Well, here we are……. In about sixteen hours we will be winging our way to Iceland, the first stop on our Northern Nordic Navigational Nirvana. I may have reached a bit too far in my Alliterative Attempt there but considering how long I’ve wanted to visit Iceland and Svalbard, maybe not!
We will be aboard the Viking Neptune for the next two weeks and if all goes nicely you will be seeing some stunning photographs of what we will be experiencing! The ‘stunning’ aspect has nothing to do with my ability to render a photo and everything to do with what Mother Nature has laid out in front of us, for our (and your) viewing pleasure. The only caveat is the projected weather forecast which, so far, is not working in our favor. We shall see. I may need to resort to dramatic Black and White photos that seem to look good when Color is not in the cards.
This will be our first Cruise aboard a Viking Ocean Ship so be prepared for some comments about that aspect of this voyage. This ship is smaller than what we are accustomed to as Viking operates at a different level than the larger ships that we are usually on with Princess. Last year we did a Viking River Cruise and found Viking to be as Top-Notch as their reputation insinuates, I’m quite confident that all of that will transfer nicely to their Ocean Ships.
The Voyage begins in Iceland and then goes waaaaay up to Svalbard before turning southward towards the Norwegian Coast where we will hopscotch down the coast visiting little fishing villages and the like. We disembark in Bergen, where we fly home to Newark via Munich.
The best part is Svalbard and to appreciate where this place is you will need to have map or better yet, a globe in front of you…. go ahead, I’ll wait……..
OK! Now find Iceland and then travel way up and to the east until you see a patch of islands that are too far north to support any kind of normal civilization. I say normal because there are a bunch of folks that call Svalbard home year-round. That fact might be considered abnormal only because they choose to live their lives in either total darkness or total daylight! We will be there in 100% daylight, no matter what time of day it is and you can bet you’re going to get a Lesson on this anomaly, sans (thankfully I’m sure you are thinking) any references to Tectonic Plates!
So get ready, meet us in Terminal B at Newark Airport, passports in hand, and you can board with us, we should all try and stick together for logistics sake. We will be disembarking in Reykjavik and immediately embarking on a Two-Day Excursion courtesy of or favs at Tours-by-Locals…. no time to waste!
Please be dressed accordingly.