The mr & mrs campy cruise diary

[campy]

November 29-30 : Fly to Barcelona to spend a couple of nights before boarding. We got lucky and snagged exit row seats for the first leg of the trip, BDL to AMS (That's crossing the Atlantic, post-Pangaea! A good thing when you're over 6 feet with long legs. We even had an empty middle seat between us. ) The movie was the second Fantastic 4 feature. (That's a lotta F's)

Changed in Amsterdam, where I managed to exchange 250 Norwegian kroner I had lying around for Euros.

Arrived in Barcelona, too tired to do anything. We didn't leave the hotel the rest of the day. Free booze and snacks in the concierge lounge were our dinner. Did I mention our top-floor room with a view of the Med cost us nothing either? We 'buy' our hotel stays with Hilton points we earn with credit card use and through mrs c's business travel.

more to come ...

[GoTeamGirl]

November 29-30 : Fly to Barcelona to spend a couple of nights before boarding. We got lucky and snagged exit row seats for the first leg of the trip, BDL to AMS (That's crossing the Atlantic, post-Pangaea! A good thing when you're over 6 feet with long legs. We even had an empty middle seat between us. ) The movie was the second Fantastic 4 feature. (That's a lotta F's)

Changed in Amsterdam, where I managed to exchange 250 Norwegian kroner I had lying around for Euros.

Arrived in Barcelona, too tired to do anything. We didn't leave the hotel the rest of the day. Free booze and snacks in the concierge lounge were our dinner. Did I mention our top-floor room with a view of the Med cost us nothing either? We 'buy' our hotel stays with Hilton points we earn with credit card use and through mrs c's business travel.

more to come ...

Hilton points are nice! Especially if they get you that kind of room.

I actually think my family is taking a cruise leaving from Barcelona this upcoming summer, if nothing comes up.

[jeriddian]

Hmmmm......

I might regret having suggested you create this thread...... I'm seriously jellin' now...:P

[TransWarpDrive]

Free booze and snacks in the concierge lounge??
Man, I wish I could get that at my favorite watering hole...
Ah, well...

[campy]

Dec. 1 : Took the Metro to Sagrada Familia and explored there for a while. Then we went to the Maritime Museum, where we saw a lot but didn't know what we were seeing because most signs were only in Spanish and Catalan. There was an audio tour too, but we didn't have ID on us so couldn't get those.

Then we strolled up La Rambla, where vendors were selling birds, rabbits and small rodents, but no naked mole rats. Then lunch (good paella) and after that the Picasso Museum. Then we took the Metro back to our hotel.

Dec. 2 - taxied to the pier and boarded the ship as early as we could, since we can never seem to wait to get the cruise started. Our cabin was small, but our balcony was bigger than average, about 70 sq. ft. rather than the usual 40. We explored the ship, unpacked after our luggage arrived, did the lifeboat drill and soon we were sailing and it was time for cocktails and dinner. Since we're Diamond Crown & Anchor members at Royal Caribbean, we got free drinks on the ship too, from 4:30 to 8. Only simple things, though: gin & tonic or things like that, or cheap wines.

Our dinner companions were Fred & Rita from the Netherlands and Ken & Pauline from the UK. Our usual luck with tablemates held, we got on very well with both couples.

So that was the first day.

[campy]

Dec 3 : Alicante, Spain. This place seemed to be a beach resort out-of-season. We didn't look for an excursion, but instead walked around town for a while. This was a mistake, as there wasn't much to see or do. There's an elevator to a hilltop castle, but it was out of order. My favorite thing here was the paving on the two big plazas we strolled on. One was a sort of 3-D stacked cubes effect, another was ribbons of colors on a white ground.

At least we managed to buy some contact lens cleaning liquid for mrs campy; somehow the bottle she brought had disappeared from the Barcelona hotel room.

Dec 4 : Gibraltar. We took a taxi tour of the rock, going all around. There's a cave that was very pretty. We saw a lot of the apes all over, they're cute.

Dec 5: Lisbon. We rode a streetcar around the old city. Very picturesque. Lisbon is built on 7 hills, and every time we got to the top of one, the guide would tell us there was a fabulous vista which we couldn't see because it was foggy. After the tram we rode a bus to an old monastery where Vasco da Gama is entombed and then we saw the Belem Tower.

Then it was back to the ship and dinner at the steak house on board for my 54th birthday. Great filet mignon. :P

Dec 6: No port, we were at sea all day. It was Formal Night, so I got to wear my tuxedo.