Sail to Greenland from NYC!

[geocruiser]

17 hours ago, SeaDog-46 said:

The new Polar Code has been a long time coming & is most likely concern by the IMO over several incidents including the sinking of the ice class vessel Explorer.  This could have been much worse if rescue vessel had been days away.

So it is mainly a safety issue along with updating the other requirements & bringing the several different current  Ice Classes together under the new Polar Code.

Vessels have to be further segregated longitudinally & vertically with steel size & grade for ice conditions. 

Equipment onboard must be better in handling ice weather. 

Lifeboats are to be a lot better with endurance of several days in the extreme conditions. 

Immersion suits for all.

It all boils down to only expedition ships now in construction being able to work in the polar regions as cruise ships.

There are over 2 dozen building or planned & they are nearly all small & will be very expensive to sail on. 

Some are up to 25,000 gt but still only carry a few hundred passenger.

The code is P1 highest to P7 lowest.  Most expedition ships are being built to P6 that states it can operate in sunmmer / autumn medium 1st year ice which may include old ice inclusions [growlers].

Ponant have several vessels planned with one started in 2018 being P2 class capable of going to the North Pole.

So if you want to go to Antarctic Peninsular or Greenland with the current cruise ships next year is probably your last chance. 

There could be a northern summer season in 2021 for a few ships.

Thank you for the info.  It is very interesting.  Do you think that a regular cruise ship is taking a chance doing that voyage?  I really have no Idea, how much ice is present in the ocean at the time of sailing.

[pompeii]

On 3/14/2019 at 11:51 AM, BarbinMich said:

 

I don't think there were independent excursions available in 2009 and 2010.  So there must be more ships stopping there today for such a business to be successful.  However, one can't (or couldn't) get far from those ports because there aren't or weren't roads to anywhere outside of the small port towns and the ice sheet covers 85% of the country.  What are the itineraries for your independent excursions?  I, alone or with a group of CCers, walked around on our own (on one we looked for birds in Nuuk!).  Note:  I see that in my previous post, I promised to post photos--I'll try to do that today.

The independent excursions are all boat tours into the neighboring fjords, the ice cap, and to the Uunartoq hot springs.  We're hoping the weather cooperates and we get to see lots of icebergs and whales.

 

We're using Nuuk Water Taxi, Qaqortoq Water Taxi, and South Greenland Boat Charter 44.  Finding tour operators was a bit of a challenge and I'm praying the weather gods smile on us so we can enjoy the results of our efforts.  If not, we'll spend our time looking around town.

[BarbinMich]

26 minutes ago, pompeii said:

The independent excursions are all boat tours into the neighboring fjords, the ice cap, and to the Uunartoq hot springs.  We're hoping the weather cooperates and we get to see lots of icebergs and whales.

 

We're using Nuuk Water Taxi, Qaqortoq Water Taxi, and South Greenland Boat Charter 44.  Finding tour operators was a bit of a challenge and I'm praying the weather gods smile on us so we can enjoy the results of our efforts.  If not, we'll spend our time looking around town.

Thanks for that info.  Don't believe such tours were available back when we were there as I'm sure some enterprising person on the large roll calls for the 2009 and 2010 would have found them.  How does one take an excursion to the ice cap??  I thought it ran down the center of Greenland.  I caught glimpses of it while at Qaqortoq, I believe.  I just looked at the websites of some the providers of these tours and they seem to be mainly offered in the summer with some in the winter.  So it looks these will be available for those on the Caribbean P this coming August, but not in September, the month we were there twice.

[pompeii]

35 minutes ago, BarbinMich said:

Thanks for that info.  Don't believe such tours were available back when we were there as I'm sure some enterprising person on the large roll calls for the 2009 and 2010 would have found them.  How does one take an excursion to the ice cap??  I thought it ran down the center of Greenland.  I caught glimpses of it while at Qaqortoq, I believe.  I just looked at the websites of some the providers of these tours and they seem to be mainly offered in the summer with some in the winter.  So it looks these will be available for those on the Caribbean P this coming August, but not in September, the month we were there twice.

 I haven't done it yet so I don't have first hand experience😉 but we're taking the water taxi into the fjord as close as possible to the ice cap then walking the rest of the way.  According to the description the boat gets us pretty close, a 20-30 min walk from shore IIRC?  We can do this from either Qaqortoq or Nanortalik, we doing it from the latter.   

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, geocruiser said:

Do you think that a regular cruise ship is taking a chance doing that voyage?  I really have no Idea, how much ice is present in the ocean at the time of sailing.

 

Not my friend SeaDog-46, but having sailed in Greenland area waters three times, there may be a small amount of ice present, some of which are called "bergy-bits"; sometimes, a few somewhat larger.  It is possible that a ship's passage through an area can be obstructed by ice, therefore, the Captain goes to Plan B.  On a Viking Passage cruise on the Eurodam, Captain de Vries "put the pedal to the metal" to get us from one Greenland port to our next one before it became dark.  He told us that he then had the ship sail in a small box of X miles square during the night to avoid the possibility of encountering ice during the night time hours.  (This was done while we were just off-shore of our next port of call.)  And, the Bridge Watch was increased.

 

Safe for cruise ships?  Absolutely!  The Captain is not going to put his ship, his guests, his crew, and his career in jeopardy!  

Edited March 15, 2019 by rkacruiser

[geocruiser]

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Not my friend SeaDog-46, but having sailed in Greenland area waters three times, there may be a small amount of ice present, some of which are called "bergy-bits"; sometimes, a few somewhat larger.  It is possible that a ship's passage through an area can be obstructed by ice, therefore, the Captain goes to Plan B.  On a Viking Passage cruise on the Eurodam, Captain de Vries "put the pedal to the metal" to get us from one Greenland port to our next one before it became dark.  He told us that he then had the ship sail in a small box of X miles square during the night to avoid the possibility of encountering ice during the night time hours.  (This was done while we were just off-shore of our next port of call.)  And, the Bridge Watch was increased.

 

Safe for cruise ships?  Absolutely!  The Captain is not going to put his ship, his guests, his crew, and his career in jeopardy!  

Great info.  Thanks.  Your Viking Passage cruise must have been great.

[SeaDog-46]

As my old mate rkacruiser says the master will not put his ship in danger - the first rule of good seamanship.

Seeing the icebergs, bergy bits & growlers in daylight is one thing but hitting one in the darkness is another - 2007 mv. Explorer findings are online.

Radar & good watchkeeping will see ice at some distance but throw an Arctic storm into the mix & things can get iffy.  Best to high-tail it out of the area with wind & sea astern - & forget your schedule.

In 1959 a brand new Ice class vessel was built in Denmark to service Greenland.

mv Hans Hedtoft carried about 100 passengers & cargo - similar to Aranui 5.

On its return maiden voyage it was caught in a massive storm off southern Greenland.

Mayday messages were sent but no help could get to them.  Ship was lost with all onboard.  Most likely she was hove-to in the storm & did not see the ice/iceberg bearing down on them.

[Mary229]

We signed up for the 2020 cruise. It will be our second trip to  Greenland.  We are geologists so that explains that.  And I do love eastern Canada.  I have cruised  and driven there numerous times.  

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, geocruiser said:

Great info.  Thanks.  Your Viking Passage cruise must have been great.

 

Yes, it was.  Not sure what the Princess itinerary is, but mine included a passage through Prinz Christian Sund, which is a passage that is ice dependent.  All 3 of my voyages that included Greenland was able to  sail through this Sund.  Magnificent!  During my first trip, I asked an experienced HAL bartender in the Crow's Nest while we were transiting the Sund if he had been in Antarctica.  He replied, yes he had.  When I asked how what we were seeing compared to Antarctica and he replied that it reminded him of much of what he saw.  I'd agree.  But, Antarctica scenery and wildlife is in a category all of its own!

[satxdiver]

We booked on the CB cruise to Greenland as soon as it was announced last year.  We have sailed on the QC to NYC cruise a few years ago and did a west bound TA from the UK visiting three ports in Iceland in 2016.  We wanted to visit Greenland and have little interest in revisiting the Maritime provinces right now.  It sounds like we may be on the last sailing to Greenland on Princess.  There is a roll call for the 2020 sailing.  

 

 

[BarbinMich]

 

17 hours ago, Mary229 said:

We signed up for the 2020 cruise. It will be our second trip to  Greenland.  We are geologists so that explains that.  And I do love eastern Canada.  I have cruised  and driven there numerous times.  

 

Did you do anything, geologically speaking, when you were there the first time?  We, too, love eastern Canada:  drove out there once and have cruised there twice:  at the end of a WB TA and more recently on a Can-NE itinerary out of NJ.   I especially love the big swing in tides in eastern Canada and Maine.  First time we were in Bar Harbor we walked over to Bar Island and back at low tide.  On that trip we also rented a cabin for a few days near Baddeck on Nova Scotia and overlooking Bras d'Or Lake.

[BarbinMich]

21 hours ago, pompeii said:

 I haven't done it yet so I don't have first hand experience😉 but we're taking the water taxi into the fjord as close as possible to the ice cap then walking the rest of the way.  According to the description the boat gets us pretty close, a 20-30 min walk from shore IIRC?  We can do this from either Qaqortoq or Nanortalik, we doing it from the latter.   

Hope you do trip report!  Have fun!!

[Mary229]

19 minutes ago, BarbinMich said:

 

 

Did you do anything, geologically speaking, when you were there the first time?  We, too, love eastern Canada:  drove out there once and have cruised there twice:  at the end of a WB TA and more recently on a Can-NE itinerary out of NJ.   I especially love the big swing in tides in eastern Canada and Maine.  First time we were in Bar Harbor we walked over to Bar Island and back at low tide.  On that trip we also rented a cabin for a few days near Baddeck on Nova Scotia and overlooking Bras d'Or Lake.

We simply hiked at every port.  This time I made a few contacts that I will spend some time cultivating a bit better and perhaps can get a better program arranged.  It is hard to delve into geology too deeply in Greenland due to the time constraints.  There are still a few people that do mineral field trips in Greenland - but hold onto your wallet, it can be a very expensive trip.