Getting back home from a cruise is a love/hate relationship. We have tried several options in the past. On the last trip we made our own arrangements. I cut it very close getting from the ship to the airport while carrying our bags and getting a taxi. This was stressful. Planning for this trip we decided to use the company's travel service. This was opposite of being stressful. It was easy but downright boring.

We had to vacate our cabin by 8:00 so that the crew could prepare it for the next voyage. We had a very early breakfast at the buffet. When we vacated our cabin we waited in the Atrium until our color was called. (Passengers were color coded based on their airplane departure time). When our color was called, we proceeded to the gangplank where our key card was scanned for the last time. We gathered our luggage which was waiting in the terminal and walked to trucks parked on the street where we deposited our bags for their trip to the airport. Then we walked a couple of blocks to a hotel where Viking had arranged to have us wait in a banquet room with lots of treats. We were there for a couple of hours until our color was called again. After loading us onto a bus, we drove to the airport found our bags again and went through the standard check in and security procedures. After waiting another couple of hours, we finally boarded our flight to Charlotte and left at 3:30. ​

The layover at Charlotte was about 1 1/2 hours until we got onto our plane to SFO at 8:10 PM. We arrived at SFO at 11:00 PM, picked up our luggage and took Uber home. It was a long day but it went smoothly.