We started our trip with a couple of days pre-cruise in Barcelona, staying at the Renaissance. We've stayed there before and use it for its convenience for cruise transfers, even though it is a little out of the way for the centre of Barcelona.
We'd previously cruised on the Magic on a European cruise in 2010 and were pleased to see how much the embarkation process had improved since then. We checked in pretty quickly and then waited in a hold area to board the ship. Although the wait was longer than on other cruise lines, it's worth it for the personalised greeting as you board the ship.
After a brief lunch on deck we went to our stateroom, which was extremely spacious, clean and comfortable. We had very little noise in our stateroom. Occasionally you would hear the loungers stacked on the deck above, but little beyond that and it wasn't done in anti-social hours. Our stateroom attendant, Falcon was wonderful and never ceased to thrill us with his attentiveness and caring attitude.