TeDaKi

Not cruised MSC ex Dubai but I have with Costa.

 

You may get some idea of the ports from this review

 

http://www.cruisingmates.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=266&t=9610

A great report! Thank you so much for sharing this. It has allowed me to visualise where I'll be going!

Thanks! :)

Great report Dave! I’m really enjoying your daily updates and photos!

First time with MSC, booked to sail from Abu-Dhabi on the 10 th of Jan 2016, anybody else out there the same ?

Also our first time with MSC. We'll be getting on in Dubai on 9th Jan!

Has anybody out there cruised with MSC around the Emirates???

Any tips/advice? :)

Thanks to everyone for all the positive and great feedback! I’m delighted that you enjoyed my report.

I think most of our roll call has seen your wonderful pictures and text (Rotterdam to Boston on the Rotterdam July 2, 2016). Your pictures will help so much as we decide what to do at each port and we can look at your pictures to see what the descriptions are describing. I think our weather will be warmer by maybe ten degrees in July but I am wondering how cold it "feels" in the ice fields and on the open sea. Of course you are from Ireland and I don't think I have ever felt colder than a rainy cold June day at the Rock of Haisel (pardon the spelling but sound it out:o). I am trying to figure out the right mix of clothing and coats. I found the passage around Cape Horn and the glaciers in South America REALLY cold and I'm afraid this area might be close to the same conditions.

 

Again thanks for your excellent review and pictures and good luck in school this year.

You mean the Rock of Cashel?? I live about 30 minutes from there!! When you come to Ireland, you’ve got to bring your woollies and warm clothes, even in summer!! :D:D:D

Honestly, with the fantastic scenery, you’ll forget about the cold. And yes, your cruise is in July and ours was in September, so it shouldn’t be as “cold”! Have fun!

I have a question though, did you encounter problems in the MDR with food that was supposed to be served hot being served lukewarm? It happened several times at my table. Our server and the Maitre D tried really hard to fix that issue but did not really succeed completely. Just wondering if HAL fixed that problem for good (a kitchen issue?).

Thanks

We had no problems/no complaints at all with our food in the MDR. Any meal that was supposed to be hot was hot! :)

Day 21: New York continued ...

Because our disembarkation time was 10:00AM, we had lots of time to spare, so we went to back to bed. I actually fell asleep for about an hour and was awoken by the first disembarkation group announcement at 07:00AM.

We went up to the Lido at 08:30AM and had a slow breakfast and it was nice and quiet...most people had already gotten off.

Breakfast, admiring the Manhattan skyline:

While going back to our room, we noticed that the majority of rooms were already vacated. We then got all of our belongings and left the room to go to the Queen’s Lounge to wait for our number to be called. There was a slight delay but we were eventually off by 10:20AM, saying goodbye to the Eurodam.

We picked up our luggage, went through customs and immigration and were out on the street at around 11:10AM waiting for a taxi to JFK. We got to JFK, but our flight wasn't leaving until 18:35 with British Airways, so we just waited around for the flight. The time went quickly as we were all reminiscing about our fantastic time on the Eurodam and looking back at our photos. After a quick 6 hour flight to London, we arrived there the next morning and connected for our 50 minute flight to Dublin. We were home by midday, tired from all the travelling.

We are home now, feeling sorry for ourselves, having to make the bed and cook our own meals! Oh well, time to go cruise shopping and look forward to another cruise!

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That's it! My first trip report completed. I hope you enjoyed it.

See you all again very soon!

John

Day 21: New York, New York, United States (arrive 06:00)

Weather: Sunny. Max temperature 25C / 77F

I woke up to the sound of my alarm ringing at 04:15AM and immediately turned on the TV to check if the bridge was near. I could see it and it wasn't too far away. We all got up and went outside.

It was so early, and a good few people were out too. We passed under the bridge at exactly 04:30AM and then got a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline ahead.

The bridge:

We passed the Statue of Liberty at just before 05:00AM and cruised our way up the Hudson, admiring the skyline, before pulling into Pier 88 at about 05:50AM.

The sail into New York was a great end to the cruise and something I have always wanted to experience.

Day 20: Cruising at sea (SEA DAY 6)

Weather: Sunny. Max temperature 21C / 70F

At 2am, the clocks went back one hour. Nothing much happened today.

The only thing I went to was a Q&A with the captain at the Mainstage at 2pm. Our captain, Captain Werner Timmers. At the end of the show, I got my photo taken with him and he was very friendly. We told him we were from Ireland, he told us that he honeymooned there and he spent quite a while chatting with us! He was the nicest and funniest captain we have ever had on a cruise ship.

It was nice and sunny outside today, so I sat out on the Promenade deck for a good while to get some sunshine.

I always find that the last sea day flies by so quickly and this one was no different. Before we knew it, we were getting back out our suitcases from under the bed and packing them!

Also, the captain announced our anticipated arrival time into New York tomorrow. He said that we expect to pass under the bridge at 04:30AM, the Statue of Liberty at 05:00AM, and alongside at 06:00AM. So, we'll have to be up early if we want to experience a sail in to New York!

Once again, we went to dinner to the Rembrandt Dining Room at around 20:20 and it was surprisingly busy, in fact, the busiest night of the cruise. We were in bed by 22:00 and set the alarm clock for 04:15AM.

Day 19: Halifax, Nova Scotia continued ...

We then drove back to Halifax, and we made a stop at the Fairview Lawn Cemetery, which is where the Titanic grave site is located. We were also here last year, when we had the place to ourselves. But this time, it was busy. There were lots of bus groups coming and going. We spent about 15 minutes here.

Then it was off to a Walmart! We like Walmart because we can get things that we can't get in Ireland. We spent 1 hour in Walmart and then we headed back to the port. We dropped off the car at 14:20, and went back on-board to drop off our shopping. We then went back outside to have a quick walk around the boardwalk and farmers market. We only had a short while because all aboard was 15:30.

Boardwalk:

I think there was free wifi at the port but I didn't have time to check. At 15:20, we got back on-board, had a quick snack and headed outside for sailaway. A NCL ship left before us and we started to leave at 16:10.

Before we knew it, we were back out at open sea, so we went back to our room to get ready for dinner.

Day 19: Halifax, Nova Scotia continued ...

More Peggy's Cove photos:

Day 19: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (Docked 08:00-16:00)

Weather: Partly cloudy. Max temperature 21C / 70F

Free wifi: there was supposed to be free wifi at the port, but I didn't have time to check.

I was in a deep sleep until I heard my phone's alarm clock ringing at 06:15AM - time to get up. We went to the Lido for breakfast at 06:30AM and it was quiet. There was a beautiful sunrise, so I went back down to our cabin to fetch my camera to take photos of it.

Sunrise:

We finished breakfast at about 07:15 and it was starting to get busy as we were leaving. We went out on the promenade deck to watch the ship pull into port. Nearing the dock, we could see and hear bagpipe players greeting the ship. It was lovely. It was now about 08:00 and the ship was just idling about, we were not moving, and only about 20 metres from the pier. I don't know what the delay was, but at 08:20, the ship was docked and the gangway loaded.

Downtown Halifax:

About 5 minutes later, the ship was cleared and we could disembark from deck 2. There was a mass of people waiting to get off. It was like the whole ship wanted to get off at the same time! We eventually got off and found ourselves walking outside to the Hertz Rental car office, which is conveniently located near the ship's terminal. We got to the office, filled out some paperwork, picked up the car and at about 09:00, we were on our way.

Our rented car for the day: A Jeep Patriot. We actually reserved a compact car, but this was an upgrade they gave us!

Our first stop was Peggy's Cove. Located about 50 minutes from the cruise port, Peggy's Cove is beautiful. The weather was perfect - partly cloudy and not foggy. I was here last year on two occasions - one time it was very foggy, and the other day, it was sunny and hot. The tour buses were there ahead of us though! We spent about one hour in Peggy's Cove, wandering around the fishing harbour, lighthouse and shops.

Day 18: Cruising at sea (SEA DAY 5)

Weather: Partly cloudy. Max temperature 20C / 68F

At 02:00AM, the clocks went back one hour. Not much to report of today. There weren't many interesting lectures today that I wanted to go to, nor was there lunch in the main dining room. Apart from walking 3 miles on the promenade deck, it was a very relaxing day.

Day 17: St. John's, Newfoundland continued ...

The final stop was Signal Hill where you have a great panorama of St. John's. We spent about 30 minutes here.

View of St. John's from Signal Hill:

Cabot Tower:

The tour bus dropped us off at the pier at about 16:30 ship time.

We got on the ship for a quick snack at the Lido and went back out to the town for some shopping and a walk around.

St. John's is nice and very walkable. We walked along the main street, Water Street, and walked around the back streets where the colourful houses are located.

After our walk around the town, we got back on-board at about 19:00 ship time. The ship dropped lines at 19:45 ship time and we sailed back out through the Narrows. We went up to the top deck.

Sailing back out through The Narrows

While passing Signal Hill, a gun salute was given to the ship. Though, it was definitely nothing to write home about. The gun salute almost sounded like party poppers!!

After this, we were back out to open sea and went for dinner to the main dining room. Just like most other nights, it was easy to get a table and not busy at all.

Day 17: St. John's, Newfoundland continued ...

We disembarked right away as we had a tour booked with Legend Tours. We couldn’t rent a car in St. John’s today because it was a Sunday and the car rental offices were closed. Our tour with Legend Tours was to start at 12:30, but this was 12:30 local time. So, in reality, we had disembarked at 11:30 local time, which meant we had to wait for less than an hour. We weren't complaining though, there were Newfoundland dogs at the pier and also Irish type music. Being from Ireland, it was interesting to hear the Irish music and even the Irish accents the Newfoundland people have. Last year, we spent 2 weeks touring Newfoundland and loved it so much. The people are so friendly and welcoming. St. John's is only a 4 hour flight from Dublin, and I notice that there are a lot of similarities between Ireland and Newfoundland. The accent is similar, and also the coastline scenery.

Our tour started at 13:00 ship time. The first stop was Cape Spear - the most easterly point in North America. We visited here last year so we knew what to expect. We spent about 30 minutes there.

Cape Spear Lighthouse:

The most easterly point:

Next stop was Petty Harbour which was pretty and we spent 15 minutes there.

Petty Harbour:

Our tour then drove through St. John's where the tour guide pointed out some sites. Next up was Quidi Vidi. This is a very picturesque harbour. We were also here last year. The tour only spent 10 minutes here but I think we should have spent longer there as it's very nice.

Quidi Vidi harbour:

Quidi Vidi:

Day 17: St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada (Docked 12:00-20:00 ship time / 11:30-19:30 local time)

Weather: Partly cloudy. Max temperature 22C / 71F

Free wifi: Various cafés around town

We were able to sleep a little longer this morning because of our noon arrival to St. John's. The breakfast at Lido buffet at 09:30AM was quiet busy. I'm guessing most people wanted to get a good breakfast before setting off for the day in St. John's. At around 10:15, we could see the coast of Newfoundland in the distance.

Approaching Newfoundland:

It was a beautiful day, only a few clouds, and warm at 20C, but a little cool in the wind.

We entered the Narrows at about 11:15, passing Signal Hill and the Battery houses on the right side.

The Narrows:

Signal Hill:

The Battery:

St. John's:

Colourful houses:

The ship docked at about 11:35 and was cleared by noon ship time.

Day 16: Cruising at sea (SEA DAY 4)

Weather: Foggy and very windy. Max temperature 9C / 48F

Not much to report of today, just a relaxing sea day.

The ship is still ploughing through the Labrador Sea and we are rocking our way down towards Newfoundland. All of the outer decks are closed because of very high winds. Today, I had a light breakfast in the Lido. Then I went to the Culinary Arts Center where Captain Werner Timmers showed us how to bake his grandmothers Dutch Apple Pie! It was fun and we got some samples too.

We dined in the Rembrandt Dining Room for lunch and it was quieter than other sea days.

At 14:00, one of the guest lectures, Bard Kolltveit, presented a talk on the myths and facts of the Titanic. It was very informative. Next up at 15:00, Jon Sigurdsson presented a talk on the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which again was very interesting.

We went back to our room for the evening and went for dinner at 20:15. The Rembrandt Dining Room was busier than other nights, but there were still many empty tables.

When we got back to our room, the daily guide stated that we will not be turning our clocks back one half hour for Newfoundland time zone. The ship's time will not match the local time. Therefore, tomorrow in St. John's, the ships time will be one hour ahead of local time. I think they should have changed the ships time to local time to avoid confusion. I went to bed early as I was so tired from doing absolutely nothing all day!

Day 15: Nanortalik continued ...

We then walked around the other side of town and the rain started to taper off. There was a little fish market where locals were buying fresh fish. The harbour was also picturesque.

The main street:

Icebergs nearby:

That was about it and at 12:15, we were ready to go back to the ship. We spent more time around the town than what we had anticipated. When we got back on-board, there were many people who didn't get off in Nanortalik. Something interesting: we encountered people on this cruise who said they didn't go ashore in either Qaqortoq or Nanortalik, stating it was too cold!!! Why come on a cruise to Greenland and not get off in this beautiful place. And, it’s not every day that you meet someone who has visited Greenland! I was surprised...some people just surprise me!! And, I forgot to mention yesterday too, while we were outside watching the breath-taking scenery of Prince Christian Sund, some people were stuck inside the bars and lounges reading their books and glued to their iPads!

Sailaway at 13:00 was very nice. We were up on deck 12. It started raining lightly again. There were lots of icebergs around the area and they were very big too. I later learned from the captain that one of the icebergs was reported to be as large as the ship! Some icebergs were in the ship’s way and it was interesting watching the ship cruising around them.

There were only a handful of people out for sailaway. We almost had the outside decks to ourselves. By 13:45, we were standing outside by the rear Lido Pool watching Greenland fade into the distance, with lots of icebergs dotting the sea.

Last view of Greenland. Next stop: St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada

We then had lunch, chilled out for evening, had dinner and went to bed for a good night’s sleep. It was fairly rocky around the ship throughout the evening and night. Personally, I didn't find it that bad. I was expecting much worse sea conditions.

Day 15: Nanortalik continued ...

We wandered around Nanortalik by first walking towards the church and museum - they are both very nice buildings and the yellow buttercup flowers made for pretty photos.

Fresh snow on the mountains:

We then went to the Tourist Info Centre and shop which was crowded. But we had to buy some more souvenirs. We noted that they were a little more expensive compared to Qaqortoq. For example, T-shirts here cost €20, in Qaqortoq, they cost €12. Refrigerator magnets here cost €7, in Qaqortoq they cost €5.

Day 15: Nanortalik, Greenland (Anchored 07:00-13:00)

Weather: Light rain at first, then overcast. Max temperature 7C / 45F

Free wifi: couldn’t locate free wifi

Just like yesterday morning, I was woken up by the first announcement for tender tickets at 06:55AM. We went to the Lido for breakfast at 07:30 and it was very busy. It took a while to locate a table but we eventually got one. We only had a light breakfast this morning because we'd be back early for lunch.

View of Nanortalik from the ship:

For today's tendering process, tender tickets were being issued continuously throughout the morning and in general, the operation was much smoother compared to yesterday's. At 08:15 we went to the Queen's Lounge for tender tickets and our number was called at 08:35. It was 09:10 when we arrived on land and it was raining lightly.

At first sight when you disembark the tender in Nanortalik, the place looks very remote and not so nice. When we got off the tender we thought that we would only be there for less than an hour.

But, the remote settlement of Nanortalik is actually very pretty, and it almost feels more unique than Qaqortoq. In fact, Qaqortoq almost feels like a "commercial town" compared to the quietness and remoteness of Nanortalik. There was very little traffic in Nanortalik compared to Qaqortoq.

We felt that Nanortalik was very picturesque and I took many photos.

Nanortalik = "the place of polar bears"

Day 14: Qaqortoq continued ...

We descended the mountain and wandered around the town.

We went into the supermarkets to see how expensive food was, but we didn't think it was overpriced. Food items were more or less the same prices as in Ireland. There aren't many souvenir shops but we still bought something that has "Greenland" on it.

We also saw the church and the oldest fountain in Greenland.

At 16:10, it was time for us to go back to the ship. We really didn't think we'd spend as much time ashore. Most people were gone back already.

We got back to the ship, dropped off our shopping in our room and headed up to the Lido for some snacks. Sailaway wasn't that much, but there were some icebergs along the way. Also, because Nanortalik is only 80 miles away, the ship only travelled at under 5 knots per hour! Dinner at 20.30 in the Rembrandt Dining Room was very quiet and we were out by 21:30.

Day 14: Qaqortoq continued ...

We made our way up to the mountain and the view was brilliant. Some may find that the climb is steep but I thought it was ok.

A beautiful panorama of Qaqortoq with the Eurodam in the background:

Day 14: Qaqortoq, Greenland (Anchored 08:00-17:00)

Weather: Light rain/drizzle, then cloudy. Max temperature 6C / 43F

Free wifi: couldn't locate free wifi

I was having a great sleep until I heard an announcement for the tender tickets at about 08:00AM. We all had a great sleep since we were shattered from walking all day yesterday. It was up to the Lido for breakfast and it was pretty busy, with not many empty tables when we got there at about 08:30. During breakfast, the cruise director came on the overspeaker to say that tender tickets were not being issued anymore and any passengers could proceed directly to the tender station.

View of Qaqortoq from the ship:

At about 10:20, we left our room to go ashore, but there was a very long line for the tenders. The line started down on Deck A, up the stairs to Deck 1, around the Atrium, along the Future Cruise Desk and Shore Excursions Desk and up the room’s corridor a little bit. In total since we started queuing, it took 30 minutes to get onto the tender. Then, while on the tender, it took another while to get ashore because in Qaqortoq, there is only space for one tender on the dock at a time, so unloading and loading takes quite a bit. We eventually set foot on Greenland at 11:10. There was even a queue to get back onto the ship already! When you get off the tender, there is an information centre with a souvenir shop. As you can probably imagine, it was packed.

Qaqortoq is an unusual place. It is so different and remote. While I really liked it, I heard that some people thought nothing of it. Many people just got ashore, went into the shop, walked up and down the street for a few minutes and went back on the ship!

AMAZING review and pictures! What type of camera are you using? Thanks for sharing!

All these photos were taken with my not so fancy small digital camera - a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60/ZS40 :)

Day 13: Scenic cruising of the Prins Christian Sund continued ...

The scenic cruising continued and as we neared the last part of the Sound, the scenery got even better!

These mountains are over 1 mile high and are among the steepest sea cliffs in the world:

An unusual shaped iceberg:

Nearing the end of the scenic cruising:

We were back out to open sea by 18:30.

For us, today's transit through the Prins Christian Sund was the highlight of this voyage.

As I said, I couldn't keep my camera down all day. In total today, I took almost 1,500 photos - the most photos I have ever taken in a single day. My previous record was in Geiranger, Norway in 2013, where I took 570 photos in a single day!

The weather today was cool. Some people found it very cold, but we thought it wasn't too bad. Being from Ireland, we are used to cool weather in both winter and summer, so it didn't bother us at all!

Next up: Qaqortoq and Nanortalik