July 30, 2025 – At Sea – St John’s Newfoundland – Cloudy and Warmer – 77F

July 30, 2025 – At Sea – St John’s Newfoundland 

Day 1

It was raining when I went up to Windows Cafe - breakfasts remain consistently good.  One potential area for improvement would be to sub out the "jelly dispensers" for some real jam and preserves (the stuff from the dispensers is too sweet).  

Here's where we are this morning.

After breakfast today, I went down to Discoveries Restaurant and asked the Host whether is was too late to put in a special request for Dinner. I wound up ordering two orders of Pasta Pesto – I had a little trouble understanding what his version of pesto was but we will see tonight.  We have also found two tables that we like – Table 2 – around the corner from the bar and Table 1 – a large table facing toward the back – there are only two tables in the area and it’s quiet.

Before we get there, I am speaking at 10 AM with “Forensic Detectives: The Search for Jack the Ripper”.  It was a great turnout - essentially a full house.  The audiences on this cruise have been great.  

Les Evans is on at 11 AM with “Electric and Hydrogen Powered Aircraft”.  I was pretty tired and didn't stay for his talk

This cruise is very historic for Azamara because St. John's Newfoundland is a maiden port for the cruise line.  Azamara Quest is scheduled to arrive at 1 PM so we will be able to see the sail in during lunch. 

We had our usual lunch in the Windows Café.  The sail in was very scenic.  

One of the sights was “Signal Hill”, which is St. John’s most popular landmark.  

Not only did Signal Hill protect the harbor from the 17^th Century through WWII but it is where Guglielmo Marconi received the first Transatlantic wireless signal in 1901.  As we sailed by, we could see people standing on the edge of the hill (looked precarious to me) and on nearly hills as well. 

The city then came into view.

Quest then came alongside just across the street from the city.  

We left the ship

and walked up and down Water Street – which is a pedestrian walkway lined with restaurants and shops – we were told that it was a “civil holiday” today so some shops were closed.

We had our special meals in the Discoveries Restaurant along with salads from the menu.  The pastas were good.  We’ll be doing that again on days there is nothing on the menu.

Darius Uhl is the headliner tonight.  We once again passed on the show and spent time in the Living Room instead.

July 28, 2025 – July 29, 2025 At Sea – Labrador Sea – Cold – Gray 44 -48F

July 28, 2025 – At Sea – Labrador Sea 

I had to do a hurry up at breakfast today because I have the early speaking slot. “Forensics and History: Search for the Unknown Titanic Child” is on at 10 AM.  It is ugly outside but in the Oceanview Cafe, the food and coffee are great.  

I still got to the Cabaret Theater early to set up. This is a historically popular talk and it was well attended - I would say full house.  I ended up on time and spent a few minutes chatting with guests.

I shouldn’t complain about my time since “Disaster at Paris” with Captain Les Evans – is at 12:15 PM competing with food.  I didn't want to relive the Concorde crash so we went to lunch and I had the standard deli lunch option - salad, tuna and egg salad. Since I had aleady given my talk, there was a beer, Leffe, included.

The afternoon was spent looking at the gray sky and sea from the Living Room and trying to get as many trivia answers correct - I don't officially play but I do keep track of how many I do know.

Tonight is “Taste of Italy” the best theme meal for us on an Azamara Cruises. We got there early so the pans were all meat-free.  I was first in line, Ellen behind me, and the pasta chef, who I’ve seen on Azamara Onward, made me spaghetti with garlic, tomatoes, and marinara sauce – delicious.  The buffet also had eggplant parmesan, that I added more marinara sauce to, and freshly made Caprese Salad. A great meal.  We got good seats as well.

Darius Uhl is the headliner tonight – we are passing on his show – we are not big fans of the cello and his show is a little loud (I caught a few minutes of it the last time he was on).

Time Change:  Clocks move back on hour tonight as Quest continues to sail West.

July 28, 2025 – At Sea – Labrador Sea 

The day started off with a little sun 

but then turned into an ugly day outside – we have gone the whole cruise so far without eating on the Sunset Veranda.

All three speakers are on this morning.  I noticed a bullletin board in a corner of the Mosaic Cafe set up by - I was told - a tour group from Sweden - it listed the schedule including the talks in Swedish - Dr. Hal is the same in Swedish and English.  Cute.  I wonder how many Swedes actually attend the talks.

Les Evans was on at 10 AM – “Follow on to Concorde” (Brit speak for next steps)

Jannie Mackay – 11 AM – “Unique Personalities that Shaped Canada”

I am on at 12:15 PM (the prime slot) with “Open Unsolved Cases: Solving Cold Cases through Genetic Genealogy”.  Ellen took a picture before the audience arrived.

Some people were in their seats at Noon. 

The guests must have figured out lunch because the attendance was very good.  I am constantly tweeking this talk because it has concepts not present in any of the other talks and also has aspects of genealogy, which is something I am trying to better understand.

Late Lunch was in Windows Café – tuna salad and really good cream of tomato soup. The classic combination.  The tomato soup was delicious.

Showtime tonight was the next production show.  “Oh What a Night” was a Juke Box show featuring the songs and dances of the 60s.  Songs included "My Boyfriend's back"

"Save the Last Dance for Me"

and "What a Night".

The show was entertaining but we left a little early – all the songs were pretty much the same.

July 27, 2025 – Nuuk, Greenland – Sunny and “Warm” – 55F

July 27, 2025 – Nuuk, Greenland 

Port Information.  Nuuk is the capital of Greenland and its most populous city – about 20,000 people live in the capital.  That would be about 35 percent of the total population of the world’s biggest island. Nuuk is considered to be the most “indigenous city in the World considering the percentage of Innuit people.  Like all of the Greenlandic towns, Nuuk has a Danish name – Godthab. Nuuk uses hydroelectric power for its homes and buildings. The city was founded in 1728 by Hans Egede and named Godthab (Good Hope). Nuuk translates to “Cape” in Greenlandic.  Nuuk is the World’s Most Northernmost Capital just edging out Reykjavick.

Once docked it was difficult to see much since buildings got in the way.

I had another nice breakfast up in the Windows Café.  The cottage cheese and sour cream systems continues to work well and I am yet to tire of the food.

Azamara is providing a shuttle from the ship to the City Center for those folks who don’t want to walk (20 minutes to an hour).

We are on tour today – “Nuuk City Tour”.  This will involve seeing almost all of the city by bus and getting out for some photo ops.  We met on the pier which gave me an opportunity to get a picture of Quest docked.

We found our Guide, Aya, on the pier.  The bus was nice.  There was a second guide on board taking notes  – Aya told us that she was born and raised in Greenland but goes to college in Denmark.

She told us that since Greenland became a news item because of Donald Trump, Denmark had sent military (equipment and personnel) to Greenland to shore up defenses.

The bus took us first to the City Center where the only shopping mall in Greenland - Nuuk Center -  is located.  As shopping malls go, it is quite small - maybe a little less than a block and painted all black.  I couldn't get a picture of it from the bus.

We then drove out to the Marina - lots of boats that probably can only be used for a short time during the year. 

 

We then drove along the water in the Historic Part of the City to see the Church of Our Saviour.  This is the only Catholic Church in Nuuk as the main religion is Lutheran.

 "The Mother of the Sea Sculpture", 

The statue, best seen at low tide was created by Aga Hoegh, depicts Sedna, a Sea Goddess of Innuit mythology.  When human misbehave, she uses her hair to tangle all the sea animals preventing access to hunters and fishermen.  Shamans have to go and comb her hair to release the animals. 

We also stopped to take pictures of the Hans Egede Monument on the hill (Hans Egede, a Dano-Norwegian missionary founded Nuuk in 1728). 

 

We also got our guide to get a picture of the two of us as evidence that we were here.

There were lots of kayaks stored along the water - the water here must be real cold - you have to be hardy to kayak here.

We went to a view point and got off the bus to get pictures of the iconic mountains surrounding Nuuk. The most iconic is Sermitsiaq, a 1,210-meter-high saddle-shaped peak visible from the city - it is located on an island and we saw it on the sail in. 

 

I got the mountain and Ellen in the same picture.

Ukkusisat (Store Malene) - 772 meter mountain with views of the nearby fjords. Quassussuaq (Lille Malene), a smaller mountain and a common hiking venue - our guide said that he hiked this mountain.  Malene is a Danish name and Store and Lille mean "big and little" in English.  As we drove along, these peaks surrounded us as they are very close to the city.

We also went by the Nuuk Airport, where I managed to get a brief shot of an Air Greenland Max8.  

Air Greenland flies to other cities in Greenland and also to Copenhagen to connect to other European destinations.

We also went by the Ny Alstat Prison.  

The prison was opened in 2019 and is a high security prison which can hold dangerous criminals which in the past had to sent to Denmark for incarceration. 

The bus then returned to the pier around dinner time.

The show toight featured Bandmaster Daniel Diaz performing "Latin Heritage". We passed on the show and instead went to the Discoveries Restaurant for dinner because the Insider said that the featured dish was Halibut.  But, as happens sometimes, the Halibut was not on the menu.  We reverted to the Salmon dinner instead.

Because of the timing, there was no entertainment when we finished dinner so we went to our stateroom.  A nice day in the capitol of Greenland. 

July 26, 2025 – At Sea – Labrador Sea – Foggy, Drizzly – 44 F

July 26, 2025 – At Sea – Labrador Sea 

Long night of sway and shake.

Literally you couldn’t see 100 feet.  For some reason, the ship was not sounding the fog horn (maybe there weren’t any other ships out here or maybe the ship’s radar confirmed that we were alone out here). 

Breakfast in the Windows Cafe is working out great – Cottage Cheese and Sour Cream are waiting for me at the fruit and compote area (my name – misspelled – and Stateroom number are on the containers).

In the new schedule, I am on at 1:00 PM with “Forensic Detectives: Identifying the Famous and Infamous”.  I got to the Cabaret Lounge at 12:40 PM and Bingo with Bernardo was in progress. They must have started late because they didn’t finish until about 1:15 PM.  I set up very quickly and got rolling.  The turnout was very good – a few empty seats here and there and more attendees than my first talk (let's say 280).  

I finished about 1:52 PM and had to explain to Jannie, who thought I ran long, that Bingo ran long.  I talked to people in the hall outside the theater. 

For lunch, I had an Impossible Burger from the Patio.  Except for the fact that they put guacamole and red cabbage on the burger (which I scrape off), the burger was prepared perfectly (perhaps the best I’ve had on an Azamara ship).  They are usually overcooked but this one was delicious. The Onion Rings, not so much but overall a nice lunch.

After an afternoon of watching fog and water in the Living Room (Bernardo and Stephanie run the Trivia and I can’t understand either of them), we had dinner in the Discoveries Restaurant. I ordered a special meal for us – Pasta Pesto.  What we got was something closer to Pasta Aglio a Olio – no pesto at all. The waiter confirmed that as well.  It was pretty good, whatever it was.

We are not going to the show tonight, which features Magician Fred Becker – magic is not our thing.

We caught Felicia doing her Country set.  Covering Billy Joel was more her style.  We went to the Living Room for a few minutes of VIBZ and their soft rock music – very soothing.  An enjoying a mojito hit the spot.

We are scheduled to get into our next port, Nuuk, around 8 PM.  As the evening went on, the fog began to lift and we could see land on both sides of the ship.  

The Captain suggested we go outside and watch the sail in.  The sail in was indeed amazing with the city nestled at what looked to be the foothills of several mountains.  

One mountain, in particular had an odd shape.  I went outside to get a different perspective on the sail in.

We didn’t wait until the ship actually docked, which will take a while.

Back to the room for some peace and quiet.

July 25, 2025 – Qaqortoq, Greenland – Cloudy – 49F

July 25, 2025 - Qaqortoq, Greenland

This will be our third time in this little town - and also the largest town - in Southern Greenland. There are only 3000 people - mostly Innuit - living in the town and the last time we were here, it was a Sunday and everything was closed. Qaqortoq means "white" in the Greenlandic language.

Qaqortog from Quest.

Today, we both ordered Room Service – I was up at 7 AM but fell back asleep and was awakened by the phone telling me that my breakfast was on its way.  I had Special K with milk, a waffle plus two egg OM.  Ellen had French Toast and two egg OM and some fruit.  The breakfast was good but it is hard to drink coffee in bed and the cups, in my opinion, though fancy and too small.  I am a big cup coffee person.  

This is a tender port but there are no tickets – just go down to level three and hop on.  We did just that.  

The tender ride is very short – Qaqortoq has a deep harbor but no pier – that means that Quest can anchor close to shore.  There was some sea ice in the water 

– we didn’t see any the last times we were here.  The seas were glass calm and getting on and off the tender was nothing.  The ride took about five minutes or less.  

Pictures of Quest are easy to take from the pier.

We can across a convienently close chuck of sea ice near the harbor.

As well as interesting rock with markings (a Rune Stone, maybe).

We checked out the gift shops and walked the main street and pretty much saw what we saw last time: The Main Square with it’s Mindenbronden Fountain, 

the red painted Church of the Saviour, 

and the Qaqortoq Museum with an interesting statue in the front lawn area.  

I couldn’t find out what the story on the statue was on Google.  We stayed in town for about an hour – I still couldn’t find either a cup of coffee or a cap from the place. 

We did however, take a nice picture of wildflowers along the road.

Because of its latitude, Qaqortoq has a similar climate to Northern Europe and is one of the "greenest" parts of Greenland.

We made our way back to the tender pier and with no line and the short ride, we were back on the ship in no time.  I went up to the Windows Café to get some seats.  Today, along with the scoops of tuna and egg salad, I had the Linguini in Tomato Sauce, which was the best pasta I have had on Azamara for a long time.  Maybe the combination of those items didn’t make sense but they were all good. 

After lunch, we found seats in the Living Room and stayed there until we went back to the room to get ready for dinner.  Tonight, there is a special Destination Showcase Dinner (the Food of Greenland) in the Patio.  We will have to see how Dinner works once we get up there.

Because of the cold, the Showcase Dinner was moved inside (this is the first Showcase Dinner that we have experienced on Azamara – something new).  There wasn’t a whole lot to eat on the menu but we both had the Teriyaki Salmon (not very Greenlandic) and the fish was really good.  The big dish was the soup – veggies mostly – that was being cooked at a separate table – I did not try it.

The Captain came on the PA system to indicate that weather conditions at our next port of call, Paamiut, would make tendering unsafe.  The fog, which we could already see outside, would not afford enough visibility to maneuver the tenders.  We would pass up this port and tomorrow would be a manufactured sea day.

Since we are doing the reverse itinerary as part of our back to back, we will catch this port on the way back to Reykjavik.

I ran into Martin before the show and told him that I would do a presentation tomorrow if needed. A phone call from Bernardo a bit later on confirmed that I would be on tomorrow.  I said the simplest thing would be to move all the talks up and then tack another one on at the end.

We went to the show (one show at 9 PM) and sat in our usual seat on the second level where the spots used to be (the spots are in the back of the venue now and the rest of the lighting is remotely driven).  The show tonight is “Club Crooner” and the singers and dancers did a great job with numbers by Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darrin.  Last time we saw this show both Michael Buble and Barry Manilow were included but not this time.  Even so, it was a good show. Pictures below.

By the time, we got back to the room, new Insiders had been printed and distributed. I would be on at 1 PM.

Not only is it foggy outside but windy with an unfriendly sea – the ship is rocking and rolling.