This is the third installment of my extended review of the Viking Iconic Iceland, Greenland and Canada cruise. As it turned out, the Canada portion of the cruise was truncated. We had planned to land at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, but icy condition in the harbor meant that disembarking from the tenders would have been too dangerous, and so that port was dropped. The worry then moved to our stop in Greenland. The plan had been to anchor at Qaqortoq and then Nanortalik on the south coast of Greenland – two small ports where we would tender into the harbors. But too much ice was floating in and around the harbors with a fear that we might get in, but not out again.
A change of ports due to ice
The captain finally decided to sail instead much further north and dock in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, and then sail back down the coast and on to Iceland. In effect we had lost access to three landings but gained a totally new one. At the time, no promises were made about a credit for missing these ports, but after arriving home, we did receive a future cruise voucher of $1500 per person as compensation. I would imagine the credit is partly based on the class of cabin you have, but I have no way of confirming that.
It would have been nice to have seen these small Greenland villages, but on the other hand, there was a lot more to do and see in Nuuk. And taking an early season cruise to the Arctic means that conditions are likely to be tricky.
Extra days at Sea
As a result of these changes, we actually spent three days at sea after leaving Halifax and then 2 days after returning south from Nuuk. The crew handled all these changes smoothly – new talks were added, trivia sessions organized and, of course, the excellent meals continued. The Cruise Director, Philip gave a couple of talks about the musical development of Rogers and Hammerstein and then we had a showing of South Pacific in the cinemas. I’d never actually seen that movie although it was one of my parents’ favorites, so it was nice to take that in and also point out to each other the various sights and beaches that had been used on Kauai during the filming of the movie.
We also had presentations on wildlife and birds we might see on the trip north and so keeping a watchful eye on the water behind our ship was part of the routine. I managed to capture a Peregrine Falcon catching us up and flying past on one of these outdoor sessions.
And, of course, there were sunsets to watch out for! Nothing like as dramatic as we had seen on our cruise down the Alaskan coast, but still nice to watch them develop. The sun was setting later and later as we sailed north – this was probably around 10:30pm.
Finally, the day of our landing in Nuuk arrived and I’m glad to say that the clouds cleared and we had a magical approach. I thought this image of the city with the Sermitsiaq mountain dominating the background looked almost like those imaginary sightings of Shangri La!
As there are no roads between settlements in Greenland, almost everything happens at sea (or air) and so the harbor is very busy with small fishing vessels and large Arctic trawlers. We had signed up the optional Nuuk Fjord cruise which had been organized using a flotilla of smaller boats with perhaps 10 people on each one. We went in search of icebergs (and found them) before finally reaching a waterfall running off the glaciers down into the ocean. It was interesting to see all the summer homes on the islands and shores around the fjord.
This next image of the waterfall gives you an idea of the size of the boats used.
We were able to stand out at the stern of the boat to take photos, although many chose to sit inside in the warm and chat to the daughter of our captain to learn about life here in the far north.
The included tour was a coach tour of the various highlights of Nuuk including this cemetery cascading with crosses down to the ocean.
I didn’t take this, choosing instead to walk into town after leaving my boat tour. The town was perhaps 30 minutes away on foot, and it was reasonably warm in the sunshine. This walk gave me the chance to wander at will, looking for interesting reminders of this town.
Many of the people in Nuuk live in large apartment blocks, although there are many individual and very colorful homes as well along the coastline. You can see some of those apartment blocks in the distance in this image of the memorial to Hans Egede, founder of Nuuk.
I usually spend some time with Google Maps before I arrive in a port, looking for suggested overlooks or photo spots. There was one not too far from this statue and so I was treated to a lovely view up the coast towards the famous landmark mountain. As you can see, still quite a bit of snow about even though we are probably at 18 hours of sunlight a day at this stage.
There is an excellent museum on the coast in Colonial Harbor close to the statue with a lot of the history of Greenland and Nuuk and includes the mummified bodies of a woman and a six-month-old boy. I’ll spare you the photos of them here, but their story is very interesting. This iceberg was floating in the sea just by the museum.
I found it funny to see a family sitting on the little beach above with their child playing in those pebbles when everyone else was wrapped up against the wind. But this was probably a lovely summer’s day here in Greenland! There was also a dramatic statue on the beach known as the Goddess of Sea.
I decided to take the long way back to the ship and walked down past some newly built homes to another old cemetery by the sea. I believe that the ground is very difficult to dig here, especially for quite a bit of the year and so mounds are built over the bodies and simple wooden crosses erected. The Moravian Brethren Mission House is in the distance on the waterfront.
Eventually, I made my way back down to the harbor, with somewhat sore legs and feet after my hike around the town.
With that, I reboarded the ship ready to watch our departure from the capital of Greenland and a couple more days at sea before we arrive at our first port of call in Iceland.
You can read the next installment of the extended personal review of the Viking Iconic Iceland, Greenland and Canada cruise where we land in Isafjordur in Iceland. And you can find the main index and overview guide to Viking river and ocean cruises here.
