Western Med Cruise On Your Own

We have been on over 11 cruises and have traveled to Europe several times, so were interested in trying to do our NCL Gem cruise, roundtrip from Barcelona, booking our own shore excursions as much as possible. We had an online "booking special" that included $200 obc, a balcony cabin, air from and to Miami, all transfers, and one night pre-cruise stay in Barcelona at the Mont Blanc Hotel which was very nice and conveniently located near Las Ramblas. The hotel has in room internet (ask for a cable at the desk), breakfast buffet, and an in room safe (5 euros extra) for leaving our passports and most of our money while we were out. We took copies of our passports with us, one credit card (Capital One because they don't have a foreign currency transaction surcharge), driver's license, and about 50 euros, all hidden in passport holders under our clothes in most all ports, except Cannes. Remember to notify your credit card company before you leave the country and tell them what countries you will be in to help avoid any unpleasant experiences of being denied use because of "suspicious activity". For communication back home we signed up for the on board internet package of 100 minutes, but were sorry we did this because it is too slow to be much use. We ended up just using our unlocked gsm quad band phones that we have (you can pick one up on Ebay) and inserted global sim cards when we arrived overseas. Mine cost around 69 cents per minute for me to call the U.S. for the countries we were in, but I just kept the calls to a minimum. My sim card was purchased at acetelecomstore.com , or you could also get one on ebay. If you are going to do the excursions on your own, as we did, make sure you get good city maps of all the port cities in advance and take a look at where you want to go. You can easily find them on the internet or copy them from a public library book. You can get a map of Cannes when you disembark the tender by immediately going up the stairs to your left where there is a tourist information office which will give you both a city and a bus map.

BARCELONA: We walked and took the metro to get around. It would be a good idea to print out both a metro and city map before you go to Barcelona. The works of Gaudi are absolutely amazing and we enjoyed seeing La Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell. On Sunday morning we were transferred to the ship, and checked in with no wait. There is a Latitudes check in line (the last one...it's pink), but the other lines didn't look too long either. They gave us a complimentary glass of champagne when we boarded and then we went to the Grand Pacific dining room for a nice sit down lunch. I don't think many folks were aware the dining room was open because it was not at all crowded and they did try and persuade us to go elsewhere as we entered by politely asking, "Don't you want to eat at our buffet which is open?". Our room was ready by 1:30pm and we dumped our carryon luggage and left the ship again to return to Barcelona via the port bus right at the ship's pier. It only cost 2 euros one way or 3 euros return. The bus runs right to the Christopher Columbus statute at the end of Las Ramblas. Right across from that is the Maritime Museum, which does not charge admission on Sunday, and which we enjoyed touring before returning to the ship by the port bus in time for the 5pm lifeboat drill. The Maritime Museum also has a place to store luggage if you want to visit it before or after your cruise. We even were given a 2nd glass of champagne when we reboarded! The lifeboat drill was quick and painless, as our meeting location was indoors. Our luggage, including our box of wine, made it on just fine. We signed up for the spa package and were glad we did as we used it every evening to relax in the whirlpools and hot stone loungers. I cannot comment on the shows because we opted to be in the spa instead. We ate most dinners in the Grand Pacific, that we enjoyed, but did have 2 in the smaller Magenta dining room. I personally preferred the smaller quieter more intimate atmosphere of Magenta, but they were both just fine and have the same menu. We had to wait a short time at the Grand Pacific (10-15 minutes at 6:30pm), but they do give you a beeper giving one the option of 2 for 1 drinks in the Bliss Lounge if you so desire. They do still offer cappuccino in dining rooms (including decaf) and there is a machine for them at the buffet, but they are much weaker and not as tasty at the buffet. Our room was a category BA balcony on the port side and our neighbor was in a similar cabin right next to us. We still enjoy the towel animals they leave at night, and I was kind of surprised that they still left mints on our pillows after reading that they had cut back on this. Our room steward was kind enough to unlock the balcony partition between our 2 balconies so we had one long shared balcony with our neighbor who was traveling on her own. I understand that it is not always possible to get the steward to unlock the partition. We propped open the partition door with a deck chair and had smooth seas the entire trip, but I can see that if the sea was rough, that the door might bang around a bit. Our stateroom had a hairdryer, small fridge, 2, 110 volt outlets, 1, 220 volt outlet and large in room safe (my 10" netbook fit easily in it). We used room service every morning (it also served as our wake up call) and on the card I wrote in a request for a large pot of coffee and an omelet made with egg whites which was honored with no questions. We also wrote in a request for 6am delivery, even though the card says breakfast room service starts at 6:30am, and we received it right at 6am. They always call first before delivery, and we keep a small package of dollar bills handy in our stateroom for tips. Read more