Morocco Malta and the Med: Disembarkation in Barcelona
We have a late disembarkation, but our leisurely morning is not a leisurely morning for the crew. These wonderful people work so hard. They truly do everything they can to ensure their passenger’s happiness and well-being, and today, they say goodbye to us and work to get our baggage off the ship. Then they work like crazy to clean and disinfect every single stateroom and re-supply the food, beverage, and incidentals (like toilet paper and sanitizer, etc) for the next group who will be boarding in just hours. They will do the exact same thing for the next group, welcome them, keep them safe, fed and entertained, and then do the same for the next group. These crews are the true heroes of cruising.
Bags were picked up the night before. We’ve had a quick breakfast. For the only time this trip, this morning there is a passenger at breakfast surrounded by a wide swath of no passengers. He is wearing a MAGA hat. This is the only time this entire trip there has been a hint of politics.
Our group is called and we head for the bus, identify our bags, make sure they are loaded and ride to the airport. It is early on a Sunday morning, the ride to the airport is amazingly quick.
I am a worrier; I don’t see my bags when I exit the bus, but I guess Viking has done this a time or two because the bags are already unloaded and waiting for us in the airport. The line for Delta is long, and chaotic, but we get through relatively quickly. AdventureMan helps me find a Starbucks, where I buy a Barcelona cup. He was very patient. Now he is very glad we stopped; the Barcelona cup is his favorite cup.
The wait in the lounge was comfortable. Our flight was called on time. Everything went smoothly. That seems to be the mantra for this entire trip, every flight left on time, arrived on time, our ship didn’t have to miss any ports, we arrived and departed on time. We had great weather. We had a great trip.
Morocco, Malta and the Mediterranean: Another Great Adventure
We thought we were done with cruising (this happens a lot) when suddenly this trip popped up on Viking’s new itineraries. We waited only two days, and called to reserve. The cabin area we want was already almost sold out! We got the last cabin, not the normal cabin we reserve, and felt lucky to get it. I checked the cabin catagories; the ship was almost entirely sold out.
Algiers. Malta. Ajaccio. Places we had never been before. It got our hearts racing.
We tried something new; for Barcelona, we booked a tour through Viator to visit the hillside Monastery of Monserrat. For Tunis, where we lived so many years ago, we booked through Tours for Locals, so that we could have a personalized visit to see things that mattered to us. We paid in advance – like more than a year in advance.
We are cautious with our money, so this was a little scary for us. Booking private tours in expensive. Between booking and implementing, a lot can happen. And what if the guides don’t show up??? What is your fallback? By faith, we bit that bullet and it worked out great for us.
It was also a long trip with 23 days total and various climates, so I did not believe I could do it with a carry-on. I used a bigger suitcase, again, by faith, and checked it. We never had a problem, and I was thankful to have a variety of clothing appropriate to the cultures and climate.
This trip took place from mid-November to early December. Today, AdventureMan asked me how I wanted to spend the weekend, and I said “I want to write up the trip for the blog.” In between getting home and now, I had to get Christmas decorations up, bake Christmas dishes, do Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas Day brunch, deal with having norovirus (me, just before Christmas), deal with AdventureMan having norovirus (shortly after Christmas, and with AdventureMan getting a papercut that turned into a severe infection with heavy duty antibiotics. Take Christmas down. Oh, and jury duty. And welcome the New Year with friends.
We are just now getting back to normal. At the end of this month, we start a major bath reconstruction that will disrupt us for six to eight weeks. Now is the time 😊.
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