Cruise Day 11: Barcelona (end of Med, beginning of TransAtlantic)

(NOTE:  Sorry there aren't a lot of images in today's blog....we weren't doing much picture taking today!)

Well, Day 11 of our cruise arrived and we found ourselves back in Barcelona.  We designed our magnet today with some images from Barcelona----specifically from Park Guell---even though we didn't really get off the ship and go into the city for the day.  If you look WAAAAY back at the posts we did about our visit to Barcelona BEFORE the cruise (I believe it was posted around Sept. 7th), you might recognized some of the images in our magnet from the pictures we took that day when we spent most of the afternoon in Park Guell.

So anyway, we opted not really to get off the boat and go into Barcelona.

We made that decision for a couple of reasons----

First, the weather wasn't that nice.  I don't think I've commented very extensively about the weather on our trip up to this point....but I should just say we were blessed by mother nature!  We had nearly perfect weather every single day....other than it being a little warm some of the days (especially maybe days where we spent a lot of time walking outside), we really couldn't have asked for much better.  Even on days when they told us that it might rain or that it might be chilly and we should bring a jacket....we never once needed  it.  The sun was out, the sky was (mostly) blue.  We never needed to wear jackets once and the only days we had to wear shoes that weren't sandals and/or long pants were those where that day's activities required it  (like we had to wear long pants in the Vatican and we chose to wear sneakers instead of sandals/flip flops on days with a lot of walking---like Rome.)  So  our weather was amazing----

---until we hit Barcelona.  On that morning when we woke up it was very overcast and icky out (I like to think it was the Earth mourning with us that the first part of our vacation had already ended! LOL) Couple the not so nice weather with the fact that we'd really already spent a pretty good day seeing Barcelona AND the fact that because we were doing both cruises back to back they weren't making us get off the boat for any significant amount of time and we just decided....eh...we won't bother.

So we woke up and went to breakfast and then met up with our table-mates and we all went down to Rockin' Bar D (one of the nightclubs on the ship) which was our designated meeting place for all the back to back cruisers.  They took us off the ship, into the terminal, checked us in for our next cruise (the TransAtlantic portion) and ushered us back onto the ship.  We did have time to take some pictures in the terminal (we thought these big banners which are duplicates of the luggage tags the cruise line gives you when you're getting off the ship were very pretty):

And to pose for a picture with "Spanish Mickey," as well:

Once we got back on the ship, we were greeted with a beautiful welcome ice sculpture:

We hung out with some of our friends who were also staying on the ship, including our tablemates Johanna, Kimberly, Jim & Michelle, played some games, made appointments for massages at the spa for the following day and ate lunch.  This first few hours when you're on the boat is usually the time when people are running around, finding their room, exploring and building the excitement that they are actually on the ship----it was an odd but wonderful feeling for us to feel like we were "already home" after having been on the ship for 10 days prior.  

We did have one treat, as well, before they let everyone onto the ship, we ventured up onto the 8th deck and happened to see the housekeeping staff were cleaning out the Walt Disney Suite (the biggest and fanciest suite on the boat) and invited us in to take a quick tour.  WOW!  We'd never seen the inside and boy is it gorgeous!  I imagine any girl or gay man would really feel like Cinderella sleeping in there for a cruise!! LOL

As more and more people boarded the ship, we started seeing more and more old friends from previous cruises and we even got to eat lunch with our dear friend Sandi and her daughter, Abby, and mother-in-law Sandra.  It was so amazing to see them and have lunch with them and introduce them to our new friends from our dinner table----even though all 3 of them could clearly use a nap because they had just flown in from the states and were totally jet-lagged!  Poor things....it made me very glad that when we flew into Barcelona we had decided to come a day earlier than we needed to be here!

Soon, 3pm rolled around and it was time to go down to the Promenade Lounge where all our friends and acquaintances from the DISboards.com had planned a first meeting/get together.  This was the prescribed time for Jason and I to pass out the addition 271 lanyards we still had in our possession.  I really WISH we'd remembered to take a picture of the line for lanyards...but honestly we were just too busy to do anything but hand out lanyards!! LOL  I never felt so popular in my life...the line stretched clear down the hallway as folks were waiting to get their family's lanyards!  i joked and told people our line might be longer than the line at space mountain on a slow day!! LOL  Doing the lanyards was really great for Jason and me because it gave us a chance to meet and introduce ourselves to so many people and the lanyards were a HUGE hit!

After lanyards were passed out it was time for the safety drill and the sail away part (basically the same as they were on the Med cruise...but still always fun) and then time to go to the show and to get ready for dinner!  You'll recall that we skipped most the shows on the Med cruise because we were so busy, but we didn't want to miss any of the stage shows (we generally decide if we're going to watch the cabaret acts like magicians and jugglers depending on how we're feeling but we never miss the big broadway song and dance style shows----the Disney Cruise Line entertainment staff are like no other...and are not to be missed!)

Dinner was wonderful...our same table-mates.   We wore Tigger ties and even posed for some character photos before dinner:

After dinner, we agreed to go down to an adult entertainment event with our friends called "Icebreakers" which was basically silly games to play with the other adults onboard to get to know them better.  I got roped into being on an icebreaker team with Trisha and Ben and two other folks....and the activity was to, in front of an audience, "sew" a thread attached to a spoon up under your clothes and through your other four partner's clothes, as well.  It was hysterically funny to watch....and our team won! Hooray!!  Here's some pics:

After that, we were ready to turn in for the night...and our towel animal was waiting for us on our bed:

NOTE:  In yesterday's blog I forgot to write about one other cool thing we did (we weren't allowed to take pictures at the event..and the way I've been remembering what we do each day is by looking at our pictures from that day...which is why I forgot it initially).  Our friends Trisha and Ben are "Platinum Cruisers"---meaning that they have completed 10 or more cruises (we are close to that ourselves....by the time we finish the cruises we currently have booked for 2011 we'll be in the platinum group, too).  Platinum cruisers get a number of cool perks---and one of them is special invitation only tours of backstage and crew areas on the ship.  On the Med cruise they were invited to tour the ship's engine control rooms down on Deck 1 (which had, according to the ship's officer who took us down there, never been opened up to guests before) and they knew their 2 and 5 year olds would not be interested, so they were able to give those two tickets to us.  Jason was very excited since he likes that kind of technical "how does it work" stuff.  The tour was pretty basic----two control rooms and an office----but Jason really enjoyed it.  There were lots of computers and blinking lights and buttons and levers....so he was in hog heaven.  I found the tour a bit dry since that kind of mechanical stuff is very NOT me------however, both Trisha and I did enjoy that one part of the tour had us in a crew area with a staff bulletin board with postings for crew and cast members to read.  Rather than listening to the explanation of how much fuel the ship uses and how many nautical miles an hour it can go, we were reading about staff dress & appearance codes, the punching in and out procedure for shifts, tips for how to provide good Disney customer service, and "what cast/crew can expect if they come down with GI illness" (for those who are curious----they, and all their belongings, are taken of the ship at the very next port of call until they are cleared and well enough to be back on the ship----DCL is very sensitive the issue of not allowing flu bugs and other germs to get passed around in the very close quarters).  Both Trisha and I thought this bulletin board was very amusing and interesting....so everyone got something out of the tour, after all!! LOL  It was a nice treat....and we were really grateful to Trisha and Ben for having made it possible for us to join them!