It seems that we were planning this trip for AGES! Actually, we booked both halves of this cruise in late April 2008 and began serious planning in May. We had originally been looking for a cruise that included a two day stop in Egypt and were only planning on doing the 12 day cruise, so booked that cruise first. We were fortunate to have saved up Sky Miles for our flights, and when we started investigating and booking our Delta flights discovered it would be very feasible to add the 9 day cruise to our agenda and be able to use the same (almost) free flights. Due to the availability of our award flights, we added one night pre cruise and two nights post in Barcelona. The morning we were at the airport ready to begin our flight to Barcelona I kept having to pinch myself, checking to make sure I was truly awake and finally embarking on our dream-come-true voyage!

We tried hard not to have overly high expectations for this Jade cruise. We had been reading all the reviews over the months of planning, but we were so excited by the itinerary, and as it turned out, most pleasantly surprised by the wonderful staff and crew of the Jade. These B2B cruises far exceeded any of our expectations. Originally we had booked a guarantee inside cabin, but as the cruise date approached and there were more and more price reductions, we moved up to a partially obstructed oceanview stateroom mid-ship that we were able to book for both legs, plus we had more onboard credit than we had ever received on a cruise before. We proved up to the task, and spent every cent of it, however, and a few dollars besides. The refund of the fuel supplements was a wonderful bonus that paid almost all our service charges.

We arrived in Barcelona very early the morning before embarkation.We purchased a T-10 ticket and caught the Renfre train all the way to Franca Station where it was a short walk to the Hotel Oasis. Enjoyed touring the Barri Gotic, visiting the Picasso Museum, enjoying a late afternoon repast of tapas and wine, and then walking to Barcelona's Park of the Ciutadella and seeing their version of the Arc de Triomf which was built for the 1888 Universal Exposition. Since we had booked a hotel not very far from the Colon Monument (that is Christopher Columbus' name there), on the morning of embarkation we got up early to scout out our exact route to the ship. We actually talked to folks disembarking from the previous Jade cruise to learn exactly where the port bus picked up, and how they had liked the Jade and the ports. Lots of thumbs up, so we took that for a great sign! We spent a couple hours that morning enjoying Las Ramblas and its wonderful market, La Boqueria, before going to our hotel to collect our luggage and head to the Jade. We were within walking distance so rolled our bags along the wide walk to the place where the port bus picked up. While we were riding to the port we met some guys we had been talking to on our Cruise Critic roll call that were also going to be on both legs of the Jade with us. We were all chatting away, not paying close attention, so when the bus stopped the four of us all got off. Porters rushed up to take our bags and we were all excited to be starting our adventure. However... a few moments later it dawned on us that we were getting in line to go on the Brilliance of the Seas at Terminal A - not the JADE at Terminal B!! All four of us had to go get our bags back from the porters (they were in the process of being loaded on the Brilliance!) and then drag them down the LONG block to Terminal B. Finally, we met the correct porters, got in the lines we needed to be in, and our adventure began in earnest. Read more