Maasdam Voyage of the Vikings

[crazy4cruisn]

Another big thanks to Bill for his wonderful posts. They kept me from feeling so lonely after most left from Boston till we joined up in Rotterdam! They also are a great log for me from Rotterdam to Boston as I did not keep notes.

Stew, thanks for sharing your space on the ship with us. I heard you really wanted to stay onboard. Sorry it didn't work out but we are thankful we did get to cruise the way back! Wish we had done the entire journey!
We had some wonderful times, especially with those who took tours with us. We would love to get together with all again, Carolyn and Vesta, Margaret and Chris, Dawn and Budd, Richard and Liz, Peggy and Linda!

This was one of the best cruises. The dining service was slow, but it was a good time to meet and visit with table mates. We loved the As You Wish dining. We never had a problem getting "our table" 128 at the stern with a wonderful view! The food was very good and certainly plentiful!! We were wined and dined more than any other cruise.

My biggest disappointment was in missing the port of Stornoway! It is still hard to understand why we were bumped from docking. Supposedly a German ship was in dock and was asked to share but would not.

As Carolyn wrote, Prince Christian Sound was amazing!
And I will always remember the beautiful horses in fields outside of Reyjkavik! I have never seen so many and such varied colors! St Olaf's day in Torshavn was another special treat. Seeing the people in their native costumes was really lovely.

Nancy

[stewcall]

Nancy
Sorry Our paths never crossed, but was glad you got on the ship. I shared your feelings of it was a wonderful cruise, ship and people. the nice thing about doing only half od it--- I can do it again on the way back. I got so many places to see--- and I have so many good blessing with my family... so I can only do so much at any one time... thanks all
Stewart




[quote name='crazy4cruisn']Another big thanks to Bill for his wonderful posts. They kept me from feeling so lonely after most left from Boston till we joined up in Rotterdam! They also are a great log for me from Rotterdam to Boston as I did not keep notes.

Stew, thanks for sharing your space on the ship with us. I heard you really wanted to stay onboard. Sorry it didn't work out but we are thankful we did get to cruise the way back! Wish we had done the entire journey!
We had some wonderful times, especially with those who took tours with us. We would love to get together with all again, Carolyn and Vesta, Margaret and Chris, Dawn and Budd, Richard and Liz, Peggy and Linda!

This was one of the best cruises. The dining service was slow, but it was a good time to meet and visit with table mates. We loved the As You Wish dining. We never had a problem getting "our table" 128 at the stern with a wonderful view! The food was very good and certainly plentiful!! We were wined and dined more than any other cruise.

My biggest disappointment was in missing the port of Stornoway! It is still hard to understand why we were bumped from docking. Supposedly a German ship was in dock and was asked to share but would not.

As Carolyn wrote, Prince Christian Sound was amazing!
And I will always remember the beautiful horses in fields outside of Reyjkavik! I have never seen so many and such varied colors! St Olaf's day in Torshavn was another special treat. Seeing the people in their native costumes was really lovely.

Nancy[/quote]

[lizzielady]

[B]crazy4cruisn[/B]---Well, I got the 4 correct in my post. Sorry about that. OK--let's cruise again!
--Carolyn

[crazy4cruisn]

Carolyn,
Sounds good.....how about the Black Sea?
Keep in touch; tell Vesta hello and hope her leg is better.
Nancy

[crazy4cruisn]

Carolyn,
When is your far east trip?
Nancy

[lizzielady]

Nancy,

Right now we're deposited for Jan 2010, but there is another South Pacific for Sept 2010 that we'll look at when the itinerary is posted. The one in Jan is LA to Singapore. The one for Sept is Vancouver to LA (no international flights!!!!!). Our next cruise is the South America cruise on Carnival from FLL to SFO in January 2009. Wish you were going to plan some excursions!!!

Carolyn

[margretha]

This was the best cruise we have ever taken! Thanks to Bill for his
postings. That really is dedication given how "iffy" the ability to access
online services was since satellite is at the equator and we so were not anywhere near the equator. Many have already shared their experiences and so I'll just add my rambling two cents, especially some of the tours which haven't been mentioned. At Corner Brook we did the Humber River Rafting and it was spectacular! Nice vehicles and assistants met us at the pier. Here is a hint: if they offer you boots take them. The rafts have water ballast and you will be having wet feet. We drove away in new comfortable vehicles and saw quite a bit of the country. We clambered down to the river (not real path) and got onboard. Views, caverns, small amounts of white water and mostly just talking and looking. Half-way down we had lemonade and cookies. Just a great trip! At Isafjordur we did the Vigur Island cruise - another standout despite the misty continual rain. Boat over was an experience - we stayed outside because let's face it: once you are wet, you are not going to get wetter. The island is amazing and another clue: when they offer a thin slate with plastic stapled to the top, take one because you will need it to keep the arctic terns away from your head. I wasn't quite ready to hear the family that owns the island and farms it is responsible for the puffin ratios and so they have to catch and kill at least 8000 a year!! Guide and others in Iceland went on and on about what good eating the puffins were - brown and red meat, unlike chickens or other birds. They ship the puffin meat to restaurants. End of tour we were invited into farmers house and dining room where we were served hot coffee/tea/cookies and tarts by farmer's wife and daughter in law. Just their regular dining room with a big table and a couple of very small corner tables - family pix, etc. What an experience and what a life they have between keeping the cattle from falling into puffin burrows, and collecting the eiderdown, cleaning and prepping it for sale off the island.
I'll send this and continue. Hope I'm not rambling. margretha

[margretha]

More Iceland trips: [B]Akureyri[/B]: We did the HAL Lake Myvath Tour.
Here is what I loved about Greenland and Iceland: they expect
adults to act like adults. There are small, clear signs that say
things like: Walk carefully. Drop ahead. or Beware! Water: 100.0cel.
And that is it. You want to go out and stand at the very edge of the
150 foot drop over the waterfall that looks like a small Niagara? Go
ahead but "walk carefully". No huge fences, no blockades - nothing.
You want to stick your hand in a 100.0+ degree celcius pool that is
oozing out of some rocks or stand right in the geyser? Be their guest
and be grownup enough to take the consequences. I almost got a
video of a man explaining to his compatriots why he didn't see the
big deal about the thermal water. Body temp = 98.6 and this stream
was only 100! He missed that HS science celcius/far. difference I guess.
Anyhow, this tour was fine. A highlight was lunch where we went to a
big hall and were served huge communal bowls of creamed soup and
fresh homemade bread with rosemary and fresh fish, vegetables, butter
(forget that margarine/Olivio healthy stuff). And all the cold, clear water
we could drink! The people from the small town serving were just great.
I forgot [B]Qaqortoq, Greenland[/B]: yes, it was raining but off and on. Once
you got off the ship and on land and looked back there was the Maasdam,
anchored with a huge iceberg behind it. Qaqortoq was worth going to just
to be able to say you were there! For some reason, at around 11:15 bells
started ringing and continued to ring for almost half an hour. The people
were so friendly and though I felt like an intruder snapping pix of their
houses and small earnest flower gardens no one ever ran out and shooed
me away. If you walked up to the top of the town, as far up the hillside
as you could - which was a long, long way - the view back down was
spectacular. Another interesting thing was the stone carvings. Qaqortoq,
as you might suspect, is mostly rocks - big, small, massive. There is a
project ongoing carving the face of one of the huge, slabs of rock that
fronts the upper part of the town. When you walk on the path you can
see whales, fish, otters, faces, all sorts of amazing etched and carved
images into the rocks. And it has only just started. There were some
crafts being sold and outside the store area a woman and her little boy
had set up a table and were selling interesting things - they seemed
mostly like interesting things maybe she and her son had collected from
the island. I selected a small colorful rock and paid my $1.00 US and got a
huge smile. As I type I see my colorful rock sitting here on my desk and it reminds me what a small and great world we live in!
margretha

[margretha]

Seydisfjordur, Iceland: I'll do this and then sit down and be quiet since I
seem to be going on and on and on.
We took the HAL Borgarfjordur Estuary Cruise and it was the most amazing,
gorgeous, terrifying and memorable day spent on land. The bus was comfy - had AC and sort of airline seats and people were armed with cameras and maps and things. This tour goes over 2 mountains - zig-zagging up and down, going over a dirt road a lot of the way, one that in MA would be closed but in Iceland everyone just drives more slowly and carefully. No barriers, no fences, which makes for fabulous views but you are way, way, way up the mountain looking down at the water crashing on the rocks - yikes. This tour included a couple of small towns/villages and a lookout/island where if you climbed up the actual wooden steps in place and got to the top there was a landing where the views were unforgettable. Of course you had to climb the stairs and ignore the puffins. Seeing the puffins on Vigur Island was so breathtaking. Dodging the puffins everywhere else as they lumbered along in the air - like flying penguins - with dripping fish struggling to break free of their beaks...and they aren't the most melodious of communicators either... well, I've seen enough puffins to last me. If you don't mind fearing at times for your life as the careful Icelandic sheepfarmer who drives tourist buses to supplement his income guides the whale-like bus over generally washed out areas and if you want to be able to see vistas from the tops of the mountains down to the glacial river(s) and then get to the rivers, this is the tour.
I'll sign off for now and hope I've been accurate with the spellings and haven't mixed up Akureyri with Isafjordu or something dim.
margretha

[jwitt2]

Have enjoyed reading everyone elses descriptions. It was interesting to read about the other excursions. At this late hour, I can't think of anything to add. It was nice meeting you at the CC parties and having breakfast and lunch and attending the shows and lectures and sitting in the lounges together.

Received some mail from Princess showing that they have a similar cruise on the Tahitian Princess next year from New York, to London I believe it is, and back, two 18 day segments. Some of the ports are different, so it isn't really all "Viking" places like we visited. I believe it visits Qaaqortoq on both legs.

Hope to see you again some day.

Jo Ann

[JLT]

You made me relive the cruise I took in 2006 and I, too, thought it the best I have ever taken. Just seeing how people all over the world live is the most wonderful part of traveling. I hope to do this cruise again someday.

[MightyQuinn]

Margretha - I've followed this thread from the Voyage of the Vikings with great interest as it is a trip that my DH & I have considered for a while. I very much enjoyed reading Bill's description of the ports & of life aboard the [I]Maasdam[/I]. No doubt it's a winning itinerary, but I must confess that the rain, drizzle & fog were starting to sound depressing! But when I read your comments I am reminded (yet again) that, in the end, no matter the weather, it's the people of these remote regions that make the trip special. Thanks for putting this voyage back on our "gotta do" list.:cool::cool:

[sk8teacher]

Thank you Margaret for posting your thoughts about some of our ports. And Yes we had some overcast skies, some misty days, some rain. But the only port I would consider a washout (regretfully) was Oslo. Because the rain was so hard at times it simply was not enjoyable.

The rest of the cruise, despite the weather, was delightful. It must have been because we took over 5000 pictures between us! As we cull through them we will be posting some of the best online and will provide a link when they are available.

To all thinking about this cruise, GO! It is truly amazing.

Next up, the Grand Med and Baltic Sea 50 day cruise on the Prinsendam which I am sure will be just as wonderful (if not better!!).

And to all the wonderful people we met, may your next cruise be blessed with fair winds and following seas!

Cheers all!