Trip Index
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(
Warning: supersized post! Sorry for the delay...finally closing out this trip after 10 months...I am so behind!!!)
Celebrity Equinox arrived in Barcelona; time for us to say goodbye to the ship that had been our home for the past 7 nights. Disembarkation was well organized, but the worst part was waiting in the snaking long taxi line. Our dock was not right in town so walking was not possible. I saw people getting on public buses so that could have been an alternative. I would suggest a private transfer/guided tour or getting off the ship very early or very late as the taxi line eventually died down right after we joined it. I had researched doing a guided city tour through
Barcelona Day Tours, but they were sold out by the time I inquired.
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| thankfully the line was in the shade |
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| so close, yet so far |
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We eventually got taxis and headed to
Hotel Inglaterra Barcelona. I found a recommendation off the
Spain Ports board on Cruise Critic. The location was good and the hotel, though not particularly Spanish-themed, was modern and comfortable. (the minibar was not complimentary)
Our first order of business...looking for a tapas restaurant. We settled on
Restaurant Nuria on the main street (Rambla). It wasn't the best tasting food, but it satiated our hunger. My favorite was the plate of
Padron peppers.
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| paella didn't have a crispy bottom :( |
After lunch, we boarded a
HOHO (hop-on hop-off) bus for a tour of the city, getting off at various landmarks. Lots of interesting architecture...old mixed with new! Then throw in a beach...
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| we were warned not to stand before the overpass... |
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| ...I think we had a foot clearance! |
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We hopped off the bus at
La Sagrada Familia, a famous church designed by Antoni Gaudi. There was a long line to get in. You could buy tickets online and go through the "privileged access" entrance at your chosen time. We didn't pre-purchase tickets, but I was able to access the website on my phone and could have bought tickets right then and there, but the time that we wanted sold out before the group could decide on going. The next available tickets were an hour after that; we decided to hop back on the bus and continue our tour of Barcelona.
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| lots of tourists |
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| queue for tickets wrapped around the building |
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| we ended up just getting pictures in front |
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| church under construction until 2026 |
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We also stopped off at
Park Guell, another masterpiece by Gaudi. From the ho-ho bus stop, there was a bit of a walk and an escalator to get to the park. Tickets were also needed to visit the "Monumental Zone" and the next entrance time available was an hour away so we decided not to partake and just got pictures from the outside. We then went souvenir shopping and snack-hunting.
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| outdoor escalator |
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| Park Guell |
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| part of "Monumental Zone" ticketed area |
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| whimsical structures |
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Once the bus tour was over, the group set out looking for dinner. I found
Ciudad Condal on Yelp. There was a wait but we passed the time by ordering beverages from the "secret side bar" outside the restaurant.
Ciudad Condal was pretty busy even though it wasn't official dinner time by Spanish standards. We eventually got seated at a table in the back of the restaurant and were told we had to vacate by 8:30pm, which was no problem. (If you are a party of 1 or 2, it is highly recommended to sit at the tapas bar so you can point to everything you want to try!) The menus were mostly in Spanish (the English translations were not helpful) so we asked our server for suggestions. My, what a tasty meal! There were a bunch of other tapas I wanted to try but no room. I believe a couple of friends who were staying longer in Barcelona ate here again the next night!
The night was very pleasant...
La Rambla was full of pedestrians, performers and street hawkers. The guys who were selling counterfeit purses had the display all rigged up with string so when the cops came, they could pull everything up in a second and run.
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| a great time had by all! |
Too bad we only had one night in Barcelona...I could probably stay a week here to see all the sights and enjoy the cuisine.
Early the next morning, we partook in the hotel's complimentary breakfast, which had a nice selection.
Then we headed via taxi to the airport, save a couple of our friends who
were staying an extra night in Barcelona. To save money, you could
also take the
Aerobus from the city center or various locations around the city.
Kaleb and I arrived at the airport close to three hours before departure, recommended for international travel, but due to flight delays and ticket snafus, this was almost not enough time...
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| it took us about 1.5 hours to get to the front |
We were not sure what was going on, but the Lufthansa ticketing agents were prioritizing passengers on earlier flights than ours (ie. ones departing in an hour!) so we waited in line for almost 90 minutes. Eventually we made it up to the counter with a little over an hour to spare. The agent had no problems checking in Kaleb and printing out his boarding pass but could not check me in. I knew that it was related to the "PNR splitting" issue that we
encountered during online check-in at the beginning of the trip, when I clicked "Yes" when the website asked if I wanted to automatically check in on the return. The Lufthansa agent was unable to fix the issue in their database so he told us to hurry to the United desk to sort it out, then cut to the front of the line afterwards. At the United booth, we waited for over 20 minutes as the couple in front of us had to reroute their itinerary with only one agent on duty. Eventually we were attended to and the agent typed on the keyboard for a while and needed to make a phone call to fix my issue with Lufthansa. However, in the end, she could only print out Kaleb's onward boarding passes. At this point, our flight was about to leave in 30 minutes! We headed back to the front of the Lufthansa line and caught the eye of the agent that helped us. He shook his head as he pointed to his watch...universal translation: "too late!" He called us up after he was finished with his customer and tried to check us in again but still had problems. The supervisor came over and within a few minutes, she performed some kind of magic on the keyboard, which resulted in luggage tags and my boarding pass printed out; the rest would need to be sorted out in Frankfurt. He was going to call the gate to expect us, but we would have to RUN! Good thing I was wearing sneakers.
At this point, you're probably wondering, what about security? There was a line...a nice thing about the Barcelona airport is that there is a sign displaying the approximate wait time. In our case, it was something like 7 minutes...probably a few more than we had to spare. I was starting to freak out, but Kaleb held his cool and went up to the person manning the entrance to security and pointed to our boarding time. His eyebrows went up and he immediately unhooked the stanchion belt for us to bypass the line...thank goodness! Within minutes, we got through security then sprinted through the duty-free area towards the gate. Fortunately it wasn't the furthest away (but not the closest one either). As we approached with gasping breaths, the gate agent asked our names and we nodded vigorously as we handed over the boarding passes. We boarded the plane right at the 10 minute mark when the gate would close. Incredibly, we were not the last to arrive; an older lady sauntered up slowly behind us in the jetway.
Due to the ticket snafu, I lost my seat so Kaleb and I were separated. I was in a middle seat, but the flight from Barcelona to Frankfurt wasn't terribly long.
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| yogurt snack on flight LH 1125 |
Landing in Frankfurt, we had to go through passport control. At first, I was hesitant to go through because I didn't have an onward boarding pass yet, but they were only checking passports. Arriving at the United transfer desk, I received boarding passes for the remaining flights. Everything all worked out, yea! Then we had to walk very fast to get to our connecting flight in a different terminal since we only had an hour to spare. Many times on
The Amazing Race TV show, teams would miss their connection in Frankfurt as the terminals are connected in a serial fashion. (good luck transferring from the farthest A gate to E gate in an hour!)
Remember that I mentioned in the
first blog entry for this trip that I used 20k miles + copay each to upgrade us to business class but were waitlisted for the international portion? While waiting to board, I checked our position on the business class waitlist using the United phone app. I saw that Kaleb was #23 on the list, but I was nowhere to be found. I thought perhaps they deleted me off the waitlist during the ticket snafu. Then I noticed a tab for first class waitlist and clicked on that. It turned out that our plane was swapped from 2-class to a 3-class at the last minute and I was cleared into the
Global First cabin...no way!!! I went up to the gate agent to inquire about the upgrade and was handed my new boarding pass, seat 1K. :) I had inadvertently scored the elusive "
double upgrade". I probably cleared into seat 1K in the
BusinessFirst cabin between the time I got my boarding passes until the plane was swapped (thanks to the ticket snafu which separated me from Kaleb, I was now a single statused passenger, which is a better situation for "battlefield upgrades" - upgrades assigned at the gate or on the plane), then the seat assignments got transferred over to the new plane. The equipment swap caused a problem in the coach cabin as all the seat assignments got jumbled up from having fewer number of seats. Kaleb's seat moved from a window to an aisle (still better than a middle), and he overheard several passengers negotiating swaps with others to try to seat their family together.
My first time in the Global First cabin! (though if I was forward enough, I might have gotten the experience years earlier, but that is the subject of a "Time Machine" post someday) Whenever I flew United international business class and had a seat close to Global First, I'd get glimpses of the service in there through the mesh curtain dividing the cabins, including the ice cream cart. Now I'd get to be on the other side.
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| lie-flat seat |
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| personal entertainment system |
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| buttons and plugs, amenity kit |
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| BusinessFirst amenity kit contents |
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The amenity kit was the BusinessFirst version, not Global First. That would make sense if the plane was swapped last-minute and the catering/restocking truck only had BusinessFirst items. Also, the Global First menu is the same as BusinessFirst, except for an extra soup course (which was served).
Upon boarding, I was offered snacks and beverages, and after takeoff, ramekins of warmed nuts were distributed.
I was able to get my first choice of entree. Too bad I don't drink, as there was a wide selection of libations. All the food was delivered via cart. Kaleb forgot to take a picture of his dinner.
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| UA 965 Global First menu |
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| soup course in First |
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| chicken skewer |
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| zucchini and parmesan soup |
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| fresh salad with vinaigrette |
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| Indian-spiced shrimp |
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| I just selected one slice of cheese |
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I indulged in both desserts on the menu: the cheese plate and of course, the ice cream sundae! The cheese cart was served first. Once I was done with that, the ice cream cart came by. I was too embarrassed to take a picture of either cart, but you can visit
Matthew's review to see photos.
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| my ice cream sundae |
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| what Kaleb got in coach |
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I was ready to take advantage of the "sleeping cushion with turndown service" as advertised in the brochure. I asked a flight attendant about it and he replied that there wasn't any. Boo! (but makes sense again as it was originally supposed to be just BusinessFirst service) I was happy to have the lie-flat seat anyway, and I did have "two soft pillows" and "plush duvet" to make my sleep more comfortable as well as a bottle of water for hydration. I managed to get a few hours of shut-eye. We then awoke to supper as we were to land in Houston around 6:30pm.
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| chicken and mozzarella sandwich |
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| inside the chocolate box |
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| what Kaleb got in coach |
When we landed, the flight attendant was so nice to give me an extra box of chocolates as well as a large bottle of Aquafina. Overall (besides not having any sleeping cushions for turndown), the service was excellent! However, I don't think that Global First is worth the extra money or miles to upgrade as the BusinessFirst cabin offers a lie-flat seat. The Global First seat is slightly more comfortable, offers more privacy, and includes an extra soup course along with more service during meals, but I'd be happy sitting in BusinessFirst. Though I wouldn't turn down Global First if it was offered to me for free or at drastically low buy-up! :)
In Houston, we had to go through security again so I couldn't take the Aquafina with me. I went into the restroom and gave it to the cleaning lady instead since I didn't want to throw out an unopened bottle of water.
As Kaleb and I were already confirmed in first class a long time ago, we didn't have to check any waitlists for our last flight.
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| post-takeoff snack |
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| antipasti |
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Finally home sweet home! We weren't surprised that our luggage didn't make it, but we were heading home so it wasn't so bad (unless the house keys were packed in there! ;) ). We filed the report with the United baggage agent, and our luggage was delivered to the house the next day free of charge.
Another unexpected bonus: since we didn't get upgraded on the way to Europe, naturally the miles and co-pay for both tickets were refunded to my account. However, on the way back to the United States, I would have expected the miles and co-pay for just Kaleb's ticket to be refunded. (the domestic first class upgrade is "free" if the trans-atlantic portion is not upgraded) I was surprised to see *both* our miles returned to my account. I also saw one refund on my credit card, but it was referencing my ticket number! Apparently since I technically didn't fly in business class, the software assumed that I didn't clear the business upgrade waitlist and everything was refunded...quite logical I must say. But as I didn't see a refund for Kaleb's ticket, I emailed United about it. I got a response back apologizing for the error (again, probably due to the PNR splitting) and the co-pay was refunded within a few days. So I got my double upgrade for free...wow! I am very grateful for the experience.
In summary, cruising the Mediterranean on Celebrity Equinox was exquisite! I loved the layout of the ship, the food, the comfortable cabins. The ports of call were mostly good and booking our own excursions was a better value and also ensured a small group setting. We only had to book the one excursion through Celebrity in Sardinia because we couldn't find any other offering. You may want to consider the ship's excursions if you have a tight schedule, as the ship won't sail away without you, which is not so if you book through outside channels.
If this cruise or any other cruise sounds like something you'd like to do, feel free to contact me to plan your vacation! Depending on the sailing, my travel agency can have great prices, plus offer you onboard credit or complimentary gifts and coupon books.
What's next on the horizon? A day trip into Napa to meet old friends...stay tuned!
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Day 6 and 7 of Celebrity Equinox Mediterranean cruise - Day at Sea and Palma de Mallorca
