15 day Transatlantic cruise to Barcelona Spain...

We left Lima Peru and all the wonderful people, food, scenery,adventures (and reasonable prices for everything) and flew to Miami then bused to Fort lauderdale for 3 relaxing days on the beach before we boarded the Caribean Navigator of the Seas for a 15 day Transatlantic cruise to Barcelona Spain, It is one of the repositioning cruises where the ships move from the Caribean to Europe for the summer, It was not much more expensive than a flight and we thought we would see what it was like to be pampered yet see some other cities at our Ports of Call (Bermuda, Azorye Islands and Lisbon in Portugal, then Seville, Cadiz and Barcelona in Spain),
We had a few "cruise suitable" clothes sent to Miami, and sent our Inca trail woolies home but could not compete with the groups of cruisers who dressed to impress in a different set of clothing for every meal, event and even at the pool, It took Mike and I a few days to relax and enjoy not having to pack and figure out travel plans, meals, etc and to fit in with the majority of passengers (most over 65 who have cruised 10 or more times and expect to be constantly waited on), Luckily first impressions changed and we met some great people, We also had a tough time adjusting to going from being together as a family 24/7 to losing our kids to the full schedule of organized teen activities and seeing them at 1:00 am (teen curfew on the boat) and then again at 6:00 pm for dinner in the luxurious dining room (Justin most nights; Dylan 3 times and maybe for an occasional mini golf game or to shoot a few baskets on the bball court together: They have never stayed up until 1:00 before and would you let your kids be gone for 15 hours per day zith kids you don't know and whose parent you never do meet? If you zant to enjoy yourself on a vacation and not worry about your kids; a cruise is definitely the place to be, Once we realized that it was kind of nice having time without them, we made our own routine, We'd walk the track then go to the terrific gym every morning; read by the pool; play scrabble; and we enjoyed terrific music and shows every night without worrying about them, we loved it: We dragged them out as we passezd through the straights of Gibralter and clearly saw the Rock of Gibralter and Portugal on the left of the boat and Morroco; Africa on the other side---my first thought was that if Africa is that close; we should go to the harbour and see if we can get a boat across! Mike sensibly said----we have enough on our plate to see,,,maybe another trip:
Unfortunately in Barcelona the boat had a mechanical problem that they tried to fix in Lisbon, Beccause of the problem, the only stop in Europe was Lisbon before we finished the trip in Barcelona: We received compensation but people were very upset, The kids really bonded with about 10 other kids: They all had a long cry on the last night and did not want the trip to end: Lots of sports including rock cliimbing; ice skating in line skating; basketball; dodgeball; texas holdem; and wiii tourneys etc---hard to believe the variety of things to do on a ship:
The Euro is sure different than the value of an American dollar in S America, We spent more on public transit in Lisbon qnd Barcelona for short bus rides than it would cost to go across Ecuador! We were so spoilt there, Europe however is a very exciting place, Beautiful old castles, cathedrals squares in Lisbon then very Cosmopolitan Barcelona with the wide pedestrian sidewalk and the live statues dressed in very realistic costumes all along the street, We spent a full day in Barcelona then took the train to Perpignon France, What beautiful countyside along the Mediterranean, First breakfast,,,fresh strawberries; croissants, expresso! We pick up a car in Narbonne tomorrow then drive to Carcassone for a couple of days, It has been great to hear the kids speak french and for them to understand the conversations on the train and on the streets, although Dylan keeps switching from habit to spanich,

Bye for now

Gail (another new type of keyboard here so lots of errors:::sorry