We (couple early 40s and a 7 year old daughter) travelled on the Brilliance leaving Barcelona on the 19/08/2010. I would recommend this cruise it was an amazing experience for all 3 of us.
We stayed in Barcelona for the first 2 nights at the Hotel Open 3* which was good value for what we needed, clean and the breakfast nice. This was the first type of sight seeing holiday with our daughter and I wondered if she would be bored in Barcelona for 2 days. No worries, she loved La Rambla and the street entertainers. We visited the aquarium which was pleasantly enjoyable (for us, she loved it!). We also did a boat trip. The cathedral and the Church of Santa Maria in the Gothic Quarter were amazing and she loved them both.
We joined the ship at 11:30 there was a minimal queue, check in very smooth we went to The Windjammer for lunch and got to our cabin for 13:00. Our bags arrived at 17:00.