Qaqortoq, Greenland

The seas continued to be relatively calm yesterday afternoon and evening. Unfortunately, there was some rain and although it stopped there was not enough time for it to evaporate to play Paddle Tennis. During Captain Vincent’s talk from the bridge at noon, he said that by 10:00 PM as we were off the Southern portion of Greenland it could become very windy but since the winds would be coming behind the stern of the ship we should not feel much in the way of movement of the ship. 
 
We attended a meet and great that I organized for those on-board who are members of Cruise Critic at the Palm Court. I had been sent to our home some small items from Cruise Critic and had a random drawing for them.
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Waterside Dinner Menu from last evening.

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Last evening we dined at Waterside with friend Patty. The service continues to be outstanding and we enjoyed a delicious meal, great conversation all in this beautiful dining venue.

In case you wanted to know the special butter was peppery lavender and herbs.

The evening entertainment included two shows. The first one began at 8:45 pm and was a Spotlight Show performing Rock n’ Pop Mania performed by the Crystal Ensemble of Singers and Dancers, the Lead Vocalists and The Crystal Showband.
 
This was followed at 9:30 pm with a show featuring Andrei Cavassi accompanied by the Crystal Showband.
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Today's Daily Reflections.

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​Come On In To Qaqortoq, Greenland's Best Kept Secret (Shh!)

This morning, we anchored off Qaqortoq, Greenland. We have been to Greenland on two prior occasions.  The first time was on Crystal Symphony which was Crystal’s maiden port of call visit to Nuuk, Greenland.  On the 2016 Northwest Passage Cruise we revisited Nuuk and had stops at two other locations in Greenland but on one of these there was so much ice we could only see the location from the ship along with the ice. The concern at the time is we could enter the port to dock but could we get out.  As they say better safe than sorry.
 
Qaqortoq is the largest down in South Greenland. It is known for its natural beauty including dramatic landscape, its icebergs and the Tasersuag lake.
 
Qaqortoq was founded in 1775 and is a gateway allowing for the exploration of the fjords and icebergs.
 
Its population is 3,000 residents.
 
As an example of the popularity of the icebergs, Crystal offered several departures for guests to view the icebergs by Zodiac and several other departures to view them by Garga Boat. Another tour to get a sense of the tradition of this area was offered twice. The first of the remaining two tours involve a visit to the Great Greenland Tanning Facility and the second one was A Taste of Greenland.

The good news is that the ship was able to hold its position making tendering possible and the ship was clearly close to schedule. For those on the zodiac and garga boats those tours were cancelled by the tour operator for safety reasons. In addition to rain, it was windy. Better to be safe than sorry.
 
If not for the rain, we would have gone over and both of us have waterproof jackets and pants and hiking shoes but decided to stay on Serenity instead.
 

 

Today we want to talk about the Promenade Wrap-Around Deck.

The Promenade Decks on Crystal ships are not very common as many ships do not offer a full wrap-around deck often putting suites in the back of the ships.

​After sailing Harmony and Symphony our first cruise on Serenity was September of 2005 on two back-to-back Mediterranean cruises. We had a blast and one of the features we loved about all Crystal ships is the wrap-around promenade deck. On Serenity it doesn’t have the lifeboats above giving it the feel of being more open.
 
In 2005 we were already thinking about 2007 which would be a milestone wedding anniversary for us. We wanted to do something special and were thinking of an extended cruise of 30 to 60 days. Up until our 24 days on Serenity our longest cruise was 18 days and most of our cruises were 7 to 12 days given work commitments. While on board we were introduced to a couple through mutual friends who had completed the 2005 World Cruise a few months earlier. After hearing all about it and experiencing Serenity, we decided that this would be a perfect vessel for a World Cruise and one of the selling points was the Promenade Deck.
 
We viewed the special wrap-around deck as a deck to take long walks together, for me to run, to chat with other guests, to get lots of panoramic views from the port, starboard, bow and stern of the ship, to get fresh outside air and to enjoy peaceful time.
 
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Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith