride of America and it just got a drydock, so I could compare pictures, venues, etc. like a before & after kind of thing. Stay tuned! :D

 

 

Thank you Rico for taking the trouble to post your views and your wonderful photos!

 

It truly felt like I was a "silent" passenger along on your holiday and what a trip!

 

My eyes were opened to parts of this world that I've never ever contemplated visiting! Maybe that may change now!

 

Enjoy your well-earned rest and once again, loved, loved, loved it all!

 

Gae

 

I'm glad I could take you along! Thank you!

[RicardoC]

Hello Ricardo!

Only catching up on your trip report now (and mine isn't even written, ugh... but my review of the Mariner has been published on CC now)

Good to know what we missed during the Suez canal transit... we never saw those other cruise ships?? I think we were too exhausted from our 2 days in Cairo :)

 

Hey Sandra! I'm glad you could see other things you missed, like the Oceania and the Azamara ships. I'll take a look at your review, thanks for letting me know!

 

 

Incredible review and photos. I feel like I've been on the trip with you.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed!

Edited June 5, 2013 by RicardoC

[RicardoC]

Rico: Thanks for all your hard work. You are one lucky young man. Enjoyed your adventure!

 

Thank you for following since the beginning! Glad you liked it! :)

 

 

Have really enjoyed your review Rico and your photos are wonderful. Hope you all have many more adventures to come.

 

Thanks very much!

[RicardoC]

Ok, tired after a long day of "housekeeping", looking at furniture, and catching up with friends...will answer the other responses tomorrow! :D

[PCWalton1]

What a terrific trip you have just experienced. Thank you for bringing us along. I visited the Maldives in 1977, long before you were born. So nice to see they are still beautiful.

 

Bill

 

Sent from my Kindle Fire HD using Tapatalk 2

[RicardoC]

Rico: I am leaving from Barcelona on a repo cruise for the Legend this October 30. Can you tell me a little more about the experience leaving from Barcelona?

 

Is it easy to carry on water and/or soda? I know officially this is not allowed. But, I have never been denied. [i have heard others have had difficulty with this in some ports]

 

What time are you able to board? I know documents give a certain time--but, often it opens earlier than this.

 

Is it practical to drop off luggage and walk the Las Ranblas on embarkation day?

 

Any information will be appreciates.

 

We will arrive Sunday for a Wednesday cruise.

 

Sorry for taking so long...a lot to update myself on :eek:

 

The TA on the Legend!? That's great! Luca, our concierge for this cruise, will be on the Legend starting in Rome the cruise before yours, I think.

 

As far as I know bringing water is, in fact, allowed. I'm not sure if it works differently because I think your cruise ends in the US (like the alcohol age policy, that it is 21+ if it involves any US port, even if just arriving) or if we did it without knowing it was forbidden. I say I'm almost sure it is fine because we brought a 24-pack of water (don't judge, it was 15 days in desert weather!) that we bought at a supermarket in Barcelona, but put it in a carry-on that we "checked-in" as we were sure we couldn't take it with us through security, etc. Surprisingly there was a store inside the terminal selling packs of water and soda....so I'm still not completely sure :eek::p

 

To be honest I'd say try it and the worst that can happen is you leaving the water at the port. It shouldn't be a problem, though, as our bottles of water passed through security and our stateroom attendant saw them all throughout the cruise and didn't mention anything.

 

We have boarded in BCN twice now and my advice is don't plan on walking from the port. It is not that far, but not close at all, and distance (especially walking) is very subjective. Where are you staying in BCN? I would say leave your bags at the hotel's concierge/front desk and go out for a walk or whatever you feel like doing and then come back to the hotel to get the luggage and head to the port. Both times we headed to the port at around 12:30, 1pm and the process was pretty fast (despite the large number of people).

 

Hope that helped!

 

 

 

Ricardo, your review was absolutely fabulous! Thank you so much. :)

 

Thanks again!

[RicardoC]

Rico, your review was amazing! I have taken most of today to read it, but SO WORTH it!

We loved the Mariner when we were on her in 2009-Mexican Riviera:) I am already trying to figure out an excuse to get to the Maldives after reading about your experience!

 

I'm glad it was worth reading it all; thanks for taking your time!

 

The Maldives...ah, the Maldives...sigh. :D:cool:

 

 

What a terrific trip you have just experienced. Thank you for bringing us along. I visited the Maldives in 1977, long before you were born. So nice to see they are still beautiful.

 

Bill

 

Sent from my Kindle Fire HD using Tapatalk 2

 

Thank you for reading! Wow, I can only imagine the Maldives some 35 years ago; if it is so "unique" and not much explored right now, imagine back then! Awesome experience for you! :)

[DragonOfTheSeas]

 

As far as I know bringing water is, in fact, allowed. I'm not sure if it works differently because I think your cruise ends in the US (like the alcohol age policy, that it is 21+ if it involves any US port. . . I did wonder if there are different rules since it is out of the US. The only other time we left from a foreign port was Vancouver--which did not seem foreign at all.

The RCL official policy allows 2 wine--but, no water or soda. I think we will follow your lead. Our cruise is 13 days. So, I think we will bring either a 12 pk or a 24 pk.

 

Surprisingly there was a store inside the terminal selling packs of water and soda....so I'm still not completely sure :eek::p Good to know.

 

To be honest I'd say try it and the worst that can happen is you leaving the water at the port. It shouldn't be a problem, though, as our bottles of water passed through security and our stateroom attendant saw them all throughout the cruise and didn't mention anything.

 

We have boarded in BCN twice now and my advice is don't plan on walking from the port. It is not that far, but not close at all, and distance (especially walking) is very subjective. Where are you staying in BCN? I would say leave your bags at the hotel's concierge/front desk and go out for a walk or whatever you feel like doing and then come back to the hotel to get the luggage and head to the port. Both times we headed to the port at around 12:30, 1pm and the process was pretty fast (despite the large number of people).

 

Hope that helped! Yes, thank You!!

 

 

 

Thanks again!

 

We are in the process of making reservations at a Bed and Breakfast 1.5 blocks from the Columbus statue. [across road from Marina] After looking at the location vs price of hotels we decided we did not need the spas, pools or gyms. We were interested in a place that was well located and we could walk to the HO HO bus, metro and some attractions.

[RicardoC]

We are in the process of making reservations at a Bed and Breakfast 1.5 blocks from the Columbus statue. [across road from Marina] After looking at the location vs price of hotels we decided we did not need the spas, pools or gyms. We were interested in a place that was well located and we could walk to the HO HO bus, metro and some attractions.

 

That sounds good (especially if it is your first time there) so you have easy access to the main points of interest. Like I mentioned wayy back when we arrived in BCN we only stayed "away" from the city center because we had been there multiple times and wanted to explore a new area, so I think you're right with your choice.

 

I hope the water works out for your guys; we actually never bring them onboard but decided to do it for the first time because all our tours mentioned they'd give us bottles but that we should bring extras just in case. I'm glad we had, for the most part, more than we needed...always better than less (memories of my near dehydration experience in Petra :eek::D ).

[DragonOfTheSeas]

That sounds good (especially if it is your first time there) so you have easy access to the main points of interest. Like I mentioned wayy back when we arrived in BCN we only stayed "away" from the city center because we had been there multiple times and wanted to explore a new area, so I think you're right with your choice.

 

:eek::D ).

 

Thanks for the advice. I am sure we will be like you and go back again:)

[RicardoC]

Thanks for the advice. I am sure we will be like you and go back again:)

 

No problem. Let me know how it goes with the water allowance :)

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[RicardoC]

What is your next trip going to be? I ask' date=' because this would will be VERY hard to top!!! [/size']

 

Where do you want to go next???.....Have you any plans..??

 

 

In case you guys (and others) are still wondering...next adventure is already real! And guess what? We are going back to Asia!!! Cruise and flights are booked...now we only need everything else :rolleyes::p !

 

Anyways, stay tuned for another [this time maybe not live...sorry :o] review !

 

-Rico :)

Edited September 19, 2013 by RicardoC

[NeuroQueen]

I just have to tell you this review blew me away. You are quite the story teller and photographer. I must go to the Maldives. Those pictures were amazing. That snake in the water freaked me out, tho! Hope you are having a great year in school and I can't wait for your next trip report.

[RicardoC]

I just have to tell you this review blew me away. You are quite the story teller and photographer. I must go to the Maldives. Those pictures were amazing. That snake in the water freaked me out, tho! Hope you are having a great year in school and I can't wait for your next trip report.

 

Thank you for the words! The year has been pretty busy, but good...waking up at 5:30am every day is everything college students want, right? :rolleyes::o