Lambo62

Thanks so much for the quick replies, we too are from Canada, and are just looking for a bit of a break from the winter. Sounds like for the most part wandering off and exploring the ports a bit would suit us just fine. I may sign up for a snorkeling excursion, but my wife is not into that...thanks again

Hi all,

We are planning our second cruise. First was to Med a couple years ago for a special anniversary, and this will be our first to the western Caribbean on the Dawn in Feb.

Our med cruise was very port intensive and we did a lot of planning and had several private tours booked. It was an amazing cruise and we got to see so much. For this cruise my wife says she just wants to relax and not plan port excursions. Will we be missing out? I am not sure if I want to book a beach club, because if we wanted to do that we would just do an all inclusive resort, and seems like a waste since we already paid for ship perks. or is it?

Are there others out there that just go to the Caribbean to just relax? Are there must see's and do's like when we went to Rome etc? I am curious how experienced crusers feel about just lounging about when in the Caribbean.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Lambo

We were scheduled to stay at the hotel continental for our arrival night and departure night.

When we arrived we found out the hotel was overbooked, and after travelling through the night and being very tired, we weren't impressed. They were going to put us up at the sister hotel, Hotel Continental Palacete.

In the end we couldn't be happier about our experience, because of this overbooking, we were able to experience both hotels.

First off they paid for a cab to drive us the 10 minute walk to the Hotel Continental Palacete. They gave us a suite with a massive sitting room and a bottle of champagne in our room for the inconvenience of having to change.

The room was marvelous. at first we were sad not to have our own balcony, but there was a balcony in the public room which we used for hours as there was no one else there. Lovely little snack bar and we thoroughly enjoyed the wine and beer on tap!

On our return after the cruise we had a lovely room on the thrid floor of the Hotel Continental Barcelona. A cute very quirky little hotel. It suited us just fine. We were exhausted after our port intensive cruise and spent most of the day relaxing in either the rear terrance or our own private balcony.

I will post a couple room pics after we get settled, I took over 1000 pictures during our cruise and we haven't had time to look at them since our return.

I would highly recommend either of these hotels. Very good value. and both had great locations.

The info i received answers for in my original post was spot on. Very easy walking distance from the airport shuttle, and several stores nearby that sold nice wine to take onboard our cruise.

Thanks

Lambo

Thanks for the replies folks, tomorrow is the big departure day for us, the information has been valuable!

I love this board.

Yes, we are at Hotel Continental Barcelona

thank you, exactly the detail i was hoping for

First I want to give credit to this board, it is a wealth of information and has really helped my wife and I plan for our first cruise (less than 2 weeks).

We are staying pre and post cruise at the Hotel Continental Barcelona and I have two questions for those that are familiar with it's location.

1)What is the best way to transfer from the hotel to the airport, I believe i have read of a shuttle. How far would the shuttle drop off location be from the hotel.

2) Is there a wine store close to the Hotel Continental as we would like to buy a few bottles to take on the ship.

Thanks in advance.

I just wanted to say thanks for the great trip report. We are visiting similar ports in about a month and have booked romeinlimo for Rome and Florence. This has gotten me even more excited, I can only wish we have drivers as considerate as the ones you had.

This will be our first cruise as we celebrate 30 years of marriage.