RevNeal LIVE! From the ms Prinsendam

[cruz chic]

Thank you so much for the awesome pictures and this thread. I really want to get to this corner of the world one day even though it's cold:eek:. Can't wait to hear more. I really appreciate you taking the time and $ to do this.

[roberts2005]

Rev. Neal

 

Thank you for extending my Prinsendam cruise. Your commentary pictures give me a front row seat. Your comments about tour mates is the reason my wife and I try to do things on our own.

 

Looking forward to more of your posts.

[SharonN]

Great pictures as usual Greg. I was pleasantly surprised with Iceland last year and enjoyed our stops there. The one strange thing about reading your posts is that it seems you're going backwards since this cruise last year started up the coast of Norway and then to Iceland, and the ports you've already been to. Hope you enjoy the next part of the trip especially the ice cap. It's very different than what we saw in Antarctica but beautiful in its own way.

[SeaDays]

Hi Rev. Neal,

 

Okay, Iceland.

 

It's 106 degrees today in the Metroplex.

 

Are you smart, or what?

 

 

SeaDays

[MrsMuir]

Thanks for the photos, Rev Neal, and your Iceland impressions. Thingvellir has always fascinated me. For a ripping good story that takes place in Ninth-Century Iceland, Greenland, Cornwall and England, I recommend Anya Seton's Avalon. I learned more about Vikings and their culture from that fabulous book than any nonfiction book or even PBS. That's when I learned about Thingvellir for the first time. It's the scene of early democratic government as well as a geological wonder. I think I'll reread that book yet again!

 

On another subject, I wonder if it wouldn't be appropriate, if one saw a fellow tourist littering, to politely point it out to the perpetrator. What to say? "Uh, I believe you accidentally let some trash blow out the window back there. I'm sure you didn't mean to litter." What would you do? I'm talking about a person on the same bus or van or tour group, not a total stranger.

[Rowena]

RevNeal,

Thanks so much for taking your valuable time to post these reports. You are most kind!

Much appreciation!!

Ro

[serendipity1499]

Rev. Neal...Thank you so very much for sharing your cruise & pictures while you are enjoying our lovely elegant explorer..Your pictures so beautiful & make me wish that we had booked the "Voyage of the Vikings" last year.. Hopefully we'll do it soon & also have another cruise on the Prinsendam..She sure is beautiful, I wish I could figure out a way to downlad that beautiful picture of our favorite ship...:):)

Looking forward to your next series of posts before we leave on our cruise..

Thanks again...

Cheers.....:)Betty

[Cruisin Suzin]

Great Live report...safe journey...can't wait to hear more..I'll try to play nice with the other CC'ers..

[Tamaracboy]

I wish I could figure out a way to downlad that beautiful picture of our favorite ship...

 

Betty,

 

Just Right Click on the photo, then select "Save As".

You can then name the photo and select a file where to save it.

 

Good luck,

 

r.

[DizzyDallasDi]

Hey Rev - It's your neighbor from the metroplex here. :) Your trip sounds amazing so far and I look forward to the "catch up" posts to fill in the gaps during the internet death zone.

 

You sure picked a great time to depart for cooler climes, we're sweltering here with 104 - 106 temps for the rest of the week and perhaps beyond. I highly suggest you stow away some polar ice to help stave off the heat when you return. I know you're aware of the typical August heat you're going to face when you exit the doors at DFW. Dress appropriately. :D

[RevNeal]

Well, we're back up on the net ... at least for a short period of time. Yesterday we were on and off, and I couldn't get a consistent-enough connection to upload photos. I was hoping to do that today, and I still might be able to, and if I do I will, but for now I'll just answer a few questions and respond to a few remarks..

 

Great pictures as usual Greg. I was pleasantly surprised with Iceland last year and enjoyed our stops there. The one strange thing about reading your posts is that it seems you're going backwards since this cruise last year started up the coast of Norway and then to Iceland, and the ports you've already been to. Hope you enjoy the next part of the trip especially the ice cap. It's very different than what we saw in Antarctica but beautiful in its own way.

 

Oh, yes, the course is reverse from last year. I like this routing, though. :)

The captain reported, today, during his lunch-time chat that its beginning to look very good for us for the day after tomorrow and our prospects of nosing "the pointy-end" of the ship into the ice cap. The weather conditions couldn't be better. Our seas are calm, the fog has lifted, the air is a chilly 40 degrees, there's no rain, and the forecast calls for the same conditions the next three days during this entire region. So ... he's hopeful that we'll be able to do all that we're planning to do, and then some. I'll have more to report if/when we succeed, however for now I'll note that he's adding some extra scenic cruising along Spitsbergen after departing Longyearbyen and before darting north to the polar cap.

[RevNeal]

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)

 

Ah, so! That explains it ... I think.

Thanks!

[RevNeal]

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:

 

Absolutely correct, and entirely in accord with what he said last night over cocktails (well, I was having a cocktail … he was drinking water since he was “driving.”) Captain Albert was point-blank with regard to a situation we had at Akureyri, Iceland, where a family of 6, including two children, was late returning to the ship. They had rented a car for the day and had driven out into the countryside to see the sights. Time got away from them and they were on their way back, but wouldn’t make it by 5 pm. Indeed, they had phoned ahead to the port to let the ship know that they were still more than 20 miles out at 4:30 pm. I asked Captain Albert how long he was prepared to wait for that family and he smiled wryly and said “Normally, about 20 seconds past 5 o’clock.” He then immediately added, “But, since we knew they were coming, and I could safely stay up to 15 minutes past departure time without costing us any money or adversely impacting our schedule, we stayed until they showed up and everything turned out fine.” And, it did, for the family arrived at 5:06 pm (I was watching – and photographing their arrival – and that’s the time-stamp on my photos) and ran aboard as quickly as they could … the captain blowing the ship’s whistle to speed them up!

[RevNeal]

Hey Rev - It's your neighbor from the metroplex here. :) Your trip sounds amazing so far and I look forward to the "catch up" posts to fill in the gaps during the internet death zone.

 

You sure picked a great time to depart for cooler climes, we're sweltering here with 104 - 106 temps for the rest of the week and perhaps beyond. I highly suggest you stow away some polar ice to help stave off the heat when you return. I know you're aware of the typical August heat you're going to face when you exit the doors at DFW. Dress appropriately. :D

 

The sound you just heard was me “scroaning” – which is a scream and a groan done at the same time. Today it’s 41 degrees outside on deck, with a bright sunny sky and calm seas. At home it’s 106 degrees. I am VERY glad I’m here, and not there, and I dread coming home to the deadly heat mid-August. The good news is that it won’t be THAT long before the temps start going down, and I’ve got a busy August and September ahead of me.

[RevNeal]

On another subject, I wonder if it wouldn't be appropriate, if one saw a fellow tourist littering, to politely point it out to the perpetrator. What to say? "Uh, I believe you accidentally let some trash blow out the window back there. I'm sure you didn't mean to litter." What would you do? I'm talking about a person on the same bus or van or tour group, not a total stranger.

 

That very question has come up in the conversation of the four of us who saw the event. The problem, we discovered, was the danger of a direct confrontation in the course of a shore excursion and the disruption that such might generate for not only ourselves but also for everybody else aboard. Some people are passive-aggressive and would find a way to pick on the culprit so-as to get their point across without actually confronting them; others are more direct, and that directness can cause equally direct problems. Our general conclusion was that, were we on a shore excursion and not actually in the bus at the time when they dropped the paper, we’d pick it up and hand it back to them, telling them “here, you dropped this.” If there was no way to immediately remedy the problem, we decided it would be best to not say anything until later but that, if we saw them getting ready to do it again, we’d stop them.

 

Our basic concern, however, was to balance pointing out how WRONG it is to litter like with not creating an uncomfortable "scene" that could disrupt the entire excursion.

[RevNeal]

I really need to sit down and type up my report on our last day in Iceland, Akureyri, however the past two sea days have been so relaxing and enjoyable that I've just not done it yet. I didn't think I'd have the ability to post for 5 or so days, anyway, so I wasn't rushing. Sorry! I just tried to upload some more photos from Iceland and got hit with the dreaded "loss of signal," but now it's back up again. This is very frustrating. I think I'll sign off, try to draft my Akureyri report, and see if I can upload the photos before posting text. IF I can still do that before we lose signal AGAIN ... and this time for good (or, at least, until we cruise south again).

 

So ... hopefully, after dinner (my time), I'll be able to post another report along with pictures. If not ... well ... that's how the Internet Satellite Fizzles!

[Ine]

Just want to let you know how much I enjoy your reports and photos.

Hopefully the next 10 days will be as great as the days till now.

[RevNeal]

First, allow me a moment to address what we did on Saturday, July 31 while in-port Isafjordur, Iceland. Nothing. We did nothing. Or, to be more specific, I did nothing as I decided to recover from my long, exhausting day in Reykjavik by staying aboard, having a late brunch, and spending time in the Gym, the hot tubs, and the pool. It was a lovely day for it, the sun was shining and the temperatures were in the very low 60s. I spent the day relaxing, being lazy, enjoying the ship with everybody off her, reading, listening to music, working out in the gym (trying to un-do some of the damage being done by these fabulous meals!) and soothing my aching knees and feet with the ministrations of the hot tub and the pool. Who knows, perhaps I’ll get back to Isafjordur and Iceland on a future cruise, and if I do I’ll be sure to catch one of the shore excursions offerd here at that time.

 

Now, on to the amazing Akureyri, Iceland, where we docked on Sunday, August 1. As a minister of the Gospel I cannot think of any way more appropriate to worship the creator than to enjoy learning out, viewing, and experiencing some new and exciting aspect of the creation. This I did in Akureyri by taking the Lake Myvatn tour. This 6.5 hour long tour is well worth the $159 that HAL charges for it, because it takes you to what might well be called the “Yellostone Park” of Iceland: the region in and around Lake Myvatn (yes, they need to buy a vowel for the end of that name). We went from majestic mountains to a lovely lake to a field of vanquished volcanoes to rugged rocky cliffs a geothermal field of fumaroles, spouting steam laced with hydrogen sulfide. While only 6.5 hours, it felt like an 8 hour tour. We even had lunch in the middle of it – a tasty tomato soup and locally caught grilled trout. All-in-all, it was a lovely day.

 

We began at 9 am, our bus pulling out away from the port at Akureyri and making its way quickly out of town, to an observation point on the other side of the fjord where we had a lovely view of the city and of the Elegant Explorer, the ms Prinsendam. Yes, I took photos!

 

 

 

 

This was the first time since boarding the ship that I was able to get a good first-hand view of her stern and the work that was done to it, adding verandahs and expanding her aft deck. It doesn’t look bad – not like the monstrosity slapped onto the hind-end of the poor Veendam – but, then, I’d never seen her prior to the addition. Nevertheless, she looked lovely to me, and in a way she outshined the city of Akureyri. Sadly, we had heavy over-hanging cloud cover that morning. Later in the day the clouds would clear out and we would have a bright sun-shine and deep-blue skies for most of the day. Nevertheless, the town of Akureyri looks like a nice, laid back place to live.

 

 

From this lookout spot our bus took us over the mountain range and across a large lava field toward the lake Myvatn region. On our way our first stop was at the Godafoss Falls, which is am impressive sight in its own right, although not nearly am massive as the Falls near Reykjavik. We walked out to view the falls, then followed the river down to a bridge, where we crossed over the raging waters to re-join our bus.

 

 

 

This was also a rest and souvenir buying stop. We picked up some Icelandic Chocolate with the intent of keeping it to give to the Chocolate Goddess, our own dear RuthC, but –sadly – we discovered that we just had to eat it later on during our tour when Christopher had something of diabetic reaction. At least, he claimed that’s what it was … I’m suspicious of his sweet tooth!

 

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[RevNeal]

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Leaving the Godafoss Falls, we made our way on into the Lake Myvatn area and, of course, the lake itself. Our initial visit was to the no-extinct “pseudo-volcanic calderas” that can be found dotting its shoreline. I’ll have dozens of photos to show when I get home, but here are just two shots that give an idea of the grandure of this scenery.

 

 

 

Based upon the maps of the area that we’ve been looking at, it would appear that the lake-depression is, itself, a huge inactive caldera, although they did not tell us this. I’ll be looking that up when I get home. If not, it’s strange to note how nearly perfectly round the Lake Myvatn basin happens to be, and it is ON the Mid-Atlantic Ridge AND it has many currently active geothermal spots all around it. So, if it looks like a duck ….

 

After viewing the lake as a whole, and after climbing to the top of several of the inactive calderas-like formations (which our tour guide, Hilda, called “Pseudo-Cones”) to gain a better view of the region, we made our way to a local hotel for a nice bite to eat. Then, we piled back into the bus for a ride to the “Rock Castle” formations called “Dimmuborgira.” Here we viewed many of the volcanic remains – the rock formations – that are left when erosion washes away the ligher materials.

 

 

One of the formations, I was surprised to see, appeared to be just like the Time Portal “The Guardian of Forever,” from the Original Star Trek episode “City on the Edge of Forever.”

 

 

However, even though I tried several times by asking questions and directing it to display the history of my planet, etc., I just couldn’t get the time portal lookalike to function. (drat!)

 

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[RevNeal]

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Anyway, from here we drove on up, over a large volcano, and down to the active geothermal field called “Namafjall.” This is probably as close to “hell” as anybody ever wants to get. There are many active fumaroles belching clouds of steam and hydrogen sulfide, as well as large mud pots bubbling from the 200 degree centigrade heat deep underneath the ground. With the characteristic smell of rotten eggs, the air takes a little getting used to, but the sights were incredible.

 

 

 

 

 

After this, exhausted from a great deal of walking through these incredible parks, we drove back to Akureyri, where we found the Elegant ms Prinsendam waiting for us to come aboard!

 

 

All-in-all, a wonderful day ashore and an excellent way to end our visit to Iceland.

[RevNeal]

Which brings me, now, to these past two sea days. As we departed Akureyri the Captain told us that we would be having severe satellite communications difficulties from that point on until we returned to the Norwegian mainland. And, indeed, we had significant communications problems yesterday. Yesterday I spent enjoying myself, yet again, with the features of the ship. I chatted with friends – some new, some old – and I made use of the ships facilities, taking to the gym for some exercise and to the salon for a much needed haircut. The polar bear swim was at 9:30 pm on the evening we sailed out from Akureyri, and thank goodness for that, too, because yesterday and today have been quite cold as the temperatures have fallen into the 40s. We’re expecting highs in Longyearbyen of about 41 or 42 degrees, F., and further north the Captian is saying we may be lucky to find air temps above freezing. Apparently the ice sheets and the cold winds are moving south much more quickly this year than in prior years, which bodes well for polar cap glaciation and for us being able to find polar ice, but which means that we’ll have a very cold day after tomorrow. That’s ok … it’s part of why we’ve made this trek to the top of the world!

 

Last night was a lovely formal night and Captain’s Black and White Ball. The Ball lasted an hour and a half, with the ship’s orchestra playing lots of wonderful music and the captain and officers dancing with the passengers. I can’t speak for Captain Albert’s dancing skills, but several of the lovely ladies from the front office and the ship’s party planner dance very nice, indeed! Earlier last evening I and a few other Cruise Critic friends had enjoyed cocktails with the Captain and his wife, and the enjoyable evening continued through dinner and the dance and on past midnight as a large group of us sat in the Crows Nest and chatted about cruising in general and great privilege we enjoy to be able to travel as we do and see the things we see and meet the people we meet. I turned in very late last night/this morning … satisified with a wonderful evening spent in fruitful conversation and my eyesight dazzled by the “midnight sun.”

 

On the Ship’s Scan Channel they report that “Next Sunset” will be 12:00 Midnight and that “Next sunrise” will also be 12:00 Midnight. Yesterday this wasn’t exactly true as the sun actually did just barely set. Tonight, however, we are now far enough above the Artic circle that the sun never will actually set.

 

Blessings to all!

[RevNeal]

The Prinsendam's precise location, taken off the Scan Display Channel.

 

76 degrees 27.73 minutes North

007 degrees 10.01 minutes East

 

Ship's time 6:46 pm

Sea Conditions "Slight" (Sorry, RuthC!)

[dfish]

It is getting quite expensive for me to read your posts. After reading about your cruise to Antarctica, I decided I had to go. So, I am booked on the Veendam in January. Now, after reading this and especially after seeing your pictures of the rift valley in Iceland, I know I have to do this cruise as well. I may just have to do one of those Iceland Air specials where you can stop off in Iceland for a few days and travel around to spend more time there on the way back from this cruise.

 

Thank you for sharing with us and especially for letting us know what adventures await us.

 

Debbie

[wilsonqbc]

RevNeal,

 

love your pics and info, been following along also, Been on her before when she was the RVSun and she was always my favorite,

 

This is just a heads up is case you or the vessel is not aware yet. the Aurora Borealis should be amazing for the next few days as there was a pretty massive solar flare august 1st.

moderate tonight and very active tomorrow and the next day, enjoy the view.

[ironin]

Thanks for posting more of your outstanding photos, Greg. Simply stunning. Given what I've heard about slow internet connections, cant' help wondering just how hard it was to upload them all. Really appreciated.