Valiant Lady - Iceland, Greenland & Canada Transatlantic

Where this cruise calls, day by day

7 ports and 7 sea days over 13 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Reykjavik

   IcelandDepart

   Most ships berth at Skarfabakki, a plain working pier about 4km northeast of the centre with nothing around it, so it is a shuttle or a taxi in - only smaller ships get Midbakki in the Old Harbour. Reykjavik itself is compact and low-rise and takes a couple of hours. The point of the day is usually outside it: the Golden Circle fills a whole one, the lagoons half.

   • The Golden Circle - Thingvellir's rift valley, the Strokkur geyser at Geysir, and Gullfoss
   • Hallgrimskirkja's tower for the view over the coloured rooftops
   • Harpa concert hall, and the whale and puffin boats from the Old Harbour
   • The Blue Lagoon out on the Reykjanes peninsula, or the Sky Lagoon much closer to town

   Getting ashore

   Docked at Skarfabakki, roughly 4km out, with a paid shuttle or taxi into town; small ships get Midbakki in the Old Harbour, half a kilometre from downtown.

   Best months

   Jun-Aug (midnight sun); May and Sep quieter

2. Day 2

   Isafjordur

   IcelandPort

   Isafjordur is the main town of the Westfjords - about 2,700 people on a sand spit inside a steep fjord, with mountains rising straight off the end of the runway. It is Iceland's third-busiest cruise port, and the town takes twenty minutes to walk. What justifies the call is up the valleys behind it, above all Dynjandi, a tiered waterfall ninety minutes away over a pass.

   • Dynjandi, a broad tiered waterfall in the next fjord system, about 90 minutes each way
   • The Westfjords Heritage Museum at Nedsti, in merchant buildings from the 1750s that are among Iceland's oldest
   • Osvor, a reconstructed turf-and-stone fishing station about 15 minutes away at Bolungarvik
   • The boat to Vigur island, where thousands of eider ducks nest alongside puffins and Arctic terns

   Getting ashore

   Most ships come alongside the town quays, 0.8km from the centre; vessels over about 270m anchor and tender instead.

   Best months

   Jun-Aug

3. Day 3 · At sea

4. Day 4 · At sea

5. Day 5

   Qaqortoq

   GreenlandPort

   Qaqortoq is the largest town in south Greenland, which means about 3,000 people in painted timber houses stacked up a rocky bowl above the harbour. There is one cobbled square, a fountain, a supermarket and a tannery, and you can walk the whole town inside an hour. Tenders land roughly a hundred metres below the square, and fog or swell can cancel the call outright.

   • Stone and Man - more than forty faces and figures carved into the rock outcrops around town since the 1990s
   • Mindebronden on the main square, the oldest fountain in Greenland
   • Great Greenland, the sealskin tannery, and the town museum's tupilak carvings
   • A boat out to Hvalsey, 19km up the fjord, the best-preserved Norse ruin in Greenland

   Getting ashore

   Tender only - there is no cruise berth - and swell or fog cancels calls here with little warning.

   Best months

   Jul-Aug (peak); Jun-Sep season

6. Day 6 · At sea

7. Day 7

   Nuuk

   GreenlandPort

   Nuuk is the capital and, at close to 20,000 people, holds around a third of Greenland's population - which makes it the only stop on most Greenland itineraries with traffic lights, apartment blocks and a shopping centre. The old colonial harbour and its turf-roofed timber buildings sit below the modern town, and the National Museum there holds the Qilakitsoq mummies, five centuries old and startlingly intact.

   • Greenland National Museum and the Qilakitsoq mummies
   • Kolonihavnen, the colonial harbour, with Hans Egede's house and the red Church of Our Saviour
   • Katuaq cultural centre and the contemporary Inuit art and design shops in the centre
   • Boat trips into Nuup Kangerlua, the fjord system behind the city, under Sermitsiaq mountain

   Getting ashore

   Most ships now come alongside the Atlantic Quay, with berth availability rather than ship size deciding it; from there it is about 2km and an uphill 20-30 minutes into town, so take the shuttle.

   Best months

   Jul-Aug; a few calls in Jun and early Sep

8. Day 8 · At sea

9. Day 9 · At sea

10. Day 10

    St. John's

    CanadaPort

    Ships come in through The Narrows, a cleft in the cliffs a couple of hundred metres wide with Signal Hill standing over it, and it is one of the better arrivals in North America. St. John's is the oldest European-founded city on the continent, painted in the row-house colours that end up on every postcard, and the berth is in the middle of it. Icebergs drift past in early summer.

    • Signal Hill and Cabot Tower, where Marconi picked up the first transatlantic wireless signal
    • Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America, about 20 minutes out
    • Boat tours to the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve for puffins, whales and icebergs
    • The Jellybean Row houses, George Street's pubs and a screech-in if you want one

    Getting ashore

    Docked in the downtown harbour; the city, the row houses and George Street are all within a few blocks of the gangway.

    Best months

    Jun-Jul (icebergs, puffins, whales); Jun-Sep season

11. Day 11 · At sea

12. Day 12

    Halifax

    CanadaPort
    Halifax port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore

13. Day 13 · At sea

14. Day 14

    New York, NY

    United StatesArrive
    New York, NY port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore