Villafranche








Monaco












Tunis was originally supposed to be a port of call; however, it was replaced with Palermo after the outbreak of violence in the spring of 2011. As I have never been to Europe before, I thought the cruise was great way to see it for the first time. We booked excursions with Disney at all ports of call. All of the tours were excellent. Tour guides were knowledgeable and approachable. Transportation to and from the port was timely and were in comfortable air-conditioned coaches. We were never made to feel obligated to buy souvenirs. Although the excursions were pricey, they were worth it, in terms of hitting all the highlights of the destination in a limited amount of time. I would certainly love to return to all of these places again, with the exception of Palermo, for more detailed exploration.

Unfortunately, the 12 days came to an end all too soon, and it was time to go home.

A day at sea was scheduled for our final day, as our capable crew navigated the ship along the French coast from Villafranche back to Barcelona. It is a very short trip; however, the day at sea was built in to the itinerary to allow passenger to organize for disembarkation, so the ship just crawled along at a few knots. Squally weather moved in toward the end of the day, causing the sea to become rather rough. As we prepared for our final dinner onboard, the ship noticeably picked up speed. A passenger had become ill and the captain decided to bring the ship into Barcelona earlier in order for the said passenger to receive proper medical attention. Dinner was excellent, as were the rest of our meals, and was finished off with flaming Baked Alaska presented for dessert.

We woke up the next morning at 5:15, in order to enjoy a leisurely breakfast. Our bags were collected the night before and would be available to be picked up in the cruise terminal. With just our carry on bags, we disembarked the ship at approximately 7:30 along with a number of other passengers who had early flights. Customs and immigration was a non-issue since we did not leave the EU. We quickly located our bags and headed to Delta kiosk to check in. Delta operates a kiosk at the Barcelona Cruise Terminal for passengers on non-stop flights to Atlanta and New York. As the Atlanta flight departs earlier, passengers on the New York flight were ask to wait until after all the passengers on the Atlanta flight were taken care of. Sounds reasonable; however, there was a Diamond Medallion (had the baggage tags) who was in line behind us who was none too happy with this request and the lack of a Sky Priority lane. Soon enough, we were called up to the kiosks where a disinterested agent checked us. The aforementioned Diamond Medallion became significantly grumpier when she realized a Silver Medallion (me) was helped before she was. Anyways, we were quickly checked in.

Freed of our luggage and boarding passes in hand, we hoofed it over to the transit area where a bus was waiting to take us to the airport. The transfer was booked through the cruise line. It was pricey, at $30 each, but worth it in terms of convenience. I received an email from Delta informing me that Economy Comfort was available on our flight. But when I finally had a chance to log in, there were only two Economy Comfort seats still available. In an attempt to secure better birthday and Christmas presents, I upgraded my parents to Economy Comfort while my sisters and I slummed it in regular old economy.

The ride to the airport was quick. Since we had already checked in, all that was left was to clear immigration. This was accomplished in no time. The departure area was crowded due to Continental’s and US Airways’ U.S. bound flights leaving from the adjacent gates. A good view of the tarmac was made possible by large windows in the gate area.



Our flight was operated by an Airbus A330-300, registered N810NW. It was originally delivered to Northwest Airlines in 2005, and now flies for Delta after the acquisition of Northwest in 2009. This was my first ride on an A330 and my first international flight on an U.S. flagged carrier. That’s two checkmarks for my aviation geek bucket list!



Boarding began about 40 minutes prior to scheduled departure time, beginning with the BusinessElite passengers. Given my Silver Medallion status, I boarded with Zone 2. Although we were on separate PNRs, my family also had Zone 2 boarding. I suspect it was due to upgrading my parents to Economy Comfort (correct me if I’m wrong). For the most part, boarding was fairly organized.