Just back! Our VIKING SKY-mazing 7 day Ancient Mediterranean Treasures - 6/25 to 7/2/2022. Full trip report with tons of pix!

[OnTheJourney]

3 hours ago, Sleep7 said:

So glad that you enjoyed my review.

Just got through it all now. Great pictures! I find it most interesting, though, that you left the ship so late at night. I just assumed that most pax returning from Europe to US have the usual morning / afternoon departures. 

 

Also...curious as to whether or not you ate at Mamsen's at all?  You didn't mention it so assumedly not. I might suggest giving the spa a try. It was something I really wanted to do during our cruise on the Sky back in '19, but unfortunately I waited till Saturday, March 23. Enough said on that I suppose! Never got to the spa since the cruise ended rather abruptly. SO...on the Invitational cruise I finally had my chance. It's really neat - especially the snow grotto. Your review really makes me anxious for the Cities of Antiquities cruise. Hope all is still ok covid-wise by then. 

 

Thanks again...most enjoyable 'traveling' with you!  

[Sleep7]

9 hours ago, Myrtle Ave. Mayhem said:

Hello Sleep7 - I loved reading your post! Each picture, each observation, the joy of being on a Viking ship, your appreciation for the crew & food. Viking really has a knack for attention to the fine details & your post is a beautiful testament. Viking Sky was my first ship with the line, but even though all are mostly the same, VS will always be my favorite! Hope the jet lag is behind you & that your transition back to "The Island" is treating you well. These trip reports hold me over until my next cruise, Viking Neptune trans-Atlantic Barcelona to Ft. Lauderdale in December. 

👋Good morning Myrtle Ave. Mayhem!!

😊Well I'm going to smile for the rest of the day because of your sweet and complimentary post!!  Thank you so very much.. I'm truly touched.

Everything you wrote was exactly what I was trying to convey.. that the experience on a Viking ship is just so marvelous.  Every detail big and small is a true pleasure and just adds to the wonder of the week.

Glad that reading my blog will "hold you over" until your cruise in December.  It sounds relaxing and wonderful. 😊

Thank you again and enjoy enjoy enjoy the Neptune!!!🛳️

[Sleep7]

8 hours ago, AnyWayIsGood said:

Just got through it all now. Great pictures! I find it most interesting, though, that you left the ship so late at night. I just assumed that most pax returning from Europe to US have the usual morning / afternoon departures. 

 

Also...curious as to whether or not you ate at Mamsen's at all?  You didn't mention it so assumedly not. I might suggest giving the spa a try. It was something I really wanted to do during our cruise on the Sky back in '19, but unfortunately I waited till Saturday, March 23. Enough said on that I suppose! Never got to the spa since the cruise ended rather abruptly. SO...on the Invitational cruise I finally had my chance. It's really neat - especially the snow grotto. Your review really makes me anxious for the Cities of Antiquities cruise. Hope all is still ok covid-wise by then. 

 

Thanks again...most enjoyable 'traveling' with you!  

👋Good morning AnyWayIsGood!

Thank you so very much for your compliments on my blog!  I'm so glad that you enjoyed it.

RE the early flight it was so odd and in some ways easier and in some ways harder than the usual 7am transfer for a 10am flight back home.  When booked the airfare I was surprised to see that the only Delta/KLM/AirFrance flight back to JFK from Istanbul was so early in the morning.  I think there was a choice of a KLM flight that left at 5pm but then we would have had to stay a night in Amsterdam since all the transatlantic flights had left already for the day.  On the plus side it was easier I think not to try and sleep a few hours and then get up.. we just never went to sleep.  Another plus is that we did land at JFK at 10:15am which gave us the whole day to get settled back at home.

On the negative side I do think  it added to being jetlagged even though I did sleep on the flights home for a few hours.  It just seemed like our body clocks were so off.. way more off than usual.

That being said I don't even mind jetlag  because I once read in an article that it's a tangible reminder of having been away.  I rather like the thought of that.😴

Funny you mentioned Mamsons.. we kept meaning to see what it was all about.  The waffles and the open faced sandwiches?  I will put it on my list for our next cruise.

The snow grotto sounds like fun! Maybe we will try that too.

Have the best time on your upcoming cruise!!!!! Enjoy Enjoy Enjoy!!

 

 

 

[OnTheJourney]

5 hours ago, Sleep7 said:

Another plus is that we did land at JFK at 10:15am which gave us the whole day to get settled back at home.

Absolutely! Sort of nice to "gain" back the time by flying west, but going over the pond is also nice due to the added benefit of the tailwind - I think the seatback map showed at one point we had over 100 mph tailwind - along with -80F. temps? Sheesh...glad I wasn't out on the wing somewhere. Kudos for taking Business class going home. I've started to think that this is the way to go. Life is short. We had a real nice premium economy going from Newark to Rome, but then what was billed as also PE from Barcelona back to Newark was anything but. Same food as economy, no nice headsets, etc. Only difference was a SLIGHTLY bigger seat. I said to DW....I'm done messing around with this. Next time we go big. 

 

5 hours ago, Sleep7 said:

The waffles and the open faced sandwiches?

Yep...go for it. The heart-shaped waffles are very nice, as are the lunch sandwiches, but the real treat is all their different pastries - coffee-cake-type specialties. SO good. Also a really nice quiet part of the ship. My favorite spot of all is probably the upper level of the Explorer's Lounge. We really lucked out since we had a free upgrade to a penthouse suite on deck 8 - so a short walk to the upper rear entrance of the lounge.

 

Mr. Hagen and his daughter Karine were along on our sailing, with the famous Viking dogs - so got to meet them. They pretty much got mobbed wherever they showed up on the ship. Karine did a wonderful presentation relative to what happened to us on the Sky 3 years ago. Brought tears to my eyes since it included video footage of crews from various ships who all offered their support during and following the event. Torstein also spoke to that in his very humor-laced talk. The invitational cruise was, of course, a non-public sailing and was free to the Sky passengers. Economy air was also free, but I paid for the upgrade to PE. This was only our 2nd cruise with Viking. 

5 hours ago, Sleep7 said:

Have the best time on your upcoming cruise!!!!! Enjoy Enjoy Enjoy!!

And to you as well!!  Looking forward to more places to explore in the Med. Have always had the Holy Land on the bucket list, so if all goes well we will get there. 

[OnTheJourney]

On 7/3/2022 at 2:47 AM, Sleep7 said:

Didn't know you could track your bags on a real time map.😃

That's cool...how does one do that?  Certainly nice, since that's always a bit of a worry. One of our suitcases was temporarily unaccounted for between the time that we disembarked the Mars and started on the post-cruise Barcelona extension. It did show up at the hotel after a bit, but most distressing to not find it in the terminal with our other suitcase. Somebody grabbed it by mistake I suppose and it went along to the hotel on a different bus since there were like 5 busloads of pax doing the extension. I suppose we all have some level of a suitcase horror story of one sort or another! 

[OnTheJourney]

On 7/3/2022 at 2:53 AM, Sleep7 said:

Next up to take off!  Goodbye Long Island.. see ya in a week.👋

 

 

 

Your departure pictures are really good....as well as approach to Greece.  Never know how it'll get when taking from a plane window. Lots of times the windows aren't clean enough and then the camera focuses more on a smudge than the ground. 

[Sleep7]

47 minutes ago, AnyWayIsGood said:

Absolutely! Sort of nice to "gain" back the time by flying west, but going over the pond is also nice due to the added benefit of the tailwind - I think the seatback map showed at one point we had over 100 mph tailwind - along with -80F. temps? Sheesh...glad I wasn't out on the wing somewhere. Kudos for taking Business class going home. I've started to think that this is the way to go. Life is short. We had a real nice premium economy going from Newark to Rome, but then what was billed as also PE from Barcelona back to Newark was anything but. Same food as economy, no nice headsets, etc. Only difference was a SLIGHTLY bigger seat. I said to DW....I'm done messing around with this. Next time we go big. 

 

Yep...go for it. The heart-shaped waffles are very nice, as are the lunch sandwiches, but the real treat is all their different pastries - coffee-cake-type specialties. SO good. Also a really nice quiet part of the ship. My favorite spot of all is probably the upper level of the Explorer's Lounge. We really lucked out since we had a free upgrade to a penthouse suite on deck 8 - so a short walk to the upper rear entrance of the lounge.

 

Mr. Hagen and his daughter Karine were along on our sailing, with the famous Viking dogs - so got to meet them. They pretty much got mobbed wherever they showed up on the ship. Karine did a wonderful presentation relative to what happened to us on the Sky 3 years ago. Brought tears to my eyes since it included video footage of crews from various ships who all offered their support during and following the event. Torstein also spoke to that in his very humor-laced talk. The invitational cruise was, of course, a non-public sailing and was free to the Sky passengers. Economy air was also free, but I paid for the upgrade to PE. This was only our 2nd cruise with Viking. 

And to you as well!!  Looking forward to more places to explore in the Med. Have always had the Holy Land on the bucket list, so if all goes well we will get there. 

 

👋Hello again AnyWayIsGood!

Yes! As you said.. go big!  Great idea! Treat yourself!🤩

I'm not sure my husband agrees with me on this but I will work on that.

A funny friend once said "if you don't fly first class your children will."

Also..  nothing better than a strong tail wind.. it's funny how a flight time being even just a half an hour shorter makes the cheerful meter bounce up!

 

I have Mamsens on my list for next time.👌

 

Wow.. didn't realize what you were talking about RE the Invitational cruise.. must have been very emotional.  I have seen videos on youtube about the incident.  Yikes.

 

Glad your suitcase caught up with you in Barcelona!

I always try and check to see where the luggage is on the Delta app and then breathe a sigh of relief when it says "on the plane."

 

Thanks about the departure pix.  Usually we cruise in the fall and it's dark out when we are getting ready to take off.  The flight to Athens left at 5:20 so it was a pleasure to have all that daylight to try and get a good plane pic.

And I agree 100% about taking pix thru the window.. sometimes it's all about the smudges and there is nothing you can do to make it better.  Other times they come out crystal clear as in the Swiss Alps pic on the way home.. like I was sitting on the wing phone in hand.😁

 

[gymfreak]

Many thanks for your amazing blog of this cruise

We do exactly this itinerary on August20th and your detailed report and fabulous photos have truly inspired us

Thanks again

[OnTheJourney]

33 minutes ago, Sleep7 said:

A funny friend once said "if you don't fly first class your children will."

LOL....once saw somebody's signature here on CC that said something to the effect of:  "spending my kids' inheritance...one cruise at a time"  😆

 

 

34 minutes ago, Sleep7 said:

Invitational cruise.. must have been very emotional.

It was really nice of Viking to still think of us. The original idea was for last January, but of course that was canceled along with tons of other stuff. This second offering came as a bit of a surprise. We only had two weeks to decide on it. So that was a bit hectic for many people I'm sure due to other trips being planned. We really debated on going / not going (had to cancel a cruise that overlapped) but are so glad we did. It was our first time in the Med, so everything was new to us. 

 

36 minutes ago, Sleep7 said:

I always try and check to see where the luggage is on the Delta app and then breathe a sigh of relief when it says "on the plane."

Like I said, that's just so cool - didn't know you could track it. We've never been to Long Island, but our daughter just graduated with her PhD from Rochester Institute of Technology, so we've been up that way many times. I like the Adirondacks area as well. 

 

37 minutes ago, Sleep7 said:

Swiss Alps pic on the way home.

Yes! Another great picture. 

[Sleep7]

2 hours ago, gymfreak said:

Many thanks for your amazing blog of this cruise

We do exactly this itinerary on August20th and your detailed report and fabulous photos have truly inspired us

Thanks again

👋Hello gymfreak!

Thanks so very much for your very sweet compliments.  I'm truly thrilled that my blog has made you extra excited for your cruise next month. 

Enjoy every moment!!! I'm sure you will!😃

[DrKoob]

22 hours ago, Sleep7 said:

👋Hi DrKoob!  You are so welcome.. thank you so much for your compliments and kind words.

They are truly appreciated.

Enjoy every moment of your cruise!! September will be here before you know it!😃

We are kind of lucky. Our cruise is 21 nights on Sky—we don't get Istanbul but we get Athens to Barcelona.

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, DrKoob said:

Our cruise is 21 nights on Sky

Is that the Athens to Barcelona that you have listed?  Have to check that one out, though 21 days on a ship is a bit long for me. We just did one that ended in Barcelona back in May. 

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, AnyWayIsGood said:

Is that the Athens to Barcelona that you have listed?  Have to check that one out, though 21 days on a ship is a bit long for me. We just did one that ended in Barcelona back in May. 

It is Athens to Barcelona but for some reason Viking can't dock in Barcelona so we are finishing the cruise in Taragonna which is just up the coast.

 

As far as we are concerned about three weeks away, we just can't see flying all the way from Seattle to Europe and staying less than two weeks. We usually go for three (especially since we both retired). This time we will be gone for almost a month. 

Also, we won't spend too much time on the ship 😜 there are NO sea days. YIKES!
 

Edited July 6, 2022 by DrKoob

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, DrKoob said:

there are NO sea days. YIKES!

Sort of like a Baltic cruise...very port-intensive. It'll keep you busy!  Agreed on not flying to Europe for less than 2 weeks, or at least close to it. A month away from home, though, is just more than I want, especially with putting pets in a kennel and securing a plant waterer for my way-too-large collection, let alone getting someone to mow the lawn if the trip would be in spring or summer. I'm also a church organist, so that many Sundays off all at one time creates a bit of an issue. 

 

But, with flying all the way from Seattle - makes sense to stay over there longer. 

Edited July 6, 2022 by AnyWayIsGood

[lackcreativity]

2 hours ago, AnyWayIsGood said:

Is that the Athens to Barcelona that you have listed?  Have to check that one out, though 21 days on a ship is a bit long for me. We just did one that ended in Barcelona back in May. 

Viking does a variety of Mediterranean cruises, with a fair bit of repetition of ports in assorted variations. Basically, though, there are four 7 day itineraries that go all the way from Barcelona to Istanbul. There is Barcelona to Rome, Rome to "Venice", "Venice" to Athens, and then Athens to Istanbul. You can do them individually, or combine consecutive segments.

We just did Barcelona to Venice in April, a 15 day cruise (a really great trip, by the way). We are completing the rest of the voyage (15 days from Venice to Istanbul) next year. Two weeks seems to be a good time frame for us.

[Sleep7]

I just looked at the longer itineraries.. wow. So comprehensive.

One day.🤩

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by Sleep7

[Sleep7]

9 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

Viking does a variety of Mediterranean cruises, with a fair bit of repetition of ports in assorted variations. Basically, though, there are four 7 day itineraries that go all the way from Barcelona to Istanbul. There is Barcelona to Rome, Rome to "Venice", "Venice" to Athens, and then Athens to Istanbul. You can do them individually, or combine consecutive segments.

We just did Barcelona to Venice in April, a 15 day cruise (a really great trip, by the way). We are completing the rest of the voyage (15 days from Venice to Istanbul) next year. Two weeks seems to be a good time frame for us.

 

10 hours ago, DrKoob said:

It is Athens to Barcelona but for some reason Viking can't dock in Barcelona so we are finishing the cruise in Taragonna which is just up the coast.

 

As far as we are concerned about three weeks away, we just can't see flying all the way from Seattle to Europe and staying less than two weeks. We usually go for three (especially since we both retired). This time we will be gone for almost a month. 

Also, we won't spend too much time on the ship 😜 there are NO sea days. YIKES!
 

9 hours ago, AnyWayIsGood said:

Sort of like a Baltic cruise...very port-intensive. It'll keep you busy!  Agreed on not flying to Europe for less than 2 weeks, or at least close to it. A month away from home, though, is just more than I want, especially with putting pets in a kennel and securing a plant waterer for my way-too-large collection, let alone getting someone to mow the lawn if the trip would be in spring or summer. I'm also a church organist, so that many Sundays off all at one time creates a bit of an issue. 

 

But, with flying all the way from Seattle - makes sense to stay over there longer. 

 

Ahh.. plying the waters of the Med for 2, 3 or 4 weeks sounds TRULY heavenly..

At this point we can only go for a week at a time but it still was wonderful.😊

Can't wait until our next one!

[bookbabe]

10 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

Viking does a variety of Mediterranean cruises, with a fair bit of repetition of ports in assorted variations. Basically, though, there are four 7 day itineraries that go all the way from Barcelona to Istanbul. There is Barcelona to Rome, Rome to "Venice", "Venice" to Athens, and then Athens to Istanbul. You can do them individually, or combine consecutive segments.

We just did Barcelona to Venice in April, a 15 day cruise (a really great trip, by the way). We are completing the rest of the voyage (15 days from Venice to Istanbul) next year. Two weeks seems to be a good time frame for us.

I blame this thread for the fact that we just booked Istanbul to Barcelona for 2024.  Doing one of the Antiquities options has always been on the “someday” list, but this thread moved “someday” to “soon” and we just couldn’t wait.

(It’s my PCC’s fault that we’re following that one with Barcelona to Bergen on the same ship and in the same cabin, though.  He’s an enabler, and having one $25pp deposit cover the combined journey was too good to pass up.)

Edited July 6, 2022 by bookbabe

[Sleep7]

1 minute ago, bookbabe said:

I blame this thread for the fact that we just booked Istanbul to Barcelona for 2024.  One of the Antiquities options was on the “someday” list, but this thread moved “someday” to “soon” and we just couldn’t wait.

(It’s my PCC’s fault that we’re following that one with Barcelona to Bergen on the same ship and in the same cabin, though.  He’s an enabler, and having one $25pp deposit cover the combined journey was too good to pass up.)

We are all truly honored to be "blamed."🤭

Yay that you booked it!🙌

[Howellmc]

Hi Claudia - It was very nice to meet you and Sam on the cruise. Sorry we didn't get to hang together more but time just seem to drift away, especially when back on the ship after an excursion.

 

As I suspected, you did a wonderful job on this review. So very thorough and detailed. You did capture the essence of this really wonderful cruise. It is interesting how different our paths were. Your pictures of the dinners at the World Cafe looked great. We wanted to try one dinner there but we kept finding too many interesting items on the main dining room menu. Plus some of the tours you did looked remarkable. And yet I loved the ones we did. Just too many choices. I guess the only solutions is to cruise again on Viking 😃 - which we'll actually do in 2024. Couldn't resist the deal for a South American trip ending in Buenos Aires, were I lived for 4 years as a youngster.

 

Take care and very nice meeting you two

Howell and Kelly

[OnTheJourney]

19 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

We just did Barcelona to Venice in April, a 15 day cruise (a really great trip, by the way).

Isn't that one "Trade Routes of the Middle Ages"?  Or else very similar. We could have done that following the end of the Chairman's cruise, but having done both pre and post extensions, it would have gotten a bit long plus the timing - arriving back in mid-June - would not have been good for me relative to everything I had to do around the house. 

 

8 hours ago, bookbabe said:

has always been on the “someday” list

I've come to realize - especially from talking to others about travel, bucket lists, and such - that unfortunately the "someday" sometimes never comes along if not truly planned for. 

[OnTheJourney]

10 hours ago, Sleep7 said:

plying the waters of the Med for 2, 3 or 4 weeks sounds TRULY heavenly..

Two weeks - ideal....Three....getting a bit too long for me on a ship (road trip totally different story). Four...nope. I'd be ready to jump overboard by then!  Cities of Antiquities in January will be three weeks in all. Will see how it goes. I hate traveling during the winter - so worried about the possibility of bad weather, and then have to make arrangements for someone to plow / shovel snow. 

[Sleep7]

1 hour ago, Howellmc said:

Hi Claudia - It was very nice to meet you and Sam on the cruise. Sorry we didn't get to hang together more but time just seem to drift away, especially when back on the ship after an excursion.

 

As I suspected, you did a wonderful job on this review. So very thorough and detailed. You did capture the essence of this really wonderful cruise. It is interesting how different our paths were. Your pictures of the dinners at the World Cafe looked great. We wanted to try one dinner there but we kept finding too many interesting items on the main dining room menu. Plus some of the tours you did looked remarkable. And yet I loved the ones we did. Just too many choices. I guess the only solutions is to cruise again on Viking 😃 - which we'll actually do in 2024. Couldn't resist the deal for a South American trip ending in Buenos Aires, were I lived for 4 years as a youngster.

 

Take care and very nice meeting you two

Howell and Kelly

Helloooo Howell and Kelly!

Yes.. it was so nice to meet you and what funny timing that it was the first hour of the cruise!

I agree 100% that the time just seemed to drift away.. one lovely day just following the next.

Thank you so much for the compliment on my review. The best thing you could say is that I captured the truly delightful essence of it all.

I also thought it was so interesting that we had the same overall feeling but different experiences.. the World Cafe vs the Restaurant and the different tours.  So many choices as you said and all of them stellar.

That's so exciting that you booked your next cruise on board.  Sounds like it will be amazing and so special since you have a unique tie to Buenos Aires.

It was lovely to meet you both.  I do hope that our paths cross again.

Be well and happy travels.

Claudia and Sam

[PasadenaDave]

33 minutes ago, AnyWayIsGood said:

Two weeks - ideal....Three....getting a bit too long for me on a ship (road trip totally different story). Four...nope. I'd be ready to jump overboard by then!  Cities of Antiquities in January will be three weeks in all. Will see how it goes. I hate traveling during the winter - so worried about the possibility of bad weather, and then have to make arrangements for someone to plow / shovel snow. 

Agree with you for length of cruise.  We did Istanbul to Venice in May.  We found it to be one day longer than we would have preferred, but we couldn’t find a port we would have skipped.  Three weeks would be way too long

[Sleep7]

Oh.. something that our daughter just corrected me on..

This picture of a carving at Ephesus that I incorrectly identified as a Caduceus is actually a Rod of Asclepius.

 

Could be considered nonsense but if any of us are ever on Jeopardy this might be a question! 😃

 

 

 

 

 

Copied and pasted..

 

The Caduceus is a symbol of Hermes or Mercury in Greek and Roman mythology. Caduceus symbol is identified with thieves, merchants, and messengers, and Mercury is said to be a patron of thieves and outlaws, not a desirable protector of physicians. The symbol originated when Mercury once attempted to stop a fight between two snakes by throwing his rod at them, whereupon they twined themselves around the rod, and the symbol was born.

The Rod of Asclepius belongs to Aesculapius, who was the revered Greek god of healing.