My wife and I finally decided to take a chance and book a cruise. After a bit of research and listening to family and friends who had been on a cruise before we decided to do a Mediterranean cruise. We have two daughters aged 7 and 2 so the logical choice was to go for a Disney cruise.
After speaking with our local travel agents (who were absolutely fantastic) we decided to arrive in Barcelona 3 days before the cruise started and be thoroughly relaxed before the cruise started. The hotel we stayed in was Hotel GBB4 near to Bogatell Beach and it was definitely the right hotel for us. The beach was literally 5 minutes walk from the hotel and the girls loved playing on the beach and we loved relaxing in the sun. We felt very safe even though we had heard about Barcelona being a bit of a tourist haven for pick pockets and we happily took the girls to see Las Ramblas and walk the beach promenade even late at night.
On the morning of the cruise we spoke to out hotel and asked if it would be possible to come back to the hotel after the cruise and use the facilities due to not catching a night flight back to the UK. After the cruise we did go back to the hotel and not only did they store our suitcases so we could enjoy an extra day on the beach, they gave us access to the gym's showers so we could get changed for the flight. All of this was at no extra cost to our original booking.