First of all, was it perfect? No. Was it fun and a great way to see parts of Europe for the first time? Yes! I'm essentially a first time cruiser (my only other experience was so long ago and such a vastly different experience than today's cruising that it doesn't count). Myself, my two daughters, 17 and 22 and 2 friends decided to book this cruise almost a year ago. It's been a long wait! I'm going to try to summarize our trip and answer some of the questions I've had or I've seen on the boards over the last year.

Day 1 -- Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona at 8:30 AM the day before the cruise. Boy, do I understand "jetlag" now! We were booked at the Hotel Arts (Ritz Carleton) using points I had built up. I had arranged transportation from the airport to the hotel, hotel to port and port to airport with Autos Vilar prior to our arrival. We were picked up promptly with no problems and were quickly transported to the hotel. Read more