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Cruise :
Costa Concordia, Western Mediterranean , Barcelona -> Barcelona, May 1- 8 2009.
This is the first cruise for me and the second one for my boyfriend.
Overall, the whole trip is wonderful.
Barcelona
We arrived in Barcelona 2 days before the cruise. Stayed in HCC MONTBLANC right in the city center. The room is on the top floor with a city-view balcony, good size and facility. We took hop-on & hop-off bus to see the city. Also tried some delicious tapas. This is a modern city with lots of things to see & do.
Embarkation
We took a taxi (20euro) from hotel to the port around 3pm. There was no long line and we checked into the cabin quickly.
Cabin
We booked the cheapest inside stateroom through internet agency (to be assigned) and got upgraded to ocean-view stateroom. It is big ( more than 20m2 ) with 2 windows and comfortable. Cabin steward cleaned room twice a day. Overall this is a good cabin though some nights there was noise around.
Food
The food at buffet was average. Not many choices / varieties.
About the main dining restaurant, the waiters and waitresses provided very good service though food was not great in general (better than buffet).
Here is some food we liked: fruit & vegetable cold soup, seafood salad, orange duck, octopus, paella and ice cream at main restaurant.
Other facilities
Went to some shows and they were enjoyable.
My boyfriend tried the Formula One racing simulator and liked it.
There is a library with books in various languages and I borrowed an interesting book.
Internet café was extremely slow and expensive.
Movies in cinema are only in Italian according to front desk.
Didn’t use the pools (small) / spa / bars / casino / shops etc.
Passenger
There might be about 3000 passengers, many are Italians. Others including French, German, Spanish, English-speaking people.
Ports
We went to some excursions organized by Costa ( Marseilles / Avignon, Naples / Pompeii, Tunis) and they were good. And we visited Savona, Palermo and Palma de Mallorca on our own and that was also great experience.
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