Apex - Live June 27-July 8- Ireland, Iceland, and Scotland –

[Scottishclover]

I know this as a “blackening”, except in my neck of the woods it normally happens to the groom. But hey, I  am all for equality. They do tend to do things a bit different in the islands from the mainland. 

[cinnam0n]

15 hours ago, dsa181920 said:

We are sailing to Kirkwall in August on Silhouette - which tender port did you use?  I'm reading that there is one that is right in the center of town, and another that is a few miles away and needs to be shuttled from?

[dsa181920]

1 hour ago, cinnam0n said:

We are sailing to Kirkwall in August on Silhouette - which tender port did you use?  I'm reading that there is one that is right in the center of town, and another that is a few miles away and needs to be shuttled from?

We did not have to tender. The pier is out a little way. There were complimentary shuttle buses running all day. They drop you off at the visitor center. 

[dsa181920]

We were in Akureyri on Thursday. We took the Diamonds of the Nortth tour which was about 8 hours. We saw lava fields, waterfalls, and strange rock formations in the Glacier River. This tour included a lunch - beet root soup, Arctic Char, potatoes, and a small salad. We hiked to the waterfall which is supposed to be the most powerful in Europe.  It rained lightly most of the day and temperatures were in the mid 40’s F.  I will try to post some pictures later.

 

[dsa181920]

In Kirkwall, we took the shuttle bus into town. This is a very walkable town. We went to St. Magnus Cathedral which is a beautiful red sandstone building. We toured the Bishop’s Palace and the Earl’s Castle. We walked through the center of town where you will find little shops and restaurants.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

38 minutes ago, dsa181920 said:

We were in Akureyri on Thursday. We took the Diamonds of the Nortth tour which was about 8 hours. We saw lava fields, waterfalls, and strange rock formations in the Glacier River. This tour included a lunch - beet root soup, Arctic Char, potatoes, and a small salad. We hiked to the waterfall which is supposed to be the most powerful in Europe.  It rained lightly most of the day and temperatures were in the mid 40’s F.  I will try to post some pictures later.

 

When we were in Akureyi in September 2022 it was a beautiful warm day highs in upper teen°c , o(r around 65°F using that outdated system😉😁) 

 

[happyyaya]

We are also on this cruise and will continue back-to-back, Norwegian Fjords and the Arctic Circle. Have been on Apex before - a stunning ship. Be sure to take the time to walk around and see the art, sculptures etc. In fact, we've done the art and architecture cruise on the ship and it is wonderful. The 6 PM "Chandelier show" at the martini bar is very fun to see....as are the "flair bartenders" who perform at the same time. The Eden bar makes a wonderful "lemonade" for those who do not wish to imbibe, plus has excellent cocktails!

We're in a sky suite and must say, as always, service is superb; food in Luminae is outstanding. Their vegetarian lasagne is excellent - unusual for many to pick I'm sure but really delicious! We often do lunch in Ocean View Cafe: today they had a "tower" of shrimp cocktail, a very large Caprese salad section with so many fixings. The variety for lunch is outstanding. 
Ports and excursions: We did a Cork City Walking Tour with a stop in a pub; elected to stay on the ship in Reykjavik since we've been there twice before and we'd booked a whale watching excursion....had rough seas the night before and that day plus rain so was nice to relax on the ship. Visited the Dynjandi Waterfall which was astounding. In Akureyri we did Celebrity's excursion "Siglufjordur Village and Herring Hey Days" which took us to The Herring Museum --- small town that had an economic boom with herring fishing, production etc and then in 1969, the herring literally left the area and the town fell on hard times.....now refocused to rebuild the old buildings, display artifacts, rehabbed an old factory to walk through and have a boat house that displays the old herring fishing boats. Anyone of Scandinavian heritage, associated with herring, would be enthralled with this excursion. Learned a ton. My husband loved the herring samples - I passed!  We had a fabulous lunch at the city's modern hotel. Kirkwall, Scotland in the Orkney Islands does indeed have a free shuttle in to the center of town. Our goal was to see the St. Magnus Cathedral.....amazing! Be sure to go to the St. Magnus Cathedral Center behind the cathedral first to see their short movie on the history of this amazing structure, built in 1137! 
If you are a member of the Captain's Club (by points), the backstage theater tour is well worth it and amazing! The production numbers really show off the "abilities" of the stage itself....as well as the excellent cast members. If you are in a suite, the "small bites" breakfast in the Retreat Lounge is excellent! Cafe Baccio has the BEST apple turnovers and small chocolate tarts, free to anyone. The Aqua Spa Cafe has great smoothies, excellent light lunch options, and excellent light breakfast - available to everyone. Looking forward to leg 2 of our back-to-backs....hoping overcast skies that have been with us since day 2 will disappear. 

[cinnam0n]

5 hours ago, dsa181920 said:

We did not have to tender. The pier is out a little way. There were complimentary shuttle buses running all day. They drop you off at the visitor center. 

Thanks so much! Doesn't really matter to me, but our itinerary does say this is a tender port.  I guess we'll see in a few weeks!

 

[dsa181920]

Akureyri, Iceland

 

 

 

 

[dsa181920]

 

 

 

 

  

[Jim_Iain]

Love the pictures of the falls.   Brings back such fond memories.  Looks kinda chilly.

[dsa181920]

7 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Love the pictures of the falls.   Brings back such fond memories.  Looks kinda chilly.

It was very chilly and rainy. Our tour guide said it was sunny and much warmer the prior week. 

[dsa181920]

Kirkwall photos

 

 

 

 

 

[dsa181920]

 

 

 

 

 

[dsa181920]

Sadly our cruise ended on Monday. Despite the rain and chilly temps we enjoyed this cruise and found the sea days to be very relaxing. Debarkation was very quick and easy . We had pre-arranged for a car service to take us to Stonehenge and Windsor on the way to London. We were able to tour the stones before it started raining. 
 

 

 

 

 

[dsa181920]

Our driver arranged for us to have lunch at The Ivy which is across the street from Windsor Castle. Delicious food and wonderful views of the castle.

 

 

 

[dsa181920]

We enjoyed touring Windsor Castle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dsa181920]

In London, we chose a hop on hop off bus tour so we could get an overview of the city. It included a walking tour which was very good.

 

 

 

 

St. James Palace

 

Buckingham Palace

 

[bigbenboys]

We were on this cruise in Suites. I wanted to say at The Pig - in the wall. I tried twice, but could not get in. We stayed at the Holiday Inn for 2 nights. We met up with friends and went to the Isle of White for 2 nights. We stayed at Albert Cottage in East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. It was once part of Queen Victoria’s Osborne Estate. On Kirkwall we saw Skara Brae, the Stones of Stenness, and the Ring of Brodgar. The Hen party in Kirkwall looked like they were having a great time. Photos are: Albert Cottage, Osborne House, Skara Brae, and Ring of Brodgar. Skara Brae is a Neolithic village on the Orkney Islands in Northern Scotland, it is around 5,000 years old.

Edited July 10 by bigbenboys
spelling

[dsa181920]

20 hours ago, bigbenboys said:

We were on this cruise in Suites. I wanted to say at The Pig - in the wall. I tried twice, but could not get in. We stayed at the Holiday Inn for 2 nights. We met up with friends and went to the Isle of White for 2 nights. We stayed at Albert Cottage in East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. 

 

 

 

Nice photos! We were thinking about going to the Isle of Wight if we sail from Southampton again.  We booked the Pig in the Wall months ago. They only have 12 rooms so I’m sure they fill up quickly.