Cruising around and through Europe Part 10: Barcelona to Tarragona: After our final stop in Barcelona at Parc de la Ciutadella and Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, we drove south to...

DJphoto Loc: SF Bay Area

After our final stop in Barcelona at Parc de la Ciutadella and Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, we drove south to board our ship. After about an hour drive to Tarragona (102 km), we embarked on the Viking Sky at around 1:30. Barcelona was trying to reduce the number of cruise ships there, which is why our cruise departed from Tarragona, a city we had never heard of. The change to Tarragona was made not too long before our cruise (a couple of months as I recall). We found our way to our stateroom, an easy task, as we had spent 2 weeks on the Viking Star (an identical Viking ship) 4 years prior and our cabin was on the same deck for that cruise), a Deluxe Veranda 2, #6030. Our luggage was in our room when we arrived there. We did our PCR test, got things sorted out a bit and went to lunch in the World Café. It was great to be back on Viking! We got back to our cabin after lunch, put everything away and got settled in for two weeks on this beautiful ship. We had a relaxing afternoon on the ship before returning to the World Café for dinner, the casual dining venue on the aft end of deck 7, with floor to ceiling glass for great views. Viking ocean cruise ships are considered small ships and have a maximum of 930 passengers on decks 3-8 (the top deck, 9, is the sports deck and is open air). We love our 14 grandchildren and spend a lot of time with them, however we are happy that Viking does not allow anyone under 18 years old on their ships. Because the Viking ocean ships are small, they can go places that the larger ships can’t go, such as our 2018 cruise that ended in Greenwich after a cruise up the River Thames. My posts from that evening are at:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-667656-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-667776-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-667900-1.html

COVID protocols were in place during this time and Viking had installed a PCR lab on each of their ocean ships; I believe they were the only cruise line to do this. Based on the protocols at the time of our trip, we had to have a PCR test with a negative result within 72 hours of our departure from the U.S. and a daily test while on the ship. The daily test required spitting into a tube the first thing each morning, which was picked up while we were at breakfast. Masking was required on all public transportation (including tour coaches) in Europe and other places such as most museums, but was left to personal discretion in most other places.

Starting with this post, every day for the rest of the trip until we flew home we spent at least part of the day on the water (30 days in a row) on an ocean ship, a river ship or some type of boat.

The previous post can be found at https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-801815-1.html, while the first post of this series can be found at https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-801137-1.html.

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Driving to Tarragona
Driving to Tarragona...

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Our first view of our ship in Tarragona!

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From our veranda: we made it!
From our veranda: we made it!...

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As night descends on the harbor in Tarragona

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Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

DJphoto Loc: SF Bay Area

Longshadow wrote:

Thanks for the thumbs up Longshadow.

NMGal Loc: NE NM

I really like the next to last.

DJphoto Loc: SF Bay Area

NMGal wrote:

I really like the next to last.

Thank you NMGal; it's one of my favorites. I took it with my compact Canon G5X MK II, hand held at 1/60 second, ISO 3200, processed in LR, AI noise reduction. I'm really impressed with the camera that small (fits in a shirt pocket) with a 1" sensor, 20MP and has a pop-up viewfinder.

srfmhg Loc: Marin County, CA

Very nice set Dennis. I love the last one!

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

Like them Dennis!

Don

DJphoto Loc: SF Bay Area

srfmhg wrote:

Very nice set Dennis. I love the last one!

Thanks Mark, that's another of my favorites. That was also taken with my compact G5X, hand-held at 1/2 second and ISO 320, edited in LR.

DJphoto Loc: SF Bay Area

PAR4DCR wrote:

Like them Dennis!

Don

I'm glad you do Don. Thanks!

mvetrano2 Loc: Commack, NY

nice

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

DJphoto Loc: SF Bay Area

mvetrano2 wrote:

nice

Thank you mvetrano2.

DJphoto Loc: SF Bay Area

jaymatt wrote:

Thanks for the thumbs up John. I just posted another set that I hope you will enjoy at https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-801967-1.html

Bubalola Loc: Big Apple, NY

DJphoto wrote:

After our final stop in Barcelona at Parc de la Ciutadella and Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, we drove south to board our ship. After about an hour drive to Tarragona (102 km), we embarked on the Viking Sky at around 1:30. Barcelona was trying to reduce the number of cruise ships there, which is why our cruise departed from Tarragona, a city we had never heard of. The change to Tarragona was made not too long before our cruise (a couple of months as I recall). We found our way to our stateroom, an easy task, as we had spent 2 weeks on the Viking Star (an identical Viking ship) 4 years prior and our cabin was on the same deck for that cruise), a Deluxe Veranda 2, #6030. Our luggage was in our room when we arrived there. We did our PCR test, got things sorted out a bit and went to lunch in the World Café. It was great to be back on Viking! We got back to our cabin after lunch, put everything away and got settled in for two weeks on this beautiful ship. We had a relaxing afternoon on the ship before returning to the World Café for dinner, the casual dining venue on the aft end of deck 7, with floor to ceiling glass for great views. Viking ocean cruise ships are considered small ships and have a maximum of 930 passengers on decks 3-8 (the top deck, 9, is the sports deck and is open air). We love our 14 grandchildren and spend a lot of time with them, however we are happy that Viking does not allow anyone under 18 years old on their ships. Because the Viking ocean ships are small, they can go places that the larger ships can’t go, such as our 2018 cruise that ended in Greenwich after a cruise up the River Thames. My posts from that evening are at:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-667656-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-667776-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-667900-1.html

COVID protocols were in place during this time and Viking had installed a PCR lab on each of their ocean ships; I believe they were the only cruise line to do this. Based on the protocols at the time of our trip, we had to have a PCR test with a negative result within 72 hours of our departure from the U.S. and a daily test while on the ship. The daily test required spitting into a tube the first thing each morning, which was picked up while we were at breakfast. Masking was required on all public transportation (including tour coaches) in Europe and other places such as most museums, but was left to personal discretion in most other places.

Starting with this post, every day for the rest of the trip until we flew home we spent at least part of the day on the water (30 days in a row) on an ocean ship, a river ship or some type of boat.

The previous post can be found at https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-801815-1.html, while the first post of this series can be found at https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-801137-1.html.

After our final stop in Barcelona at Parc de la Ci... (show quote)

Nice, DJ!

DJphoto Loc: SF Bay Area

Bubalola wrote:

Nice, DJ!

Thanks Eugene!