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Boarding the Queen Elizabeth (30 October)

Boarding the MS Queen Elizabeth gave us a strong feeling of déja vu, since the ship is extremely similar to the RMS Queen Mary 2, the ship we took from New York to Southampton back in July. The Queen Elizabeth is smaller (about 2100 passengers when full rather than 2700), but very similarly appointed and with most of the public spaces bearing the same names.

We got to the ship by walking from Plaça Reial to the dock that houses the World Trade Centre Barcelona, a distance of just over a kilometre. From there we hopped the Cruise Bus out to Terminal C, where the ship was waiting.

Along the way we passed the Norwegian Jade, which is the ship we sailed on with the kids for our fourteen-night Mediterranean cruise back at Christmas of 2009. Greg texted this photo to our family group chat and got “hello old friend!!” back from Jared.

Because of the way the terminals were arranged, we couldn’t get a good photograph of the ship before boarding. Here’s one from our first stop in the voyage (Heraklion), just so you can see her.

Aside from the length of the journey (34 nights versus 7), and the fact that this trip had port visits, the big difference between this cruise and our crossing on the Queen Mary in July was our stateroom. This time we took a balcony cabin rather than an inside cabin, so we’d have a bit more private space, some natural light, and a more pleasant place for Greg to work along the way. Yes, it was more expensive, but we don’t regret it one bit.

Upcoming diary entries will talk about the port stops, and we’ll have a wrap-up entry about our time on ship at the end of the series. However, if you’re in a hurry, you can check out our previous entry about crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2, which gives you a pretty good idea of what time aboard ship was like.

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