bnickle

So, another day in paradise, said with complete sincerity. We had decided to visit the Casa Batllo, an apartment building renovated by Antoni Gaudi circa 1904. We had purchased “Before Opening” tickets for the 8:30 a.m. time. The museum opens at 9:00, and when we got there about 8:15 the crowds there for the official opening time were already lining up. If you are a fan, or, like us, new to the world of Gaudi, the combination of taking a tour of Guell Park, taking a tour of Sagrada Familia, and taking the audio tour of the Casa Batllo will be an unforgettable experience. You get to see all aspects of Gaudi’s talent as an architect, a landscape designer, an engineer, and a designer. The Casa Batllo was a more intimate and up close view of the scope of his genius and we were in awe. Afterwards we were going to go to the Olympic Stadium and the new-ish Sports Museum, but we decided a lazy stroll through the Gotic Quarter was just the thing, and it was lovely. There are several nicer souvenir stores along the alleyways, and I found several lovely remembrances of our time here, including a hand painted fan. Tonight is a dinner reservation at Sedna, right down the street from the Hotel Catalonia Port, and tomorrow we are going on a group tour of a monastery at Montserrat Mountain, about 25 miles from Barcelona. We’ll tour the monastery, tour a winery before having a lunch of tapas and wine. Sounds like another wonderful day! Two more sleeps…!

It’s just an amazing place. One thing about European dining is that they are not concerned with turning tables at restaurants. Meals are important and meant to be shared, enjoyed, and relaxing. It’s a whole vibe that we have truly enjoyed. Sitting outside a bistro, sharing a tapa or two, sipping some sangria and people watching has become Greg’s favorite thing to do.

It was just delicious! Try to make a reservation; it’s been busy each night we passed it by.

We brought 600 in Euros, mostly for tips, smaller cash only shops, etc. Everywhere here has taken plastic.

Looking forward to possibly meeting you!

I just thought it would be nice for someone booked on a Princess Mediterranean that begins or ends (or both) in Barcelona might be interested in our 3.5 days in Barcelona before we set sail. We are Greg and Brenda Nickle, retired short couple, and we depart onboard the Sun Princess on Saturday, May 11, for 21 days of adventure, with three full days in Barcelona before. We booked this cruise last year, and my former-librarian-retired-now research skills have worked overtime and so far, it has paid off. My daughter likes to joke about things she found to not be fun, “I tried it so you don’t have to.” There’s not a lot of that going on here, mainly, “I tried it and loved it so you might want to give it a lookieloo as well” kind of a vibe, because we’ve truly loved Barcelona. My actual cruise notes will be added in as the cruise sails. In most of our traveling, I’ve kind of developed a mindset of making our adventures more enjoyable. It’s three simple rules that have served us well in overlooking really small annoyances, and in appreciating really big discoveries all that much more. Those rules are: 1. I’m on a (cruise, road trip, visit, train ride, tour) with my best friend and the most handsome boyfriend ever, my husband Greg. 2. Some (tours, food, drink, employees, entertainment) are not perfect. Neither am I. We’ll get along well. 3. Life is too short to focus on the small pictures so much that the big pictures get obscured by annoyance. So if I seem like a (Princess) Cheerleader at times, it’s because of #1, 2, and 3. This is important to remember. But right now, we’re in Barcelona, sated with dinner and a bottle of wine to share, and prepping for tomorrow. But here is what we’ve done, and what we’ll do in the next couple of days before embarkation. We booked airfare through Princess, and it really was easy and low maintenance. We chose to fly Premium Economy, which is, across several airlines, actually “business lite.” It was comfortable, the food was not awful, and we arrived in Barcelona somewhat, a little rested. We took a cab from the airport to downtown Barcelona; it was about 35€. We had booked a room at the Hotel Catalonia Port, very near the port and an easy 5 minute walk off of La Rambla. It’s also a very quick walk to the Gotic Quarter and the Old Town. Three metro lines are nearby for quick and easy metro transportation. The Catalina Port is a boutique hotel of about 34 rooms. Our room had a very small balcony with a table and two chairs, overlooking the street below. The room has wonderful, fabulous blackout shades, but we wished we had brought a nightlight for the bathroom because the room is DARK at night. So we left the bathroom light on. As I said, it’s a five minute walk to La Rambla, and right at the end of the street, just before you cross to catch one of the Metro stations (Drassanas, which ended up being the station we used the most) is a small café that serves both inside and out, and has a lovely menu of tapas in addition to sandwiches and pasta. La Cava has been a wonderful place to grab a quick snack and glass (or pitcher. I bet) of Sangria. It’s perfect for people watching and just relaxing in the sun. Arrival day, we took the metro up to the top of La Rambla, so Greg, my handsome boyfriend who is legally required to hang out with me, could go to the Barcelona FC store. At the metro station, we purchased, at a kiosk, two 10-use metro cards at 11.75€ each. A single trip is 2€, so only consider this if you think you may use the Metro ten times. These particular cards cannot be shared between people. After worshipping at the altar of Barcelona FC, we walked back, down the Rambla, and had a mid afternoon dinner at La Cava. We were in bed and asleep by 6:00 pm. Because we are not 20 anymore. Today, we were up and at ‘em early. Breakfast was included in our reservation, and the breakfast at the Catalina Port was very good. It was a buffet, very fresh and well supplied. Then we headed out for our Day of Gaudi. I had purchased a guided tour that included a walk through Park Guell, and the Sagrada Familia. Either one of these are amazing to see; both blew us away with a mesmerizing history, celebration of architecture and art, and a study of a commitment that has lasted well over a century fulfilling a dream of a man who really was a modern day DiVinci. All together, the tour lasted a little over 4 hours, booked through Get Your Guide, and was truly awe-inspiring. We then had a light lunch and traipsed back to the hotel to chill ever so slightly before going to eat about 6:00 pm. There is a small Spanish bistro called Colom, about 5 blocks behind the Catalina Port. It was packed tonight; there was a line outside but we waited about 10 minutes and nabbed a table for two and checked something off of our travel wish list for this trip: we ordered Spanish Paella. In fact, we had the Paella (9.90€ a person) and a bottle of red rioja wine (18€ a bottle) for way less than we would have paid for a similar meal at home. It was muy delicioso! Tomorrow, a little more Gaudi, a little bit of the ’92 Olympics, and possible a visit to the Picasso museum. It’s DIY Thursday, ya’ll! Greg in his happy place. We need reminders sometimes of where we are. Just one of many breathtaking views from the Sagrada Familia. Baby’s first paella! \\

At the end of the day, Spellbound sounds like a wonderful experience with caveats that do not appeal to some. That’s the way of the world. Nothing needs to change or to be done; attending or not will not make or break our sailing experience. One of the things we enjoy about cruising is that it is a Choose Your Own Adventure style of traveling. For example, wearing a sport coat on a plane is, indeed, a good way to transport the jacket (and keep it from getting crushed and wrinkled) but wearing a sport coat on a plane sounds like the seventh level of hell to my husband; ditto a necktie. For some people, Water Picks are a necessity. We live, for better or worse, in a world that increasingly calls for an abundance of electronic devices. Some people like to decorate their doors, some bring festive accessories for special holidays, some find a power strip useful. Some people can pack for a month long holiday that touches on all of the seven continents and stuff it into a carry on. More power to them. For magic, go to the Magic Castle. For a sad reminder of how we’ve drained empathy and kindness out of our interactions, just read Cruise Critic.

My husband retired from a long career in banking operations. His hard and fast rule now is he only wears a suit when he’s paid to. Also, personal opinion, suitcase real estate is getting to be more and more expensive. We can’t afford to pack things we only wear once or twice on a trip.

That reminded me of our BI cruise in 2018. There had been several complaints on here about the quality of the coffee onboard. I was outside, sitting on a deck outside the buffet, about 7:00 in the morning, sipping coffee and enjoying some calm and quiet. One of the crew members wandered by and paused to say good morning and to ask me how the coffee was. Honestly, in that moment, all I could think was that I was on a cruise with my Handsome Boyfriend (aka my delightful husband), the weather was perfect, the waters danced slightly in a mesmerizing ballet, and my heart was full of contentment. It was the best coffee I have ever had, and that had nothing to do with the coffee. Perspective.

TBH, Princess seems to be able to bombard us with ways they hope will entice us to spend more money without the use of the Medallion. I’d say they are pros at it. With or without the Medallion we are reminded, minute by minute, that cruising is a for-profit business. It’s not that hard to ignore what you’re truly not interested in. The Medallion worked great for us. I liked that it enabled staff to know our names, and for interactions to be more personal. I liked (because I’m goofy) being welcomed to our stateroom. I loved that it made so many transactions in shops and venues touchless. If the powers that be are interested in where I am on the ship at any given moment, have at it. Maybe that tracking will help them determine that several people got bored in a show that just was not working well, and got up and left. Or that a show or activity should be moved because it’s so well attended and currently in a venue that doesn’t fit the demand. There are all kinds of ways the information gathered could be used for the betterment of the experience. But I truly do not believe Princess has nefarious plans for knowing that I’m enjoying a cocktail at Vines.

Totally get you. We had the capability to look at daily menus for a day or two, then that link stopped working on the tv so up in Isolation Land we’ve had lunch and dinner menus sent to us daily. We had to explain a few times that yes, we know how to reach the menus link for daily info, but that no, it does not work on this tv for some reason. Also, some of us “of a certain age” are tech immigrants, those born later are tech natives. And it wouldn’t hurt to please remember that when offering helpful tips.

Not gonna lie. From our perspective Princess has stepped up for this. Guest Services has called at least twice a day to check on us, the Med Center has been in daily contact via phone in addition to the face to face testing, and everyone has been understanding, cheerful, and empathetic. There is one more thing I think Princess could do to help. We have the dining plan that I am too lazy to look up that you pick the time and place and yada yada yada. We had, until the positive test, standing reservations at the Botticelli every night at 6, at table 56. (Good lord we miss Dennis. He was delightful.) our table for two was placed uber close to other tables for two, and any hope of social distancing is gone. The cruise is 2/3 full, leaning towards 1/2 full, so losing some tables to spread people out for this cruise would not have been a bad idea.

UPDATE UPDATE READ ALL ABOUT IT!!! And that sounded way more chipper than the direction this is going to go. So they have been testing me every morning since Friday, and every day the test has come back positive. So we are still in quarantine, and today the ominous words were handed down, “Guest Services will be contacting you to talk about disembarkation.” So that’s where we are at, and we have been brainstorming scenarios. Foremost in the brainstorming is the idea that I am not even thinking about boarding a plane if I have a positive test Wednesday morning (we have self-tests left) because…other people. Also, our chances of getting an air schedule readjusted the freaking day before TG are probably non-existent, even if I do test negative. And my understanding is that testing positive buys you a Last Off Of The Ship pass at disembarkation. So even under the best of circumstances on Wed morning, we will not make our flight. So…car rental may be eminent. We’ll see. I’m really not going to worry about it, because it’s going to be what it’s going to be. A nice road trip from Ft. Lauderdale to Kansas City, MO sounds…well it sounds like what we may have looming on our horizon. We’ll see. Plan B is to try to find a hotel room in Ft. L and hunker down a day or two, and Plan C is that we just drink heavily and let the next few days pass in a blur. I’m open to all three plans. In any case, now we get to notify our adult aged kids that this is all happening (didn’t want to worry them, and two of them are coming for TG dinner to our house), and that will not be pretty. All of that parenting of teenagers (“We just want you to be honest with us. Be open. You will never be judged for being honest” is going to come back to bite us in the behineys big time.)

Thanks for helping with my thinking, but I think we got it. Ya’ll simply take a different approach than we do. It’s all good.

Indeed, but one can take all possible measures to the best of their ability. We have traveled the last two months, and this is our ride home. We tested continually to better our chances of catching it quick and early if it happened. In the end it’s gonna be what it’s gonna be, but why avoid doing things that could help mitigate all factors?