From our friends who will be on Mush:

The cruise was absolutely wonderful. Our cabin had a couch and kingsize bed and a balcony. The bathroom was nice size also. Had room service and coffee on the balcony every morning. All of the ports were wonderful. I'm looking forward to the Alaskan cruise and the smaller ship. Actually, the fact that the Voyager of the Sea had 3100 passengers wasn't really a problem. Two nights we and another couple chose to eat at a small, really good restaurant on the ship. Great food and wine. Some of the people on the cruise didn't get there luggage at all, because the baggage handlers at Barcelona went on strike ( only for a few hours) but it shut everything down including the airplanes landing. We came in 3 days early so didn't suffer. Some people were diverted to Madrid and then spent $850 for a taxi to get to Barcelona to the ship. Our friend was pickpocketed in Barcelona and unfortunately he had $2000 in cash on him.&nb sp; But he handled it well, and didn't let it bother him. I couldn't have done that, but then I wouldn't have $2000 in cash on me either.

Kathy,
Glad that you had fun on RCCL ship.

We were on one back at the end of May that went from Phil to Bermuda it was a small ship of RCCL- and that is the ship that we actually got started cruising! :)

On this cruise- not many kids. We actually had to go out in the hallway to get the announcements- and that was because we had a medical er and went back down off the coast of SC and the helicopter came and landed on the pool deck. Remember this ship is old and small. It was amazing what they did. And yes, we were sitting by the captains table and we saw the officers eatting with the cruisers.

As we all say each cruise is different- and that is what make it so much fun to cruise.
Jan

Joanna, I got pickepocketed in Barcelona too! That place is absolutely notorious for pickpockets. Luckily for me, though, all they got was the little leather folio that had my ship cardkey on it. It was in a small outside zip pocket of my backpack -- the only valuable thing in my backpack, as my valuables were all in a moneybelt under my clothes. We had a good laugh over that one -- I figure the pickpocket managed to unzip that little pocket and felt in there, thought he'd hit the jackpot with a leather wallet...only to end up with a completely useless card with my picture on it! LOL! Afterwards I got teased a lot that some Spanish street kid would manage to make himself look like me well enough to sneak onto the ship and into my room. For the rest of the cruise I insisted that I had to get back to my room early every night so I could spend time with my buddy Pedro!

Kathy, welcome back. I'm glad to hear you had fun with your family. Sorry about your stepdaughter's illness--Lupus is an awful disease, and attitude has so much to do with it (David's sister has lupus.)

It is wonderful that we all here have the wherewithall to take these amazing holidays on RSSC, but we shouldn't belittle the mass-market lines too much, since many of the people on them are doing "trip of a lifetime" vacations. I have many friends who would give their eyeteeth to do this kind of trip.

I'm also sure you will enjoy Holland--my sister-in-law (the one with lupus), has done several, and likes the line--we can't persuade them to do Regent with us, they can't get their heads around spending that kind of money.

Wow, happy to hear that your stepdaughter has lived with Lupus for so long. My mother died 22 years ago of lupus having been diagnosed just 6 months before her death. Whenever I gave that info in my family medical history many doctors "pooh pooh"'ed the notion that this was her cause of death. That changed after Charles Kurault died of the same illness. My brother's wife ( so NOT a blood relation) also has it and has good days and really, really bad ones. In fact we are all set to go on family Disney cruise next spring but she won't go because the sun makes her so sick.
Anyone "done" Disney?

Thanks to all of you who shared my enjoyment of this special weekend.