We arrived in Barcelona about noon on May 31st and docked at a slip way father away than when we visited for the day on the Nieuw Statendam. We think it is perhaps due to this being the end of the cruise and the ship needing a lot of work done – such as re-fueling, groceries, and other supplies. So after sleeping in after a wonderful dinner the night before, we explored the Lido deck, which on this cruise we actually had not eaten at yet as my first attempt to was not very successful (they suggested I order from In Room dining instead as the Allergy kitchen serves In Room dining and it would be slow getting food to the Lido) while while I appreciated the safety concern, it would take more time to get food! We were able to dine successfully, I had turkey (which I talked to the chef about and it was made without stuffing inside) and rice and Andrew pizza. No GF pizza on this ship for moi. Then we walked around the ship for a while so I could take some pictures of the flowers and different areas as they do keep them really beautiful! There were a lot of people by this time off the ship on Excursions so we really had a free reign to check out what we wanted 🙂 Also at this time my big toe had been bothering me – I had a pedicure on the Nieuw Statendam 2 weeks ago and it has gotten sorer however with the 14 day gel polish I could not tell if there was something wrong under the nail. So I went to the Spa and had the lady who gave me my manicure of this cruise look at it. She removed the polish and said that I have an ingrown toenail from the treatment and I needed to see the ships doctor. So then I called the ships doctor and they were busy so they said they would call back later. Later they called – just before we went for dinner and they gave me an appointment at 8am. As I am aware that diabetics need to be careful with their feet and I am newly diabetic I did not want to mess around. We had a wonderful last dinner on the ship, said good bye to Piti (from Indonesia) who was our waiter for the whole cruise (except our 2 dinners in the other restaurants). Piti was an EXCELLENT waiter – of all the cruises that we have been on which I think is 9, he has paid the most attention to what is gluten free or not and was the most educated on different menu options. Then we needed to pack. I slept instead much to Andrew’s dismay! Packing can be done in the morning – which is what I did! I was up early and packed my suitcase before breakfast at 7am. Then at 8am I went to the Medical Centre to chat with the doctor. It was very interesting – he was from London and currently has a job offer from a clinic in Victoria (BC) to be a general surgeon. He decided to spend 2 months at sea to decide. So he REALLY wanted my opinion on the BC Health care system when all I wanted was my toenail to be looked at and fixed if possible! Andrew was in our stateroom waiting for me and I had still not packed my knapsack and other electronic stuff. An hour later, he would do nothing to my toe due to the diabetes (doctor is diabetic too and would not do it to himself either) and put me on antibiotics as I have an infection in my toe. Lovely! So I got into the elevator just as they said that all passengers should be off the ship! Oh I hope Andrew just put all my stuff in my knapsack! Sure enough the room stewards were waiting for me along with Andrew and everything was packed – he is so good to me! Said goodbye to our room stewards who have also been wonderful and got off the ship the last time! I am not sure if we were supposed to go through customs or not, however no one was around so we just hopped into a taxi and headed to our hotel! So that is the end of our Cruise segment and we are now in Spain to begin our 5 week long tour of the country!
