Cruise Day 2 Sea Day

We woke up fairly early on Monday morning and went for breakfast and our free freshly squeezed juice that we get with the Splash of Romance package. They are freshly squeezed, but then bottled until served.  First it was a bit of a challenge to figure out which bar to go to. It says at the Gym & Tonic bar which we thought was in one of the gyms (there's two gym spaces). It's actually one side of the structure in between the two pools (the side closer to The Galley). There were 4 or 5 options I think: Orange/Carrot/Ginger, Beet, Green, Grapefruit, Oranges. I don't remember which I had on which days; some days we missed it, some days they were out of a flavour. Most were way too strong and sweet for me. We did start adding bubbly water (Rob added Sprite) towards the end.

There was a lecture at 9:30-10:30 on Casablanca, but we didn't make it. We did end up being early for the next lecture at 11, on the Strait of Gibraltar. The speaker was Canadian, a Canadian university professor who spent his last 11 or so years at UPEI and now lives outside Ottawa. What a sweet job, giving lectures on a cruise ship! I enjoyed all his lectures. I missed the first knit gathering though.

After the lecture we went to brunch at Razzle Dazzle.  I don't have any pictures! Looking at the menu online, though, I don't recall eating any of those items! We went later in the cruise for brunch, and I recall that, so maybe we didn't actually go (I'm pretty sure we did though because we also went for dinner the next night and realized we shouldn't have gone so much in three days). 

I think we went and saw a comedienne, Jenny Collier. I thought she was funny; Rob isn't a woman so he didn't find her quite as funny. I'd rather go to a lecture than a comedy act though. It might have actually been the next night though.

Sitting in the Roundabout area before dinner. 

We went to The Wake for dinner. Rob had a little shrimp cocktail. He also might have had the wedge salad (can't remember if that was just at dinner).  I think I had the citrus and fennel salad.

I had read that the clam chowder is a must try, even if you don't like clams. It comes with potatoes, chives, bacon...crispy something seafood (the clams? in little cubes), shrimps. Then they pour the cream soup over top. It was quite good. My first time having clam chowder!

Most days we got to sit right near the windows, which was often created a discussion about they need some sort of automatic window washing system.

For dinner, I did try the bone marrow, and found it too rich and filling. Tasty though.  Looking at the menu, I'm sure I had the shrimps and grits at one point. Ate the shrimp, left the grits. Rob had the hanger steak I think and said it wasn't as good as the filet mignons (I really think we went here for brunch this day, not Razzle Dazzle! I can't tell from the time stamps on the photos because I didn't change the time on my camera. The shrimp and clam chowder photos are from my camera. To make it more confusing, the clam chowder is on both the brunch and the dinner menu, but the shrimp are brunch only). 

Over the two weeks, we tried most of the sides. Rob liked the mushrooms, I had the asparagus twice, the potato was great, the fries excellent, but I would have also loved some plain steamed broccoli or corn. Everything gets gussied up. Rob liked the American steak sauce. One day he asked for it at brunch though and they said they couldn't do that.

This dessert, was probably the best thing I ate. The website I'm using for the menus doesn't have the dessert menu! It was a lemon cheesecake, with this thin lemony shell. Delicious!!

Rob had this, it was a little chocolate tarte, maybe with hazelnuts or almonds? It was good but very rich.

I was extremely excited to go through the Strait of Gibraltar. Some cruises do this at like 4am, but we were expecting to go through around 11:30pm. The weather forecast was NOT good. We went to the upper deck anyway!

Ghostie hanging out in the towel stack to stay dry.

The legendary Rock of Gibraltar! 

 We kept running back and forth, from port to starboard. Off port was Africa! It's the flatter of the two. It was drizzling on deck, but amazingly we could see both shores. Even more incredible, was that the sea conditions were pretty calm! It is usually quite rough going through here. Of course, being in a bigger ship helps, but even still, many mention that this area is quite rough in cruise ships.  When you pass the Rock, you're actually just entering the Strait from the east end. The first pictures might even have been of Puerta de Ceuta, which is a Spanish outpost on the African side. After that, the Strait gets just a tiny bit narrower, and heads southwest. There is a LOT of ship traffic in the area. There are many ferry routes from cities and towns along the Mediterranean. Tangers, on the north shore of Morocco is a huge industry port, and there's a massive port outside the city to the east a ways. According to Google Maps, you can take a ferry from Barcelona to this port (as well as to cities in France and Genoa Italy).

After this excitement, we went to bed! We were arriving in Casablanca, Morocco in the morning! 

Cruise Day 1- Barcelona/Embarkation

 In the morning, we still hadn't decided how we were going to get to the pier where the cruise bus is. First up was some coffee, and we decided to try out Starbucks since it was right there. I had my first ever pumpkin spice latte. I've always felt they were a little over rated. It's just nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, cloves. Nothing actually pumpkin about it. What was great was that I found a travel mug that uses the lid I like. I had one for years, but then the lid broke (the rubbery part that seals the mouth hole). I had kept the mug hoping to find a new one but they seemed to have moved to a larger size in Canada. I do think I eventually threw out the mug though.

The really neat thing was the mug style is called "Lucy", which is our middle kid's name! Rob got a breakfast sandwich and an Americano, and our total was $45 Canadian! Crazy. I have so many Starbucks gift cards at home. I hadn't brought any because I thought we'd have real Spanish coffee.

In the FB group, people were reporting that they could see the ship from their hotels, so we went upstairs to look. It was there!

I have a really good zoom on my camera, though the air was a bit hazy, and it's hard to get a good photo without some motion. But when you consider that's more than a 30 minute walk!

A couple more shots from our balcony!

We still had time to kill, so Rob decided to see if he could figure out how to turn on the towel warmer. The front desk said we had to ask housekeeping, but why? He found the breaker panel in the closet, and with the help of Google Translate, he flipped a breaker. It worked! Not that we needed it, LOL, but if you're staying at the Hotel Jazz in Room 608....

Finally we decided we'd walk down behind La Ramblas as far as we could and then down La Ramblas and over to where the cruise port bus is. It was recommended to not walk to the terminal, especially if you have suitcases, and I'm glad we didn't. The weather started out nice but by the time we got to the Barcelona Maritime Museum, it was sprinkling. We paused there (bathroom break LOL), and then walked the rest of the way to the cruise bus.

There was one there but it was full and left, so we got on the next one.  Everyone else seemed to have a lot of luggage compared to us, and a woman commented on that. It felt a little expensive compared to the Metro, but it's a private company.

The bus goes over a big bridge and down to the last terminal, Terminal E. They're building a MSC terminal just beyond that one. The other terminals are shared, it seems. Then it works its way back to Terminal A.

We took our bags to the luggage drop. No luggage tags for Virgin. They slap one on it right there, so know your cabin number, including A/Z/M. People were hovering around the doors but I heard others say something about Rock Stars, so we decided to move across to the taxi area where there was a bit of cover. We were right at the end by the doors, it wasn't really a line but others followed in behind us. After a bit, it was actually raining and Rob wanted to move back to where it was a bit more covered. We moved back behind an elderly couple (she was in a wheelchair) and a younger (mid 40s?) couple. 

This couple was a tall slender man and a short plump woman. He was really, really extroverted we quickly learned! He would talk to everyone and anyone who stood still for 10 seconds. He was really hitting it off with the elderly couple and we heard him exclaim "Hot Diggity" at one point. Well, that became his identity to us! We heard there were only 1090 people on board, so we ran into them a lot. And it turned out they were down our hall near the elevators!

We heard that indeed, this was the line for those with the Splash of Romance package. A Virgin team member came along to make sure we were all Splash of Romance people. I'm not sure where the normal people were waiting. They board later though so they probably weren't showing up yet. I thought it would be like the Florida terminals, where you can wait inside in seating areas. No. 

Once the Rock Stars board, then it's our turn. We head through the doors and security screening is RIGHT there. Well, I think we had to zig zag through the line up maze, but just beyond security is a very large seating area. With no one sitting. I'm sure they could figure something out so that people could sit before security opens. It was fun going through the line up maze, seeing Mr Hot Diggity interacting with a new couple every time we turn the end of the row. We got through security and basically walked right up to the ticket/check in counter.

It was straight forward, we got our wearable bracelet, then shimmied down to the "customs" end of the counter where the police ignored us and talked to other officers, while stamping our passport. It was odd to get two stamps for Barcelona. Then you head through a cafe and shop area, which was empty because why spend money there to eat (or shop) when you're almost at the ship. If we had been waiting in that empty waiting area, then sure, I would have gotten a coffee. As we went through, we met Jazzy, a service dog, and her owner. This was the only time we saw Jazzy  in her vest though. She was well behaved and seemed to be having a great time on board. 

You enter the ship near the pizza shop which is deck 7. On the Royal ships we've been on, the Royal Promenade--the main deck that's like a shopping mall--and outside deck that goes around the ship--is on deck 5. First person we see is The Hostess, Milly. Gorgeous lady! On VV, they have The Happenings Cast. There are different positions: The Gamer, The Diva, The Charmer, The Foodie, The Hype, The Artist (and probably more). Then there is also the dancers from the shows. You are encouraged during your voyage to interact with the Happenings Cast, and you can get pins, or special invites to top secret events. Not being the most social people, I didn't know if this would happen.

Another cool thing is that as soon as you board, your cabin is ready. We had not received an upgrade, which was a bit disappointing. We were going to ask at Guest Services how much it would be, but Rob really liked our cabin location (for the most part).

It was 12186M--deck 12, cabin 186, in the Middle. It was definitely in the middle! 

Standard Virgin room.  There's lots of videos on YouTube if you're interested. There was enough clothes storage for us, though we used it all (baskets and drawers). I would have liked more desk storage though. There were some skinny, tall, and deep cubbies that weren't very user friendly except just to through things there. I had taken a fabric box from IKEA that folds flat by unzipping a zipper on the bottom.  This went on the desk for all the odds and ends, and I could have easily used another one in the desk cubbies. 

Not much storage in the bathroom either. Like, no medicine cabinet! The room steward (Leo) put a towel on the counter the next morning and arranged our things on it.

As well as the Splash of Romance package, I also splurged on this box of chocolates to be waiting in the cabin. They were very good!

We watched the safety video on the TV (uh...it's a very different video....) and went to find our muster station. It was deck 7....if there was an emergency in the first few days, I would not have known where to go back to. The Crew that were checking us in....the lady was very quiet. I think she was also our waitress one night at Razzle Dazzle. More on that later in the trip.

We headed up to the Galley for a late lunch.

Rob's first meal was a Halloween burger and fries (they were good fries!), and I think we got salads too. The Galley is like a food court, not a buffet. There's little food "stands" with different themes/food. There's a 24hr breakfast diner, a burger (and whatever was for dinner) stand, a breads/desserts stand that run across the middle. It's shaped sort of like an H (missing one leg), and one of the legs was Gunbae (the Korean BBQ restaurant), one leg was the Grounds Too... This post has some great info about it! When you get off the elevators (or come in from the pool deck), you can go left or right. I thought I had finally figured out which side to go to get my coffee but even towards the end of the two weeks I STILL went the wrong way sometimes!

Here's some tidbits of info. There's outdoor seating if you go all the way to the aft. The doors are not automatic though! The outside one is, but not the inside one. Strange. So be prepared to have a hand free. At any table, you can raise the flag for service, and they can get you anything, including simple bar service. However, we found it very slow back there! But it was a nice spot to eat! Another bit of info. If you're at the elevator, you can turn the opposite way and go out to the pool deck. There's not really any signage. You'll come out at the round pool. When you're out there, it's nearly impossible to see where the doors to go back in are! There's no signs, nothing! They're recessed behind the wall. We were out there the first day (or so) and couldn't remember which end was the Galley, or how to get to it. Just remember, eating too much in the Galley will make you round....like the round pool....and if you continue through the Galley you get to the aft. While in the aft eating area, you can look up and see the Triple Net above you. 

This was the first dessert I tried--their signature dessert. Resilient Lady's octopus, Inky, is this robin egg's blue. 

I hid the first Ghostie! This little guy glows in the dark, and I put a sticker on the bottom with my IG name. Virgin isn't big on cruise ducks--rubber duckies that people hide for others to find. However, it's a fun activity and many Sailors opt to do a more elevated version. Considering that this was a Hallowe'en cruise, I thought these little guys would be fun! Apparently they were, and it was great seeing people excited about finding one (I shared in the FB group hints sometimes).

A different view of Montjuic.

We meandered around the ship. The last cruise we had done was Symphony of the Seas, so this ship is like...1/3 the size. We stopped at a bar and I'm glad I took a picture of the menu because I really thought we had got our first drink at the Schooner Bar. On the Rocks is at the base of the Roundabout, and often has live music. It was a totally different vibe in the middle of the afternoon!

I got "The Entertainer". I though the sparkling wine would be the base of the drink. I wasn't expecting a shot glass. I asked how it's typically drunk, and the barmaid said you can shoot the wine then drink the drink, pour it in, sip them both, or shot the wine after the drink. I tried sipping the sparkling wine but didn't care for it, so I dunked it into the drink. It was okay. I prefer simpler drinks but every bar has these fancy type drinks. 

The sail away was rainy, so it was inside and I think we missed it. In other words, it wasn't notable. Maybe we had gone back to our cabin. 

Not really the view you want for the start of a 14 day cruise! 

This is The Net at the aft of deck 16. We never saw people on it after the first day or so. Not really a comfortable spot to lay or sit, even if the weather was better. It's cool and all, but another pool or hot tub would have been better. 

We did a tour of the spa, since we had passes with our Splash of Romance package. The tour was so detailed! Go in this room, and breath this way, for this amount of time, and then....I wish I had taken notes. Spoiler alert, when we finally did our session, towards the end of the cruise, the staff were like "it doesn't matter what order you do them in."

Originally I hadn't booked dinner because of the sail away party. I figured we'd just go to the Galley. Rob decided we should go to Razzle Dazzle though. In hindsight, we should have chosen another one because dinner the next night (or the 3rd day?) was also Razzle Dazzle.

The menus are pretty small for each restaurant. The portions tend to be smaller too. One thing we noticed was there wasn't anything plain, like how Royal has the "Classic" section on the menu with  steak, fish, chicken options that are plain. We had been told that you can totally customize things on Virgin though. Sometimes we could, sometimes we couldn't. Often, there were several items I'd like...but something about each one that I didn't like but didn't think it was something that could be altered. 

This was carrots in "brown butter crumble, fregola, caramelized yogurt, parmesan sauce." I have no idea was fregola is. The cheese was a foam, not a sauce. They weren't listed as a side dish on the menu (which is divided into Smoked/Steamed & Poached/Crispy/Low 'n Slow). I'm glad I also ordered:

"Short Rib Pastrami". Oh, it was very good! The description was "rye crisps, roasted cabbage, pickled mustard seed, whole grain mustard sauce." This was not at all how we were expecting it to come, but it was amazing! 

We were there right when they opened, and our meal was SO fast. Like, in and out in barely 30 minutes. 

I don't have notes but I think we might have gone to see "Love Love Love with the Hostess" in the Manor this evening. It was a fun little show but for some reason, based on the description being about the 5 Love Languages, I thought it'd be a little more educational. Didn't realize it was entirely a musical thing, with a small bit of audience participation. 

There was a lot of live music around the ship. Mainly solo artists, or very small groups. On our last cruise, on Symphony of the Seas, it was hard to see the musical acts because the venues are actually quite tiny. On the Virgin ships, these acts are in more open type areas where you can sit and watch, or walk around. You can easily come and go. 

I think we went to bed fairly early since we'd been so busy since we got to Barcelona.