Ok, Ive got more time now for more of a report.
We have been having a great time. We arrived in Barcelona at about 10 am on Friday. We waited for Jeanneg and Hygiene99 at the airport because we were going to the same hotel and got in 10 minutes apart. Their flight was a bit delayed and they ended up getting in about 1 ½ hours later. Saw a few people that were obviously going on the cruise. Customs was very easy since we flew through another EU country (Germany). If your connection is in a EU country, you will go through customs after your flight from the US. If not youll go through customs in Barcelona. If you checked your luggage all the way through to Barcelona, even easier!
We were staying at a hotel on La Ramblas called La Ramblas. It is a Top hotel (brandname). It was very adequate for one night. We basically had a suite and could have slept four people. Our view was not the best (saw a lot of locals and it was laundry day), but we werent there much! We walked down La Ramblas and got a bite to eat at a café on the street. We found the prices to be high and the food was just ok. Not bad, but certainly not 20 Euros per person for lunch good. After checking in to our hotel, we all cleaned up and then walked over to Placa Espanya and the Magic Fountain. The weather here seems to be a lot like California and when the sun starts to set, it gets cooler. We werent prepared and got quite chilly. We walked up the stairs to the Museum of Art. What spectacular views of the city! Just before 8:00 some other DISers arrived. It was nice to meet so many people before the cruise. Unfortunately we got cold and hungry and left before the fountains started up at 9:30 pm so we only got to meet about 35-45 people. More arrived after for the fountains. A group of us (charwac1, icunurse_celeste, jeanneg, hygiene99, winotracy) went to find dinner. After an unsuccessful attempt to dine at some locals favorite, we ended up just sitting at the next place and it turns out we had a great deal and great meal! For 7,50 Euros we had a choice of four appetizers, choice of four main dishes, wine or a soft drink, dessert and bread. The wine also wasnt a glass of wine - for the 10 of us it was 3 bottles.
We got to the port early, but not early enough to see Joey Fatone brought onboard. Another DISer saw him, but had no clue who it was so I asked someone from
DCL if it was Joey and they said you guessed. About 10:00 am they let us in the building. Security went pretty quick. They checked our ID at the door against the manifest, then we went through screening and on to check in. If you did your documents online, you could proceed to the check in. They made
Castaway Club people go to the Castaway Club line. No choice. When we got in there was no line, but also there was no one at first time cruiser check in. The castmembers were very nice, but obviously still learning. I did have to tell ours that we both got lanyards and pins and she needed to keep my credit card authorization. When we checked in, we were told that all aboard was at 5:00 pm. This was different than any of the documents we had gotten or things we had heard. We could go back off the ship (via the aft gangway), but we needed to be aboard for the safety drill.
We were stopped by many from Disney commenting on our great shirt design. Many of us were wearing shirts designed by kpros. Even one of the Disney VP made comments. I couldnt help but ask him to tell us something we didnt know about the cruise. He started to tell us about Joey and I said we already knew that. Then he said that Kym was going to be onboard so we let him off the hook LOL. He was not sailing with us, he was going to go on the second sailing. He did say though that a lot of management would be on our sailing, including Tom McAlpin.
While we were waiting to get onboard, they had some local entertainment showing us the Sardana dance and then they recruited people waiting to learn the dance. Captain Mickey came out did pictures with the guests. Around noon, we boarded the ship. We came in on Deck 1 forward and they had two express elevators with a castmember who told us a little bit about where things were on the way up. They had us come out on the starboard side where everyone was on camera at the Dumbotron and they announced our names. There were banners on all the poles and when we reached the Goofy pool there was free sangria and a non-alcoholic beverage.
Changes for dining and Palo ressies were happening in Palo. Lunch was being served in Topsiders and then at 12:30 at Parrot Cay.
We have heard that there are only about 300 children onboard. We have also heard that we are pretty full. We missed the Welcome Aboard show because we were getting gifts ready to go out, but heard that at both shows Rachel said How many of you are first time cruisers?, How many of you are Castaway Club members? (We have over 1000) and finally How many of you are DISboarders?. Everyone was very impressed!
Dinner was the Welcome Aboard menu which was a little different than normal. We unfortunately had to miss dessert to catch the sailaway party. Wed have to say there wasnt many changes to the party and most of the DISers I spoke to were not impressed. The best part about the party were the glow necklaces and bracelets and flashing pins (provided by a cruiser who did the crossing and this cruise (pins) and
Dreams Unlimited Travel (glow necklaces). We did get glove shaped paddles to wave goodbye to Barcelona.
BON VOYAGE!!
I think we left some good folks there to help out on your cruise. (check your PM)
