Pullmantur Zenith R/T Barcelona October 20-27

[jefa]

Hooray, we are up and running again.  When do you start travelling or are you already in Barcelona?  See you all on board!

[Arnie47]

Hello: I'm sailing on the Zenith on October 20th - four days from today.  Be arriving early on Saturday so I plan to use public transportation to get to the ship. I had sailed out of Barcelona last year and took a taxi only because my flight was late and I was pressed for time.  Anyhow, I'm looking forward to a super time, although I speak virtually no Spanish I have cruised with Pullmantur 3 times already, there was no problem with the language barrier.

[ohnonotmeagain]

Hi jefa 

I arrive Friday evening,never trusting airlines!!!! Plus extras days holiday.

Really looking forward to it now 😀🍷🍾🍸

[jefa]

Welcome Arnie47,  look forward to meeting you.  We have a meet up arranged for 1800 at the pool bar for drinks, if you would like to come along.

ohnonotmeagain, I am arriving on Friday evening too.  I was going to catch the airport bus into Barcelona, but find the thought of walking around in the dark to my hotel with my suitcase rather daunting, so have almost persuaded myself to get a taxi.

[jefa]

Well I'm all packed and ready to go.  Leaving for the airport in a couple of hours - I'm on my way.

[jefa]

Have just arrived home from this cruise.  Wow, it was brilliant.  Sorry we never met up Arnie47, I did keep asking people if they were you!  Met up with the others on this "roll call" and had fun.

Everything was very well organised.

 

Embarkation was very quick and I would advise everybody to check in online, to avoid the long queues at the port.

 

The shows were amazing,  only one show was completely in Spanish and that was a comedian.  The ABBA show was great and the last night show had everyone dancing in the aisles. Entertainment in the other bars was very good too. The disco was always full and didn't shut till 3 a.m. and the other venues seemed to be full most nights.

 

I didn't hear anyone complaining that the bars had run out of specific drinks, which has happened on other lines I have sailed, and although the cocktails weren't strong you could always ask for another shot if you felt you needed it.

 

The cabins were clean and tidy with lots of wardrobe and drawer space and the a/c worked just fine.  The showers were bigger than I am used to and there was no shower curtain wrapping round my legs, which happens on other lines I have sailed !!

 

Tours were well organised, and very interesting and good value for money.  Perhaps as this is the last cruise of the season there were no tours exclusively for English speakers, so I was with Spanish speakers on all the tours.  The guides could speak English to explain the important things, like meeting times, but all said they wouldn't be able to translate anything else.

 

My one disappointment was the food. I know this subject is subjective but I love my food to be hot when it reaches me, and it never was.  I also love vegetables and only one night did I manage to get a few - and they were cold!  There is a huge variety every night in the MDR and it all arrived at the table looking very pretty.  I have no idea how IMO they can make something look so pretty and taste so dire!!!  However, as I say, that is just my opinion.

 

Disembarkation this morning was quick and simple.  Cases had to be left outside cabins by 1 a.m.  I had a shuttle booked to the airport for 9.30 so was given a different coloured band as the first to debark.  Others had the normal pink, green, blue etc bands and latest time to debark was 10.30.  

 

This was my first Pullmantur cruise and it certainly won't be my last.  However I do speak spanish and managed to meet some very friendly people, the spanish are very sociable, and will talk to anyone!

 

I am sure that bklynbobby and ohnonotmeagain will be along with their impressions, once they get home too.

 

Any questions please just ask.