At Sea Day #8: Crossing the Prime
Meridian aboard Costa Pacifica

April 10, 2019

ABOARD COSTA PACIFICA IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA – We crossed the Prime Meridian today while sailing from Gibraltar toward Barcelona on the final full day of this 17-night Caribbean and trans-Atlantic voyage. I enjoyed the excellent weather and got lots of planning done for my next few trips to West Africa and Eastern Europe.

Got up at 9:30 a.m. aboard Costa Pacifica. This is our eighth day at sea during the cruise from La Romana, Dominican Republic, to Barcelona, Spain, where we’ll arrive tomorrow. To begin this final full day of the voyage, I watched “NCIS” and continued sorting yesterday’s photos from our fabulous port of call in Gibraltar.

Worked on my calendar, then went outside to read Lonely Planet’s Romania guidebook (I’ll be visiting there next month).

Costa Pacifica crossed the Prime Meridian at 12:58 p.m. while I ate lunch at the buffet.

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Finished the Romania main chapters, then took a short nap in the wonderful sunshine at Deck 11 rear.

Headed inside at 3:06 p.m. Set up my laptop at the Internet station on Deck 4 to read tour information for Senegal and The Gambia. I’ll be flying to West Africa tomorrow after disembarking Costa Pacifica. Also worked on my West Africa Trip Planning Checklist.

Went up to Deck 12 at 6:02 to walk 41 minutes. Showered, packed, and watched “NCIS.” Then went for my final dinner at the New York New York dining room.

Continued packing. Set my luggage in the hallway at 10:45 for collection and got in bed. The disembarkation sheet asks passengers to leave their cabins by 8 a.m. Ha ha ha! How absurdly early. Yeah right! My disembark time is 9:30, which actually works out well since my flight to Lisbon, Portugal, departs BCN airport at 12:50 p.m.

Watched another episode of “NCIS” before bed at 11:35 p.m. Hard to believe tomorrow night I’ll be in Senegal!

This 17-night Caribbean and trans-Atlantic cruise has been a mixed bag. It started with a horrendous boarding experience in La Romana and a nightmare of onboard customer-service problems. The food and service aboard Pacifica has been mediocre, but the excursions I went on at seven ports of call were generally excellent and quite enjoyable.

I’ve been on Costa twice before, so I’m aware its service isn’t great. But I’ve sailed with the Italian cruiseline three times because of its excellent itineraries and good prices. Will I sail on Costa again? It all depends on the routing and cost! But it’s definitely not a cruiseline I recommend for the onboard experience.

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