Norwegian cruise, London, Bavaria and the Maldives

[Pushka]

Thank you for the kind words. More to come still.

It's actually quite hard just selecting a few. I also struggle sometimes because I know the photos really don't do justice to the magic of the place. Often it's a combination of the view, weather, sounds and smells that make something amazing. A photo is just one dimension of it.

I hear ya about selection. Maybe that’s the down side of digital - but your photos are making me push the partner for a similar cruise so they must be doing the job!

 

[Daver6]

I hear ya about selection. Maybe that’s the down side of digital - but your photos are making me push the partner for a similar cruise so they must be doing the job!

If you have questions, please feel free to ask. Either here or DM (happy to even have a call). Offer stands into the future.

 

[ellen10]

I too have been looking at your photos with envy. I have shown them to the dh hoping to pique his enthusiasm. Did you get any rough seas on your cruise?

 

[craven morehead]

We only had a short schedule layover in HEL, but due to the late departure from BGO, we arrived late into HEL. This meant no opportunity to checkout the AY WP lounge which I was a little disappointed about. We headed straight over to our AY A330 to LHR. This aircraft alternated between 2-2-1 and 1-2-1 in J. Ie, every even number of rows on the port side had a thrown seat. I went for 2A and MrsDaver6 in 4A.

This was my first AY experience. Hard product was ok, but pretty old. Cabin crew seemed pretty disinterested . I had the CSM serving my side. She wasn't overly friendly and mumbled when she spoke. Dinner was essentially a rissole which was quite tasty. Wine was pretty average. Having said that, this is orders of magnitude better than BA J in Europe.

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Who doesn't like a loo with a view?!
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No expense spared on the J headphones
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I love those AY glasses

 

[Daver6]

I too have been looking at your photos with envy. I have shown them to the dh hoping to pique his enthusiasm. Did you get any rough seas on your cruise?

Excellent question actually. There were a couple of times where it was a bit rough. However, from talking to a friend who did the same cruise the year prior, ours was a bit rougher than when he went.

For the most part you're not actually in the open ocean but protected by islands. We had one evening where there was a 5-7 metre swell. That lasted for a few hours and was the worst of it. The first night there was also a bit of a swell but not that bad. There was very little roll on the ship, more pitching. For me, it was a non-issue. In fact, I quite enjoyed being rocked to sleep. Other times it was just completely flat and if you didn't look out the window you wouldn't have known you were moving.

I really don't know how this compares to other cruises in terms of roughness. I think I've experienced worse on the Rottnest ferry.

 

[VPS]

As others have said - absolutely stunning photos - I'm into Day 5 of a 21 day Antarctica cruise and taken a lot of photos but internet is very slow and expensive so can't load many photos but have been writing up the report daily so will be easy to post when I get home

 

[Daver6]

Next stop on the tour would be Bavaria, mainly to see more family. My cousin from London would be joining us for this. She just had a cheap Y BA ticket but on the same flights as us with a midday departure from LHR T5. As a WP we tired out luck at the F check-in area. We passed the dragon into the area explaining although separate PNRs we were all travelling as a group. As a WP they were happy for us to use the F check-in. Check-in agent then pointed us towards where security is (which as it turns out then leads directly into the F lounge).

At this point I did wonder how we'd go as we had two pax in J, one SG, one WP and one nobody in Y. Sure enough at security they then directed us to the pleb (well regular priority) security line elsewhere in the terminal. Usual LHR experience and off to the north lounges as we didn't have a departure gate assigned yet. However, I did stop to buy a bottle of Scotch as a gift for someone in Germany. Thought I'd ask nicely at the entrance to the F lounge whether I could guest two pax in. At first they didn't understand why I was even there. Turns out the boarding passes didn't have our status info. Once that was sorted out we were very kindly all allowed into the lounge.

We had some breakfast in the lounge and then washed it down with champagne.



Row 1 legroom was pretty average...but better than any other row on the aircraft. Flight was pretty full.


The Bavarian Alps coming into MUC

 

[Daver6]

Arriving in MUC MrsDaver6 and I were first off the aircraft. We waited by the gate for my cousin who was near the back of the A319. It took a good 10 minutes for her to get off the aircraft. As it turns out, immigration was right near the gate, but we found ourselves now right at the back of a line. In the interim a S7 flight from Russia had arrived with most of those pax in front of us too.

There were two problems now. There were only two immigration lines up (feeding off the one long one) and German efficiency had well and truly left the building. Of course, my cousin being a UK citizen and Brexit being delayed walked through in about 30 seconds and had to wait for us. It took us just under an hour to go through immigration. During that time we saw your inbound aircraft turn around and leave.

Now once through I needed to use the facilities. Walking there it suddenly dawned on me. I left that Scotch in the overhead locker. Ugghhh!! And the aircraft had left. I was now in an extra cranky mood after the long line. It was dark, rainy and we had about an hours drive ahead of us to our accommodation in Prien am Chiemsee . Oh well, nothing to be done. Off to Hertz, grabbed the car and headed off.

We booked a two bedroom room at Hotel Neuer Am See which was right near the shore of the lake. We checked in and given we were a bit tired and hangry, decided to eat at the hotel restaurant. An excellent choice with some delicious Bavarian food.

View from the room's balcony and of the hotel the next morning.

 

[Daver6]

Before bed I decided to reach out to BA on Twitter to see if there is any chance of maybe getting my booze back (perhaps on my way back through LHR). The next morning they had responded and told me I need to contact MUC airport lost and found. They provided the contact details. Being a Saturday, they should have been open, but calling just went through to voicemail, so I sent them an email.

The main reason we stayed at Prien was to visit Lake Chiemsee and have views of the Bavarian Alps. Unfortunately it was overcast with poor visibility so the mountains were hidden. We took the boats the lake to visit a couple of the islands and the castle of King Ludwig II. We had a tour of the inside of the castle, but not photographs allowed. It was pretty spectacular.

 

[Daver6]

 

[Daver6]

 

[Daver6]

We then headed to Wettstetten which is pretty much a suburb is Ingolstadt. ingolstadt's claim to fame is that's where the main Audi factory is. Literally every second car in the area is an Audi.

There we pretty much caught up with family, eat a few drinks and a walk to a little pub. We stayed with family who had the most gorgeous dog.

 

[Daver6]

When we arrived in Wettstetten I checked my email. MUC lost and found got back to me and told me they had my bottle of whisky, along with precise instructions on where and how to pick it up at the airport. I was pretty impressed. So the next day, a quick drive to MUC on the autobahn and the booze was there. One family member was rather chuffed to recieve the whisky.

Now if only I had used my brain and asked about this at the airport prior to heading off, I'm sure I would have saved myself quite some hassle. I was just convinced in my mind that it would have been on the way back to LHR.

 

[Daver6]

With a late afternoon departure from MUC to MLE (via LHR and DOH), we decided to stop at the Weihenstephaner brewery in Freising for one last Bavarian meal. This hit the spot.



Then off to the airport, dropped the car back. The last time I was in MUC there was a small and very average BA lounge. Now they use the new Airport Lounge World which is much better. It was pretty busy downstairs but empty upstairs

 

[Daver6]

And off towards LHR

 

[Daver6]

Passing over the Thames estuary at dusk.



Arriving into T5, we needed to transfer to T4 which is at the very far end of LHR. It was just us and one other person on the transfer bus. Arriving at T4 there was no one else at the security check. All the staff we sitting and relaxing. According to the guy I spoke to, this was normal there. A vast different to the T3 and T5 zoo! I stopped by the QR transfer desk to try for one last attempt at getting onto the earlier QR flight with Q-Suites. I knew there were seats available. The lady attempted to be helpful, made a phone call but in the end just told me that since I had booked with QF there is nothing she could do.

So on to the QR lounge. In typical QR fashion, access to the lounge is only available to QR F and J pax. This lounge totally blew me away. I'd probably say this is the best lounge I've been to. Better than the QF F lounges, QR J lounge in DOH and the CX F lounges in HKG. There are several things that made this lounge great. Firstly, as you enter there is no real front desk. Someone greets you and checks you in. They will show you around and find you a spot. This lead to the second thing that was great. It wasn't over crowded or busy. It was a place to relax where you were made to feel special. Someone would come around to take drinks orders and they were delivered promptly. There is a buffet section, but very high quality gourmet type foods. Someone would actually serve you. You just pointed to what you wanted. There was also a proper dining room with a la carte dining. A nice touch was little take away boxes that you could fill with varies lollies and baklava to take with you. Finally, excellent shower facilities. Suddenly I was less fussed about not getting on the earlier flight.

The menu


I took these pictures when we were almost the only ones in the lounge. There was a flight two hours before the one we were on, but the lounge was never busy. A real peaceful haven.

 

[Daver6]

Anyone on a OWA award, it is worth trying to get QR out of LHR to experience this lounge.

 

[Daver6]

The flights from LHR to DOH was pretty uneventful. The plan was to skip eating and maximise sleep.




We arrived in DOH about 10 minutes early, which was a very good thing given a 45 minute connection. Sadly, we had a remote stand. I half expected someone might meet us and whisk us off to the next gate, but such luck. We got through security at the airport quickly and had a lengthy walk to the departing gate. This turned out to be another remote stand with an incredibly long bus ride to the aircraft. This really was not a premium experience.

What really annoyed me is when we scanned at the departing gate there was an issue. They gave us new boarding passes. I now noted our seats had moved. When I questioned this, once again we had gone from Q-Suites to the previous generation J seats. That now made two out of three Q-suites flights downgrades. Grrr!

The flight to MLE was a morning flight. Having not had breakfast prior to landing in DOH, I was famished. The FAs took some of the meal orders prior to departure. Not mine (sitting in row 3). Just after take off my order was taken. I'm sorry sir, we're out of the egg shakshouka. Already a little annoyed by the lack of Q-suites I let the FA know that this really wasn't acceptable. This was now my second QR flight on this trip where my first choice wasn't available. I begrudgingly ordered something else. Ten minutes later I noticed the CSM tell the person in front of me that unfortunately they were out of the shakshouka and would they like to order a different dish. Two minutes later, I was informed that I would be able to have shakshouka. TKWIA it would seem. I honestly, felt a bit bad, but the person in front really didn't seem phased.

Rest of the flight was uneventful. Some amazing views coming into Male though. Again, a remote stand. Seemed to be a lot of construction going on at the airport.

 

[Daver6]

After exiting customs at MLE airport we were met by a representative from Conrad. He escorted us 30 metres to the check-in counter for Trans Maldivian Airways (TMA) where he took care of everything for us. He then took us to an air conditioned minivan that had water and drove us around to where the seaplanes depart from. This initially took us to a large air conditioned waiting lounge run by Conrad. On arrival we were provided with a cold towel. There were were offered drinks (alcohol available) and a small menu where we could order some food. A fruit platter sufficed for me. They also offered a short 10 minute massage, where after they try to get you to book for spa treatments at the resort. Some spiel about discounted rates (which I think as a HH gold or diamond you'd get anyway). Prices were astronomical so we passed on booking anything.

Just prior to boarding time we were rounded up and driven a few hundred metres to the TMA departure terminal. This was open air and not air conditioned. A short 5 minutes wait and off to our aircraft, a Twin Otter seaplane. We would be making one stop on the way to drop of some pax for another resort. About 70% of the pax got off here. All up, flying time was about 35 minutes. There is no air conditioning on the plane and was a little warm until we gained some altitude.



Legroom left a little to be desired. I took a couple of drinks from the lounge (with permission)

 

[Daver6]

A couple of pictures of the Conrard lounge prior to departure. It was pretty empty. Outdoor view is from the outside deck.