Norwaylady

Travel time from the port to Avignon is 1h 15.min. We arrived around 10.00. When we left Marseilles, it stopped raining. On arrival Avignon it was all gray. Avignon city centre is a walled city/ UNESCO World heritage site. It’s 7 gates in. The bus drops and picked up at the same gate. It’s not possible to take a larger bus inside the city centre. It’s a 5.minute walk to the pop square. It’s a toilet stop on arrival. Tour started at the Pop’s palace. It’s 25 rooms. Video/pictures are forbidden in painted rooms. (It’s painted and covered in mosaics) Beautiful🤩 So pictures are only allowed in the non decorated rooms. The tour in the palace was 1h. After the tour, it was free time for 50.mins before departure back to the ship. It was drizzle outside☔️☔️☔️ I took a quick tour in the pedestrian shopping area before it was time to return to the bus. meet a fluffy friend🐈‍⬛ On the square next to the palace is the cathedral. This tour has several stairs and uneven walk. It says in the tour info: must be able to walk stairs during the tour. There are no elevators. On arrival going into the palace, the first victim of “not a good walker, don’t lift the feet” fell up the stairs….. It went good👍🏻 But you need to pay attention and be a good walker. If it’s too hard to walk stairs on the ship, this is not a good tour for you! The majority of guests on this tour had a hard time walking up and down the stairs, since they are uneven and taller than a new staircase. So our guide was keeping a sharp eye on those struggling. I case they were falling. All-in-all a decent tour, it’s a teaser of Avignon. It would be nice if it had a bit more time in Avignon before returning to the ship. So now we are on the way back to Marseilles⚓️

Stopped by the lovely crew in Al Bacio to have a Espresso Macchiato☕️ (need to get the day started) Was quiet as a hunting cat when I went up from bed. (No need to wake up the Queen, the thunder will do it😂😂😂) Today’s tour is booked last minute yesterday. The tours offered onboard are less options than online in the cruise planner. So if you find a tour online you like, book it. It’s not always offered onboard. So it was only 2- options that I haven’t visited before. So today’s tour is: Destination Highlight Avignon and Pop’s Palace. Paperwork says 6h the app says 5h. Time will tell😉

Good morning from a ⛈️☔️⛈️ Marseilles! It’s thundering and raining ☔️ The show started around 5.30am🤩 I’m in the zoo eating breakfast. Some plain yoghurt and a croissant 🥐 The Queen is sleeping in before the meeting😴😴😴

Tonight’s show was stand-up, Phil Walker. He was fun and entertaining. Maybe not everyone’s humour😂😂😂 We went from the show to dinner in Blu. It was not crowded and we had a nice table in the back of the restaurant. We went for the fish & seafood theme🦐🐟 We had the octopus and shrimp soup for starters. We both had the red snapper🐟🐟 For dessert…… 🥁 drumroll please! Ice cream and espresso macchiato👍🏻 All tasted excellent and presented good. Now it’s time for bed😴 Update from service team Mr Norwaylady: Water is back👍🏻 no leeks, a piece of metal was to close to the sensor, so it was mistakenly detected as water😂😂 Everyone happy👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Tomorrow we had planned to take the shuttle to Marseilles city centre… But the Queen needs to attend a important meeting from 11-13🫡 (she was notified today) So a change of plan🙃 The Queen will sleep in and then attend the meeting….. I have booked myself an excursion to Avignon & Pope’s palace…. Mr & I have visited Cassis, Luberon, Aix etc. So this is a new adventure👍🏻 It’s meeting time 08.00 in the theatre. Today’s paperwork:

Okey, I had to ask for assistance from i-lounge…. WiFi urgent needed during the evening🚨🚨🚨 And when we leave the local connection it’s a problem😳 My brother called the Queen…. The water alarm had closed off the water in his home and it was screaming🚨🚨🚨. (My younger brother is not 100% perfect…. He had a bumpy start of his life, so he has some defects of this. He is living by himself, but he needs help from time to time) So we called technical department😄 aka Mr Norwaylady🤩👍🏻 He is on the way for service and helping him out🤓🏎️🔨🔧 Fingers crossed it’s nothing wrong, just a sensor eager in service😇 WiFi connection: On this ship it’s impossible to use the WiFi if you have your settings to private. Speedtest from the theatre

NO🤣🤣🤣 We have not had a visit from our stateroom attendant yet… So I hope X will come by before we go for show & dinner. (need to empty the mini bar… my mother needs it for some medical things)

Sharing is caring? YES👍🏻 Since I’m in Europe, my cellphone work just as home. So what I need my included basic WiFi for is sending messages to Mr Norwaylady late in the evenings when I’m not able to connect to “local” cellular service. (It’s nice to be able to send him a good night message😘) As of now, the router by our stateroom has the same issue as the pool deck…. So this will be interesting to see if it will be functional🤔🤔🤔 The biggest problem is that I’m not allowed to use the app as wanted. Since I need to be logged onto the WiFi😣

We have spent the day on a sun lounger by the pool. I picked up some salad and fruit from the buffet for lunch outside😎 It was crowded in the buffet😝 I tried to connect to the WiFi by the pool…. Let’s just say they need more capacity at the routers AND they need to reboot them🤓 (this is in Norwegian, but it means that the routers are full of clients and that you need to reboot it for updates) I went down to an empty Cafe Al Bacio🤔 Good for me🤩 Me & Al Bacio Crew is of to a great start🥰 At 14.30 I went to the stateroom to see if our bags were dropped off. 1 out 2 had arrived😝 Lucky me, it was mine👍🏻 So I have unpacked✔️ Paperwork in our stateroom: Todays Program:

So we walked to the cruise bus. All flat and easy walking by suitcases on wheels. We are the only ship in port today🤩🥳 Dropped off our bags 11.25 and checked in 2.mins later. It has to be a first time for everything…. We received a waiting group😅🤭 number 14. They were calling group 7 when we entered the building. And it was quick up to 9. They also handed out the information paper we received by mail 2-weeks ago. Reminding everyone that Giro d Italia is closing off Rome. So X has cancelled all tours in the city centre. But they have lots of offers to other locations. Special for this sailing. We waited 15.mins before they called group 12-16👍🏻 So we are officially onboard⚓️ Bags are dropped off, sign is up, card’s collected and muster station is beeped✔️💃🏻🥳 0282C67E-4094-4880-9660-6F71E8568DAC.mov The Queen has walked the spa and introduced for Persian Garden🤩👍🏻✔️ Now it’s time to lean back in a sun lounger😎🥰🥳 Cheers to a great cruise🥂

Hope you had a fabulous last night onboard! and that it went smooth this morning❤️⚓️ Thank you for a great live report🥰👍🏻

Goood Morning! What day is it???? It’s CRUISING DAY🥳💃🏻⚓️ We are up and jumping🤩 ( maybe not the Queen😅 She doesn’t share my enthusiasm for early mornings😂) We slept good and the beds/room has everything we need. Breakfast is included in the price. It’s buffet style. It’s fruit, cold cuts, bakery items , cheese, yoghurt, juices, coffee & tea. So everything you need🍴 Attached is a map of our hotel location and cruise bus. It’s 400m walking distance on flat ground. The 🔵 dots are our hotel and bus stop. A metro map And Barcelona Bus Turistico sightseeing bus. Map of routes. Their stop and service Center is 150m away from the hotel. All flat walking. Our hotel gave us a paper of their tour partners they use/can book in the reception or you can book directly online. Now it’s time to do some last minute duties on work before we head to the port! Sea you onboard⚓️💃🏻🤩

Looking forward to your adventure⚓️😎🤩 as said before, the sail in/out of Stockholm is gorgeous🤩

After dropping off the bags and a light change off clothes. We went out for a little walk and some coffee. We went to the Bacilica of our lady Mercy, then had some coffee outside on the placa. After our coffee break we took a in The Gothic area and then along the ocean before we went back to our room. (It’s not to warm for me🤣 so need to get a sweater) Tonight we are having dinner together by a friend of mine from university. She is working on a project in chemical engineering at a laboratory in Barcelona. So she’s living in Barcelona for a period. So very happy to be able to see her for dinner and a chat❤️ We had a lovely dinner at Sensi Tapas. Recommend to book a table in advance. It’s a very popular place. Great food & service🍴 Some of our delicious plates for sharing and their own wine aperitif: Tomorrow is CRUISING DAY⚓️😎🚢 💃🏻 We have 12.00pm check in time. (That’s super early for me😂🤭 normally Mr & I are the latest to walk the gangway;) So we will have an easy morning, breakfast and then walk over to the cruise bus.

So we parked at A26, just a short walk up the escalator to the LH Biz Lounge. It’s one of the smaller lounges they have in FRA. But they have showers, a decent staffed bar. And a selection of coffee, tea, cold beverage and food. It was still breakfast service. So scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, yoghurt, cold cuts, cheese, croissants , baguette and melon. So we had some coffee and fruit. (Unfortunately it was fruit salad 🍍🍍🍍 no go for me🥴) Our next flight to BCN is an A321Neo, Biz 2+2, Eco 3+3. It leaves from A24, so very convenient from the lounge. When we arrived on gate for boarding, they announced that it will be a 20.min delay before they start boarding due to gate change….. Flight was overbooked, so completely full😅 no empty middle seat🙃 We left the gate 11.30 and take-off 11.45. This flight has same service concept as last flight. (But this flight had catering delivered😌) Water bottle was delivered out just after the seatbelt sign was switched off and the complimentary chocolate. No WiFi on this aircraft. The red eye Blues kicked in during the flight😴 So a small power nap on the way. We touch down in BCN at 13.30. Bags arrived on the belt asap when we walked into arrival. So out in a taxi at 14.05 and checked in at our hotel 14.35😎 The hotel Medinaceli looks good. Large room and very friendly staff.

LH is operating our flight to Frankfurt, FRA on a A321. It’s 2-classes. 2+2 in Biz and 3+3 in ECO. We are seated in Eco. WiFi is available for a fee. They have 3-different prices. It deepens on the speed of the WiFi. Price/speed options: LH has food and drinks for purchase in economy class. Flight is not fully booked✔️ So empty middle seat for us👍🏻 Bags are loaded according to LH app✔️ Menu for purchase in economy: Service is very German🤭 “Ordnung muss sein” So friendly, but German😊 LH group is okey, working well. (Did I say it to early🤔🤭) Our flight didn’t have any catering onboard🤪 Our aircraft was redirected from BCN during the night. So it didn’t arrive as usual. So it had no catering, as the flight normally is loaded in FRA the night before it travels to OSL and stands in OSL for 5-6h. So our purser was not to happy about this…. (Welcome to business class, in this flight we are delighted to serve you a bottle of water and a chocolate😂😝) Flight left the gate on time 06.30. But we needed to wait for a slot for arrival in FRA…. We needed to wait until 07.20. Captain informed that today’s flight time is 1h 35.min. The crew handed out water bottles after take off. And took a tour halfway to give out some chocolate. We touch down in FRA 09.23. We were assigned a remote park in FRA but after touchdown, we parked at gate👍🏻 Perfect!

Rise & Shine ✨ 04.00am wake up💃🏻 At the terminal at 05.00 and in the SAS lounge at 05.20. That’s all good🥰 Flight is on time as of now. LH uses the SAS Lounge at OSL. It’s Scandinavian breakfast service. Cold cuts, cheese, vegetables, bread, yoghurt, juices, coffee or tea.

Luggage packed✔️ Luggage tags printed ✔️ Hand luggage ✔️ Last meal together by Mr & Mr✔️ Cats grumpy, not cheering me away✔️ Checked in on Lufthansa✔️ Dinner tonight was 🐟😂😂😂 (cod from the north) We are spending the night at Radisson Red OSL. (Red eye flight and Mr & Mr didn’t want to get up early😝) Room has an excellent view over the airport. It’s good beds and great facilities, so one of my favourite places to stay of the airport hotels at OSL. And the best, you walk straight into the terminal✔️ How many pieces of luggage do we have🤔🤭 Our flight leaves from OSL 06.30 on Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then onward to Barcelona🙃 So good night!

Looks like a great day🤩😋😍

Thanks🥰 no testing is required according to X information. So hopefully no stress for this😇

I have booked a shared tour by ItalyTours. It’s the best of Tarquinia & Tuscania. Mr & I have used them before in several ports of call. Works like a clock ⏰. I will give a report on our tour👍🏻

We did the last Alaska cruise of the season and continued onboard to Hawaii. it was a b2b. We sailed on eclipse last autumn. It was sailing from Vancouver. It was not a problem on this sailing.

It’s been a pleasure following your adventure🥳🤩💃🏻🕺🏻⚓️ Safe travel home🫶🏻

MoveUp I said something about it last cruise… Well, miraculously after I mentioned it, it started to run mail’s into my 📫🤔🤔🤔 It was for this b2b. Loooong before the 21-days. Well, very happy to be invited and given the opportunity❤️ I have placed a bid on our second sailing. (The price for booking AQ class was extremely more expensive so el-cheapo me said no-go🤭) Fingers crossed!

So back to cruising⚓️ Ohhhh, 14h in the 🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗 Finally back home 07.00am this morning 🤩🐈🐈‍⬛ Only a few moose’s by the road and some reindeer. IMG_6532.mov ( it’s the law to stop for pedestrians;) Cats were crazy happy to see me again🥰 They have stayed together by my parents. Hannah Hortensia Miss Marple My mother delivered them home yesterday evening❤️🐈‍⬛🐈 It felt great to walk into my own bedroom and enjoy the view for a few seconds before I fell asleep 💤 (would probably sleep well in my hanging chair😂😂😂) So time for a Power Nap by the cats before it was time to start unpacking colder climates clothes… AND start the process of packing for the cruise⚓️💃🏻🥳❤️ (And you know…. A great date by Mr Washer&Dryer in the laundry room) My partner in-crime this time….. the Queen. Finished packing several weeks ago🤣🤭💃🏻🥹🤩🥳 (May she have a touch of travel fewer🤔🤔🤔) So time to print luggage tags and all other paperwork that needs to be in paper print🤓

It’s time for a new adventure on the ocean! Our sailing route the next 17.days If you want to follow on IG: https://instagram.com/al_be_ra_bo?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== It’s in private settings. (So tired of light dressed ladies adding me) Just send a message: hey from Cc I’m posting from my travel in Norway and abroad. This time, it’s a new twist. Mr is staying home, petting the cats, doing laundry, taking care of the lawn and prepare his own dinner. ( we don’t have a microwave😂 so no tv dinners😝) I’m bringing the Queen, aka my mother, Jannicke! It’s time for the yearly daughter-mother trip❤️ This will be Jannickes 3. cruise. Its the first on X🥳 I took her on Jewel in Dubai on the fist cruise and last May I took her on Voyager in the Baltic. She loved it❤️ (so she’s hooked😂) Original we were booked on Royal from Cyprus to greek isle and Israel as a 14/days b2b. But Royal cancelled all booked guest and moved the starting point off the cruise to Israel. The did offer nothing. I received this information when I returned from our Hawaii and Alaska sailing on X. No price lock or any options. Just rebooking or fcc for our deposit….. The prices for Royal sailings that was accepted for ship and routing wishes was wild priced compared to what our JS b2b original costed. So I had a look on different lines to see what they could offer us. I looked into MSC, Costa, NCL etc. So I was willing to take her on something different….. Since the timing on the cruise needed to fit my mothers schedule and it had to have stops in Greece. (When I asked her what she wanted it was Greek Isle as number 1) I ended up finding a b2b on Infinity 10+7 days😁 Happy Happy HAPPY! It ticked of the correct boxes ✔️Fit the Queen’s schedule ✔️Ports of call in Greece ✔️warm weather (shorts & sandals) ✔️My Favourite type of ship and line🥳 AND the most important, the el-cheapo account manager was happy for the final numbers. For just a few more 💰 then our original sailing, we got a decent deal on X , that includes some OBC and CALL. We have to move our cabin during turnaround day, accounting could just not accept and swallow the big hefty price tag on sailing nr 2 in same type of cabin……. So we are booked in a AQ cabin on deck 11 for our first 10days. It was the only balcony cabin available when I booked. (But the price was fascinating good, so extremely happy) My mother will be thrilled when she realise that she has access to Persian Garden…. She loves saunas of all types. SO she will be very pleased for this perk. And I know she will love Blu, she’s very happy for fish and seafood. Just like me🥰 For the second cruise, we are moving to a CON cabin on deck 9. So then she can test the MDR and see what me and Mr normally sail on. Our OBC has awarded us a shore excursion in Santorini, Zakynthos and a transfer to the airport in Venice. I have not been to Zakynthos, Dubrovnik or Split before. They are all new ports of call to me. I have been to Croatia before, but further north in Pula and Rijeka. My mother has never been to Greece, Montenegro, Croatia and Malta. So that will be new countrys for her to visit. And she has never been to Marseille and La Spezia area. So she will tick off lots of boxes….. We are docking in “Rome” on the final day of Giro’d Italia. So I knew instant that we are not going into Rome. It’s a BIG event! The majority of the city will be closed off and it will be crowded and harder to move around. It’s on of the biggest events of the year. (Lucky 🇳🇴 we had the pink shirt for 4 days in the race! That’s very good and we are very happy for this) So we have booked a shared tour to the country side. It will be a great day😎🤩🥰 My mother is not old, she’s not 60yet🤭 So we will make the perfect team onboard😎 (great to have a child super early in life, perfectly timed…. Final exam as a engineer in mid June and 2 weeks later your having a child🙃) The level of activity’s are adjusted to my mothers pace. She has spinal stenose, so it’s affecting her a bit. So it needs to be adjusted to pace of her speed and not mine😝 Unfortunately they discovered it too late to be able to fix it. This cruise leaves from Barcelona and ends in Ravenna. It’s really an awful deal that the cruise ends in Ravenna. It can’t compare to docking in Venice. Ravenna and the mosaic is beautiful. But the transport to an airport is not an easy deal. You can fly from Bologna or Venice. Bologna is only 1,5h away and closer than Venice. Venice is around 2,5h away and it’s a distance. Since we are leaving our beloved Mr and Mr home alone for such a long time, we can’t stay in Venice after the cruise…… So we are flying Lufthansa Oslo/Frankfurt/Barcelona the day before our cruise. And on return we fly Swiss, Venice/Zurich/Oslo. Tickets was not cheap….. really expensive….. So accounting was not happy about this…. Even the low-cost carriers wanted the same price as a network airlines. I made a new door sign to me and the Queen. Our old was a Norwegian flag and polar bear magnet from a souvenir shop in Oslo. (Can you tell me the destinations I frequently visit? It’s my pictures📸) Mr Norwaylady and I have a personal door sign. So since this «ladies only» trip is something we will continue to do (fingers crossed, knock on woods…) we needed a proper door sign! We will spend the night before our cruise in hotel Medinaceli, Barcelona. It’s located a short walk from the bus stop for the cruise bus. Fingers crossed it will work out well😇 The warm up to this cruise has been crazy. Winter has been holding on…❄️🥶❄️ still nightly frost and snow just outside of Oslo on May 6. Mr & I had a tour de family in northern Norway 🇳🇴 from 5-21.5 (that means housekeeping, private chef and butler duty for us aka Norwaylady) Our nephews birthdays and confirmation party for the oldest. And squeeze in the national day 17.May🥳🇳🇴🥳🇳🇴 So it’s been a full schedule. (Our nephews has a Swedish dad, so 50% of the guests arrived from there, so of course “service team” takes one for the family) Aunt Norwaylady has been in service mode🫡 baking cakes, making waffles, cooking breakfast, lunch and dinners. Cleaning cabins and housekeeping for 14.days. (So don’t say I don’t appreciate the crew onboard❤️ they work very hard 24/7. They have my full sympathy of hard work) We have to make the best of it, so of course we had squeezed in some fishing😁 home office, service duties and more fishing 🎣 Weather was cooperating😎 So time for fishing and boat trips. Halibut, cod, catfish, tusk, sea trout and herring🐟🎣🐟 So I have eaten and prepared fish 12 out of 14 days before departure😂😂🤩 (so Chefs onboard…. You are notified😅) I know my fishes and how to cook them😌