LIVE from Jewel May 15, 2024 - 27 nights

[twangster]

On 5/23/2024 at 4:28 PM, andreasfcb said:

I'm really curious about your crossing from Iceland to GB tomorrow @twangster. The wave forecast (5m / 16ft +) makes me a little nervous, but of course nothing Jewel hasn't seen before.

 

So far it's not been very bad.  There are some people who are sensitive to motion and sea sickness that are being impacted.  There are many who are not.  The venues around the ship are busy.  As near as I can tell the performers are still playing live music everywhere.  The casino was busy but more smoke free than normal so maybe this rough water is a good thing.  🙂 

 

The theater performance has been cancelled tonight.  

 

Personally it hasn't bothered me in any way but I tend not be influenced by ship motion.  A young lady in the lounge tonight said with some dramamine she is fine.  

 

Here approaching 11:00pm it has let up a little as I suspected it would .

 

Understand this weather has nothing to do with your potential weather.  Any sea any where can get rough weather including the Caribbean.

 

This is Icelandic weather.  In totality it has been very good for me.  

[twangster]

Video of the 4x4 experience

 

 

 

[twangster]

Way too soon we had to leave Reykjavik.

 

 

The city center in the distance.

 

 

 

I think that is the church we drove past last night.

 

 

Out in the open sea there is some wind but the ship is handling it well.  I should sleep very well tonight.

 

 

[twangster]

Day 11 cruise compass is available :

 

JW May 15 day 11 cruisecompass.pdf

[DelMom18a]

I think Skogafoss waterfall is where we saw the rainbows last May.

 

 

Edited May 25 by DelMom18a

[twangster]

Day Eleven - Sea Day

 

Time change at 2am this morning.  Going forward losing an hour.

 

Passport collection today.

 

 

 

Suites and pinnacle can drop off their passports in the lounge.

 

 

Progress report:

 

 

 

Sea conditions:

 

 

 

 

The ship still has some small motion this morning estimated to get smoother midday however it is much better compared to yesterday.

 

Speaking of the lounge, Andreas has become the Suite Concierge with Bing's departure to join Harmony.  Andreas was the Crown Lounge concierge.  A new Crown Lounge concierge has been named.   Andreas told me their name but I can't remember it right now.

 

The Concierge Club was pretty empty last night except for a core group of frequent cruisers who were not fazed by a little bit of ship motion.  The Concierge Club up on deck 13 partially aft did have some motion last night.  The running joke was that seat belts on the bar stools would have been helpful.  🙂 

 

Later at the Schooner Bar the bar stools were doing their own thing spinning in circles as the ship moved.  The haunting of the Schooner Bar.  The live musicians played on.

[twangster]

Starlink gateway city remains to be London.  

 

Starlink has performed consistently well through fog, rain, rough seas, etc.  

 

The 4K videos I have been uploading are nearly 1GB in size which never would have uploaded well using the older satellite tech.  Starlink handled them quite well.  

 

Starlink is not entirely immune from rain fade but with the constellation operating at a lower altitude it's not as pronounced as it was with the legacy satellite tech.

 

 

Edited May 25 by twangster

[twangster]

Going through my camera roll I realized I forgot to post some information about the free city shuttle from the cruise ship pier in Reykjavik.

 

In the little building we pass through to reach the ship or when leaving they have a display that cycles through some graphics.

 

We are at terminal 315.  The NCL Prima that was here the day prior was at terminal 312.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 25 by twangster

[Jimbo]

11 hours ago, andreasfcb said:

 

Ah, there's the Greenland – ehrm, Iceland – I was talking about.

 

The change of scenery is epic. We didn't dare to go to the glacier, it was too far for us (12 hour drive, dang). At least we have a great reason to go back! I really love the glacier icebergs!

You would love the ice bergs in Green land then, they are huge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 25 by Jimbo

[twangster]

The sun is out and blue skies are here.  
 

 

Beautiful sea day around 50F/10C.  

[andreasfcb]

14 hours ago, twangster said:

 

So far it's not been very bad.  There are some people who are sensitive to motion and sea sickness that are being impacted.  There are many who are not.  The venues around the ship are busy.  As near as I can tell the performers are still playing live music everywhere.  The casino was busy but more smoke free than normal so maybe this rough water is a good thing.  🙂 

 

The theater performance has been cancelled tonight.  

 

Personally it hasn't bothered me in any way but I tend not be influenced by ship motion.  A young lady in the lounge tonight said with some dramamine she is fine.  

 

Here approaching 11:00pm it has let up a little as I suspected it would .

 

Understand this weather has nothing to do with your potential weather.  Any sea any where can get rough weather including the Caribbean.

 

This is Icelandic weather.  In totality it has been very good for me.  

Glad to hear, I suppose the captain was able to maneuver around the worst part.

 

Of course the open sea can be rough anywhere, but on smaller seas in Europe (like the Mediterranean), you never get more than 5 m or 16 ft of waves, even in absolutely horrible weather conditions. We cruised around 10 times in the Mediterranean and our top was 3 m or 10 ft, which is still nothing.

 

The North Sea around Iceland is one of the ‘worst‘ locations to cruise besides South America (Drake passage). In winter they commonly have waves of about 11 m or 35 ft, but in summer in usually tops out at around 7 m or 25 ft. June or July is usually the calmest. So yeah, you could have been hit worse.

 

Last year, Jewel encountered quite heavy waves (7 m or 22 ft) in the May Iceland cruise, but on our cruise in June it was mostly like a flat lake (look at the photo attached, between North of Scotland and Iceland). That was unbelievable!

[andreasfcb]

5 hours ago, Jimbo said:

You would love the ice bergs in Green land then, they are huge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stunning!

I am not sure if I wanted to cruise along them so close though. 😆

[Sinders99]

23 hours ago, twangster said:

Tour summary:

 

 

Twelve hours covering 487 miles.

 

Our driver was very efficient in keeping us on task while moving us along safely leveraging his skills at passing slower traffic where ever he could.  

 

It was a whirlwind tour but with long Icelandic daylight hours it worked out quite well and the things we saw were unbelievable.   

 

The truth is these photos are crap compared to what we saw with our eyes.  Just wow.

Just astounding! I can't wait to see many of the same sights for myself next month. I'm sure I'll be saying the same things. No matter how hard we try to capture the beauty, a photo never does the real thing justice.

Thank you for sharing your amazing travels.

[twangster]

Weather update.

 

Captain barged into our cabins (over the PA) to inform us that the weather enroute has delayed our arrival into Belfast a couple of hours.  Due to tides we have to depart Belfast at the originally scheduled time.  Consequently we will have a shortened visit to Belfast.  

 

 

Edited May 25 by twangster

[twangster]

22 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Any idea what was growing in that farmers field?

Something green.  🤣

[twangster]

Day 12 cruise compass has been published

 

JW day 12 cruisecompass.pdf

[twangster]

Schooner Bar - Love all that glass.  
 

 

With piano tunes by Harrison Smart. 
 

Picture intentionally dark to obscure audience.  
 

 

Edited May 25 by twangster

[sgmn]

On 5/24/2024 at 3:49 PM, twangster said:

 

The truth is these photos are crap compared to what we saw with our eyes.  Just wow.

WOW indeed. Your pictures are fantastic.  I especially loved the blue colour in the ice bergs What a great tour 

Edited May 25 by sgmn

[twangster]

10:10pm North Atlantic. Proof of life

 

 

Edited May 25 by twangster

[twangster]

10:16 pm deck 11.  Proof of pizza. 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

On 5/24/2024 at 9:30 AM, twangster said:

Plans for day 9 include a private tour along with some new friends I met through the Cruise Critic role call a couple of months ago.

 

https://iceparadisetours.is/

 

Since it was a private tour we could modify the tour to suit conditions of the day and based on local experiences at various locations in the area over the days leading up to today. 

 

What pictures don't capture is the commentary and explanations of the towns and villages we will pass throughout the day.

 

We stopped about 45 minutes in Hveragerði at a bakery for a bathroom break.  Continuing on through Selfoss towards Seljalandsfoss.  

 

Our guide first noted this waterfall in the distance as we drove.

 

 

We pulled off the highway into the parking area for the waterfall.

 

 

While the main attraction was the falls we could see for some time as we drove closer there are actually a number of waterfalls coming over the edge of the mountain.

 

 

 

 

We didn't stay long as we had a lot to see and do today in a short amount of time.

 

Having seen a number of waterfalls already on this trip we had all agreed to this quick stop here.

 

 

 We are looking at a cruise on another line and would like to take this tour . Can you tell us which tour that you took from Ice Paradise Tours and if 0800 - 2200 would be enough time to take the tour . Thank you .

[maggieq]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Schooner Bar - Love all that glass.  
 

 

With piano tunes by Harrison Smart. 
 

Picture intentionally dark to obscure audience.  
 

 

@twangster  thoughts on Harrison smart?  We had such a great time at the schooner on the jewel in November.  Great singer and piano player    Thanks!

[andreasfcb]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

10:16 pm deck 11.  Proof of pizza. 

 

 

 

Somehow the table looks like the plate and the slices look like a tiny piece on a big plate. 😄

[Sinders99]

Hands down the Radiance class Schooner Bars are the best in the fleet! Perfect for scenic cruising.

[twangster]

6 hours ago, maggieq said:

@twangster  thoughts on Harrison smart?  We had such a great time at the schooner on the jewel in November.  Great singer and piano player    Thanks!

I like him.