Jim_Iain - Summit Live Post B3B Greenland / Iceland / Canada Aug 7, 19 and 31, 2022

[Smileyatsea]

3 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

How exciting.   We have not been on Apex yet but will be sailing her in May of 2023.  She looks like a beautiful ship.

 

Which sailing will you be on?  We are on Apex on the May 25 sailing.

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, packerpegster said:

We will be on board with you this Sunday!  Looking forward to your postings !

this will be an exciting trip!  

 

I can't wait. 

 

We are flying in a day early just to make sure there are no airline hick ups.  Haven't yet decided if we are going to go into NYC on Saturday or possibly take the train to Philly. 

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, Gatordad1967 said:

when I die, I want to come back as your suitcase, lol.... enjoy.

 

I'm not sure of that.   We usually use a very OLD Canvas Samsonite Suite Bag.   It's incredible and can hold more than a standard suite case.   I just have to keep her  under 50 pounds.   No wheels so I bring along a travel dolly.

 

At least the rest of our stuff fits in a 4 wheeled suitcase.  

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

Jim, if you can connect with Kevin, you will be fortunate.  When we did the Canada/New England cruise, he and his wife took us on a wonderful tour of PEI.  Both he and his wife are natives and we learned a lot from them.

Linda

 

I'm excited about the Canadian cruise.   When I was about 14, my parents took us on a vacation with a house trailer -  We visited Nova Scotia as well as Prince Edwards Islands.  My sister and I were chatting  about it yesterday on the phone.   We also stopped in Quebec City.    I hoped to repeat a very memorable dinner at the Le Chateau Fronenac but was unable to get a reservation.  

 

Having finger bowls presented  before dinner has been in my memory ever since.

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

Fingers crossed that this works for you!  Don't drink up all the non-alcoholic champagne as I am also boarding in October for a B2B.  😁

 

I'll try to have some saved for you. 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, garyl62 said:

Looking forward to following along with you and as many have said, hoping you will have an uneventful time on all 3 legs!  What type of cabin do you have and is it the same for all 3?

Gary -  These have been tough cruises to book.   So many of the passengers have had the Greenland/Iceland cruise 2 years in a row so the ship has been almost sold out for a full year.   

 

Initially I was only able to get Concierge Cabins and was wait-listed for Aqua.   I finally got them all in Aqua and in the past 3 months got the first 2 in Sky Suites and the 3rd in a CS.  Unfortunately we have different rooms for each segment,  but happy to have been able to get the cabins we have.  

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, Beachlover1989 said:

So excited to follow along on your live report!  They're always enjoyable and informational!  We were supposed to be on your Reykjavik to Boston leg before our son decided to get married, so now we're going next year.

 

I guess it was out of the question to tell your new Daughter in Law that she needed to switch her wedding date.  LOL.....  Maybe you could have convinced her if you bribed her with  a cruise and a wedding at sea.

 

Hopefully by next year this whole Covid thing will have either disappeared or become a way of life like the flu.

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, DUTRAVEL said:

Henrietta and I will be following along. Hopefully, you will have an uneventful B3B. We are looking forward to our Alaska cruise next month - haven’t sailed since our cruise with you on Millennium last October. Have a great time. 
 

Dianne

 

Glad you will be along Dianne -  Have you taught  Henrietta to read to you yet or are you going to read to her.   LOL.    Really would love to see you both again. 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, FLCruiser97 said:

Here we go again on a Jim_Iain adventure. I'm getting excited for you guys.

Hey Jim, I'm anxious to get your take on Greenland and Iceland. You know the saying, "Greenland is icy and Iceland is green". Let me know if that's true. When I was a flight attendant (way back when) our airline flew into Iceland but I never got a chance to get one of those trips. Gonna be vicariously living through you guys for the next few weeks.

I sure will.   I believe your description may be spot on.    Been warned to bring bug net has and plenty of mosquito spray with us.  

 

You reminded me I was in Greenland once.    I use to do a lot of Air Charter work and was flying jump seat on a DC3 freighter.   We had to do a fuel stop in Greenland.   Wasn't much to see stomping around the plane on the tarmac.  All I saw was snow.   Was more interesting from the air.

[bluwes]

6 hours ago, FRMPEI said:

Congrats! Always love reading. Will Summit be visiting Charlottetown? To lazy to look up myself. Hoping to be first to post.

 

Regards,

Kevin reid

Hi Kevin, I’m sure we were on the Summit Independence sailing with you back in 2018.

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, sdnich said:

What a great trip planned ! I look forward to following along also ! We will be on our first Canada cruise on the Summit Sept .21 and look forward to hear what you have planned for those ports.

I have a number of tours on the Canadian portion planned.   In Montreal I booked a guide from Tours by Locals about 6 months ago.  I think I have a combination of CC member tours and Ships tours.

[Jeaannie55]

Hello, I have never replied on one of your posts before, but I love reading your blogs and will (hopefully, depending on internet) be following along, as we leave on Saturday 6th for a trip to Canada, before we sail on the Millennium out of Vancouver to Alaska.

I visited Iceland for a land trip a few years back, in January, everything was white with snow! absolutely loved the country and always said would love to go back in the summer.  Be very interesting to hear your experiences. Safe travels! 

 

[bluwes]

6 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

8/3/2022

 

I wanted to say that all are welcome and I really enjoy when others either on the cruise jump in and help out answering questions as well as recommendations.   The Cruise Critic family has become very important to me and it never amazes me what I learn from fellow members. 

 

Thanks for being her for me and I hope I can give back as much as I receive.

Back following you guys.

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, WonderMan3 said:

Good luck! We have our first B3B booked for next May on Constellation.

 

Do you know if they have gotten rid of the testing for B2Bs? I have read conflicting reports on here so not sure where it currently stands.

 

We just recovered from our 2 minor infection with this nasty Covid so hopefully have some good immunity built up.   We also got our 4th Booster 3 weeks ago.    We have a COR but were told we still need to do B2B testing but the COR would cover us if we tested positive. 

 

I think the testing is done to meet Canadian requirements that all passengers must be tested prior to departure.

[Ken the cruiser]

11 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Gary -  These have been tough cruises to book.   So many of the passengers have had the Greenland/Iceland cruise 2 years in a row so the ship has been almost sold out for a full year.   

 

Initially I was only able to get Concierge Cabins and was wait-listed for Aqua.   I finally got them all in Aqua and in the past 3 months got the first 2 in Sky Suites and the 3rd in a CS.  Unfortunately we have different rooms for each segment,  but happy to have been able to get the cabins we have.  

Jim, glad you were able to upgrade your cabins to suites! This is going to be a great cruise!! 

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, LGW59 said:

You may be in for a rare sight, an active volcano just erupted 20 miles southwest of Reykjavik.

 

 

Should be interesting.   I wished we had the opportunity to see the lava flows but we really have a short stop over on turn around.   I think we set sail at 4:00 and have to be back around 2:30 (hoping to get an extension to 3:00)

 

[DUTRAVEL]

15 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Glad you will be along Dianne -  Have you taught  Henrietta to read to you yet or are you going to read to her.   LOL.    Really would love to see you both again. 

I defintely read to her (she thinks she does enough for me already without having to read to me too)! Darn - we are on the wrong Apex TA - we are on the fall 2023 sailing. Maybe 2024?

[Jim_Iain]

59 minutes ago, Smileyatsea said:

 

Which sailing will you be on?  We are on Apex on the May 25 sailing.

Had to peek at my Signature -  We will probably be getting off as you board. 

 

Apex 4/15/2023 -7 Night Key West, Beliz and Grand Caymen

Apex 4/22/2023 - 15 Night Western Europe TransAtlantic 
Apex 5/15/2023 - 11 Night British Isle Cruise

[Jim_Iain]

Welcome and thank you for taking the time to post.   Please come back and post often.   We usually have a lot of fun and all are more than welcome.    I'm hoping that Joni @GeorgiaPeach51 will pop in.   She keeps a really good list of books that people recommend.    I have about 50 of them loaded on my phone as Audio Books right time.  

[Jim_Iain]

21 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Jim, glad you were able to upgrade your cabins to suites! This is going to be a great cruise!! 

I would have been happy with Aqua but it is nice to be in a Suite and have access to Retreat.   I just can't wait to get aboard.  We will have a lot of sea days and hoping the weather cooperates.

[Arizona Wildcat]

18 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Should be interesting.   I wished we had the opportunity to see the lava flows but we really have a short stop over on turn around.   I think we set sail at 4:00 and have to be back around 2:30 (hoping to get an extension to 3:00)

 

You cannot see any of the Lava flows near Reykjavik unless in a helicopter.   They have closed the airspace and are not allowing anyone to hike into the area.  Area is all Lava flows.  Some of them from last year that are still hot.

The Iceland Public owned TV has good pictures and there should be good ones when it gets a bit darker.

[Ken the cruiser]

 

23 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I would have been happy with Aqua but it is nice to be in a Suite and have access to Retreat.   I just can't wait to get aboard.  We will have a lot of sea days and hoping the weather cooperates.

We’ll be in an Aqua cabin and have to say we are looking forward to checking out those steam rooms on some of those forecasted chilly days! Also looking forward to the Aqua walk-in showers. When we were recently in a S1 cabin on the Constellation, I swore the tub walls were 24” to climb over to take a shower! 😁

Edited August 3, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

14 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

You cannot see any of the Lava flows near Reykjavik unless in a helicopter.   They have closed the airspace and are not allowing anyone to hike into the area.  Area is all Lava flows.  Some of them from last year that are still hot.

The Iceland Public owned TV has good pictures and there should be good ones when it gets a bit darker.

Here’s a live link regarding the volcano. Pretty cool!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihTaTv-24aU

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Arzeena]

FOLLOWING FOLLOWING FOLLOWING!

So excited to b following another Jim and Ian sail. Wish you the best and a very healthy cruise. Thank you for taking us along. Bon Voyage!
 

My friend is returning from her Iceland/Greenland cruise on Thursday. She is not a reviewer and person of few words, so I can never find out the fun facts. She mentioned it was freezing cold. Just an FYI to pack some warms.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Arzeena

[mhoffrob]

30 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I would have been happy with Aqua but it is nice to be in a Suite and have access to Retreat.   I just can't wait to get aboard.  We will have a lot of sea days and hoping the weather cooperates.

Jim, have you gotten a library card and installed Libby or Hoopla or CloudLIbrary in preparation for this trip?