Norwaylady goes b2b in the Mediterranean on Infinity 24.5-10.6.23 LIVE

[Norwaylady]

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😌

[Norwaylady]

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.

 

 

( 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🤓

[Norwaylady]

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! 

[Mark.Jules]

Good luck on your move up bid. We are excited to follow along. We will be embarking the Apex on June 18 heading to Norway.

 

Safe travels and thank you for taking us along.

 

[Silkroad]

Looking forward to another lovely @Norwaylady live review. I hope you and your mom have a wonderful journey!

Edited May 21, 2023 by Silkroad

[hcat]

can't wait for the adventure to begin!

[purduemom1]

Looking forward to another one if your “live from” threads and will enjoy watching you and your mom making amazing memories. As the mother of adult children, there is noting better than sharing adventures with my children. Happy travels!

[dlh015]

Wonderful to be tagging along on yet another of your adventures. I will miss Mr. Norwaylady's beer evaluations though!! 

 

Sure hope someday I get on a cruise with you folks onboard!!

[mahdnc]

I will be following, have a terrific pair of cruises.

[Ken the cruiser]

Have a fun cruise and it will be interesting to hear if you have to ask for that bottle of bubbly when you get in your AQ cabin, hopefully on both legs! 🤞

[bjahil47]

So happy to see you are sailing again, and this time with your mom!  You are both so lucky!  Safe travels to the ship!

Bonnie

[CTSandy]

So glad to be reading another one of your live reports!  Have a wonderful time with your mother - that is special time❤️

[Azulann]

Looking forward to your trip report.

Love your writing style . 

I  look forward to your adventures with your mother on this B2B cruise.

[swigso]

Hi

looking forward to your review, you mentioned that you did a Hawaii / Alaska cruise.

Were you allowed to do that or did the ship return to Vancouver. We are looking at doing the same trip in 2025 but the ship returns to Seattle and it seems we cannot do this because of the Jones act. Appreciate your help.

[Norwaylady]

3 minutes ago, swigso said:

Hi

looking forward to your review, you mentioned that you did a Hawaii / Alaska cruise.

Were you allowed to do that or did the ship return to Vancouver. We are looking at doing the same trip in 2025 but the ship returns to Seattle and it seems we cannot do this because of the Jones act. Appreciate your help.

 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. 
 

[swigso]

Many thanks for the swift response looks like we will not be able to stay on the ship.

Never mind have a great trip with your mum

[barneyboy]

Looking forward to your live report. I’ve sent you a follow request on IG - name is Jackie

Edited May 22, 2023 by barneyboy

[JintyGirl]

Yay! Another @Norwaylady trip 😊Looking forward to following along.

PS we flew with Swiss last year (Edinburgh-Zurich-Rome and home from Venice). Fab chocolates handed out onboard 😍

[Lioness71]

I’m doing the same itinerary as your second leg from 24 June - 1 July, so I’m looking forward to your review.

[WNCtourist]

So excited to follow along for your next cruises!

[countess5]

Jumping on board to enjoy another live! 

 

We will be sailing next month for 14 days on Royal out of Southampton. You say you have a countryside tour in Rome ( Civitavecchia ) did you use a private tour company. We stop there and have no interest in Rome since we have been there 3 times. Looking for a private excursion.

 

Thanks and safe sailing with the Queen! 👑

 

Cheers! 

[Norwaylady]

1 hour ago, countess5 said:

Jumping on board to enjoy another live! 

 

We will be sailing next month for 14 days on Royal out of Southampton. You say you have a countryside tour in Rome ( Civitavecchia ) did you use a private tour company. We stop there and have no interest in Rome since we have been there 3 times. Looking for a private excursion.

 

Thanks and safe sailing with the Queen! 👑

 

Cheers! 

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👍🏻

[catgirl411]

So happy to follow along on another of your adventurers.  Thanks for doing this.

[theopup]

Another adventure begins! Have fun.

 

We recently booked our first Mediterranean cruise for July 2024, so am looking forward to you new travel stories and pictures 

[Barwick Cruiser]

Very exciting to open CC and see a new cruise posting from you! Your ports look great, keeping my fingers crossed for your upgrade to AQ for the second leg. You’re very lucky to be able to share these holidays with your Mom 😊  

 

Do you need to do any Covid testing along this journey? I’m not up to speed on requirements in Italy/Greece etc