Marg & Brian's Iceland to Boston Cruise

Hyannis is known for the late President Kennedy’s family compound. There is a museum dedicated to the tragic family history of the Kennedys. The main street is a busy commercial area with many interesting shops and restaurants, with traffic jams to match.  Our annual family scavenger hunt was held today. Several years ago, Marg’s daughter Kari started this tradition by making a list of clues for which we had to travel into town and answer the questions. This year’s location is on Main Street in Hyannis Massachusetts. The local residents must have thought the seven levels of hell had descended on them. We ran thru the downtown, harassing the locals and merchants for answers to Kari’s questions. We were snapping pictures and videos to prove we had been to the locations that the clues pointed to. To a stranger it must have seemed to be total chaos. When we gathered to determined the final score, pedestrians must have thought a massive fight had erupted. Good natured accusations of...

  In 2015, we had a family vacation on Cape Cod. One day we went to Provincetown and went whale watching on the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. The grandchildren had a great experience seeing the humpback, minke and right whales. They talked about it for a long time, and we told them that we would return some day. Well, that day has arrived.   This afternoon we took the hour drive to Provincetown and boarded a whale watching excursion running out of Provincetown harbour. After about an hour into the ride we were in the middle of the feeding ground for the humpbacks. I found out that my photographic skills are no match for these whales. By the time I got the whale in the view finder and had it properly focused, they were gone. After a while I just gave up and enjoyed the show. They put on an amazing display of synchronized swimming and diving. It seemed like a pod of three whales would appear every couple of minutes. Some were at a distance, but many of the breac...

Early this morning we pulled in Boston to conclude the cruise portion of our vacation. We were awakened by the screaming of passenger jets flying just over our heads. The cruise port is just south east of Logan airport and as we approached the pier, we were in direct line with the runway. I want to take this opportunity to give a shoutout to our sommeliers. Mark in the lounge called the Cellar Masters and Richard in the dinning room were among the best we’ve ever encountered on our cruises. The disembarkation process could not have been more chaotic. I’m not sure who to blame but it was the worst experience that we’ve had on our any of our cruises. It started with clearing USA Customs and Border Protection.   Celebrity tried a new process to go through customs and leave the ship. We were supposed to leave the ship at 9:00am, but the process proceeded at a snail’s pace, and we did not leave the ship until after 10:30am. Celebrity blamed CBP for the slowdown because they did not ...

This morning, we sailed into the port of Halifax. The skyline has changed quite a bit since last time we were here in 2010. The skyline is now filled with harbour front condominiums and tall office towers in the downtown. Gone are the historical old warehouses that lined the shore of the harbor. Some in our cruise crew took a tour of historical Halifax where they saw the Titanic cemetery, the Citadel and the neighborhood which was decimated by the explosion of an ammunition boat during the First World War. Others took a tour out to the very scenic Peggy's Cove which they loved. Because we have been to Halifax many times, we arranged to meet some friends with whom we played baseball in Ottawa.   They moved back to Nova Scotia to raise their families and to be with their friends. It must be at least 20 years since we've seen Alex and Mu, and 14 years since we've seen Moose and Karen. We meet for lunch at a pub called Dirty Nelly’s. It was a great occasion as the conversatio...

The weather has improved considerably. It is sunny and warm enough to enjoy the pool deck. On Saturday night as we headed off to a lounge for a pre-dinner drink, I looked out to the west and saw land. We were a few miles out from St. John’s Newfoundland. It felt great to be back in Canadian waters. Our cell phone service even worked, for a few minutes at least. We’ve been introduced to two new people on the cruise crew, Dan and Lorraine, who live in the St. John’s suburbs. Two nicer people you could not meet. I love Lorraine’s accent. She reminds me of Mary Walsh from CBC’s “This Hour Has 22 Mintues.” Before dinner went to see the musical group Vox Fortuna. These three tenors again put on a fantastic show. Their amazing voices just filled the theatre with pure music. Our dinner was great. It is a theme restaurant call “Le Petit Chef.”  There was a four-course meal, and the unique feature is that you were treated to a three dimensional automation between each course that was d...

 After exiting the Prinz Christian Sund, we travelled west along the coast of the north Atlantic Ocean. There was very thick fog, high winds and driving rain. The periodic blasting of the ship’s fog horn reminded us that the ocean can be dangerous. In the morning when we arrived in Qaqortoq harbour, the fog was still very thick. You couldn’t see the shoreline, which was at most 500m away. Fortunately for us, the sun came out and burned off the fog leaving us with a beautiful sunny day. Because the harbour is too shallow for a cruise liner, we had to tender into the town. What a disaster. No one was sure of the process and where they were supposed to assemble to board the tender. The lady in charge of assembling passengers to board the tenders seemed to be clueless and was obviously frustrated. Passengers trying to get to their excursions in the town were getting angry as they received little guidance, and the start time of their tour was approaching. It was not a good way to star...

Imagine, if you will, waking up to brilliant sunny skies after a week of continual cloudy skies and rain. Looking out your window, you are greeted by a deep blue sea with multiple large icebergs floating in the water. On the horizon, as far as the eye can see, are tall snowcapped mountains forming the shoreline. That is what we saw as we awoke this morning off the coast of Greenland. During breakfast, as we cruised along the eastern shore, we saw a solitary minke whale. They say we may see Humpback whales, but I’m not holding my breath. The weather was amazing. It was sunny, there was very little breeze and for the first time since we started our vacation there seemed to be a warmth to air. The cruise director told us that this was a once in a summertime occurrence. We entered the Prinz Christian Sund in the early afternoon. This fjord connects the Labrador Sea with the Irminger Sea, which is in the southeast of Greenland. It is around 100km long and it can sometimes by very na...

Today we arrived in Akureyri, our last port of call in Iceland. We travelled north from Isafjordur overnight with moderate seas. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, so we didn’t see the Northern Lights, if they were out. We were told that the conditions were right for viewing the Northern Lights in Reykjavik a couple of days ago, but the lights were out during the afternoon, so they were invisible to us. Wikipedia says that the climate here in Akureyri is moderate. Someone should tell them it is freaking cold. It is about 6C but with the wind it has to be close to freezing. It was dry where we were during the day, but friends who went on an excursion into the mountains got soaked by a heavy rainfall and strong winds. Akureyri sits on the south side of the harbour, which serves as a berth for cruise ships, container vessels and fishing boats. The city of 30,000 inhabitants spreads out from the harbour to the small hills south of the city center. Today there were two other cruise ships in ...

Last night, we left Reykjavik and sailed north along the western coast of Iceland. The waves were approaching three meters in height, which gave the ship a distinct rocking motion. Thankfully no one in our group got seasick. Our port of call is Isafjordur.   This is small fishing village with approximately the same population as our village of Port Stanley, but in a much more condensed area. The town is bordered by a dormant volcano on one side of the inlet and steep mountains on the other side.  It was shock to wake up and see snow on the top of the mountains as it apparently snowed the night before. The shore excursions from this port didn’t interest us, so we decided to take a walk through the village. Given that it is Sunday, the only stores open were souvenir shops and a grocery store. During our walk it rained. My shoes have lost their waterproofing and it took no time at all before my feet were soaked. When I explained my predicament while asking directions to a pha...

The last few days, we have been exploring Reykjavik at a leisurely pace. We’ve had a wonderful time but tonight we move on. Reykjavík is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay. The city is the world's northernmost capital. It has a population of around 140,000 and its surrounding suburbs include another 80,000 people.   This makes up almost 70% of the entire population of the island nation. Reykjavík is believed to be the location of the first permanent settlement in Iceland, which, was established in the 9 th century by the Vikings. The city was officially founded in 1786 as a trading town and grew steadily, transforming itself into a national centre of commerce and governmental activities. In May 1940, following the German occupation of Denmark and Norway, four British warships approached Reykjavík and anchored in the harbour. Within a few hours, the allied occupation of Reykjavík was complete. Th...

Today we finally saw the sun.  It still cold but at least we are dry. It is wonderful to have the cruise crew back together again. Although we haven’t been together since March of last year, the conversation is so easy it might as well have been yesterday. We boarded the Celebrity Eclipse to start our cruise. We’ve been on this ship at least once, but I didn’t remember the layout. It became more familiar as the day went on. We found out that we’ve cruised with Celebrity enough days that we are now considered “elite” passengers. This gives us a couple of nice perks, such as a free wine tasting, the officer’s meet and greet and discounts for various items. The embarkation process is getting simpler each time we have a cruise. It seemed to flow without any hitches or hassles. Our stateroom is the standard size, but we did manage to unpack all our clothes in the closet space provided. Of course, we packed way too much. The view from our room is a sweeping vista of the surrounding mou...

 Again, today the weather has been wet and cold. It feels like mid-November. Our friends from B.C. arrived at the hotel mid-morning. It was a long trip for them on a very uncomfortable plane. But they are in a good spirits and are looking forward to the cruise. We decided to go to the Prelan Natural History Museum. We thought we could use public transportation to go there, but you can only buy a ticket through their special app. We didn’t get a cell phone plan that would work in Iceland and app requires an active telephone number. So, we took a taxi instead. Prelan is a museum that is shaped like an igloo. It consists of 4 pods with different subject matter. The first pod is the natural history of Iceland.   It consists of the geologic creation of Iceland from multiple volcanos and rising sea levels that separated Iceland from Greenland.   It also had exhibits on the native wildlife and vegetation on Iceland, such as Puffins. There was some mention of the Vikings, b...

 The weather continues to be cold and wet. A good day to take a bus tour. We took a tour to see the natural beauty of Southern Iceland. Iceland is a very active geothermal area.  There are multiple active volcanoes and more hot springs that you can shake a stick at. The means the we were able to see some amazingly beautiful sights. This famous tour is called the Golden Circle. It leaves Reykjavik and goes northeast to Thingvellir National Park. Then it goes east to the Geysir Geothermal Area. From there it continues east to the Geysir Geothermal Area and then returns stopping at the Kerið Volcanic Crater. It was a six hour tour and was well worth the time. The Thingvellir National Park is considered one of its most famous sites in Iceland. It has great significance in both the history and geology of Iceland. In 930 AD, the world’s first parliament was established in Thingvellir by Vikings, making it the oldest parliament in the world. Surprisingly the parliament is still a...