The 2-day cruise from Iceland to Greenland was relaxing, but uneventful. Our usual cruise day consists of sleeping in (maybe), then having a quick breakfast in the overly crowded buffet. Afterwards, I would spend 60 - 90 minutes in the hot tub while Connie worked on her current knitting or crochet project. After a little more laying around, it's time to get a small lunch, usually from the pool-side grill or pizzeria. Then it was time for my afternoon nap while Connie worked on her project some more. During this trip, she's working on a crochet Afghan blanket. Comes later afternoon, we usually would meet friends Wayne and Wendy for cocktails before heading out to an early dinner in the "fancy" dining room. I just love being constantly being waited on. Dinner choices were also fantastic but did take a little effort to get used to. I missed my "comfort" foods, but the dining was still pretty good. Our evenings were spent watching the nightly entertainment or having more cocktails.
Greenland
When we reached the shores of Greenland, the ship's captain announced he was going to take us through the Prince Christian Sound. Not many cruise ships can fit in this sound, as most are too large. The Island Princess is a Coral-class cruise ship built to transit the Panama Canal. Island Princess is one of the smaller ships in the Princess fleet.
Most of the day was taken going through this Sound. It actually was one of the highlights of visiting Greenland. The weather was great and were pretty close to the shore on either side. A couple times, the shipped stopped and did a "donut" in the ocean. The captain turned the ship 360° around, almost on a dime. The views of Greenland were fantastic. Many times, we came close to some very large ice-bergs.
Our first port of call in Greenland was in Qaqortoq. Qaqortoq is a town in southern Greenland, set within a system of fjords. The town center is home to 18th-century colonial buildings and a landmark fountain. We took the "tender" from the ship to the small dock. There really wasn't much there to see. With a population of just over 3,000 people, it was founded in 1774. I found it interesting to learn that although this is a municipality in Greenland, it's part of the sovereign state of the Kingdom of Denmark. We walked a little around town (not very large) and stopped at the grocery store to purchase some snacks. An hour later, we were ready to catch the tender back to the ship.
After an overnight voyage, we arrived at the next port of Nanotalik. The name Nanortalik means "Place of Polar Bears" or "Place Where the Polar Bears Go" (from Greenlandic: nanoq). Although, we didn't see any Polar Bears. It is the southernmost town in Greenland with a population of over 1,000. Because of its location, this area was one of the first parts of Greenland settled by the Norse and one of the last settled by the Inuit. The town was founded in 1770. We almost didn't get off the ship here. It was a very small village. We ended up taking the tender to the town, walked around for 30 minutes, and took the tender back. Other than a little history here, it was a very disappointing port to stop at. They didn't even offer any public restrooms!
Back to England
With Greenland being the last port of call this cruise, the ship headed back to Southampton, England. This involved four days at sea. Our sea routine was much of the same, except Connie ran out of white yarn. She passed most of her time playing games with Wayne and Wendy, while I spent most of my time napping. The last few nights show on the ship were pretty good. I guess they saved the best for last, because some of the earlier shows were terrible.
We arrived back in Southampton on schedule. We had the usual crowds while we disembarked. We said our goodbyes to Wayne and Wendy the night before. We'll be eager to hear of their adventures when they go on TWO world cruises! Connie and I took a shuttle bus from Southampton back to London's Heathrow airport. However, we weren't flying anywhere. Instead, we took an Uber for the next 45 minutes to McRent near Essex to pick up our rental campervan.
The cruising part of the 2023 "Lands" Epic Adventure was over. We enjoyed our brief visits to Cornwall England, Ireland, Iceland, and Greenland. Now it's time for a 6-week road trip to most of England, Wales, and Scotland. Next up - driving Southwest England and a tour of our temporary home on wheels,