Cruising the Greenland Fjords

September 10th
Today the sun is out.  The captain slowed as we came around Cape   Farvel.  This was our first sighting of icebergs.  As we started up the western coast of Greenland, we entered Skovfyord.  The scenery was magnificent!!!!  We did see a whale.  Could not get a good picture.  Just can see a little spout.
 
As we came up to the town of  Narssaq, which has about 1200 residents, we turned in to the  Bredefjord.  A man with his children in a boat came out to greet us.  What a beautiful site.  We grabbed same sandwiches from the buffet and had a picnic on our deck……

All in all, we had a very nice day.  The weather was good and the scenery was unbelievable.
Tonight is formal…and LOBSTER is on the menu.  Rich and I are very happy.  Tomorrow is Qaqortoq, Greenland.  We are scheduled to tender, hopefully we will be able to get in.

Another Missed Port-Reykjavik, Iceland

September 8th

Today we were supposed to stop in Reykjavik, Iceland.  The morning was sunny so I was pretty confident that everything would go as planned.  As we neared the shore, the Captain came over the intercom and said that the winds were gusting to over 30 knots at the entrance to the bay.  We were then put in to a holding pattern and the captain did make a few other attempts to enter the port.  At about 4PM, he finally made the decision to cancel the stop…..

 

As you can see from the pictures, it was not a very good day.  Apparently, the weather that has gone up the East Coast is now out in the North Atlantic raising havoc on us.  I really should have known better as the weather in the North Atlantic is always unpredictable at this time of the year.  At least the ship is riding pretty stable. 

All in all, we are having a good time…just wish the weather was better.

Day at the dock in Dublin….was supposed to be Belfast

 

September 6th

Last night while we were at dinner, the Captain announced that a storm was expected to come in to the Irish Sea and we would need to stay docked in Dublin until noon today. This cancelled our port stop in Belfast for today.  I have emailed the tour company that I had made a reservation with for a tour to the Giant Causeway.  I am really disappointed that we missed Belfast.  I was really looking forward to that tour.  At least now I hope we can get some of our $$$$ back as we had to prepay for this tour.  The company does not normally offer a refund but had agreed to a 50% refund if we could not dock.

Today at about 11AM, the Captain announced that the Dublin Port Authority would not allow any ships in or out until at least 7PM tonight.

Our Chef’s Table that was also scheduled for tonight has been cancelled.  Hopefully, it will be rescheduled.

I did get to play a few games of Mah Jongg today.  The people I played with were VERY SLOW.  Hopefully, I will find more people tomorrow or I probably will not play.  3 games in 2 hours!!!! but I did win 2 games..concealed.

……we did get off the dock at 7:30PM.  Stay tuned..hope we are not the Titanic redux…..

Dublin

 September 5th

Today the weather really wasn’t any better.  Our group of 10 got 2 taxis to the Guinness Storehouse. We had reserved a private tour and added “Pour a Perfect Pint”. 

 The tour started with an overview of the history of Guinness and the brewing process. Our guide, Kevin, was very cute and informative. The first thing was saw was the original lease that Arthur Guinness signed on the St. James’s Gate Brewery for a period of 9,000 years.

   

We then went on to sample different Guinness brews and learned how to pour that perfect pint!!!

 

By the time we were through, we had drank 2 pints (Charlie had 3) and several samples….needless to say, we all seemed quite happy.

 

We hopped on the HOHO bus and rode around Dublin.  Needed to make a few stops to relieve ourselves of the 2/3 pints……the weather had not improved so we headed back to the ship…tired, damp but happy!!!!

 

Falmouth

September 4th

This morning was grey and misty.  We had to tender so we were a little late getting in to port for our tour.

Barb Moorehouse had arranged this tour for a group of 10 people. Our first stop was the village of St. Ives which is a picturesque village on the Atlantic Ocean. The flowers were beautiful….

We walked along the waterfront.  Because this is a tidal bay, I guess these boats need to wait for high tide!!!

We just walked around to check the place out and found some delicious scones and stocked up on some Pepsi.  I’m sure there may have been some historic significance here but we did not see it. We did see the parade that was the start of the annual Gorseth where the new Bards are installed…..no pictures, just a video so if you get to see our DVD you can see the parade.

We then proceeded to Penzance, located on Mounts Bay.  Instead of walking around…we found a very nice Irish Pub……we had a very enjoyable visit !!!!!

We the headed back to Falmouth with a stop to see Saint Michael’s Mount, a small granite island topped by a castle.  The island is accessible by a causeway at low tide or by boat. The island is privately owned by the St. Aultyn family. As you can see from the pictures, the weather hadn’t improve much….Best stop of the day definitely was Flanagan’s Irish Pub!!!

It was then back to Falmouth where we waited in a LONG line to board the tenders to return to the ship. Tomorrow is Dublin and Guinness…can’t wait!!!

Boarding the Crown Princess

September 3rd….Southampton

This morning we boarded the Crown Princess to start our crossing.  Boarding went fairly smoothly and we were in our cabin by 12:30PM.  We went up to the Horizon Court for lunch and by the time we returned to our cabin, our luggage had arrived.

After the muster drill we had a sail away party on our balcony.  It was good to reconnect with our friends from the Sydney to LA cruise.

 

After a fairly early dinner, it was back to the cabin for an early to bed…we have had 3 pretty long days and the next 3 days are port intensive.

Arrival in England

September 2nd

The flight was pretty good…especially with Ambien!!!  Both of us slept at least 5 hours. We arrived at Heathrow at about 7AM.  Going thru customs was a breeze and we were at the Central Station to get the bus to Southampton by 7:30.  Met up with Rich and Delia and also Barb and Al who will be on the cruise with us.

We settled in to our hotel and then went to Mickey D’s for lunch.  Walked around some and stocked up on wine for the cruise.

Tonight we are meeting some other cruisers at a pub for dinner…will make it an early night.  After dinner, we walked thru the old part of Southampton. This is a picture of us outside of a cathedral that was bombed by the Germans in WW2.  It has not been rebuilt but is a national monument to all that died in the war.