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Posts tagged ‘vacation’

Venice to Turkey 05

Day 05, Board the Norwegian Viva

We get up early and go for a walk in search of our shuttle location to take us to the ship. Once found, we patronize one of many Patisseries that line the streets and have coffee and pastries.

Then it’s back to the hotel to pick up our luggage to go to the bus stop. We have been told to be there at 9:20 AM promptly. The bus arrives at 9:45 AM. So much for promptness. There was a line of people ahead of us when we arrived at 9:10. But the good thing is we put our luggage on last which means we are first off.

Our boarding time is noon and we get to the ship at 10:30. But we are third in line and security is ready for us at 10:45. We check our bags and wait in a 20 minute line to check onto the ship. Formalities taken care of, we board the ship. Our stateroom is not ready, so, with heavy backpacks on, we start touring the ship. Elevator up to deck 17, stairs to 18, walk around, find the main buffet, arcades and race track, yes, race track! Down to deck 7 and inquire about details at the front desk. Whew!

Back to the buffet for a snack to offset our plans to visit a bar. Looking out over the harbor, the compression effect of my telephoto lens makes the docked boats look interesting.

Then to the front theater where we sign up for one of our paid dinners. Interesting space, the theater is just one big open room! Wonder what it’s like to see a show in here? Now to a bar for a glass of wine. We study the things to do on and off the ship, get events into our calendars and go back to the theater to book another dinner. A salesman sees me with a glass of wine and successfully gets us to book a wine tasting.

One thing we don’t care for (we learned this on Royal Caribbean) is that even complimentary restaurants and events must be booked in advance because the ship is so big. We walk around the ship more and stumble across the Welcome Aboard Party by the pool!

We try to go to our stateroom to deposit our backpacks and find it is still not yet available. So we lug our stuff up to what turns out to be the whiskey bar. They have whiskey and wine. I sit with our bags and Elee walks to the ‘Local Bar’ for a rum drink. She returns with her drink and a small pretzel snack and we are immediately informed by a waitress that food is strictly forbidden in this bar. WHAT? Unheard of! A snack prohibited in a bar? I guess we have learned what bar to not patronize on this cruise! So I note to self to include this in our review of the ship.

Elee walks back to the other bar to enjoy her snack and I hold down the fort. I don’t know how long to wait to find our room available so I sit and relax. Elee returns and we relax together. When our room is finally ready, we are impressed with the size of it!

At dinner, we have fabulous food between seafood for Elee and New York Strip Steak for me which tastes and looks more like Filet Mignon. We meet and chat with several people from Australia. After dinner I get a glass of wine and go back to the stateroom for the evening.

Northern Lights Tour Day 01

Day 01 Jan 28, 2025 Travel to get there!

Our good friends Rick and Marilyn give us a ride to the airport. We board Scandinavian Airlines in LAX for a 5:40 PM flight to Kobenhavn (Copenhagen). The flight is an uneventful 11 hour flight. The notable thing is the temperature. It is quite chilly in Danmark (Denmark).

We change planes and the flight to Helsinki, Finland. It is also an uneventful flight lasting about 2 hours. We land at 5:40 PM. It is interesting that we land at the same clock time that we took off in LAX, only one day later). It is even colder in Finland. We have worn our Arctic Coats and Boots as these items do not fit in our already overstuffed suitcases. Winter cold weather clothing takes up a lot of space!

We have a ride scheduled to our hotel. Sure enough, there is a driver with our name on a placard waiting for us. I tell the driver that I need to get a sim card for my phone before we leave the airport. He helps me do that and all is good.

It is 6:15 PM and the ride to the hotel is 40 minutes. So we walk into the lobby at 7 PM and check in. We bring our bags up to our room. I head back down to meet our Guide and Group for the Introduction Meeting and Dinner that is scheduled to start at 7 PM. Yes, we are late. But there’s nothing we can do about it. Our Guide is looking for us. He sits us at the same table as he is sitting so he can bring us up to date. The other table mates introduce themselves and are very friendly. The light above the bed in our room elicits conversation among the group!

It turns out that the Group of 24 is from Australia and we are the only 2 from the USA. But everyone is friendly and we get along with everyone also. The important news is that we need to be on the bus at 6:15 AM. The Guide, Mikael, is very laid back. He has only one rule to adhere to, “Be on time, All the time.” It will turn out that everyone will pay attention to that very simple rule.

These next two photos are of the decor above the front desk in the hotel! I wonder how many other people photograph them?

Up to our room and settle in for our 2 night stay here. Goodnight! We have traveled for over 18 hours and it is 28 clock hours later. Jet Lag. Get over it, you’ll need to.