My wife and I booked the 12 day Eastern Mediterranean cruise departing from Barcelona through our travel agent which is always an effortless way to plan a trip. We live in South Florida so going on a cruise is a no brainer for us. The port is about 5 miles from our house so getting to a ship is always no problem since we get to bypass all the airport hassle. The flip side to this scenario is that over the past 10 years, we have exhausted most of the itineraries to the Caribbean. So these days, we have to fly somewhere else to catch a ship. This trip, we were going to fly 12 hours to get to Barcelona so we were both excited and a bit nervous about traveling around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season. The flight to Barcelona was uneventful. We connected through Atlanta and since it was Thanksgiving Day, the airport was relatively quiet. The only loud area we noticed was at our gate where a bunch of Cruise Critic members had gathered and were exchanging stories amongst themselves. It was pretty interesting to hear all the different adventures. When we arrived in Barcelona, the airport was a ghost town since we were one of the first flights of the day. It took about 30 minutes for our luggage to arrive on the carrousel. My recommendation, and I mention this because I watched what everybody else was doing, is to get a luggage cart that are parked against the back wall. Once you get your luggage, it's a long walk out to the area where you pick up a cab or other transportation. The carts made it so easy and there were plenty of them available. Once at street level, it was no problem getting a cab as there was a long line of them waiting. We stayed at the Hilton Hotel Diagonal Mar. We choose that hotel because I was using HHonors member's points. It's a little off the beaten path as far as being close to the hub of activity that is Barcelona but you can get to Las Ramblas very easy via cab and the metro bus or subway station were a very easy walk of less than 10 minutes. We purposely arrived in Barcelona a few days early so that we could visit this wonderful city on our own. Still we missed a lot since there is so much to do and see. The weather was a bit cool and we had some rain but an umbrella and a warm jacket kept our spirits up. Getting to the port was an easy cab ride away and we were surprised by how little vehicular and human traffic were out front of the entrance to the cruise ship terminal. Dockside porters were plentiful and we were inside in no time. The lines to register were not bad. We had filled our Sail and Sign info online before hand and there was a special line if you did that but it was three times as long as the one for guests who didn't do it in advance. So we got in that line and filled out our info while inching forward. It was kind of silly the "not ready" line was faster but oh well. We got on board quickly bypassing the few duty free shops that were along the way. People were buying alcohol beforehand and we noticed that it was not being confiscated by security once you went through the X ray machines. We do however strongly recommend you buy the multi pack bottled water containers and carry them on because you get charged a hefty fee for bottled water on the ship. We wish we had bought some as we experienced some stomach discomfort during the cruise and it was eliminated once we stopped drinking the public ship water and bought bottled water. Lesson learned. We had been on a similar class ship as the Brilliance before so we knew it was not one of the newest ultra modern vessels in the fleet but nonetheless it's still a nice, clean ship with lots of public spaces. We had a balcony room on Deck 7 Port Side, forward. Size of room is what we expected from past experience. The only disappointment was that the balcony was just above the lifeboats so there was a canopy at floor level that obstructed your view looking straight down. This cover went almost the entire length of mid ship to near the back. Not a big deal but we like to look down at the water and to see the pier when we dock. The room was also near where the ship widens out below the bridge so when you stepped out of the balcony and looked to the right you were starring into the balcony of the room two doors down. Left a little to be desired for in terms of privacy. Otherwise the room was fine and the dEcor was not totally outdated. Within 10 minutes of arriving, our cabin steward knocked on our door to introduce himself and within an hour our luggage arrived. Lifeboat drill was uneventful. First time we've ever had to go to our muster station without lifejackets in tow. That was nice. We had early dinner and had originally requested a table for two but were given a table of ten. We went to the Maitre'd and asked for a table change which was granted except it was located in front of the doors leading to the kitchen. Oh well we got what we asked for. In reality it was interesting watching the coordinated ballet of waiters avoiding crashing into each other with those huge trays. Our waiters were great the entire trip as well. We opted for the wine package of 5 bottles on the cruise. Actually it is a good option if you drink wine with every dinner plus you get to try different wines and it comes out cheaper than buying it by the glass. There are I believe 3 other packages available. The food we found to be a bit boring by past Royal Caribbean standards. Extra heavy on the beef options as well and nothing really jumped out at you on the menu all the way through to the desserts. We knew in advance that Lobster was taken off the general dining room menu so we were not as shocked as were many other guests when they were told. The food was presented nicely in a timely manner and was prepared to our liking so no complaints. We never left on an empty stomach but just wished there was that "wow" factor when we left. The morning breakfast was that endless same old same old in offerings. It never changed in its menu. After 3 days it was time to start repeating your meals. The lunch buffet was all right. As far as we are concerned that meal is just what we call "Gut Fill" and just ensures you have something in your stomach. We did have a few meals in the Seaview Cafe, which were made to order dishes of different pastas, sauces, pizza's (no pepperoni) and Panini sandwiches. Very good alternative and it was made fresh while you waited. We also opted for a dinner in the Chops restaurant, which was just awesome. It was a slow evening so we were waited on by a host of staff that had time to stop and chat with us because they were bored but did not interrupt us mid chew and timed out the stops perfectly. The port days were exciting. We had read up on our stops and were looking forward to all of them. We booked excursions in advance on line through the ship. We are not confident yet on booking outside companies for tours especially in countries like Egypt. More power to those of you who do but we would rather be safe than sorry even if it costs a bit more. I'm sure most of them are reputable but in the same token you don't hear about the folks who are robbed in small groups or are taken to bad places they didn't expect to be at. Not for us. We had no control over the weather and got rained on a few times but we have learned to always pack disposable plastic rain covers. They are just a cheap investment at the Dollar Store stateside. Use them and throw them away because you'll never get them to fold back the way they came out. Egypt was our favorite stop as far as the wholly cow factor of seeing the Pyramids, the Sphinx and riding a camel. Athens with the Parthenon and the ancient Ports of Rhodes, Cyprus and Malta were all breathtaking. All the tour buses we were on were clean, the guides were great and informative, the drivers very confident and safe and always had the bus parked right where they said it would be when it was time to leave. Granted some of the ports you were not given much time to shop after the tour if that's what you like to do. We feel if you are going to shop, buy something original from that country and not some stupid trinket made in Japan. But the bottom line is we are here to see the amazing sights and history of these countries. One thing that is always a constant on these bus trips is there will be at least one if not more of what we call the "Ugly American" tourist. They are the ones who complain it's to hot, to cold, the free food they were given in a lunch bag was not good, they can't understand the guide and our favorite, yelling at other cruise passengers who don't speak English. Case in point was a woman from a Southern state who already had a prominent and rather loud accent to begin with felt it was her duty to yell at some Chinese guests who came back 10 minutes later than what we were told to return from one of our stops. The bus could not leave until everybody was accounted for. One by one she flashed 10 fingers in the air to symbolize what ten minutes looked like while shouting the phrase "this is what ten minutes is. Learn to tell time. They have clocks in your country don't they'? Very embarrassing to watch and hear. I'm sure our hosts from the Egyptian tour company had seen this before and managed to handle the situation very diplomatically. Although our Chinese party did not violate the sanctity of the 10 minute rule again her next favorite phrase was "leave them" when we were near 5 minutes of departing and they were not on the bus yet. We are always amazed these people still exist. On a last note about the tours was the awful system the ship had for gathering you into groups to leave the ship. Everybody was required to meet in the main showroom lounge. Not once did someone announce over the PA system that you needed to get a colored, numbered sticker and those stickers were being given down front by the stage. So most people including us sat and waited. At some point the staff realized that no one was coming down to them so they just yelled out come get your stickers. Well now there was a mad rush to the stage and the 3 staff people were overwhelmed. But it did not end there. Once you got your colored sticker you and about 400 other guests were supposed to follow the staff member holding a corresponding, numbered sign back up the aisle and to the gangway. Once outside the person with the various numbered signs was not visible anymore so you did not know where you were supposed to go or to which of the 20 some busses was yours. This scenario happened at every port. The secret was to match your number with one in the bus windshield but every time the busses were located a couple hundred yards away and the Royal Caribbean staff member did not give the tour company guide a sign to hold up so you could go directly to your bus. Kind of a silly system and the tour company people said this was normal. We just saw many people wandering around looking for a bus. After the first experience we knew what to do for next time. As has been mentioned in other reviews, we did have to miss the port of Sicily because of bad weather and the inability of the Italian pilot to come aboard safely. In all honesty we did have some serious winds the whole trip and the waves were a bit large so we can see where there is a safety factor. It would have been nice to have a plan "B" port but we can imagine the logistics of just deciding to sail into another port un-scheduled. Don't think you can call ahead at the drop of hat and just show up. We'll just have to come back another time. So that added another sea day to our schedule and the ship did a great job at finding activities for everybody and reprinting the daily paper so that you knew what was happening. We spent a lot of time in the Solarium pool which is just about the greatest place to nap, read, swim or just watch the sea go by. It's just unfortunate that so many people lay towels over many of the lounge chairs to "reserve" them and then go have a 1-hour breakfast or lunch. There are signs everywhere asking not to do this but they are ignored due to rudeness or the inability to read the sign as it's only in English. We did observe that a majority of the offenders spoke English and therefore just didn't care. We also caught a movie in the theater, which was nice, and yes popcorn would have been great to have but we can see that a cleanup crew would have been needed afterwards. The ships TV system was limited in it's programming and the free movies were repeated very often but we didn't go on a cruise to watch TV anyway. The photography staff was a fun bunch and very receptive to your requests of special poses and they knew what "no thank you" meant if you didn't want a photo. We met the hardest working photographer named Anna from Poland. We watched her chasing people on Camels in the sand dunes to get pictures and running all over the Pyramids area getting pictures of guests. We ended up buying 3 photos by her, as they were better than ours. We did use the Internet services on board. For the most part the connection was good just slow. You get all sorts of discount coupons so look for a deal like that instead of getting the pre paid package unless you know you are going to use the internet a lot. We also attended the Parkwest Art Auctions which we enjoy doing and their representatives are always great people. And for those who find this news devastating, there were no Chocolate squares placed on your pillow each night. Budget cuts? Maybe, along with the missing lobster. On debarkation day in Barcelona, we decided to do the Montserrat / airport transfer option since we were staying an extra day. We just found our hotel shuttle bus at the airport when we were dropped off after the tour. Getting off the ship and retrieving luggage was very simple with no drama. The only bad part once again was that we had a hard time finding the Montserrat tour bus since no one had a coordinating numbered sign to our tour sticker indicating which bus was ours of the 20 or so busses parked out front. Overall it was an enjoyable trip and we would recommend it. The price was a good value, the itinerary was wonderful, the Royal Caribbean staff was super and we enjoyed ourselves and will always have a wonderful memory of this trip.