uktog

Today our final stop we made it to the Heimaey Islands a stop often cancelled. In the morning the weather was blue sky, unfortunately by the time it was our afternoon trip the rain had come. As we were both feeling the effects of lots of vigorous walking earlier in the cruise we opted for the drive around tour which suited us. There were only sparse puffin sightings, most of the adults left late August however our guide introduced us to a lovely six week old puffling and a sweet story. Parent puffins leave their offspring at the point they believe they’re ready to look after themselves. When fledging some young get confused by lights and fly into town at night rather than out to sea. There is no food there for them but they can’t fly off. The local children pick up the puffins on the way to school and they are collected and released high up on the cliffs that evening. Our guide’s children found the cute one this morning and will be going out later this evening on the headland to release it hopefully to fly off to feeding areas. The trip drove us round in the rain past local spots eg the scene of the Glastonbury / Burning man of Iceland and off to the volcano museum. En route we saw the Icelandic horses in a paddock The island was the scene in the 1970s of the most destructive eruption of a volcano believed to have been dormant for 4000 years. Everyone survived but both our guides told amazing stories of their parents experience during the evacuation. Our tour concluded at the museum which has been built around the wreckage of houses that were engulfed and then dug out This is sadly our last port, the old suitcase in the corridors tonight. What has really struck us about our excursions in Greenland and Iceland has been how all the guides are so proud about their communities and all were true locals born and brought up there and knew so many very personal facts. We've loved this cruise I will post to sum it all up and what we saw as Vikings strengths and (few) development areas when we are home but it’s been a fabulous ride

Why does this bother you?

Yes it can frustrate UK guests to hear about the ease that those from other countries can access price drops without penalty

I hope you are right but it could be the standard jam tomorrow spin. Nice idea @hamrag so long as it’s not Fergusons 😂 - for our overseas friends google Glen Sannox or Calmac

On the Viking Northern Lights cruise last year James Fraser the press photographer who gave tips and talks always split his time 50% DSR big camera and 50% smartphone and highlighted how in many situations smartphones took better photos. I find the speed I can take the photos without falling behind the walking tour to be a huge bonus. It also gives true colour results

Thank you for your lovely comments - the honest answer is an IPhone 14. I used to drag a Canon plus changeable lenses with me but now I do not

We arrived to no rain (phew) and clear blue skies at Djubivogur. There was a breeze and this was to prove to be an issue later. It’s a port that although Viking is scheduled to call at regularly it’s cancelled a lot. So we were lucky to make the tricky tender transfer from the ship (crew are fantastic four on the platform helping you on. Guests less so what bit of stay seated for everyone’s safety don’t some understand??). Our guide was a young 21 year old who had grown up in the town (population 655) and so she shared what life was like summer and winter. The town has adopted being a “slow place” part of a global network to encourage a less frenetic life style in the world. Given the beauty it’s easy to see how this can be achieved. They repainted their rainbow road to show support for Ukrainian refugees The first stop on our included tour walk was a mineralogist shop where the gentleman introduced us to the beauty of rocks and told stories of hiking and discovering rocks, the pain of carrying them back down, the thrill and anticipation when cutting them open and the patience needed to polish them. Our walk was c2 hours distance about 2.3 miles. Mostly on roads and rough gravel. We made the obligatory visit to Guomundssonns Eggs of Merry Bay, 34 eggs polished stone representing the eggs laid in the area. We also stopped inside a redundant cod liver oil tank (it is ok it did not smell!). It was beautiful in pitch dark apart from a few candles a young local girl sang for It was spine tingling the acoustics were amazing- a memorable rendition of Pie Jesus will certainly not be forgotten. We had a bumpy ride back to the ship hoping to go over again in the afternoon but discovered all tender operating was cancelled for the rest of the day save for bringing back those on tours. Viking are very risk averse compared to other lines. I would always select a morning over an afternoon tour based on what we’ve seen here with cancellations

They were so kind and welcoming

Sedifjordhur gave us such a warm welcome in the heavy rain. Our guide who taught a combined class of 3 years in the 56 children school and whose sister was the parish minister was excellent and kept our spirits up. Of course there is the church and rainbow road But also the “naughty house”. Evidently originally painted as nudes there were complaints the artist covered them up and there were even more complaints 😀 We ended up in the Village Hall for a lovely tea and entertainment put on by the villagers. They made us so welcome. Where Viking let us down was on the tour assembly which despite the torrential rain they did not sort the groups onboard but on the pier. They wouldn’t let the groups set off until they thought they had everyone for all the groups. We stood in 0c driving rain for 15 minutes. Why not do this indoors and/ or set the first group off when it has your target number. Our group, the first one eventually released had 45 on a walking tour. We lost half before we got to the village hall. (A walk that took us 15 minutes on the return) To end on some humour. It’s windy here in the winter. This guy is taking no chances for his shed 😂

We have arrived in Seydifyordhur. It is very wet and the temperature is 0c. Unfortunately the roads out of town have been deemed unsafe for coaches by the tour operators so all tours other than the included local walking tour are cancelled. I know some people are very unhappy. I think it highlights the challenges of this route in finding the sweet spot travel time. Up to early August the melting glaciers can impede access to Greenland by late August north Iceland is starting to get more freezing weather. That’s nature for you. Personally I was prepared to sacrifice Iceland for Greenland.

Well we arrived 3 hours late but they did very well and the majority of tours still happened albeit 3-4 hours after planned so our lunchtime start became a 4pm tour In each port, because we have been before we are just doing the included tour. The tour today included a visit to the Botanic Gardens (beautiful) even though we were told it was past it’s best A challenging walk to the cathedral- actually it was the back that was challenging (and then the cathedral was closed) and a lovely up to the ski area where we were lucky the mist lifted for a few minutes so we saw the view. As we had time we had previously walked into town to see the Rainbow Streets and the traffic lights (all the lights in town share the love). The ship told us it was a 10 minute walk into town - double that! But at least it’s got.

I agree. There’s a difference between contains nuts (he cannot have and has an epicentre) and may contain aka cross contamination risk. (Probably can have. At home we certainly risk M and S may contain products). The labels are not making sense. Savoury products with nuts are served beside non nut products with no “warning” but if I follow what Clay says the bakery items would because of cross contamination risk. Anyway it’s no massive issue just trying to have DH given the opportunity to taste a range of the excellent products

Today absolutely everything was labelled as containing nuts in the World Cafe including the fruit tarts which used to be available to DH. The solution we have is once DH enters the cafe the chef is advised to prep a dessert. Today that involved a 30 minute delay and then some cookies appeared. They were nice but the process is still work in progress. Can’t believe every single dessert on the buffet has nuts or has to have nuts Oh well

When we board we will have very recent experience of Viking and will be comparing Explora with that. Viking is currently exceeding expectations and based on their marketing and PR Explora is supposed to be above that. Price wise it certainly is. So our benchmark will be is it worth that excess to us

Oh dear you did not embrace the soul of the ship 😂😂😂 you malcontent 😂 But thank you for your balanced and helpful review

Oh boy did we bounce around last night - Captain this morning said it was unexpected, given the weather maps I saw I’m not entirely sure I buy that. On other lines where the ship might rock at night a pre departure announcement is made to that effect often with the suggestion to “pop a pill at bedtime”. I think some might have appreciated that warning last night We are going to be three hours late into Akureyi they hope to extend departure by two hours. We are waiting to hear about our shore excursions retiming. This is one of those times you are so glad you’ve relied on the ship for tours, it’s their hassle right now not mine. Last night we had another great dinner, I had been trying to schedule in a Chairman's salmon during the cruise and went for it last night but then dived straight in so no picture (I could have given you one of a very empty plate I loved it😀😀) The Tartare was also very fresh and “vibrant” taste And the Blueberry dessert had not been skimped on the fruit mmm We did send a note to the hotel director about the issue of nuts with everything and mixed messages on the labels. At dinner the Executive Chef came and spoke with us, we were most impressed by his reactions to the issue, recognition of the labelling problem and the actions he is taking. We had held back from raising the very much minority concerns but were very happy with the outcome, shows how much Viking do care. The show last night was another performance by the guest guitarist. The first had not worked for us so we didn’t go. We didn’t hear very positive comments later on. We just enjoyed a lovely time in the atrium listening to the piano playing of Sasha. She is so talented. Again a strength of Viking, there is entertainment elsewhere during the show, on some other smaller ship lines it show or nothing

Today we have reached Isafjordur in Iceland. On the sail in some saw whales. As I write this it’s torrential rain, the later tours will be getting soaked. We were very fortunate. Huge lines to get off the ship, never seen that before. We were on the “included” tour. 51 of us on a 57 seat bus. We were all allocated to buses by shorex on the dock. When we got to our bus only the back seat was left. Not great. At each stop it took an age to get off and we missed some of the information at each stop as the guide was tight for time (we left late and they had the 1530 tour allocated to our bus) so had to start explanations before everyone arrived It was a nice quick snapshot of the area with three stops. First a stop at the Bolungarvik Village hall to hear local singing then onto Osvor where there was a reconstruction of a typical fishing village with a lovely fisherman Jon explaining things in Icelandic which the guide translated for us. 14 fishermen and one woman to care for them lived in each little house all winter. A very sparse and bleak existence I loved the lighthouse We then went to a small waterfall just outside the village- the guide gathered fresh water we all tasted with no ill effects it was very pure. Everywhere we went there were rainbows some very low down.

The communications particularly in the UK aren’t working correctly yet

Another very pleasant dinner yesterday evening. We were lucky to get a table where the servers seemed to work as a better team, and as a result, the dining experience was much more pleasant. we both had the same starter and main. The gravlax was divine and we were adventurous to have the reindeer which was really tender and tasty. We diverged for dessert one having tiramisu eclair and the other decadent chocolate, and it was decadent. We then headed to the show about 10 minutes before it started to find that the theatre was full This has been a problem on several occasions on this trip that everyone is turning up nearly 30 minutes ahead of time and seating is very scarce. It was made worse last night by people reserving seats for friends who did not turn up. Fortunately, the staff stepped in and directed us to a place in the cinema section where a gentleman had alleged his four friends were still to appear. They had been given 15 minutes to do so and so five minutes into the show we were able to get the seats, although not without some unpleasantness, including the gentleman in question storming out. As his friends never appeared, it seemed he just wanted his own personal space, rather than allowing everybody the opportunity to sit and watch the show. So unfortunately even Viking isn’t immune from some bad behaviour and selfish guests, but that’s the same in the world over. The show was very good old playing rock ‘n’ roll type music from the 70s onwards, including Numbers by Fleetwood Mac and Madonna.

The flights are being reimbursed the claim was made late July however Explora are saying last week it will now be within the next 30 days to my bank account the details they have had since July The voucher was issued by Explora in October 2022 in respect of an earlier cancellation by them. There’s no way it can be converted to a generic voucher for any line. Right now we just need that back plus whatever is being given as “compensation” for the late cancellation and some transparency by Explora at how figures are arrived at. We already had a Caribbean cruise booked for this Autumn but as that was already paid for Explora won’t allow the 2022 voucher to be applied and a partial refund made. So we are boxed into having to make another booking. It gets worse, we had chosen what we wanted although because of the voucher messing around the booking couldn’t be confirmed- but then last week Explora cancelled that one! It’s far too difficult to do business with them either directly or through an agent. You and your agent are treated as an MSC big ship customer - a number - not as someone to host which I believe is the onboard ambiance

Thanks. The flights and hotels I booked are my hit though and they are still not refunded. The agent did refund us recently although they still await settlement from Explora but there remain significant issues including the voucher that was used to part pay for that cruise. It’s certainly not been a £16k experience

I disagree I’ve seen how Explora have interacted with them (or not) starting from the non notification of the cancellation. Others in this latest wave of cancellations with other major agencies are having the same issue.

Last night, we enjoyed the Scandinavian chefs table I know it is not to the taste of everyone, but we thoroughly enjoyed it, and also were delighted with the service which far outstripped anything we have enjoyed elsewhere on the ship in the evenings. We then attended the Cruise director Damian‘s show. He really is a very accomplished performer and talking to him at a point later in the evening a really nice guy. today, we are rocking and rolling in heavy rain as we try to outrun a storm and dodge another one on the way to Iceland. So very much all day, sitting reading and attending talks all of which we have very much enjoyed. One thing is frustrating us, and we are going to try and pick this up with an appropriate manager, but the ship is not good with the designation of products that contain nuts I think I said previously we had an issue with a birthday cake containing nuts being served. What we are finding now is that in the world café at lunchtime the only desert that does not have nuts is the tiny fruit tartlets, and that is getting a little bit repetitive for dear husband but more bizarrely for absolutely identical products. If we are in the cafe then they are supposedly safe however the same item on level One is not - something is not right here

Andrew Carnegie gave so much to his hometown of Dunfermline as he remembered the deprivation and restrictions he had as a child there, and in particular how the rich landowner wouldn’t let children play in open space so one of the first things he did, was purchase the house, and all the grounds from the landowner, and to this day, it is open access free to all to enjoy. He also built his first Carnegie Hall for us, and I can even say I have sung at the Carnegie Hall, albeit not New York. Our school music teaching was all funded by him. Likewise a swimming pool. When few other parts had their own public pools Dunfermlime and again lessons were free of charge and of course we have the Carnegie library. On top of that were the scholarships and still to this day, they funds significant activities in the town, where the headquarters of their funds are managed from an office, so it’s lovely to know his global reach to this day, but still to be aware of how much he gave for us. Children still go by his statue and say Thank you Mr Carnegie as we were taught to do 😀

When was the August delay announced? E2 still appears on new lists I was sent last week