Greenland tours

[wyoming12]

We are going to Greenland in September.  I have been trying to book tours for Nanortalik and Qaqortoq.  I can't seem to get any tour groups to respond.  The one that did said they aren't working this coming year.  Does anyone know of a tour group to contact ? The ship Royal Caribbean has limited tours too- none in Nanortalik.

 

[njhorseman]

33 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

 

Lets get you over to the Northern Europe board, where Greenland is covered:

FYI there's a new Iceland and Greenland board

[CruiserBruce]

6 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

FYI there's a new Iceland and Greenland board

Good catch...I hadn't seen that!

[edinburgher]

On 2/9/2024 at 7:24 PM, wyoming12 said:

The one that did said they aren't working this coming year.  Does anyone know of a tour group to contact ? The ship Royal Caribbean has limited tours too- none in Nanortalik.

Looking at the question you asked, I am unsure how much knowledge of Greenland you have from your internet searching or guide book reading, or whether you are only looking at shorex for info or basing your question on past cruising experience in other countries greenland is a country like no other and many things will be different from what you are used to. The icebergs are the biggest difference and beautiful they are.

 

The reason for either no shorex or very few, is because most towns and villages/settlements in Greenland are not connected by road, and the main transport options are by small plane/helicopter or by sea, eg kayak. (And skidoos in winter)  And my understanding of public transport is that there is either very little or none at all. I think Nuuk may be the only town with any sort of public bus service  or one of a very few as we did see one public bus there on the road which connects the working port where we were docked, and the historic harbour on the opposite side of town. We saw no indications of public buses in any of our other ports,including bo bus stops, nor taxis, again a probable low number of customers means there is too little business to operate, and where would they go anyway?

 

As for private coaches and tour guides and drivers, I think the majority of Greenlandic towns/settlements would not have enough business to support tourism in that way. 

if you can find a tour and book it, so much the better, but the reality is that your onshore sightseeing will be mootly on foot in the town where you are docked or tendered.

 

The town of Nanortalik used to put on different displays and events for cruise pax, but that was pre-Covid and you would need to check with any Tourist Info Office there if they still offer these.  The choir in the church was just lovely to listen to.

 

As for Qaqortoq, it is easily explored on foot and there is a trail you can follow looking for the "Stone and Man carvings. Before planning a walk around the lake, do read the warnings in past threads.

 

in addition to the usual tourist info websites, Youtube could also be a source of info.You might also find it helpful to read past reviews written by others who visited, and  threads on both your ports  if you have not already searched for and read them.  Here are a few to get you started.

 

Qaqortoq.

 

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=Qaqortoq.&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=2705

 

 

Nanortalik

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=nanortalik&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=2705

 

I do hope your ship can sail the stunningly beautiful Prins Christian Sund for a scenic sailing day. Weather and the size of your ship will determine if it will be passable or not as ships cannot turn around and it must be clear of icebergs at both ends before a ship can enter. 

Edited February 11 by edinburgher

[edinburgher]

Apologies for a small number of typos which I was too late to edit in my post directly above..

[wyoming12]

Thank you for the information. I appreciate your response.   We are hoping to see the icebergs in Qaqortoq.  I'll try contacting the charter again.   

[edinburgher]

6 hours ago, wyoming12 said:

We are hoping to see the icebergs in Qaqortoq.

With luck you should be able to see them in most of  that area, although we were there earlier in the season.

 

6 hours ago, wyoming12 said:

I'll try contacting the charter again. 

.Or you could explore each town on foot.  They are quite interesting as their way of life is very different The supermarkets are also worth a look.

 

There is one particular past  thread which I hope you read.this one;

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2812546-qaqortoq-greenland/

 

And try to check if the Nanortalik authorities are still offering the different displays and events to cruise pax.

 

Edited February 12 by edinburgher

[wyoming12]

5 hours ago, edinburgher said:

With luck you should be able to see them in most of  that area, although we were there earlier in the season.

 

.Or you could explore each town on foot.  They are quite interesting as their way of life is very different The supermarkets are also worth a look.

 

There is one particular past  thread which I hope you read.this one;

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2812546-qaqortoq-greenland/

 

And try to check if the Nanortalik authorities are still offering the different displays and events to cruise pax.

 

We will have to check them out.

 

[edinburgher]

4 minutes ago, wyoming12 said:

We will have to check them out.

Should you be successful in finding a  tour, be wary of a pick-up (and/or finish) time as both Q and N are tender ports and you said you are sailing an RCL ship, most of which I think are big. You will need to allow time both leaving and getting back to the ship by tender which could take some time.

[wyoming12]

Yes I know how the tenders work.  It takes a long time.

[edinburgher]

6 hours ago, wyoming12 said:

Yes I know how the tenders work.  It takes a long time.

Indeed it can do especially  on a big ship and even more so when only one tender can be used.

 

I was warning about tender waiting times in both directions, because If you read the  general discussion thread I linked to in post #7, you will know that one member mentions in two different posts (nos 26 and 37 I think) that  when they returned onboard an NCL ship around 3pm, tender numbers for those  waiting to go ashore were still being called, so unless booking an actual shorex, be wary of a pick up time with an independent operator.

Edited February 12 by edinburgher

[wyoming12]

Are you saying that they only use one tender for the entire ship?

[edinburgher]

6 hours ago, wyoming12 said:

Are you saying that they only use one tender for the entire ship?

Appears so. These small towns do not have the facilities to handle any more. I cannot remember how long we waited to tender in either direction in each town over both trips, but we were on small ships and it would have been a lot faster. Tendering challenges are one of the reasons we prefer smaller ships.

 

I was trying to alert you that you may not be able to meet a timed pick up with an independent operator, (and possibly lose your money) unless of course you are in a priority group for tendering, such as a suite or have high level loyalty status, but as you didn't mention  you had either, I thought to alert you. 

If you have not  already read it, you could perhaps get some additional info from the quite long thread  mentioned above which morphed into a more general info thread.

 

.https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2812546-qaqortoq-greenland/

 

There are a few challenges to sailing Greenlandic ports, but also many benefits.  Keep an open mind and make the most of it and I think you will love the trip as it is quite different from other geographical areas, and I hope you see as many of them as we did, because  icebergs really are beautiful.😀

Edited February 13 by edinburgher

[edinburgher]

On 2/12/2024 at 3:28 AM, wyoming12 said:

I'll try contacting the charter again.

PS  I should have mentioned just in case it has not already occured to you, that smaller towns in many regions usually have fewer tour operators available for private bookings, and it would not be unusual for a cruiseline to fully book their services  for all or most of the port day in order to accommodate their own shorex,  leaving little or no availability for private bookings.

Edited February 14 by edinburgher

[Mangrove Snapper]

On 2/12/2024 at 9:38 PM, wyoming12 said:

Are you saying that they only use one tender for the entire ship?

 

We visited Qaqortoq with Celebrity in 2022.  For us, multiple tenders were in motion but I think only one was docked in town at a time.  So while one was unloading/loading at the pier, another would be on the way to/from and another would be unloading/loading at the ship.  This process was kept up all day. 

 

I can't speak to how long the wait was on the ship to go ashore.  We had an excursion to Viking ruins booked through the ship which had a really early start time and our group was put on the first tender over.  We had an iceberg tour later in the day but we didn't want to risk missing it by waiting for tenders so once on shore, we stayed on shore until we were done with everything.  There was a long line waiting to get back to the ship but it wasn't a terrible wait.  We didn't wait until the last tenders to go back, though, so the wait could have been longer for those who did. 

 

Is your cruise on the Jewel of the Seas?  We were on the Celebrity Summit and I think the ships are about the same size but Jewel might hold a few more passengers. 

[wyoming12]

1 hour ago, Mangrove Snapper said:

 

We visited Qaqortoq with Celebrity in 2022.  For us, multiple tenders were in motion but I think only one was docked in town at a time.  So while one was unloading/loading at the pier, another would be on the way to/from and another would be unloading/loading at the ship.  This process was kept up all day. 

 

I can't speak to how long the wait was on the ship to go ashore.  We had an excursion to Viking ruins booked through the ship which had a really early start time and our group was put on the first tender over.  We had an iceberg tour later in the day but we didn't want to risk missing it by waiting for tenders so once on shore, we stayed on shore until we were done with everything.  There was a long line waiting to get back to the ship but it wasn't a terrible wait.  We didn't wait until the last tenders to go back, though, so the wait could have been longer for those who did. 

 

Is your cruise on the Jewel of the Seas?  We were on the Celebrity Summit and I think the ships are about the same size but Jewel might hold a few more passengers. 

Yes we will be on the Jewel of the Seas.   Did you book the iceberg tour through the ship or elsewhere?  I've been trying to book that tour but haven't had any luck getting responses from the tour groups.  One responded and said they weren't doing tours in 2024.

[Mangrove Snapper]

2 minutes ago, wyoming12 said:

Did you book the iceberg tour through the ship or elsewhere? 

 

It was booked through the ship.  They had two different tours offered.  The one we took was a small group with six people on an enclosed boat, but you could go out to the front or back to take better photos.  The other was on a rigid inflatable boat.  I heard that one also had really good views. 

 

I'm sorry that you got that response.  Maybe the ship will add some as you get closer?  There wasn't a big variety of tours offered on ours but they did repeat them during the day.  I think the Viking ruins had a tour leaving every half hour.

[wyoming12]

On 2/15/2024 at 3:56 PM, Mangrove Snapper said:

 

It was booked through the ship.  They had two different tours offered.  The one we took was a small group with six people on an enclosed boat, but you could go out to the front or back to take better photos.  The other was on a rigid inflatable boat.  I heard that one also had really good views. 

 

I'm sorry that you got that response.  Maybe the ship will add some as you get closer?  There wasn't a big variety of tours offered on ours but they did repeat them during the day.  I think the Viking ruins had a tour leaving every half hour.

Thanks!

[Simon-t]

When we were in Qaqorotq last August it was possible to book iceberg tours by Rib at the port. Surprisingly, they seemed to have plenty of spaces, although we had booked in advance through Sagaland tours https://sagalands.com/tour-search/

Edited February 19 by Simon-t

[Turtles06]

On 2/9/2024 at 3:03 PM, njhorseman said:

FYI there's a new Iceland and Greenland board

 

On 2/9/2024 at 3:10 PM, CruiserBruce said:

Good catch...I hadn't seen that!

 

I hadn't seen it either. It's a good move!

[tatabea]

Check Tasermiut tours. We have two booked with them (but have not used them before.)

[wyoming12]

9 hours ago, tatabea said:

Check Tasermiut tours. We have two booked with them (but have not used them before.)

I've seen their tours.  I'll check it out again.  Thanks!