Friday May 8th Newcastle-Barcelona
I was dreading this flight, Easyjet was all new to me, i have visions of pushing, shoving, arguments, stags parties, hen parties and drunks.
It was all far from that, we paid for Speedy Boarding as i did not want the dash for a seat, we had comfy seats, loads of legroom, no one in the middle seat so a row to ourselves. On time departure, landed early, great inflight service, if not a little expensive, everything is chargeable, drinks, sandwiches, tea, coffee and confectionary, i did think the scratch card service was a little tacky but the 149 seat 737-700 was a great ride and we all enjoyed the flight.
BARCELONA, SPAIN
We all decided to go a day early anbd stay in a hotel before the cruise as it was a tight connection for the ship so it was more less stressful.
The hotel was clean and comfortable and we enjoyed looking around the city visiting Gaudis unfinished building which they were building in 1975 when i had my first holiday abroad.
Also i was unaware of the Gaudi "finished" hotel in the city centre which has a sort of Flinstones appearance.
The underground system was very confusing so we ended up taking taxi's.
We had a Mezze meal that evening which was expensive for what it was so we called at a local store and bought chocolate, crisps, biscuits and cheese and pigged out in the hotel as we played a few hands of cards.
We all look forward to the free food from tomorrow on the "Navigator Of The Seas"
VILLEFRANCHE, FRANCE
This port is the gateway for Monte Carlo, Monaco and Nice, we tendered from the ship to the port and it was completely organised, no queues, no pushing or rushing, just plain sailing.
We just missed the train to Monte Carlo and the next one was an hour and a half later so we paid three euros each return to Nice (£3), it was a long walk to the seafront and then we got the tram back up the main street to the station after looking around the city.
Some great buildings and water features, also very clean, it is a shame we sailed at 415pm or we could have stayed a little longer.
We were joined in the port by the Grand Voyager which used to belong to Royal Olympic Cruise lines who went bust and is now with a Spanish company.
CAGLIARI, SARDINIA
I was looking forward to this port and i was not disappointed, it was clean, refreshing, the town had some great views once you climbed the hundreds of stairs, the room tops reminded me of Dubrovnik last year, red tiles and light stone buildings.
We grabbed a drink in a nice cafe before strolling back to the boat, the weather was once again amazing.
PALERMO, ITALY
I had heard that this city was all hustle and bustle, dusty and full of the Mafia, well they were not wrong about the busy roads almost impossible to cross and it was a very very dusty city with cars covered that everyman and his dog had wrote their name on the bonnet or windows.
Already a heavily populated city, it did not help when 9000+ extra cruise ships holidaymakers invaded the streets, we were joined by the 102,000 ton Costa Concordia and the new 100,000 ton MSC Fantasia, great looking ships but i still preferred ours,with the good use of the English language even though there were many spaniards on the boat.
DAY AT SEA
These days can be pretty hectic as no one gets off the boat and when the weather is good it is a battle for a sun lounger, we got 4, pride of place too.
I left to take some internal photographs of the ship when everyone else was sun worshipping, the venues look better when all neat and tidy.
The show this evening was good, not so much Las Vegas but the singers and dancers were of a good standard and we all enjoyed it.
We never got to use the climbing wall or the ice rink but we did see the ice show and it was amazing that a cruise ship has such a venue, great skaters who worked hard on such a small area of ice.
THE RETURN FLIGHT
The flight home was pretty uneventful, we sat in the same seats as the way out, 4D and 4F, the centre seat remaining free as it was on the way out, the only problem occurred during boarding in Barcelona when we were coached out to the aircraft, the crew were not ready when we got to the aircraft so we were left on the coach, the doors were opened to keep us cool and when we were given the thumbs up it was like a stampede as Easyjet do not issue boarding cards and it is free seating, we paid for Speedy boarding but that all went out of the window.
Sandwiches were £3.50 and a coffee was £2.10, we also paid £248.00 for the return flights for both of us so not a cheap deal.
I would recommend Easyjet, plenty legroom, friendly staff, ontime departures and arrivals on both sectors, clean aircraft.
