My husband (33) and myself (37) live in Austin, TX, and just returned from the Western Mediterranean Cruise on the Gem (10/26 sailing). This was our 12th cruise we have cruised with RCCL 8 times, Carnival twice and Princess once.

We flew to Barcelona and arrived on Wednesday, October 22nd, four days before the cruise. Barcelona is an extremely beautiful city; if you have an opportunity to spend any time there, I would highly recommend it. We bought a two-day pass on the Bus Turista for 26 euros each; there are two bus routes that run this time of year, one which covers the northern part of the city and the other covers the southern part and all the points of interest. It's a great way to see a lot of the city and not worry about transportation to and from locations. We stayed at the Hilton Diagonal Mar, right on the coast, and had great service and a wonderful room. The people there are wonderful and helpful highly recommend it!

Embarkation: We left our hotel at 11:00 am on Sunday, October 26th and headed to the port by taxi. When we arrived, our bags were taken immediately by a porter, and we walked right into the cruise terminal, through the metal detector, to the ticket counter, onto the escalator, up the gangway and onto the ship. This whole process took 17 minutes, no waiting whatsoever. I don't know how Norwegian manages this process differently than other cruise lines, but this was by far the easiest, most convenient and painless embarkation we have ever experienced. Kudos to Norwegian in this area they have got it right! Read more