One could already feel during our first night East of Greenland, that things were not going as planned.

Per the original plan, we were scheduled for another shore landing at Greenland’s east coast. A low pressure area over the Northern Denmark Strait however put that plan to a stop fairly quickly.

At some point in the first night (still on course for the east coast landing site) – with the wind and wave situation becoming more and more severe – a decision had been taken on the bridge to abandon that plan and go for a more southerly course and then straight over to Iceland. It also did not help, that another low pressure area was coming in from the South – the reasonable choice thus was to head straight for Reykjavik and the safety of the port.

For us this meant, that what the brochure described as “one day relaxation at sea” now really turned out as nearly three days – and I am sure, they were more shaky than relaxing for many of my fellow passengers.

Needless to say … we were – as usual – offered a full program, with plenty of lectures, a classical concert by the ship’s pianist and of course the usual amenities of the ship.

I also – as on my previous trips – did ask for the opportunity to get a glimpse of the machine room. On my past trips it had not worked out – but this time I got my invitation for a machine room tour. We were a small group and led through the machine area by the chief engineer of the ship. It was interesting to get that glimpse behind the scenes and also to see the machinery, that was keeping us going.