A Mediterranean Cruise and Four Days in Ireland – Introduction
A Mediterranean Cruise and Four Days in Ireland
Introduction
Planning
US Airways Business Class (Envoy) Philadelphia to Venice
Two Magical Days in Venice
Boscolo Venezia Hotel in Venice
Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam: Introduction, Itinerary, and the Pinnacle Suite
Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam: Katakolon and Athens
Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam: Istanbul, Mitilini, and Kusadasi
Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam: Santorini and Argostoli
Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam: Sailing into Venice
Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam: Cruise Review
Ryanair Economy Class Venice-Treviso to Dublin
Two Days in Dublin
The Aran Islands and Galway, Ireland
Driving the West Coast of County Clare, the Cliffs of Moher, and Bunratty Meadows B&B
Aer Lingus 757 Business Class Shannon to Boston
A few months ago, I had a tentative trip to Europe planned over St. Patrick’s Day when my Aunt and Uncle invited my girlfriend and I to take a cruise with them in May. Since vacation has become a somewhat limited commodity for me lately (I’ve burnt almost all my vacation time), I decided to nix the trip in March in favor of this cruise.
In my previous life, I worked for a major cruise line, and was borderline obsessed with cruises. When I was young, my family typically took cruise vacations since it was just easy, everyone enjoyed it, and the family could have dinner together every night. All these cruises added up, and now looking back, it’s pretty clear that I’ve taken an obscene amount of cruises — this will be my thirty-fourth cruise. With that said, it’s been about two and a half years since my last one, so I guess I’m due for another one.
This particular cruise is on Holland America Line’s newest ship, the Nieuw Amsterdam. Having sailed with Holland America on three previous occasions, I know to expect impeccable service, good food, a beautiful ship, and generally an older crowd. The thing that popped out to me about this cruise was the great 12-night itinerary — out of the eight ports of call, I’ve only previously been to one — Istanbul.
I’ve always wanted to sample some of the Greek Islands, so this cruise will really allow me to do so! Another cool thing about this particular itinerary is that it spends the night in both Istanbul and Venice at the tail end of the trip. This is somewhat unusual for a cruise, and it’s an aspect that I really do like since it allows us to sample some of the great nightlife in Istanbul,and to spend a relaxed final evening in Venice. An added bonus is that I have a very generous Aunt and Uncle who invited us to stay in the Pinnacle Suite — the largest room on the ship. I’ve never stayed in a suite on a cruise before, so this will be extra-special.
Photo Credit: Holland America Line
Tomorrow, we will depart Washington-National Airport for Venice via Philadelphia on US Airways in their Envoy Suites business class. We will spend two days before the cruise in Venice, and will stay at the Boscolo Venezia, thanks to a low rate, and the use of some Marriott points. Following the cruise, we decided to spend some time in Ireland before flying back to the States. During our four days in Ireland, we plan to hit up Dublin, Galway, the Arann Islands, Cliffs of Mohr, and Shannon. Since I am using British Airways Avios for our Trans-Atlantic segment on, I am exploiting one of the sweet-spots on their award chart by flying home from Ireland on Aer Lingus — in this case, Shannon to Boston.
Over the next couple weeks, I will be making a number of posts covering various aspects of this trip. Of course, I’ll hit on US Airways Envoy Suites, the Boscolo Venezia, the cruise itself along with the ports of call, our experience on Ryanair from Treviso to Dublin, our Ireland Adventure, and the flight back to the States on Aer Lingus. As Internet is limited on board (I’m not going to pay the absurd Internet charges on the ship), my blog posts will be somewhat intermittent over the next couple of weeks. Here’s a pretty picture of our flights:
Stay tuned for a post on what it took to plan this trip, as well as several posts that will log our journey!
