We left Lafayette Saturday afternoon (after tee-ball) and arrived in Chicago by 5 p.m. James's co-worker, Toni Fanizza, dropped us off at the airport, and we waited until our flight started to board for a 7:55 p.m. takeoff. Inside a spacious 747 manned by throw-back KLM stewardesses (skirtsuits and all), we flew overnight to Amsterdam (arriving at 10:40 a.m.) and hurried to our 12:05 flight to Barcelona. We landed in Barcelona at 2:15 p.m. We slept much of both flights, so we really didn't experience jet lag.
We shuttled from the airport to the ship and quickly moved through the boarding process and were on the Norweigen Gem. The Gem was a relatively new ship (first sailing in October 2007) and was just coming off a 13-day repositioning cruise from New York to Barcelona.The Gem
Barcelona weather was 73 degrees and sunny. We toured the ship while waiting for our bags to arrive, checking out deck 8 (our room deck), deck 7 (the main ship deck), and deck 12 (the library, the pool, and buffet). At 5 p.m., we had the usual lifeboat drill, continued the touring, and then, after receiving our bags and putting things away, went to supper and then the welcome aboard show in the Stardust Theater.
The Gem has 13 levels, 12 different restaurants, a bowling ally, a basketball court, two pools and a large water slide, a huge theater area, and a countless number of lounges.
We had taken a late-night visit to the jacuzzi but they closed five minutes after we entered -- the only time we got wet (outside of the shower) the entire time on the cruise.
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