Cruise - Day 8 - The Grand Finale

Our Cabin.

It’s our last and final day.  I got up really early because we had to be out of our cabin at 8am and at 9am we had to be in the meeting room (which happened to be the bar/disco that we accidentally stumbled into last night).  We were not allowed to order breakfast to our room on our last day so I got up and went up to the buffet and came back with a tray filled with 2 cups of coffee, bread rolls and other stuff.  Last night when we returned to our cabins we found our bathrobes had been taken and the little mini bar/refrigerator had been locked.  I thought this was rather odd.  But I guess too many guest take too many things that ends up costing the cruise company too much money. 

Barcelona Port and Harbor

I was surprised that we had to be out of our cabin so early.  We were also surprised that we had to put our bags out in the hallway before going to bed.  They would come to collect the bags at 2:00 in the morning.  In the printed instructions it told us all the things that we needed to do for checking-out.  It said to be in the meeting room by 9am at the latest.  A guide will come and meet us and take us to the luggage area in Barcelona and each passenger must stand besides his/her baggage and once all of us were with our baggage then and only then will the authorities allow us to step outside of the cruise arrival hall.  We’ve been to Spain a number of times so the Nazi-like drill sounded rather odd.  But the whole cruise has been rather odd so we will just do what we are told. 

Waiting and Waiting -

In the bar/disco there were 2 groups.  Actually there were groups all over the ship.  Your group depended upon your kind of departure, destination, travel arrangements and so on. I forget the number now but we got to know exactly how many people we were and I think both groups totaled about 160 people.  Some were in the blue group and Jens and I were in the yellow group.  At about 9:40 somebody finally came to collect the blue group.  After waiting and waiting – finally the yellow group was collected at about 10:20.  We waited over an hour.  The printed check-out procedure said to pick up your passport (all non-european citizens) after 9:30.  None of it made sense; be in the meeting room by 9 but pick up your passport after 9:30.  Well……..at 10:20, a guide walked in and shouted, “yellow group!” and then he left and of course the yellow group started to follow him.  He was young with a lot of spunk in his step and was gone in a flash.  The rest of us – families with small children, middle aged people like me and limping seniors could not keep up with the guide and long before we could even get out of the bar/disco, the guide was gone.  Which way did he go?  He was leading us off the ship.  Where’s the front door?  What about my passport? 

- and tired of waiting.

All of it was totally unnecessary.  We could easily have stayed in our room until 10 – maybe even 11.  Eat breakfast at a leisurely pace and just glide out the door when we were ready.  It’s almost what we did but with a lot of stress and waiting. 

Here is a video of people getting tired of waiting.

Finally we got off of the ship.  We grabbed our bags from the luggage carousel.  There were no authorities to control anything.  We got in a long taxi line and finally it was our turn.  I impatiently demanded “Paso Robles” when the taxi driver asked where we want to go.  “Where? ” he asked again.   “Paso Robles, Paso Robles”, I repeated twice again.  I’m thinking what kind of retarded taxi driver is this.  Paso Robles is like the number one tourist attraction of Barcelona.  Everybody knows Paso Robles.  Jens looks and me and give me a look like – Take a chill pill, Eddie.  And then coolly and calmly says to the taxi driver, “Las Ramblas, we want to go to Las Ramblas”  (in case you are wondering, Paso Robles is a city half way between Los Angles and San Francisco)  “Yeah, Las Ramblas” I said, trying to back track, “take us to the first café on Las Ramblas!  

killing time on *Paso Robles*

And so he did.  Almost in the shadow of the Christopher Columbus column we sat in a wonderful wonderful café.  We ordered 2 café con letché, 3 sandwi  (they can’t pronounce ‘ch’) and a double whiskey.  After the sandwi I ordered a second double whiskey and then I finally began to chill out.

Christopher Columbus Column

While we were killing time, a group of illegal immigrants walked and stop right in front of the café with big bundles of stuff on their backs.  It was amazing to watch because as soon as they sat the bundle on the ground it opened up into a swap meet type display.  Everything was perfectly laid out.  With a string attached to each corner of the blanket, they could, in a single pull make a bundle in just 2 seconds or less and walk away when they saw police or other authorities.

illegals selling copy designs

This picture is for you Dan.

Danish Container King Mærsk-Mc-Kinney -Møller  - the owner of the worlds largest shipping company, died this week while we were out at sea.  He was active on the board of directors all the way until his life came to an end at 98 years of age.

We took a 4 minute walk up Las Ramblas, snapped a few pictures and then walked back to the first taxi.  “Terminal 1”, we said.  And in a ½ hour we were checking-in to what Jens and I thought was the nicest airport we have ever seen.  It was amazingly huge and modern.  It had several outdoor smoking areas that were as big as a city plaza.  Some people were actually laying out catching a few rays before heading home to some place cold.

Terminal 1 is huge.

- OVERALL REVIEW -

Last night while working out the last details of blogs day 6 and day 7, I had really worked myself up into a frenzy.  I got into bed at 11:50pm and at 12:20 got up to take a sleeping tablet.

What have I done!  What am I doing! When did I become so cynical?  Are people enjoying my blog or is it too heavy?  Are they getting the sarcastic humor?  Is it humorous? What’s with all the sarcasm anyway?  Why am I focusing on the negative!  Oh god, I’ve become the Bucket man!

The Bucket man was the name we gave to our old Dutch neighbor across the street from where we used to live.  The name comes from an English comedy on the BBC.  The main characters were Mr. and Mrs. Bucket.  Everybody called them the Buckets but Mrs. Bucket thought very highly of herself and corrected everybody saying, “It’s Bouquet”.  Everybody did what they could to avoid Mrs Bucket.  We did what we could to avoid the Bucket man across the street.  He complained about everything.

So I’m sitting at the breakfast table crying this morning wishing I could take it all back.  Wish I wasn’t so damn negative.  I asked Jens why I focus on the negative.  I had such big exceptions of this cruise.

Did I set myself up for disappointment?  I never met a person who didn’t like a cruise.  Several people told me that we were in for a great time.  And all the things that were wrong with the cruise just stuck out like a major sore thumb. I was concerned for Jens that we wouldn’t have to do too much walking and this week we walked more than ever and that includes Las Vegas.

As I’ve mentioned in almost every blog, the food was awful and I’m the kind of guy who will eat anything.  When I was a kid my mother and father called me a garbage disposal because I ate anything and everything.  More than half of the guys at work wont even eat in the canteen and I think it’s pretty ok and even yummy some days.  On the last day just before getting off of the ship, I was waiting for the elevator and I just happened to bump into the British bloke that I mentioned about in the first blog.

He asked me, “Going home today?”  “Yes, thank god!”, I answered.  And then HE said, “Pretty bad food, wasn’t it?”  We never talked to each other.  We never bumped in the hallways or seen each other on deck or anywhere all week.  I just remember he had that gray suit with red sock which he was still wearing.  We never smiled at each other, we never nodded at each other.  Yet the one thing that came out of his mouth at the very end of the cruise was about the awful food.  So I know I can’t be wrong about this and they say the food in Britain is just so so.

So I am torn – is it me or is it the ship.  Look at the photos and we seem to be having a good time.  We did actually but the bad times out number the good times.  There was way too little peace and quite.  Way too much stress. Too much standing in line.  Too much risotto.

Ok so we are home now and I have to wash my brain out and stop focusing on the negative.  Even though it was absolutely the worst vacation I ever had, there was soooooooooo much to be thankful for.

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband that I can share my journeys with.  I’m so glad that Jens did really really well.  Neither one of us had to do the cruise in a wheelchair like the guy we met in the cigar lounge.  I am lucky that we could afford this trip.  Lucky that I have a job to come home to (probably end up deleting this line Monday evening)  Lucky that my credit card is not melting and already looking forward to the next vacation.  Lucky and blessed to live and tell about it.  Other ships like the great Titanic just 100 years ago and another cruise ship just a few months ago sank with lives lost at sea.  Lucky to have such a wonderful apartment with a balcony overlooking the water like the nice balcony that was attached to our ship cabin.  Lucky to have a good friend take care of our doggie. 

We were both so anxious to see Bounty.  Bounty was on vacation herself in Sweden and even has her own passport.  Stefan said that we could pick her up on Saturday – the day after our arrival.  Stefan was so concerned that we arrive home and in peace and just take our time to pick up Bounty.  We could just come home and take it easy, sleep and then the next morning she would be ready.  But already from Barcelona we sent a text message saying we’ll be there in 3 hours to pick her up.

So there is a lot to be thankful for.  Jens is so positive about it all and says that now we just have one more experience under our belt – take it for what it’s worth and go on.  There is still much more of the world I want to see – by train or by plane – and it can only get better.