Trip Log Day 1: 7-Night Western Europe Cruise on Disney Fantasy – Barcelona, Spain

Trip log, day one. Barcelona, Spain.
7-Night Western Europe Cruise on Disney Fantasy
July 24, 2025

Guests Onboard: 3:45 pm
Personal Navigator

Our captain for this cruise is Wesley Dunlop. As for our onboard entertainment, Jimmy Lynett is our Cruise Director. During this 7-night Western Europe re-positioning cruise we will be visiting the ports of Lisbon, Portugal, Vigo, Spain, and La Coruña, Spain ending in Southampton.

While it’s embarkation day, we’re treating the morning like a port day and exploring Barcelona some more! The weather forecast predicts a change of rain, so we decided to head out before the rain arrived. Our hotel is only about a 10-15 minute walk from the nearby Cathedral of Barcelona, so we headed there first.

Nearby, is the Bishop’s Bridge (Pont del Bisbe), a covered walkway connecting Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya (The Palace of the Generalitat of Catalonia) with the Cases dels Canonges (Houses of the Canons).

As we continued our walk, we spotted route marker for what we learned was part of the Ruta del Modernisme de Barcelona.

The Barcelona Modernisme Route is described on the website as an itinerary through the Barcelona of Gaudí, Domènech i Montaner and Puig i Cadafalch, who together with other architects, made Barcelona the great capital of Catalan Art Nouveau. With this route you can discover impressive palaces, amazing houses, the temple that is symbol of the city and an immense hospital, as well as more popular and everyday works such as pharmacies, shops, bars, streetlights or benches. Modernisme works that show that Art Nouveau took root in Barcelona and even today is still a living art, and part of the city’s everyday life.

While we just discovered this walking tour, it looks like a great starting point if you are looking for ideas for sightseeing in Barcelona.

As an aside, I was drawn to the Panot Tiles used around the city as well explored. They even sold some coasters in our hotel including the Flor De Barcelona and Gaudí tiles which when laid out create a larger underwater inspired design.

Near the Cathedral, we passed the Plaça de Garriga i Bachs, a historic square in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, honoring the 1809 Martyrs of Independence.

Plaza De Ramón Berenguer El Grande, also in the area around the Cathedara, features a grand equestrian statue of the medieval Catalan count, set against the ancient Roman walls near.

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The square is named after the man who was Count of Barcelona between 1096 and 1131, portrayed in a stately equestrian statue by Josep Llimona. However, the most important part of the square is the section of Roman wall, dating from the early 4th century AD. Indeed, although Barcelona’s first city wall dates from the 1st century BC, it was reinforced, three centuries later, by a second wall.

Our last spot on our sightseeing walk was Palace Of The Generalitat Of Catalonia which is home to the Catalan government. We opted to stay back as this was a business day, we did see the guards part the way to allow a car to enter.

Casually did some window shopping, found an awesome stationary shop with some amazing pens and mechanical pencils.

A trip is never complete without a stop at a grocery store. It’s fun to see the differences compared to Publix or any other supermarket back in the States.

It’s also mind-blowing how cheap wine and cheese can be.

Remember cheap wine in Europe is still good wine. Lidl was a great spot to pick up some allotted provisions.

Headed back to our hotel about 11:30 to finish packing up and be out for noon check-out. The staff arranged a taxi who arrived in about 5-minutes and we were off to the port of Barcelona which was roughly a 15-minute drive.

There was an issue with the online health questionnaire not working for most guests which resulted in an extra step for the port staff with each arriving party. The security line had a good amount of lanes available to move guests and then it was onto check-in.

Just after the security check, we stoped to browse the duty free store.

There was a minor delay during check-in due to the UK ETA Visa required. When I checked-in, the online system was set up for UK Visa, not the ETA thing the UK put into effect. They resulted in the extremely official checking of the UK ETA email confirmations we each had on our phones which matched the screenshots they had on the tablet which I uploaded at check-in. I will jump through whatever hoop is required to travel, but this whole thing seems very unofficial as the email just has a tracking number that was issued immediately after our payment was accepted which is the same amount of time it took for the ETA approval.

From exiting the taxi to walking on to the Fantasy, it was only about 30-minutes.

We took the opportunity to visit the guest services desk as it currently did not have a line! We usually stop on day one and have the Disney gift cards that we purchase at Target for 5% off put onto our account right away. Today, we had two orders of business.

Based on the reaction on the Facebook post, we created quite the stir when I posted that we filled out the alcohol consent form for our daughter. If this is not something you are interested in, skip ahead to our lunch.

Disney Cruise Line’s Beverage Consent Form – Europe 2025

Dear Disney Fantasy Guest:
We are glad that you will be sailing with us this summer in Europe.

As you may know, the drinking age aboard Disney Cruise Line ships is 21. However, we recognize that some guests traveling from countries where the legal drinking age is lower than 21, may have different expectations. Therefore, for cruises departing from European countries, a guardian or parent who is sailing with his or her son(s) and/or daughter(s) who are between the ages of 18 and 20, may complete the consent form below allowing the 18 to 20 war old to purchase alcoholic beverages while in their presence onboard.

This exception to our normal policy is optional and completely based upon parental guardian discretion and participation. By signing this consent form you agree to be present at the purchase and responsible for the consumption of alcoholic beverages of your son, daughter and/or ward. Violations of this policy will not be tolerated. This policy is subject to change without notice. Disney Cruise Line reserves the right to refuse sale and service to anyone.

Son, Daughter, and/or Ward’s Name:
Stateroom Number:
Responsible Parent / Guardian (print):
Stateroom Number:
Parental / Guardian Signature:

Please note: The 18 to 20 year old must comply with all European law and Disney Cruise Line policies related to the consumption and distribution of alcohol in Europe, including among other things, agreeing to not provide alcoholic beverages to any other person regardless of age.

Completed consent forms should be handed in onboard the Disney Fantasy at Guest Services

We found a table, and grabbed lunch on the upper deck. There was a variety of pizzas available, but the pizza itself was not great. The real winner was the chicken pesto sandwich made to order down at Fillmore’s Favorites. I was given a pager after ordering and returned to the window when the sandwich was ready to pick up. This has been around for a while now, but it has been a while since we’ve been on the Fantasy and this was not something offered 2 years ago on the Dream when we sailed to Greece. The sandwich was actually really good. So good, that it has the potential to be my go to option this week when we are onboard for lunch.

It was nearing 1:30 so we made our way to the stateroom to drop off our bags and one of our bags was already waiting outside the door with a second showing up within a few minutes. Our third bag took a bit longer arriving just before the time we left for the muster drill. We did keep tabs on the suitcase but tracking dissipated as the AirTag was not pinging any nearby devices to update its location. Regardless, the technology investment was worth it.

Our muster station was in the Buena Vista Theater and there were a lot of stragglers. The message over the PA was quite blunt. Effectively stating, “it doesn’t matter how old you are, or how many cruises you’ve been on, you must attend.” I’m kinda loving the fact someone took off the kid gloves and said it like it is. However, I still say it is silly to still do in-person muster drill when self mustering has become commonplace with other cruise lines.

Today, the muster drill didn’t impact onboard activities as it was raining resulting in the sail away party being postponed until 7:45 PM due to rain. Then, as we were head to dinner it was announced the sail away party will now be held in the atrium at 10 PMdue to lingering rain and lightning in the area. Yes, you read that correctly. Sail away party at 10 PM.

After the muster drill, we returned to the Cove Café where we ordered some coffee and browsed the book library.

As we sat there, I signed up for a length of cruise internet package. Below are screenshots showing the options between Internet and Internet + Streaming. I like how they just simplified the options.

For this cruise and like many others, we are in an inside stateroom with a virtual porthole which offers a mix of live footage and occasional fake footage. We booked opening day, then cancelled in January when we were alerted to an IGT rate. This is a guarantee rate, which is non-refundable and you do not get to choose your stateroom location. We ended up with an 11A located on deck 9 midship. The virtual portholes are neat. Every so often, you may spot a Disney characters on the screen. It’s a fun stateroom amenity to make the inside stateroom feel less inside. A cool upgrade would be if the porthole would illuminate in the morning to coincide with the sunrise at the ship’s present location.

The art on the walls in this stateroom included a collage of sorts with Disney stamps from different countries. This was really awesome.

We called room serviced to request our complimentary bottle of Prosecco as our stateroom gift. For this European cruise, we received the standard Pearl level offering of items. I think there was a mix of gifts this cruise, as we saw a number of people with the navy blue backpacks.

Dinner seatings this cruise are at 6 PM and 8:45 PM. With the extra time, we walked over the shops just as they were opening at 5:30 PM. Bad idea, unless you need something, or really really want something wait until later. This reminds me of peak Black Friday store openings with shoppers nearly pushing open the doors and flooding in and grabbing more items than they can carry. Avoiding the rush, we walked into WhiteCaps where I spotted a cool selection of item from What Goes Around Comes Around a company that offers pre-owned luxury, and vintage pieces. There was a really cool Donald Duck bag featuring his nephews.

The crazy part that is part ridiculous part genius is instead of cruise line merchandise for Europe, they brought on merchandise from the pavilions at Epcot World Showcase. There were collections from France and Italy.

Spotted some fun pin designs based on venues across the ship.

Preludes featured an abundance of the ballon inspired Mickey popcorn buckets along with a selection of souvenir cups.

Before heading to our assigned restaurant for the evening, we stopped in La Piazza to grab some cocktails to take to dinner. Kudos to the bartender for asking if we wanted a standard Negroni or the house infused Negroni – apparently some guests find the house made version too bitter, but this is such a better option in our opinion.

On our way to dinner, we descended the atrium stairs to deck to to discover Vista Gallery is no more, just an empty wall between Midship Detective Agency kiosk and the entrance to Enchanted Garden.

Our rotation is ERAERAE, which means we are heading to Enchanted Garden tonight and 2 other times this voyage. We were seated at a table with a porthole, that’s back to back cruises with porthole tables. It was a great distraction as we barely noticed the flower light fixtures are no longer dynamic. Dinner tonight was the standard menu in Enchanted Garden.

We had a lovely sail away view from our table and interestingly enough, someone had a bit of an issue recently and needs a salvage operation to return them to port.

I am often critical of the food served onboard, especially at dinner. Well, tonight I am happy to report that the food was fantastic including the bread which was actually fresh! Emily said the scallops were cooked better than the last time she had them at Palo dinner. Very nice for MDR food.

While the menu is the same as it has been for years, the Sea Bass was changed to Corvina.

Dessert

The end of dinner character experience was something. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald arrived parading around the restaurant while a custom song played. I am not sure what they did around the fountain as our view to the restaurant was blocked by a wall, but a minuscule price to pay to sit next to a porthole with a sea view. A lot rumors these last couple years first leading up to the Dream’s dry dock suggest a renovation of the restaurant into a show experience. It will be interesting to see how this would work as there are some areas where you cannot see much at all and adding TV screens on the walls seem to be the only real solution unless the wall an be removed retaining support columns.

Afterwards, we headed over to the shops where we purchased the only thing we would purchase from the shops – a puzzle. We then headed to Europa for trivia.

On the way, we stopped in O’Gills to see what was happening and spotted games in the corner, and a great listing up upcoming sports programs in the bar!

50/60s trivia was held in the spacious Tube, but it’s was not easy. winner had 22 points, second 21… , we and by we I mean not me, managed 13.

Disney Victrophonics were playing in the atrium, happy to see this expand across the fleet after debuting on the Disney Magic.

Saw a lot of great stateroom door decor featuring the itinerary maps! One door in the vicinity of our stateroom had book marks available, which was awesome. Such a great idea.

After flying from Florida, and spending time walking around Barcelona, we decided to just go relax in the stateroom and rest up ahead of a day at sea tomorrow.

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