US to UK, Transatlantic Crossing - 2018

The cruise across the Atlantic started with terrific weather in Ft. Lauderdale and New York City. We disembarked the Pacific Princess in downtown Manhattan - a first for us as we are accustomed to using the Red Hook cruise terminal, in Brooklyn, when embarking or disembarking a cruise ship in New York City.

As our primary destination in New York was the Brooklyn Museum to view the "David Bowie Is" exhibit, we had to take a couple of subway trains from Manhattan to reach our destination. This wasn't an issue for us as we had advance purchased entry tickets that were valid for a single entry anytime during the day.

This exhibit was excellent - viewers could see the early music that influenced Bowie and how he viewed his music within a broader entertainment perspective. Music, props, personal artifacts, clothes were all part of his thoughtful decisions. The exhibit shared some of the wonderfully creative, stylistic and, sometimes, exotic costumes worn by Bowie and created by internationally known designers, such as Alexander McQueen, Hedi Slimane, Issey Miyake, Vivienne Westwood and Kansai Yamamoto. It's no wonder that over 2 million visitors have seen this exhibit as it traveled around the world.

Leaving the museum, we caught the subway to Central Park to view the flowering Dogwood trees. Returning to the cruise ship terminal,  it would be some time before we had an opportunity to walk on land after departing New York. 

As the Pacific Princess sailed out of New York harbor, we headed towards a number of North Atlantic storms. These storms would rock and roll the ship and cause us to miss port stops in St. Pierre et Miquelon, France and both Scrabster and Dundee in Scotland. From New York CIty, we sailed for seven consecutive days on rocky seas until we reached Reykjavik, Iceland. I suspect that half of the ship passengers were drugged to some degree with sea sickness medicine.

Reykjavik, Isafjordur and Akureyri, Iceland
As we approached Iceland, we were entering 20 hours of sunlight. This would expand to 24 hours of sunlight as we sailed further north. Despite the increased hours of daylight, we experienced rain at each Iceland port. 

Reykjavik: We joined a tourist bus to view the "Golden Circle". This all-day excursion took us over 190 miles and, frankly, is one of the most common scenic tourist routes in Reykjavik. The excursion took us to view Pingvellir National Park, Gullfoss Waterfall, Strokkur Geyser and a final stop at Hellisheidavirkjan Power Station. This power station is the largest geothermal power plant in Iceland. Heated water from this plant is piped over 25 miles to Reykjavik, where it is used for commercial and residential hot water.

We didn't get an opportunity to go into town as the tours returned us to the ship with 30 minutes before the ship left the cruise terminal.  We'll be back in Reykjavik next year for a few days and will explore this area on our own.

Isafjordur: We walked through the small downtown area before 10am. Most city center shops open after 10am, so it was a fairly quiet walk. Knowing that we will return to Iceland next year, we visited a local ATM to withdraw some Icelandic Kroner. There weren't many notable sights in town, we walked past the former and new hospital and a couple of small parks.

Stopping by a local grocery store, we purchased a container of Skyr yogurt. Skyr is an Icelandic product that uses a local dairy culture that results in a naturally sweeter yogurt. Thick, like Greek yogurt, Skyr contains more protein that many other yogurts. If you're in Iceland and enjoy a cup of yogurt, be sure to give Skyr a try.

In the afternoon, we traveled by bus to Bolungarvik Church. Bolungarvik is one of Iceland's oldest fishing village. We visited the Osvar Maritime Museum. Located on the bay, this museum recreates the fishing village from the 19th century. Docents in period fisherman dress describe life in the village, with replica fishing boat, a small house and fish drying and work sheds.

Our final stop was the Seljadalsfoss waterfall. Located on the outskirts of town, the glacier fed waterfall provides a clean water source for local residents of Isafjorder.

Akureyri:  I arranged a six person mini-van tour operated by Taxi17. The owner of Taxi17 was our guide for the day. This six hour tour started with a driving tour of the original downtown area and the new downtown port area. Leaving the city, we headed for Godafoss Waterfall. Being a rather nimble tour group, we visit the waterfall from both riverbanks. If you can do this, you can see two very different perspectives of the waterfall.

Once again, we experienced moderate to heavy rain during this tour. This reduced our walking time and we tended to duck in and out of the mini-van.  After viewing the waterfall, we continued on to Lake Myvatn. While many visit this area to watch birdlife and volcanic formations, you have to do this while small flies or midges swarm your face. Forewarned, I brought along and used a net that covered my hat and face. Our driver told us that you don't swat the flies as that encourages them to swarm.  Without a mask, you are cautious with talking and having your mouth open - unless you want some additional protein.

We stopped at several other volcanic formations, bubbling steam vents and a natural cave pool. As you view the below photos, you might come across some areas used for "Game of Thrones". As the driving tour ended and we made our way to Akureyri, the sun came out. We asked our Taxi17 guide to drop us off at the city botanical Lystigardur Akureyrar gardens and walked through the garden and a brief stop at the modern architecture Lutheran Church as we made our way to the cruise ship terminal. If you find yourself in Iceland and in need of a tour guide, we really enjoyed our Taxi17 day trip and the local and regional knowledge of our driver/guide. We recommend that you consider this company for professional guide services. 

Flies in the Car!

Belfast, Northern Ireland  
Leaving Akureyri, the Captain of the Pacific Princess announced the presence another North Atlantic storm. To avoid this storm, the Pacific Princess altered its course, which meant missing both Scrabster and Dundee ports but added Belfast, Northern Ireland. Once in port, we participated in a rainy walking tour of historic Belfast. Starting our walk in the rain, we viewed St. Anne's Cathedral, St. Patrick's Church, Clifton House, the first Presbyterian Church and the very old Kelly's Cellar Pub (established 1720). With redevelopment progress, there is no actual historic area but more of a walk past historic buildings.  After the historic walk, we stopped for lunch at the upstairs cafe in the Linen History Library. After lunch, we walked over to St. George's public market. You can find fresh produce, bakery items, seafood and meats, as well as some local souvenirs and foods. City Hall is right next door to the Linen Library and this was our last stop for a city led tour of City Hall.

Dover, United Kingdom
With fog shrouded views of the white cliffs of Dover, the Pacific Princess arrived into port around 6am. This was a turnover day as about 500 Pacific Princess passengers disembarked and were replaced with new passengers looking forward to the next cruise to Norway. 

We spent the day at Dover Castle. The expansive castle grounds are also home to two WWII facilities - an underground hospital and underground administrative warren. Between these two facilities, there are four miles of underground tunnels. Tours are available for both hospital (20 minutes) and administrative areas (60 minutes). We easily spent about four hours just touring the many structures (non-WWII) on the grounds of Dover Castle. As we had to be on board the Pacific Princess for the departure to Norwegian ports, we decided to tour the underground hospitals and administrative areas when the Pacific Princess returned to Dover at the end of the Norway cruise.

Summary
This 2018 transatlantic cruise was very different from our 2015 Atlantic Ocean crossings. During the latter, the seas were relatively calm and weather generally sunny and warm. Both transatlantic trips were during the same time of year. Perhaps these ocean and weather changes are further support of continuing climate change.