LIVE from Jewel May 15, 2024 - 27 nights

island lady · May 23

1 hour ago, njkruzer said:

Enjoy the tour. We did it years ago. Lunch was nice. I know I have a picture somewhere of dh with hands on both teutonic plates. We went to see the geysers also. Can't remember what else. Probably 10 years ago. Back in Iceland in August for the TA. 3rd trip to Iceland. Beautiful scenery and nice people.

Thanks! Very much looking forward to it! Did the south pole a few months ago, now on to the north pole. 🙂

Oceansaway17 · May 23

Twangster you are so very lucky to have such nice weather for Iceland.

i have cancelled twice now with concern about weather and volcanos.

look like I need to get brave and go.

i do think Spring is better than the fall.

enjoying all your photos and I am doing Norway trip that you will be on

andreasfcb · May 23

19 hours ago, Jimbo said:

When we were in Greenland last year, which wasn't very green in September we were told that Iceland was really the green island.

Just not seeing it in your photo's, not what I would expect. Iceland looks like pictures from the Moon, is there any greenery anywhere?

Snow capped mountains look the same in both Greenland and Iceland though, no changes there.

We saw many, many huge icebergs in Greenland, do you have any ice berg pictures from your 2 stops in Iceland so far?

Obviously, there are a lot of areas with glaciers/ice and vulcanic material. But before Iceland was populated, it was an island full of beautiful forests. Then the Vikings came and cut all trees (for real!) for their boats and other uses. They started to reforest many places but it is still mostly like the Moon.

I noticed that the scenery completely changes when you drive through Iceland. It is so spectacular, I definitely want to go again!

andreasfcb · May 23

I'm really curious about your crossing from Iceland to GB tomorrow @twangster. The wave forecast (5m / 16ft +) makes me a little nervous, but of course nothing Jewel hasn't seen before.

sandebeach · May 23

9 hours ago, twangster said:

Private tour today. Back to ship around 10pm.

We watched you sail in as we departed NCL Prima!!!

Jimbo · May 23

2 hours ago, andreasfcb said:

Obviously, there are a lot of areas with glaciers/ice and vulcanic material. But before Iceland was populated, it was an island full of beautiful forests. Then the Vikings came and cut all trees (for real!) for their boats and other uses. They started to reforest many places but it is still mostly like the Moon.

I noticed that the scenery completely changes when you drive through Iceland. It is so spectacular, I definitely want to go again!

Jewel is not going to Greenland next,I believe their next stop is toward Ireland,heading back to Amsterdam eventually.

andreasfcb · May 23

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

Jewel is not going to Greenland next,I believe their next stop is toward Ireland,heading back to Amsterdam eventually.

Why do you mention it (I didn't). Unfortunately, Royal only visits Greenland for the transatlatic crossing, usually once a year. They should visit these unicorn places much more in my opinion (same for Iceland, Nordkapp or Svalbard). 2025 is awful for Royal fans, I hope they bring back Iceland, Norway and Baltics cruises in 2026...

Jimbo · May 23

25 minutes ago, andreasfcb said:

Why do you mention it (I didn't). Unfortunately, Royal only visits Greenland for the transatlatic crossing, usually once a year. They should visit these unicorn places much more in my opinion (same for Iceland, Nordkapp or Svalbard). 2025 is awful for Royal fans, I hope they bring back Iceland, Norway and Baltics cruises in 2026...

We went to Greenland this past September on Jewel of the Seas ,round-trip from Bayonne,NJ.,not a TA.

Edited May 23 by Jimbo

andreasfcb · May 23

Just now, Jimbo said:

We went to Greenland this past September on Jewel of the Seas ,round-trip from Bayonne,NJ.

Yep, they went back once from the US after doing the transatlantic. Must be incredible! We wanted to visit Greenland with Royal since 2018, but never found a good date (that worked for us).

twangster · May 23

Nearly 11pm back to the ship after a 12 hour tour covering 487 miles / 783 km. Wow.

My next excursion is at 6:45am so it's going to be a day or two before I can go through all the pictures I took today. Sounds like a good sea day kind of thing to do.

Stay tuned.

RFerrington · May 23

Just now, twangster said:

Nearly 11pm back to the ship after a 12 hour tour covering 487 miles / 783 km. Wow.

My next excursion is at 6:45am so it's going to be a day or two before I can go through all the pictures I took today. Sounds like a good sea day kind of thing to do.

Stay tuned.

😵😵‍💫

twangster · May 23

Day 10 cruise compass has been published.

JW May 15 day 10 cruisecompass.pdf

perfect match · May 24

Wow! Twangster your pictures are spectacular! Thank you for taking the time to post them so we can enjoy them.

twangster · May 24

Our arrival into Reykjavik was beautiful.

hellokitty_kt · May 24

are the Cafe Latte-tudes not part of the beverage package but covers by the coffee card?

twangster · May 24

Plans for day 9 include a private tour along with some new friends I met through the Cruise Critic role call a couple of months ago.

https://iceparadisetours.is/

Since it was a private tour we could modify the tour to suit conditions of the day and based on local experiences at various locations in the area over the days leading up to today.

What pictures don't capture is the commentary and explanations of the towns and villages we will pass throughout the day.

We stopped about 45 minutes in Hveragerði at a bakery for a bathroom break. Continuing on through Selfoss towards Seljalandsfoss.

Our guide first noted this waterfall in the distance as we drove.

We pulled off the highway into the parking area for the waterfall.

While the main attraction was the falls we could see for some time as we drove closer there are actually a number of waterfalls coming over the edge of the mountain.

We didn't stay long as we had a lot to see and do today in a short amount of time.

Having seen a number of waterfalls already on this trip we had all agreed to this quick stop here.

twangster · May 24

Just now, hellokitty_kt said:

are the Cafe Latte-tudes not part of the beverage package but covers by the coffee card?

That depends which beverage package you have.

twangster · May 24

As we continue our drive there are more waterfalls, some smaller, some larger.

The views along the coast are breathtaking. Pictures don't capture it.

Our guide points out a rock slide that is less than 12 months old.

The boulders are massive, some the size of a house.

A brief stop for some photos near this farm.

This slide is less than a month old.

twangster · May 24

Carrying on the next stop was at Skógafoss, one of the larger waterfalls relatively speaking.

A farm across the river.

Throughout the day we'll encounter a large variety of scenery. It's so beautiful here.

twangster · May 24

Our next stop was in search of Puffins at Dyrhólaey.

Unfortunately no Puffins today but it's still a breathtaking stop. We are up a high cliff overlooking down at this black sand beach. It's an amazing view that just goes on and on.

Perfect spot for a lighthouse.

Coming down from the heights of Dyrhólaey there are fantastics views of the mountains with hints of the glaciers behind them.

twangster · May 24

After a stop in Vyk for a lunch break (lunch at our own expense) we continued on.

We enter an area called a Lava Lake. At some point thousands or millions of years ago there was a lava flow here. Over time moss has grown all over the lava giving it a smooth ripple look. The moss is a mere 8mm thick.

It's illegal to walk or drive on the moss. It's taken hundreds of years to mature to this point so it wouldn't take much to destroy it requiring hundreds of years more to grow back.

Oh look, another waterfall.

Edited May 24 by twangster

twangster · May 24

Crossing a vast plain that just went on and on, I fell asleep. Oops.

Eventually we came to a series of glaciers. There were three in close proximity of each other.

This one of the left had a very wide face and was likely involved with that drive across a vast plain of black sand like earth that defined this part of the drive.

Where we stop for a better look the glacier in the middle had the best views. Looking now at a map I believe these are all part of the Vatnajökull ice cap.