Maybe live New York to Iceland on Saturn 30/08-13/09

[jkadventures]

On 9/3/2023 at 1:43 PM, Beachlover1989 said:

New to Viking - besides getting your hair done, can you get your nails done onboard?

Yes you can. I had a wonderful manicure onboard. 

[little britain]

@uktog

how’s the weather forecast?  Reading that a Carnival ship a few days behind you is scheduled to hit some strong winds so may not make it- especially with tendering in Q and Nano. 

[uktog]

1 hour ago, little britain said:

@uktog

how’s the weather forecast?  Reading that a Carnival ship a few days behind you is scheduled to hit some strong winds so may not make it- especially with tendering in Q and Nano. 

No problem since we had a port switch a few days ago. It was very light rain at times today. Sea is pretty ok tonight 

[uktog]

Dinner tonight - another lovely meal but service still spotty. Confused the system - to ensure we had our change of wine in time for main course we ordered both wines at the start. Several waiters came to check did we really want two different wines at the same time but it worked!

The timbale was excellent 

The lobster lovely though it would have been nice if the waiter had offered to take it out of the shell 

The mango burst was very very intense flavour a nice end to the meal. 

We made it to the show Stage Door - an excellent set of favourites beautiful harmonies well sung. 

 

 

[kctwinmommy]

3 hours ago, jkadventures said:

Yes you can. I had a wonderful manicure onboard. 

I want to see if they'll be able to do a polish removal for me?! I plan on using my Color Street nail strips. They can last for a good 3 weeks, but we'll be gone for almost 4. So if I do them before I leave, I may want to have them removed at a certain point and put new ones on. My other thought is I may wait until we're done in Athens and just do it the first day of the cruise. I know, some will think it's a silly thing. And trust me, I'm not exactly stressing about it, just planning my options. I just like having my nails always painted. I feel weird when they're not. LOL!

[BluebonnetTexan]

@uktog glad you found all the activities in Qaqortoq today. Somehow, we missed out and were told the singers were cancelled. Oh well, as you said, mission accomplished in setting foot on Greenland! 
Also, I can’t wait for someone to ask me for a word using 3 Q’s without any U’s! 😉

[little britain]

7 hours ago, uktog said:

No problem since we had a port switch a few days ago. It was very light rain at times today. Sea is pretty ok tonight 

Carnival Pride just had all her Greenland stops cancelled due to weather. They get extra Canada stops instead and $400obc. 
Sounds like you’re ahead of this storm. 

[uktog]

What a beautiful morning to wake up to in Nanortalik 

[Azulann]

3 hours ago, uktog said:

What a beautiful morning to wake up to in Nanortalik 

Absolutely fabulous picture! The lighting is amazing. Looking forward to your report of visiting this Greenland village.

[uktog]

What an amazing day blessed by weather that included appearances from Mr Sun!
 

Nanortalik is a self guided walk through the village to an open air museum of houses and buildings associated with the old fishing trades including the blubber house.
 

 

 

Some include ancient turf buildings. 
 

We spotted the little poster, the choir would sing in the church.

How beautiful they were, I will try and upload a video when I’m in better Wi-Fi. You do have to look out for signs about activities ashore on these self guided walks they aren’t well published. 
 

This afternoon has been unbelievable cruising through Prins Kristiansound.

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll let the pictures tell the story including the most remote village population 96 accessible only by sea 

[uktog]

And a few more

 

 

[little britain]

Are the Self Guided walks a Viking thing or for every ship when they are in port?  Eg: choirs always perform or just for Viking? 

[uktog]

2 hours ago, little britain said:

Are the Self Guided walks a Viking thing or for every ship when they are in port?  Eg: choirs always perform or just for Viking? 

I think it’s a Viking thing 

[aungrl]

4 hours ago, uktog said:

This afternoon has been unbelievable cruising through Prins Kristiansound.

Another trip down memory lane.  We walked all around, met a local man who welcomed us into his house so we could see the view back down to the water from his back porch, and saw some of these same buildings.  And Prins Kristiansound is the prettiest spot I've seen so far.  So glad your weather cooperated!

[photopro2]

On 9/4/2023 at 6:04 PM, uktog said:

We had a fun morning attending a cooking class.

Was there a charge?

[uktog]

3 hours ago, photopro2 said:

Was there a charge?

$69 well worth it in our view

[photopro2]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

$69 well worth it in our view

Thanks for the very quick response. I'm glad to see you're having such a great cruise!

[Sleep7]

👋Good morning - Good afternoon uktog!

Just saw your wonderful thread now and read thru it with a smile on my face.

Thank you for your lovely commentary and your fantastic pictures!

Just the perfect amount of both.

I look forward to reading along and sharing your adventure with you.

Happy sailing!!

Claudia (sleep7 an old pal from the Azamara board)😃

P.S. read with great interest that Andrew Carnegie funded educations in Scotland.  Two of our daughters went to school in Pittsburgh and so many public buildings and spaces there were built with his donations.  I didn't realize he did that in Scotland too.

Also.. that's awesome that you went to the UN while you were in New York.  I haven't been there since a class trip in 3rd grade.  Your post really made me want to visit again.😊

 

 

[uktog]

4 hours ago, Sleep7 said:

👋Good morning - Good afternoon uktog!

Just saw your wonderful thread now and read thru it with a smile on my face.

Thank you for your lovely commentary and your fantastic pictures!

Just the perfect amount of both.

I look forward to reading along and sharing your adventure with you.

Happy sailing!!

Claudia (sleep7 an old pal from the Azamara board)😃

P.S. read with great interest that Andrew Carnegie funded educations in Scotland.  Two of our daughters went to school in Pittsburgh and so many public buildings and spaces there were built with his donations.  I didn't realize he did that in Scotland too.

Also.. that's awesome that you went to the UN while you were in New York.  I haven't been there since a class trip in 3rd grade.  Your post really made me want to visit again.😊

 

 

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 😀

[uktog]

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

 

 

[TweedRover]

Thank you for your review on Chefs Table we are booked for tonight👍

[Azulann]

I also enjoyed the Erling Scandinavian chef table dinner on a previous cruise. Your pictures bring back memories.

Seeing it is a sea day, I would certainly talk to Food manager  about the nuts in desserts.  Go toughest relations and  ask to speak ot food manager.The chef will certainly  make a dessert that is without nuts . Talk to  folks behind the counter at World Cafe and  let your waiter know  when you sit down for dinner that you have a nut allergy. Viking has always been very accommodating with any food allergies of any kind. 

Am enjoying your trip report so much. 

[downsmead]

We had Damian as our cruise director on our last Viking cruise, I agree he was very talented and an excellent cruise director.

[uktog]

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. 
 

 

[uktog]

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.