We booked this cruise as an opportunity to take advantage of a brand new ship sailing over spring break while we were already located in Europe.
Embarkation: We boarded at Terminal B in Barcelona, and were the first individuals through the whole process. We arrived entirely too early, but noted that in normal operations, Luggage Drop Off starts at approximately 9:45, then through a quick security check. Check-in will normally begin around 10:00, with plenty of check-in agents awaiting to assist. The lines were broken down by general boarding, then the various C&A levels had their own line, and finally Suites & Pinnacle. Afterwards you move through some duty free shops if you need to buy that last minute wine or other necessities. At 10:30 is when general boarding should start, and you walk past some pre-boarding photo ops, then up a quick escalator to the gangway. Crossing the bridge and you are on to the ship to sign in with your set sail pass.
On our particular trip, we were the first paying guests to board so we were greeted by the Hotel Director, and both cruise directors.
We were booked into a Central Park Balcony in one of the exclusive double-wide balconies next to the living wall. This cabin was gorgeous! Quaint with still enough space to maneuver without running into each other. We loved having the bed next to the balcony. *The only semi downer was how small the bathroom was. I know that may be subjective to some, but it was tough to move around in there, especially with two people in there. The closet space!! Holy macaroni! We had, what I would consider, 2 full size wardrobes each on the side of the couch. This made it so easy to know we had enough space to unpack and have our clothes hanging without getting all wrinkled up. Since we were on the 5-day preview, we didn't use as much cabin space as I sure some people would use. There were plenty of outlets as well, which made it easy to charge our phones and our Go-Pros all at the same time with different plugs. This balcony was huge. Having that double wide balcony was awesome. It came with table and two chairs, and I would bet if we had asked for it, two loungers could have easily fit there. Another great thing about it, was that because we were on deck 10, we were nice and close to the activity of Central Park. We would people watch as they meandered through, and could catch glimpses of activity down on the Royal Promenade. The overall peacefulness of the scene was very relaxing, but could on rare occasion be noisy if the wind was blowing the right way and if the pool deck music was extra loud. Neither would be noticeable when the door was shut.