Sleep7

MONDAY - OCTOBER 23.. Good morning Europe! VERY foggy at Schiphol.. you finally break thru the cloud layer and then land literally 10 seconds later.

As I always say.. I love to see that first sliver of dawn just a few hours out from New York. Europe has begun their day and our adventure is about to begin!😃

Flight time from JFK to Amsterdam was a quick 6 hours and 21 minutes. Guess how many of those 6 hours and 21 minutes my screen showed this message? I will give you a hint.. 6 hours and 21 minutes. Totally frozen the whole flight.😠

Goodbye NYC! See ya in 11 days.

It was a glorious autumn evening to fly!

Flight 48 was boarding soon..

Bags on the plane! Didn't even need the AirTags (or the empty keychains!🤣) to locate them.. just the Delta app.

Not too long of a wait at the Sky Club. We usually fly on Friday or Saturday night and it's always jammed. Sunday seems to be much quieter. Festive fall decorations and food was abound.🍂

Late afternoon and all the Delta planes were lined up and getting readied to take excited travelers to Europe and beyond.🙌

Got a little choked up seeing this El Al plane as I knew it was soon flying into a war zone.. prayers for peace.🙏

SUNDAY OCTOBER 22.. ready to fly! Check in Terminal 4 at JFK.

On the Wednesday prior to our Monday cruise we got an email from Viking saying that the water levels on the Danube might be low the next week and that buses would be used if the ship couldn't get thru. A little bit of a bummer but I was sure that Viking has dealt with these situations hundreds of times and (come h*ll or low water) would do everything in their power to take care of it in a fine fashion. In the end it didn't change our itinerary much at all.. just that we took a bus from Budapest to our first port of Kalocsa instead of sailing there and we also had to take a 3 hour bus ride to Bucharest at the end of cruise instead of an hour plus one from Ruse. We missed lunch on the ship that first day but Viking generously credited our onboard accounts 25 euros each to cover that meal on our own. Also Viking had to do a "boat and switch" from the Lif to the Lofl but since they are identical ships so it didn't matter except.. Lofl was a much harder name to try to make a clever title with! Lif-tacular or Lif-tastic roll off the tongue much easier than Lofn-tacular or Lofn-abulous but the enthusiasm is the same.😁

An 11 day cruise presented a few packing issues for me. On our usual 7 days sailings two large suitcases and a duffle bag will fit just the right amount of clothing/shoes/stuff for an outfit a day with room to spare. Four extra days? Four extra outfits? Nope.. This trip I aimed to pack clothes that mixed and matched and matched and mixed. I am going to have to try harder next time.. I just unpacked and there was half a suitcase of unworn clothes going right back into my closet..🥲 Maybe this is TMI but an 11 day cruise also created a hair root situation so I packed this clever little item.. it's great for a temporary cover up. Comes in a few colors.. available at drugstores and supermarkets. P.S. I am not a spokeswoman for L'oreal.. just a spokesperson for my center part to match the rest of my head! lol

A few weeks ago Sam saw a great price online for AirTags. Knock on wood we have always been very lucky that our luggage has never gone missing before a cruise. Saw those AirTags and snapped them up sort of as an extra insurance plan for our bags. Well when they came oh boy were we surprised that they actually were just the KEYCHAINS for the AirTags and not the actual AirTags! No wonder they were such a great deal. Instead of being "Caveat emptor" it was "emptor ut legitur." "Buyer should read descriptions more carefully!" 🤣

We are veterans of many river and ocean cruises and have truly loved each and every one. This was an exciting milestone as 11 days is the longest we have ever been away. Sam is still working and he wasn't thrilled about taking 2 weeks off in a row but I convinced him that now (we are both 61) is the time! When I booked this cruise I didn't realize that it's actually only a 7 day cruise with 2 nights at a hotel in Budapest in the beginning and one night at a hotel in Bucharest at the end tacked on. Happily this fulfilled a dream of mine to NOT have to fly in on the day of embarkation and fly out on the day of debarkation as we usually do. More on this later.. I had mixed feelings about it. The excitement really started to build at the end of September when we received our welcome packet in the mail! Looked up a few words and phrases in Hungarian to get ready.. Egan - yes. Actually Sam remembered his grandma using those words to him years ago. Hello/Good day - Yo na pote Please - Leg yen see vesh Thank you - Kou suh nem

👋 Well hello to everyone on the River Cruise board! I am happily writing again.. this time about our absolutely spectacular "Passage to Eastern Europe" cruise aboard the Viking Lofl. We were supposed to be aboard the Viking Lif.. but more on that later. It's great to be back "reporting" and I can't wait to share our amazing 11 day adventure from Budapest to Bucharest. We are home.. unpacked.. laundry done and as per usual up at 3am New York time due to the 6 hour time difference. The cruise was a treat in every way.. from the itinerary, the ship, the shipmates, the food, the sights, the weather, and of course the company. I can't wait to relive all the best moments.. actually all of the moments.. as you will see I like to capture every detail. Depending what time it is.. grab your coffee or your glass of wine and come and sail along with me from point B (Budapest) to point B (Bucharest.)

Hi! Yes.. in the past we have purchased Viking transfers for airfare that we bought on our own. They were for the day of embarkation and a return to the airport the day of debarkation. 😃

Thank you for sharing your beautiful journey with us!!😍

Yay!! How exciting BluebonnetTexan! I have always wanted to visit that stretch of river too and now we are leaving next month. 👏 I shall report on every detail..

Hi! So interesting that the prices are not that different between the two lines in the UK. In the USA (to me) they are very different with Viking being MUCH higher than Azamara. And I'm not including any discounts given by a travel agent.. Usually I only book directly thru the cruise lines. Anyways..as you said.. love both.. will continue to book both depending upon the itinerary.. the date and the price.😊

👋Hi uktog! I really enjoyed reading your day by day review on the Viking Board and also your summary and comparisons at the end. I feel just the same way as your quote.. "Will we sail again on Viking? - absolutely (bookings now in place) Will we sail again on Azamara – absolutely (bookings now in place)" I don't know if it's the same in the UK but for us Viking Ocean costs at least twice or sometimes three times as much as Azamara. That is going by cruises we have booked recently. I think Azamara has an amazing product and I'm so glad that it's much more reasonable for us than a Viking cruise. We will continue to sail on both lines though as they are both wonderful! Thanks for your review and happy sailing to you always.

👋Good morning! Thanks for letting me know about the dinner situations at each end. We have never taken a cruise where you arrive 2 days before and leave a day after.. always have buzzed in the day of sailing and buzz out when it's over. I think we will try one or two of the kosher restaurants in Budapest for those 2 dinners. We don't keep kosher but we always like to try a kosher restaurant when we are away. Interesting that you stayed at the Corenthia in Budapest. I thought the hotel was The Intercontinental. I'm sure the Cornethia will be just as lovely.😃 If we meet Hana, Alan and Vladimir on the cruise we shall tell them how wonderful you thought they were. When we get home I'm going to post a day by day blog with lots of pix.. you can relive the fun! Anyways.. your post made me extra excited about our upcoming cruise! Thanks.😊

👋Hi CDNPolar! We are going on this cruise next month and I'm super excited!! I am so happy you had a great time. All new ports for us except Budapest which we have been to a few times in the past. Welcome back!!😊 Question.. is dinner included the first two nights in Budapest and/or the last night in Bucharest? Thanks for letting me know.

👋Hi Nancy!! Thanks so much for taking the time to post about your cruise. I will follow along on your blog link. Looking forward to it.. will catch up on your past week first thing. Have a wonderful rest of your cruise!😊

👋Good morning - Good afternoon uktog! Just saw your wonderful thread now and read thru it with a smile on my face. Thank you for your lovely commentary and your fantastic pictures! Just the perfect amount of both. I look forward to reading along and sharing your adventure with you. Happy sailing!! Claudia (sleep7 an old pal from the Azamara board)😃 P.S. read with great interest that Andrew Carnegie funded educations in Scotland. Two of our daughters went to school in Pittsburgh and so many public buildings and spaces there were built with his donations. I didn't realize he did that in Scotland too. Also.. that's awesome that you went to the UN while you were in New York. I haven't been there since a class trip in 3rd grade. Your post really made me want to visit again.😊