RevNeal LIVE! From the ms Prinsendam

[Two@Sea]

... snip... 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.” ...

 

Now, THAT'S what I was hoping to hear! So glad you didn't end the evening early this time! ;)

 

Thank you for the wonderful report, and wonderous photos!

[ncgolferette]

RevNeal:

 

Thank you so much for taking me along on your adventure. Your photographs are absolutely spectacular. My husband and I have the Prinsendam booked for the TA next May and your reports are making me so anxious to get aboard the old gal!!!!

[RuthC]

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!

Please tell Christopher that I look forward to our next chat.

 

Thank you for posting about this marvelous tour. I took this on my third Voyage of the Vikings, and am loving reliving it. And now I will be able to lift some pictures, too!

 

Now, go get that ice!

[tjcox9]

RevNeal,

 

We've so enjoyed reliving some of these ports through your eyes.

 

I must say, it's too bad the the aft hot tub no longer exists, as we did so enjoy it in Isafjordur while in port after taking a stroll through the interesting little town.

 

Watching Captain Gunderson maneuver the ship to get its' "pointy side" out was amazing and many folks were on deck observing. Weather was perfect and although we enjoyed the aft hot tub many other times, this location was quite special as we watched small planes land close by following an amazing approach and just the whole setting was one of the best!!!

 

Thanks so much for the lovely pictures from Akureyri. We did the same basic tour that you did, but through a CC group tour and I can still smell the sulphur. Some magnificent geologic stuff in this area for sure!

[Tamaracboy]

* * *

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.

 

Greg,

 

Yes, it was on the news that for the next few days that the Aurora should be spectacular. :cool:

And even visible to people far further south than you, but not as far south as Florida :(

 

Take this as a sign and thanks just for you from above ;)

 

Enjoy ! ! and I don't know how well they'll photograph, but I'm sure you'll try :)

 

Hope Christopher is having as good a time as you evidently are.

 

r.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Love all the pictures!!

 

Years ago we were scheduled to do this itinerary on a different cruise line -- but alas we didn't make it. And now health issues prevent us from flying that far.

 

Sure am enjoying you taking along with on this fabulous cruise.

[mamaofami]

Greg, your pictures are breath taking. It really makes me want to do this itinerary. Thanks for taking the time to post.

[MrsMuir]

We could plan a CC group cruise and call it the "Val-HAL-la Voyage of the Vikings." Sounds better than it looks in print.

[Himself]

Great Pictures, Greg:

Thank you for sharing them. I wish I had your talent. I partiularly liked the ones you gave is of the Princendam.

[sail7seas]

Greg,

Your reports are wonderful and the photos spectacular. We just booked Voyage of the Viking for 2011 and now you make me eager to try this cruise you are on.

 

Enjoy every second, as I am sure you will.

Thank you so much for taking us along with you.

 

[sail7seas]

Greg,

 

Yes, it was on the news that for the next few days that the Aurora should be spectacular. :cool:

And even visible to people far further south than you, but not as far south as Florida :(

 

Take this as a sign and thanks just for you from above ;)

 

Enjoy ! ! and I don't know how well they'll photograph, but I'm sure you'll try :)

 

Hope Christopher is having as good a time as you evidently are.

 

r.

 

It has been visible as far south as NH, Vermond and a bit of Massachusetts. It's been on our news/weather the last few days.

 

The views from Prinsendam have to be incredible.

[luvs2travl]

We could plan a CC group cruise and call it the "Val-HAL-la Voyage of the Vikings." Sounds better than it looks in print.

 

Now, THAT sounds like a plan, Mrs M!! :D

 

PS: It really does sound good when you say it out loud! :)

[elycelynne]

Greg, I just had to chime in on the quality of your photos. They are jaw-droppingly incredible! I'd ask what kind of camera you use, but I have a feeling that the photographer, rather than the equipment, deserves most of the credit!

 

I guess I'll be adding this itinerary, or something similar, to my bucket list as well.

[Kween Karen]

the itinerary is on my list already....this just confirms it!! My list is REALLY long!!

[bepsf]

Great posts and pix, Greg!

I'd love to have been up there w/ you - but it's so much cheaper to stay here in the City and get the same cold/foggy weather....

(Actually looks a bit warmer up there)

...and I'm not seeing many opportunities for Drinking and Shopping!

;)

First time I saw Prinsendam she looked like this:

...and the last time, she looked like this.

[Kween Karen]

Great posts and pix, Greg!

 

I'd love to have been up there w/ you - but it's so much cheaper to stay here in the City and get the same cold/foggy weather....

(Actually looks a bit warmer up there)

...and I'm not seeing many opportunities for Drinking and Shopping!

;)

 

First time I saw Prinsendam she looked like this:

...and the last time, she looked like this.

Is that the one that burned and sank? I just read the story of that scary adventure.......more scary to me since it was as recent at 1980.

http://www.alaska.net/~jcassidy/pop-mech.htm That is a link to the article.

[RuthC]

Is that the one that burned and sank?

That's the current Prinsendam when she started life as a Royal Viking ship. Note the red logo on the funnel---it's an abstract bird, with a trident, iirc.

I still have my scarf with the logo on it.

[IRL_Joanie]

Is that the one that burned and sank? I just read the story of that scary adventure.......more scary to me since it was as recent at 1980.

http://www.alaska.net/~jcassidy/pop-mech.htm That is a link to the article.

 

Thank you for the link!!

 

WOW!! What an amazing rescue to be able to read!!! Words just cannot describe how I felt reading it....

 

I hope my next statement does not cause a flame, but, I sure hope any evacuations off of any cruise ship today goes smoother than this one did. Though I do have my doubts because of the way it is handled across various lines per Coast Guards regulations.....

 

Joanie

[bcd2010]

I'd ask what kind of camera you use, but I have a feeling that the photographer, rather than the equipment, deserves most of the credit!

 

True, but I'd still like to find out what he uses. Greg, can you give us a little info, maybe a mini lesson (if not now, perhaps when you get back home and settled)? What camera(s) do you use? How much manual setting and how much automatic? I think there are 3 components: natural ability (e.g., composing the picture, what to include, etc.), technical knowledge (timing and exposure, lighting, etc.) and practice, practice, practice.

[Tamaracboy]

Great posts and pix, Greg!

I'd love to have been up there w/ you - but it's so much cheaper to stay here in the City and get the same cold/foggy weather....

(Actually looks a bit warmer up there)

...and I'm not seeing many opportunities for Drinking and Shopping!

 

Brian,

 

Long time no read, hope you've been at sea.

I really appreciate the old pics of the Sun.

Certainly remember the days of RV coming into SF

(I can even remember the Matson's & the various "fjord"s)

Believe me, I vastly prefer the SF Summers to July and August down here.

 

Stay cool,

r.

[Tamaracboy]

* * * * *

I think there are 3 components: natural ability (e.g., composing the picture, what to include, etc.), technical knowledge (timing and exposure, lighting, etc.) and practice, practice, practice.

 

Yes, those are important, but I think the Rev. obviously has some additional help not available to the laity :rolleyes:

 

r.

[RevNeal]

We're BACK!

It feels like it took forever for the ship to get back on the internet. We've had CNN since early this morning, but the entire first day of our 2-day crossing back to the European Mainland we've had no internet. They kept saying "any time now," but it didn't come back up until midnight ... and, even now, it's a horribly slow connection. But, I got the photos up, so now I'm sending up the text. It should take a bit, but I should have it up in a few minutes. Please be patient.

 

To the top of the ship, to the top of the world, now dash away, dash away, dash away all!

 

Monday and Tuesday we made our dash across the Norwegian sea / Arctic Ocean, above the Arctic Circle, for the Island grouping called Svalbard, the Island of Spitsbergen, and the city of Longyearbyen. The crossing was utterly uneventful; the seas were as smooth as glass, with little-to-no wave action at all and absolutely no sea swell. This surprised all of us, or we were expecting at least some degree of motion on this ocean, but it was as calm as cruising on a Lake or a sheltered inlet.

 

The sun never sets. That’s even more weird than having smooth seas. One expects that it won’t get dark, and at first that’s all we experienced as we cruised north of Iceland and North of the Arctic circle. This late in the year the line of demarcation between sun-up all the time and sun-down has moved above the Circle. Even as late as our first night at sea, heading north of Iceland, we were bellow it; while it didn’t get dark, the sun did disappear bellow the horizon for an hour or two. It was overcast, however, and that helped to diffuse the glow of what twightlight we received, meaning that the whole sky was lit. There was a bit of extra glow along the northern horizon, however, and it made made its way from west to east as the night progressed. In Iceland the sun would set around 11:50 pm and rise around 2:05. As we sailed northward the sun set later that first night, even later at the end of the first full sea day, and at the end of our second full sea day, just a couple hundred miles south of Lonyearbyen, it didn’t set at all. I remember going to bed at 1 am that evening after a superb dinner and an enjoyable show, followed by drinks in the Crow’s Nest, and the sun was blazing behind hazy clouds almost due north of the ship. I got up at 2:30 am to go to the bathroom, I opened the drapes and WHAM … hazy sunlight in my face. We spent most of our cruise north in intermittent fog, so the sunlight remained diffused somewhat for most of the time, but one could always tell where the sun was from the brighter patch of the fog that could be discerned in that general direction. However, sometimes the fog would lift, and one would have a clear view of a striking blue sky and a dazzling sun, bright and red, on the horizon.

 

Longyearbyen, on the island of Spitsbergen of the Svalbard group, is more-or-less what I expected … a remote commercial, research, recreational, and educational center. Far from ever being self-sufficient, this far-flung city of Norway, near the top of the planet, is a collection of pre-fabricated structures, wood framed buildings, metal compartments, warehouses, dormitories, apartments, mud streets, and hotels. It is a stark, rough existence, but one that the people here really seem to prefer. We talked to several men on our tour who had been living there, off-and-on, for 20+ years, and from what I can gather they really don’t want to live anywhere else. There isn’t much to sea in Longyearbyen. As the pictures show, it’s pretty much a bunch of buildings, with a grid-network of streets, some commercial interests, a university, high-priced commissary-style shopping, hotels … and not much else. This issued to be a coal mining town – it’s why it was originally settled – but today the only coal mined here is the small amount needed to fuel the city’s generator. Indeed, this is the only city in Norway that draws its power from a clean-burning, coal fed power planet. Given how easy it is to access the coal, it makes sense for them to continue to depend upon it for their power generation, even if they’re not longer exporting it for commercial purposes. No, the Longyearbyen today has only two basic industries that are of any note: scientific research and education on the one hand, and ecological and adventure tourism on the other hand. These two activities seem to work well together. I took one of only two formal tours that were offered in Longyearbyen, one which focused on a sled-dog camp, the polar-arctic museum at the university, and a short driving tour around the town. It was a worthwhile tour, for it took us way beyond the town, out to the very edge of the settlement zone, where we walked on the moss-covered rocks, over the permafrost, to meet the dogs and have their handlers explain both their historical and their current roll.

 

 

Once essential to life, these dogs are still important for those who still hunt polar seal as well as for “adventure and ecological tourists,” who wish to experience what it was like to explorer these regions a century and more ago. During the summer the ice pack retreats a short distance north of the islands, but for much of the year the ice extends down to surround the islands, making it possible for north-bound explorers to make their way across the cap toward the pole with sled dogs. While this doesn’t happen anymore, today there are adventure seekers and ecological tourists who wish to experience the harsh conditions without the aid of high technology or loud, powered snow scooters. The dog sleds, and the dogs, are ideal for showing what those days of exploration were like. If you’ve got the money, and want to endure the extreme weather, you too can travel north during the times of the year where the sun never rises. Not me! Today, in addition to the adventure tourists, some scientists prefer to travel from polar science station to science station with dogs rather than on powered snow scooters, and then there are those who want to hunt seal … the dogs and sleds are quiet, while scooters make a lot of noise. In short, the dogs still have their uses. They are well taken care of and protected from their own real predator … the Polar Bear (of which there are still plenty – over 3000 – on Svalbard).

 

 

The Museum contains both artifacts and informational displays pertaining to both the historic settlement of Longyearbyen and to the current-day life and work of the scientists and educators who work here. Climatological studies, as well as the biological impacts of same, are of principle interest here. It was instructive to have a student from the University as our tour guide. She gave a fantastic amount of information, not just about everyday life in Longyearbyen but also about the subject of Climate change, its science, its politics, and its hysteria. It’s a hot topic, I know, so I’ll not press it here; suffice it to say, it was very interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

All-in-all, Longyearbyen is both an interesting and an historic town to visit. There isn’t much to do or see compared with other “normal” stops that a cruise ship might make, but it was well worth the stop on our way to “The Top of the World.”

[RevNeal]

“80 Degrees”

 

On Thursday morning we woke up at 6 am with the ship slowing cruising into the Magdalenefjorden, which is on the far northwest tip of Spitsbergen in the aptly named “Northwest Spitsbergen National Park” on “Albert I Land.” The Fjord here is dominated by the sometimes-tidewater flows of the Lilliehook Glacier. We sat in this scenic, yet bitterly cold, fjord for about an hour and a half, the captain slowly rotating the ship and giving all sides a good view of the spectacular ice flows, before we sailed out into the open ocean and made our course due north toward the polar cap. It wasn’t a long trip … by 10:30 the captain was on the ship’s PA announcing that polar ice was in sight from the bridge and that we would be there by 11:30 am. And, indeed, it was quite an impressive site. Behind us, still visible on the horizon, were the craggy, ice-covered tips of Ny Friesland and Albert I. Land, where we had been just a couple of hours before. Ahead of us, stretching all the way across the northern horizon, was a band of white that grew ever larger as we approached. Off to our port was a large berg floating in the water just south of the thin polar ice shelf – our commentator, Frank, speculated that this had broken off from the Greenland ice shelf and floated eastward, to where it now would be frozen in and incorporated into the polar ice shelf as it continued to advance south.

 

 

 

 

Directly in front of the ship were thousands of little berg-lets or bergy-bits, littering the water between us and the polar ice shelf. Some of them were not so little … a few where down right huge by comparison, and more than a few had extensive sub-surface expansions that showed up on our forward-casting sonar. Indeed, so numerous were these bergy-bits and their hazardous underwater protrusions that the captain decided to not shove the pointy-end of the ship right up to the ice sheet, as is sometimes done on these approaches. Instead, he maneuvered us over and as close to the polar pack as we could safely come without risking damage to our hull. Here we sat for half an hour while passengers gathered on the upper/forward observation decks for photographs and gawking.

 

 

 

 

 

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[RevNeal]

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As I was saying … we had approached the polar ice cap and were sitting off of it, admiring its stark beauty.

 

 

Christopher took this photo of me, from where he was positioned on the deck just bellow mine. You can see Mary Ellen and Karl to my right.

 

Interesting how, from these photos and from satellite images, it would appear that not only is the polar ice cap still there – contrary to what some alarmists, back in the early 2000s, were saying to expect by 2010 – but that, if the reports from researchers at Spitsbergen are to be believed, the polar ice cap is actually no longer melting back more each year than the year before; rather, the expanse of 2+ year old ice in the polar cap appears to be increasing as the cap thickens on the edges, extends further south each winter, and retracts less in the summer.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, as many crew members as could gathered on the bow of the ship for a photo commemorating the 150th voyage of the Prinsendam, which this one is.

 

 

Regardless, it was still very impressive and, as we sat there, it was announced that we had reached 80 degrees 31.1023 minutes, North. However, the scan channel, photographed by a CCer friend just a couple of minutes later in their cabin, showed this:

 

 

Whatever the case may be, we were as far north as we could get this year: 569 nautical miles from the geographic north pole. To go closer we’d need either an ice breaker, a submarine, or an airplane. There are expedition/adventure companies that provide people with opportunities to actually make such trips to walk on the ice at the geographic north pole, but those cost a great deal of money. I’d rather spend my time and resources cruising, thank you very much. This will have to do.

 

By 1 pm, the captain had backed us off from the ice shelf and we were heading, very slowly, back south to Sptisbergen and our next port of call, Ny Alesund. But that wouldn’t be until another day … all the rest of the afternoon and the evening it was just like another day at sea aboard the Elegant Explorer, the ms Prinsendam.

[RevNeal]

Ny Alesund, a Research Outpost on a Glacier Bay at 79 degrees North

 

 

 

Ny Alesund is not only the farthest north incorporated and permanently inhabited town on the planet, it is also home to a robust scientific community focusing upon Marine Biology, Polar Studies, Astronomy, Solar research, and Climatology. It is situated in a bay that reminds one of Alaska’s amazing Glacier Bay National Park. Visiting here is not like any shore excursion you’ll go on in any major port.

 

 

 

There are no shore excursions, busses, or tours. There is a marked walk-path, streets to stick to, a store and a post office to visit and shop in … and about that’s it. On, yes, along the walking path there are plenty of information signs placed out to let you know what you’re looking at, but’s all. We tendered ashore in groups of 20 – 30, and all were encouraged to take their time and enjoy a leisurely (yes, really, a leisurely) hour-and-a-half walk around the town. Taking time for photos, to read the signage, and for rest stops, it didn’t take long to “see it all.” At one point I think they said there were 600 people ashore, and “nobody was coming back” – the tenders were returning mostly empty.

 

 

 

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