It’s been pretty busy since returning home but now to take a moment to reflect on our Voyage of the Vikings experience on the Zaandam. Overall fantastic, it really is the crew at the end of the day that really makes this experience what it was. They are excited to be back at sea as well as us to be cruising with them. If you followed along you have seen that Covid is still here and does have an effect on the experience but that said, the protocols do work as well as the different stages of actions required when an outbreak does occur. I understand that this was the first longer cruise since the return to cruising so this really was a test to deal with Covid cases beyond a 7 or 14 day cruise. Did it get interesting, you bet, especially when all the isolation rooms filled up and infected guests had to remain in their own cabins with the scarlet letter red dots on their rooms. This was an unfortunate test for many of the crew on the ship, from the medical team to the room service department to the cleaning crew as well as customer service and the senior positions on the ship. I know this was a live and learn experiment and we’re good with being a part of it as the voyage of the Vikings cruise is a one of the pinnacle cruises to take, the itinerary is just one of the best.
Just one further point to note on the return to cruising. Yes, many programs have been discontinued or canceled at this point in the restart. For us as long time cruisers we understand this and the importance of returning the company back to profitability before reintroducing some of theses programs. We are shareholders after all, so it is paramount that these ships stay afloat. That said, we have made formal comments as to which programs and/or positions we would like see returned.
The summary, the weather gods were with us with only one day of rain effecting our daily shore plans and even with that our alternative turned out to be a blessing. The highlights of this voyage include and not limited to (above and beyond just to be back on a ship), Greenland and cruising the Prince Christian Sund, the opportunity to explore our countries east coast, Iceland and cruising the route of the Vikings to and from Europe. On the ship, as mentioned, the crew, the ship itself and the many meals we enjoyed. We feel this was stepped up in quality and menu options. Yes, there were fewer options and that surf n turf was not offered at every Gala night, but please see above about the comment about returning to profitability. At the end of the day my scale at home has indicated that I was well fed. :)
Here is a selection of my favourite pics on this voyage with comments. We thank you joining us on the amazing journey, thank you for your emails and comments, they are much appreciated. We hope you will join us in our next adventure which is actually coming very soon. We are beginning to pack now… I will be posting this soon.
Quote of the day - “We travel, initially, to lose ourselves. We travel, next, to find ourselves”. Pico Lyer
With one of our favourite beverage servers, Enrico
Yup, the Voyage of the Vikings!
Renting an e-car in Bar Harbour for a driving tour of Acadia National Park.
Cheers to my very first Lobster Roll!
With cruise friends Lucia and Henk!
With cruise friends, George and Joanne! Formal, Gala or Dressy night, you pick.
A little Surf n Turf action!
Yes, Canada and Red Bay, Labrador a wonderful day here.
A nice pic taken on top of a hill in Red Bay!
The beginning of the ice bergs for the next few days…
Breakfast team in the Lido!
Our first visit to beautiful Greenland!
Greenland is remote and wonderful, with amazing fresh air. If only we could bottle it.
Yes, more incredible ice…
Well ice and waterfalls!
The one and only village along the Prince Christian Sund!
More picturesque ice.
A nice stop at a Glacier outflow, yes connected to the main ice cap of Greenland, some 2700 kilometres long!
Ah, owe, Covid break, making the best out of it with Room Service and Netflix, Stranger Things…
Six days later, we are free, hooray! Bergen here we come…
Bergen, Norway, a beautiful city!
In The Hague in The Netherlands !
A most beautiful Art Gallery here in The Hague
A little Canaletto dinner in Rotterdam, pictured with our server Desi.
Cube houses of Rotterdam! Strange way to live…
A highly recommended tour of the old Rotterdam, now a museum, restaurant and hotel.
The Bray outside of Dublin, a very nice hike…
Formal night on board, pictured here with Indra, the MDR, manager.
The wonderful hike we did on a HAL excursion in Scrabster.
Colin was a fantastic guide…
Dancers and a piper bid us a farewell with a dock side hour show!
A fantastic HAL excursion, waterfall hike here in Iceland!
Back in town for some retail therapy!
Someone picked up a nice new Icelandic sweater!
Some hanging maple bacon here in the specialty Pinnacle Restaurant!
A wonderful hike around the city of Akureyri here in Iceland!
And yes we ran into one of the friendly Trolls!
Thank you so much for taking us along with you!
ReplyDelete