Equinox 8/26/14, Lots of steps...

[OhioDogLover]

This is a review of a 12 day cruise from Barcelona to Venice on the Equinox. I love to read reviews and am trying to give back a little bit. I apologize for the spelling errors in advance.

 

We (DH and I) will try to get some pictures posted as well.

 

We are two relatively experienced cruisers, 20+ each, and this was our fourth cruise on Celebrity. We are in our 50s and love to travel. Our philosophy is have a great time, no matter what. So, our approach is have a positive attitude and be on time.

 

Overall: It was a fabulous vacation.

 

Quick Ad: I have a bad left foot and ankle due to longstanding repeated issues. (Fractures, sprains, surgery, etc.) I bought a pair of Ecco Biom shoes which I wore throughout the cruise. They were great walking shoes.

 

Day One

 

We left Columbus, Ohio for Barcelona on August 23, leaving our two dogs with our son and his fiancé. One of the many plusses of living in Columbus, Ohio, is that it has a very easy airport to navigate. This trip was no exception, and we were quickly processed, checked in to Barcelona and endured the usual teasing about the luggage. (Two large suitcases and a carry on for two weeks, I think that was quite reasonable for two people, don't you? ) The flight to Atlanta was without incident, the gate agents in Atlanta were hilarious, and we made it to Barcelona at about 8:00, which I think was a bit early.

 

Barcelona Airport is one of the cleanest airports I have been in, and we quickly went through immigration, claimed our luggage (and did the hurray, our luggage is here dance), and proceeded to get Euros from the ATM at the airport. (We got a nice rate and it was easy.) There is a bus to Catalunya Square in the basement of the airport for about 5.8 euro per person. We grabbed two tickets, available at the easy to work machine which takes cash and credit cards, and got on the bus. One of the things we enjoy about traveling is taking public transportation. You get a more complete picture of the place you are visiting and it is generally less expensive than cabs.

 

The bus dropped us off at Catalunya Square, and the very helpful attendant there (at 9:00 am on a Sunday, yet!) directed us toward Hotel Espana. Down La Rambla we went, towing our suitcases. La Rambla is one of the major streets in Barcelona, and has a large pedestrian walkway in the middle. Hotel Espana wasn't far away. We came to the street on which the hotel sits, Sant Pau and turned onto it. For Americans, there are some streets in Europe that when you turn down you are convinced that the hotel you have prepaid for on Expedia just doesn't exist and that you will be mugged before you arrive at the now vacant lot on which the hotel used to stand. This was one of those experiences. However, we found the hotel and it was quite nice. We would stay there again.

 

Our rooms weren't ready at 9:30 am, of course, so we grabbed a map at the front desk and ventured out. Having planned our day before, we had a map with routes marked off, a list of attractions, addresses and prices all ready to go. Jet lagged as I was, I left it all in the suitcase. I figured it out about halfway to the Picasso Museum, Montacada 15-23.

 

Of course, we got lost, and wandered around for a few (well maybe a lot) of extra blocks. But, we stumbled on one of the places we wanted to visit, St. Mary by the Sea church, Placa Santa Maria 1. It is a beautiful church and well worth the visit. As it was Sunday morning, we did not want to be intrusive, stuck our heads into this beautiful place and continued on to the museum.

 

The Picasso Museum, about 22 euro, is well worth the visit. There are a lot of early Picassos there and a Dali portrait of his father, painted early in his career. There is also a late Picasso complete with studies.

 

Next, we headed for the next art museum, which was supposed to be the Museum Nacional DÁrt de Cataluna, Palau National, Parc de Montjuic. Well, the details were in the suitcase, I was really tired, so we ended up at the Museu DÁrt Contemporani de Barcelona, Placa dels Angels 1. The first clue we were at the wrong place should have been the painted food truck in front. In we went anyway, at least we had a coupon so the admission was discounted to 8 euro per person. Interesting multimedia existential art awaited us, including films, rocks, photos, matchbooks, you get the idea. After being in Barcelona for a couple of days, we decided that the museum was well situated, but we were much too tired to appreciate it.

 

Exhausted now, we headed back to the hotel for the nap we weren't supposed to take. On the way, we stopped for tapas at Casa Cuinart, Ramblas 95, Plaza De Alta Arena Sl. We had a pork sampler, including the famous jamon, and manchego crudo. It was terrific and we recommend both the place and the dishes.

 

Following our naps, we headed out to the Palau National, Parc de Montjuic, for the fountain show recommended by the hotel front desk clerk. She was right. It was magnificent. We took the subway to get there, you can purchase single ride tickets or the T10 ticket which gets you 10 rides at a discount. The tickets are purchased at a machine by either cash or credit card. Easy to do.

 

Walking up out of the subway station, we turned toward the art museum which is up on a hill, and walked and rode escalators to the top. Early for the fountains, we walked up to the Olympic stadium, and facilities.

 

Next: the fountain show

[gonecroozin]

Thank you for posting your review.

Its fabulous so far.

Looking forward to your future installments.

 

We flew into Barcelona to embark on a cruise in 2011.

I really wish we had flown in a few days before and stayed in a hotel so we could explore.

It sounds such a wonderful and vibrant city.

[jamona2311]

Looking forward to more of your story.:) Thanks for taking the time. :)

[OhioDogLover]

Still learning how to add photographs, so hopefully future installments will have photos inline. But here are some photos to whet the appetite.

 

First, this is the view down Sant Pau from our hotel room.

 

 

Next, is the view from the Palau National down the hill, back toward Placa Espana. The four columns in the foreground represent the red stripes in the Cataluonian flag, which in turn represent the claw marks of a dragon. (St. George is a patron saint of Catalonia). Interesting fact: Versions of the flag with a single star on a blue field represent those in favor of Catalonian independence.

 

 

Next, from the Picasso Museum, Picasso's "Woman in Hat and Fur Collar" (1937):

 

 

Also from the Picasso Museum, Salvador Dali's "Portrait of My Father"(1925)

 

Finally, a shot of the Olympic Stadium, which was actually built for the 1936 Olympics. However, due to the Spanish Civil War and Franco, the Games were awarded to a much safer situation . . . Berlin and Hitler. To be fair, the games were awarded in 1931, 2 years before Hitler came to power.

 

Starting to get the hang of this. The saga continues shortly!

Edited September 17, 2014 by OhioDogLover
Pictures not working

[OhioDogLover]

Sorry, DH and I are apparently idiots. You can open the photos, but we can't seem to get them to show up properly in the post from Flickr. This is accordingly an open plea for help -- we have tons of photos, and want to share. What are we doing wrong??

[jamona2311]

There is a thread on "how to post pictures" here on Cruise Critic.

 

I havent done it in a while but I remember it wasnt easy. You have to find the URL for the picture somehow and then add it under the yellow tab with the lil mountain on it ( insert image icon). I know it still took me a while to get the hang of it but it was fun adding life to my reviews.

 

Good luck. Looking forward to more either way :)

[jamona2311]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1714741 Ha here it is :). I figured if I was gonna try to help I should figure out how to do it right! :D;)

[Us Two]

Thanks so much for the detailed info re the Barcelona airport. I feel much better now, more confident about getting the bus. You explained it so well that I'm not scared anymore about using it, thanks , and I'm sure others will find it helpful too.

Looking forward to any tips you can pass along, you know, do this don't bother with that sort of thing. .....Joan.

[OhioDogLover]

I will work on the pictures, hopefully later this evening.

 

But first, the fountain show. I think that it only runs through August, but if you can see it, I strongly suggest that you do. Up at the top of the steps, and just below the Palace with the art museum, is a kiosk. They sell snacks, drinks and coffee there. I don't know why, but the Europeans seem to be able to put an espresso bar almost anywhere. There was one here, and we had our first cups of European coffee for the trip. It was about 1.5 euro for an espresso. Terrific.

 

Then, we sat on the stairs, with a lot of locals and tourists, to watch the fountain show. The fountains date from the Barcelona Exposition of 1929. They are lighted with different colors and set to music. It is reminiscent of the show at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, but these were more impressive to us because they were built in 1929 and because of the setting. Sitting on the steps, you can see down into the city. It lasted about an hour, and then we made our way back to the subway and back to the Hotel Espana.

 

Day Two

 

Like most European hotels, the Hotel Espana has a European type breakfast offering of various meats, including jamon, cheeses, fruit, great bread, cereal, etc and most importantly, fabulous coffee. Although it was 17 euro pp per day on the hotel website, we were able to add both days for about 12 euro pp per day. I confess that I drank the cost of the breakfast in coffee both mornings. DH said he expected I would just run around the tour van all day!

 

We had a great roll call for this cruise, and we had joined up with others for tours in most of the ports. Sitting having breakfast was one of the couples we had been talking to before the cruise. In fact, they are the one who suggested the hotel. Good choice.

 

A lot of European museums are closed on Mondays, so this was a great day for a tour.

 

The four of us headed out for a tour with Barcelona Day Tours. (Our friends had booked the tour, too.) The tour was 116 euro pp. We had a van with a driver for the day. The van was clean and air-conditioned. We needed it because it was HOT in Spain. We received a partial guided tour of Barcelona, and then headed up the mountain for Monserrat. It is a beautiful drive. The Monastery was destroyed by Napoleon and rebuilt shortly thereafter. Why in the world he would destroy something way up by itself is beyond me, but he did. ( I will have to look it up to see why.) Anyway, the church houses a famous statue of the Virgin Mary which, if you touch it, supposedly has healing powers. After walking up the steps to the church, we stopped in to hear the choir at 1:00 or 1:15pm. The choir performed for about 15 minutes or so and it was lovely to hear. The church was jammed, so get there a bit early. Also, the line to touch the statue of The Virgin is on the right, so avoid it and just go to the left and into the church. (Unless you want to touch the statue, but you are going to have a fairly long wait to do it.) Admission is free.

 

Outside the church is a funicular to the top of the mountain which we decided to skip, some stands selling local goods, gift shops, and a snack bar (with restrooms!). There was also a movie about the church which we paid to see and which I wish we had skipped. It was in Russian, but they had headphones in a variety of languages.

 

Down the mountain we went, and the guide dropped us off at a local place for tapas for lunch. I can't remember the name, sorry, but the price was right, 6 euro pp. For that, we got a choice of two tapas and a beverage.

 

Yes, Gaudi really is, but you'll like it.

 

Then it was on to the Gaudi part of the tour. For those who don't know, Gaudi was an architect who contributed significantly to Barcelona. His works are unusual, to say the least, but enchanting. The guide dropped us off at the top of Park Guell. (Guell was Gaudi's patron.) You walk down the hill (more steps), past many interesting Gaudi creations, a bench around an open arena area, the dragon, houses decorated like something out of a children's book, a fish themed ceiling, etc. It is hard to describe, and the pictures do not do it justice. This is something that needs to be seen. The park is a beautiful setting for the Gaudi art, and I expected Minnie and Mickey to walk out of the houses.

 

We drove past some more Gaudi houses in town and to the unfinished cathedral, the Sagrada Familia. Two visits to the church, and we still haven't been inside, but next time, we will go in. There was a big crowd there, and we took our time touring the outside of the church. Each side has a dramatically different facade, and the decorations were inspired (as I understand it) by nature. The towers of the church were inspired by the mountains at Montserrat, and you can see that. We did pick up a short biography of Gaudi at the gift shop, which shed additional light into the avant-garde architect. (I did not read it until I got home, however.)

 

The guide took us back to the hotel after a long hot day touring. There was a lot of walking.

 

We dropped our friends at the hotel, and ventured out to see more of Barcelona. We walked through the city some more, did some shopping and stopped in another restaurant for dinner. This time, we goofed, and ended up with a mediocre meal. (I can't remember the name of the restaurant and cannot locate the receipt.)

 

it was a great day, and we turned in, looking forward to starting the cruise.

 

NEXT: Squeezing in one more museum, and boarding the ship.

[OhioDogLover]

Joan,

Look for Aerobus at the airport. It's easy. There is also a more complicated, but slightly less expensive, way using a train and two buses, but we weren't about to go through that for a savings of a couple of euro.

 

Ohiodoglover

[FRMPEI]

I used Smugmug for my Photo Trip Report but here is my guess... if you are able to see the pics but, nobody else is? It may be a rights things on your flickr account make sure you have it open to the public and not private.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Edited September 17, 2014 by FRMPEI

[Cpamomma]

Looking forward to more :-) We leave in just over 5 weeks for Barcelona for a few days before we board the Equinox. Love reading about it now. We are sooooo ready to go!!! Thanks for the review.

[OhioDogLover]

Going to try this again, and see if we can catch up:

 

 

View down Sant Pau from our hotel room window.

 

 

Picasso's "Woman in Hat & Fur Collar" -- 1937

 

 

Dali's "Portrait of My Father" -- 1925

 

 

View from Palau National down the hill to Placa Espana, past the Venetian Towers, the Magic Fountain and the pillars. (Lots of steps)

 

 

Olympic Stadium -- built for 1936 games, used in 1992. (See prior post). More stairs.

 

 

Magic Fountain Show. Finally sitting on stairs.

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review and photo's, looking forward to more.

[OhioDogLover]

Day 3: We board the ship.

 

As big fans of art museums, we decided that we had to go back to the Catalunya Art museum before we boarded the ship. There were two things we really wanted to see, the museum and the unfinished cathedral, and concerned about lines at the cathedral, we decided on a quick trip to the museum.

 

First, we had to load up on European coffee. After all, we were going on a ship for 12 days and we all know about ship coffee.

 

Leaving the packed suitcases at the hotel front desk, we jumped on the subway and headed off to the museum. The building was constructed for the 1929 exposition. By this time, we had realized that there are three big themes in Barcelona, Gaudi, the 1929 exposition and the Olympics. We reached the museum right after its opening time of 10:00. Admission was 12 Euro pp. We really wanted to see the modern art exposition, and were looking to see more Picasso. Our thoughts were that we would see lots of Renaissance art in Italy. The museum had a fairly large Renaissance and Baroque exhibit, so why not, we stopped in to see it. If you like Renaissance and Baroque art, go see this exhibit. There were some interesting El Greco and Velazquez works there, as well as some Italian masters.

 

Then, on to the reason we came, the Modern Art exhibit. It was CLOSED. They had moved a few pieces to a temporary exhibit, so we went there. What they had moved was quite good, and included some Gaudi furniture. We will come back to see the rest.

 

If you go to this museum, go to the roof. There are some elevators and about three flights of stairs to get there. At the top is a terrace overlooking the fountains and the city. Go if you can. Even if you aren't a big art person, go to the roof.

 

(View from the roof of the Palau National)

 

Pulling ourselves away from the roof, we walked down the stairs to the subway station and collected our luggage from the front desk. They got a cab for us and we were off. We arrived at the port without incident at about 1:00. The driver did charge us more than was on the meter. It was about 15-20 euro for the short ride to the dock. Rather than discuss it, we just paid what he wanted, gave the luggage to the luggage handler, and headed in to board the ship.

 

The Equinox

 

As we had chosen Aqua for this trip, boarding was extremely easy. We were on board and drinking iced tea in the buffet by 1:45. We did not eat in the buffet much on the trip. About 3 lunches was it. We also did not sample much of what was available. The salad bar was, in our opinion, nice. It had a lot of variety. There was also a good sandwich bar with many offerings. We also tried the Indian food and it was pretty good. That's about it.

 

Dropping the carry on off in the cabin, it was time to explore the ship. Having sailed on Celebrity Century twice and Summit once, we were impressed by Equinox. I can see why people who sail these S class ships do not want to go back to M class ships. And, we really liked the Summit.

 

Our cabin was 1625. Deck 11, close to the elevators. Nice covered balcony, sofa, the great Aqua shower which is really nice for those taller than 5'5". (It's nice for those of us under 5'5", too;))

 

 

Having had one of the truly great roll calls, our CC group had set up a meet and greet at the Sunset Bar and met some of the people we had been talking to for months. As a lot of us had set up tours together, there was a lot of "Are you ..."going on, too.

 

Next came the safety drill and my only era; complaint about the whole cruise. We were crammed into Michael's Club. Not only were there not enough seats, but you could hardly move. Everyone was hot sweaty and uncomfortable. There were two guys near us who I though might get into a fist fight because one bumped the other while they were standing there. There must be a better way to do the drill than that.

 

After the drill, we went back to the cabin to unpack our luggage, and enjoy sail away on the balcony.

 

Dinner was in Blu. Not really "foodies", we do enjoy different things. Dinner was terrific. I think this was the dinner we both had blackened tuna. Wow. Service was, as usual exceptional.

 

 

We checked out the casino quickly and headed off to bed.

 

Next: Nice and Montecarlo

[OhioDogLover]

Nestled in the mountains -- walking toward the basilica:

 

 

Inside the basilica:

 

 

Park Guell -- the Porter's Lodge

 

 

Park Guell -- Portico of the Washerwoman

 

The Gaudi House on La Rambla

 

Sagrada Familia

 

[OhioDogLover]

Here are some of the highlights of the Equinox:

 

Pool Area:

 

 

Solarium (Adults Only)

 

 

The Lawn Club -- complete with bocce:

 

 

One of the corridors in the shop area -- amazing amounts of room:

 

 

Buffet area -- nicely laid out:

 

 

The library -- nicely appointed and lots of room: