Shaun530

We stayed at the H10 Madison last July. Definitely give this hotel a look-- the views of the Cathedral from the rooftop pool are amazing and most of the staff spoke fluent English well.

I've run into this twice in recent months. In both instances, I had to call and specifically ask them to "push" the OBC through now rather than later. I had to wait on hold for a while but when the process was completed, the OBC showed up in cruise planner within a day. YMMV but I thought I'd mention this for anyone in the same boat

We're booked for our first Celebrity Cruise in Japan next year on the Millennium... Has it improved over the duration of the cruise or has it been pretty consistent with regards to a low volume of wait staff? We had read some really good things about the crew on Millennium over on Cruise Critic so I'm a little sad to hear this.

We're looking at this exact hotel for next year. I'm reading online that an airport and cruise shuttle are both available for a surcharge--- any idea what the cost is for both of these?

July 16 Symphony This is our first Mediterranean cruise

I checked cruise planner this afternoon to discover the Beach Club has been posted at a price of $283.99 pp. When we were there last year, I managed to snag the passes for around $93 each. I think we'll look at renting a day bed on South Beach instead of the Beach Club this trip... hard to justify the purchase at that price.

We're on Freedom next July and I've been checking regularly for the beach club passes--- so far, no luck. Hopefully they're available by the time Black Friday rolls around

We always purchase our policies from travelinsurance.com--- I enjoy their comparison tool. We've never had to make a claim with a travel insurance policy but its certainly one of the things I wouldn't travel without

Thank you. I wasn't aware of the change but I do hate to see the paper compasses going away. We're that couple with a paper compass and a highlighter on a cruise... somehow, a PDF or the App just doesn't feel quite the same.

Where can we find the option to download a PDF of our cruise compass for our sailing?

We're cruising out of Barcelona in July and we're in the same boat. Our flight home is at 1:00 pm however one thing I might suggest is looking into The Key. We had it last time we cruised out of Miami and I have to say, that was the smoothest departure off a ship we'd ever experienced and our luggage was waiting in the Key section so we didn't have to spend time looking through multiple rows trying to find our bags. There were also porters waiting right next to the Key section so we grabbed one for our luggage and in total I think we were on our way to the airport within minutes after we passed through the facial recognition check point. We've got the Key for our trip to Barcelona... I'll make it a point to come back to this thread after our trip and let you know how it goes although I'm hoping for an equally smooth experience

Just curious what shore excursions you're planning for your trip? Rome looks like our longest day right now and we've had an excursion booked since Black Friday but a 10 1/2 hour day running around is longer than anything we've booked in the past when sailing in the Caribbean.

Thank you all for the replies. These are certainly helpful in figuring out our day in the city We're excited for this trip. We did Alaska in 2019 and had planned to sail the Mediterranean the following year but we all know how that turned out. This one has been a long time coming and some of the feedback I'm reading here is really driving up my excitement level for the trip.

Hello, all. First time poster, long time reader of these forums— glad I finally made an account. We’re Emerald members so while we aren’t new to Royal Caribbean, we are new to the destination we’re going to this summer—we’re cruising out of Barcelona on July 16. Our flight gets in the day before at 10am local time so we’ll be spending the day and night in the city. We’ve booked a room at the H10 Madison in the Gothic Quarter next to the Cathedral. I’ve been browsing through threads here but I’m specifically looking for impressions of the Gothic Quarter from anyone who has stayed there. Any recommendations for restaurants to try in the area? It looks like we’re within walking distance from Las Ramblas but some of the things I’ve been reading indicate this is a tourist trap to avoid although I’m open to impressions from anyone familiar with that specific area, too. Furthermore, are there any specific activities you’d recommend as an “absolutely-must-do” while in Barcelona for the day? Thanks in advance for any impressions offered