Holland America Rotterdam 35 nights British Isles cruise out of Boston July 20, 2016

[bettty45]

We are considering this cruise and would like to hear from anyone that has input on the ship or ports. We are retired professionals now living in Phoenix. We have sailed on HAL but never to any of these ports or for this long a journey. This looks like a great round trip cruise. Thanks for your comments Beth

 

 

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[Barrheadlass]

I'm sailing on the Rotterdam on July 20, but it is not a British isles cruise, it is the Voyage of the Vikings. It is a 35 day round trip Boston cruise however. ( or 1/2 the round trip, which is what I'm doing...).

Edited January 21, 2016 by Barrheadlass

[serendipity1499]

We are considering this cruise and would like to hear from anyone that has input on the ship or ports. We are retired professionals now living in Phoenix. We have sailed on HAL but never to any of these ports or for this long a journey. This looks like a great round trip cruise. Thanks for your comments Beth

 

 

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This is the annual "Voyage of the Vikings" cruise which has been on my bucket list for several years.. The ports are not always the same.. It's a very popular cruise.. Several great reviews:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2253713&highlight=voyage+of+the+vikings

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2261840&highlight=voyage+of+the+vikings

 

In the Search engine put in "Voyage of the Vikings" & lots more threads will come up from other posters...

 

We tried to book it several years ago in January & it was already full.. You have to book early for this cruise..

Edited January 21, 2016 by serendipity1499

[3rdGenCunarder]

I would love to do this, but 35 days is too long to be away. We've been to some of your ports.

 

Bar Harbor is a nice town for strolling around. Lots of cute shops. If timing is right, you can walk out to Bar Island at low tide. Just make sure you know when the tide is changing. You can take a tour into Acadia national park, which is lovely. Find somewhere to have lobster roll!!! And check out the ice cream store where you can get lobster ice cream.

 

Sydney NS doesn't have a lot in the town. Popular excursions go to Fortress Louisbourg, a restored/rebuilt fort and town that shifted from French to English to French, etc as "spoils of wars." Nice restoration with character interpreters. The other excursion we've taken is to Baddeck, where Alexander Graham Bell had his summer home. You don't go to the home, but there's a good museum about him and about local history. He was into a lot more than inventing telephones. We did "Baddeck on your own" rather than the tour that included lunch. It gave us more time to wander (and check out local ice cream shops!) and see the museum at our leisure.

 

We did a land tour of Iceland a few years ago, and we loved it! There's so much to see in Reykjavik. Depending on your interests, there are several museums and historic sites. There's the maritime museum, an archaeology museum (preserving the foundations of a house that dates to the founding of Rekjavik), a large modern church with a design meant to represent the basalt columns of Iceland's volcanic rocks. If you're looking for an Icelandic sweater, the prices are pretty much the same everywhere, it's just a matter of finding the one you like best. There are a couple of stores with mountains of sweaters. (I found the one that said "me" in Akureyri, not Rekjjavk, but I enjoyed looked)

 

Outside of the city, you can take tours to waterfalls and a geyser, and even walk along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (a must for geology buffs, it's where two tectonic plates meet). Or you can to to one of the hot spring spas, but be warned, they smell of sulfur.

 

Alesund is lovely. We just walked around the town--great art nouveau architecture--and went to a museum in the AM. IN the afternoon, we hiked to the top of the mountain that overlooks the city. There's a little tram ride that will take you up to the top. If you want to do that, buy tickets early. They were sold out when we tried to buy the tickets, which is why we climbed a bazillion steps--totally worth it for the view of our ship.

 

Akureyri is the second-largest city in Iceland. We did some local museums. You might be able to book a whale-watch tour from here. We did ours out of a town in the next fjord over. Akureyri also has a modern church. For years they thought one of their stained glass windows had come from Coventry Cathedral, but it turns out it didn't.

 

Halifax NS is great. The ship docks near a farm market that's fun to walk through. Walk along the harbor to the maritime museum which is excellent. And there are tours out to Peggy's Cove and other scenic places. And eat lobster!

[bettty45]

Thanks for all the info!!! We appreciate you taking the time to share

 

 

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