We have taken close to 20 cruises but this was our first time cruising in Europe where Americans were not the majority. I thought it was very interesting to be with so many different cultures in a small community setting. We flew from New York to London and stayed at the London Marriott County Hall. Excellent hotel for its location and huge room with big bathroom making it a perfect choice for a family of 4. We had room # 620 on the top floor overlooking the River Thames, Big Ben, The Parliament, Westminster Abbey and London Eye. The hotel was expensive but since we only had 1 day in London its location made it easy to sightseeing. One tip: don't have breakfast at the hotel. We paid $120 dollars for a mediocre meal and slow service. There is a McDonald below the hotel (which we didn't know).
We started off by crossing Westminster bridge over to Big Ben and The Parliament making our way to Westminster Abbey. We got at the Abbey by 9:30 AM and it was already packed making it very difficult to see anything. From the Abbey we walked to 10 Downing St(you can't really see the Prime Minister house because of the gates.)Passing the Horse Guards we went down The Mall towards Buckingham Palace. We kind of saw the Changing of the Guards (again very crowded)and at the exit of St. James Park we boarded the Hop On Hop Off bus towards The Tower of London. I had booked tickets on line. Needless to say it was a sea of people everywhere inside the compound. We tried to see the Jewels and the Dungeons but gave up after waiting on line to get in. From the Tower of London we took a boat ride back to Westminster and went to London Eye (I also bought tickets on line - fast track).
The next day we flew to Barcelona. Had no problem getting a cab and check in took less than 10 minutes. We were on the boat by 11:30 AM. We have been on The Mariner of the Seas which is a newer version of the Voyager. The Grand Suite in the Mariner is bigger than the Voyager and so is the balcony. The Voyager's verandah felt a little claustrophobic because it doesn't have glass all the way down. My 2 teenager daughters had an inside cabin across from us. The ship was always clean and well maintained. We had 2nd seating at 9:00 PM table # 177 on deck 4 at Carmem. Excellent table for 4 overlooking the entire restaurant. Our headwaiter, waiter and assistant waiter were wonderful. I mentioned their names on my on-board survey. They deserved it. Food was very good at the Main Dinning room. We ate at Portofino twice and had excellent service from Claudio. Over all service was very good. Martin, the concierge was very friendly and always ready to help. Very efficient. I can't comment on shows and activities because we didn't go to any. After dinner we were so tired from a busy day that we just walked around to digest and went straight to bed to start it all over again the next day.