Sleep7

Bags on the plane.. that's always good!👏 We had recently bought air tags and they confirmed that they were on the plane (or at least near our gate being loaded on) as well.

Our nonstop flight to Barcelona was leaving at 9:45pm.. maybe we shall even sleep a bit on it.😴

It was a beautiful late summer - early fall evening to fly.

Friday night at 7pm is usually prime time for the Sky Club at JFK. Very pleasantly surprised there was no line. Maybe it's because there is now a Delta One Lounge in addition to a second Sky Club in Terminal 4?🤷‍♀️ 🍾CHEERS!!🍾

Checked in and ready to go!

Helloooo out there on the Azamara Board! We have just returned.. literally just back yesterday from a 7 night Barcelona to Nice "France Intensive" cruise on The Quest. It's our 8th time sailing on Azamara and each one truly holds a special place in my heart as the best vacation ever. The suitcases are unpacked.. the laundry is done.. the mail is sorted and I'm ready to write. Looking forward to telling the happy tale of our fantastic week plying the mostly smooth Mediterranean waters from Barcelona to Nice. Before I start.. just a note about the hair. The bad news was in the winter I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer but the GOOD news is that it was caught very early and I am just fine now. I went thru a rough few months of chemo and radiation and I was so excited to get back to traveling again. I have given up a very convincing wig and many hats and just decided to cruise "au natural" as it's the easiest and most comfortable way to travel. OK.. enough about me. While the hair length is small.. the enjoyment of our first cruise back was truly BIG indeed

🙌🏻AMAZING PIC!!!!!!!🙌🏻

Hi Bob! Your Northern Lights cruise does sound amazing and those 2 extra days in London actually ended up being a plus! I laughed at your reindeer stew.. but not the ones that pulled the sleigh. I will add this cruise onto my long list of cruises to take. Since we are mostly restricted to a week to 10 days at a time due to DH working we usually do the same old same old 7 day Med cruises but happily so. There is a lovely familiarity to going to ports you have been to before. We are sailing soon on exactly that itinerary. I plan to write a thread with lots of pix just like this one. Thanks for telling me about your cruise.. I really enjoyed your description. Have a great day and happy sailing!

👋Hi again! We booked Viking's tour to the Synagogue. I thought it was great. Lots of information and a very nice guide. We usually only book the ships tours whether ocean or river just because we aren't that picky and in case the ship changes the itinerary there are no issues if we need to cancel. That being said.. there are many who will only book independent tours so I guess there are 2 schools of thought on it. We have done a few river cruises as well and I do think this Eastern European itinerary was the most interesting of them all. What a cool cruise you took to see the Northern Lights. Was it rough? I always wonder if winter cruising in Europe in winter is rough.. I never get seasick buy DH does. We loved Viking Ocean too and your Halloween cruise in the Caribbean sounds wonderful! And best of all it's coming up so soon!

👋Hi again Bob! We have never done a "dinner and show" excursion on a cruise. The food on board is always great that we never felt like we had to take a tour that included a meal unless it was a full day tour during the day and the meal was lunch. That being said.. I'm sure if you book the dinner show you will enjoy it. I don't remember what others commented about them on this cruise but as my mother always said.. "you never regret things you do.. only the things you don't do." Maybe others who have taken the dinner tours can chime in on their thoughts whether it was worthwhile or not.

👋Good morning Bob! I get notifications when somebody comments so I did see just yours.😊 Thanks so very much for your compliments.😍 I'm so glad that my pix and story made you even more excited for your trip next year! Yay! It was the most amazing itinerary. The ports were all so unique and fascinating. Many of the cities were places I have always wanted to visit to and this cruise included them all in a week! If you have any specific questions I'm always happy to answer them. You are going to have the best time. Thanks again for bringing my thread up.. I just reread it and it brought back so many nice memories. Happy sailing! 😊Claudia

👋Hi Cindy! Thanks for taking the time to post such a detailed, honest, upbeat and fun review of your 3 weeks with Viking. I truly enjoyed following your adventure!😊

😊Thank you @cavaaller for such a fantastic cruise blog. Reading your comments and seeing your pictures has brought back so many Azamemories!!! Keep up the great work!👏

👋🏻Hi kctwinmommy! So funny you posted your fave "on the way to Florence" purple pouch. I bought one too last year and use it every day. Still makes me smile and think of our trip.😊

👋Hi kctwinmommy! I haven't looked on the Viking Ocean board for a while so I am just now seeing your wonderful review. Great pix and great commentary.. thanks for taking us along with you!👏

Ooo! Have fun!!!💗

😊What a fun topic for such a well traveled group. I would love to cruise South Africa (Capetown to Capetown) or Asia (Hong Kong to Bangkok) or take a river cruise on the Mekong. Add a land tour of Myanmar (especially Yangon and it's colonial era buildings) and those are my top 3 travel bucket list items. Besides the fact that DH still works and isn't keen on taking 2 or 3 or 4 weeks off in a row.. the distance is actually stopping me from bugging him too much about it. Two weeks ago we were away in Honolulu and flew nonstop from JFK to HNL. The 11 hour flight kind of cured me from drooling over the aforementioned trips too much. So for now I'm happy with western Europe.. flights I can stand and a time change that isn't too hard to overcome.😊

👋🏻Hello! I think about 45 minutes or so?

👋🏻 Hello! We were on the Onward last April/May and I wrote a blog that included "The Insider" every day. Hope that helps! 😊 https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2934418-onward-and-upward-our-azamazing-italy-intensive-week-april-22-to-april-29-2023-full-trip-report-with-tons-of-pix/

Awesome!! As Borat would say.. "GREAT SUCCESS!!"

Oh thanks so much for letting us know @laurieb! I was waiting for them to be posted.😊

Hi FetaCheese! Thoroughly enjoying your report! Keep up the great work.👏🏻

👋Hello Feta Cheese! Yay!! I'm so glad you are posting from your cruise... Wishing you calm seas and lots of smiles! I will be in the virtual cabin next door sailing vicariously through you.😊 Wishing you calm seas and lots of smiles!!

👋🏻Hi 1st! Flying main cabin internationally.. I'm about 99% sure that we have access to the KLM lounge (as well any other Sky team lounge) because I am a Platinum Delta Skymiles member. A companion is allowed in for free too. I doesn't matter whether you are flying on a Delta, KLM, or Air France flight since they are all part of the Sky team partnership. Hope that helps.😊

☀️68 and sunny sounds truly delightful. What an exciting itinerary you are on.. hope it's been smooth sailing. Is it generally rougher than the Med? Or is it just luck of the seas that week? We will actually be on the Jupiter next summer for an Italian Sojourn.. looking forward to it! Love love love Viking and will always include it in my rotation with an Azamara cruise or two in between. They are definitely similar but a bit different too and it's always nice to experience both.😊