Voyage of the Vikings

A Veendam Lifeboat and Tender

The title is accurate and misleading.  At Red Bay, Labrador, there is no cruise terminal.  The ship anchors off the coast and some lifeboats double as ship-to-shore tenders to shuttle passengers back and forth.

Red Bay is where this trip became interesting.  You do not get to places like this easily.  This village of 170 inhabitants was overwhelmed by the 1200 passenger cruise ship. No more warm weather, mostly a tundra landscape, and only here and there some stunted trees.  The weather was generally gray, with some occasional sunny and foggy periods, temperature just above 50F (10C), but no rain.  Got out the winter coat, but it was actually very good walking weather.

Red Bay Harbour

We got up fairly early to catch a tender to meet our “Lighthouse Tour”.  This was a 75-minute ride at a pretty brisk pace over a very bumpy road in a school bus.  Occasionally you were ejected from your seat, only to come crashing down again.

Point Amour Tour Schoolbus

The scenery was not spectacular, but very impressive.  If this does not make sense, it was the utter desolation and stark beauty of the landscape.  This is about as isolated as it gets.

Pinware River

If you are going to the store, prepare for a three-hour ride there and a three-hour ride back again.  You better make sure you don’t forget anything important.  In winter, people travel by snowmobile.  Not like (hardy? ha, ha, ha) New Englanders who do this for sport, but out of necessity, and you carry a survival kit.  Oh, yes, gas is about $10 gallon out here.

At the end of the ride was Point Amour, where the tallest lighthouse in Atlantic Canada stands.  This romantic sounding name may have actually evolved from the original French Point aux Morts (Place of Death) because of the numerous shipwrecks there.

Point Amour Lighthouse, Labrador (by Arjan Post)

One was the British HMS Raleigh, which in 1922 was the flagship of the North American British Navy and shipwrecked trying to avoid an iceberg, killing 11 sailors.  We spent 100 minutes walking around the area.  There was a nice shore walk.  We saw some left-over wreckage of the HMS Raleigh.

Wreckage from the HMS Raleigh

Wildflowers on the Trail

After the return to Red Bay and visiting the information center and a small museum, I wandered out of town over some paths into the tundra until there were no fellow travelers left.  I was alone with the tundra wild flowers, and sea urchin and crab skeletons.  Walking on tundra is like walking on something that is a cross between a sponge and a trampoline.  I stumbled on a local cemetery.  I have never seen such a well and lovingly tended graveyard.  There was an abundance of flowers at every grave.

Red Bay Cemetery (by Arjan Post)

We took a lot of pictures.  We will upload what we can as soon as we get to a decent Wifi spot.

Photos © 2014 P.J. Gardner & Arjan Post. All rights reserved.

Corner Brook, Newfoundland

Sailing from Boston to Corner Brook (Newfoundland), we had nice weather, until yesterday afternoon when it started to look a little grim.  But that had all passed again when we woke up in Corner Brook this morning.

Customized Welcome

We walked through a beautiful Corner Brook town park in the blazing sun.  The temperature was a perfect 75 F (24C).  Next, we had a pleasant lunch on an outside terrace in the center of town.

Corner Brook Stream Trail

The Venerable Glynmill Inn

We had been to Corner Brook before, on one of our many Canadian Maritime vacations.  Gross Morne National Park is the big attraction nearby.  No need to do that again though, as an overpriced shore excursion.  We might come here again in the future, traveling on our own.  We love this part of the world.  Way back when, P.J and I went on our first vacation together in Nova Scotia.

Not all old people on the cruise are cranky; there are nice and cheerful people as well.  We have even met people that are younger than we are!  Since most dining room tables seat six, you usually share a table with others.  We chose “open seating” for dinner, so every night we meet different people.  So far, most of our fellow travelers are originally from New York and now live in Florida.  There are also Australians and Canadians, some Dutch people, and I overheard German spoken.  Most are frequent cruisers.

Given the price of water and drinks, I am reminded of a log entry in my grandfather’s diary.  He was a ship’s captain and in the 1920s he sailed into Boston.  He complained bitterly about the price of water in Boston:  50 cents a ton!

Constant Reminder in Our Cabin

Overheard in Corner Brook:

• When I was standing in line at a supermarket checkout, two people at the rear of the line went ahead to a register that had just opened up.  Comment from a local woman standing in front of me: “They must be from the boat, and don’t know better.”
• Someone thanked a waiter for ordering such beautiful weather.  “Well, it was on back order, but it finally arrived.”

Towering Veendam

Be patient with our pictures.  With the slow speed and high price of Internet on board, that may not happen right away.  We are taking pictures and we will upload them when we have a chance.

Photos © 2014 P.J. Gardner. All rights reserved.

Cruiseport Boston from the Veendam

Sailing out of Boston Harbor was the highlight of the trip, so far.  Especially, after a fight with Boston traffic to get to the Black Falcon Pier and a last minute super-quick stop at P.J’s optometrist because a lens had fallen out of her glasses frame. It was a gorgeous day, as we watched the Boston skyline slowly recede into the distance.

Castle Island, Boston, from the Veendam

Boston Skyline Receding

Pilot Boat Alongside the Veendam

Before we went to sleep last night, we saw the beautiful full moon over the ocean.  Sunday morning we woke up to another beautiful day.  The ocean was placid, with a persistent long swell that hits us sideways, rocking us gently back and forth.

Our Vista Suite Stateroom

P.J and I noticed that just by stepping on board we significantly lowered the average passenger age.  Around the dinner table, people’s past adventures turned out to be primarily medical.  With over one thousand elderly people on board, I am wondering what the odds are that everyone will actually make it to the other side!

The age range was somewhat of a surprise to us, because on our Alaska cruise, people seemed to be younger.  But then it occurred to me: that cruise was only seven days, and working people cannot afford to take forty days off.

Some of the elderly are a little cranky, but the staff is infinitely patient.  One of my friends, Tom Peterson, responded to my “Trip Log” email by writing, “Be nice to the commoners!  Remember, you started out as one, too!”

I am reminded of that when the staff greets me, always smiling and wishing me the best, probably because they are trained to.  They work seven days a week, 10 to 11 hours a day.  So I make it a point to respond equally cheerfully.  I hope it makes their day a little better, and it makes me feel better too!

Photos © 2014 P.J. Gardner. All rights reserved.

The weather for the next three days looks good.  Added bonus: Tomorrow night is a full moon.  Should be a beautiful night on the Atlantic Ocean.

A personal note:  Tomorrow, July 12, it is also exactly 54 years to the day since I set sail on the SS Rotterdam from Holland to New York.  I was 14 years old then.

Cruise Brochure Expectations

Photo © 2014 P.J. Gardner. All rights reserved.

ms Veendam at Black Falcon Pier, Boston

All summer long, until she makes the Voyage of the Vikings on July 12, the Holland America Line cruise ship ms Veendam travels back and forth between Boston and Quebec City. By looking up the schedule, we discovered we could go to South Boston and take a look at the ship every two weeks while it is docked in the harbor.

May 17 was a gorgeous day. First, we took pictures of the ship at its berth at the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal from a nearby bridge on Summer Street. The passengers had already embarked early for their sailing time, so we could hear the sounds of the required pre-sail safety drill, and see all the passengers in their life jackets on the Lower Promenade Deck, below the lifeboats.

Then we drove to Castle Island (a pennisula park, not really an island), so we could watch the ship set sail through Boston Harbor on her way to the Atlantic. Having already viewed the ship at the dock, we thought we knew what to expect, but when she finally appeared— by backing out of the Black Falcon channel— we were absolutely amazed at how much she towered over the Boston skyline and dwarfed everything in the harbor.

Veendam Sailing Past Boston Logan Airport

Then, with Boston Logan Airport in the background, the Veendam majestically turned around under her own power in the center of Boston Harbor, and headed out to sea.

We won’t have this view of our ship when we take our Voyage of the Viking cruise this summer, so it was an excellent way to imagine our own leave-taking. We can only hope we have such glorious weather.

Photographs of the ms Veendam, © 2014 P.J. Gardner. All rights reserved.