Scandinavian Cruising, Summer 2024
Our big trip in 2024 was a summer cruise that started in Copenhagen with ports of call in Norway, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. The original itinerary included two ports of call in Greenland. Sadly, the itinerary had to be changed for safety reasons due to excess ice to navigate near Greenland. Instead, the Faroe Islands and more cities/towns in Iceland were added.
Still, it was a thoroughly enjoyable cruise that allowed us to visit a country previously not on our vacation radar, the Faroe Islands, and get to know Iceland in more depth. (Note: I plan to post individually for each country visited and update the blog in the days ahead.)
Shown in the gallery above, a few views from the ship as we cruised into port. Enjoying the ship views as we cruised along the fjords was a favorite pastime of J. and mine.
The weather was typical Nordic cool and ranged from 40-50 degrees, a nice change from the heat wave in the US. I’d happily return in summer again to escape our warmer weather.
This was my first experience with the longer northern days. Sometimes the sun set after 11:30 pm and rose several hours later about 3am. Thank goodness for blackout curtains!
Below, more scenic views. I think it was atypical to still be able to view that much snow in early July as the climate is more temperate than one might think due to the gulfstream. Fun fact: Many of the waterfalls we saw along the fjords are warm to hot in temperature.
We were awarded a fun certificate for our brief crossing into the Arctic Circle as well as a commemorative Delft tile coaster for Holland America’s 150th anniversary. I appreciated the nice extra touches!
