We are a family of four, father, mother, two daughters in their 20s. We traveled with another family, father, mother, daughter, and son-in-law. Their daughter and son-in-law are good friends of our daughters as well. This was our 8th cruise on RCCL, and our 10th overall, as well as our 2nd on the Voyager. We sailed the Voyager out of Galveston last winter. We flew to Barcelona a few days early and stayed at the HCC Regente in the Example district. The morning of the cruise we took a taxi (or should I say several taxis) to the pier. Because of the amount of luggage we carried, we needed a mini-van sized cab, but they were not readily available, probably because all of them were at the pier taking passengers off the arriving cruise. Consequently, the eight of us wound up taking three regular sized cabs.

While waiting for the last cab, my friend had his backpack stolen. Petty crime is very common in Barcelona. When he and his wife arrived at the dock, they reported it to the ship's authorities, who contacted the local police. They were one of two parties who reported thefts. Even though their passports were stolen, they had photo id in the form of their drivers licenses, and this allowed them to board the ship. End of story, they were able to obtain replacement passports in Naples, but they lost cash and a camera.

We booked inside cabins. We spend so little time in the cabins, that having a balcony was not that important to us; we paid a little bit extra to have two of the larger interior cabins on an upper deck. On previous cruises, we all gathered in the Windjammer to plan our land excursions, but this time, because of the cost of the excursions, we planned in advance and purchased the excursions on line. I'm somewhat paranoid about missing the ship's departure, so I generally purchase my excursions through the ship, knowing that I am paying a premium to ensure that the ship will not leave without a bus returning. Because we and our friends booked our cruises separately, we were not seated at the same table, but we filed our request to be seated together, and on the second night, we were all together. The first night, we swapped seats with our friends' kids, so we were sitting with our friends and our kids were sitting with theirs. Read more