RevNeal LIVE! From the ms Prinsendam

[RevNeal]

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I went ashore at 10:30 am and enjoyed an hour and a half walking around, capturing images, and soaking in the ambiance of what its like to live this far north, this isolated, and to be so dedicated to the advancement of science that one is willing to be here for many months, if not years, on end.

 

More pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[RevNeal]

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Meanwhile, the Elegant Explorer ms Prinsendam sat in the bay, looking lovely as always:

 

 

Because they didn’t have a sufficiently deep pier, we had to anchor and tender in. The crew made this process a fabulous experience. And the Prinsendam … always beautiful to behold!

 

 

At this point I had been ashore about an hour and a half – perhaps a little closer to two hours – and it was getting into the lunchtime hour. The Lido was calling my name, so I made my way on back down to the tender pier for my ride back to the Elegant Explorer.

 

**

 

Back aboard ship I enjoyed a hearty lunch and also spent quite a while taking plenty of photographs of what many have now deemed “Glacier Bay’s Twin Top of the world Twin.” It is kind of like what Glacier bay might have looked like if there were a large research outpost and settlement located on its shores.

 

 

 

 

 

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[RevNeal]

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More photos of the Ny Alesund Fjord.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[RevNeal]

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Still more photos of the Ny Alesund Fjord.

 

 

 

Then … the sun came out from behind the low-hanging fog/clouds, and the shadows cast changed everything!

 

 

 

 

**

 

Now we’re heading south, having left Spitsbergen, and are making our way quickly back toward the European mainland and the Norwegian coast. It’s been a weeks since we’ve seen any darkness outside our windows, and quite frankly some of us are starting to tire of the continual daylight. Indeed, some of the Indonesian Muslims among us are getting quite nervous, with the start of Ramadan looming and the question of “when will we get to eat” in their heads. For me, I cannot help but think that this constant sunlight would be a waking nightmare for a vampire.

 

Our seas remain calm. Indeed, we’ve really had fantastic weather and seas this entire cruise. Right now, as I type this sitting in the Crows Nest, there is ever-so-slight of swell rolling from southwest to northeast along our path, but even this doesn’t make for more than the slightly of bobbing fore/aft. The Scan Channel says that out sea condition can be described as “smooth wavelets,” and I must agree … there are times when the water has that “plasticy look” to it, and other times there’s a nearly uniform coverage of tiny wavelets. Otherwise, it’s flat as flat can be; RuthC would be greatly disappointed.

 

Today they’re having a Mariner’s Luncheon for everybody with 1 and 2 Stars. Tomorrow they’re having a luncheon for those of us with 3 and 4 stars, and a reception just prior to the luncheon for those with more than 200 days. I look forward to seeing how the Prinsendam handles the Mariner Society liturgy. Of our 800 or so guests, I’m told that nearly about 70% are Mariners, but I don’t know how we’re distributed in terms of seniority. I do know that there are quite a few passengers aboard ship who have VERY high day-counts. I’m talking 700 – 1400+ days. However, among the 60 or so on the Cruise Critic Roll Call, only a few of us have 200+ days; additionally, I’ve talked with lots of passengers over drinks, at breakfast and lunch, on shore excursions, and sitting in the show lounge waiting for programs, who tell me this is only their second or third cruise on HAL. While my observations are very far from being a scientific sampling, I nevertheless cannot shake the impression that most of the Mariners on this ship have 100 days or less. We’ll see when I get a look at our numbers at tomorrow’s luncheon.

 

A word about our continuing Cruise Critic gatherings; we’ve had several since our roll call, and they have been as well-attended as I would expect given that they’ve been at 8:30 am on selected sea days. We have a chance to meet with various crew members responsible for various departments on the ship: The Cruise Director, the Events Planner, and this morning, on this first of two sea days sailing south toward Norway, we enjoyed meeting with the Main Dining Room Manager, who explained quite a bit about the difficulties of doing his job. He said that the most difficult portion of his job is table assignments. When one has 80 or 90 requests for tables for 2, and most of them are at the same time, it simply isn’t possible to give everyone what they want. Most people have to compromise … either sit at tables for 4, 6, or 8, or eat at times other than their preferred time. And, some people just don’t like that. Given how demanding some of the people on this ship appear to be (from what I’m overhearing being said and what I’m observing around me), I just can’t imagine how hard of a job it must be. He also informed us that each dining room steward had between 18 and 24 guests to serve at each seating, depending upon the table configurations. This confirms my own observations of our stewards, who have a table for 8, two tables of 4, and 4 tables of 2. Oftentimes somebody is missing or a table is entirely vacant, but that’s the average.

 

Concerning Cruise Critic: we have 60 aboard who had signed up for the roll call, for whom I also made door signs and name tags. Relative to other cruises I’ve been on, that’s a rather high percentage of the entire passenger complement of the ship (about 7.5%). In addition to these 60, there appears to be quite a few others aboard who are either lurkers on Cruise Critic or who just didn’t bother to sign up for the roll call. Since I came aboard in Tilbury I’ve had no fewer than 14 people tell me that they knew who I was from my photos on Cruise Critic. I had one couple ask me to lunch in the Pinnacle Grill a few days ago, and we enjoyed a couple of hour’s conversation with them on many topics related to cruising, ships in general, and my ministry. Thank you, Andy and Steavie! I must also thank Uri for coffee in the Java Bar the other evening, and Charles and Heather for after dinner drinks after the Captain’s Black and White Ball. Indeed, I want to encourage all of these people – and all the others who might be silently reading along – to stop lurking and start posting on the boards!

[RuthC]

Our seas remain calm. Indeed, we’ve really had fantastic weather and seas this entire cruise. Right now, as I type this sitting in the Crows Nest, there is ever-so-slight of swell rolling from southwest to northeast along our path, but even this doesn’t make for more than the slightly of bobbing fore/aft. The Scan Channel says that out sea condition can be described as “smooth wavelets,” and I must agree … there are times when the water has that “plasticy look” to it, and other times there’s a nearly uniform coverage of tiny wavelets. Otherwise, it’s flat as flat can be; RuthC would be greatly disappointed.

Ah, no. I'd be fine with it. I was fine with it when I did that cruise. After all, there's ice and cold to keep me happy. :D

Love your photos. Some of them look so familiar to me. I did the same tour in Longyearbyen, and enjoyed it very much. I'm glad that the ice cap has moved so far south. It's over 50 miles more south than three years ago. That's a good thing.

 

Glad you're back to civilization, as I am about to take off for Alaska. I'll catch up with your thread and photos when I get home.

[aliaschief]

All I can really say is Wow and thank you so much for taking us along on your cruise. Fantastic narrative and outstanding photos.

Bless you and enjoy the rest of your cruise.

[jhannah]

Zowie, zowie, zowie! What starkly spectacular scenery you've been able to enjoy and share with us by your photographs. What an experience!

[luvs2travl]

WOW!!! is all we can say! My DH and I have been reading along and looking at your fabulous photos and are positively mesmerized! We feel as if we are right there with you. Thank you SO much for taking the time to do such a beautiful commentary and pictorial.

 

I wish you were going to be sailing with us on the Westerdam next week. I will have to corral Norm, our friend who is sailing with you on the Prinsendam, and pick his brain for even more wonderful tidbits.

 

Please continue to enjoy that awesome voyage, and thanks again for taking us along for the ride!

 

God Bless! :)

 

Nancy & Warren

[TracieABD]

More awesomeness! Thanks, Rev-- Love the photos!

[Himself]

Greg: Those pictures and your reporting were both excellent. Thanks for taking the time to share. Good to see you are back in range of communication.

[bob brown]

RevNeal, I have been thoroughly enjoying your superlative posts of this wonderful cruise. As a matter of fact, I can state that this is the best report I have ever read on Cruise Critic. Both the photographs and your witty commentary. And it's not even over yet.

 

One thing I was curious about---in Alaska, they usually let passengers out on the bow where the crew posed for that photo. Any idea why not on the Prinsendam?

[boards]

Thank you for the wonderful pictures and commentary. You have taken us with you to places and sites we will never get to experience, but through this thread we all, I feel certain, can say we have been there and done that.

Thank you. God Bless you.

[Love the beach]

Awesome---just awesome!! Thanks so much for sharing all of this with us.:)

Marge

[mamaofami]

Greg, your pictures are wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to report in and post the pictures.. Enjoy !:)

[madelinerose]

Wow! Your photos belong in a coffee table book! Thanks, Greg.

[ldog]

thank you for the gorgeous pictures!!!

[sparky-elpaso]

Yet another HAL itinerary to add to our bucket list. :) Thanks for taking us along. Fantastic pics.

[onthegogirl]

RevNeal Your "Live From" has convinced me of two things. The voyage to the top of the world is a must do and I'll have to meet you sometime. Spectacular photos and descriptions that make me feel like I'm on board. Thanks for taking the time to post.

 

Carole

[Gsel]

For you I come out of "lurkdom". Wonderful pictures! You better stay up in the cool as long as you can, still in the 100's in Dallas.

[mnport]

RevNeal, I enjoy cruising with you more than you could possibly know. I hope we go on many many more! :D

[Tamaracboy]

For me, I cannot help but think that this constant sunlight would be a waking nightmare for a vampire.

 

First: Thanks for the "Shout Out" ;)

 

Second: As to the realism of your photos, all I can say is Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr !

 

r.

[Travelrd]

Thanks Rev Neal for your fabulous reporting and pictures. This is a cruise I'll put on my "must cruise" list.

[sailinglisa]

RevNeal........I am very much a lurker on the HAL boards thinking that someday I just might book a HAL cruise. I just want to say THANK YOU for your posts from this cruise and the pictures (and all your other cruises I have followed!) I had a Southampton/New York cruise booked for this September with stops in Greenland and Iceland along with Ireland and Canada but had to cancel it when I had to change jobs. Your pictures make me want to take a cruise like this some day.

 

I hope some day to be able to cruise with you on a HAL ship........maybe in a few years if all goes well with my new job.

[Ine]

Amazing photos !!!

[baggal]

Rev. Neal,

 

Thank you for taking the time to write and post your photos. Don't know if I'll ever take this cruise (not high up on the bucket list) so I appreciate the opportunity to ride along.

 

My question: the buildings in your wonderful photographs don't look particularly weather-hardy. Are they? How many people are year long residents? I have many more questions - maybe I will have to make this trip!:)