Circle Iceland with The Inside Cabin - 24 days on the NIeuw Statendam

[The-Inside-Cabin]

I will be posting about our 24 day adventure to Iceland, Greenland and Canada on the NIeuw Statendam.  As always more detail on my blog  www.the inside cabin.com 

 

Here's the latest from The Inside Cabin Circle Iceland: 24 days on Nieuw Statendam (Post #1) By The Inside Cabin on Aug 02, 2022 01:00 am Click "Show More Posts" to show all the links to the other posts for the 2022 Canada Greenland Iceland   Off to Boston for a 24-day cruise to Iceland Interactive Cruise Map Itinerary, Menus, When & Where and Entertainers Cruise Reference Items August 1st – San Diego to Boston Our cruise is a round trip from Boston that will circle Iceland with some stops in Greenland and Canada along the way.  Post #1 – Circle Iceland with The Inside Cabin Our flight left on time tonight and we are over Arizona heading to Boston for our 24 day Circle Iceland cruise – round trip from Boston.  After one night in the Hampton Boston Seaport, we will head over to the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal and board the ms Nieuw Statendam. This cruise has 17 port days and only 7 sea days. We will be joining a knitting group of about 50 people.  Knitting classes will be held on sea days.  More about that in the days to come. Getting your bags packed and hoping that your flight is on time used to be the source of most last-minute cruise stress.  Where have those simpler days gone? Now you have to get the mandatory last minute COVID test, holding your breath until you open the email with the words NEGATIVE in all the right places.  Then you need to navigate several apps; ARRIVE CAN, VERIFLY, NAVIGATOR.  Not too hard, but if you don’t have a smartphone, iPad/iPod or similar your experience will be much more difficult. Our challenge today was to get a NEGATIVE COVID test.  We ended up getting three COVID tests, but only one official email with a NEGATIVE result acceptable to Holland America. Here’s what happened. There are plenty of free COVID tests available in San Diego County.  Our first test was at the Chula Vista City Hall.  There was no line and this was advertised as a Rapid Antigen test, with results via email in a few hours.  Great! After we arrived, we learned that the website was incorrect and they only had PCR tests, with results in 1-2 days.  Ok – that won’t work as we didn’t want to fly to Boston only to learn we were positive.  The helpful staff at city hall directed us to the Chula Vista South Library where we could get a Rapid Antigen test. Once we arrived at the library I verified that I could get results quickly – they said I would get written results in 20 minutes and an email a few days later – Great!  We get our test. Twenty minutes later we are handled a small, form with our name handprinted and the “Negative” block circled.  I uploaded this to Verifly and it was promptly rejected – No handwritten test results are acceptable.  The staff said they would try and expedite the email results, but they didn’t sound very optimistic.  12 Hours later – still no results.  On to my 3rd option:  LHI aka Optum health offered free COVID tests, and I made a back up appointment for 1 PM. After a 45-minute wait in line for the test, we were swabbed and got our NEGATIVE email result 50 minutes later.  Good to go!  I have an emed proctored kit ready to go, but that is always my last resort and I save it for a situation where this is my only option. Back home we finished packing and did our COVID DOC DANCE on our Condo deck. I plan to post daily – but with a little less detail than usual as I don’t want to fall behind.  After the cruise I will go back and fill in some more detail so those who are using these posts for future planning will find more information. Here is our itinerary  – off to the right, you will find blocks where you can click to see a cruise map, a itinerary with the menus, entertainers and other information. Nice Itinerary – but very port intensive!  This is our first time visiting Greenland and Iceland – Please leave a comment about what food we should try and what we shouldn’t miss.

[Sea Viewer]

Looking forward to following you on this trip. 

[kplady]

Looking forward to meeting you on this trip!

Laura (and Bill)

[cat shepard]

Bon voyage & enjoy yourselves!

[fsdj1097]

Thanks for allowing us to follow along Pete!  We had originally booked this cruise, but ended up cancelling and decided to do another land trip to Iceland instead.  DW and I lived in Iceland in 1973, when I was attached to NAV STA Keflavik.  You'll fall in love with Iceland.  We've had the pleasure of returning to Iceland in 2018 and 2019.....then you know what happened after that.  We're arriving in Reykjavik on August 27th and spending 14 days travelling around the country.

You mentioned what foods to try on this trip, and we love the fish, lamb, and cheese in Iceland.  But, it you want to really step out on a limb, try the hakarl....it's fermented Greenland shark.  You can find it almost anywhere....and it's mostly tourists that try it......ONCE!  Good luck on trip.....fair winds and following seas!

Edited August 2, 2022 by fsdj1097

[cunnorl]

Looking forward to following. We are booked for this one in 2023. Have a great trip! Stay well.

[doone]

Have a wonderful time, I will be reading along here with everyone else as you post.  Please let us know how you both do 24 days in an inside cabin.....................I have been in inside cabins for cruises, and I don't mind them, but 24 days, not sure.....will be curious on your experience.  Bon Voyage.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

1 hour ago, kplady said:

Looking forward to meeting you on this trip!

Laura (and Bill)

We will be near the sea view bar during sailaway and at the Tuxedo Junction on gala nights at 7pm.  Ocean Bar

[The-Inside-Cabin]

2 minutes ago, doone said:

Have a wonderful time, I will be reading along here with everyone else as you post.  Please let us know how you both do 24 days in an inside cabin.....................I have been in inside cabins for cruises, and I don't mind them, but 24 days, not sure.....will be curious on your experience.  Bon Voyage.

The inside cabin is my screen name from when I used to sail in inside cabins in my navy days.   Now we are usually in verandah s

 

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

1 hour ago, fsdj1097 said:

Thanks for allowing us to follow along Pete!  We had originally booked this cruise, but ended up cancelling and decided to do another land trip to Iceland instead.  DW and I lived in Iceland in 1973, when I was attached to NAV STA Keflavik.  You'll fall in love with Iceland.  We've had the pleasure of returning to Iceland in 2018 and 2019.....then you know what happened after that.  We're arriving in Reykjavik on August 27th and spending 14 days travelling around the country.

You mentioned what foods to try on this trip, and we love the fish, lamb, and cheese in Iceland.  But, it you want to really step out on a limb, try the hakarl....it's fermented Greenland shark.  You can find it almost anywhere....and it's mostly tourists that try it......ONCE!  Good luck on trip.....fair winds and following seas!

Thanks - we will have to give it a try! 

[Hygge!]

Safe travels. That would be a good trip to get out of the heat. 

[doone]

1 hour ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

The inside cabin is my screen name from when I used to sail in inside cabins in my navy days.   Now we are usually in verandah s

 

 

Aaaahhhh gotcha, enjoy

[sandiego1]

Just missed you in Boston. We are at Logan waiting for our flight back to SD.

[LuvsACruise]

Pete and Judy! We will just miss you in Boston...coming in at 6pm on the 26th for the Boston to Quebec to Boston on the 27th on the NS! Will follow along, especially for the ports we will be going to the next week.

Thanks so much for posting your adventures!

[maryandmarge]

My sister and I are doing a similar trip - 25 days -  July 29th, 2023 on the Zaandam so following along to get lots of good ideas on what we should do.     Safe travels and have lots of fun.

Maryell

[Love the beach]

Bon Voyage! Looking forward to following along....

[MissMap]

Bon Voyage, Pete & Judy!   I have really enjoy following your cruise blog over the years.  Thank you for taking the time and expense to blog as it lets cruise addicts like me that are mostly dry-docked, vicariously cruise along with you.

 

Enjoy and Safe Travels!
 

P.S. Happy knitting, Judy!  I love to see the photos of your projects and yarn shop discoveries.  😊

[Florida_gal_50]

I’d rather pay for a covid test than run from place to place but I guess if you aren’t working it’s easier and you have lots of time to do things like that.  Looking forward to reading all about the cruise.  I’d love to do it some day.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

48 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I’d rather pay for a covid test than run from place to place but I guess if you aren’t working it’s easier and you have lots of time to do things like that.  Looking forward to reading all about the cruise.  I’d love to do it some day.

I now know which is the most reliable place - no more running!

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Click "Show More Posts" to show all the links to the other posts for the 2022 Canada Greenland Iceland

Show More Posts

 

We enjoyed a Lobster Roll from the Yankee Lobster Company on a lazy day in Boston

Interactive Cruise Map

Itinerary, Menus, When & Where and Entertainers

Cruise Reference Items

Our 5 ½ hour non-stop flight from San Diego landed at Boston Logan about 30 minutes early, about 7 am.  Our luggage arrived quickly and using 2 of the $6 each luggage carts we wheeled our bags out of the terminal to meet our prearranged driver.  Drivers are not allowed into baggage claim, so you have to be ready to move your own bags about 200 yards, across a couple of lanes of traffic to get to the waiting spot for pre-arranged commercial pick-ups.  There are plenty of signs marking the way.  We didn’t spot any skycaps available to help with bags.

We are staying at the Hampton Inn Boston Seaport which is about 4 miles from the Airport and about 4/10 of a mile from the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal.

Arriving at 8:15 am we anticipated waiting in the lobby until the 3 pm check-in time, but we were pleasantly surprised to learn that our room was available and we went to our room to relax.

After a leisurely breakfast in the lobby, we walked over to the cruise terminal to get a feel for the area before the busy check-in tomorrow.

The cruise terminal is called the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal and occasionally the Flynn Cruise Terminal – These are the same as there is only one cruise terminal in Boston.

Note:  Our check-in time is 11:40 am.  But Holland America has lost all its credibility with the check-in process because you will get a VERY IMPORTANT email with a different check-in time every few days in the weeks leading up to your departure time.  These emails often have conflicting messages and times.  We’ll see what happens tomorrow.  There was also an email saying the earliest check-in was going to be 1:30 pm due to a Coast Guard Inspection, but then we got more emails with yet a different check-in time.

We took a nap in the afternoon before heading out to the nearby Yankee Lobster Company for dinner.  We enjoyed a Lobster Roll, Fish and Chips, and some crab cakes.  All the food was very good.  Seating was both inside and outside.

The Yankee Lobster Company is about 4/10 of a mile from the Hampton Inn. Our cruise group – from L-R, Brad, Cindy, Pete and Judy

Norah Jones was scheduled to perform at 8 PM at the adjacent Leader Bank Pavilion, so the restaurant was probably more crowded than normal for a Tuesday evening.

Back in our room, we are getting everything ready for the big day tomorrow.

Coming tomorrow – The drink-a-day challenge!

 

 

 

This entry was posted in 2022 Canada Greenland Iceland, Boston, Massachusetts, North America, USA

[doone]

Aaaaahhhhh nice lobster roll in Boston, it looked delicious.............................

[The-Inside-Cabin]

1 hour ago, doone said:

Aaaaahhhhh nice lobster roll in Boston, it looked delicious.............................

$35 for the lobster roll.  They had 3 kinds.   Traditional- butter and fried.    I got the traditional 

[triiip42]

We are  on the NS on Aug 27th. and booked at the Hampton. Who did you use to get from the airport to the hotel?

On embarkation our intention, if weather cooperates, is to walk with our luggage to the terminal, is that doable there?

[doone]

1 hour ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

$35 for the lobster roll.  They had 3 kinds.   Traditional- butter and fried.    I got the traditional 

Unfortunately lobster prices have increased significantly as well as everything else, but sometimes you just want what you want regardless.  Glad you enjoyed and the traditional is the best IMHO although I'd like to try the fried one day.

Edited August 3, 2022 by doone

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Check in is in progress.   Big lines.   Of course we are in terminal 1 - furthest from Hampton. 
 

 

crew check in at terminal 2 area. 

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by The-Inside-Cabin