Greenland cruise

[hunt182644]

Nuuk, nanortalik, and Qaqortoq, I realize these are small ports kind of off the beaten path so to speak. Looking for opinions from those who have done this cruise, yay or nay. This would be in August of 24 from Boston, have been to the other ports on this cruise.

[DCThunder]

14 minutes ago, hunt182644 said:

Nuuk, nanortalik, and Qaqortoq, I realize these are small ports kind of off the beaten path so to speak. Looking for opinions from those who have done this cruise, yay or nay. This would be in August of 24 from Boston, have been to the other ports on this cruise.

I visited Qaqortoq and Nanortalik in August 2023 but as part of an Iceland/Greenland cruise out of Southampton.  Didn't get to Nuuk as that is much further north on the west coast of Greenland and we needed to get back to Southampton.  

 

My TL;DR version of Greenland is:  The scenery is extremely beautiful, especially in good weather, but once ashore, there isn't much to do.  You can walk around the small towns or do a very limited number of excursions such as a RIB trip out into the harbor to see icebergs up close, together with a vodka toast with ice chipped from the iceberg.  A travel companion did an excursion to the "ice sheet" but they didn't actually get to walk on the ice, but did get the same vodka toast.

 

  I'm glad I went to Greenland, but it's not somewhere I'd need to go back to again.

[CaptainPedantic]

We were probably on the same cruise as DCThunder (Island Princess, 9th August?). We took the RIB trip around the icebergs in Nanortalik and really enjoyed that as a unique experience, although must admit we enjoyed the whale watching in Iceland even more. We also had a good walk around both towns and agree the scenery was beautiful, especially given we got lucky with the weather. We visited the outdoor museum in Nanortalik also, which was a pleasant extra surprise and a nice way to spend an hour or so. Again, helped by the weather.

What I would add is that we got an unexpected bonus of sailing through Prince Christian Sund on our way from Iceland to Qaqortoq. It wasn't on the itinerary - I understand because of the chances of not being able to transit having only received clearance from the 'ice pilot' the day before - but this was a real highlight of the entire cruise.

We went into this cruise considering it a 'do once' holiday, but both agreed on the way back that we would love to do it again. 

[DCThunder]

38 minutes ago, CaptainPedantic said:

We were probably on the same cruise as DCThunder (Island Princess, 9th August?). We took the RIB trip around the icebergs in Nanortalik and really enjoyed that as a unique experience, although must admit we enjoyed the whale watching in Iceland even more. We also had a good walk around both towns and agree the scenery was beautiful, especially given we got lucky with the weather. We visited the outdoor museum in Nanortalik also, which was a pleasant extra surprise and a nice way to spend an hour or so. Again, helped by the weather.

What I would add is that we got an unexpected bonus of sailing through Prince Christian Sund on our way from Iceland to Qaqortoq. It wasn't on the itinerary - I understand because of the chances of not being able to transit having only received clearance from the 'ice pilot' the day before - but this was a real highlight of the entire cruise.

We went into this cruise considering it a 'do once' holiday, but both agreed on the way back that we would love to do it again. 

Yes, I was on that same cruise and agree that the RIB trip was unique, especially putting on the orange survival suit.  I also wandered through the outdoor museum and it was interesting in its own understated way.  I intentionally didn't mention the Prince Christian Sund passage as a ship coming from Boston most likely wouldn't be passing that way unless they're also going to Iceland.

 

If (big IF) I ever went back to Greenland, I'd want to go further north, but that may be the province of the expedition ships.  And there are other places I'd like to go before I went back to Greenland.

[EDVM96]

2 hours ago, hunt182644 said:

Looking for opinions from those who have done this cruise, yay or nay.

Did you also check our roll call?
 

 

[CaptainPedantic]

3 hours ago, DCThunder said:

I intentionally didn't mention the Prince Christian Sund passage as a ship coming from Boston most likely wouldn't be passing that way unless they're also going to Iceland.

Absolutely right - and I see from the itinerary that the cruise doesn't go on to Iceland so it's highly unlikely... sorry to OP for the bad info

[Torfamm]

5 hours ago, hunt182644 said:

Nuuk, nanortalik, and Qaqortoq, I realize these are small ports kind of off the beaten path so to speak. Looking for opinions from those who have done this cruise, yay or nay. This would be in August of 24 from Boston, have been to the other ports on this cruise.

We were there in August and it was terrific. My best advice is plan early. Excursions and tours fill up very quickly since options are limited. 
 

The museums in Nuuk and Nanortalik were both interesting and worth a visit.

 

We had a great experience with Greenland Sagalands in Qaqortoq. They offer many tours. We did the Iceberg Safari and loved it
https://sagalands.com/tour-search/