As you know, Holland America allows us to bring our own wine onboard. You may drink it in your room or bring it to the dining room where the wine steward or sommelier will open it for you. There is an $18 a bottle corkage fee if opened in the dining room. Depending on how selective you are, you may be content with Holland America's onboard wine list. If so, read no further.

Do I sense some discontent? I thought I might.

Of course you can haul your own wine from home worrying about breakage, luggage weight, and shaken bottle syndrome, or you can buy some when you reach Barcelona.

It appears as if we will be assigned to Terminal D at the cruise port. If so, then there are several duty-free shops inside the cruise terminal where you can buy wine and spirits. I'm not certain of the opening hours at these shops (remember, we board on a Sunday), but having the store right there at the terminal makes for a lot less hassle. If you plan on buying anything by the case (wine, water, soft drinks, etc.) to bring on board, be sure to print out a few extra luggage tags and attach one to each case. Check the cases when you check your bags and they will be delivered to your room along with your luggage. If you purchase after the initial check-in, you will have to carry it onboard yourself so you might plan ahead and bring a rolling carry-on bag when you do your wine shopping.

There are many places in Barcelona to purchase wine. In the Boqueria St. Joseph, the marketplace on La Rambla, there are a few wine sellers. El Corte Ingles is a huge department store that has a wine department. It's at the far end of La Rambla at the Placa de Catalunya. There is also a mega-wine store called Lavinia, located on the map here at 605 Avenue Diagonal. You may need a taxi for this one, but they have a huge selection. Their website is in Spanish, but you can click on the lifesaver looking icons on the left to get an idea of their selections and prices. They supposedly have the largest wine selection in all of Europe AND they allow you to try before you buy. Lavinia is open 10AM to 9PM Monday through Saturday.

If these options are not enough, try this list of wine retailers in Barcelona. Vino en Casa is fairly close to the port. See it on the map here. Lafuente is also near the port. See Lafuente on the map here.Full-screen It is just off La Rambla at 20 Carrer Ferràn. Lafuente's sister store, Colmado Quilez is 6 blocks north of the Placa de Catalunya at 63 Rambla de Caltalunya.

Each of these shops sell wines from around the world so you are not limited to Spanish wines. But there are some great wines from Spain, as you can read here in the Spanish Wine Guide.

And remember - Wine a little. You'll feel better. Or



Wine a lot. You won't feel a thing.