We took this cruise with our best friends as 15th anniversary presents to each other! We have all cruised about a dozen times since we live in Florida and it is easy to cruise from here. We traveled on Continental through Newark to Barcelona. We all agreed a direct flight would have been worth the extra money and the Continental planes were too small and narrow for such a long flight. But, all of our bags made it through without a hitch!

We had booked Autosvillar to pick us up at the airport and take us to the port. There was a driver waiting who waited for us to change money at an ATM right in the airport and then took us to the ship. The drive took about 20 minutes and we paid 75 Euros. DO NOT DO THIS. There are plenty of taxis and it one would only cost about 20-25 Euros. We wish we would have known!

We got to the port about 10:30 am and were through the embarkation process in about 10 minutes. They do not let anyone on the ship until 11:00 and the rooms are not ready until 1:00 pm. However, we had lunch, made our Portofino's reservations and explored the ship! Before we knew it, it was time to go down to the cabins. The cabins are regular RCL cabins, nothing special or new except the bedding. The ship, which we had been on before, is beautiful and there was not much to complain about. We had late seating for dinner which ended up being 9:30 pm. This we did complain about. Interestingly enough, many people must have complained over the past season because we were told that next year they will be having open seating dinners as an option. We ended up in Portofino's three times, the Windjammer once and the dining room the rest. Do not miss Portofino's as it is well worth the $20 surcharge. Also, please note that this is NOT the waiter's tip. This is a charge for better food! Read more