I was six months into planning , reading & participating on the Cruise Critic boards for the Western Med cruise for my wife and our four friends. We are all in our early 60's. Five weeks before the sail date , our lovely 32 year old daughter died suddenly. We were devistated. Of course, to my wife & I , the trip was no longer an option. However family ,friends and even people at the Rccl Meet & Mingle board talked us into going ahead with our plans . We went with heavy hearts but the support we received from our cruise partners & the fellow M&M folks we met on board was overwhelming. We did have the best time possible. We called our oldest daughter frequently & she cheered us on. My wife & I want to thank every one who encouraged, consoled and gave us the strength to complete this wonderfull adventure. And now the review.The six of us arrived in Barcelona on May 20th. I had arranged through Viator to have a minibus transport us to the Hotel Continental at the top of Las Ramblas. The driver , Brenden was at the terminal exit holding a sign with my name and was very efficient in getting luggage & passengers on board. I still don't know how he fit all those bags into such a small place.He told to us in his Scottish accent about all the historical sites we passed onto the way to the hotel. We agreed to also have him take us to the port and back to the airport at cruise end. I believe the each trip cost worked out to about 23 Euros pp per trip. (plus tip).Hotel Continental . This is a 32 room hotel that sits in a very convenient part of Las Ramblas. It's a definite 2 star but offers free buffet ,beer,wine & water. My wife and I had a balcony and paid 105 Euros per night. The other two interior rooms were 95 Euros per night per room..Our room was very adequite and very very pink ! Overall all , we had no complaints.We were so tired from the 9 hour flight , I hardly noticed the color of the room until I woke up. But , wow, did I say how pink it was ?For the next 2 1/2 days we saw all we could of Barcelona. It is a beautiful, clean,and safe city. We could easily have spent a week there. We did all the tourists things but didn't see near enough. The sailing was at 6:00 p.m. on May 22nd. Brenden picked us up promply at 10:45 am & we were at the terminal in 20 minutes. The lines were moderate but things went surprisingly fast.We had are set sail passes credit card and passports out when we were called to the desk. And yes, they do keep your passports. You are handed a receipt and you pick up your passports at the front desk a couple of days before arrival back in Barcelona. Okay, here comes complaint #1.In the cabins, there are speakers that blare announcements by the captain and upcoming events by the cruise director.  However, when the announcement to pick up your passport was made on speakers in the outside hallways and were barely audible. Many didn't hear it at all.Back to getting on board. Once you're given your seapass you walk by a place you can buy Euros. Very convenient. Then there is a duty free shop where you really can buy bottles of wine ,Baileys or Brandy to take on board. You're supposed to turn them in but I didn't see that happening.The Lifeboat Muster was a disaster.We were sent to the wrong side of the ship , then when we found the boat we were supposed to stand under , for the next 30 minutes, we were forced to listen to a piling being driven into the ground from about 100 feet away. It was so loud no one heard anything regarding emergency procedures. It was awful !The Ship. One of the most beautiful I've been on. A don't miss.The Staff. Most were very nice & efficient. However, they were training two girls at the front desk who were left alone way too much.They went thru hell every . People don't want to deal with trainees. I felt sorry for them.The Food. Very average. Also the tables were never cleared of wine glasses . There was never enough room on them.  We did my time dining and it worked very well.The Ports of Call.Cannes . My wife and I stayed on the ship. Our friends said Cannes was very nice but little to do and the shops were way to pricey. I'm glad we took that time to relax in the Solarium. That was the nicest thing on the ship. Great sauna, whirlpools and pool. Birds chirping was piped in and the food was very good. We went there and the Seaview at the rear the most often. In the next 3 ports in 3 days we used private tour companies.For Pisa/Florence & Naples/Pompeii/Sorrento & Positano we used Romeinlimos. I highly recommend them. Spacious minibuses (for 8) great guides and they went to all the places you expect to see.For Rome , we used Romeincab. Again  a Mercedes minibus,great guide and we didn't miss a site.I'm so glad I picked them. No one came to me and said, "I sure wish we could have seen...." Because we saw  it all.The cost for each of the 3 tours was ,beacuse we had 8 people,550 Euros pp.We did our own thing in Venice aside from using Viator to arrange a Gondola ride with singer & accordianist. The cost was about $74.00 usd that we paid on line. Well worth the money.My wife bought some Murano glass so she was happy.Dubrovik was great. The tenders being the biggest problem. We weren't able to get on until 1:30 and we sailed at 6;00. Corfu Greece.  We set up thru the ship a 4 wheel drive jeep ride to Kerkyra ,  olive groves and  to the Ionian Sea. By far the highlite of the cruise. The jeep ride up the mountain was terrfiying, The snack(with oozoo) at Kerkyra was very nice (although our guide could have skipped the 1/2 mile walk up hill to see a small church & frickkin fig tree.)We then went to a place next to the Ionian Sea where we had a delicious 3 couse meal. Afterwords we started a bone jarring off road ride thru an olive grove. We laughed as we rubbed our kidneys praying for smooth pavement ! Once we hit the roadway, it was a beautiful ride back to the ship with spectacular vistas.The whole island smelled of olives & lemons. Fantastic.The much needed 2 day cruise back to Barcelona was more than welcomed. Although it did give me a chance to confirm Rccl  owns one vcr tape of cbs television shows. I saw the same episode of several shows many many times. Guys, I'll send you some extra tapes if you need them.Not watching tv did however allow me to go to  the casino were I hit a nice slot jackpot and won on other things too.I't made watching How I met your mother for the sixth time more endurable.Disembarking went ok . One of my pieces of luggage was temporarily lost so we were delayed in getting to the airport which meant we had to take our place last in a very long line to have our luggage weighed. I'm so glad we left 2 1/2 hours before flight time. We needed almost all of it. The best advise I can give is , don't think because it's a 30 minute ride to the airport you can sleep in.  Leave AT Least 2 hours before scheduled departure.We had an emotionable but enjoyable time. I'm so glad we went