February 12, 2020

Azamara Quest Cape Town to Athens 

Departure and Pre stay Day 1

Our bags are packed and waiting for the arrival of our taxi at 1:00.  We have completed our checklists and we are waiting too. 

The taxi arrived on time and the driver grumbled about our luggage. 3 bags and 2 carryons weren’t his cup of tea. Our silent ride to terminal 5 could not end soon enough. 

Inside at the KLM Sky Priority counter, we presented our online boarding and passports. In 5 minutes our bags were weighed, tagged and sent on their way. We would not see them again until Cape Town because Amsterdam would not require inspection. 

KLM shares a lounge for World Business Class passengers with their partner, Air France. We found it and settled in for a 2-hour wait until boarding. Sandwiches and beverages were a welcome lunch. 

At 3:40 we made our way to priority boarding. We have decided we really like this first-class treatment. Very soon we in our pods with champagne and an excellent selection of mixed nuts. There was a 15-minute delay in taking off due to de-icing the plane. It had started to snow while we were in the lounge. Now we could not see out the windows because of the snow cover. 

The flight was smooth for the most part with only occasional turbulence. We landed in Amsterdam 30 minutes early. This gave us 2 hours to spend in the lounge before boarding. 

After a lot of looking, we found the KLM lounge. It is beautiful. We scanned our boarding passes at the entrance and we were in. There was plenty to eat and drink. We settled for juice because we had a nice breakfast shortly before landing. 

KLM LOUNGE - AMSTERDAM

A little before the anticipated boarding time we left the lounge for the long walk to our gate. Along the way were in the standing zone on a moving walkway when a large group of KLM flight attendants scurried by. They were a jovial bunch. We guessed they might be our crew. 

When we arrived at the gate boarding had been delayed. While we waited, the crew that had passed us was also waiting, and they were being photographed. Something was up. 

We boarded and were greeted by name by a flight attendant who would be serving us. She was wearing a special badge. When Alice asked her about it, she explained that this was the captain’s last flight to Cape Town. He had chosen all of this crew to make the flight with him and party in Cape Town. What an honor. 

This was another good flight with an on-time arrival at 10:40 PM. I had ordered a transfer to the hotel for 11:20 PM on the KLM site. I thought that would give enough time to clear passport control and collect our luggage. 

HAH! 

Three jumbos had arrived at the same time. There were only 6 agents to process 2,200 passengers. We exited with our luggage at 12:55. We were amazed and grateful that a driver was there with our name. He was most gracious and helpful. With no traffic, he had us at our hotel at 1:15. By 1:30 we were in our room. 

Breakfast service would end at 9:30 so we set our alarm to allow us to get there on time. Then we crashed. 

A word about the aircraft. 

Flying to Amsterdam we were on a 787. The first-class configuration is 1-2-1. Alice had the window. I was across the aisle from her. These pods had lots of privacy and we hardly knew anyone was around us. It was also very quiet. So much so that I did not use my noise-canceling earphones. 

From Amsterdam to Cape Town the aircraft was on older 777. Here the configuration was 2-2-2. Alice and I had the center 2. These were comfortable but we did not have nearly the same degree of privacy. The lay-flat

787 

777

sleeping was narrower and not nearly as comfortable. We definitely prefer the 787.

We found KLM to be superior to US carriers.