Barcelona

November 30^th, 2024

The day has finally arrived! We got up early, put our luggage outside the door of our room so it could be taken directly to the ship, had breakfast and did some shopping stopping to admire Casa Batllo.

Then came the wait to catch the coach to the ship.

It seemed like we had to wait forever, but finally it was noon, and we eagerly boarded the coach and said goodbye to the Majestic Hotel.

However, we did not head in the direction of the cruise port, instead we were treated to a scenic tour of Barcelona.

I could have done without that, my ship is waiting for me. Apparently it was a way to kill time so we all didn’t arrive at the pier at the same time.

When we finally did arrive at the port our little 448 passenger ship was dwarfed by the Virgin Valiant Lady, MSC Fantastica and P&O Iona. I must say that I was happy to be boarding a smaller ship.

Check in was not as swift as I was expecting, it took nearly an hour, but finally we were able to hand over our passports and yellow fever vaccination certificates and head to the ship where we were welcomed by the cruise director. A nice touch. I didn’t know whether to be happy or upset that he remembered our names. Had we really been THAT memorable on our last cruise? In a good or bad way? Time will tell.

I was thrilled to be on board, but I must say that actually stepping onto the ship is a bit of a letdown.

I suppose I am biased, but the Sojourn just has no wow factor, give me my beloved Queen Mary 2 any day. Where is the Grand Lobby with the sweeping staircase? Where are the beautiful flowers in the middle of the lobby? The soaring ceiling? The string quartet? The red uniformed bell boys? The Sojourn is simply very bland. It’s great to be onboard, but I do miss Mary.

However, when I opened the door to our cabin, I must say I liked what I saw. The cabins really are very beautiful with masses of storage space. There is both a European and US outlet at the dressing table. A good thing that is too as I thought I had packed the transformer for my hot brush in case I had to use European outlets (as I did in the hotel) but it is nowhere to be found. Saved from flat hair by the US outlet. Phew!

Most importantly the bathrooms have 2 basins and a separate bathtub and shower. Not plastic shower curtain in sight.

Yes, boarding the Sojourn is a very ho hum experience, but for the next 90 days I must say I am going to be very happy in this cabin, or should I say suite.

We went to the pool for lunch, happy that it was warm enough to eat outside.

Despite our fears that our luggage may have gone astray, all 5 bags soon appeared at our door, and the task of unpacking began.

This was not completed by the time we were due to sail away, and we couldn’t miss our first sail away so we headed up to deck 9 to watch our departure. The band was playing great music, and there was a wonderful festive atmosphere. Then the band played the Toto song, Africa, and off we headed on our Grand Africa adventure. Goodbye Barcelona, we will see you again at the end of February!

We went back to our cabin and finished our unpacking. We put up the map Emma gave us in 2017 so we could track our travels. We have bought tiny magnets to place on each port as we go along 

We were able to find room for everything – these cabins are really well designed.

There is a choice of 5 restaurants for dinner, the Restaurant, the Colonnade, Sushi Bar, Earth and Ocean, and the specialty restaurant, Solis (formerly Thomas Keller). We settled on meeting our friends at the Colonnade.

The first meal had its issues. We were initially shown to a table for 6 and told that they could turn it into a table for 4. The table was large, and conversation would have been a challenge. We asked to be seated at a nearby available table for 4. The waitstaff seemed to be reluctant to do this, but we were insistent. We were seated by a window and the window ledge needed cleaning. The food was good, but the service was slow. The waiter brought our friend the wrong drink but was obliging when our friend requested a replacement. When our friend ordered a second drink it still hadn’t appeared by the time we had finished our meal. However, we requested fresh berries for the table and we were brought a large bowl of tasty berries, so I thought that made up somewhat for the previous issues.

When we went back to our cabin there were our chocolates waiting for us, and also a Seabourn bag (I am so happy they are still giving them out) and a planter filled with beautiful succulents.

After dinner we went to the welcome on board dance party in the Club. We didn’t actually dance, but we enjoyed listening to the music for a while. We decided to have an early night – I was looking forward to being rocked to sleep as we sailed from Barcelona to Majorca.

Our 90 day cruise is finally underway. It’s hard to believe that the Sojourn will be our home for the next 3 months. It’s also hard to believe how incredibly lucky we are. Bon voyage to us!