Thursday, June 29, 2006

BARCELONA !!!

... but only just

Thanks to faulty air-con the flight from Newcastle to Gatwick was delayed. We caught the flight to Barcelona with seconds to spare. Our luggage wasn't so lucky ...

As of 9:30 am Sunday we're still waiting for it.

Now onto the good bits.

It’s a bit of a strange thing, saying that the cruise runs from Barcelona to Rome when all you see of the two cities is the road from the airport to the docks. But hey, we’ve still got St Tropez, Monte Carlo, Genoa and Bonifacio to go. It’s going to be great seeing Monte Carlo when there isn’t a Grand Prix and the streets aren’t full of stalls selling Ferrari branded tat.

The shipping company collected us from the airport and whisked us across to the port and our ship. As soon as you see the port you start straining your eyes and asking “Which one is ours”. In fact ours is probably the smallest cruise ship in the port. Maximum capacity is only 265 people. But then we find small groups much better. Silversea ships have just one restaurant, no matter who you are, and you can eat at any time you wish, and sit with anyone you wish. On the really big ships, you can only eat in the restaurant that matches the level of your ticket, and sometimes you can only sit on a certain table and eat at a certain time. No thanks, we prefer the Silversea method.

Speaking of food, the company claim that you can put on as much as four pounds a day if you really try. Think about it, you can have an early breakfast in your suite (definitely NOT a “cabin”) , then a second breakfast from the buffet in the terrace café, plus a third breakfast in the restaurant. Come eleven o’clock and the poolside grill will be open. You can have two lunches, one in the terrace café and a second in the restaurant. Then it’s back to the poolside grill (and bar!!) before afternoon tea (with the most delicate sandwiches you have ever seen). Finally there is dinner in the restaurant, usually quite formal. There is an informal buffet style dinner in the café, and of course if you’re still peckish room service is free. Add in unlimited wine, beer or cocktails and you can see where they get their four pounds a day. I presume that on the three week cruises passengers explode before the end. I should point out that we only have one breakfast, one lunch and one dinner each.

Off to our suite now to see if the luggage fairy has left us anything.

John & Marie

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