travelogue, day 2: barcelona, spain and the navigator of the seas

I woke around 7AM and headed out to walk Las Ramblas and take some pictures. It was incredibly deserted at 8 AM and just a couple hours later would be crowded with street performers, tourists, and lots of vendors. I found La Boqueria, the famous Ramblas market:



And wandered the stalls for quite some time, passing singing fish mongers, and lots of vendors setting up their fresh and dried goods. I passed an absolutely stinky sheepshead and saw some very gorgeous fruits and fish, among other things:







I headed back to Grau to pack up and store my bags and then went next door to Bar Centric for breakfast.

I know now that I definitely should have ordered a café con leche, as the server asked me several times if I wanted one and everyone else was drinking it! I went for a sort of Americanized breakfast, knowing I’d need some protein to get me through til I could eat again later that afternoon (and not knowing when, exactly, that would be). So fresh squeezed OJ (amazing), an “omelette,” and “toasts” it was.

After my leisurely meal, I took a seat and people watched on Las Ramblas:



Too soon, it was time to gather my bags, haul up a small hill near the Hard Rock Café and grab a taxi from the congregation of them there. After a little bit of earnest communication, the taxi driver understood where I was trying to go and got me to the port in good time. My bags were taken by some porters and I got in the very, very long line for check in (even though most of the checkin process had been completed online):



My first impression of the folks working for Royal Caribbean was not that great—everyone but me seemed to get a flyer with a map of the ship and instructions for a 4:30 drill and importantly, the first places you could start feeding your face once on board. By the time I realized the flyers had passed me by, three separate agents were unable to find one in English for me.

After getting my boarding picture taken, I made my way to my cabin, 1283 on Deck 10, and snapped a few pictures of it. It was more spacious than I expected it to be. The bed (2 twins put together) was large and inviting, there were lots of cubbies and storage spaces, a nice, comfy couch with a coffee table and a spacious closet. The bathroom was small (and the shower smaller), but fine for 1 person and her ridiculous amount of cosmetics.







I headed up to the Windjammer Café to get some lunch. The Windjammer is the buffet on the ship and while I managed 2-3 meals there throughout the week, I was never, ever impressed with the food. Still, I was able to find some veggies (in such high demand while traveling!). Interestingly, the host at the buffet asked, straight up, why I was alone. I had no interesting answer for him and was slightly offended by the question, but got over myself eventually. The real answer was that I was alone because I could be, I suppose.

I desperately wanted to take a nap, but there were a lot of announcements happening over the PA system for the upcoming drill at 4:30. Promptly at 4:25, I donned my stylish lifejacket and joined my fellow passengers on the deck at my appointed station:



At 6 PM, I headed to the Schooner Bar to meet up with some other folks from Cruise Critic and talk about possible travel plans later in the week. It was a lovely time and I was so lucky to meet Brenda and Rick, and Steven and Fiona. They would prove to be good friends and friendly faces throughout the cruise.

I was nervous for dinner in the formal dining room. For those of you unfamiliar, you are seated with other folks for dinner each night and my worry was that I might get seated with say, a group of 5 that all knew each other. My fears were completely unfounded and I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten seated where I did, for a number of reasons. First, our table was near the window and so we had a wonderful view of the sea each evening (though the sun was sometimes a problem, our waiters were always great at lowering the shades as needed). Secondly, these two crazy German ladies were the highlight of my evening, every evening:



Noreen and Doreen were both in their thirties, friends, and doing back to back cruises (this was the second one and thus their second week on the ship). They were so much fun and so friendly and so lovely.

Thirdly, Maria from Detroit was celebrating her 40th birthday by also taking the cruise solo. She was a sweetheart and it was a lot of fun to hear about her travels during the day.



I have heard that RCI food is a cut above most cruiseliner food (particularly Carnival, but not necessarily Celebrity). It was alright--I didn't eat anything all week that absolutely blew me away, but I did have some decent meals. That first night I started with a onion and gruyere tart, which was quite good:



And then followed it with a lackluster spinach salad, and some okay shrimp ravioli nestled on a bed of braised spinach and topped with fried leeks:



Dessert was a dark chocolate cake with cherries soaked (allegedly) in kirsch. It was serviceable, though chocolate is never my favorite:



After dinner, Maria and I headed to the opening night show in the theatre. It featured a Charlie Chaplin impersonator, a singing cruise director and some truly amazing aerial artists from Eastern Europe. Bed called my name after the show and so I went back to my cabin to rest up for the next day. After we set sail, I was amazed at how little the ship seemed to move. I didn’t have to get my sea legs at all on this cruise, which I was pretty thankful for. Our first day in port would be in Cannes and I had few plans but to wander around and take in Southern France.