This was our last day in Barcelona and we decided that our final act before going to the cruise ship needed to be one last hot chocolate. Although the winning hot chocolate of the 3 that we sampled was at the Museu de la Xocolata, we decided that the taxi ride over and back would really cost too much so we settled for 2nd best at La Pallaresa, with churros and an orange muffin. Ahhhhh, what a way to finish off a lovely visit. And an extra bonus was that 2 doors down from La Pallaresa is a torrone shop that sells quite an impressive variety of torrone flavors….oh dear, have I given myself away again? (This shop has been in business since 1775 -- Europe is so much older than the USA and shops with this kind of history really bring that to my attention.) Well, perhaps one or two little torrone tidbits found their way into my shopping bag. Perhaps. And once again, the weather was absolutely perfect, she changed the subject hastily.
Boarding the ship was relatively painless -- we are sailing on the Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas and I highly recommend this cruise line. Been on several cruises with them. Yes, we had to stand in line but it moved quickly. And yes, there was lots of paperwork but that was handled pretty fast. One quick “smile!” for the ship’s photographer as we walked up the gangway and we were onboard. Apparently the ship is fully booked and by the looks of it we fit right in with the prevailing demographics -- retired and over 65 and frequent cruisers. In fact, we met a couple at dinner who were continuing from the previous cruise, and another couple who were continuing from the previous cruise and planning to continue on to the next cruise (that’s 42 days of cruising -- wow) along with us.
We found our stateroom (outside room with a balcony) and took our time lolling around, then looking around the ship a bit. We toured the spa (prices are horribly high but the offerings are enticing) then toured the fitness center (yes, you heard that right) and even talked to the trainer and tried out a couple of machines. My sister and I both previously decided, independently, that we wanted to take advantage of the free fitness facilities to start getting into better shape. As a result, we have signed up for stretching classes every morning at 7 AM (yikes, this does not sound like vacation activity to me) and then we intend to spend some time on the treadmill and recumbent bikes. This is a radical departure from our Barcelona schedule and I’m not sure how long it will take us to acclimatize. After all that, we desperately needed a nap -- don’t forget that everyone reacts to change in their own way. I pretended to read but that didn’t last long.
Surprisingly, it didn’t take long to unpack and everything fit in -- these staterooms are very well designed -- and we were able to store our suitcases under our beds. So we went on a hunt to find the 4 most important places on the ship -- the main dining room, the theater (called La Scala), the buffet (called the Windjammer), and our favorite bar, the Schooner Bar (there are many others, but we like this one the best). We chatted with the bartender to verify that they carry Maker’s Mark bourbon (a VERY important factor in my personal enjoyment of the cruise) and to my delight they DO carry it (which is a reversal for Royal Caribbean because a few years back they decided to stop carrying that label). With the important landmarks discovered, we had lunch at the Windjammer and discovered they have a self-serve soft ice cream machine. I am doomed. Not to mention that elsewhere on the ship they have a Ben & Jerry’s store and a Starbuck‘s store. As an aside, this ship also has an ice rink, a rock-climbing wall, a small golf course, a basketball court, an inline skating track, and 2 pools. We sat on our balcony, read up on info about ship activities, and fiddled with stuff in the room until dinner.
After dinner we went to the Schooner Bar for our first cocktail of the cruise (and no, I am not going to embarrass myself by reporting the number of cocktails consumed this trip -- some things are best left to your imagination). I have, however, made an important decision. In light of supporting my desire to get in better shape, I am going to forego the cherries in my Manhattans. I think that’s a good start.
There is a very good piano player at the bar who easily got the crowd singing, my sister and me included. Just envision a bunch of old people all happily singing the chorus to American Pie and Hey Jude. OK, well, maybe you shouldn’t. It seemed fun at the time.
I enjoyed watching two men in their late seventies, clearly a couple, one rather dapper and one a bit dottery, on a couch at the bar, slightly leaning towards each other, enjoying their drinks and the general cheerfulness of the crowd. I imagine they’ve been together for a very long time. It is rare to see older gay couples and very encouraging.
A note of warning: Internet connection is very expensive onboard the ship (I purchased a discount package for $0.55 per minute), it is very difficult to get a connection, and the connection is very slow. It took 12 minutes for me to upload yesterday’s post -- you do the math. Therefore, I will probably only post every 2 or 3 days, unless there is so much to say that I really need to post more frequently. The slow and expensive connection also precludes uploading photos, so that will just have to wait until later.
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