This was our first cruise and was taken with trepidation as I don't like the sea!! However, all my fears were put aside by the helpfulness of both the Shearings and Discovery staff. We opted for a lower deck cabin as we had been told by a seasoned cruiser 'the more you pay the more you sway' and this proved to be true as we felt hardly any movement of the ship during the cruise. Our cabin on Coral deck was comfortable with adequate storage space and a small but practical shower room - the cupboards were very useful to store toiletries. Our cabin boy took pride in his work and kept our cabin spotless. Why pay more for a higher deck when you only sleep and dress in your cabin?
The food in both the Seven Continents Dining Room and the Lido was excellent. We did not eat in the Yacht Club as it was only Asian food. The two gala nights were brilliant and we got to sit at the Chief Engineers table for the second.
The entertainment was first class and lasted about 45 mins which was just the right legnth for the shows. During the cruise I tried my hand at jewellery making and painting.
We preferred the smaller ship as we got to know several fellow passengers while sitting with them for breakfast and lunch. we can recommend the Discovery as a small, friendly, delightful vessel.

This cruise turned out to be above our expectations. Yes, it is an old ship, but it gave us all we were looking for.Our cabin on the Pacific deck had ample storage, comfortable beds and small but adequate shower room. It was immaculately kept by the steward who took a pride in his work and was friendly and helpful. Indeed, the whole ship was sparkling clean for the entire voyage.
We had breakfast and lunch on the Lido deck and the quantity, variety and quality of the food at these buffet services were excellent. We also had the occasional afternoon tea there. Avoid this if you value your waist-line - sandwiches made to order, scones and cream and a variety of delicious cakes. It is a shame about the plastic furniture there - not very attractive. Dinner in the Seven Continents pleased me, but my husband found the portions a bit small. All I can say is that after breakfast and lunch, smallish portions at a four course dinner were a good idea. The dinner on the first formal night was superb, as was the dinner in the Yacht Club, altho' booking for the latter was not as easy as it should have been.
The excursions were expensive but, especially in Libya, worth the money. From what we observed of Libyian officialdom, we would not think of taking it on as solo travellers. In the other ports there was no need to use the excursions unless you wanted to go some distance from the port in a short time. We had a super trip round Alexandria in a taxi much cheaper than the ship's deal.At other ports, we used the booklet given on board and some prior reading to find the sights.
Of the ship's staff, all I can do is echo other reports. They are superb, professional in the best sense of the word, and give you a five star welcome.
We never did get round to using any of the on board entertainment except for the lectures which were a highlight of the cruise. Well done to Greg and his team for informative and entertaining hours.We also enjoyed the much better than expected library and the comfortable public areas.
We had some seriously windy weather and found this uncomfortable at first - she does roll more than a little. However, reception handed out very effective pills which allowed us to enjoy our Yacht Club dinner in a force 8 gale.
We enjoyed the company of our fellow passengers. There was no sign at all of the inconsiderate behaviour which has spoilt cruises taken on other lines by some of our friends this summer. The 60+ average ages has much to recommend it.
We understand that the ship is having two weeks in dry dock to upgrade the cabins and some of her public areas. A flat screen tv in the cabin would be a plus.
Would we sail on her again? Certainly.

Just returned from the "Fjords, Faroes, Fire & Ice" cruise: our first time on Discovery, and first time of cruising (at least, for many years).
I only chose Discovery because of the itinerary, and also because my husband refused to go on any of the huge floating gin palaces. Well, a snazzy gin palace would suit me just fine, but there you go.
At first, I admit, I was disappointed. I found the ship too small, the cabin cramped, and the facilities limited. But, guess what, I fell in love with it and by the end of the cruise we both had to be dragged off board.
The good bits are:
- the staff without exception were superb. Friendly, smiley, helpful, remembered your name and your likes/dislikes, very hard-working. They made the cruise. We gave both our steward and our waiter a tip at the end, despite the fact that tips are supposed to be included. They don't have an easy job, any of them.
- the ship was very clean, the public areas very pleasant and with a nice little library. Our cabin was small but spotless. We had an outside (windowed) cabin on Pacific deck and loved it, light and airy. We wouldn't have liked the lower porthole rooms; similarly, the higher-up expensive cabins & suites either had blocked views or looked out directly onto a piece of deck. We found the beds very comfortable. The room was too small to store suitcases of any size, but Marvin our wonderful steward took them away for us.
- Food was plentiful and good. The Yacht Club restaurant is better than the 7 Continents (the main restaurant of the ship, which is fine, don't get me wrong), but you can only eat at the Yacht Club for free twice. We chose to eat breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea on the al fresco Lido deck, all of which was very good and varied, though we didn't sample the midnight buffet. For dinner in the 7 Continents we had requested a table for 2, and ended up with a four. Turns out that tables for 2 are at a premium. However, we were lucky in that we shared with a wonderful couple and had a lot of fun. We did find it a pain to have specific sittings.
- the stopovers were just breathtaking. Norway was hot and stunning, ditto the Faroes. Iceland was foggy, bizarre but fascinating, a bit like being on Mars in some places. The Orkneys were also foggy and a bit wet, but well worth the visit. The fog tended to lift from late morning on, which was a pain if you were only in port for a morning. Excursions were excellent, but pricey. We felt they were worth it though.
- the atmosphere on board was really nice and cosy. The ship wasn't so big that you got lost, and faces soon became familiar. We are in our mid-50's, and were among the younger element!
- entertainment. The lectures and guest speakers were just brilliant. More my husband's thing, but he attended them all and found them first class. I joined the choir and really enjoyed it, especially the concert we put on at the end. The evening entertainment was ok: the cafe concerto and guest classical pianist were excellent, the shows so-so, a bit amateurish. The cinema showed a different film each night. Otherwise there was nothing much else, but we tended to go to bed to watch tv fairly early anyway.
The gym was small but quite good, underused but then most passengers were elderly. The spa was pricey, but the sauna and outside jacuzzis were nice.
The bad bits:
Hmmm. Well, The lido deck (where most daytime meals are taken) is a bit of a dogs' dinner. It's furnished with cheap white plastic furniture mixed in with wooden stuff, and looks a tacky mess. It could be a lot nicer. I thought this area let the ship down. The tea bar, with constant tea and coffee on tap, had nasty plastic sticks instead of teaspoons, and yukky long-life carton milk. Given that we were never more than a day from port, fresh milk and veg (tinned veg occurred a lot in the 7 Continents) were surely not an impossibility.
- The 2 swimming pools are actually the size of a postage stamp. Not only are they too small to actually swim in, they were both empty for most of the cruise. Given that the weather was hot and the sea calm, this was a mystery. Somebody said that the pumps weren't working: maybe this is a feature of an older ship. Certainly the engines could do with a refit: we were bumped off this cruise last year at 3 days' notice as the engines had conked out. Apparently in January of this year there were further problems.
- If it weren't for the fact that I'm an avid reader, I might have become a bit bored with any more days at sea. Again, that goes back to the fact that Discovery is a small ship with limited facilities, and maybe I was still harking after my huge gin palace with 10 cinemas, restaurants, pools ete etc.
BUT - overall we had a fantastic holiday with a stupendous itinerary. Whales, porpoises, puffins, the midnight sun, and a lovely friendly little ship. We would certainly go back on Discovery.

third time on discovery has many good points, traditional type cruise attracts a nice type of passanger, many of whom are repeat cruisers.Only .complaint is the price of excursions ,especially in Libya &100 per person to visit Leptis Magna from El Khoms a 10 minute bus ride.This is surely exploiting the problem people have in obtaining visas and passangers lack of knowledge of Libya.Even when the Libyan immigration officers were prepared to
allow passangers ashore in Tripoli and Bhengazi without a visa the ships purser would not allow it,so that the only means of going ashore was on a hugely overpriced excursion.

The Discovery had either developed engine trouble prior to our boarding, or very soon after. We have missed around 48 port hours up to Barbados - and more since. The captain and chief engineer had a so called meeting this morning, at which they told us all about their cv's and showed us a video of the engine compartment - all done to save time allotted to questioning them over the repair progress & reasons for the engine failurs.
The trip is our first on any cruise ship, and will more than likely be the last. We feel we could have had far better value far money by booking four wto week holidays in places that really interested - on dry land, in more than a whoe box of a room. The table staff on board at mealtimes have been first class - shame about their management's aparent attitude to them. On more than one occassion I have heard them told offin front of passengers - a thing that no manager should do.

The ship (boat) may appear slightly dated if compared to more recently built vessels when moored along side her, but do not be deceived. On embarkation you discover pure comfort, modern facilities, dazzling smiles and a warm welcome. The ship was spotlessly clean, the number of staff employed to ensure this is a credit to the company; where they find so many happy, hard-working, dedicated and conscientious personnel is a mystery! Even when the boat was at anchor and the weather too inclement to disembark I noticed an army of maintenance staff outside, washing and painting areas that, to me, looked perfectly clean.
The food onboard I must fault!! It was far, far too good! When booking this cruise and comparing prices with other companies I assumed the economies were going to be made in the kitchen, so I only packed clothes in my size. Big mistake. I ate every two hours, promising that I would go easy 'tomorrow', it was too difficult to know what to cut down on..full English breakfast/waffles/fruit/cheeses/fresh bread and cakes....2hours later..lunch of salads/roast of the day/casseroles/fresh fish dishes/barbeque selection/soups and starters, then of course desserts, puddings, gateaux, tropical fruits and there was even an ice-cream cart which was open all day long, well it had to be...there were so many flavours you had to try them all!..2hours later, us real die-hards (greedy-pigs) enjoyed full afternoon tea..sandwiches, soup, salad, cream scones and cakes..loads of them, all delicious. Which was really good because by then I felt I could no longer eat on an empty stomach, so felt ready for dinner. A five course cullinary delight, choices for each course and all excellent. All the meals were hot, delivered to the tables in unison and each looked and tasted as if we had our own personal chefs. How do they do that? Oh, nearly forgot... if you still felt peckish before going to bed there was the late evening supper which, I believe, was usually something hearty like lasagne or cottage pie. I am sure it was good but must admit to not having it, too full!!Always ate the chocolate on my pillow though, well it was Lindt.
Ship Staff - when I first embarked I was treated like a celebrity (A-lister!), within two days the 'staff' not only remembered my name; my bar order; where I'd left my phone/book/shopping etc The female 'staff' always complimented my shoes and handbags (as they were the only things that still fitted me),they even let me know when my mother was looking for me - so I could hide somewhere else...! "The waiters, bellboys, bar staff, 'secret-invisible-night-cleaners',cabin boy and receptionist" were not only staff, they were friends, they would tell me jokes, pass on funny stories about their families, sympathize with everyone's problems, and cheer up any sad moment.. whilst smiling and looking after us their hands were busy clearing, cleaning, tidying and pre-empting our needs. They never compromised their duty to provide first class service.
The 'officers' looked very smart in their white jackets, it was always a pleasure to see them having so much fun in the Hideaway Bar, letting their hair down after a hard days 'staffing'. They were responsible for the good food, happy staff, clean ferry, safety and security. They were responsible for our lives at sea. Keeping the engines oiled, keeping us warm and ensuring we all got back safely.
The onboard entertainment was perfect. A handsome young pianist, pretty girls dancing, beautiful vocalist, cabaret every night...best of all, the talented trio musicians; drums; violin and keyboard. They were fantastic.
Would I sail on this ship again? Yes, and hopefully very soon. My mother is going again for Christmas and New Year and that is an even greater endorsement than mine, because she's a bit of a fuss-pot!

We were 2 lots of couples travelling on mv Discovery for our first ever cruise. This was the Land of the Midnight Sun involving the North Cape and the Norwegian Fjords for 10 days.
We all had a fantastic time and would definitely cruise again - in fact our friends have already booked another cruise on Discovery in September.
The checking in a Harwich was hassel free, a lovely lunch was awaiting on the Lido deck, cases in the cabin very quickly. Our cabin steward was introduced to us immediately. I can't rate the staff enough, nothing was too much trouble, they work so hard all the time without being intrusive. We spent quite a few days cruising at sea but it was lovely, so peaceful with plenty to do if you wanted to be occupied. Lectures were brilliant, we had a singing teacher aboard, which resulted in a lovely choral concert by the passengers who practised on the last afternoon cruising, it brought all the passengers together singing Rod Stewart's Sailing it was so friendly.
The ship is small by ship standards but this was nice as it mean't you felt quite at home.
The cruise director was an australian lady who was very professional and approachable, she leadthe rest of the entertainment team and they produced some very good shows every evening.
If you want to be quiet there are plenty of sitting areas and a very good library.
As for Norway, this is a very beautiful country, but be aware the weather is not like the brochures - I think youv'e got to be very lucky to have clear bright sunshine all the time. Our weather was nice out at sea but nearer the land it became misty and rainy. Nevertheless, we loved the country and the people. Also, be aware the trips are expensive and getting on and off the coaches can take up a lot of precious time owing to a lot of elderly passengers. We found a couple of the trips frustrating, because of time limitations ie not enough time to look around the museums and places of interest. I think if we went on a cruise again we would try and go our own way once ashore.
The food on board was very good, I was a bit disappointed there wasn't any nice seafood, there was mixed seafood but only once or twice in 10 days. Dinner in the evening was very good though and the menus was different every night. If you read Eric's review on his Greenland trip he described the food in more detail. I would say it has improved since his trip as we did have very good desserts - not one involving crumble!
I am a very critical person overall, but I must say for my first cruise this has definitely made both of us want to go on another.

This was our first cruise (Red Sea Explorer)and we were very impressed..We joined the ship at Sharm el Sheikh. This was somewhat disorganised as the whole passenger list arrived at the ship at the same time, due to the Egyptian security arrangements for the transfer from the airport. However after embarkation we were shown to our cabin on the Promenade deck which was very acceptable, red roses and a bowl of fruit and chocolate were waiting, Also bathrobes and slippers. The cabin was spacious with windows and the ensuite had a bath with shower over. We met our cabin boy, Michael, who was very attentive during the cruise and kept our cabin spotlessly clean. My only criticism of the cabin was the width of the bed which was quite narrow. Before we left the ship we looked at some cabins on Deck 5 Pacific which looked very nice, windows instead of portholes which is what I wanted, but no bath just shower. Next time we will book one of those.

We were quite satisfied with the food, we ate breakfast in the Lido most mornings and there was plenty of variety cooked or uncooked. We also had breakfast in the restaurant which was much the same. Lunch was available in the Lido (self service) or restaurant (waiter service) both excellent. there was afternoon tea with cakes and sandwiches in the Lido at 3.30 pm each day. Dinner we had in the restaurant at least five courses each night and none repeated over the course of eight nights! We had one dinner in the Yacht Club which was an oriental menu and very well cooked. We were thankful that we were allocated first sitting for dinner as second sitting was 8.30 pm which we wouldn't have been happy with. The waiting staff and bar staff are Philipino as are the bulk of the ships crew, all we came into contact with were extremely polite, always smiling and very efficient. There were one or two sullen faces amongst the European female members of the staff but perhaps they had just had a tiring day!

We didn't really sample any of the entertainment shows, but did hear the pianist playing in the Yacht Club which was fine. A few of the Philipino crew did a small show one evening which was excellent. But we had early nights most nights as we did get very tired due to the heat outside. The whole of the ship's interior is air conditioned which was a pleasant relief at times.

We thought the excursions on this cruise were quite expensive but we think in hindsight that we tried to do too much and perhaps should have given one or two a miss...We were held up in the Suez Canal for 30 hours or so because of a grounded oil tanker on the way round to Alexandria, but there were extra activities organized and really it did not cause any disruption except for a missed tour of Alexandria (the cost of which was refunded immediately) and us arriving home 24 hours late. We were given a bottle of wine per couple at dinner on the last evening as some compensation but it was really beyond the ships control.

The announcements from the bridge during the cruise were very informative (the captain was Norwegian with a wonderful sense of humour!) and there were lectures in one of the lounges regarding the future ports of call, which were also broadcast on the ships TV later. there was a daily ships programme and British Newsheet sent to our cabin daily.

All in all we were very impressed with this ship and would happily sail in her again.

Normal convention with cruise reviews is to review the ship first & ports of call last. However in this case I must say a few words about Greenland before the detail of the cruise review. Greenland is 10 times the size of UK & is 83% covered in ice. 4 million cubic kilometres of ice, enough to supply everyone on earth with a billion litres of water! The ice free area is equivalent to the size of France. Only 56000 people live in the entire country with just 14500 in the capitol Nuuk. One lecturer said “you are going to the edge of the civilised world” & in the sense that there is no habitation north of Greenland, this is right. They do not have many resources & most things are imported, meaning expensive. We encountered all weathers except snow, missed things we hoped to see but still had a magical time. The 24 hours in Disko bay area was worth the trip alone! My wife only went because I wanted to see icebergs again, now she tells everyone “she would not have missed it for the world” to make that sort of impression on someone you just have to be very good indeed! We are retired & have cruised the Chilean fjords, Norwegian fjords & Alaska, in our opinion this exceeded them all in scenic splendour. I have photo albums of Icebergs etc, Greenland & Reykjavik+Thorshavn on webshots, link to Icebergs etc is http://community.webshots.com/album/174660450yJHkWp enjoy the splendour & majesty of the ice! So on to the rest of the review.

Getting there…we parked our car at Manchester airport (ready for return flight) & had a long coach journey to Harwich made longer by a diversion for an accident blocking the road. Coach pulled up at 3.15pm right along side the cruise terminal. We handed in our passports & were given our ships cards with minimal formality, through security check & we were onboard, baggage was never seen after putting on the coach until it arrived in our cabin. Welcomed aboard & escorted to our cabin.

The Ship… Formally the Island Princess (one of the two sisters of “love boat” TV show fame). Now 32 years old but well maintained, we would give it a 3*+ overall as while some public areas are superb, some are not up to the latest standards. We liked the quiet Palm court lounge area but part of this was partitioned off at night for the Bridge players as card room on Promenade deck was considered too noisy. Discovery lounge was used for everything from golf putting through bingo to cabaret & tea dances, the explorers bar off this area seemed to attract the smoking passengers. Thought the library was good for size of ship. Small casino & a night club were not used by us or by many other passengers! Carousel lounge was the show lounge, also used for the very popular lectures. For lectures there was not enough seating & if you were late arriving you could not get a seat with a view of the screen, though all lectures were repeated on cabin TV. Sight lines were fairly good with only 4 pillars to contend with & leg room between rows of seats was very good. Reception area on Bali deck was quite nice with the shop above on Pacific deck. . There was a small internet centre on Promenade deck that we did not use, nor did we use the health centre or beauty salon. The seven continents restaurant has a slightly lower central section that enables there to be 4 rows of bench seating, tables along these did not have much space between (only about 15”) seemed to us the round tables were to be preferred. Having a fairly low ceiling also seemed to make it fairly noisy. Outdoor decks had several sheltered spots, very useful on this cruise! Pool on Riviera deck was small but deck loungers mostly had pads on them & some teak steamer chairs faced the stern. Promenade deck was not walk round but had some good viewing areas. Two viewing areas are right behind the Bridge wings & very useful to overhear the bridge deliberations when they were on the wings. Spa’s & a good stern viewing position were at rear of sun deck, while the top sky deck gave a good all round viewing position with some shelter from the wind available. There is a forward observation deck in front of the yacht club but access is by going down to bridge deck then up. However this does slope up & consequently obscures the view a little if you are using the yacht club as an observation lounge. Lido has a small pool & is the ships buffet area, there is a sliding cover but we thought it noisy & only used it a few times.

Cabin…We had an inside 4404, with L bed configuration & quite small but adequate circulation space. Probably because the beds are only 30” wide, this does not make for comfort & we would have liked normal 36” single beds with a bit less floor space. Bathroom was small overall but shower was good size. Cabin had a good closet with wood hangers & 4 drawers in a dressing table. Hair dryer in slim drawer was quite good. Suitcases would fit under the beds. Decoration was plain & could have done with a brighter lick of paint. TV was mounted high from the ceiling, so required an effort to watch, would not have liked to watch a film on it as bed did not convert to couch so no back rest except 2 small loose cushions. Most of time we were out of satellite TV coverage on this cruise anyway. Our steward was Romy who was always friendly & kept the cabin spotless. We usually ordered a pot of coffee for delivery first thing, sometimes good & sometimes not so good, delivery also varied from requested time slot by + - 15 mins. There was no noise from the engines although from deck plan we seemed to be right above them,

Food & Service…Overall we thought very good, although we mainly ate in the dining room. Only ate in Lido buffet a few times, once for breakfast, twice for lunch when we were pressed for time. Breakfast was not hot enough, lunch menu’s not very special & on those occasions we carried our trays into the yacht club to eat in peace. We never used the yacht club at night when it was an alternative restaurant (no charge) as it was an Oriental menu. Breakfasts in dining room had a similar format to Fred Olsen lines with standard items available from a menu served by waiter & a buffet of hot & cold items at end of room. Good supply of fresh & preserved fruits with cold meats, cheese, breads & cakes etc on the front table with hot items behind. Now I have to say these provided us with the best “British” cooked breakfasts we have had on a cruise ship! Properly cooked English back bacon i.e. not burnt to a cinder, best sausages we have had on a cruise ship + the usual scrambled egg, tomatoes, Baked beans, potatoes & very good “black pudding”. The scrambled egg with herbs & smoked salmon from the menu were superb. Lunch in dining room was a full five course waiter service affair & usually very good. Dinner in dining room was again very good overall. Starters were probably only average but well presented, cream soups were good but consommé soups tended to be over spiced, salads were very good. Main courses were excellent, I mainly had the fish & the swordfish was the best I have had, Venison, Beef Wellington were also very good, my wife did say one lot of beef she had was a little on the tough side but we were well satisfied overall. However the weak point of the menu was the desserts, some were quite good but anything described as a “crumble” was best left alone—not a crumble as we know it! The “cherry pie” one day was awful & was exchanged for ice cream. The ice cream was very good, as good as we have had on any ship. Our waiter was Vik from the Philippines who gave very good service & his recommendations could be relied on. As we said before we did not like the Lido buffet, could do with updating & better tables & chairs than the current plastic ones. Beverage station was in a corner here & was quite crowded at times. Variable coffee strengths from very weak to stand your spoon in it! Only alternative was various tea’s but no iced water, juice drinks or even hot chocolate at night (had to ask room service for that). However the scones & jam at teatime were very good & very welcome if you had been ashore thus missing lunch. Overall we thought the service levels & friendliness of all the staff from Officers to deck staff to be excellent.

Who goes…On this cruise, people who wanted to go to Greenland, a surprising number of who were first time cruisers & quite a lot of single travellers. Ask them why choose this cruise & answer always the same “we wanted to see Greenland” some had left wives & families behind, some had been trying to get to Greenland for 15 years. Most were from UK with a few from USA & Australia. There are no children’s facilities on the ship but there were a few teenagers + a few “pre-teens” all extremely well behaved, well they would be with parents who wanted to go to Greenland! To sum up, very friendly people who it was a pleasure to cruise with. Only 2 formal nights & standard of dress was high, around 75% in DJ etc, 3 informal nights with jacket & tie rest casual.

Entertainment… You do not expect full production shows on a small ship. The carousel lounge has limitations, just a level dance floor to put the shows on with no attempt at background scenery. However the company of 4 Russian dancers + 3 UK singers/dancers did a very good job, putting on some excellent shows in sometimes rough seas while keeping in step. They work very hard as they have to do duties around the ship such as library, sports & games, bingo etc as well as rehearse for the shows, the singers also did their own cabaret show. There are no entertainers brought on just for a couple of shows. Altogether they put on 6 different shows, 3 being very good, one average & 2 we did not see as the theme was to “old for us”. There was a pianist in the explorer bar, a trio from Minsk in the discovery lounge, who also did a Russian folk music concert & a piano recital. A five piece band from Budapest played for dancing & for the shows & were very good. On a small ship I think the entertainment was up to the standard expected. However the lecture series was superb, some outstanding lecturers. Dr Alan Batstone covered the ports, we think he does a great job, we have met him on other ships & can highly recommend him. Professor Derek Blundell did geology, Greenland ice & global warming etc in a well illustrated & informative way. Brian Ford did science & amusing stories from his work. David Saunders was the wildlife & birds expert, again enjoyed very much & always willing to talk when on deck. We heard good reports of two other lecturers that we did not see, Carol Bunyan on Theatre & Georgette Conway-Toms on art.

Ports of call… We arrived at Thorhavn Faeroe Islands under low threatening cloud at lunch time on a Sunday. Except for a couple of tourist shops it was closed down. The bird watching tour to the Vestmanna cliffs was cancelled due to weather. However the afternoon stayed dry with brighter periods & we did a long walk around Thorshavn & up to the park. Though the Islands are considered treeless there are quite a lot of trees in and around Thorshavn. Climate is cold & wet in winter & cool & wet in summer, but they must have very little frost as we found fuchsia magellanica in full bloom 9feet tall. We enjoyed our pleasant stroll around this town. The ship docked in a commercial area & a shuttle bus had to be used to get to the dock gates.
After a day at sea we passed Surtsey the new volcanic island off Iceland that only erupted in 1962, late that evening. Docking in Reykjavik next morning there was a shuttle bus to city centre (5 kilometres away) for 2 pounds each way (sterling accepted) but no one from tourist board to give info. After the ride into town, we found the botanic garden was only about a kilometre from the ship & could have walked there easily. Instead we walked around the old part of Reykjavik, some of the local parks & a visit to the church tower (7Ikr for two in lift cc taken) great views all round but the huge bells of the clock struck 12 while we were up there! Walked back to the shuttle bus along the sea front after deciding not to walk all way to ship, those younger & fitter than us could have done it easily. Those who had booked the whale watching trip had another disappointment when that was cancelled due to weather or perhaps lack of whales in the area. At the dock there were many Taxi’s & minibus available for tours, a 7 hour tour to all the sights was around 200 pounds for 4 people, good value we thought but we found no one to share with so did not do it…next time we will!
As we neared Greenland we were informed that ice conditions were very bad this year & we would not be allowed into Prins Christiansund, from the photos we saw this should have been spectacular & we did wonder if bad weather was going to follow us all the way. Next morning we saw a distant view of Greenland with two beautiful icebergs close to us & a bank of fog hiding the line of ice off the coast. Turning south to go round Cape Farewell it was cloudy & foggy with rain. Rounding the cape it blew up to force 6 then rose to gale force 8, quite hairy at times. Noon air temperature was 43F but the wind made it feel 10 degrees colder than that, sea temp was only 35F. Captain announced we would be going into fjord for Narsarsuaq at 9pm instead of 4am. As we neared the fjord the sea calmed, sky cleared, sun came out & we were surrounded by icebergs of all shapes & sizes, a magnificent sight that made up for the earlier disappointments. Then had a good sunset with lots of ice floes in the fjord. After spending the night in the calm waters of the fjord we were able to get alongside the pier (schedule had us tendering) but first a tender had to be lowered to push away a bergy bit from the pier, this is the sort of thing that happens on a trip like this. We took a gentle stroll past the airfield with a lot of wild flowers to be seen. Narsarsuaq only has a hotel, some accommodation blocks & one café that is also the shop & museum. A shuttle minibus to here was available for 2.50 pounds return but it was not far to walk. Leaving in bright weather after lunch we again saw a magnificent display of icebergs, later that evening we past a large one that provided a display, as part of it fell off. Next day arrival at Nuuk was 1pm when a berth was available in the port instead of tendering to the old town area. A free shuttle bus was provided from ship to town centre & the old town area. Nuuk claims to be smallest capitol in the world & has a lot of rather depressing looking flats, however the old town area is quite attractive to walk around. The museum is superb & free. There are no gardens as such but we did see one patch with a few potatoes growing in a cold frame, shows how bad the climate is! Cloudy & dull for us but those who did the helicopter trip up to the ice cap said it was lovely sun up there. However the last helicopter got stuck up there with engine problems! 23 people + crew, they had to be ferried in a small helicopter to a settlement 40 miles from Nuuk then a boat trip back to ship arriving at 2am. Consequently we did not leave Nuuk until 4am 9 hours late. This did not give us time to do the glacier cruising that was on the schedule for that day. Instead we cruised north with cloud overhead & more fog around us. Crossing the Arctic circle around 1.30pm the fog lifted giving us a view of the mountains with glimpses of the edge of the ice cap. Air temperature was up to 49F with only light winds. After the evening show (1st seating) we started to enter the Disko bay area, I changed into my layered cold weather gear consisting of 2 warm but thinish sweaters & my golf wet & wind proof suit, this worked very well but you do also need a woolly hat & good gloves. The shapes & colours of the icebergs were fascinating & together with a good sunset (timed at 23.22!) I stayed on deck until 1.00am. Up again at 4.30am to be told I had missed some whales at 2.30am! Icebergs all around us, a magnificent sight in the early morning sunlight. We were around 6 miles off Illulissat & there was some discussion on the bridge that we might not get closer as the anchorage area looked full of ice, we could see the huge icebergs at the mouth of the fjord. We took early breakfast in dining room while the ship circled round. Back on deck in time to see a small freighter leaving Illulissat & it was announced we were going in to a small patch relatively clear of ice around 3 miles out. Passed very close to the big bergs, an amazing sight! The ship did not anchor but maintained position avoiding the bergs by use of engines & thrusters. We tendered ashore through the ice floes to the little harbour. A free minibus shuttle was operating up the hill to the town, from here we walked through the town past all the lines of husky’s aiming to walk the first part of the path to Sermermiut to get a close view of the icebergs from the land side. There is no path!! It is just a scramble over rocks in the general direction of the icebergs whose tops you can see, so be warned you must be fit & active to do this trek even if it is only 1.5 kilometres! By now it was quite warm & sunny, I had to strip down to one sweater! Now I rather wished I had taken the boat excursion for a close look at the bergs! However again be warned, excursions in Greenland were not given a starting time only a letter A, B, C etc as infrastructure does not run by the clock up there. Therefore some of those who had a letter low down for the iceberg excursion did not know exact time they would leave ship & consequently could not take the tender ashore to see the town area. This lettering system applied to excursions in all ports in Greenland. We walked down the hill to the tender & having willingly missed our lunch, devoured the scones with jam & cream at afternoon tea. We had perfect weather all day in Disko bay & sailing away I stopped on deck until the last possible moment before changing for dinner. We even missed the Captains farewell drink for a last look at magical Disko bay, just writing this brings tears to my eyes at the memory of it! Disko bay I mean not the missed drink! Next morning was our last day, we entered the fjord to Kangerlussaq (80 miles long) at breakfast time. Superb scenery with small hanging glaciers & banded rocks as old as any on earth. Dropping anchor near the Kangerlussaq pier at lunch time it was quite warm & sunny, I even saw someone with shirt off! Now this is not your usual cruise terminal, baggage was taken off/brought on in cages craned on/off the ship to an old landing craft. Those of us flying to Manchester were given dinner at 5pm but it was announced this flight had a 4 hour delay. After first announcing due to infrastructure problems we had to leave ship at scheduled time of 7 pm we were later allowed to stay on ship until 10pm. Roughly 20 mins ride to the airport after tendering to pier. Noted pier had some Army type tents erected for shelter should no tender be waiting! Airport was small but modern with a couple of shops & a small café. Departure gate could not handle more than one flight at a time. We had a good flight home with Excel airways, landing at Manchester at 8.30am instead of 4.30am.

Conclusion… We had a great time & would go on this ship & this itinerary (at the right price) again. We went with an open mind & while we regretted missing some of the things on the schedule we knew in this area anything was possible. We are so glad we did the trip, we did have perfect weather in Disko bay & that made up for everything.