John and I (Carolyn) are retired university professors in our late fifties, who have been cruising since October, 1991. We are Elite Captain's Circle members on Princess but have also cruised on Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Costa, and Commodore. Most of our cruises have been in the Caribbean but we have also cruised to Alaska, the Panama Canal, the Mediterranean, Scandinavia/Russia, Hawaii, French Polynesia, South America/Antarctic Peninsula, the Far East, and the Amazon River. For shore excursions, we prefer nature and wildlife tours that involve hiking, snorkeling, or SCUBA diving. In particular, we will hike for miles to see waterfalls, volcanoes, caves, or other interesting geologic features. We also enjoy lighthouses, forts, castles, and anything else we can legally climb up on for a good view. Both of us are natives of New Orleans and, as such, are interested in good food and good times. Our preferred souvenir is a small regional or national flag. One this trip, I was seeking flags from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Greenland, Sheltands, Faroes, Scotland, and St. Pierre & Miquelon.

This review is primarily a travelogue of what we did in the various ports, including links to tourist sites and maps. As is our custom, we mostly took self-guided tours/hikes or private tours arranged with other members of our Cruise Critic roll call. However, we did take some Princess tours when timing or availability was a major issue. We had previously visited only one of the ports (Reykjavik).

We booked this as a 36-day cruise. However, it was marketed as two 18-day cruises, "The Land of Fire and Ice" (NYC-Dover) and "The Top of the World" (Dover-NYC). Thus I have reviewed each segment separately. Only one port (Qaqortoq) was included in both cruises. Read more