dat4life

This trip actually took place in May of 2011. I had meant to write this earlier, but it was a lot more work than I had originally thought. I commend you regular TR writers for your timely updates. I still have along way to go before I reach your level!

I was bewitched by the sky at an early age. My first flight was taken when I was all of 6 months old from the States to Hong Kong with my grandparents, in early 1987. I was told it was aboard Korean Air, so I am assuming it was more than likely operated by a variant of the 747. Nowadays, I cannot stand crying babies when I fly. But back then, apparently I was that crying baby and grandmother walked me up and down the aisle for most of the flight to ICN. So I guess what goes around does come around. The first flights I actually remember were from my hometown of New Orleans (MSY) to Akron, connecting through ORD, on United. I was about 5 at the time. The MSY-ORD legs were operated by 727s and some sort of a puddle jumper operated the ORD-Akron legs. See, even back then I knew my aircraft. I also knew I wanted to be a pilot when I grew up.

Through the years, I have flown quite a bit for leisure with my family. We always flew coach; however, every time we boarded a 2 cabin aircraft (our travels were primarily within North America) I would long to sit in the big seat up front. My first taste of a premium cabin came during the Christmas season of 2003. Unfortunately, it came as a result of family emergency necessitating a trip back to Hong Kong. Because it was the only option, my mom and I were booked in J on China Airlines for the return portion of the trip. It was a fantastic experience. Lounges, priority boarding...I never knew it could be so great! The HKG-TPE segment was operated by an A340-300, equipped with then new J seats. Those were very comfortable. The TPE-LAX leg was operated by a 747-400 with the old recliner style seats, which were a let down from the seats on the A340. Anyways, the flight was pretty comfortable and the food and service were good.

My dream of becoming a pilot took quite a hit as I grew older. As much as I would love to go to a college with an aviation program, I couldn’t quite stomach the idea of living on such a paltry salary as I worked my way through the regional carriers on my way to the big leagues. So I decided on pursuing an accounting degree. When I finally graduated college and got a full time job in 2009, I was fortunate enough to find a job that allows me to travel quite a bit. I am now based in the DFW area, so I am married to AA. Combined with my leisure trips, I fly just enough to make to make AAdvantage Gold. With a few sticker upgrades and the odd op-up, I am fortunate enough to experience domestic premium cabins on a fairly regular basis. At about the same time, I discovered FlyerTalk, a curse or a blessing depending on how you look at it. After reading all these great trip reports, my yearning to get back into an international premium cabin grew stronger.

This leads us to a cold and rainy day in January 2011. I was at my parents’ house in suburban Houston for the weekend. We were discussing ideas for a family vacation, something we haven’t done for a few years. This was due to our conflicting schedules caused by school, work, and other various activities. After extensive deliberation, we settled on going a cruise. None of us have ever been a cruise before, so it seemed like a good time to finally take one. My parents own a timeshare with Disney. Disney timeshares are on a points based system. In other words, you buy X number of points per year for 40 years. The points can be redeemed at Disney owned resorts (obviously), many other affiliated resorts and hotels around the world, and the Disney Cruise Line. Since the points needed for a cruise in the Caribbean was just slightly less than what Mediterranean cruise required, we decided to go with the latter. I had never been to Europe before, so this was music to my ears. We ended up settling on the May 26th sailing of the Disney Magic out of Barcelona.

Now we needed to figure out how we were getting there. My parents were sitting on a substantial trove of Skymiles from years of credit card churning, so naturally I started looking for award availability on there. On my first try I managed to find 5 Y award seats on KLM’s daily 747-400 combi service to Amsterdam from Houston, returning on Delta through JFK for 60,000 miles a piece. Not too shabby given what I’ve read about on the Delta forum about Skymile Skypeso redemptions. I would be on a separate ticket since I was departing out of DFW. I had more than enough AAdvantage miles for a roundtrip in either Y or J, but I wanted to hold off on redeeming them in order to stockpile enough miles to redeem a F seat on CX. I had seen some fares for about $800 r/t on a combination of AA and IB, which weren’t too bad in my opinion. However, my parents graciously offered to let me dip into their Skymiles account, which I accepted. Plenty of award seats were available out of DFW…starting at 120,000 miles. In Y. No way. Since Houston is only a 3-3.5 hour drive from Dallas, I looked to see if the same award that I had booked for my family out of Houston was still available. It wasn’t, but there was an award available for 80,000 miles. In J. Naturally, I snagged it immediately. I was finally going to be back in an international premium cabin!

Upon further review, the award was in J, for one way. The return leg was in Y on the same flights as my family. Oh well. You win some and you lose some. The outbound leg was on KLM’s all J service operated by PrivatAir on a Boeing Business Jet. The Boeing Business Jet is essentially a 737-700 fitted with additional fuel tanks and other modifications to allow it to operate transoceanic routes. KLM ended up discontinuing this flight in November of 2011, so I am glad I was able to experience it.

We were scheduled to arrive in Barcelona the day before sailing, in order to give us a cushion in the event of IRROPS. For the overnight in Barcelona, I booked two rooms with the pre cruise package at the Renaissance Barcelona Airport. The rate was 110 Euros per room and included transfer to the cruise terminal and breakfast for two adults. I called the Marriott Rewards Platinum desk a few weeks before departure to inquire how much to be for the cruise terminal transfer for my two little sisters. They contacted the property directly and told me it was 10 Euros a piece for them. I thought it was a fairly good deal, so I went ahead and booked it.

With all of the arrangements set, all there was left to do was wait.

dat4life

After 4 long months, the day of departure finally arrived. I left my office in downtown Dallas at about 1 PM and began the familiar trek down I-45. Usually, there’s little traffic on this route, but Murphy’s Law had other plans for me that day. Traffic came to a standstill just outside of Willis, which is about 35 minutes from my parents’ house. I had planned to leave my car there and have a friend bring me to the airport. Traffic began moving again at 4:30, so I was cutting it a bit close. I called my friend and told him to meet me at my grandparents’ house, which was closer to the airport. I finally made it there at a little after 5. After fighting Houston rush hour traffic, I finally made to Terminal D at 6:30. There was no line at the KLM desk since the 747 Combi flight had already departed. The agent quickly tagged my bags, with florescent yellow KLM priority tags, and handed me my boarding passes and gave me directions to the lounge and gate. I then headed toward security, where I found a long, winding line around the terminal due to the evening bank of international departures. Fortunately, there was no line at the priority security lane. I cleared security within 10 minutes and decided to take a walk around the terminal to admire the Qatar, Emirates, and Singapore heavies being readied for their respective flights.

After 15 minutes, I made my way to the KLM Crown Lounge located across from the BA Terraces Lounge at Gate D-8. Upon entering, the lounge dragon asked for my name and seat assignment. She then crossed me off the list and welcomed me into the lounge.



The lounge is small, but pleasant enough. Most of the furniture seemed to be in good repair. There is a self serve bar, a hot item (baked ziti), cream of mushroom soup, and several cold items on offer.



I grabbed a cup of soup, a little baked ziti, and fixed a gin and tonic. Bombay Sapphire was the gin available. The lounge was quite full, due to the full flight. I can imagine it may be a bit overcrowded if the 747 J cabin was full. At about 25 minutes before departure, I made my way to the departure gate, D10.

KL664 (Operated by PrivatAir)
Houston (IAH)-Amsterdam (AMS)
Thursday May 26, 2011
Depart: 8:10 PM
Arrive: 12:55 PM
Aircraft: Boeing Business Jet (BBJ)
Seat: 8F (Business Class)




My aircraft.

As previously mentioned, the BBJ is a 737-700 modified for intercontinental service. PrivatAir’s BBJ features 44 angled lied flat seats arranged in a 2-2 configuration. I had monitored the seat map in hopes of procuring a seat with no neighbor. Alas, that was not meant to be as the flight was full. It is worthwhile to note that KLM actually “wet leases” from PrivatAir. In other words, the flight is operated by a PrivatAir aircraft, by a PrivatAir crew with KLM flight number. It is pretty similar to how regional carriers in the U.S. operate.

Upon entering the aircraft, the cabin seemed a bit bigger than other 737-700s I’ve flown, due to the low number of seats. The big advantages of only 44 passengers are the ease of boarding and plentiful overheard space. A good size pillow and a blanket were placed on each seat. I settled into my seat, 8F, and placed my pillow and blanket in the compartment underneath the seat in front of me. The seat was a bit firm, but decently comfortable. Legroom was excellent.



As the boarding progressed, the purser made a welcome announcement and added coats and jackets would not be hung due to the abundance of overheard space. Boarding finished in about 10 minutes and cabin door was closed soon after. We ended up pushing back approximately 15 early. As we pushed back, the cabin crew began offering orange juice and champagne and the safety video began playing. I chose the champagne. It was pretty nice, although I don’t have much experience with champers other than occasional glass at New Years. Taxi was relatively quick and we were soon holding short of Runway 15R to allow a Continental 757-200 to take off. Only then were PDB glasses collected. After about a few minutes, the flight crew taxied us into position and we were airborne after a reasonable take off roll.

After crossing 10,000 feet, the cabin crew was dinged out their seats and sprang into action. The purser made usual announcements about electronics, etc. Afterwards, she came through the cabin to distribute menus and Viktor and Rolf amenity kits. Each passenger was greeted by name. Although she was reading off a list, it was definitely a nice touch.


Amenity kit. Picture taken after return.

The amenity kit contained the usual socks, eye shades, earplugs, toothbrush, etc. The bag itself was of nice quality. Two of the other flight attendants followed the purser with another cart distributing media players, as the aircraft does not have a built in personal IFE system. The overhead LCD screens displayed a moving map and other flight info, through out the flight. The remaining flight attendant followed with the drink cart and ramekins of (cold) mixed nuts. I went with another glass of champagne.



And then it was time to peruse the menu. The menu included the card to fill out indicating breakfast preferences. You could also choose the option of not being woken for the breakfast service. The card was collected by a flight attendant, while taking meal orders.

Main Service

Appetiser
Crab Salad
With avocado and red bell peppers

Main Courses
Please choose from the following:

Hazelnut and goat’s cheese fagottini
With saffron tomato sauce, butternut ravioli, cherry tomatoes and Parmesan

Southwest seasoned breast of chicken
Served with mango habanero sauce, rice with apricots and coconut, squash, zucchini, red bell pepper and onion

Traditional Hutspot
A Dutch specialty featuring mashed potatoes, carrots and onions served with braised beef

Dessert
We invite you to select your choice of dark chocolate tart, dulce de leche, Camembert and Cantal cheese or fresh fruit.

Your choice of brewed freshly brewed coffee or tea served with Belgian Chocolates.

For Your Comfort
Bottles of mineral water will be distributed after your meal.

Refreshments
At any time during the flight an assortment of refreshments is available upon your request.

World Class Wines

Champagne
Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut

White Wine
The Ned, Sauvignon Blanc 2009
Marlborough, New Zealand

Cimbron, Verdejo 2009
Rueda, Spain

Dessert Wine
Lillypilly Sweet Harvest
Riverina, Australia

Red Wine
Antinori, Ammiana Santa Cristina 2009
Rosso del Veneto, Italy

Gayda, Cuvee Occitane 2007
Pays d’Oc, France

Port
Taylor’s 2003
Late Bottled Vintage Port

Croft Pink Port
Portugual

Aperitifs
Campari bitter

Spirits
Chiva Regal 12 years blended Scotch Whiskey
Highland Park 12 years single malt Scotch Whiskey
Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Bols Genever
Bacardi White Rum
Absolut Vodka
Bombay Sapphire Gin

Cognac
Remy Martin VSOP

Liqueurs
Drambuie
Cointreau
Amarula

Beer
Heineken

The crab salad was served on tray, with a tablecloth already on the tray. I washed it down with more champagne.



The plate used for the appetizer was of nice design and quality; however, the salad was served in a plastic bowl which seemed rather cheap. A box containing the salt and pepper shakers and the salad dressing was also on the tray. The shakes were also made of plastic, but they were in a pretty neat hourglass design. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of it. The crab and avocado was delicious. I am sucker for anything with avocado. Olive oil and vinegar was provided as salad dressing. I am not a big fan of vinegar, so I did my usual olive oil and a little salt and pepper. The salad topped with a cherry tomato and pine nuts. It was very fresh and tasty. Another run by the drinks cart was made and I went with a gin and tonic this round. As I was eating, I soon discovered the biggest drawback of the portable media players, besides the limited content. I was constantly knocking it over while I was eating since the tray table was not quite big enough.

After the appetizer plates were cleared, the mains were brought out. I got my first choice: the tradition Dutch Beef Hutspot. I figured since I was on a Dutch carrier, I might as well try Dutch dish. The crockery used to serve the dish was also of good quality, although the course wasn’t particularly well presented



The beef was decently tender and mash potatoes were…well, mashed potatoes. You can’t go wrong with that. Overall, main was tasty but it wasn’t anything special. One of the flight attendants, who was very cute, made two passes with the bread basket with a variety of breads. More on her later. I chose olive bread, which was delicious, on both occasions. The bread was warm, crusty on the outside, and warm on the inside. The rest of the cabin crew went about clearing trays as passengers finished their mains. The dessert cart was rolled down the aisle, soon afterwards, followed by the drink cart. I chose the chocolate tart along with a glass of Lillypilly Sweet Harvest and a glass of water.



The dark chocolate tart was good, though a bit rich. Plates were cleared soon after as we were crossing the border into Canada. My seatmate went to use the forward lavatory. So I took the opportunity to use the rear lavatory. The lavatory was your standard run of the mill Next Generation 737 lavatory. There was lotion, moisturizer (I think), and nicer soap than what is usually found in an aircraft lavatory. Water bottles were placed at each seat while I was in the lavatory. After I returned to my seat, I put my seat into the flat position and tried to get some sleep. The seat was decently private in this position; I didn’t really notice my seatmate. Both the pillow and blanket were very comfortable. The blanket was made of wool and was of much higher quality than what is usually found in domestic first class. The seat was lumpy and a tad bit uncomfortable, but I was tired so I fell asleep just as we were going feet wet over the Atlantic. Somewhere over the Atlantic, we hit some pretty good turbulence and I was awakened by automated seatbelt sign message. I rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. However, a few minutes later I felt a something reaching underneath my blanket. Whoa. I opened my eyes and saw the aforementioned cute flight attendant. Well, hello there. Apparently, the cabin crew was making sure all passengers were wearing that seatbelt. I have never experienced this on US carriers, and I’m not sure if this is standard procedure for KLM and/or PrivatAir. I found this a bit strange. Anyways, she smiled at me I smiled back and she moved on. I fell back to sleep pretty quickly after that.

There was about 2.5 hours of flight left the next time I woke up. I put my seat back into reclining position. Unfortunately, I unplugged my media player before I went to sleep and I couldn’t get it plugged in after I woke up. I didn’t want use my Kindle because I would have turn on my reading light, potentially waking up my seatmate. So I decided just to kind of zone out. One of the flight attendants was making a pass through the cabin noticed I was awake and offered me something to drink. I went with a glass of water.





Breakfast was served soon after.

Breakfast a la carte
Please fill out your breakfast choices on your “breakfast card”.

Bruschetta omlette (savoury)
With turkey bacon and rosemary roasted potatoes

Apple cinnamon French toast(sweet)

First, the drinks cart made a round. I ordered orange juice and it was served with a fruit cup, consisting of cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberries, and blueberries. The fruit were ripe and pretty fresh. Breakfast trays were brought soon after. I got my first choice, the omelet. It was served with granola, strawberry yogurt, and smoked salmon and cream cheese.





The potatoes and turkey bacon were edible, but the omelet was worse than what I’ve experienced in domestic first class. As expected, the smoked salmon, granola, and yogurt were good. The same flight attendant made several passes with bread basket. She smiled and gave me a little wink. Well, a guy can dream, right? I went with a croissant, but I don’t quite remember what the other choices were. The croissant was flaky and nicely warmed. There were extra fruit cups that were distributed to whoever wanted them. I’m also a sucker for blueberries so I got another cup. At this point, most of the cabin, including my seatmate, had woken up. I took this opportunity to run to the lavatory to freshen up. We went feet dry over England by the time I got back to my seat. I was hoping for my first glimpse of the European continent, but England was shrouded by thick cloud cover, which I guess is pretty typical. After all the breakfast trays were cleared, the purser distributed the KLM signature Delft House souvenir.


Taken after return

The Delft House is filled with gin; therefore, it was presented in a sealed bag in order to pass transit security. Two other flight attendants followed with the duty free cart, which I did not partake in.

We began to descend after we went feet wet over the North Sea. At that time, the cabin crew began tidying up the cabin for landing. We finally broke through the cloud layer during the final descent and I could finally see the lush green fields below. About 30 minutes later, we touched down in Amsterdam, 40 minutes ahead of schedule. Taxi to the gate took another 10 minutes or so. Deplaning was quick and I was soon making my way into the terminal.

Before the flight, I read some mixed reviews about KLM so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. And quite frankly, I was just happy to be back in an international J cabin. Overall, the flight certainly exceeded my expectations. The cabin crew wasn’t particularly chatty, but they were professional and attentive. Food was decent for the most part, except for the omelet. The seat was just ok, but it was certainly better than being in. In the future, I would not hesitate to fly KLM in the future.

dat4life

Well I was finally in Europe! Deplaning was quick, again due to the limited number of seats. I was fully expecting to be herded to immigration, as this is what happened on all of my international flights at my first point of entry. So I was pretty surprised when I stepped out into the terminal. I was even more surprised when my family was waiting in the gate area for me. A few weeks before departure, I upgraded my family to Economy Comfort to make up for me flying in J while they would be in flying in Y. It wasn’t cheap, at $180 per person. But it was worth it in terms of buying a little peace for me, and not being constantly reminded of the situation! They definitely appreciated the extra legroom. After the pleasantries, we headed to a food stand for some snacks, since they hadn’t eaten since the flight, which arrived several hours before mine.

I was extremely impressed was Schiphol Airport. It was modern, airy, and clean. The many shops and eateries make it a great place to kill time, even if one didn’t have lounge access. Speaking of which, I had planned to enjoy the Crown Lounge in the Schengen Area. But since I met up with my family, I was unable to immediately to head to the lounge. After they ate, we cleared immigration and headed toward their gate. Due to award availability, my family was scheduled to be on KL1675, which left two hours before KL1677, which I was on. I waited with them at their gate until they were about to board. Only then did I head to the Schengen area Crown Lounge.

Upon entering the lounge, the dragon (ok that term definitely didn’t apply here) scanned my boarding pass and welcomed me with a smile. The lounge was good sized with plenty of seating. However, there were no windows giving the lounge a rather cramped feeling. In the two hours I was there, it never got too crowded. The food spread was very nice with both hot and cold items. Cold items included cold cuts, cheese, bread, and veggies. Hot items were limited to cream of asparagus soup and a pasta dish. A self-serve bar was also on offer. I fixed a small plate and a cup of soup. There was a nice selection of reading items as well as several large TVs located around the lounge. However, like any good member of Generation Y, I chose to spend my time on Facebook and other various facets of social media. After a little over an hour had pass, I left the lounge to take a preflight walk. I discovered the little outdoor patio overlooking the tarmac. Man, I wished I discovered this sooner. The weather was perfectly cool and crisp. And the view was great.





After the watching the operations on the tarmac for 10 minutes or so, it was time to the head to the gate. The gate had a seating area located above the boarding area, with an escalator leading the boarding area. After an announcement that boarding would start in a few minutes, everyone on the flight decided to head down to the said boarding area. The crowd surged toward the boarding lane after business class and elites were invited to the board. However, the agent did a good job of turning away anyone who wasn’t eligible and the crowd soon receded. I took this opportunity to head toward the boarding lane. My boarding pass was scanned and I was on my way down the jet bridge.

KL1677
Amsterdam (AMS)-Barcelona (BCN)
Friday May 27, 2011
Depart: 5:10 PM
Arrive: 7:25 PM
Aircraft: Boeing 737-400
Seat: 3A (Business Class)



I was welcomed aboard by the friendly purser and turned right to find the much ballyhooed European business class, which is essentially coach seating with the middle seat blocked. I’m not a small guy by any stretch of the imagination; however, I have never been uncomfortable in a coach seat. I would prefer something similar to domestic first class in the US, but I would gladly take the service over the seat.



After the entire business class had been seated, the purser offered a selection of newspapers. I chose the Financial Times. Pre-departure beverages consisted of water and orange juice. Despite the completely full flight, boarding finished up pretty quickly and we were soon pushing back from the gate. After a quick take off roll, we were airborne and winging our way over the European continent. After we reached our cruising altitude of 37,000 feet, the captain made his welcome aboard announcement as the familiar smells of a meal service began to fill the cabin. The purser did a drinks run before the meals were served. I just ordered a glass of water. Meals were served from a cart from front to back, without preference to status. As the cart reached my row, the purser smiled and inquired if I would like the pasta. I asked if there was another option; however, everyone in the first two rows had opted for the beef. Pasta turned out to be tortellini, served on one tray with salad and dessert.

Dinner

Amuse
Gazpacho of carrots, topped with almond shavings and parsley

Salad
Frisee salad with tomato, cucumber and organic balsamic dressing

Bread
Assorted hot rolls

Main Course
Spinach tortellini served with creamy cheese and herb sauce

Beef Provencale offered with skin on herbed potatoes and ratatouille Provencale

Dessert
Mousse and coulis of passion fruit and flambéed meringue



The tortellini was piping hot and delicious. The same box with the “hourglass” salt and pepper shaker was also included. As with my previous flight, the salad was fresh. The amuse and dessert were small, but tasty. Drinks were topped off after the last row was served. A few little quibbles with the meal service: salad was served in the same tacky plastic container as my long haul flight. Even AA uses a real plate for salads in domestic First Class. Also, my meal was handed to me with the aluminum foil still covering the main. These little things just make the service seem a little less premium. But that’s where the negatives ended. Service was good, with the purser offering constant refills and clearing trays as individual passengers finished. I passed time admiring the view.

French countryside.


Traffic is an A321, 8 o’clock high. Report in sight.


Our decent into Barcelona offered excellent view of the Spanish coast:


Touchdown was smooth and after a quick taxi, I was stepping into the Barcelona’s modern terminal. There was no need to clear immigration, as I did not leave the EU. It was a bit of hike to baggage claim. Bags from my flight began trickling onto the carousel 15 minutes after arriving at baggage claim. I am happy to report that priority tags did work and both of my bags made it through unscathed. My family again surprised me by meeting me outside of baggage claim. I had listed my mom as a guest on one of the rooms so they could check in first, as I would be arriving late. After they had checked in, they realized there weren’t a lot of eating options near the hotel, so they headed back to the airport for a bite and to meet me.

We hoofed it to the shuttle bus area and waited nearly half an hour for the Renaissance shuttle to show up. On the way to the hotel, my mom informed me she had chosen the food and beverage amenity over the points for my Platinum amenity. I was dead tired at this point, but this gave me a little jolt. Oy. Anyways, we arrived at the hotel to find the lobby to be a complete mad house. Since my parents had checked in earlier, we were fortunate to be able avoid that mess. It seemed most of the guests were Americans also staying the night before the cruise. Not surprisingly, I didn’t get an upgrade due to high occupancy and the fact I had two rooms. Our rooms were next to each other; however, there was no connecting door. After dropping off my bags, I headed back down to the lounge, which is located down in the lobby, to grab a drink and a snack. The food and beverage amenity, which consisted of strawberry ice cream and two glass bottles of Evian, arrived as I was leaving. The ice cream was nicely presented in medium sized glass goblets. After quick snack of the same ice cream and fancy water in the lounge (go figure), I went back to the room, showered, and fell asleep on one of the very comfortable twin beds at around 9 PM. I apologize for the lack of pictures from the hotel. Like I said, I was dead tired and my sisters had already strewn there stuff around both rooms, making them less photogenic. Take my word for it when I say the hotel is clean, modern, and nicely appointed. I did however take pictures of the neat aviation related photos decorating one of the rooms.





After 10 blissful hours of sleep, I woke up decided to grab a quick work out at the gym. The gym was located in a dark dank corner of the hotel basement. It featured some weights and some half functioning cardio equipment. After a half hearted 2 kilometer run, I went back upstairs for another shower before breakfast. Everyone had woken up and was ready to go after I got back to the room. We headed down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast after I quickly ran through the shower. I mentioned earlier I had booked a pre-cruise package for 110 Euros per room. The package included breakfast buffet and a transfer to the cruise terminal for two adults per room. Given the buffet was 25 Euros per person without the package; it was a fantastic deal in my opinion.

Upon arrival at the restaurant, our rooms were crossed a list of those booked with the aforementioned package. The spread was fantastic with huge variety of hot and cold items. Hot items included cooked to order eggs (including omelets), traditional breakfast meats, grilled veggies, etc. As far as the cold items go, I zeroed in on the smoked salmon but there was a good variety of cold cuts and cheese. A selection of fresh breads was also available. We offered a choice of orange juice and coffee as we were seated. A selection of fresh juices, such as fresh pear and grapefruit juice was available at the buffet. Service was good with drinks constantly topped off and plate cleared quickly. The restaurant manager came by to talk to us, as we were finishing up breakfast. Since we had 4 adults (my parents, one of my sisters, and myself) and 2 children (my two youngest sisters), I had planned to pay for the two youngest because they were not included in the package. However, the manager told me not worry about it, and wished us a pleasant trip. I know that the tipping culture isn’t quite the same in Europe, but I left a 30 Euro tip since they did take good care of us and to kind of make up for comping my sisters’ breakfast.

We went back upstairs to gather our bags and headed back down to check out and catch the shuttle to the cruise terminal. Again, the lobby was a mad house as the majority of guests were leaving on cruises. Check out was uneventful. We waited about 20 minutes for the next shuttle, as the concierge was sending off a different shuttle to each respective ship departing that day. Upon boarding the shuttle, I paid the concierge 20 Euros for my little sisters, as they were not included in the package. The weather was a bit overcast and dreary, but it was a pleasant 30 minute drive through the city to the port.

dat4life

Disney first dipped their toe in the cruising business in 1995, by commissioning two ships to be built by the Italian ship builder, Fincantieri. The first ship, christened the “Magic”, was completed in 1998.

Taken in Villafranche later in the cruise:


With a length of 964 feet and displacement of 83,000 tons, the Disney Magic is capable of carrying 2,400 passengers comfortably along with up to 945 crewmembers. Both the Magic and her sister ship, the Wonder, are designed to resemble “classic” ocean liners of years past, making both ships instantly recognizable. The ship underwent an overhaul is 2008. When we arrived on the ship three years later, the ship still appears to be rather fresh. Crewmembers were constantly cleaning, repairing, and painting through out the cruise, helping maintain the appearance.

As I pointed out earlier, this was the first cruise for my family and I. So take the following comments about the cruise with a grain of salt. Our experience was excellent. The ship inside and out was in good repair, and in our opinion tastefully decorated. We had two inside staterooms connected on the lower deck. The cabins were fairly large with plenty of storage space for our American sized baggage (keep in mind we had a total of 6 people). Beds were comfortable. Service was top notch from our servers, cabin attendant, and all staff encountered on the ship. Food was excellent in terms of quality and quantity. Although the ship was near capacity, it never felt too crowded on the ship. At peak times, the line at the buffet could get rather long; however, they moved quickly. Obviously, since it is Disney, the experience is catered toward families. But as twenty something year olds, my oldest younger sister (if that makes sense) and I never felt out of place on the ship. There was a good bit to see and do onboard, even though the ship does not have a casino and other forms of entertainment for an older crowd.

I’m not going to write in detail about the cruise, since it would take way too long. Just note our experience on the ship was fantastic. If anyone has questions, I would be glad to answer them.

One of the big draws of this particular cruise was its itinerary, which included the following port of calls:
- Malta
- Palermo
- Naples
- Civitavecchia (Rome)
- La Spezia (Pisa and Florence)
- Ajaccio
- Villefranche (Nice and Monaco)

Without further adieu, I will let the pictures do the talking.

Barcelona


Closest we would get to Tunis


Malta














Palermo










Pompeii

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Rome














Pisa






Corsica






Sunset

dat4life

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.

dat4life

DL95
Barcelona (BCN)-New York (JFK)
Wednesday June 8, 2011
Depart: 11:20 AM
Arrive: 2:00 PM
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Seat: 24B (Economy)

We were backed up on the jet bridge for several minutes before we were onboard the aircraft. Although I usually prefer window seats, I deferred to one of my sisters and settled into 24B. Boarding finished up a few minutes ahead of scheduled. During pushback, we were treated to session of Deltalina. There was no queue for the active runway and we took off quickly. Unfortunately, it was overcast so there were no views after take off.

Our aircraft featured the standard run of the mill Delta economy seats, covered in blue leather. As usual, the seat was decently comfortable with standard seat pitch.



Delta’s excellent IFE system, dubbed Delta on Demand, was turned on after we climbed above 10,000 feet.



The flight attendants began preparing for the first meal service about 30 minutes into flight. Soon after, the meal service began. As the cart reached my row, the flight attendant presented me with time honored question of chicken or pasta. After inquiring further, I was told the chicken was served with mushroom risotto and vegetables and the pasta was lasagna. I chose the chicken, while my sister who I was sitting with chose lasagna.



The chicken was hot, juicy, and flavorful, as was the risotto. Both the cooked vegetables and the salad were fresh. Chunks of mozzarella cheese on the salad were delicious and a nice touch. A prepackaged roll, crackers and processed cheese, and some sort of packaged dessert were also included with the meal. All three of my sisters went with the lasagna and enjoyed it. The meal service exceeded my expectations, which admittedly were very low due to reviews I have read beforehand. Trays were collected fairly quickly. Another drink run was made soon after. One major annoyance during the flight was the flight attendant call button, one of which was located on the IFE remote. The remote is stored on the side of the armrest, leading to constant dings throughout the flight. Understandably, this frustrated the entire cabin crew.

After my tray was cleared, I watched the Black Swan, Natalie Portman can make anything great, and Hall Pass, which was horrible albeit with an intriguing idea. Anyways, I stayed awake during the majority of the flight in order to adjust for the time change. Midflight, a snack service was performed. The service consisted of drinks and a choice of pretzels and peanuts. Unfortunately, my favored Biscoffs weren’t available. The flight passed uneventfully, and the start of the second meal service signaled our impending arrival.





The pizza was edible, although a bit undercooked. And you can’t go wrong with ice cream. After trash was cleared, we were feet dry over Massachusetts and descending. Our descent became a little more eventful when a lady sitting a few rows behind me insisted on gabbing with her friend who sat across the aisle from me. She ignored repeated requests from a flight attendant to return to her seat as the seatbelt sign was on. Finally, the purser came back and threatened to have a welcoming party waiting for the said lady at JFK. Only then did she return to her seat



Touchdown was smooth and we arrived at the gate after a 15 minute taxi. The flight generally exceeded my expectations. The cabin crew was just did their job and nothing more; although, they were a bit snippy with passengers at times. If the price and schedule were right, I wouldn’t hesitate to fly Delta again internationally in economy.

As were the only international flight arriving at that time, immigration was pretty quick. However, it was another 30 minutes after we cleared immigration before bags finally began hitting the carousel. Due to award availability, we had an 8 hour layover until our flight to Houston. So we ended up taking the train into Manhattan to spend a few hours there. I slept most of way on the flight back. The only item noteworthy to report is that we arrived one hour early due to favorable winds. Bags came out pretty quickly due to the light load. We waited for a short time for the Super Shuttle and made it home at midnight, about 1.5 hours after deplaning. Reality hit the next morning when I woke up at about 7 and made the drive back to Dallas to get back to work.

It was a great trip. My parents enjoyed the trip so much; they decided to make a cruise an annual thing. We shall see how long that lasts. As for me, I had a blast. I finally made it back into an international premium cabin. Business class was nice and all, but I want more. As of right now, it appears as if I will get more at end of this year. Stay tuned for that TR.

Thank you so much for reading!

janehoya

Thanks for posting. I really enjoyed your report and reading about airlines and services that aren't ordinarily covered in the TR section. Sounds like your family had a memorable vacation.

EWC-JMU

harrison1186, what a great report. Fantastic photos. It really does sound like the trip of a lifetime and thank you for sharing your adventure with us.

Given the title of your report (and a big ^ on that, by the way), I must ask if Santana champs was available on the ship or perhaps the PrivatAir or KL flights. It is, as you know, so crisp.

dat4life

I would actually rather have been at Kinkos straight flipping copies

ROCruiser

Thank you for sharing this great report!

time2go1st

hey as others have said, that was really nice, thank you! never took a cruise like that what a great way to taste a few different cultures, no muss no fuss. having done it, you can choose the next euro. visit based on which one you liked best, and chill out in one place a little longer -- I heartily recommend my old haunt of Italy, plenty there, with plenty of variety from one region to the next, for several lifetimes. thanks again for the overview and especially the KLM special service, looked quite nice, may you meet that cute flight attendant again!

zookeeper

I enjoyed this TR, especially the great photos taken during the cruise. Thanks for posting!

Mrp Alert

Thanks for the info on Disney cruise lines. It added a little more insight to their product. I would like to see a couple pictures of the cruise ship interior cabin if you have them. Great report!

dat4life

Unfortunately, I don't have any cabin shots. With my younger sisters around, things don't stay photogenic for long! I will say that the pics on the Disney website were representative of our cabin (inside stateroom).