Category: 2013 – Costa Pacifica, Western Med, 12 – 19 Apr

With this being such a short stop we can’t see the point in getting off. The weather is brilliant so its up to the top deck for us.

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I have been getting to grips with the ships WiFi and now I understand its a little easier. Logging on to the Virtual Plaza doesn’t cost you anything and from there you can access the daily programme and the photos and names of the ships staff. If you are brave enough you can also book certain items. http://onboardportal.pacifica.costa.it/Portal/
By re-entering seapass number and password you can then access the internet.

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I was only just saying yesterday about the view at diner and hey presto we get one!
We were also treated to a little balancing trick by our waiter which involved 2 forks, 2 cocktail sticks and bottle with a cork in it. Bottle kindly donated by someone on first sitting!

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Back into the open seas now as we leave Barcelona behind. My thoughts are now on diner!

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The MSC Splendida has just departed and left us with a lovely panorama of the cruise terminal and southern area of Barcelona. We are due to sail at 8:00pm so it should just be getting dark by then.

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The Costa shuttle service dropped us off on the avenue in front of the World Trade Centre and from there we purchased day tickets for the Barcelona Bus Turistic which is HoHo bus service. The tickets cost €26 per person and there are 3 routes you can take all with the same ticket. We took the red route which covered the southern part of the city and the bus took you round that many places I have forgotten what most of them were. The route took 2 hours and we managed to get a pair of seats on the top deck so we could sit out in the sun. The buses also had free WiFi if you required it.

When we got back round to the Columbus Memorial took a stroll up La Rambla and found a nice sunny tapas bar and enjoyed a cold beer and tapas for 2. Its been a glorious sunny day and we have had a fantastic time seeing the sights of Barcelona.

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We are very close to where the pilot gets on and off and have just seen him getting off the ship.

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We are just coming into Barcelona where the ship will be docked from 9:00am until 8:00pm. Today we have purchased shuttle tickets for, wait…. you’ve guessed it €9 each and will be heading into the city. The buses run every 30 minutes so there should be plenty of time to go and explore. The forecast is sunny with a temperature of 20C.

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Our evening dining is in the New York, New York dining room which is the rear of the two dining rooms on the Costa Pacifica. We have table 335 which is right at the stern and dead centre of the ship. If it wasn’t dark and the blinds not down we would have the most amazing view out. Our waiter is called Roger and is from the Philippines and he has worked for Costa for 12 years now. His assistant is called Jason and is also from the Philippines. He is much quieter. Together they work 4 tables, 1 of 8, 2 of 4 and one of 2. With all the courses you get on the Italian cruise lines they are kept very busy. The food is as its usual high standard and its nice not to get huge portions which in turn is a good way of stopping you eating too much.

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We have enjoyed a glorious day on board ship and with most of the passengers getting off it has seemed like we virtually had the ship to ourselves. I did get off very briefly just before lunch when the sun had gone over to take some photos of the MSC Splendida.

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