When I was a kid, my father took me on a month-long road trip around the United States.  The pre-teen journey was timed and planned to include life lessons taught indirectly through places we visited and things we did there.  When my children reached about that same age, we went on cruises, just dad and daughter, and emulated that same experience, albeit at sea rather than on land.  Last year it was older daughter Sydney and I on a sailing with Azamara Club Cruises to Russia and the Baltics.  This year I’m with Whitney on a marvelous journey from Istanbul to Venice with Viking Cruises aboard new Viking Sea.  Different daughters, cruise lines, ships and itineraries, all share one thing in common; they enabled an experience I will never forget.

 

 

That I am impressed with the experience should come as no surprise to regular readers. There are very few cruise travel experiences I did not like.  Still, those who have been following along on this voyage know that Viking earned a high rating through working a detailed plan, smartly .  See any of the below links to stories, photo galleries, tweets, posts and more that add up to one great big win of a trip.  But that’s all me.  Not to forget that Whitney was long for the ride, snapping away Viking Sea photos through the eye of an actual professional in that area, the words I write today are brief.  I think a sampling of Whitney’s photos tells the story;

 

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Follow Along Live

 

Bookmark our In Progress page for a complete listing of all posts related to our Viking Sea sailing.
Better yet, subscribe to ChrisCruises and get notified every time a new post goes up, usually once a day.
Or check at the bottom of each post like this one for a complete list of what we experienced, in blog form

Pre-Cruise

• Coming Up: Viking Sea Empires of the Mediterranean 
• My Viking Journey: Two Weeks Out
• My Viking Journey: Itinerary Disrupted, And We’re OK With That
• My Viking Journey: New Fish In The Water
• My Viking Journey: One Week Out
• Viking Sisters Meet For The First Time: Papa Pleased 

Posted Live From Viking Sea’s Maiden Voyage

• Security Concerns Vs Travel Thwarting Fear
• Viking Sea Comfortable Cruising
• Desktop-Worthy Photos Of Beautiful New Cruise Ships
• Viking Sea: The Other Guys Should Have Seen This Coming
• A Ride On The Rocket: Fueled By Viking Ocean Cruises
• Viking Cruises Cultural Exploration A Consistent Theme
• Viking Cruises Global View Via Tiny Details
• Viking Upgrades Logo Shop, Feeds Fan Frenzy
• Viking Evolves Onboard Experience With Arrival Of Viking Sea
• Viking Sea Photos: A Different Perspective

Follow along socially too:

Instagram- ChrisCruises will have a post each day

Facebook- Chris has periodic posts and Photo Albums created along the way

• Istanbul With Viking Cruises
• Touring Troy With Viking Cruises
• Ephesus With Viking Cruises
• A Day In Athens With Viking Cruises
• Santorini Home Visit With Viking Cruises
• Viking Sea Photo Gallery
• Kotor Montenegro with Viking Cruises

Flickr Photo Albums– You’ll need a free account at Flickr to view which is a good idea anyway because they let us upload a ton of photos to share for free. Check back from time to time, these albums are updated as we sail.

• Athens Temple of Zeus
• Touring Athens With Viking Ocean Cruises
• Viking Sea Ship Shots
• Ephesus With Viking Cruises
• Touring Troy With Viking Cruises
• Testing Safety and Security At Istanbul Landmarks
• Viking Sea’s First Sunrises and Sunsets

Twitter- @ChrisCruises will have posts along the way