We are a late-fifties couple who cruised with 3 couples who are friends from California and Indiana. Our flights and hotel were not booked through Celebrity and our hotel in Barcelona was Le Meridien for 2 nights pre-cruise. One of the other couples stayed in Hotel 1898 which I liked even more than Le Meridien. We traveled by taxi from the airport to our hotel for about 25 Euros plus tip.

While in Barcelona we mostly walked around the city and saw some of the sights. Shopping at Plaza Catalunya was fun and there were numerous shops in which to browse. Las Ramblas is a busy boulevard with lots of amazingly costumed street performers.

On Saturday, we took a taxi to the port and arrived around noon and were on board and in our rooms by 12:30 pm. There were earlier boarders but not by much. It was an easy and quick embarkation, you could purchase wine and liquor in a store right at the terminal and no one seemed to be counting bottles, etc. I am not sure about bottled water because I did not pay attention to others purchasing this. Read more