June 1 - Leaving Barcelona

Today we said farewell to Barcelona and hello to our home for the next fourteen days, the Celebrity Equinox.  Barcelona has become one of Marg's favourite cities to visit.  It has a nice mix of historical and modern buildings.  The tempo of the city is not rushed, but it does have a lively vibe to it.  The food is good and the prices are very reasonable in comparison to Paris or Rome.

To be a taxi driver in Barcelona, you must have an extremely friendly personality. Our driver from the apartment to the port hailed from Pakistan.  He engaged us with a very intelligent conversation.  He told us that in his culture children stay with their parents to provide support for them in their old age. He said this was an obligation in his culture.

We felt sorry for him.  He had come to Spain nine years ago to get a job to provide for his young family, but they were still in Pakistan and they would not be able to join him until he gets his Spanish citizenship, which he hoped to obtain next year.

The Equinox is a gorgeous cruiser with all the facilities that you could hope for on a cruise liner.  She is from a model of  cruise liners known as the Solstice Class.  It is more than a three hundred meters in length and carry 2850 passengers.  She is capable of sailing at 24 knots or 44 kilometers/hour. As usual the service on the Celebrity cruise liner is top notch.  Everything is very efficient and clean.  The décor is very modern but the layout of the boat is very different from the Celebrity Constellation, which we took last year on a transatlantic cruise.  There are several more lounges and the casual dining area seems to be more efficiently laid out with the food in a central court as opposed to being spread the length of the restaurant as was found on the Constellation.

Main reception area on the Equinox

The atrium is bright and as you ascend up with the elevators you can see the different lounges, such as the Apple computer lab, the library and their environmental information kiosk called "Team Earth."

We spent the early afternoon enjoying lunch out on the back of the boat, which had a magnificent view of Barcelona’s harbour and downtown.   You don’t notice it when you are in Barcelona, but Barcelona is actually in a basin that flows into the Mediterranean Sea and is surrounded by large hills. 

Barcelona Harbour

Later in the afternoon we went to the pool area where we relaxed in the sun and warmth.  A new addition to the pool facility that was not on our previous cruise is a set of cabanas with hammocks.   That is a very nice touch.  Also, the adult only solarium has a larger pool and very modern décor.

Pool area on board the Equinox

John and Heather joined us before dinner for a glass of Champaign, which was supplied by Celebrity because we are staying in a concierge suite.

The dinner was excellent as was expected.  Tonight we meet our dining room staff, who will be looking out for us for the entire cruise.  Our head waiter is Ronaldo and he has a wonderful and helpful personality.  We had prime rib and a full body Spanish wine that our wine steward, Dadan, recommended.

After dinner we went to see the late night show.  Two of the featured singers had wonderful voices and we are really looking forward to seeing them again during the cruise.