2 Stays in Barcelona, Bookending a Roundtrip Cruise

In April 2026, I went on a cruise with my mom from Barcelona of Spain & Portugal. Ports included Cadiz, Lisbon, Porto, Malaga & Palma de Mallorca. We got a steal of a deal on Celebrity cruises back in December, so much so that we upgraded to an exterior balcony suite, 5 excursions (one per port) and prepaid gratuities and signed up for a pass to the Persian Garden spa. We also opted for the drink and wifi packages onboard Celebrity Equinox, making the cruise all in about 4500 per person.

I was excited for the trip, because I've always wanted to sip Sangria in Spain outside some cathedral. Because of jet lag, I knew we would want some days before the cruise; and due to everything being booked right before the trip started in mid April, I knew we'd want some time after to see locations like Montserrat.

Before the trip, we decided to stay at a budget friendly hotel just outside of the Ramblas. The hotel was called Hamsa House, an affiliate of Hotel California where we had to check in to the main reception to get our code for the doors at Hamsa House. Both hotels were kitty corner across from a small touristy square with dozens of restaurants. That square is where we ate that first night of the 14th. I had spaghetti Bolognese kicking off an Italian trend for my foods in Spain.

The Ramblas and Hop on Hop Off Bus Tour

On the 15th, we decided to walk the Ramblas. My medication had just started to disagree with me and there was quite a lot of pain in my feet, so we had to make a plan where I could be sitting on a bus more than standing and walking around. We walked to the Ramblas and then started walking down the street to the end of the road to Plaça de Catalunya. We bought our tickets for the hop on hop off bus tour at a newstand nearby. We received 2 QR codes for this on receipt paper which made boarding the bus more difficult than a physical ticket would have been.

The hop on hop off tour had 2 routes, a green and and orange. Our pickup stop had been stop #12 on the green route, which we rode first. We rode it all the way to Park Guell, which was stop 9, then we ascended stairs and streets just to get to the entrance where we found out the park was already booked for the day. At stop 14, we had a nice lunch in an Italian restaurant before switching buses to the orange line. We rode the remainder of that line for the sight seeing. All in all, we passed Montjuic, a few museums, the zoo, the Sagrada Familia, some towers on the beach. It was a well rated activity for the day, given that I couldn't have done any walking tours.

Only thing I would have done differently, is stop at the more picturesque stops, like the Gardens and the Arc de Triumph. We could have done it in Barcelona, since the bus comes every 10 minutes.

Celebrity Cruises Embarks

The next day, we chose to sleep in because it was the day that our cruise was set to embark and we wanted to make sure we got there on time. We also knew we couldn't see too much of Barcelona with happenstance planning and knowing it was going to be a long day in line made us want to expedite getting on board and getting settled in our cabin.

We got to the cruise terminal and got our bags checked in to be loaded on board and brought to our staterooms. Then we went to wait in a long line for people boarding that wrapped around the cruise terminal. Immediately, we realized my mom left her phone at the hotel so we had to get it sent by the lovely folks at Hotel California to the port. One minor snafu, but it all worked out.

When we got back to the terminal, we let other people pass us in line because we were still waiting on the taxi to drop off the phone. By the time we were getting back in line, people thought we were cutting in, so we had to explain to them the whole situation. All in all, it took about 3 hours to board the boat, and once we did we unpacked and looked at all the packages they'd left us for excursions and other events along the 9 day itinerary. Our first day, was an at sea day. It came just in time to explore the ship more and relax because the day on my feet was just too much.

Cadiz

Day 3 kicked off with an excursion starting at 9am. We were up and in the theatre as a meeting place by 8am. Starting early at 6am with hair and makeup before going for breakfast in the cafeteria. I had french toast and blueberry compote with whipping cream and a side of bacon. I took my pills the whole trip, so I set off to find orange juice every morning to do so.

By the time we got to the theatre, I made my way down to the front to present our tickets. We were then given a bus number and instructed to wait. Our excursion was to Jerez de Fronterra with a tour of the Gonzales-Byass Sherry cellars.

We learned a little on this tour about the process of making and distilling sherry, then we completed the tour with a tasting. The plain white sample was dry and harsh and yeasty, but it's more refined red counterpart was sweet and rich. We bought two small 375ml bottles, which we managed to bring back on to the ship with no hassle whatsoever.

We quickly went to our stateroom, changed for the upper decks and had a quick lunch then went and sipped a white sangria while overlooking Cadiz. The port had a really nice view of the city cathedral from the aft deck and it was a truly enjoyable first real day of the cruise.

We dined early at 6pm the whole cruise. That night I tried t-bone lamb for the first time. Having sherry as a nightcap that evening was an enjoyable indulgence before settling in for a very early night of about 9pm, because our next day was in Lisbon and our excursion was to two villages nearby with a traditional Portuguese lunch included.

Lisbon

April 19th, we docked in Lisbon about 7am. We were still sailing into the port when we woke up because we had another 8am time to meet in the Equinox Theatre. This day we were setting off to Cascais, a beach resort and then Sintra, a mountain village. Both towns gave about an hour of free exploration time from the drop-off point.

My mom and I got gelato in Cascais and then walked to the pier, conversating with my brother back in Canada on a late night for him. The pier was cool and had some neat buildings, on the way to it we passed a carousel, where children were riding.

After Cascais, we set off for the hilly ride up to Sintra, through a forested woodland. It was great to see the lush countryside of Portugal. It's surprisingly green for how much sunshine and how little rain there is in the climate. We passed umbrella pines and other large trees.

Once we got to Sintra, we had less than an hour of exploration time. We walked past local shops and found several lookout points for great views and interesting pictures. We didn't really get to explore much of the city because my walking was so slowed down. There were countless souvenir shops and places to try a local cheesecake. Instead we waited for lunch, which we were having by 2pm inside a nearby smoked meats restaurant. Lunch was a mix of smoked chicken and pork, with rice and salad. They provided 2 bottles of wine per group of 4, so I had a glass of red and white with this meal.

After we ate, the trip back to the port was a little over an hour. We got back onto the boat by 4:30pm, just in time to kick our feet up and relax a little with some sherry before going to dine at 6pm.

If I had been more adventurous, we would have set off for the city of Lisbon too, and we probably would have eaten there. The boat didn't need to leave until 7pm that night, so we could have seen Lisbon, a city that I don't feel I've had the chance to experience.

Overall, Sintra and Cascais were cool, but on cruises when opting for excursions, I believe it's better to choose one name destinations. It's impossible to see 3 cities in 8 hours of time.

Porto

Our next port was Porto Portugal, where we selected the Porto Highlights excursion, complete with a city tour by bus, a tour of the Palacio de Bolsa, and some time in the Gaia district for a port tasting. We were in the theatre as our meeting place again that day, but off the ship by 9.

The Palacio de Bolsa has an interesting history and is certainly a beautiful building. It was neat to hear about the rooms and the justices and the historical representations of the port trade and the Duoro region.

We went to a small port tasting distillery called Pocas. Port was even better than sherry, in my opinion. We tried 3 glasses of different varieties, all were sweet. The 10 year old tawny was my favorite, but this time we didn't buy and instead opted to go for a glass of port on board the ship the following evening.

After Porto, the next day was a sea day. We slept in past 9am, where there was a time change that we forgot to account for and interfered with our plans on starting the day with an onboard lecture. Instead we went to breakfast and then decided to shop a little onboard. We didn't do much that day except spend most of our time inside because it wasn't a very sunny day. That afternoon, we hit the hot tubs before the spa, relaxing in the Persian Garden almost every day of our trip for around 20 minutes on a hotbed.

Malaga

Our next port was Malaga, birthplace of Picasso, for which the day actually fell on the birthday of my father, who passed away in 2020. That morning, we didn't have our excursion until the afternoon, so we were able to get off the ship and enjoy a hop on hop off bus tour.

After embarking on the bus tour, our first stop was the Castillo de Gibralfaro, from where we could see views of the city and the Mediterranean. Originally built by the Moors in the 10th century, this castle was expanded upon in the 14th century and was once considered an impregnable fortress on the Iberian Peninsula.

Our bus next took us to downtown Malaga where we saw the city's cathedral. After which we walked through a district of souvenir shops into a district of shopping and then back on to the bus. On the bus we'd driven past the birthplace of Picasso and seen a stop where we could have enjoyed a free Flamenco show had we known we had enough time.

Ultimately, we just headed back to the ship to enjoy lunch before our excursion to Mijas, a mountain town with whitewashed buildings and donkeys.

Mijas was a really great tour. Our tour guide took us quickly around the town for some great panoramic shots of the city and the sea from the city. Then he gave us almost 3 hours of free time to explore the city for ourselves. We got to enjoy tapas and sangria in the main square of the city, then we shopped separately because I didn't have the stamina to climb up streets again. However, I was able to buy some lovely tiles with Dean's initials from a local vendor.

Finally, we were taken back to the ship just in time to disembark again. This structure of city first and excursion second is what I would recommend if planning a cruise. It forced me to rally beyond my energy level and also it really provided an opportunity to see both the port city and something else nearby that was of note.

The next day was a sea day. Before dinner that night, we enjoyed sipping port at one of the more relaxed bars on deck 5 of the ship. At dinner that night, I enjoyed duck l'orange, the first time I'd ever had an opportunity to taste duck.

Our final sea day was to follow. The most we relaxed of all the days.

Palma de Mallorca

As we set off for Palma de Mallorca, we felt like the trip had been a whirlwind. We'd already seen and experienced a lot and yet we still had one more port and one more excursion. We hoped for good weather, but the clouds came in that evening and didn't part on our sea day except for a little in the afternoon.

I washed my hair and let it airdry that morning. My medication, Braftovi was making me enter a heavy shed cycle and so after brushing it and putting some curl cream in it, I didn't want to do much to style it.

After a late breakfast with mimosas, I set off to do some magazine reading on deck 12, where they had these cool circle chairs outlooking the ocean. I sat for a bit at one where people had left their bags, but they came back so eventually I found another similar chair surrounding the pool area. After a few good hours of reading, I went to find my mom so we could have lunch. We had a glass of wine with lunch, then after lunch got ready for the sauna and hotbeds in the Persian Garden, then after the spa we had daiquiris on one of those circle chairs and I felt my first buzz on the whole trip. The service on the cruise hadn't been fast enough to get you drunk, but I suppose cruising with one's septuagenarian mother isn't conducive to that sort of atmosphere anyway.

Finally, we had our last dinner in the dining room that night, because the next day we found the menu uninspiring. It was a calm evening, where we went to our final art auction and had some champagne there. We went to bed knowing our bus would be leaving around 9:30, so we didn't have to wake up too early, just by 7.

The next morning, our excursion was to Valdemossa. A town that Chopin had convalesced in when he was sick with tuberculosis. Valdemossa is a short 30 minute ride from the port in Palma and is a picturesque ancient stone housed village.

While there we visited the Royal Charterhouse, the 14th century monastery where Chopin and Sand spent a winter in the 1830s. We walked through the gardens and our tour guide explained a lot about Chopin and his historical influence on the town. We skipped a concert in effort to get more free time to wander the cobblestone streets of the charming little medieval village. The surrounding area did look very good for hiking, but we only had about 3 hours total in the city to explore. We sat down eventually for another Sangria at a local cafe, where we used the restroom, before shopping for souvenirs right beside where the bus stop was.

Loading that bus, I got some footage of the city in a panoramic view as we descended the mountain. Definitely, I didn't feel like we got enough time in the city. The strawberries were huge in one of the markets there. I would have liked to sit and eat a whole carton.

On the way back to the ship, the bus driver dropped us and a bunch of other travelers off just across from the Cathedral of Palma. We walked across the street and found another place to have a second Sangria. After this, it was inspiring to walk the steps of that Cathedral and up and around the building, seeing the palm trees that lined the terrace below. The gothic Roman Catholic cathedral is a massive one, and you could also see it from our cruise ship when we returned by taxi. We got back to the boat just in time for a late lunch and a glass of wine. That evening, we skipped dinner in the dining room and opted for dinner in the cafeteria, which wasn't the greatest choice because the food seemed like recipes trying to use up the remainder of ingredients.

That evening, we went to the martini bar where there was a flare bartending show every evening. We sipped on passionfruit martinis and chocolate martinis, each having two total before going to bed early knowing that there would be no time for breakfast on board the ship and our bags had to be out an packed that evening.

Our whirlwind cruise was coming to an end. We'd packed a lot into these 9 days and the trip wasn't over yet because we still had a 3 night stay at Park Hotel Barcelona, right across from the Estació de França train station outside of the El Born district.

Benefits of Cruise Travel

To me the main benefit of cruising is that you get your meals covered the whole trip. It's great for picky eaters like myself, because sometimes at European restaurants, I have had trouble finding anything on a menu that I would enjoy. The food on the cruise was a solid 7/10 at most occasions and some reached 9.

Cruising is good if you want to see a lot of ports in a short time frame. It wasn't too disimilar from my bus trip in Italy when it came to the early mornings and the pacing was also go-go-go. But one nice thing about a cruise is that you unpack once for the duration of the trip and don't have to live out of a suitcase. There was just enough space for two travelers to have their clothes folded and hung, ready to be evaluated for the next outfit change.

One challenge is there really is that dreaded FOMO, when it comes to feeling like you might not have picked the right excursion. As with anything, the more research you do into your own bucket list items per port, the more you can tailor cruise travel to suit your needs. If I'm lucky enough to go on another cruise, I likely will not book any excursions and instead focus my research on the cultural must dos in the port city, or I will schedule afternoon excursions because our trip to Mijas really was the best excursion on our 5 port journey.

Park Hotel Barcelona

We disembarked the ship with our backpacks and went to pickup our roller luggage around 9:30am. We then lined up for a taxi which took us directly to Park Hotel Barcelona, where luckily they already had our room set up for early check in. I did nothing to pre-arrange this, it was just lovely happenstance that we were able to check in around 10am.

We went to our room and then back out for brunch at a bakery nearby. I had a croissant and cappuccino. Then we went to rest in our hotel room until around 1pm. We had plans that evening to go to Park Guell, so we set out to buy a 48 hour metro pass.

Google directed us to the right bus route to reach the park, which we didn't have to climb to, the bus let us out right at the entry way. Our tickets were purchased on GetYourGuide for a 5pm entry slot, but we arrived at 3pm and the staff let us in early.

We explored the park on tired feet for nearly two hours, each unique stop had it's own photo worthy little architectural detail. It was cool to see the Sagrada Familia from this outlook, and see the city skyline below.

That evening we had pizza and a bottle of wine on a tiny tabletop at a restaurant called Buon Appetito. The restaurant was only 10 feet from the bus stop and another 30 yards from our hotel entrance. We bought a bottle of Cava to share earlier that day that had been cooling in the refrigerator. It ended up being a 5 Euro bottle that we bought twice while staying at Park Hotel Barcelona.

El Born and Flamenco

Our hotel was a 5 minute walk from El Born, where we landed on the Palau Dalmases for a Flamenco show. We booked tickets the morning of the 26th to the 6:45 show that evening. We then proceeded to go to a modern art gallery before shopping a little bazaar with local vendors.

That day we decided to explore the city with our metro passes, but didn't really have a plan so didn't see too much. The underground system didn't make too much sense to me, but the above ground bus system was navigable with the assistance of Google maps saying which bus to take and knowing which buses went to the stop closest to our hotel.

We got back in time for another little pizza by the slice joint in the El Born district prior to going to Palau Dalmases. We had wine with our pizza and then cava at the venue before Flamenco.

We had the first row of the back section seats at the Flamenco show, as they were 30 euro and that seemed to be pricey given we could have seen a show for free in Malaga.

There were two ladies and two men. One of the ladies was young and the other middle aged and seemingly very experienced in the art of that dance. The dancing was like a combination of tap dancing and belly dancing and we got an opportunity to stand and watch a little of the footwork, which looked difficult and strenuous.

Ultimately, it was really a great experience to watch Flamenco in Barcelona, Spain. My only complaint was there was no red dress in the show.

That evening we went back to the hotel and shared some cava on the rooftop of the hotel which had good panoramic views of the city. Finally we went to bed early because the next day we had one final excursion planned, a trip to Montserrat.

Montserrat and Sagrada Familia

We were able to get a package deal through GetYourGuide for a trip to Montserrat with entry into Sagrada Familia the same day. This was a truly big day, as we were to meet our bus and tour guide across the street from our hotel at the Estacio del Franca train station. This was why we selected the Park Hotel Barcelona, but it ended up being a 10/10 experience as a whole for the location and the early check in that they let us have.

We made it across the street after a quick breakfast at our hotel for 15 Euro per person. The breakfast was hearty and would have to stick with us until later that day when we returned to Barcelona.

We met our tour guide with perfect timing and embarked upon the bus which drove us outside the city to Montserrat. At Montserrat, we disembarked to take the train to the top of the hill where the monastery is.

Once there, our guide gave us the tour of the Madonna of Montserrat, who we passed to say a quick prayer before visiting the church itself. Then we were given free time where we were able to enjoy a spirits tasting of the liquors of Montserrat followed by some time in the local gallery before heading back to our bus. All in all, we didn't have enough time to ride the funicular to the very top of the mountain and that would have been a very worthwhile experience to have.

The Sagrada Familia tour was run separately, so we were dropped off back at the train station and made our way back to the hotel for some rest and recouperation before our 330 time slot at Gaudi's most famous unending project. We took a cab to our next meeting place and waited while we were split into two groups to tour the Sagrada Familia. We waited about 10 minutes to get in, and then after this we were explained the meaning of the nativity scenes carved into the facade of the entry way to the building. Within 15 minutes, we entered the church and saw the most dazzling lightshow through stained glass.

Finally, she took us to the exit side and explained the meaning of the artwork and carvings in the building.

The building was so elaborate, I didn't really even have the opportunity to process it. There were so many details. She explained that Gaudi is buried there and pointed toward the crypt and then let us off for 2 free hours additional time to explore the basilica on our own. We opted to leave after this, feeling like we had seen it and also my feet were so tired and in pain, each step was additional agony. I was so ready for the return to North America the next day.

Using Expedia to Book Our Flights and Stays

I was able to find some decent flight prices out of Spokane Washington. Going through Atlanta, we then had a direct overnight flight to Barcelona. We also used Expedia to book our stays. Our criteria for the first hotel was to be near the Ramblas. Our criteria for the next hotel was more simplified because I looked at the meeting location for our excursion to Montserrat and the map showed the Park Hotel Barcelona, which we searched for directly and then booked through Expedia. All in flights were about 1800 dollars and our stays were about 2000.

Expedia is very navigable, but it can take a lot to sift through hotel results and determine what meets your criteria. The great thing is being able to look near a specific landmark or area in the city. Overall, we found that we received decent value for our hotels and they matched the descriptions on the website.

Should I return to Spain

If I should ever return to Spain, I'd like to spend more time in Malaga. The beaches there looked beautiful and visiting the Picasso museum would be a worthwhile cultural activity. Malaga seems like a great place to do day trips from and its culturally the most unique of the port cities we visited. I'd stay for a week and just relax, sipping Sangria every day while enjoying some Iberian charcuterie.