Barcelona & First Day of Cruise

I did not sleep good, at all, last night. My dad was snoring up a storm and I couldn't sleep through it. Let alone I was excited to be with them and for the cruise that was the next day, sleep was the last thing on my mind.

When my parents finally woke up from their deep slumber, we got ready, packed up everything and went to find a bakery that we could eat breakfast at. We got napolitanas with chocolate and something that was long (about a foot long) that was filled with cream; it was pretty good, something to try, but I don't think I would get it again if I had another choice.

After breakfast we walked to the hop on hop off location and bought our tickets and boarded the bus. There was a statue of Christopher Columbus right by the bus and this was our landmark that we used to know where the hotel is.

On the hop on hop off tour we got to see a lot of historical places and even the Olympic Stadium where they held swimming and diving events and the opening and closing ceremonies. We also could see the cruise ship from the bus!

We continued on our tour and stopped at tons of other places (see Facebook photo album for all the pictures) and the next highlight of the tour was the Sagrada Familia.

When the tour was done we went back to La Rambla and to the market again. This time we bought some fresh fruit juice, I had mango and coconut and my mom had strawberry and kiwi. We also bought a bowl of fresh fruit. We were being true tourists and going to the local markets.

We decided not to eat lunch in Barcelona because we were about to board a ship of all you can eat food for 24 hours a day! We returned to the hotel to grab our luggage and headed over to catch the bus to bring us to port.

When we got to the port we had to wait in line for security and then we checked in. We took our picture, unwillingly, and then headed up the gangway to enter the ship!

When we got to the end of the gangway and entered the ship, the first thing that we had to do was "washy washy" which was washing your hands with the hand sanitizer that they sprayed for you. We then slid our key card into the hole and we were officially checked into the ship! 

The first real event that we had to accomplish on the ship was our safety drill of going over what to do in case of emergency. The drill was announced in about 5 different languages and that is when I realized I was in for a treat with a lot of different Europeans.

We wandered around a little bit and then ventured our way to find our room. Our room was 5520 on the fifth floor, close to the front of the ship. Here are some pictures of the room and bathroom.

We also got some chocolate covered strawberries from Jackie Vernon, Rachael Vernon's mom and also the cruise planner that we went through to book the cruise. THANK YOU!

Our housekeepers name was Joenar and he was from the Philippines  We guessed that he was probably only about 23 ish years old, but very friendly.

After seeing the room we went to dinner, seeing both the buffet and sit down menu and chose to eat in the Windows dining room. The appetizer that my mom and I both had was cream of mushroom soup and it was probably the best cream of anything soup that I have ever had!! SO GOOD! My dad had a raw seasoned salmon type of appetizer. For dinner my dad and I had the lobster tail and New York strip steak. We even ordered a second plate to share amongst the 2 of us. My mom had salmon for dinner. For dessert I had cheesecake and my mom had key lime pie. My dad had a warm bread pudding (not worth taking a picture of) and we even ordered a fourth dessert to share, similar to chocolate flan.

During dinner we left the port in Barcelona, and we were seated at the back of the dining room (back of the ship) so we got to see us leaving. After dinner we walked around for a little bit and got to see the sky in a pink state.

After admiring the sky we went to the evening's show in the Stardust Theatre (floors 7 and 8), Flamenco dancers from Madrid. The show was decent, the one I saw in Granada was a lot better, but it was nice that my parents got to the see the dancers perform. 

When the show was over we went to the Galaxy Lounge on the 12 floor to go to the Welcome Aboard Party. The party was very low key and not much was happening. 

When we felt it was time to go, we left the party and went to bed. It had been a very long day of touring Barcelona and boarding the ship and we were exhausted!