20260317 Viking Vela Northern Lights and British Isles - Day 2/32

Viking Vela In Search of the Northern Lights and British Isles Explorer Cruise Day 2/32 – The hits kept on coming

We got some decent sleep in the Hilton Garden Inn in Orlando, waking up about 8:00 in the morning. We ate at their $16.95 buffet, so with a couple of Coke Zeros and fees, we had an extremely overpriced $50 breakfast. But, without transportation, it was our only option.

So far, so good. We would hang out here until our noon check-out, head to the airport and pick up the car, then drive to Tampa. That was the plan until Alamo decided to cancel our inter-city reservation due to an Orlando-wide rental car shortage. Woo! 

We looked into Uber. That would run us $150-$200 to get to TPA. Our travel agent, Lisa, found a shuttle service from MCO to TPA, but that would have been more than $450. I decided to call Creative Concierge, the car service that we use to get to that airport and back home. He said he should be able to accommodate us. We waited about an hour for confirmation. It came about 10:30, confirming our ride at 1:00 to Tampa.

With a little creative thinking (and Arlona reminding me to call Creative Concierge), in addition to Lisa's extraordinary efforts well past midnight, we had a new plan.

Our driver arrived about ten minutes early. We loaded up our bags and hit the road to Tampa. Shortly after getting on I-4, we came to a stop. Typical I-4. The slowdown was short-lived, but nature had another plan. A short time later, we were in and out of pretty impressive rain, coupled with strong lightning. We soldiered on. The sun made another appearance, and the road cleared up again.

We arrived at TPA, found Delta, and checked in at the kiosk. All went well until it told us it couldn't print our bag tags and to see an agent. Into another line and waiting once again.

The board behind the agents wasn't encouraging, even though it showed our flight, at the top, as on time

The line moved reasonably quickly. Eventually, they printed our boarding passes, tagged our bags, and we were off to the terminal. When I got to TSA, I discovered that the agent had removed my Pre-Check status. Arlona was still good. It was also then that we discovered that the Delta Club is in Airside E. Our gate is in Airside F. Our travel agent, Lisa, mentioned E, but I didn't put it together that it was a different terminal than we would be flying from. So, back to ticketing, I got a new, correct boarding pass, and we were off to Airside E. Our boarding passes wouldn't open the gate to the train. Why? Our boarding passes are only for Airside F. An agent said we needed to get a shuttle pass that opens the gate. Who would know that?  Off to the information desk we went.

We passed by "HOME," a 21-foot-tall sculpture of a pink flamingo nicknamed "Phoebe" by artist Matthew Mazzotta. It was installed in the main terminal of Tampa International Airport in 2022. 

We got a pass, returned to E, went through the gate, and arrived at the train. The train came into the terminal, but only part of the way. That was par for the course for today. Several minutes later, they backed it out, and a worker performed a safety walk, walking the entire track, looking for possible obstacles. Once that was complete, the train returned, we boarded, and we were whisked to Airside E. We went through TSA to get into the terminal. This sucks because when we go back to Airside F, we will have to go through TSA again. Congratulations, TPA, for having the stupidest airport design in Florida.

We found the Delta Sky Club. It took us 75 minutes from arriving at TPA to make it to the club. Did I say inside the club? No, I did not. Why? Just like last night, the club was full, and people were waiting to get in. Unbelievable.

Because we had Delta One status, that moved us up the pecking order, but the agent still said there was a potential two-hour wait to get in. After a discussion with her, she suggested that we would likely get in by 5 pm or so, given the upcoming flight departures.

Seats were scarce, even to just sit and wait. Arlona scored seats at a table with a very nice couple trying to get home to Minnesota. After chatting with them for a while, the happiest sound came from Arlona's phone. It was the text saying we were good to enter the Sky Club. 65 minute waiting, but we got in.

A couple of plates of food and a couple of drinks, and we were good to go.

I checked the status of our inbound flight. It kept flipping from 50 minutes delayed to 1.5 hours delayed. It was targeted to arrive at 7:15 pm, a tight turn if we were to board at 7:55 pm.

In the grand scheme of things, our problems today were relatively minor. It doesn't seem like that when it is happening to you, but given that 3,500 flights got canceled today, and another 6,300 were delayed, if we did launch tonight, we would be one of the lucky ones.

We left the lounge, took the train back to the main terminal, and got the train to our terminal. We made it through TSA again and waited at our gate.

"On Time" was a bit of a lie

Our Airbus A330, which just flew in from Amsterdam, getting ready to return to Amsterdam

The flight was full. There were 25 people with passport issues. There was one very frazzled gate agent. We felt sorry for her as she was trying her hardest to get everyone handled. Boarding started about 20 minutes late, but everyone got aboard, and we finally left Florida.

Given our exhausting days, sleep came easily, even for me, and I don't sleep well on planes.

We arrived at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. We didn't have boarding passes because, for some reason, Delta couldn't give us them for the connecting flight. We tried at the Delta desk and were told to head to transfer desk #6 and talk to KLM. The friendly agent said Arlona was good to go, but somehow, Viking, when they rebooked us, left me on the flight from Amsterdam to Bergen yesterday, rather than reticketing me for today's flight. It took them about ten minutes to sort it all out with Delta, but we got our boarding passes.

Schiphol is a huge airport. The walk to Passport Control was relatively quick. There was a long line, but it moved very quickly. A quick, "Where are you headed?", and we were on our way.

We found our way to KLM's crown lounge, got seats, and grabbed a couple of Coke Zeros. Europe's soda culture is very different from that in the USA. While Big Gulps keep getting bigger, this was what was available for soda in the lounge.

Basically a glorified double-shot glass

We enjoyed our swallow of soda and relaxed. I asked one of the entry agents for a time estimate to walk to our gate, D78. He said that it was near the end, so plan on a 15-20 minute walk. Did I mention that Schiphol is huge?

We are now at UTC+1, or five hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast. As I type this paragraph, it is 12:45 in the afternoon on Tuesday, March 17. Our flight to Bergen departs at 3:10, arriving in Bergen at 4:50 in the afternoon. Bergen is also UTC+1, so we'll be in this timezone for a while.

It only took about ten minutes to walk from the KLM Crown Club to gate D78. Boarding started a few minutes after we arrived. We were flying "European Business Class" on this Airbus A321neo. What that means is similar to what South American airlines call Business Class. There are still three seats on each side of the aircraft, but in Business Class, they don't sell the middle seat. Not as nice as individual pods, but no one is immediately adjacent, and there is semi-reasonable legroom. The flight was uneventful, and we touched down at 4:42 pm local time.

Does Bergen have an identity crisis?

Our bags took forever to arrive on the carousel, but everything was there, and that's always a good thing. That gave us time for pit stops as we waited for the bags to appear.

We took turns :-)

We wish US airports would label baggage claim like this.

At US airports, everyone crams around the carousel, and nobody can see their bags. You have to push people apart to reach in and grab your bag as it goes by. By keeping people back, everyone can see, and there is no pushing and shoving to get to your bag. It's so simple.

We walked out of the baggage area and immediately spotted a young lady holding an electronic pad with "M/M KOLB" on it. She escorted us to her waiting van, loaded our bags in the back, and drove us through Metro Bergen.

After about 25 minutes, we arrived at the Radisson Blu, our crash pad for the night.

This is a sore spot for us. We paid for a pre-stay in Bergen. We have done pre-stays and post-stays before with Viking. In fact, we are doing a post-stay on this trip, taking the train to Oslo and spending a couple of days. Viking always does a great job, and typically includes a tour or tours. Today was the day for tours for the pre-stay. Because of our travel delay, we missed today completely. That sucks. But...we saw the itinerary for the pre-stay. Viking supplied no tours, and today was a day on your own in Bergen. For what Viking charged for the pre-stay, they offered almost no value-add. We hope that isn't a sign of things to come with Viking.

Our room is quintessentially European. Clean lines, efficient, small room, and twin beds.

We're always amazed that Europeans don't seem to enjoy sleeping in the same bed as their spouse

Since we ate on the plane, neither of us was hungry for dinner. We did want something to sip on tonight, and some cold caffeine for tomorrow morning. Arlona spotted a 7-11 on Google Maps, so we hoofed it the few blocks to the store.

Classic Bergen architecture

That ornate building contains a Starbucks

Viking Vela is already in port in Bergen - we board her tomorrow

Let's summarize our travel to get here. We left our house at about 5:00 pm on Sunday. I'll reference all times in Eastern Daylight Time for ease of calculations. With the exception of a few hours of sleep that night in Orlando and a few hours on the plane today, we traveled until noon on Tuesday. I will sum that up in two words. We're tired.

With all the cancellations and delays across the country, we know that we're lucky that we even got here. But we did, we're here, and the trip will start in earnest tomorrow when we board the Viking Vela. We will remain in Bergen on Wednesday and most of Thursday, sailing that night.

Tonight's plans? Shuffle a few things in our bags, shower, and hit the hay sometime between nine and ten. Our bags have to be outside the room before 8:00 tomorrow morning so they can be transferred to our stateroom. We have breakfast at the hotel tomorrow morning and need to be downstairs at 11:30 to catch our ride to the ship.

Glad we're here and glad this travel adventure is over. Let the cruise begin!

20260118 Celebrity Constellation Western Caribbean Day 8 - The end of the trip

Celebrity Constellation Western Caribbean Day 8 – Back home again

It was another dark morning get-up. We were up at 6:30 this morning because we needed to clear the room by 7:30. 

We always get a kick out of cruises. "Thanks for sailing! We loved having you! We hope to see you again! Get out!  Get out now!" Ha!

We met Tom and Donna for a quick breakfast, returned to the room, brushed our teeth, tossed the toiletries into our suitcases, and met them again at the elevators. Since we didn't have much luggage, carrying our own bags off the ship was a lot more convenient than having the crew take the bags the night before. There's no finding your bag in the sea of bags, or waiting for others searching for their bags.

We rode down to deck four and walked outside to the exit.

There was a long line from both directions, but it moved quickly

We walked up the gangway, down a couple of escalators, and to Customs. We expected a line, based on the number of people ahead of us. To our surprise, as we rounded the corner, we saw four facial recognition cameras with no line. Why? As soon as you walked up to the camera, the light turned green, and the screen said to walk out. No passport, no talking to anyone. It literally took five seconds. Nice! That line was reserved for people with passports, so folks traveling with only a RealID or birth certificate had a much longer line.

We walked across the street to the parking ramp, rode the elevator to deck 3, and then quickly discovered that our truck was on 4. Whoops! We got back in, rode to four, loaded the truck, and drove out. The Tampa traffic was nonexistent early on Sunday morning, as was the I-75 traffic. We left the parking ramp at 7:52 and were in Tom and Donna's driveway at 9:16. We drove around the corner to our house, and were fully unpacked before 9:40 with a load of laundry in the washer before 10:00. Cruising from close to home is awesome.

So, let's wrap up the trip.

The main mission for this trip was to see Chichen Itza, and that was a resounding success. We had terrific weather, the place was interesting, and the architecture was impressive. We're looking forward to our visit to Rio next February to see Christ the Redeemer and complete our tour of the seven modern wonders of the world.

The snorkeling in Belize was top-notch. Standing among the rays and nurse sharks was also a big bonus. It was another day with picture-perfect weather.

Costa Maya was nothing special, especially due to the crowds, but we still enjoyed our walk around the port, again with perfect weather.

The three sea days were fun, and we did come away with a trivia win. The weather on the way back was a little cool, but nothing to ruin the day.

The part we had not planned on was our friends, Tom and Donna, coming along. That happened late in the planning, back in November. Traveling with friends adds another dimension of fun to a trip, and this was no exception. We didn't spend every minute together, but we did share at least one meal and some activities every day, and it was great.

The cruise itself was good, not great. We've been spoiled lately, cruising smaller ships where the service is impeccable. It's not fair to expect that on a mainstream cruise line like Celebrity. As a rule, the crew was friendly, welcoming, and provided good service. The food was good, and occasionally great. The activities were plentiful and fun. The ship was nice, albeit old. It was well-maintained, but it lacked modern conveniences such as multiple power outlets and USB ports in the rooms. The weather was overall good, and the seas were smooth. If I had to rate the trip as a whole, I'd call it 7.5/10. 

The one thing that turns us off is the constant selling on the ship. The stores having special "sales" that aren't really sales. The art auctions. The photographers. The casino. The Deal or No Deal card sales. We can do without that. But most of that can be avoided, and it obviously appeals to a large number of people.

So that wraps up our Celebrity Constellation trip. Time to start looking forward to our next adventure, a pair of back-to-back Viking Ocean cruises, In Search of the Northern Lights from Bergen, north through Norway to Tilbury, England, and Viking's British Isles Explorer from Tilbury, through England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, back to Bergen. We'll take the train to Oslo, so Arlona can see what she missed on our Viking Homelands cruise when she was in Covid jail on the ship. That's coming in March 2026. We'll see you there!

20260111 Celebrity Constellation Western Caribbean Day 1 - Home to Tampa to Sailing

Celebrity Constellation Western Caribbean Day 1 – Driving to Tampa for a short week at sea

If you regularly follow our travels, you know that we tend to take long trips. 30 days, 90 days, 163 days - we go for the big ones. But, sometimes, a short trip is in order, and this is one of those. Today, we embarked on the Celebrity Constellation. The Constellation is one of Celebrity's older ships. Built in 2002, it holds only 2,170 passengers and 999 crew. Certainly larger than the 600 to 900-passenger ships that we've sailed on lately, but tiny when compared to the newest ships approaching 7,000 passengers. Smaller ships have to operate from Tampa because the larger ones can't fit under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

It's funny. When we cruise on the smaller ships, many passengers tell us that there is no way they would cruise on those big ships. Of course, they've never done it, so they have no idea what they're talking about, but hey, to each their own. For us, every class of ship we've sailed on, from Royal Caribbean's 6,500-passenger Oasis-class to Celebrity's former 48-passenger Galapagos ship, each one has its pluses and minuses. The same holds true for cruise lines. We've sailed on Carnival, Princess, Disney, Seabourn, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Regent Seven Seas, Oceania, Viking Ocean, Viking River, and Viking Expedition. We have upcoming trips on American Cruise Lines, Viking Ocean, Silversea, and Seabourn. Like the various ship sizes, each cruise line has its own pluses and minuses. We can find good in all of them. Most of the cruise lines have shiny new ships. Constellation was last refurbished in 2024, adding new tech and features, making it a more modern ship than its 20+ year heritage.

Packing for a week is generally a simple task for us. We could probably get away with just a carry-on bag. Shorts, dress slacks, a few shirts, and we're good to go. But...Celebrity is one of those cruises that still has formal nights. Their dress code states that this is strictly optional and the usual smart casual evening attire, like slacks and a polo or button-down shirt, is perfectly acceptable. We decided to forgo the fancy duds this cruise and make it a casual week.  What that means is additional packing space won't be needed for a suit, dress shirts, and dress shoes. Since we are planning to snorkel, that means more space for snorkel gear, as we prefer ours to the cheap stuff the tour operators use.

Here is the itinerary for the next week. We have previously visited all three ports.

1. Sunday - drive to Tampa and sail
2. Monday - sea day
3. Tuesday - Cozumel, Mexico - taking a day trip to the Mayan pyramids at Chichén Itzá, the sixth of the seven wonders of the modern world that we will visit, and the main purpose for this trip
4. Wednesday - Belize City, Belize - we will be snorkeling the barrier reef 
5. Thursday - Costa Maya. Mexico - we have no definite plan for this day - just explore around the port
6. Friday - sea day
7. Saturday - sea day
8. Sunday - return to Tampa and drive home

We left the house around 10:30 am and picked up our friends, Tom & Donna, who are cruising with us. We made the 90-minute drive to Port Tampa, parking in the ramp right across from the cruise terminal. It is very convenient, albeit a little pricey at $145 for the week. We unloaded our bags, said goodbye to the truck, and walked the block to the luggage drop-off.

Once our luggage was checked, we went through the check-in process. Left the house at 10:30, onboard at 12:45. Not bad.

Since our rooms weren't ready, we headed to the buffet for lunch. This is where we experienced our first lack of customer service. We ordered a drink from the bar waiter. He asked for our room keys so he could see that we had a drink package. We told him that they asked us to stay away from the rooms until 1:30, but we are in 9061, so he could verify it. He said that without a room key, he couldn't do anything, and that we could go get our keys. I explained that they expressly asked folks to stay clear of rooms, but he said that was wrong.

So...I went to the room, retrieved our keys, and returned to the restaurant. He rather snugly said, "See, I was right.", and proceeded to get our drinks.

This underscores the difference between a mainstream cruise line like Celebrity and a top-tier line like Viking, Seabourn, and others. Customer service. On top-tier lines, you're never told, "no". They find a way to do things. And, they never would follow it up by rubbing it in your face. So, sadly, strike #1 for Celebrity. What's even funnier is that later in the evening, we stopped at a bar for a nightcap, and rather than look at our key cards, they just asked for our room number. Ahh, customer service.

Lunch itself was fine. The food was good, not great, but the number of people milling about in the buffet was annoying. It was difficult to find a table to sit at and eat. Getting to the food was a challenge as well as people were bouncing about everywhere. I'm hopeful that this was a first-day issue, but we'll see tomorrow at breakfast.

After lunch, we went to the room and checked it out. We couldn't unpack as our bags had not been delivered yet. Here's a look at 9061, an Aqua Class balcony room.

Entering through the small entryway

A decent closet with plenty of hangers - the left door opens as well

An extra closet with five drawers, a safe, and a couple of loaner umbrellas

The modest bathroom

The shower is small but functional - better than we experienced on Princess or NCL

The smallish room, roughly 200 square feet

The desk - some storage is available in the cabinets - a nice touch is the loaner binoculars on the top shelf - a not so nice touch is the complete lack of power options - zero USB ports and only two 110V plugs in the room, plus two 220V plugs

A look back at the room and the tiny TV and barely functional fridge - it wasn't cold, plus everything in it costs extra

The small balcony with the massive overhang - no chance of getting a sunburn out here

We wandered around after that, checking out the shops and other venues.

We made our way to the Reflections Lounge for the first general knowledge trivia of the cruise. We failed miserably. Here are our misses.

• What are the holes in Swiss cheese called?
• We didn't know they were called eyes
• In what country were bagels invented?
• We guessed the U.S., but bagels are originally from Poland
• What technique did Van Gogh use when he painted Sunflowers?
• We had no idea it was Impasto
• What are the three longest rivers in Asia?
• We knew the Yangtze and Yellow, but missed the Mekong
• What is the only Beatles song on a studio album without lyrics
• We had no idea it was Flying - we played it in the room and never heard it before
• What animals are on the Mexican flag?
• We knew there was a snake, but forgot about the eagle

Preparing to sail

Unusual art on the pool deck

After that, we went to the room where our bags were waiting for us. We got unpacked and met Michael, our friendly cabin steward. We sailed right on time at 4:00, sailing through Tampa Bay.

Two other ships sailed out behind us - the Carnival Miracle, that we have sailed on three times before, and the Norwegian Dawn

5:00 arrived, and it was time to meet our friends at the Martini Bar. We enjoyed some pre-dinner cocktails before heading to Blu, the restaurant reserved for guests in Aqua Class cabins. Shortly after our appetizers arrived, we sailed under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and departed Tampa Bay.

The low height of this bridge prevents larger ships from making port in Tampa

After dinner, we met our friends in the theater for comedy from Tony Esposito. He was disarming because he didn't seem like he would be funny, but we were all laughing throughout his entire show.

We stopped by the shops for the requisite first night giveaways - of course, we came away empty-handed. We headed to the room and called it a night.

So, to sum up today, getting to the ship was great. Getting onto the ship was smooth and issue-free. The size of the ship is nice - not too big, not too small. It is decorated nicely, ape with fish notwithstanding, but the rooms show their age with none of the tech niceties of newer ships. Lunch was a little worrisome - we'll see how tomorrow goes. Dinner was fine, and tonight's show was entertaining.

Tomorrow, we will be at sea as we make our way toward Cozumel on Tuesday. We'll be checking out the activities and making a day of it at sea.