donalk

I'd love to visit Monaco some day.  It looks exactly like the scene of many James Bond films and is quite beautiful

Last month, my better half Pauline and I were on one of Liberty's last European trips, and with Allure replacing her on the Western Mediterranean route next year, we don't know if we'll see her back in Europe again.
 
We sailed from Barcelona, and visited Marseilles, Villefranche, La Spezia, Cicitavecchia and Naples. For regular podcast listeners, I previewed this cruise with Matt before we left, and will be reviewing it in the coming days.
 
With this in mind, the review will be "photo heavy", with an emphasis on the ports. In September, JasonD wrote a very good Liberty review, but as an Italian resident he didn't get off in a number of the ports because he lives in Italy. This will be slightly different!
 
We flew from Belfast (the closest international airport to our home) to Barcelona on the Friday, and spent two days in the city before sailing on the Sunday.
 
We stayed in Hotel Continental, with a balcony room overlooking La Ramblas. very noisy at night, but a superb location.
 
On the Saturday, after visiting La Sagrada Familia (be sure to book online, the line to get in was quarter of a mile long by the time we were leaving), we did a boat tour of the harbour. Pullmantour's 'Sovereign' was in port, a ship Royal Caribbean veterans may well recognise!
 

 
That night, 20 of us who had participated on a roll call on Cruise Critic met up for dinner in a local restaurant, and the next day, we took a taxi  to the port to board Liberty of the Seas.
 
The boarding process was seamless (apart from the fact that I left my phone behind at security, but managed to get it when I went back down two hours later!), and we were soon exploring the ship with some of our new Cruise Critic friends.
 

 
That's me in the black t-shirt at the end.
 
We were on MyTime dining, so we booked a meal in the MDR for 9.15 and went to the early show in the theatre. Luke Arrowsmith was CD, who was seen all over the ship, frequently with activities manager Cici acting as a Spanish translator. The show itself was grand, an aerial act and a juggler. One feature of European cruises is that because they tend to be more multilingual, there are very few comedians, with far more emphasis on visual arts and music.
 
After an enjoyable show and a great meal, it was on to the Royal Promenade for the salsa parade, and then to bed. France's second biggest city was waiting for us.
 

That last week is the best, and worst, week ever.  So close but it seems to crawl by!

I think Windjammer is very underrated as a dinner option. If you go in at 8.30 - 9pm, there's no problem getting a table, the food selection is excellent. Best of all, you can have a great dinner, head out for a 15 minute walk, then come back for a great dessert!

I had a party last night to celebrate my half century - Imagine my surprise when this was produced!
 

My son arranged the cake - It was made by his friend's sister's best friend who runs a home based cake making company called "Tiers of Joy" - Great name!
 
He told her I loved cruising, Royal Caribbean is our cruise line of choice, and our favourite cruise as a family was on Vision (Baltic in 2010). 
 
My wife and I are cruising on Liberty in October.

I had a party last night to celebrate my half century - Imagine my surprise when this was produced!
 

I had a party last night to celebrate my half century - Imagine my surprise when this was produced!
 

I had a party last night to celebrate my half century - Imagine my surprise when this was produced!
 

Hi all, I'm Donal from Ireland, first cruise was aboard Navigator in 2008, our fifth cruise will be this coming October on Liberty sailing out of Barcelona. I first heard Matt on the Cruize Cast podcast with Kayleigh and James, and when they mentioned he had his own, I've been listening since. Looking forward to contributing to the board and to the podcast as well.