TeDaKi

Day 13: Scenic cruising of the Prins Christian Sund continued ...

At around 14:00, the ship stopped outside a small village called Aappilattoq, one of the most remote villages in Greenland. A tender boat was taken over, which was filled with fruit, vegetables and pizza. It was lovely and some of the locals came out on their boats to wave at all the people on the ship.

Aappilattoq village:

A Eurodam tender taking over food to the village:

Some of the locals came out and circled the ship:

This one touched the ship :

Day 13: Scenic cruising of the Prins Christian Sund continued ...

Another iceberg:

Another glacier:

Mum and Dad admiring the view. In this photo, the mountain looks so close to the ship:

Sailing through the Sound, just like a mirror:

This was a big iceberg:

The ships destination specialist, Ian Page, and guest speaker, Jon Sigurdsson, said that today's cruising through Prince Christian Sund was the best they had ever experienced in 8 years. In fact, the captain was able to turn the ship 360 degrees at two different glaciers...something which they were never able to do before.

Day 13: Scenic cruising of the Prins Christian Sund continued ...

Throughout the day, we found it so hard to go inside to eat! We were outside all day, walking from one side of the ship to the other because the scenery was changing all the time and the ship was dodging icebergs on either side of the ship. We felt that if we went inside the ship, we would miss something! We had to be outside admiring the amazing scenery pass by.

Also, because of the good weather and smoothness of the water, there were amazing photo opportunities. The reflections with the water made it seem almost like a mirror.

Day 13: Scenic cruising of the Prins Christian Sund (Ikerassassuaq), Greenland (07:00-18:00)

Weather: Cloudy. Max temperature 6C / 43F

At 02:00AM, the clocks went back one hour.

Today was the highlight of the cruise, and in fact, possibly the highlight of all the places I have been to. It was a truly amazing day.

The day started when we woke up at 06:15AM and saw the Greenland coast in the distance. There was a beautiful sunrise and the sea was calm with no wind at all. We went up on deck at 06:30 and there were many people up already. We could see many icebergs in the distance. At 07:00, we entered the sound and it was scenic cruising until 18:00.

Approaching the coast of Greenland:

Icebergs in the distance:

We were outside all day viewing the spectacular icebergs, glaciers and mile high mountains. I couldn't keep my camera down all day!

By 09:15, I had taken 400 photos and my camera battery was starting to go down, so I decided I better go to the room and charge it up a little to give it a boost. While it was charging, we decided to have breakfast in the Lido. I got my orange juice and yoghurt when my dad looked out and saw that we were soon approaching a glacier. So, I gulped down my yoghurt and orange juice, raced down to our room to grab my camera again and headed back up on deck to view and take snaps of the beautiful glacier!

Thanks everyone for the great comments!

Day 12: Cruising at sea (SEA DAY 3)

Weather: Overcast. Max temperature 9C / 48F

At 02:00AM, the clocks went back one hour. I woke up around 07:10AM and the ship was still swaying away. We went to the Lido for breakfast at 09:30 and it was fairly quiet. We heard the Captain's daily announcement during lunch in the Rembrandt. It was difficult to hear, but I did hear him say that the sea swells were about 15 to 20 feet, so it certainly wasn't too bad at all for this part of the Atlantic Ocean in mid-September.

Jon Sigurdsson, the guest speaker from Iceland, presented a talk on Prins Christian Sund, Qaqortoq and Nanortalik at 14:00. We arrived at the Mainstage at 13:20 and the seats were filling up fast. At 13:40, the theatre was full, so I recommend that you arrive well ahead of time for Jon's talks as they were extremely popular.

At 15:00, we headed to the Main Dining Room for the Royal Dutch High Tea. There was a long enough line when we got there. While I did like this afternoon tea, I did not find it any different to any other standard afternoon tea, but it was still great.

We headed up to the Rembrandt Dining Room for dinner at 20.30 and were finished by 21:30. It was very quiet.

We then decided to go up on the top deck to look for Northern Lights. The sky was completely clear, and there they were, the Northern Lights!

It was amazing. I have never seen them before. I was always wondering what they were like in real life, because on videos of them, the Northern Lights seem to twinkle and move quickly through the sky. I always thought that the videos were in fast motion, but no, they really do move fast and twinkle. At one point, they got really bright and it was like they came and hovered right over the ship. It was like you could reach out and touch them – amazing!

I took lots of photos, but my camera couldn't capture them effectively. They don't look fantastic on the photos, but these were the best ones I got:

It only lasted for about 20 minutes, then they faded away, clouds started to fill the sky and they were gone!

Very interesting about your car rentals. Had you booked far, far in advance? Were you the driver? The roads look good from your photographs. Did you organize maps, etc., ahead of time and plan your routes, or just pick up tourist maps in the ports?

We booked all of our car rentals back in March / April and there was lots of availability back then.

Before we left home, we knew where we were going to go in each of the ports and which routes we were going to take. I generally use googlemaps at home before we leave, print them out and bring them with me. It is a lot of preparation work, but worth it!

Yes, we thought the roads were very good. I didn't drive myself, my dad drove and I was the navigator reading the maps and giving the directions! The driving was very easy with everyplace well signed and the roads were quiet too.

Day 11: Reykjavík continued ...

We got back to the car park at 16:45, topped up the car with petrol and returned it to the port by 17:00. We were back on the ship a few minutes later.

We got some snacks at the Lido to keep us going until dinner. Before sailaway, the captain came on to say that he expects some rough seas for this evening, overnight and tomorrow and advised us to hold onto the handrails.

Sailaway at 18:00 was nice. It was very quiet on the outside decks. We could see the surrounding mountains and the city of Reykjavik.

Reykjavik:

We went to the dining room for dinner at around 20.30 and were seated with no waiting. The dining room was actually very quiet tonight.

Afterwards, we went outside at about 22:00, up to the top decks to look for Northern Lights. We could only see a glow of light as it was cloudy, so unfortunately, no good Northern Lights either tonight!

Day 11: Reykjavík continued ...

After visiting the church, we then walked along the main shopping street, saw the lake, the city hall, concert hall and a modern Viking ship structure.

Hallgrimskirkja:

Shopping street:

Lake Tjornin:

Unusual statue:

Concert Hall:

Viking boat structure (Solfar Sun Voyager):

Day 11: Reykjavík continued ...

We then drove back through Thingvellir National Park, and stopped to take some photos along the road of the beautiful and unusual landscape.

We stopped at a place which overlooks the National Park's lake and also where you can walk through the crack between the European and American plates! That was so interesting! In total, we spent about 40 minutes here.

Then it was back to Reykjavik where we arrived at 15:00. We parked our car for free at the Hallgrimskirke car park.

Hallgrimskirke:

Inside the church:

Day 11: Reykjavík continued ...

Then, our next stop was Geysir. This was really cool and reminded me so much of Yellowstone National Park in the US. The Strokkur geyser is the most active one and it shoots up water every few minutes - it is very unpredictable and quick, so you better have your camera ready! In total, we saw Strokkur erupt 5 times. We spent around 50 minutes here.

Day 11: Reykjavík, Iceland (Docked 08:00-18:00)

Weather: Partly cloudy. Max temperature 12C / 53F

Free wifi: Tourist Information Centre at the dock. (Only free for 20 minutes)

I woke up to my phone's alarm clock at 06:15AM. I checked the bridge cam on the TV and saw Reykjavik in the distance. We were up in the Lido at 06.30 for breakfast and it was surprisingly quiet. But, it started to get busy and by 07.00, it was chaotic. At 08.00, we went down to the Atrium, but the ship still wasn't cleared. There was only a short delay and we were amongst the first passengers off, at 08.10.

Alongside in Reykjavik:

Once again, we were making our own excursion arrangements for the day. We had pre-booked a rental car with Europcar for pick-up at 08.30. Unfortunately, we did not have a positive experience with them. While making the booking several months ago, I was told that the car would be delivered at the dock and that Europcar staff would be in a kiosk beside the Tourist Information Centre. When we disembarked, there was no sign of any Europcar staff. So we thought that because we were off early, they weren't here yet.

Then, it was 08.30 and still no sign of them. We decided to ask the people at the Tourist Information Centre to see if they knew anything, so they rang Europcar's office for us and said that a van was on the way to pick us up! What? A van to pick us up? But I booked the car to be delivered at the dock! So we kept waiting and still no van. We met an Australian couple, who booked a car for delivery at the harbour for 08.00 and were also not happy with this. Eventually at 08.55, we saw a Europcar van. The driver stepped off and told us to hop in. He actually looked like he just woke up, so we figured that he must have overslept. We asked him about the situation, but he let on he didn't understand us. He drove us to the Europcar office about 7 minutes away. The staff at the office did not know what we were talking about when we said that the cars should have been at the harbour. But, they did say that we could drop off the car at the cruise port. There was still no apology or anything like that. Because they were wasting our time, I would not recommend Europcar in Reykjavik. But I would recommend Hertz, as they have a rental office at the cruise ship dock. We picked up our car and were on the road at 09.15.

Our rented car for the day: Nissan Pulsar

Today, we had decided to tour the Golden Circle, visiting Gullfoss Waterfall, Geysir and Thingvellir National Park, and finish off in Reykjavik. All I can say is that Iceland is amazing. The scenery is fantastic on the Golden Circle route. Despite the delay with picking up the car, we arrived at our farthest point, Gullfoss Waterfall, at around 10:50. It was really nice and you could walk down near the waterfall and feel the spray from the water. We spent around 30 minutes here.

Some mountains in the distance:

Day 10: Ísafjörður continued ...

Then, it was back to Ísafjörður where we had a walk around the town. Some shops (mainly tourist shops) were open, but others were closed because it was Sunday.

We returned the car to the port and were back on the ship at 14:30.

Before sailaway at 16:00, we had burgers and fries at Dive In and they were delicious.

Sailaway was scenic, but very cold outside and because it was so windy, there was a wind chill.

Goodbye Ísafjörður! Next stop: Reykjavik

Tonight, for dinner, we decided to dine early at the Lido buffet and get an early night because we would be getting up early the next morning for our day in Reykjavik.

Day 10: Ísafjörður continued ...

Then, we headed back towards Ísafjörður and drove along the Isafjord to get a view of the Eurodam anchored in the fjord.

One of Eurodam's tenders:

The Eurodam looks tiny in this big fjord!

We then drove to Bolungarvik village, north of Ísafjörður, which has a nice church on a hill.

Day 10: Ísafjörður continued ...

Next up was a village called Flateyri. It has a nice church, a lovely view of the mountains, a nice harbour, a museum and a shop.

Flateyri:

Flateyri Church:

Inside the church:

Harbour and mountains:

More turf grass roofs!

Driving back along a fjord:

Day 10: Ísafjörður, Iceland (Anchored 08:00-16:00)

Weather: Overcast, low clouds. Max temperature 6C / 43F

Free wifi: Tourist information kiosk near the tender dock

Woke up at 07:15AM and up to the Lido for breakfast at 07:30. It was a little busy but easy to get a table. This was a tender port. We picked up our tender tickets at the Queen’s Lounge and waited about 20 minutes to be called to the tender. The ship was anchored out a good bit from the tender dock. We were off the tender at exactly 09:00. A Hertz staff member was waiting for us with our pre-booked rental car, and we were on the road by 09:10.

Ísafjörður Harbour:

Our rented car for the day : Toyota Yaris

Our first stop was to see the Thonguskogur Waterfall, just outside Ísafjörður, which was very pretty. We were the only people there. We soon saw a tour bus coming, so we took all our photos, and left before they arrived! It's always good to be ahead of the tour buses!

Thonguskogur Waterfall:

Next stop was Suðureyri, a village at the end of a fjord. It was small, but nice to see.

Day 9: Cruising at sea (SEA DAY 2)

Weather: Raining most of the day, clear by evening. Max temperature 8C / 46F

At 02:00AM, the clocks went back one hour. Not much to report of today, just a relaxing day at sea. It was raining outside all day since morning. This evening’s dress suggestion was the second gala night, but we didn’t bring any dressy clothes so we ate in the Lido instead.

The sky had cleared by evening and there was a beautiful sunset.

The sky was looking good for the Northern Lights. Just after sunset, we went up on the top deck and could see a glow of light in the distance.

Unfortunately fog quickly started to cover the ship. And, it remained foggy for the rest of the night, so unfortunately, no good Northern Lights sightings tonight!

At this stage, we thought we had seen the Northern Lights and we were convincing ourselves that we had! But little did we know that in a few night's time, it would be fantastic!

Day 8: Tórshavn, Faroe Islands continued ...

We drove back to Torshavn, fuelling up the car on the way, and arrived back at the port at 16:05. We parked the car in the same place, left the car unlocked with the keys in the glove box. I quickly used the free wifi to check up some emails and we then got back on-board the ship before the 16:30 all aboard.

We had a quick snack at the Lido, headed outside for sailaway, where it was foggy and very windy at first. The sailaway was very scenic and it really reminded me of the coastline on the west coast of Ireland.

Goodbye Torshavn! Next stop: Ísafjörður :

After a while when we were back out in open sea, it got quite rocky with the ship swaying from side to side and up and down. Dinner at the Rembrandt Dining Room was quiet when we entered at around 20:30.

Day 8: Tórshavn, Faroe Islands continued ...

Another village near Gjógv we visited was Funningur. It is small with a turf roof church which is very similar to the Kollafjørður church.

Funningur Church:

On the way back to Torshavn, we stopped off at a village called Saksun, which is located at the end of a road. There is a waterfall and a church there which makes for very nice photos.

Saksun:

Day 8: Tórshavn, Faroe Islands continued ...

Our next stop was Gjógv, a gorgeous village located at the end of the road at the harbour. This was the nicest village we visited and I highly recommend visiting there. There was also a ship's tour there, but once they left, we had the place to ourselves!

Day 8: Tórshavn, Faroe Islands continued ...

We had pre-booked a rental car with Avis and it was to be delivered to the port. Through previous email communications with Avis, they said that the car would be parked beside the custom office and that it would be unlocked with the keys in the glovebox. So we made our way to the custom office and looked around for cars. We saw one car with an Avis sticker. We opened it, it was unlocked and the keys were in the glovebox, so we assumed that it must be our car and we drove off!

Our rented car for the day : Mazda Premacy

Our first stop was at Kollafjørður, a little village with a turf roof church. This village is located about 20 minutes North of Torshavn.

Kollafjørður Church:

We then proceeded north, stopping to take photos of the beautiful fjords and mountains.

We arrived at a village called Eiði, a very picturesque village with colourful buildings. But all I can say is that it was the windiest place I have ever been to. It was so strong; the wind would literally blow you away. Especially when opening the door of the car, you would have to be so careful so that the door would not blow off. The three of us couldn't stand up straight!

Eiði:

Then, we drove on the mountain road and passed out a beautiful mountain sea cliff with sea stacks. It was fabulous and the sun started to shine.

Day 8: Tórshavn, Faroe Islands (Docked 08:00-17:00)

Weather: Cloudy and foggy in Torshavn, but partly cloudy outside of Torshavn, windy everywhere! Max temperature 11C / 52F

Free wifi: Tourist Information Centre at the Shuttle Drop off point

We arrived in Torshavn two hours ahead of schedule, at 08:00, before it got too windy to dock. This was great because it gave us more time to explore. After a good breakfast, we were off at 09:20AM. Because Tórshavn is an industrial port, you have to get a free shuttle from the ship to the port entrance.

Early arrival into Torshavn:

There isn't an awful lot to see in Torshavn itself. We first walked around Tinganes, the old town area which is also where the government buildings are located. It is really nice with good photo opportunities and there are many houses with turf grass roofs.

We then walked around the harbour and got back to the port entrance by 10:30.

Day 7 (Lerwick) continued ...

We then headed back to Lerwick, where we dropped off the car at about 16:30. In total today, we covered 130 miles.

Lerwick is also a small pretty town. It has a main pedestrianised shopping street with a town square. But apart from that, there is not a whole lot to do there. If you are in Lerwick for a day, it is necessary to get out of the town and experience the beauty of the Shetland Islands’ countryside. We really thought that the landscape of the Shetland Islands was very similar to the Irish landscape.

Lerwick's main shopping street:

The town square:

Eurodam anchored in the harbour:

After about an hour strolling around, it was 17:30 and we got the tender back to the ship. There were very few passengers left to get back as most were already back on-board.

At about 17:50, the captain made his announcement for the navigational information for our route to Torshavn. Everybody was back on-board and we were going to be leaving one hour ahead of time, at 18:00. And, he also said that because there were high winds expected for Torshavn tomorrow morning, we would cruise faster to Torshavn and arrive earlier than scheduled. We would arrive in Torshavn at 08:00, instead of 10:00, two hours ahead of schedule. This was great news because our planned schedule for the Faroe Islands was fairly tight anyway (we were hiring a car again), so the extra two hours would give us more extra time.

Sailaway from Lerwick was very quiet on the outside decks. It got sunny. We passed out a lighthouse and we were soon out to open sea.

Day 7 continued ...

Making our way down south, we drove through Hillswick village and then stopped in the town of Scalloway and the Scalloway Castle. It is an old ruin and free to enter. Scalloway is a pretty town too.

Hillswick village:

Scalloway Castle:

We then drove further south, reaching our most southerly point at the Sumburgh Head Lighthouse, where we stopped to take some photos.

Another Shetland Pony:

Very near this Lighthouse was the Jarlshof Viking Settlement. While we stopped outside it to take some photos, we didn’t go in to it. It looked very similar to the L’Anse-aux-Meadows Viking settlement site in Northern Newfoundland, where we visited last year.

Jarlshof Viking Settlement:

Day 7 continued ...

Then, it was straight up to Eshaness, with its beautiful cliffs and rock formations in the sea. It was very windy here and we really had to be careful not to go too near the edge! This was the most northerly part we drove to.

Eshaness cliffs:

On the way back, we saw many sheep crossing the road in front of us, as well as Shetland Ponies.

We stopped beside some Shetland Ponies.

One of them was very cheeky, and even stuck his head into our car!!!