RevNeal LIVE! From the ms Prinsendam

[LadyFurn]

Ah, yes, the Blitz! We had it on the Statendam in June and enjoyed it so much we requested it again for the final night! Thanks for posting, Rev!

[RevNeal]

As I type this we have sailed out of Reykjavik and are making our way toward Isafjordur; it is 11:28 pm, Iceland time, the sky is still bright with light, but my body is about to shut down from exhaustion. I shall post a longish report tomorrow about our wonderful day doing the "Golden Triangle" Tour out of Reykjavik. All I'll say for now is that ICELAND IS INCREDIBLE ... truly a wonderful place. I'm not sure I would want to live here, but it's one of those places you could visit time and time again. Not to mention that I got to do something today that I've long wanted to do, but have never had a chance to do ... I walked -- yes, walked -- from North America to Europe. :D

 

I'll explain tomorrow, after I've had a chance to commune with the inside of my Islands ... and I'll illustrate with some photos, too. :D

 

Blessings to all of you, back there on CC, from all of us here on the lovely and elegant ms Prinsendam.

[ironin]

I got to do something today that I've long wanted to do, but have never had a chance to do ... I walked -- yes, walked -- from North America to Europe. :D

 

Bet your feet are sore. Or your toes wrinkled. :D

[bobalink]

Can't wait to hear more of your well written report.

I just added this cruise to my Wish List.

Blessings to you!

[tjcox9]

This is one of those been there, done that and really want to do it again reports for me. We did some of these port on the Prinsendam and some on the Cunard QV and would love to do them all again.

 

We were in Iceland/Greenland just before the financial debacle there and are looking forward to the current reports.

 

British Isles, Norway and Iceland/Greenland are high on our redo places but then since we live in the South, that may explain our love for the northern climate during this time of the year.........especially this one.

[RuthC]

I got to do something today that I've long wanted to do, but have never had a chance to do ... I walked -- yes, walked -- from North America to Europe. :D

Neat! This is one of those terrific things to collect. No need to find a place to put it when you get home, and it never needs dusting. And yet, the collecting part is such fun.

 

You should find the next port to look entirely different. You'll think it isn't the same island at all.

[roberts2005]

Rev. Neal

 

How have you found Jamie, the current Port Lecturer?

[Himself]

Greg:

You always do a great job of reporting. I think that is why the board managers gave your report five stars. Keep up the God work and God Bless!

Himself

[IRL_Joanie]

Thank you. Greg posted a picture which illustrates the area perfectly. At the exact point on the bow you can see some ladder-like steps, and a platform. That's where the officer layed down.

 

Very thin soil on rocks? So there's no place for roots?

 

No! No! Things are never that desperate! Things will be better soon. October isn't that far away!

Live, man! Live! :D

 

Just read Capt Albert's Blog and here is what he says about the treeless Faroe Island(s):

 

Quote "The Faroer islands and Iceland are nothing else than giant mountain tops sticking above water and part of a mountain range called the Iceland-Faroer ridge. Most of that ridge lays about 200 to 400 meters under water but when you sail on a course line that leads south of Iceland, you move away from that ridge and you sail over a “valley” 3000 meters below you. That valley is called the Iceland basin...." Unquote

 

Joanie

[geocruiser]

This info is from Wikipedia

 

Extreme oceanic climate is the main cause for no trees growing in Faroe Island. The climate has high winds which pick up large quantities of sea salt into the air, making unfavorable conditions for tree growth.

 

Maria

[Atomica]

As I type this we have sailed out of Reykjavik and are making our way toward Isafjordur; it is 11:28 pm, Iceland time, the sky is still bright with light, but my body is about to shut down from exhaustion. I shall post a longish report tomorrow about our wonderful day doing the "Golden Triangle" Tour out of Reykjavik. All I'll say for now is that ICELAND IS INCREDIBLE ... truly a wonderful place. I'm not sure I would want to live here, but it's one of those places you could visit time and time again. Not to mention that I got to do something today that I've long wanted to do, but have never had a chance to do ... I walked -- yes, walked -- from North America to Europe. :D

 

I'll explain tomorrow, after I've had a chance to commune with the inside of my Islands ... and I'll illustrate with some photos, too. :D

 

Blessings to all of you, back there on CC, from all of us here on the lovely and elegant ms Prinsendam.

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed your time in Reykjavik! We thought the same thing when we visited Iceland aboard Crown Princess last year - it is a truly incredible, beautiful country that I can't wait to go back to.

 

I hope your itinerary includes a call in Akureyri, Iceland - it's breathtakingly beautiful up there.

 

Thanks again for the live posts, Greg!

[RevNeal]

Written on Saturday Night:

 

At Sea, cruising along the north shore of Iceland and now just east of Isafjordur, gliding through the fog on glassy waters heading toward our last port-of-call on this exotic, barren, yet lively island: Akureyri. The time, as I begin to type this, is 11:23 pm, and yet the foggy environs around the ship remain lit by the twilight. The sun supposedly set at 11:01 pm, but we couldn’t see it due to the fog. Now the Captian is sounding the Prinsendam’s whistle (i.e. horn), and from where I am sitting in the Crows Nest it makes for a resonate rumbling sound. Earlier, walking outside on the promenade, I was struck by the stillness of the air; yes, the seas are like glass, without even wavelets to ripple the water; the water is so still the ship is creating the most minimal of wakes … not even cutting the surface of the water. It’s hard to believe that we’re sailing along the Strait of Denmark, between Iceland and Greenland, heading east-ward just a degree or so south of the Arctic Circle. The captain told us in his Evening Report from the Bridge, that after leaving Iceland tomorrow evening the ship would cross the Arctic Circle at 9:30 pm tomorrow night. He would do his best to miss the dotted line that denotes the circle so as to make for smooth sailing (hardy har har) and that the Polar Bear Plunge is schedule to take place in the Lido Deck pool at that time. For those of you who are wondering why that is a “big deal,” keep in mind that the Prinsendam does NOT have a Magradome. <grin>. I plan on getting wet with everybody else … and, by tomorrow night, it’s due to be cold.

 

Not that it was cold today or yesterday. Far from it! We have been blessed by stunningly beautiful weather these past couple of days. We began in Reykjavik on Friday morning with overcast skies, a chilly breeze, and 20% chance of precipitation, however the clouds cleared out as the day progressed and the temperatures climbed to the mid-60s by the afternoon It was nearly a perfect day for site seeing in and around Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. For this tour we had chosen to put together our own trip with several members of the CC-Roll Call. Most of these people were new to me – folk not especially active on the HAL CC board – but several have become friends over the course of this cruise. We planned the trip with a local tour operator independent of HAL, which resulted in a rather significant savings over what HAL would have charged. There were 14 of us and we had a tight fit in our van, but it worked out well and we got to see a lot more than we otherwise would have seen had we stuck with the traditional HAL offerings. Our first stop was a placed I’d long been wanting to visit since I’d seen a program about it on PBS many years ago: the Thingvellir National Park, where is found one of the few places where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Rift Valley are found above the surface of the water.

 

Yes, I’m serious. This is where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are slowly moving apart due to the upwelling of magma from the planets mantle. The rate of separation is incredibly slow by the standard of human perception (an average of 2 centimeters a year), but over times it makes for quite a powerful reshaping of the surface of the planet. Once, millions of years ago, the North American and European Continents were connected together right here, at the mid-Atlantic Ridge, which cuts through Iceland. The reason it’s above water, here, and not down at the bottom-middle of the Atlantic Ocean, is due to the addition of a Hot Spot in the depths of the mantle, pumping extra-energy into the volcanic process right at this point. The upwelling of magma is far greater, here, than it is along the rest of the mid-Atlantic ridge, resulting in a build up of the crust until it breaches the surface and forms a major island … Iceland. Indeed, many scientists believe that it is the presence of a hotspot along a boundary of two separating tectonic plates that originally resulted in the formation – over many hundreds of millions of years – of all the continental masses that currently exist today, and that Iceland is the formation of a new continental mass. I think they’re probably right.

 

Here we stood, overlooking the Rift Valley in the middle of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. On one side, right in front of me, was the very edge of the North American Continental plate, which extended to the west (behind me) all the way to the continent itself. The edge of the North American plate is a jagged rift, or shelf, of volcanic rock which formed within the last few hundred thousand years by the volcanoes on other side of me. What I stood there, looking at (and photographing) was the new land which resulted from this process. Further to the east, across the rift valley, is the opposite wall of rock making up the edge of the Eurasian tectonic plate. In the valley in a river and a lake and a path that I was about to walk. And, so, taking photographs like crazy, I walked it … I walked from the North American plate down into the rift valley and across a river to the very edge of the Eurasian plate. Yes, I walked from North America to Europe! Kinda.

 

Here are selected photographs (I’ll have more to post on my website later)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continued Next Post

[RevNeal]

Continued from Saturday Night's write-up

 

Next, we drove a short distance to the Geysir and Strokkur Geysers. Geysir only eruprts after earthquakes, but when it does it sends a plume of super-heated water and steam as much as 70-80 meters into the air. Strokkur, however, is far more predictable and regular, shooting its superheated water and steam 25-35 meters up into the sky every 8-10 minutes. Actually, it was erupting every 5-6 minutes while we watched. Sometimes the explosions were on the minimal side – perhaps 20 meters, at best – but other times the plume of water and steam rose a good 30 meters into the air, dousing several onlookers who had managed to get a little too close and/or had strayed over into the down-wind region.

 

 

 

Next we made our way a short distance over to one of the more impressive sites to behold, the Gullfoss Golden Waterfall. It’s hard to do justice to these falls. They are wide, in more than 2 steps, and cast a spray of fine water droplets high into the air all around. The walk down to the falls is fairly simple, even though one does tend to get wet in the process. At the far end there is a rocky escarpment sticking out part-way into the flow of the water, and managed to climb out to there along with hundreds of others to take photos, etc.

 

 

 

The walk back was a little more trying. The slope upward can be a bit steep at times, the ground wet and/or muddy, and along the way there are nine (9) very tall steps one must climb/step up. It can be strenuous.

 

After walking back up from the lower observation level, one climbs a staircase – 109 steps, not too bad in and of themselves, but after climbing up from the bottom of the falls it was quite difficult for some members of our group. From here one can gain a good overview of the entire site.

 

 

We proceeded from the Gullfoss Golden Waterfall to visit a few more minor sites, including another set of falls, Iceland’s largest and newest Geothermal Power Station (it, alone, is capable of providing enough electricity for the 5 TIMES the current population of the Island Nation), a large but spare (undecorated) downtown Church, and then some shopping prior to returning to the ship with at least 30 minutes to spare before the all-aboard. All-in-all, we were exhausted but it was a wonderful day.

 

From this tour, however, I have a few remarks regarding things to do and, more importantly, NOT do on shore excursions. Firstly, do not EVER throw trash out a tour van’s window. I was horrified to watch as one of my fellow tour-mates (a CCer who will go un-identified) popped a stick of gum into his mouth, wadded up the wrapper, and then flicked the wadded up wrapper out the window. I looked at Karl, he looked at me, and we both looked at the person who did it in abject horror. It’s bad enough to liter at all in your own country, but to liter in someone elses’ country is simply unacceptable. I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, what your status is in your country, etc. DON’T EVER DO IT. And if the person who did it (or their spouse) reads this note on Cruise Critic, I hope they realize their error and do not try to mount a defense. I’ve left the person unidentified on purpose; don’t compound things by revealing who you are.

 

Secondly, when the tour driver says that it’s a 5 minute stop, please believe that it’s a 5 minute stop and do everything you can to be back on the van/bus within 5 minutes. Likewise, 15 minutes does not mean 35 minutes. In short, be punctual. Sure, we’re not sitting there with a stop watch timing how long you take to get back to the bus, but everybody else is trying their best to be back in time so-as to not slow down the rest of the group … please, please, please be respectful of everybody else. This goes not only for the couple on our tour who was repeatedly late to the van, but for any and all who take HAL shore excursions or are on privately arranged tours. Be respectful of others and of the schedule and be back at the time the guide says to be back.

 

Which brings up a third point, when the Captain says the ship is going to cast away lines and set sail at 5 pm, the Captain means it. The captain will almost always wait for HAL shore excursions that are running late, and he might also wait for you if you’re on a private excursion, but if you’re on your own you cannot count on him holding the ship for you. The same couple that was repeatedly late back to our van subsequently expressed disbelief that the captain would leave passengers behind if they were late returning to the ship when away on their own; they also said that they had been ashore on their own in the past and had been late returning to the ship, and they thought it was funny when the captain would blow the ship’s whistle to get them to hurry. It’s not funny. The ship has a schedule to meet, pure and simple. Be back, on time, or you run the real, substantive (and expensive) risk of being left behind! I’m not being tough or hard … I’m being realistic.

 

I could share more, but I won’t. Suffice it to say, it was an enjoyable shore excursion and I appreciated the opportunity to get to meet, personally, and spend time with some of my fellow CCers from the Roll Call. Yes, sometimes we do things we shouldn’t do, sometimes we open our mouths and asks questions that need not be asked (“Are there Viking cemeteries in Iceland?” “Do you have TV and radio stations?”), and sometimes we offer opinions about how we think things should be done (“In my country we do it this way”) when we should simply be listening, looking, and learning how other people do things.

 

Sunday Evening ---

 

I am writing this in a hurry to beat our ship's motion. The captain told us this evening that we would not be having much, if any, Satellite signal for the next 5 days, so this is it for me until we get back southward. Hence, I will have to write up my report from today's tours in Akureyri, Iceland. The best I can do right NOW is get up what I wrote last night, along with pictures from Reykjavik. I’ll be writing up reports as we go, and preparing photos to share. So, until I report back next week … blessings to you all, and be good to each other.

[Himself]

Great reporting and even greater pictures. Thanks for sharing them.

[janmcn]

Thanks for your "Sermon"...hope MANY folks take it to heart! Well said! Every bit of it. And...glad you enjoyed Iceland...looking forward to being there in less than a month. The Falls looked really full...hope they are a bit less when we are there...makes for better waterfall photography.

[Tamaracboy]

Greg,

Welcome back to connectivity.

First (and I'm not taking votes on this) We ALL want to thank you for your GENEROSITY of spirit and TIME to bring us along with you.

Not only is it most interesting, it is also extremely well done.

The writing and photography are simply World Class !!

And, evocative to the point I actually dreamed about cruising last night.

The Northern Hemisphere and the Prinsendam are better for having you in them.

Reuel

[Gator83]

Greg....thank you for all your pictures; they are just fabulous.

[geocruiser]

RevNeal,

 

blessings to you all, and be good to each other.

 

This is what it is all about. Being good to each other.

 

Blessings to you. Thank you for your time, posts and pictures.

 

Maria

[JDinWA]

On the front page, this thread is highlighted with five gold stars under the headline. Not sure how or why.....but I couldn't agree more! :D

 

Found out how ratings (stars) can be applied to a post: "I do know only certain user groups can see or use the Rate Thread feature located with the Thread Tools, Search this Thread and Display Modes features on a thread. They are Administrators, Hosts/Moderators and Member Cruise Group Leaders."

 

(from #5 in this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1081765&highlight=rating)

[blue whale]

Fabulous pictures of the Atlantic Ridge in Iceland. We were there a couple of years ago and it is a great area. We took the same tour of the area including a salmon luncheon in the restaurant overlooking the geysers.

 

Thanks so much for bringing back great memories.

 

Also if you get to meet "Homeless" at the Cruise Critic meet and greet, say hello from Blue Whale.

 

Thank you!

[IRL_Joanie]

WOW!!!:)

 

Joanie

[catl331]

I have been reading Capt. Albert's blog for this cruise and he constantly is talking about the fast currents and tides at some of these ports. He may be waiting for the late excursions but that is only because he has extra time to get to the next port or the tide and current is just right. If he has to leave, he will! I wouldn't mess around thinking he will wait. The Prinsendam sails to small ports and wouldn't that be fun trying to get to a train or plane to meet the ship at the next port!:eek:

[sapper1]

Your photos are bringing back wonderful memories. Iceland was never on my list of places I wanted to see---the transatlantic was just stopping there---ho hum------Was I ever wrong. We were simply blown away by the sheer majesty of the place and were sorry our stay was so short.

Re the litterbug----I observed a guy tossing cigarette butts in places that were otherwise pristine. I gave him the "look" but I don't think he knew what he was doing wrong. Some people just don't "get" it.:confused:

 

I hope you're stopping in Greenland as well. That was another pleasant surprise. Absolutely breathtaking.

[sparky-elpaso]

Incredible pics. That area is definitely going on my "bucket list". Thanks for sharing with us.

[jhannah]

I must see this place some day. Zowie! Stunning hardly describes it. Thanks again for taking the time (and expense) to post your perspectives and photos.