Btimmer's Almost Live Nieuw Statendam Canada, Greenland, Iceland Trip - 8/3-27/22

[woodinville cruisers]

I look forward to hearing about the ports and recommendations that you might have.

Mary

[Tonid5]

I am looking forward to hearing about Iceland. We have paid deposit for next year for this ship. Itinerary, Copenhagen, Norway, Iceland and Scotland. Interested in excursions not booked through HAL because of cost. A bit nervous yet about COVID testing etc, hope it lifts by next year. We have done 2 Alaska cruises with HAL

[Btimmer]

ArrivCan completed.  Check.

Checked in for flight.  Check

PCR Covid Test - Still Open

Verifly - Still to finish after Covid test.

 

We think we'll use our free day on Tuesday to walk the Freedom Trail or just hang out on the waterfront near the Long Pier.  Heat will be the determining factor.  Our hotel, Hilton Boston Downtown Faneuil has lots of historical sites around it and we've been to Boston before on several occasions. 

 

I also checked into the water taxi for both reaching the hotel after our flight and reserving it for disembarkation when we return.  For us it just doesn't price out. Coming from Logan, it's $15/pp and we have to walk a mile to the hotel.  For the same money, an UBER can drop us off at the front door of the hotel.  For the disembarkation, it's $50 / person for the cruise ship special, but we don't need luggage storage, just a ride to the bus stop on the Logan airport side.  So I'm currently thinking an Uber ride will be in order so we can disembark early and get to Logan for an 11:30am flight.

[rkacruiser]

22 hours ago, Btimmer said:

Greenland,

 

Looking forward to your reports!  I don't recall which port I visited in Greenland, but, one tour that was offered (and could be done on one's own, I think) was a native presentation, folk dances, and coffee or tea and cake program that was at the local community hall.  It was an excellent experience.  

[rkacruiser]

22 hours ago, Btimmer said:

Greenland,

 

Looking forward to your reports!  I don't recall which port I visited in Greenland, but, one tour that was offered (and could be done on one's own, I think) was a native presentation, folk dances, and coffee or tea and cake program that was at the local community hall.  It was an excellent experience.  

[Btimmer]

Check and double check your booking!

 

I printed out our luggage tags and discovered we were moved to a different room with a category upgrade.  We're now in cabin 6193, Category K.  There was no other notification.

 

[0106]

Did you have a guaranteed cabin?

[Btimmer]

Just now, 0106 said:

Did you have a guaranteed cabin?

No, we had an assigned cabin # with a notation for no upgrades.  We're okay with the change even though we liked the aft interior cabin on deck 5.

[Btimmer]

We passed our Covid tests (emed.com) and are now on our flight to Boston.

What's interesting is that Alaska Airlines notified us there would be no internet on the flight, but we've got it with our T-M plan.

[Btimmer]

Verifly completed using the Airplane WiFi.  Check!  Ready to board in a couple of days.

[quilty964]

• Enjoy your trip, I look forward to your reports! 

[Traveling Library]

We will see you onboard. Safe travels and enjoy your day in Boston.

 

[Btimmer]

We had a wonderful afternoon and evening on our first day in Boston.  After deplaning and collecting our luggage we walked the labyrinth to the Uber pickup point and our prompt and friendly driver whisked us to the Downtown Hilton. We checked in and left our luggage in the room and immediately left to find the nearby Quincy Market.  
 

It was filled with all sorts of food venues and after a walk around the immediate harbor area we settled on a dinner of jumbo shrimp and a crab salad ($60).

 

We then took a Summer Nights trolley tour to gain an understanding of the area.  That led to me booking tickets to a new theater production about an artist I really like.  In a post tomorrow I'll disclose the artist and the musical title.  It's going to be good! For today I'll leave you with a few pictures from this afternoon.

 

Our room

A duck house raided by a goose 

 

The other end of I-90 from Seattle

 

Dinner

 

Boston Garden & scenic bridge

 

MIT sculpture 

 

 

Scenic archway

[BetsyS.]

1 hour ago, Btimmer said:

We had a wonderful afternoon and evening on our first day in Boston.  After deplaning and collecting our luggage we walked the labyrinth to the Uber pickup point and our prompt and friendly driver whisked us to the Downtown Hilton. We checked in and left our luggage in the room and immediately left to find the nearby Quincy Market.  
 

It was filled with all sorts of food venues and after a walk around the immediate harbor area we settled on a dinner of jumbo shrimp and a crab salad ($60).

 

We then took a Summer Nights trolley tour to gain an understanding of the area.  That led to me booking tickets to a new theater production about an artist I really like.  In a post tomorrow I'll disclose the artist and the musical title.  It's going to be good! For today I'll leave you with a few pictures from this afternoon.

 

Our room

A duck house raided by a goose 

 

The other end of I-90 from Seattle

 

Dinner

 

Boston Garden & scenic bridge

 

MIT sculpture 

 

 

Scenic archway

Thanks so much for posting the beautiful pictures! Glad you had a great day.

[willoL]

14 hours ago, Btimmer said:

...me booking tickets to a new theater production about an artist I really like...

 

Is it the show playing at the Emerson? I was curious about that production, so can't wait to hear if you enjoy it.

I've never seen the Zakim Bridge from that angle before. It took me a second to figure out what I was looking at. 🙂

[Btimmer]

1 hour ago, willoL said:

 

Is it the show playing at the Emerson? I was curious about that production, so can't wait to hear if you enjoy it.

I've never seen the Zakim Bridge from that angle before. It took me a second to figure out what I was looking at. 🙂

Yes.  I'll post my thoughts after seeing it.

[guy+doll]

"Enjoy your cruise" is difficult to say to all the folks on the Aug. 3rd roll call, because I want to go too! But I am so happy that I found your "Almost Live Trip to Iceland". Now I can "tag along" with you guys!

[maryandmarge]

Tim - Looking forward to following along as we are on a similar trip next year on Zaandam - 25 days - July 29, 2023.     Always watching for cc suggestions for make a cruise even better.     I followed your Alaska cruise with your wife and young grand daughter - you both were so blessed to be able to spend that quality time together.   They grow up so quick and then have lives of their own.

I hope you have great weather - meet lots of new cc members - and enjoy your trip.  Stay safe and healthy!  

Maryell 

[Btimmer]

The Kingston Trio's song about Charlie still riding the MTA became reality for us today.  We hopped on the MTA and rode it with a transfer to SouthBay to find a replacement fitness tracker as my Garmin Vivofit 4 quit keeping time but it still tracks steps.  After successfully finding an inexpensive replacement, we decided to rejoin Charlie and make our way to Bunker Hill which involved two more trains.

From the community college stop we hiked up the hill to the monument before hiking the Freedom Trail in the 90°f heat down to the Naval Shipyard to visit the USS Constitution.  Its was then a long walk in the heat back to our hotel to cool down before we leave for something very cool tonight.  Here's a few pictures from today. It was a bit over 6 miles.

 

Bobby Orr

[maggieq]

Thank you for doing this live review. It sounds like a terrific itinerary. Is your cruise sold out ?

[kazu]

On 7/30/2022 at 10:37 PM, kplady said:

I'll probably not be able to follow along, since we'll be on the cruise with you!  I'll read it all when we get home.

 

Lovely 🙂.  Have a great cruise and a WONDERFUL time

 

 

On 7/30/2022 at 11:42 PM, Bookited said:

Taking our proctored covid test at 0 dark thirty before our flight out Monday morning. Have enjoyed your almost live posts before and looking forward to meeting you maybe under the stars.

 

Hope you have a great time June and Ed 🤞 Looking forward to seeing you again in November.  Have a great time on this one.

 

On 7/30/2022 at 9:45 PM, Btimmer said:

We're off again to cruise on the Nieuw Statendam from Boston to Canada, Greenland, and Iceland and return to Boston for most of the month of August.  These ports are all new to us and we're once again really looking forward to this trip. We have a few shore excursions booked, but primarily we want to walk and visit the local ports we stop at.

 

 

Thank you for your LIVE thread.  I hope you have a fabulous time.  

I have a dear friend on this cruise who doesn’t post so looking forward to hearing about i and a pile of other friends on CC.

 

Hope you all have a fabulous time on board.

 

 

[Btimmer]

27 minutes ago, maggieq said:

Thank you for doing this live review. It sounds like a terrific itinerary. Is your cruise sold out ?

I won't know for a few days, but when I do I'll post about it.

[Florida_gal_50]

22 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

I won't know for a few days, but when I do I'll post about it.

According to another cruise website it is sold out.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.  About a year ago I priced this out and it was very high.  Just for giggles I would check from time to time and it never went down and it appeared to be heavily booked.  It turned out for the best because of a recent change I never would have been able to be gone this long.

[Btimmer]

Tonight we treated ourselves to a musical theater performance of "A Beautiful Noise" featuring the music of Neil Diamond.  6 more performances here and it opens on Broadway in November.

Run don't walk to see this if you have any interest in Neil Diamond's music. Over 30 songs in it! We've seen him in concert, and this rivals those concerts.
 

 

[Btimmer]

1 hour ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

According to another cruise website it is sold out.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.  About a year ago I priced this out and it was very high.  Just for giggles I would check from time to time and it never went down and it appeared to be heavily booked.  It turned out for the best because of a recent change I never would have been able to be gone this long.

After we originally booked it, I cancelled that booking and booked an inside cabin saving over $8k.