Allez , on y va!

Today we are off to meet the Norwegian Epic in Marseille, France.  Our train is not leaving until 9:10am, but we decided to meet in the lobby at 8:00am.  We wanted to make sure to give ourselves enough time to get to the Gare de Lyon train station.  On the way, we stopped at Boulanger Ory and picked up some snacks including a baguette, butter croissant and a ham & cheese sandwich.  Even with dragging our luggage, it only took us about twenty minutes to get to the train station.

The first thing we did upon arrival was check the departures board and saw that we were leaving from Hall 3 but the platform number was not known yet.  Once we got over to the hall, I stayed with the luggage while Karen, Darlene and Nana went in search of a Starbucks.  Eventually everyone else arrived and shortly thereafter it was announced that we would be leaving from platform D.  All of a sudden it was a mad dash for the train but there was no need since everyone had assigned seats.  We found Car 13 and thankfully there were some very strong people who helped us get our luggage onboard.

We booked all our train tickets with Trainline.  They are a trusted seller and official distributor for hundreds of train and bus operators in Europe.  You do pay a booking fee but for us it was worth it.  What we like is having all of our tickets in one app.  This trip was booked with TGV INOUI and it was on their high speed train.  The cost of the tickets for Nana and myself was 102.90 Euros which included a 4.90 Euros booking fee.

Once we got settled in our seats, the train promptly left at 9:10am.  We had a table for the four of us and it was really nice to be able to somewhat spread out.  The train also included WiFi and charging ports.  I could not believe how smooth the ride was.  We reached speeds of close to 300 km/h but never did you feel it.  Everyone spent their time differently on the train.  I worked on the blog while Nana did some knitting.  Others napped or read and the kids were playing games.  There was a car that sold food and drinks but I am sure glad we had the snacks that we bought earlier in the day.

The train ride seemed to go by very quick and soon it was 12:15pm and we had arrived in Marseille, France.  We only had fifteen minutes to disembark the train since this was not the final stop.  Again with the help of others, we were able to get all of the luggage off.  We booked transport to the ship with Suntransfers.com (101.57 Euros for eight people ).  The instructions were not very clear and after about thirty minutes of waiting, looking around and trying to get a hold of the company, we finally heard from our driver Frank that he had arrived.  We had Karen, Darlene, Nana, Paul, Jen, Terri and Dan for the fifteen minute ride.

We arrived at Marseille-Provence Cruise Terminal to the longest check-in line I have ever seen.  It took about thirty minutes of standing in the hot blazing sun before we got into the building.  From that point to the time we actually set foot onboard the ship took almost two hours.  To me it felt like all 4100 passengers arrived at the same time.  While standing in the various lines, is when the group became separated.  Once Nana and I were finally onboard, we headed straight to our balcony cabin 10175 ($1927.90 CAD / person +  $292.75 CAD / person for gratuities) to drop off our backpacks.  We met up with Dave, Cathy, Michael, Liam, Karen and Darlene at O’Sheehan’s Neighborhood Bar for a very late lunch.

Once we got back to the cabin, our luggage was already there so we unpacked and made ourselves at home.  Darlene, Nana, Karen and I went to explore the ship and ended up in the Garden Cafe which is the buffet for dinner.  Nana and I ended our evening back at the cabin.  It has been a couple of long days and we need as much rest as possible.  The next twelve days are going to be a whirlwind.