Well, where do I start. We were a group of six ranging in age from late twentys to sixties. This was our first trip to the Med and really wanted it to be memorable. So we planned everything and pre-booked where ever possible. We flew in from Buffalo NY to Barcelona via Philly and Madrid three day early. It was a long day but we didn't want to gamble with our luggage getting lost so we left lots of time between flights. Again we didn't want to leave anything to chance so we booked Angie for all our transportation to and from the airport to the hotel and the ship. Her service was GREAT. Her driver was waiting for us at the airport, loaded our 20+ bags into his van with a trailer, drove us to the hotel pointing out points of interest on the way and unloaded everything at the hotel. He was great. He was also our driver to the pier, from the pier back to the hotel and again from the hotel to the airport. Every time he was right on time and efficient. The three days in Barcelona were wonderful. We toured the area around the hotel the first day, booked a tour of Monserrat, winery and Sitges the second day (Sitges is a beautiful spot), and did a walking tour along the Rambula the third day. Embarkation onto the ship was quick and easy and we were on board by noon in time for lunch.
The ship was clean, and all the staff was very helpful at all times. The only problem we encountered was at the end of the cruise when we got the bill. We were paying using a US credit card even though we are Canadian, RCCl took it upon themselves to convert the bill to Canadian. We asked the purser to correct it and he said they would but when we got home it turns out they did not and we got hit with double currency exchanges.
Since we booked all our own excursions eah day was jam packed (8-10 hour tours). Our guides were on the pier at each port with a sign always on time. We booked for our group of six so always go vans for at least 8. This was great , especially in Italy (Rome, Naples and Florence) since the vans could go down some of the narrow streets that the big tour buses could not). It also meant that we could customize what we wanted to see and do, spend more or less time at any location, not have to wait for 50 people to get on and off the buses, so in general see a lot more with less wasted time. Our drivers were knowledgeable and fluent in English. It would have been too costly for two but for six it was cheaper than doing ships tours plus the added benefits. The only ports we did not do tours were Mykonos and Villefranche. In Mykonos we just walked around town and spent some time at a shoreside bar. It was nice and relaxing. In Villefranche we tried to do it on our own using the local buses with the intent of going to Eze village. This was not the best on the day we were there since there was some sort of conference in Nice and the buses were not on any schedule. After getting halfway there by bus we ended up taking cabs. Eze was beautiful and worth the trouble getting there.