Iceland Pro Cruises

Thanks Igneous, I look forward to your blog.

These were very interesting and helpful reports and details on your cruise with Ocean Diamond.

We will do the cruise from Kangerlussuaq to Reykjavik end August and hope to have a great time. We are not expecting a luxurious ship and also hope that the positive things will predominate.

We will post a report on return.

Heidi

Hi, Igneous,

Many thanks for your photos and video clips. They're great and give us good info about the excursions. But would you please give us your evaluation of life on the Ocean Diamond, both pro and con? For example, what deck was your cabin on, and were there any problems? Did meal service go smoothly? We would greatly appreciate your input.

Thanks! Kenzoid

These were very interesting and helpful reports and details on your cruise with Ocean Diamond.

We will do the cruise from Kangerlussuaq to Reykjavik end August and hope to have a great time. We are not expecting a luxurious ship and also hope that the positive things will predominate.

We will post a report on return.

Heidi

Heidi:

We are on this exact cruise in August 2016 so I am looking forward to a trip report. I am assuming you are doing this trip in year 2015? If so, have a great time.

A few took this cruise, anyone back who can post additional reviews? It was trouble to read about "slamming door" noises throughout the cruise so hopefully that was resolved? Reserved the Iceland/Greenland combo cruise for August 2016.

We did the August 2015 Iceland/Greenland cruise. I did not notice any doors slamming, but the waters were quite rough returning from Greenland to Iceland, and the cabin did creak quite a bit. it's an older ship, so I think that's inevitable in rough seas.

We were on the bottom deck, mid-ship, in a quadruple cabin.

We did the August 2015 Iceland/Greenland cruise. I did not notice any doors slamming, but the waters were quite rough returning from Greenland to Iceland, and the cabin did creak quite a bit. it's an older ship, so I think that's inevitable in rough seas.

 

We were on the bottom deck, mid-ship, in a quadruple cabin.

Thanks for the update... A few questions:

1) How was the "charter" flight one-way to Greenland? Was it just the cruise ship passengers on the flight?

2) Any paid-for excursions you would recommend or was the Zodiac transports enough to see everything you wanted?

Thanks...

We were on the "Trail of the Vikings" cruise,which did not include a charter flight. We went to/from Greenland on the ship in both directions.

I may be mistaken, but I just looked at the 2016 cruises, and I did not see any cruises with an air leg to or from Greenland. It looks like they may have replaced those cruises with "Northern Light" itineraries, but admittedly I did not scrutinize the website.

In terms of the excursions, they are fine for a first-time visitor to Iceland and Greenland. Some of the excursions were cancelled due to lack of participants or weather, meaning that only one or two options were available in some of the ports, and those were generally the introductory excursions rather than specialized excursions such as the sea fishing in Isafjordur. More options may be available on other cruises, such as the Iceland circumnavigation.

The inclusive zodiac tours were of particular interest for birdwatchers. About 45 minutes each. Combinable with pay tours. If you've not been to Iceland before, I would not limit myself to the zodiac excursions, because they are close in to the ports. And many of the ports are not nearly as scenic as the backcountry.

It was our 3rd trip to Iceland in the past 5 years.

I stand corrected. I now see that the other Greenland tours appear to be earlier in the season during 2016 versus 2015.

Thanks for the update... A few questions:

1) How was the "charter" flight one-way to Greenland? Was it just the cruise ship passengers on the flight?

2) Any paid-for excursions you would recommend or was the Zodiac transports enough to see everything you wanted?

Thanks...

Thanks for the update... A few questions:

1) How was the "charter" flight one-way to Greenland? Was it just the cruise ship passengers on the flight?

2) Any paid-for excursions you would recommend or was the Zodiac transports enough to see everything you wanted?

Thanks...

Hi Oren

I promised to give you a review on our trip end August from Greenland to Iceland.

There were two trips this year - one mid August from Iceland - and ours end August from Greenland. We spoke to people of the first trip in Kangerlussuaq after they had disembarked and they were quite satisfied with their tour - especially the weather, they had 12 sunny days!! which is not normal in Greenland. Our weather was a mixture.

We know that the charter flight was only for Ocean Diamond passengers.

We had arranged our own flights but as far as I know you have to book the charter flight from / to Iceland next year with Iceland Cruises.

We have arrived two days before departure in Kangerlussuaq and did the excursion to the icefield on our second day. This was very good and interesting. We were allowed to walk one hour over the icefield. This excursion is sometimes included in the travel arrangement of Iceland Pro Cruises though the people we spoke to had not enough time to walk on the icefield.

One thing, do have rainwear with you, especially pants as you will get really wet in the zodiacs and we needed very warm cloths end August. However we were lucky that the mosquitoes had just disappeared.

About the ship, most of the problems have already been mentioned - heating, thermostat, rattling in the lower floors (we were on an upper floor in a renovated stateroom so we were lucky)

The small dining room on 4th floor was a good recommendation. Food was mostly good.

The lectures we had about vikings etc have always been repeated in English after the German one. We missed a good daily introducing of next days locations etc.

Uummannaq is a nice little village.

Weather and ice can always change your programme. We were able to go into Disco bay and see the Equip glacier (the tour before us not) but we could not dock inside Ilullissat and had to stay outside. Fortunately the little boats for the excursions through the icebergs came out to fetch us - at least the first group we were luckily on. This excursion was really good as we went right through the ice. We have not seen Ilullissat.

The excursion to the fjords of Nuuk is very expensive and actually not too much to see - it is more or less whale watching - the first group saw sevaral, our second group saw one coming up several times, the third group none.

There is the zodiac tour included to the Ivittuut "wholes" with underwater stalagmites which you can see from the zodiac and which is very interesting. We also saw some mosques at the shore.

What we liked very much was the excursion in a little boat to the Quoroq icefjord at Narsarssuaq. You have to do that and hopefully the weather is good. You see phantastic icebergs in blue and white, come near a glacier, and finally you get martini on the rocks right from outside.

We were also able to go through the Prins Christian sound, unfortunately rather bad weather but this was good as well.

Going over to Iceland was quite stormy - I got seasick for one day.

Our first stop in Iceland was Stykkisholmur. There is a zodiac tour included for bird watching but they told us that the birds had all gone. We therefore booked an excursion to see the peninsula which is probably very nice if it is not raining all day what we had.

One highlight we had was one night with polar light where it has to be dark and a clear night. We had a list at the excursion desk where you could sign in to be woken up by phone should they spot a polar light and the phone rang at 00.30 hrs

We thought it was a very interesting trip and we have seen lots of ice - that was the reason we went there.

Hope you have a nice cruise next year!

Heidi :)

Hi Oren

I promised to give you a review on our trip end August from Greenland to Iceland.

 

There were two trips this year - one mid August from Iceland - and ours end August from Greenland. We spoke to people of the first trip in Kangerlussuaq after they had disembarked and they were quite satisfied with their tour - especially the weather, they had 12 sunny days!! which is not normal in Greenland. Our weather was a mixture.

We know that the charter flight was only for Ocean Diamond passengers.

We had arranged our own flights but as far as I know you have to book the charter flight from / to Iceland next year with Iceland Cruises.

We have arrived two days before departure in Kangerlussuaq and did the excursion to the icefield on our second day. This was very good and interesting. We were allowed to walk one hour over the icefield. This excursion is sometimes included in the travel arrangement of Iceland Pro Cruises though the people we spoke to had not enough time to walk on the icefield.

One thing, do have rainwear with you, especially pants as you will get really wet in the zodiacs and we needed very warm cloths end August. However we were lucky that the mosquitoes had just disappeared.

About the ship, most of the problems have already been mentioned - heating, thermostat, rattling in the lower floors (we were on an upper floor in a renovated stateroom so we were lucky)

The small dining room on 4th floor was a good recommendation. Food was mostly good.

The lectures we had about vikings etc have always been repeated in English after the German one. We missed a good daily introducing of next days locations etc.

Uummannaq is a nice little village.

Weather and ice can always change your programme. We were able to go into Disco bay and see the Equip glacier (the tour before us not) but we could not dock inside Ilullissat and had to stay outside. Fortunately the little boats for the excursions through the icebergs came out to fetch us - at least the first group we were luckily on. This excursion was really good as we went right through the ice. We have not seen Ilullissat.

The excursion to the fjords of Nuuk is very expensive and actually not too much to see - it is more or less whale watching - the first group saw sevaral, our second group saw one coming up several times, the third group none.

There is the zodiac tour included to the Ivittuut "wholes" with underwater stalagmites which you can see from the zodiac and which is very interesting. We also saw some mosques at the shore.

What we liked very much was the excursion in a little boat to the Quoroq icefjord at Narsarssuaq. You have to do that and hopefully the weather is good. You see phantastic icebergs in blue and white, come near a glacier, and finally you get martini on the rocks right from outside.

We were also able to go through the Prins Christian sound, unfortunately rather bad weather but this was good as well.

Going over to Iceland was quite stormy - I got seasick for one day.

Our first stop in Iceland was Stykkisholmur. There is a zodiac tour included for bird watching but they told us that the birds had all gone. We therefore booked an excursion to see the peninsula which is probably very nice if it is not raining all day what we had.

One highlight we had was one night with polar light where it has to be dark and a clear night. We had a list at the excursion desk where you could sign in to be woken up by phone should they spot a polar light and the phone rang at 00.30 hrs

We thought it was a very interesting trip and we have seen lots of ice - that was the reason we went there.

 

Hope you have a nice cruise next year!

Heidi :)

Heidi:

Thanks so much for the excellent and complete review. Next year (2016) the Greenland cruise fare DOES include the Iceland to Greenland charter flight and transfers in Greenland so that's one less issue. Did you have to pre-reserve all your "shore excursions" before the cruise departure OR did you reserve your spot when you were already onboard???

Heidi:

Thanks so much for the excellent and complete review. Next year (2016) the Greenland cruise fare DOES include the Iceland to Greenland charter flight and transfers in Greenland so that's one less issue. Did you have to pre-reserve all your "shore excursions" before the cruise departure OR did you reserve your spot when you were already onboard???

We had booked our 3 excursions before the cruise and I think I remember that one was booked out on the ship. We had one more booked in Ilullissat - the walking excursion but as I said we could not dock. You can do 2 excursions in Ilullissat, they will fix it.

The one in Nuuk to the fjords - some people went with the shuttle into town to the tourist office and we were told they booked the fjord tour for half but you would need another couple or so to go with you.

By the way the charter flight arrived quite late from Reykjavik in Kangerlussuaq - 5 pm - therefore they were driven straight from the plane to the ship

Heidi

I am interested in this ship for the circumnavigating Iceland Aug 24 - Sep 2 2016. Only problem, I am a single traveller which makes it very expensive. The alternative seems to be a land journey, much the same length but several thousand dollars less. I like the idea of not having to pack up every day or 2. I want to combine it with the Proms in London which is why I have chosen this date. I have until mid November to decide and still get early bird fee so appreciate any information. What are the O cabins like?

Apparently the Zodiac excursions are free but not the others, which are most recommended?

Thanks for any advice.

Anyone else going on the Ocean Diamond August 13-24, 2016 Greenland Cruise? Planning to do an extensive review when I get back but wanted to chat with other fellow cruisers that will be on this trip beforehand...

My husband and I are interested in a cruise circumventing Iceland this August. We have some questions and have tried calling and emailing procruises multiple times over a couple of weeks and have gotten no response. We get an answering machine message and always leave a phone number we can be reached. Does anyone know what is going on with this cruise line? We don't want to book and find out we have no vacation and lost our money.

Try calling their booking agent in the United States at 1-678-701-5830... They seem to be the contact point for my travel agent in the USA.

Thank you Oren. That is the phone number I have been calling, but for two weeks I only get an answering machine and no call back. The message says reservations are in Iceland so I make sure I call during business hours there.

That's odd.. I just emailed the Iceland Pro cruises office with some logistics questions a few weeks ago and got an answer within a day. Perhaps you should email the Iceland office stating your problem and frustration in reaching them (and their U.S.A. representative). I always take extra travel insurance on these expedition ship companies since they can suddenly shut down especially when you make reservations 1-2 years in advance, as I normally do.... This is the only cruise line I can get the Greenland itinerary I want and there are very few Greenland cruises.... Let me know how it works out so others can read about this communication issue.

We have booked with Iceland Pro Cruises for May 2016. We got the early bird special and are really looking forward to it. I have never used GOWAY travel although I am aware of that company. We booked our cruise by phone directly with Iceland Pro Cruises and they were very helpful. Once booked they emailed an invoice advising of payment schedule. We booked our own air from Toronto with Iceland Air. It's a direct flight. Air prices were excellent and priced in Canadian dollars. We have already booked our bus from Keflavik Airport to Reykjavik Hotels with Gray Line Iceland. It cost 17:00 Euro's per person one way. We have booked our trip both ways. We know someone who has used it and its an excellent service. We are staying for 6 days extra in Reykjavik and have booked a studio apartment. Again this is recommended by a friend who has already stayed there. The cruise leaves from right downtown Reykjavik and is convenient walking distance from our studio apartment. We are relying on Cruise critic for more information about the cruise itself but we are now booked to leave on May 24th 2016 so are going anyway. If anyone is booking the same dates as us I would be happy to chat about what we know and learn. Thanks to everyone who posts on this topic.

We are booking this for May 24th 2016. If you check this forum and see my post e mail me directly. Thanks

Linda and Bob

degrel at rogers dot com

We finally received an email from procruise travel but no word on why we don't get a response from a US representative. We will probably go ahead and book the Iceland circumvention trip for August. I would still feel more comfortable if I could speak to a live person.

Does anyone know if we can book now and add shore excursions later? That is one of the questions we have that we cannot get answered.

If anyone is taking this trip earlier in the summer, we would love to hear about you experience.

We finally received an email from procruise travel but no word on why we don't get a response from a US representative. We will probably go ahead and book the Iceland circumvention trip for August. I would still feel more comfortable if I could speak to a live person.

 

Does anyone know if we can book now and add shore excursions later? That is one of the questions we have that we cannot get answered.

 

If anyone is taking this trip earlier in the summer, we would love to hear about you experience.

Hello snickers01,

I had contact with Icelandpro and have got answer very quickly.

icelandprocruises.com, but I wrote with a german person in an office here in Germany.

You can book shore excursions whenever you want. I have booked two some day, then I cancelled one, booked another, and I will book the qoroc Icefjord soon, I think, this will work.

It is only a reservation, the cancellation was no problem. Payment is not in advance.

We will be on the journey on July 26th from Reykjavik to Greenland.

Christina

We finally received an email from procruise travel but no word on why we don't get a response from a US representative. We will probably go ahead and book the Iceland circumvention trip for August. I would still feel more comfortable if I could speak to a live person.

 

Does anyone know if we can book now and add shore excursions later? That is one of the questions we have that we cannot get answered.

 

If anyone is taking this trip earlier in the summer, we would love to hear about you experience.

We are going May 24th. I will post updates when we return. ....

We finally received an email from procruise travel but no word on why we don't get a response from a US representative. We will probably go ahead and book the Iceland circumvention trip for August. I would still feel more comfortable if I could speak to a live person.

 

Does anyone know if we can book now and add shore excursions later? That is one of the questions we have that we cannot get answered.

 

If anyone is taking this trip earlier in the summer, we would love to hear about you experience.

We are going May 24th. I will post updates when we return. ....

Hello snickers01,

I had contact with Icelandpro and have got answer very quickly.

icelandprocruises.com, but I wrote with a german person in an office here in Germany.

You can book shore excursions whenever you want. I have booked two some day, then I cancelled one, booked another, and I will book the qoroc Icefjord soon, I think, this will work.

It is only a reservation, the cancellation was no problem. Payment is not in advance.

We will be on the journey on July 26th from Reykjavik to Greenland.

Christina

Keep the boat clean and tidy on that cruise, as I will be boarding that boat in Greenland when you get off! In fact, I believe our charter flight is the same plane taking all of you back to Iceland the day we arrive in Greenland!

Keep the boat clean and tidy on that cruise, as I will be boarding that boat in Greenland when you get off! In fact, I believe our charter flight is the same plane taking all of you back to Iceland the day we arrive in Greenland!

We do the best we can! ;)

Can you book the excursion to the ice before you board? I mean: is it offered? Then perhaps we are on the same trip for a few hours, because we will do it before we leave Greenland.

Christina