Our Embarkation Day aboard the Viking Delling was absolutely perfect. Honestly, it was the easiest, quickest, most relaxed, and most lovely embarkation experience that I have had on all of the cruises that I have gone on. If you haven't experienced a river cruise with Viking then your view of embarkation day may be one that feels a bit harried, but that is the complete opposite of what you will experience.Want to see a walk through of our day? Click HERE to view the reel!
For the Viking Delling the embarkation itinerary began at 12:00pm with a few people who arrived earlier and those arriving later (like ourselves). When you arrive there is a light welcome lunch that is served at 12:00pm (and for our cruise there was another one served at 3:00pm). We had a veranda stateroom so our room was scheduled to be ready at 3:00pm and when we arrived it was all ready to go.
The wonderful thing that Viking does is that if you arrive before your stateroom is available and want to explore your port you can drop off your luggage and they will look after it for you!
For this river cruise we did use the transfer option that was available, but for the Rhine River Cruise we did take our own transportation to the ship. Whichever way you arrive you will be greeted with a lovely experience (although I do recommend the transfer option - like I mentioned in this post HERE!).
When we arrived- we were greeted by some of the amazing crew of the Viking Delling and warmly welcomed aboard. One of the neat things was getting to meet Daniel, the Hotel Manager right at the beginning. His warm welcome aboard set a wonderful tone right from the beginning. I think I should note here that you are going to read a lot about the amazing crew on this trip. They truly were just incomparable. I have a theory of why that is, which involves an incredible captain, that I will share more of that in the weeks to come.
Our room was ready when we arrived and so we excitedly followed one of the crew members to our room. We were met in the hallway by our stateroom stewardess, Kamilla, who was honestly so lovely our entire stay. One of the things that just impressed me about Kamilla from the beginning was the fact that she stopped in the middle of her extremely busy day to take a few moments to ask about our trip to the ship and get to know us. I think she tried to cover a smile when we said that we were going to be up front about wanting lots of water (y'all know my love of water) and sure enough we were never without bottles of water in our room. I will share more about our room, but I so appreciated Kamilla's time to go through some things in our room for us to know right at the beginning.
We look a bit tired, but we were both so excited to be on the cruise!
There was a beautiful gift upon our arrival and it was truly the sweetest thing. Also- y'all the chocolate covered strawberries were delicious.
After we explored our room a bit, excitedly started to unpack, and yes, ate a few of the yummy strawberries we headed off to go for a late lunch.
We sat out in the aquavit area and it was absolutely lovely!
Y'all know that salads are one of my favorite foods...this salad was so good.
After we ate, we explored the ship a bit (which I will be giving a complete tour of the ship soon!), and then went to our room to sit out on the veranda and change for the safety briefing and for dinner.
At the welcome and safety briefing we met Nuno (our wonderful Program Director) (in the left picture) and Daniel (whom I mentioned above in the right picture). They kicked off a lovely welcome to everyone! You could feel the excitement in this meeting! Everyone was so excited to be there!
The captain, Francois, took time to welcome us all aboard and then completed the safety briefing. After our meeting everyone headed to dinner! I will be sharing more during my food review, but it was at this first dinner that the Matire D, David, came by to each table and spoke to everyone individually about any concerns or allergies they may have. I so appreciate that attention to detail!
.jpg "embarkation day on the viking delling for our rhone river cruise")
After dinner we listened to music for a little bit in the lounge before heading back to our room. I stepped out once more on our veranda and just took a moment to absorb the incredible gratitude for the day. It was a full and amazing day!
Like I said at the beginning, boarding the Viking Delling was wonderful and the best embarkation experiences I have ever had. Have y'all sailed on the Rhone River with Viking? Please let me know if you have any questions I can answer!
Image Pixabay CC0 License
Selecting an engagement ring is a major purchase, especially as this is a ring that will be worn for a lifetime. The problem is, with such a huge number of different designs and styles available to choose from, finding the perfect ring can be pretty challenging. Thankfully, there are ways to simplify the buying process and ensure that you select the perfect ring. To make choosing the ideal engagement ring easier, it’s helpful to keep the following essential considerations in mind:
How Much Would You Like to Spend?
Discussing money can seem crass when you’re purchasing something as meaningful as a ring that symbolizes your love. However, knowing how much you are prepared to pay, or can afford to spend is really important when choosing an engagement ring. If you’re unsure how much is a reasonable amount to spend on an engagement ring, it’s helpful to look at the average prices, to give you some idea of a ballpark figure. Of course, you don’t need to follow this, but it will give you a reference point when setting your budget.
Where do You Plan to Shop for the Ring?
Traditionally, people only had two options when it came to choosing engagement rings. Either they used a ring that had been passed down through the generations, or they visited a local jewelry store and just hoped that there was a suitable ring available to buy. Nowadays, shopping for an engagement ring has been made a whole lot easier thanks to specialist online stores. Rare Carat online engagement rings seller is the perfect example of an online store offering a vast selection of different engagement rings for you to choose from. Looking online is an excellent way to get some inspiration and to clarify exactly what you want your engagement ring to look like.
Which Color Metal Will the Bride-to-Be Prefer?
The color metal you choose for the engagement ring is something to decide on right away. There are a few factors that will influence which metal you should choose. Firstly, it’s important to consider the bride-to-be’s preference, and the color jewelry she usually wears. For example, if she always wears white gold or silver jewelry, buying a yellow gold engagement ring may not match her personal style and preferences. Next, it’s essential to think about the wedding rings you will both be choosing. Ideally, the engagement ring should be the same metal type as the wedding ring as they will be worn on the same finger. However, if you’re hoping to each wear matching wedding bands, you will need to both agree on the same color metal.
Which Precious Stone Will You Choose?
The precious stone featured on an engagement ring is arguably the most eye-catching part of the ring. So, your final consideration when choosing an engagement ring is selecting the ideal precious stone. Diamonds are a classic choice, and there is a wide range of different diamond shapes and styles to select from to create the perfect engagement ring.
*contributed post*
Today is such a lovely day celebrating my best friend and amazing mom on mothers day! It is delightful...she is full of laughter, joy, and celebrating her everyday is incredibly easy.
Simply put, my mom is my hero.
Behind the scenes she has walked through trials with more courage than I could ever imagine, she loves unconditionally, believes the impossible will happen, and is my biggest cheerleader and best friend, I am honored to call her mom. I love you so much mom. I am looking forward to all of the good things that God has in store for her this coming year.
Out of respect for my families privacy, I don't often post a ton of pictures of my most precious people in my life here on the blog, but my mom is the greatest gift God has given. Daily, I get to witness this amazing and courageous woman thoughtfully and intentionally loving each person she comes in contact with. She doesn't hurry by people but truly stops and loves. She can spend hours in a store as she listens to a young mom crying about a difficult moment or the elderly cashier back to work after the loss of her husband. On our cruise a couple of weeks ago the day she experienced an incredible disappointment as the day before we embarked her knee was hurt very badly. She limped along in incredible pain, and still never uttered one complaint. She truly made our trip amazing. She listens and encourages, has a faith that is inspiring, and has walked through more things than I could ever imagine still finding beauty each day. Thank you, Mommy, for living the following quote in millions of ways behind the scenes for so many...
"And I could be sitting on the sidelines, in blissful ignorance of the brokenness that surrounds me, enjoying the whole-ness of a sweet and sheltered life. Missing out on the beauty of breaking off pieces of my heart and my life to make another whole. That's the beauty of a life of brokenness-by-decision: A shattered heart, seeping out the sacrifice of praise. A life cracked open and poured out in worship to Him. An invitation for God Himself to [work in love]."
// Foster the Family //
Happy Saturday friends! Today I am excited to share all about our transfer from the Marseille airport to the Viking Delling in Avignon! As our river cruise on the Rhone River started in Avignon the airport that most of the guests traveled from was the Marseille airport.
If you were following along on Instagram then you saw some of our adventures in Marseille prior to our cruise. We arrived on Monday the 21st, and met the Viking Transfer services group at the Marseille airport on Wednesday, the 23rd (the day the cruise started). Our scheduled time of meeting was at 12:45pm and we arrived at the airport extremely excited for our adventure!
When we arrived we found out that some of the plane arrivals we were to meet were unfortunately delayed by several hours. The kind thing was that Viking quickly transferred us to another departing group and we were on our way!
We were greeted and helped with our luggage and the entire process was incredibly easy. We got onto the van and were offered waters and a warm welcome and we were all excited to start our adventure!
Our driver pointed out this van above- it looked exactly like the van we were on taking us to Avignon!
The ride to Avignon from Marseille airport was about an hour and at the time that our transfer took place there was very little traffic!
Even through the bus windows the glimpses of seeing more of France in this region were absolutely beautiful.
As we rode the bus I was so humbled and grateful. To be in France...as many of you know this was simply a gift beyond words.
Our driver pointed out that we were getting closer to Avignon and we were so excited!
A few minutes later our driver pointed out that if we looked to the left we were seeing some of our first glimpses of the Rhone River!
Approaching Avignon where the Viking Delling was docked!
Seeing the old district of Avignon as we approached our ship was so neat. For our cruise we were embarking at Avignon and then would travel down to Arles for a day before coming back to Avignon on the third day (Friday).
Our first glimpse of the Viking Delling out the window!
We were dropped off right in front of the ship! I snapped a quick picture out the window before we got off the van and while we knew it was going to be wonderful, I had no idea how incredible the week before us was about to be.
After we got off the van we were immediately greeted with crew who were kindly already taking our suitcases to our rooms. Honestly the entire transfer was so smooth and you felt like you were greeted like royalty. Everyone on our van was so excited to be there and hurried to the ship. Mom and I took a bit longer, just slowly walking (not just because she had just hurt her knee the day before), but truly just taking the entire experience in.
We saw the welcome mat, awning and boat and our little hearts were so excited!
We had to grab a quick picture! Our amazing adventure was truly about to begin!
A couple of quick notes if you are interested in doing a transfer from the airport to the ship:
1. If you purchase airfare through Viking, then transfers are included with Viking Air purchase and all of our extension packages. If you do a pre-cruise trip with them then this is also included. If you do not purchase your airfare through Viking then you will need to talk with them regarding how to get to the ship.
2. I will say that the direction we took our cruise (from Avignon to Lyon) a transfer was truly priceless and extremely wonderful. Could it have been done by train and taxi? Yes. But as two women with our luggage (and then mom hurting her knee in Marseille) I was truly thankful that we had the transfer booked. For our Rhine River Cruise in 2017- starting in Basel we did take a taxi and it was easy to do that due the location of the airport and the ship. For this specific trip and cruise I can't recommend the transfer enough.
3. A note that is important to understand for transfers with Viking River Cruises on the Rhone River (possibly all rivers - I am not sure). Viking contracts with a group for these transfers so it they are not part of the crew and staff specifically of the ship you take on the Rhone River. If you have trouble with something I would highly encourage talking with Viking - not the ship crew. I did hear a couple of people complaining about something that had happened on their transfer, but don't think they realized this separation. To be honest, I didn't either until a conversation on the cruise happened.
For us it was perfect and wonderful and I can't recommend it enough! I hope that you enjoy these pictures and a little glimpse of what the transfer is like! Please let me know if you have any questions and I will be happy to answer them!
Happy Saturday friends! I hope you have a wonderful day!
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