Cruising is FUN

At 6.30 "Standby BElow" was rung as Ventura approached the Catalonian Coast. At 7.02 the local BArcelona Pilot embarked as we entered Barcelona Harbour. All Bridge and engine room arrival checks were complete and at 7.05 Ventura swung bow to port off berth. At 7.34 the first mooring line was sent ashore and by 8.04 Ventura was all secure alongside Muelle Adosado Terminal B in Barcelona.

From noon until our arival in Barcelona, Ventura steamed a distance of 372 nautical miles at an average speed of 21.6 knots and from Southampton to Barcelona Ventura steamed a distance of 1743 nautical miles at an average speed of 21.1 knots

At 15.30 2 hours notice was given to the engine room for departure. Clearance was granted from the local authorities for departure and with all pre departure checks complete, the captain gave the order to let go the mooring lines. 17.14 with all the mooring lines clear we commenced thrusting off the berth, and 2 mins later we bagan to move ahead. Once clear of the breakwater, Ventura disembarked the local pilot and set a north easterly course along the Spanish and French coastline.

Day 5 Barcelona

After 3 days at sea, it was really nice to make landfall and where better than Barcelona. As most of you know, the cruise ships offer a huge range of tours that can take you from a couple of hours to all day. Having cruised as many times as we have, we are quite selective about the trips that we do, and often opt to stay around the port area, just having a short walk off to visit the local shops or markets.

Today we decided to do just that. The ship/port offered a complimentary shuttle bus into the edge of town, so we jumped onto that. I dropped us off just a short walk from the famous Barcelona street of La Rambla.

We spent the best part of the morning walking down the street and taking in the atmosphere of the souvenir stalls, pet stalls with ferrets, chinchillas and the meat and vegetable market.

La Rambla has many many street entertainers that dress up and pose with tourists for a couple of coins. I chose a Roman Emperor and Amanda chose an elegant lady.

By noon we were back on the ship and relaxing by the pool, where we spent a lazy afternoon.

Tonights show is Jimmy Carr the comedian and we are also eating in the special restaurant, The White Room, designed by Michelin cheff Marco Pierre White.

I had Salami To start and then the Pork, Amanda had Clams Then Lobster with Spaghetti, cheese board and Tiramisu for desert with coffee and for the first time I tried Chocolate wine.

Was it worth the extra money? Well for one time I would say try it but I don’t think that when you compare the standard of the food on the rest of the ship that it is worth the extra cost, but I think you should decide for yourself.

Jimmy Carr was very funny and unusually Amanda enjoyed the comedian which normally she doesn’t Later that evening I played in a Blackjack tournament in the casino and came a disappointing 4th – Oh well you can’t win them all.

Tomorrow sees us in Villafrance, the port for Nice and Monaco.