Iceland2019

What a wonderful 7-course dinner we enjoyed last night with 6 other guests. True to her word, Katerina provided a couple of bottles of a wonderful red wine, Siete fincas Secreto, Cabernet Franc 2013 Reserva. We had to share it with some of the other guests but there was plenty to go around. Hannah, our waitress, made sure we got our share! The meal was prepared by a young South African chef who trained in the Nobu Restaurants aboard the Crystal Serenity. I can't begin to describe all the wonderful flavours we experienced in each dish. Each was plated and looked too good to eat. First was a small salad, followed by the most delicious miso soup with chicken livers and vegetables, then a soya pudding made with salmon roe and wasabi, wonderful dumplings, wagu beef and vegetables, a rice dish and finally dessert. My description does not do the meal justice. The chef began days ago making stock, etc. Akira, you would have loved it. I would have taken pictures of all the cours...

This town is the 4th largest in Greenland consisting of 3500 people. The hillsides are covered with colourful houses painted in bright primary shades. The Danish government provides the paint - the labour is the job of the homeowner. Before we had a chance to go ashore, there was an announcement that humpback whales were spotted. We went to the observation deck and managed to catch the sightings. We could track them as they blew water out of their blowholes. We caught them breaching and tail slapping. We managed to get them in the scope provided - a real scope unlike the ones on the NW Passage cruise we took. We both got good sightings. We were told that they were most likely a mother and her calf as one was considerable smaller. At the town, we needed to walk off some calories and headed up the hill stopping a a church - not terribly old - built in 1932. At the top of one of the hills, we encountered an overgrown cemetery and then another newer one. The wild flowers were...

Last night we went to dine at Elements, the main dining room on the ship which specializes in Italian food. By chance we ran into Ilsa, the Sommelier, on the ship. We met her when we ate at the French restaurant. We were seated and the wine steward came up with the red and white selections for the meal. Ilsa came over and said that once we had ordered she would pick a wine selection for us. In the meantime, we could enjoy a glass of champagne that she recommended. Good to her word, she was back and she selected a bottle of Cote du Rhone Sainte Celeste Domaine Vincent Menard for us and left it on the table. The wine steward was very impressed when he saw the bottle - Wow, he said, so we presumed it was a good choice. It was delicious by the way as was the rest of our meal. Another triumph for the chefs in the kitchen. Tonight we have secured a seat at the small Teppanyaki dining room which only seats eight people and has its own chef. This morning, we went on the Qooroq Ic...

After a delicious breakfast which included those wonderful fresh cinnamon buns, an announcement was made that we could see Greenland and our first icebergs of the trip. We rushed to put on our long underwear and several layers of clothing as the temperature was only 6 degrees Celsius with a wind chill. We stayed on deck watching fulmars, a kittiwake and some puffins as well as taking in the magnificent scenery. We approached the Prins Ckhristian Sund, a 100 kilometre long fjord surrounded by towering mountains with an abundance of glaciers reaching into the waters and some small icebergs floating past. A dark spot on one turned out to be a seal. After lunch, we cruised to Aappilattoq, an Inuit community of 150 people. We took a zodiac to the tiny town where we were free to walk around on our own. We climbed stairs up a rock face to enjoy a great view of the Scenic Eclipse on one side and the colourful town on the other. The community had made some cakes and tea or coffee fo...

Room 606 As if the first two days weren't bad enough, the frustration really set in once we reached our room. We had a desk chair seat with no legs, no hangar rod in the closet so we couldn't unpack, the safe wouldn't open, the TV didn't work, There was no instructions as to how to operate the phone so we couldn't phone for assistance and to top it off, there was no soap, shampoo, conditioner or body lotion in the bathroom. We had to go to the mandatory safety briefing in case we run into more trouble. I took the opportunity to outline our concerns with the unreadiness of our room with reception. Apologies and a promise to set things right were made and Kim, one of the receptionists, accompanied us to the room so that she could show us how to use the phone to get help. We met our stewardess and butler. We decided to have room service for dinner. It was after 8:30 before we had dinner, and after 9:00 pm before we had our clothes rod so we could unpack. It ...

Reykjavik - Day Two We were up early for breakfast and took our luggage down to the lobby where it would be stored for the day while we ventured out on an all-day tour of the southern peninsula of Iceland. Every time the bus moved, I slept so missed a lot of the commentary. However, we did enjoy seeing much of the lava rock strewn countryside, sulphur springs, mud pots, etc for which Iceland is famous. At one stop near several shipwrecks, I spotted a whale twice breaking the water. The guide thought it must have been a fin whale - the second largest creature on earth - the blue whale being the biggest. We stopped at a restaurant in a small town for lunch. I had only a taste as I wasn't feeling too well but Norma assures me it was very good. We drove to two different areas where the Teutonic plates from America and Europe meet. Their clashing is responsible for all the volcanic activity here. You can clearly see the fissures between the two plates so we crossed from Ame...

The Waiting Game Continued After realizing that we wouldn't hear anything without a little proactive news, I finally reached the Scenic representative to ask about where we had been assigned for the night. It turns out that we were given a room in the hotel where we had been waiting all day. Then we learned that Scenic had provided an open bar in the hotel. We made our way there after receiving our room key. Norma decided that we deserved nothing more than a drink of 18-year-old Macallan Scotch. I had the sherry cask and Norma the oak. It partly made up for the schmozzel of the day. We checkout our the room - small but adequate before heading for the Owner's Cocktail Party. We arrived late but did get a sense of the ship and its lobby. We were assured that the ship would be ready by the next day (at 4:30 p.m.) when we could finally get to our rooms. We enjoyed some champagne and hors d'oeuvres including sushi at the Asian restaurant. After a Brandy Alexander a...