Live From the Summit, 8/7 to 8/31, from an Aqua passenger viewpoint

[Ken the cruiser]

Just stepped out on the balcony to see how calm the water was this evening. Not a ripple except for what the Summit is creating! 😁

 

[BeeMinor]

7 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Were you able to stay all day? The way the Blue Lagoon booking process looked, it appeared you reserved a 1 hr time slot. Hopefully that’s not the case and you were able to lounge around in the thermal pools all day if you chose to.

 

Yes, we could stay as long as we liked. The timing is for an entry slot but once you're in, you're in. We did the pool in the morning and then had lunch at Lava, which was excellent. 

 

It's probably worth mentioning for anyone who hasn't been to an Icelandic pool that there is a very firm expectation that you will take a shower without your swimwear before entering the pool. The bigger/more touristy pools like Blue Lagoon have private showers available but you still change in what is basically a communal gym locker room. It looks like Sky Lagoon (which I haven't actually been to) offers private changing rooms. Smaller pools like Secret Lagoon near the Golden Circle route have fully shared facilities, that is, you're showering with the Icelanders . . . who really couldn't care less.

 

Best wishes for your B2B testing! If you get kicked off the ship, Iceland doesn't have any quarantine rules and there's plenty to see outside far away from other people so there are worse places for it to happen I suppose.

 

I'm looking forward to photos of your stop in the Westfjords! We didn't make that side trip so it's on our "next time" list.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

This evening we finished up by going to watch the Liar’s Club, which if you have never been to one before and you love to laugh, this late night show is a must!! It’s a simple game. You just need to determine, by applause, who provided a truthful definition of the word in question.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Reel Love]

On 8/14/2022 at 4:22 PM, dleighb said:

We opted not to do the lake walk, but your photos are making me regret that. We did climb up a staircase though because I can never resist anything that leads me up. We managed to snag these photos of the town. Of course, whenever I tried to get any sort of scenic shot, the fog rolled back in. After I gave up and went back to the boat, the sun came out again for a few minutes. I think I have that same photo of the iceberg out the aft. Haven't downloaded that one from the camera yet.

Oh my gosh, those pics are absolutely fabulous!  Personally I think the top one especially looks cool with the fog in behind the ship and the vibrant colours of the buildings in front.  Great job!  

[Reel Love]

15 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Woke up at 7:40 this morning to this!!! More awesome pictures to come!

  

 

 

 

 

Ken, thank you for sharing your review and photos.  Absolutely stunning pictures!

[asnaleah]

Wonderful photos @KenTheCruiser! Thanks for taking the time to show us the sights! 

[Laurab23]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

This evening we finished up by going to watch the Liar’s Club, which if you have never been to one before and you love to laugh, this late night show is a must!! It’s a simple game. You just need to determine, by applause, who provided a truthful definition of the word in question.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is so funny. Not to be missed.

 

Laura

[letsgogogo]

On 8/11/2022 at 6:02 AM, Ken the cruiser said:

Pretty close, but it is a quality version which requires a Premium beverage package. There are 3 types of German Riesling that I’m aware of, Riesling, Spatlese and Auslese (ice wine which is a dessert wine), and it’s the sweeter of the white Riesling dinner wines.

Close!  Riesling is the grape. Kabinett, Spatlese, and Auslese are industry legal categories which indicate the level of ripeness (and sugar levels) the juice has prior to fermenting. German wine regions are cold. So ripening is the challenge. Higher sugar in grapes means higher ripening and higher (relatively) alcohol content. This has nothing to do with sweetness of the wine. It also doesn’t necessarily indicate quality. Lower sugar means higher acid which makes for very food friendly wines. Higher sugar juice has lower acid which can sometimes mean wine that lacks a crispness. Dry styles and sweet styles are made with all 3. (There are actually more than these 3 categories.) Main difference is stopping fermentation early maintains the sugars for sweeter wine.  Fermenting all the way means a dry wine as all the sugar is converted to alcohol. Icewein is something else altogether. Grapes are left on vines to ripen until fall frost hits. Highly concentrated sugar is retained when the frozen grapes are pressed. This makes a lovely syrupy dessert wine. 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, letsgogogo said:

Close!  Riesling is the grape. Kabinett, Spatlese, and Auslese are industry legal categories which indicate the level of ripeness (and sugar levels) the juice has prior to fermenting. German wine regions are cold. So ripening is the challenge. Higher sugar in grapes means higher ripening and higher (relatively) alcohol content. This has nothing to do with sweetness of the wine. It also doesn’t necessarily indicate quality. Lower sugar means higher acid which makes for very food friendly wines. Higher sugar juice has lower acid which can sometimes mean wine that lacks a crispness. Dry styles and sweet styles are made with all 3. (There are actually more than these 3 categories.) Main difference is stopping fermentation early maintains the sugars for sweeter wine.  Fermenting all the way means a dry wine as all the sugar is converted to alcohol. Icewein is something else altogether. Grapes are left on vines to ripen until fall frost hits. Highly concentrated sugar is retained when the frozen grapes are pressed. This makes a lovely syrupy dessert wine. 

Thanks for the wonderful explanation! When I was stationed in Germany from 1985 to 1992 and went to German wineries along the Rhein, I don’t remember the term Kabinett, just Riesling. But that was long before all of the rule changes in 2007. But I have seen Kabinett on the higher quality “Riesling” wine I formed a liking to on the Edge back in August. So this is definitely good to know!
 

But two terms I do remember from back in the 80s were Qualistawein and “Qualistatswein mit Pradikat” and that you always want to make sure to purchase the latter if you have a choice. 😁
 

Prädikatswein, or superior quality wine.

Known as Qualitätswein mit Prädikat (QmP) (quality wine with specific attributes) until August 2007, this is the top level of German wines. These prominently display a Prädikat (ripeness level designation) on the label and may not be chaptalized. Prädikatswein range from dry to intensely sweet, but unless it is specifically indicated that the wine is dry or off-dry, these wines always contain a noticeable amount of residual sugar. Prädikatswein must be produced from allowed varieties in one of the 39 subregions (Bereich) of one of the 13 wine-growing regions, although it is the region rather than the subregion which is mandatory information on the label. (Some of the smaller regions, such as Rheingau, consist of only one subregion.)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_wine_classification

[Ken the cruiser]

Went to the B2B meeting and found out a few things. First, there are 204 passengers staying on for the next leg back to Boston. The second, and more important point we learned was we have the option of staying onboard IF we test positive, which was a big stress reliever. 😁

 

Here’s a picture of those that met up in the Sky Lounge, which I’m sure didn’t include those booked in suites. I also included the paperwork defining some of the In Transit rules. All in all it went very smoothly.

  

 

 

Edited August 16, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

OK, I feel better now as we missed seeing the pod of whales folks were talking about yesterday afternoon. Just went out on the balcony and saw a whale spouting a few times from its blow hole!! Now, I need to stay focused and get a picture of the next one! 😂

[countess5]

Ken

You say that if you test positive you can stay onboard. How does that work? Quarantine, mask wearing? We are 3 B2B cruises this winter, 47 days in a row. Last year we did 49 and tested every week and was lucky we past. You know how it was last winter if positive. 

Just trying to understand how it may work this coming winter. 

 

Cheers! 

[Ken the cruiser]

Haven’t seen any more water spouts yet, but I did get a picture of an arctic tern, I believe. And if you look closely in the background, you can see the Seabourn Quest heading towards Greenland. 😁
 

[Ken the cruiser]

10 minutes ago, countess5 said:

Ken

You say that if you test positive you can stay onboard. How does that work? Quarantine, mask wearing? We are 3 B2B cruises this winter, 47 days in a row. Last year we did 49 and tested every week and was lucky we past. You know how it was last winter if positive. 

Just trying to understand how it may work this coming winter. 

 

Cheers! 

There are some folks posting on this cruise’s Roll Call, which you can check out, that tested positive early on and are saying they were allowed to stay in their cabin. Also, this is the first cruise we’ve been on since it started back up where we haven’t seen at least a partial deck closed off for quarantining passengers. But that’s all I know. 

[Sarah1974]

I'm loving your review and pictures - keep them coming please

[Ken the cruiser]

Went to watch another CSI lecture by Norma this afternoon. This time it was aboutva single case study. Just a side note. It’s usually relatively easy to find a seat away from everyone else at one of the lectures, especially if you don’t mind where you sit.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 16, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

When we came back to the cabin, I headed out onto the balcony to look for whales, or at least a water spout. Unfortunately, there were none to be seen … yet! But I have to say, I think storm cells are so cool to look at out at sea, especially when there not over the ship! 😂

  

Edited August 16, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Success!! The whale was off in the distance, but beggars can’t be choosy. 😁

 

[Oville]

12 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Success!! The whale was off in the distance, but beggars can’t be choosy. 😁

 

Congrats!🐋

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Went to the B2B meeting and found out a few things. First, there are 204 passengers staying on for the next leg back to Boston. The second, and more important point we learned was we have the option of staying onboard IF we test positive, which was a big stress reliever. 😁

 

Here’s a picture of those that met up in the Sky Lounge, which I’m sure didn’t include those booked in suites. I also included the paperwork defining some of the In Transit rules. All in all it went very smoothly.

  

 

 

 

The Suites were there with you.     By the photo angle I was behind you near the windows.   No privileges to Suite Passengers.    We do the same process and same testing.    We got an 8:00 AM slot.   What time did you get?

[Ken the cruiser]

47 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

The Suites were there with you.     By the photo angle I was behind you near the windows.   No privileges to Suite Passengers.    We do the same process and same testing.    We got an 8:00 AM slot.   What time did you get?

You were then probably looking at the back of our heads as we were the ones sitting in the 2 white chairs (originally 3 until I moved it as we wanted to remain socially distanced from others), especially with the number of folks that weren’t wearing masks.

 

We have that same time slot too. So if they give the tests in 1/2 hour increments between 8 and 10 am, that works out to around 50 or so per time slot. That should be fun. I wonder how many aren’t going to be wearing masks while standing in line toe to heal? 😂

[Ken the cruiser]

This afternoon we went to the 2:30 pm matinee in the theater featuring Joshua Jordan, the comedian-magician from last night, and once again he was a lot of fun and kept the packed crowd laughing! 😂

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

22 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

You were then probably looking at the back of our heads as we were the ones sitting in the 2 white chairs (originally 3 until I moved it as we wanted to remain socially distanced from others), especially with the number of folks that weren’t wearing masks.

 

We have that same time slot too. So if they give the tests in 1/2 hour increments between 8 and 10 am, that works out to around 50 or so per time slot. That should be fun. I wonder how many aren’t going to be wearing masks while standing in line toe to heal? 😂

 

If you see us let me know.   Recently we have been wearing Blue Caps with Windsor Castle Emblem on them. 

 

I definitely keep my mask on all the time and most of our friends are in masks even when we are sitting chatting. 

 

 

[NBliving]

I'm really enjoying this thread! We have an 18 day cruise coming up so it's nice to see the dailies and read what you and your DW have been doing to keep busy.  Positive thoughts to all of you B2B'ers who are being tested tomorrow!!

Edited August 16, 2022 by NBliving
addition

[Stem to Stern]

I am just a tad late to the party, but I am so glad I took the time to catch up on your live blog.  It is filled with helpful tips from your observations as well as the comments of others, such as unhiding the stateroom safe code and the stateroom key on the app.  I might have to go back through it again and take better notes.  It is nice to see a cruise from the perspectives of different passengers.  I appreciate you providing the links to your previous blogs because I plan on reading them.  Please forgive me if I passed by the answer.  What device are you using to capture the wonderful shots you have been sharing?  Best wishes for a fantastic return voyage.

Paul