mdunne48

Day 3 / 18 - Husavik, Iceland Well good morning all….last night we had great entertainment as Gene Simmons and friends gave us an encore presentation of “rock and roll all night”. It was preceded by a group I had not heard in person, IBD. Internet Be Dammed who are still playing this morning. Very repetitive song……… The passage around the northwest tip of Iceland got very rough last night. Drawers and cabinet doors opening on their own. A few extra bottles of beer and wine, crash, boom, broken, will need to be replaced this morning. The seas are still quite strong, skies are overcast, winds are howling from the west northwest at 35-50 knots. Yes, 50 knots. Right now they are 2951 for you aviation enthusiasts. For everyone else the winds are west northwest at fifty one knots. The temperature is ??? I’m not going out to find out.🤣🤣. TV says it is 42F. We will not be dropping anchor in Husavik, Iceland. Instead we will have another sea day 😓😓. We were looking forward to a whale watching excursion this morning. Not to be. Guess I’ll have to book another cruise to “whale country”’ The NAWC has postponed its usual early sunrise meeting this morning in the interest of all members safety. The captain has assured the membership that weather conditions should be considerably improved by afternoon. We should be able to walk within the arctic circle if, a huge if, the captain is correct. Since today is a made up sea day the ship is not rushing anywhere. We are coasting along at less than 10 knots which makes the ride a bit more comfortable. I’ll bet that the commissary on board had a run on Dramamine this morning. According to the onboard internet manager the issue is stateside not the ship’s equipment. He expects service to return by this afternoon. So Regent has a “travelling” internet with a single point of failure, Miami. Does this mean that all Regent ships are experiencing an internet outage??? If so, I think they need a system’s redesign. Lots of people dozing in the library area this morning. I guess the newbies aren’t in ship “shape”.

Day 2 Isafjordur End After our excursion to Vigur we had a lazy afternoon aboard the Voyager. Enjoyed a few card games and a late afternoon movie. Dinner was in suite so no commentary. There are 584 guests aboard this segment. I thought or at least it seemed that there were more. Definitely it is a younger demographic on board. I would guess that there is a 10 year age difference between segments. A few families with small children. Regent is running a kids camp this week based in the card room on deck 4. Since leaving the confines of the fjord the weather has deteriorated significantly. Lots of rolling and pitching of the ship. Tonight’s entertainment, Little Opera Company, has been cancelled due to the ship’s motion. Batten down the hatches!!!! It’s time to Rock n’ Roll. Another in-suite movie????? Poseidon Adventures or Titanic??? Leaving Isafjordur

Day 2 / 16 end We have departed Isafjordur slightly early. The captain is expecting rough weather around 9:00 pm. We should have crossed into the Arctic circle by then. Whale watching in Husavik tomorrow. Looking forward to it!!!

Back on Isafjordur We went to Vigur Island which is at the entrance to the Isafjordur region. Had a wonderful morning with the birds. Lots of birds, (puffins, terns and eiskers). The puffins at Vigur are one of the world’s largest colonies, over 150,000 call Vigur home!!! Especially, when you consider the small size of this island. The birds, terns especially, on this island can be rather pesky towards humans. It was suggested that we carry a stick with a flag attached to ward off any unwelcome advances. The puffins of Vigur!!! Here are the eiskers, thousands of them. Here are some terns:

Day 2 / 17 - Isafjordur (again) A beautiful morning in Isafjordur. Blue skies and temperatures will be in the 50’s. A perfect morning to visit the island of Vigur. We will be taking a 30 minute boat trip to the island. It has a large bird population and 3 humans. I’m sure that they “enjoy” the company. 😉 Time to breakout the large telephoto lenses.

#4

#3

Well that didn’t work!! #2

Day 1 - the end I’m sending these in 4 separate messages …much better viewing.

Wow! Wow! Wow! Dinner at Compass Rose tonight got 10 / 10 from both of us. I’m truly sorry that I have no photos. We were rushed and my iPhone needed a charge. DW had the black mussel with white cream sauce, poblano, scallions and tomatoes appetizer and the sea bream filet with chorizo chutney and pesto mashed potatoes!!!! Exquisite!! I had a beet carpaccio appetizer, mushroom risotto, and chicken breast with cranberry jus, chanterelles, and barley risotto….. Everything cooked, prepared and served perfectly!!! Compass Rose was crowded tonight. You can tell that this ship is near or at capacity. We both noticed a very different tempo, when compared with the previous segment, in the CR tonight. As usual Regent was up to the task. We finished dinner off with the “international cheese plate” paired to a tawny port. We will be on the lookout for these items to reappear in the CR menu in order to take some photos. Back to Isafjordur tomorrow morning for us. Weather is still holding and the seas remain calm… Enjoy 😊

One more for science fiction lovers. The Borg (Star Trek New Generation) sold there used spaceship to Reykjavik.

Day 1 / 16 - Reykjavik A very nice downtown area awaits you a couple of miles from the pier. We have had a gorgeous day weather wise in Reykjavik. This weekend is a national holiday, with Monday being off, so there were many people out and about in Reykjavik. Lots of families taking a stroll in the sunshine. They plant over 130,000 summer flowers throughout the downtown area. The DW was able to do some clothes shopping in downtown which was a plus and negative at the same time. 🤣🤣 All in all a very nice day in Reykjavik!!! Here are some photos from our walk today. The most photographed sculpture in Iceland. Contemporary Graffiti done well: Greenhouses, greenhouses, greenhouses Shopping, shopping, shopping!!

As I alluded to in my blog I thought that Regent upped the entertainment for their 30th anniversary cruise. I would be pleasantly surprised if they continued bringing 3 to 4 headline entertainers onboard each voyage.

Day 16 / 1 - Reykjavik Turnaround Day A beautiful morning here in Reykjavik. Partly sunny, hardly any wind and temperatures in the upper 40’s. Hopefully the forecasted rain holds off until we have few hours to explore Reykjavik. All of our previous shipmates have now departed or are seeking a stowaway place of their own. The next segment was waitlisted in every category so I’m expecting a full Voyager. I’ll report the numbers tomorrow. We are enjoying breakfast on our balcony. I must say I love the expanded penthouse balconies on the Explorer class much better. When we did the Caribbean I slept outside a few nights. No, I wasn’t a bad boy!!! I’ll be going through more photos today to pick out segment 1’s best shots. They might be some repeats but I hope to find a few gems like the one of the fox. We take our photos on multiple platforms so getting them all arranged is a chore. Yes, the NAWC did have a full meeting this morning on deck 12. I think that the number of laps walked should be played that night on the roulette table in the casino. I’ll let you know if 26 was a success tomorrow. Might need to add in derivatives of 26 as well. Maybe it would be better to only walk the number of laps equal to a prime? So many theories. Reykjavik beckons………

For Rachel:

More photos day 15 Between tectonic plates A river runs through it.

Here are a few photos from today’s excursion: Geothermal pool and geyser at Selfoss. Gullfoss waterfalls:

Day 15 - Reykjavik The last full day for this segment. Voyager is overnighting in Reykjavik. We had a great summer day by Reykjavik standards. Partly sunny with a high in the mid 50’s, lots of wind, but not a drop of rain. We did the Golden Circle tour (8 hours). DW was not happy with the last hour. First up was Gullfoss waterfalls which are nice with great viewing spots but not in the same league with Iguazu Falls between Argentina and Brazil. Then on to the Selfoss Geyser which was interesting. The area is full of geothermal vents that spew lots of steam. The main geyser erupts about every 4 minutes. We had the fortunate opportunity to see the geyser make a rare double eruption just seconds apart. Unfortunately not on film. Our last major stop was at the Icelandic National Park which sits on the rift between the mid-Atlantic and Eurasian tectonic plates. Very interesting to see the gap between the two plates. It was explained that any gap created is filled almost immediately by volcanic activity. Then back to Voyager…….No,no. We had a 30 minute stop at Perlan. Sort of museum, viewing platform (Reykjavik), zip line, kids park ….. WHY??? Will definitely include in survey. Photos to follow….. dinner time.

This segment is coming to a close. We have had fantastic weather for a North Atlantic cruise. The seas have been relatively calm. The strong northerly wind has been tame. The temperatures have been moderate. Plus there has been no rain, well at least no rain when we were up and about. The entertainment has been top end. I’m not sure what happened to tonight’s 30th anniversary Icelandic singer. Instead it is popcorn and wine in the constellation theatre with the movie, “Yesterday”. But we’ll give Regent a pass on this one. The other 30th anniversary celebrations more than made up for it. The service everywhere on board Voyager has been wonderful. Can’t even begin to fault a single crew member for not providing outstanding client service……I realise that we pay a premium for these cruises and expect a great experience but the Voyager crew has raised the bar to an even higher level. Bravo!!! Even the internet was decent this cruise. Well at least acceptable enough to post on CC.

Likewise RC!! Safe travels back to Texas. Enjoy tonight.

Wrong picture was posted for leaving Isafjordur. Here is the correct one.

Arriving in Reykjavik:

Leaving Isafjordur a storm off our starboard side.

More from Isafjordur.. we will be back there on Sunday. As you can tell from the pictures , the weather changes every 5 minutes….

Rachel, here are some pictures from the tour. There is a small museum associated with this “fox habitat”. The fox in the picture is a white fox but naturally turns part brown in the summer in order to camouflage itself.