Geo: 55.6763, 12.5681Our flight was uneventful and clearing immigration was painless. Our flight arrived early and we weren't even sure if we could check-in at the pier. A representative from the cruise line was waiting for us at baggage claim, and he patiently waited while we gathered our bags. Turns out we were the only people he was meeting; I did not yet know how few people would be physically boarding in Copenhagen. He walked us outside where I expected to find a bus, but instead he loaded us up into a cab which took us on the 20-minute-or-so drive to the pier, on the north side of town. On an early Sunday morning, traffic was all-but nonexistent. The ship had left Kiel the previous night, with the vast majority of guests boarding there. They were ... read more

Geo: 38.9821, -77.5386We booked this trip way back in December of last year, after seeing a good cruise itinerary for the Baltics and given the availability of airline tickets for which I could use United Airlines miles. We booked with MSC Cruises, the same line we took to Norway two years ago, as well as for our Christmas cruise in 2013. We ended up booking the exact same ship we'd taken to Norway -- the MSC Musica. When we were looking for cruises, I was glad to see that this Baltic sailing left from Copenhagen. It turns out the main departure point was Kiel, in Germany, from where roughly 90% of guests on this sailing would depart. MSC, however, allows smaller numbers of people to board at intermediate points, so we ended up being three of ... read more

Geo: 39.0095, -77.4647When I originally booked our award tickets for this trip, there were multiple connection options for our return leg, to include Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Munich, and Frankfurt. I'd selected Brussels for the overall time savings, not to mention its easy connections. I purposely avoided Frankfurt, as connections there can be so cumbersome. For our rerouted return, beggars could not be choosers, and I was happy to have seats at all. Our connection now stretched to nearly 4 hours, which we would need, as the distances within the Frankfurt airport can be extreme, and then you have to factor in the second full security screening, which was understandably extra thorough in light of the still-recent Brussels attacks. We passed the time shopping and reading, and then ultimately dealing with the masses at the gate. As ... read more

Geo: 46.3683, 14.1147On this, our final full day of the tour, we met and made a quick ride up to Bled Castle, which sits on a promontory above the lake. It is a medieval castle which was first recorded in 1011. It has, naturally, been rebuilt and added on to during the centuries, but what stands now is pretty much how it looked in 1700. It was a steep hike up and into the castle, and our tour began with a series of three short films -- one on the geologic history of the region, then the history of the castle and region, and finally on the growth of tourism in Bled since World War II. Following a short walking tour, we were on our own to go through the surprisingly thorough museum, and the obligatory ... read more

Geo: 45.8069, 15.9614From the outset, we knew this day would be "wasted" as we had to cover nearly 400 miles to drive from Dubrovnik up to the Croatian capital city of Zagreb, where we'd spend the night. It turns out, though, that this "day on the bus" came at the perfect time, as most people (ourselves included) were tired from nearly a week of constant travel and sightseeing. We now had an opportunity to sit back, enjoy the view, read, sleep, talk, catch-up on Facebook....whatever. We had our earliest departure of the formal tour, with the bus departing the hotel at 7:45am sharp. Turns out there are scheduled passenger buses with numerous stops that depart Dubrovnik at 8:00am, and our driver was seeking (and succeeded) in getting on the road ahead of them. The sandstorm of ... read more