Eurodam Viking Passage September 2015 Review

[sportfishers]

Fantastic review and beautiful photos! You really planned well and made such good use of your time. Enjoy your travels, wherever you may go!

[OKCowboy]

We were on the cruise and thought it was spectacular. Biggest disappointment was outdated technology on board. I understand the ship will be dry docked later this year for 13 days for major updates. Have enjoyed your review and look forward to the rest of the trip review.

[Vict0riann]

We booked all of our car rentals back in March / April and there was lots of availability back then.

Before we left home, we knew where we were going to go in each of the ports and which routes we were going to take. I generally use googlemaps at home before we leave, print them out and bring them with me. It is a lot of preparation work, but worth it!

Yes, we thought the roads were very good. I didn't drive myself, my dad drove and I was the navigator reading the maps and giving the directions! The driving was very easy with everyplace well signed and the roads were quiet too.

 

Thanks for that. Normally, when we are three, DD drives, I navigate when needed (she is a great planner) and we relegate Dad to the back seat!

[TeDaKi]

Thanks everyone for the great comments!

[TeDaKi]

Day 13: Scenic cruising of the Prins Christian Sund (Ikerassassuaq), Greenland (07:00-18:00)

Weather: Cloudy. Max temperature 6C / 43F

 

At 02:00AM, the clocks went back one hour.

 

Today was the highlight of the cruise, and in fact, possibly the highlight of all the places I have been to. It was a truly amazing day.

 

The day started when we woke up at 06:15AM and saw the Greenland coast in the distance. There was a beautiful sunrise and the sea was calm with no wind at all. We went up on deck at 06:30 and there were many people up already. We could see many icebergs in the distance. At 07:00, we entered the sound and it was scenic cruising until 18:00.

 

Approaching the coast of Greenland:

 

 

Icebergs in the distance:

 

We were outside all day viewing the spectacular icebergs, glaciers and mile high mountains. I couldn't keep my camera down all day!

 

By 09:15, I had taken 400 photos and my camera battery was starting to go down, so I decided I better go to the room and charge it up a little to give it a boost. While it was charging, we decided to have breakfast in the Lido. I got my orange juice and yoghurt when my dad looked out and saw that we were soon approaching a glacier. So, I gulped down my yoghurt and orange juice, raced down to our room to grab my camera again and headed back up on deck to view and take snaps of the beautiful glacier!

 

 

 

[TeDaKi]

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

 

Throughout the day, we found it so hard to go inside to eat! We were outside all day, walking from one side of the ship to the other because the scenery was changing all the time and the ship was dodging icebergs on either side of the ship. We felt that if we went inside the ship, we would miss something! We had to be outside admiring the amazing scenery pass by.

 

Also, because of the good weather and smoothness of the water, there were amazing photo opportunities. The reflections with the water made it seem almost like a mirror.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TeDaKi]

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

 

Another iceberg:

 

Another glacier:

 

Mum and Dad admiring the view. In this photo, the mountain looks so close to the ship:

 

Sailing through the Sound, just like a mirror:

 

This was a big iceberg:

 

 

The ships destination specialist, Ian Page, and guest speaker, Jon Sigurdsson, said that today's cruising through Prince Christian Sund was the best they had ever experienced in 8 years. In fact, the captain was able to turn the ship 360 degrees at two different glaciers...something which they were never able to do before.

[TeDaKi]

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

 

At around 14:00, the ship stopped outside a small village called Aappilattoq, one of the most remote villages in Greenland. A tender boat was taken over, which was filled with fruit, vegetables and pizza. It was lovely and some of the locals came out on their boats to wave at all the people on the ship.

 

Aappilattoq village:

 

A Eurodam tender taking over food to the village:

 

Some of the locals came out and circled the ship:

 

 

 

This one touched the ship :

[TeDaKi]

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

[nonnudie]

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

[RuthC]

At around 14:00, the ship stopped outside a small village called Aappilattoq, one of the most remote villages in Greenland.

In all my travels, I have never seen so forlorn a settlement (it doesn't seem big enough to call it a "village") as this one. Even some research stations in Antarctica don't make me feel so sad for the people there.

 

Loving your pictures. I don't usually click on the links to pictures, but yours make me eager to look. Great job.

Edited October 4, 2015 by RuthC

[TeDaKi]

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 :)

[pictonite]

Thank you for reminding me of this wonderful day on the Eurodam. I have thought of writing my own review - and I probably will, but your daily reports are really spectacular, and reflect the perfect cruise we all experienced.

 

We thought we took a lot of photos, but you have us beaten by a long way!

 

Keep going - I'm eager for more memories.

[io15721]

Great photos of Prince Christian Sund!!! Your photos inspired me to add Greenland on my list of must see places. Thanks!

[nonnudie]

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

 

I LOVE my Lumix.. Looking at the ZS50..

[lastlook]

Thank you for sharing your journey with us. We cruised the Norwegian Fjords this past June, so it was great to see your photos of Bergen (on a clear day.)

 

We've also stopped over in Iceland twice when flying to/from Europe, and have driven the Golden Circle, etc. as you did. We spent 4 nights in Reykjavik on the way home from our Norwegian Fjords cruise this last time and enjoyed our time there tremendously.

 

Really enjoying reliving our past trips through your beautiful photos. (My maternal grandparents emigrated from County Tipperary, and so we spent time there almost 20 years ago during two weeks in Southwestern Ireland.) Our visit to the North Cape this past June reminded me so much of the Cliffs of Moher! Looking forward to the rest of your photo review - the ones with the mirrored reflections are spectacular!

[TeDaKi]

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!

[TeDaKi]

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:

 

 

[TeDaKi]

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.

[TeDaKi]

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"

 

 

 

[TeDaKi]

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.

[TeDaKi]

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.

[TeDaKi]

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!

[Aussie Jo]

Day 4: Copenhagen, Denmark (embarking the Eurodam) (departure at 16:00)

Weather: Sunny. Max temperature 16C / 60F

 

A first for us on this cruise was that our stateroom attendants did not get to know us very well at all. We did not have a problem with this as they were very friendly when we encountered them in the corridor. But on other cruises, our stateroom attendants would always introduce themselves to us on the first day and they would know our names by the second day of the cruise. This didn't bother us. We don't know if maybe this is only on HAL.

 

Yes, we noticed this as well. It's not a HAL thing as we've been on 2 other HAL cruises. On the Eurodam our stateroom attendants were friendly but distant and didn't introduce themselves when we arrived.

[Aussie Jo]

Great photos of Bergen!