Iceland Pro Cruises

Hi Christina (Palatina) & everyone,

I am new at posting here though I have been keenly following this thread. My husband and I are booked for the cruise departing Reykjavik on 26 July as I believe Christina you are too.

I understand this year that the mirror cruises Reykjavik to Kangerlussuaq & vice versa are separated by another cruise so we will not meet those on the mirror cruise :(

We are interested in the following excursions and would appreciate any input/advice:

(1) post-cruise tour to the Ice Cap in Kangerlussuaq

I uderstand from Heidiland that she did not get to walk on the ice

as was also confirmed by the cruise agent that the tour will not include time for walking on the ice.

I found tours from World of Greenland Arctic Circle (WOGAC) for about 2/3 the pricewhich include 4WD to point 660 & 2h on the ice. Total time of tour is 5hours. My concern is rushing to the airport to catch the flight to Reykjavik.

(2) if we were to choose only one shore excursion to view the icefjords, would the Qoroq ice fjord from Narsarsuaq or the ice fjord cruise from Ilulissat be better? We were originally planning to take the Ilulissat icefjord cruise as it is a UNESCO heritage site but some of you gave such good reviews of the Qoroq one so now we are not sure!

We had planned to do the Hike to Tasiusaq in Narsarsuaq, anyone who has done that?

Thanks everyone for all your postings which have helped us take the plunge & go for this cruise!

HC

The lastest information from Thora at Iceland ProCruises (subject to change) is that the charter flight for our cruise on 13 August is flying us to Greenland Kanger. leaves KEF @ 17:00 and arrives at Kanger. @ 18:00. You appear to be correct as there is some other cruise in-between yours and ours.

Its hard to get information about all of this but I have been successful in getting email replies from them. This is especially true for the shore excursions.

O yes, I forgot and didn't look at the date. There is a cruise in between, but I haven't found anything anywhere about that. It must be a charter.

Perhaps we will find out on board, what happens after our trip.

Hallelujacruiser, nice that you join us :).

It's getting nearer.

We have just returned from our Iceland Pro Cruises circumnavigation of Iceland and it was fabulous. We were on the ship from May 24th to June 2nd 2016. This is our first small cruise ship so did not know what to expect and we were not disappointed at all.

The ship was clean, well maintained and all the staff were very helpful and friendly. We were celebrating our 45th Wedding Anniversary and Iceland was our place to visit.

We boarded the ship very easily with no difficulties and because of only 225 passengers is was very quick. We were shown immediately to our cabin and there was a welcome feast waiting for us. We had a lovely surprise as we had been upgraded from a port hole cabin to a balcony cabin as an Anniversary gift. The cabin was wonderful. Our first night at sea the water was choppy so the boat did rock a bit but nothing too worry some and to my knowledge no one felt sea sick. The bed was very comfortable and the cabin had black out drapes. We did find that beneficial as 24 hours of daylight is hard to sleep in.

There is the main dining room on the 3rd floor and a smaller one on the 4th floor. You could choose either dining room. There was no set seating so you could choose what was best for you. Breakfast and lunch was served as a buffet and dinner was always from a menu. At breakfast they would cook to order any eggs you wanted and bring them to you. The rest you helped yourself to. Lunch always had meat with hot trimmings, salads, vegetarian choices, soup and dessert. The same choices were on a menu for dinner. Lunch and dinner foods were always different from each other. I purchased wine at dinner by the bottle but some bought by the glass. They would keep the unused portion of the bottle and give it to you the next time you wanted it. The cost started at about $29 per bottle although the last 2 days of the cruise they had a 20% off deal. Everyone was given a free blue Iceland Pro Cruises rain jacket which is very nice. If once on board the size you ordered does not fit there is no problem changing it for the right size.They ask that you do not bring alcohol on board although to my knowledge they don't have x-rays to check what is in bags when they are taken on board. Our room had a refrigerator so we could keep anything we liked in it. We did not use any room service as we did not have the need. The ship is small enough you can get around easily. All during our cruise we had free internet in 2 of the lounges which was a nice option. When any wildlife was around a staff member would announce it on the PA so that everyone could go and look.

We took a bus tour at every stop except one so 8 of our 9 days was very busy. We loved all the tours. Most of them were about 8 hours. We wanted to see as much of Iceland as we could and we certainly did that. Each area had it's own unique specialties. We would get back from a tour relax until dinner which was at 7pm have a few drinks with friends then go to bed. We were too tired to go to the theater and see any of the things going on there. We did go to the mandatory muster station drill and also the zodiac boarding drill. We did 2 zodiac tours that were free and they were fun. They don't announce it on their schedule as it is based on weather and water conditions as to where it's safe to put them in the water. Even though we did a tour each day there was still time to do the zodiac tours as well. We did not have to miss any because of a bus tour. Most of our bust tours were on the bus owned by Iceland Pro Cruises. They had 2 drivers. One drove the tours during the day then the other drove the bus on to the next port ready for us for the next day. Sometimes they drove 5 hours or more after dropping us off. Two tours were done with an outside bus company as one bus needed to be an off road vehicle as we crossed through 3 streams and the road was unpaved. The other was because so many people wanted to do the trip they needed two buses. Most of the tours were done in 2 separate busses. One English spoken and one German. That was very nice. Some of the presentations done on board ship does both languages together which makes the presentations a bit long and drawn out. We did not go to the next port presentations as we had booked all our tours before we left home. I had researched all the places on the internet so know where we wanted to go. From what I heard the presentations did need some improvement as there was no set format or routine. I can't confirm that as we did not go. It is certainly a cruise I would recommend. I am not a travel agent we are just regular people who love to travel. We did look at the road and hotel route and also the camper route to do Iceland. After being there for me cruising is the only way. On our bus tours we drove for miles and miles and saw beautiful countryside but 8 hours a day of that was enough for me. It was lovely to get back to a nice room and a nice cooked meal and be waited on. It got very cold at night so camping in a tent or camper would have been quite cold. Gas for your car was $2.04 per liter so would cost a lot plus many roads were unpaved and some you are forbidden to go on unless you have an SUV vehicle. Our buses did drive on many unpaved roads but not on the SUV roads. There are many miles of road where there is nothing for ever. No house, no where to eat, no gas stations and hopefully you have a working cell phone on you in case of emergency. This is not the case if you are driving just the circle road from Reykjavik. But as we were in many remote parts of Iceland this would be the case. This is one of my best vacations ever. After our cruise we stayed in Reykjavik for 5 days and rented a car for 2 of those days. We did a lot of walking in and around Reykjavik. There is a free bus that runs to a beautiful mall from the tourist information center and there are 2 grocery stores in the mall. We rented a small one bedroom apartment in Reykjavik so we could cater most of our own meals. It did not have black out drapes and it was very hard to sleep in daylight. The apartment was very clean. I took 16 gig of photos of our vacation so I won't be posting all those. Lol.

Great review... Any issues with the ongoing air traffic controllers strike in KEF airport? So many troubling stories there about that .

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

We took this cruise on May 24 thru June 2nd 2016 and it was awesome. We did book our tours before we left Canada but you can book them on board ship. They have a presentation each night before the port you will be going to although I hear those presentations are not too good. We researched all the ports before we left for the cruise and booked ahead. We got all the tours we booked. Some people who waited could not book the tour they wanted as they were all full. We took a tour 8 days out of the 9 cruising days and they were all wonderful. It is important to take all the tours you can as the island is beautiful and so different from port to port. Expensive yes but so very worth it.

Great review... Any issues with the ongoing air traffic controllers strike in KEF airport? So many troubling stories there about that .

We left KEF on June 7th to fly to Toronto Canada. We had no problems or delays.

Cruised with Iceland Pro Cruises on Ocean Diamond May 24th thru June 2nd 2016. It was fantastic. No banging doors. Beds were really comfortable. Everything about the cruise we loved. We did a land tour 8 out of the 9 days we cruised and loved them all. We are both seniors and have no complaints. Loved the casual wear and no formals. Add a scarf if you want to be more dressy. It works. Food was excellent. Staff were amazing and very helpful. Zodiac tours were lots of fun. Free rain jacket was a nice souvenir. For me this is the only way to Iceland. I am not a travel agent. You have nothing to be concerned about doing this cruise. They are very professional and look after your every need.

Never heard any slamming door noises at all on the Ocean Diamond. The cruise was perfect.

Thank you, passiontotravel, for you long review. We are happy to have only one more month to wait and are looking forward.

We have booked a porthole cabin, too, but we don't have an anniversary....:cool:

I will tell you after the cruise.

Christina

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.

Hi Seanster

My husband and I are looking to go on either the "On the trial of the Vikings" Cruise or the "Northern Lights " (cruise/land tour) with Iceland Procruises. And I saw where you and your family went on the Iceland/Greenland cruise and was hoping that you could give us some insight on the cruise and if recommended going on this tour or picking another. We like the idea of the longer trip and getting to go to 2 different places, however we are not sure about the 4 days at sea(2 days each way). Was there anything to do/see during these 2 days each way? Did you enjoy the trip? Any insight would be appreciated!

We are looking to book the Iceland Circumnavigation for next July. I am happy to read such positive reviews!

I would like to book a hotel pre / post cruise as close as we can get to the pier. Can anyone tell me the name of any hotel near the pier and I can gauge the distance from there?

Thanks,

Joan

Hello Joan,

the Ocean Diamond is a small ship that docks in the small harbour in the city center (this year usually). It is near Harpa, the concert hall. You can look for it on google maps or similar. I have a link to a webcam:

http://de.webcams.travel/webcam/fullscreen/1253383327

When the ship is there you can see the front half part. Next tuesday, July 26th, you will see it there, and perhaps you can see me going on the ship :D.

I found a little guest house that lookes nice, butterfly guest house, http://www.butterfly.is/en/pages/home , that seems to be nearest. But you can take any other in that area, everything is not far away. Reykjavik is not cheap.

We are in Hotel Centrum, that was booked by the company, because we have flights and so on included.

The bigger ships dock at Scafarbakki, which is about a kilometer away.

Do you have an emailadress for me?

Christina

Hi Palatina,

Thanks for your note. We are booked on the Ocean Diamond for next July of 2017. We are now thinking that we will go for the Air & Ground package but we are thinking of staying in Reykjavik one or two more days at the end of the cruise to do a super jeep tour to Landmannalaugar. We visited South Iceland by land last summer and that was the one thing we really wanted to do but did not plan our time well enough to fit it in.

Thank you for the webcam link and enjoy your cruise! I do not have your email address.

Thanks,

Joan

ps-that butterfly house is cute!

Hi, all. Normally I do this through CC's Roll-Call board. I even asked them to add IcelandPro as an option, but they haven't done so yet, so I'll try this through the more general "other cruise lines" board.

We have had a lot of success on prior cruises setting up private shared tours with others on the same cruise. It's really early, but I'm hoping as people book the same one we're on (July 9-18, 2017 Iceland Circumnavigation), I'll find like-minded fellow passengers who prefer this approach to the more regimented large-group tours the ship offers.

Let me know if you're interested or, if you're looking for others to join a tour you're considering.

Howard - Delray Beach, FL

Hallejulluh Cruiser,

did you arrange your post-cruise excursion to the ice cap before your flight from Kangerlussuaq?

I'm not getting any response from emails to travel providers for a similar experience on August 22. we are cruising with another line.

Hope your cruise is all you wanted.

I am curious about the day of departure. I understand that boarding begins at 4PM, but I am wondering what time they accept luggage to be dropped off at the pier. We are spending the night in a hotel (apartment) the night before and have hotel check out at 11AM. Does anyone know?

Thanks!

I am curious about the day of departure. I understand that boarding begins at 4PM, but I am wondering what time they accept luggage to be dropped off at the pier. We are spending the night in a hotel (apartment) the night before and have hotel check out at 11AM. Does anyone know?

Hi, all. Normally I do this through CC's Roll-Call board. I even asked them to add IcelandPro as an option, but they haven't done so yet, so I'll try this through the more general "other cruise lines" board.

 

We have had a lot of success on prior cruises setting up private shared tours with others on the same cruise. It's really early, but I'm hoping as people book the same one we're on (July 9-18, 2017 Iceland Circumnavigation), I'll find like-minded fellow passengers who prefer this approach to the more regimented large-group tours the ship offers.

We are booked on the same cruise. We have done the same as you suggest on previous cruises. We have just begun looking at tours and the ones that we will stick with the ship excursions are the ones that are many hours in length. We do not usually do ship excursions on the larger cruise lines for the reason you suggest. We do plan to rent a car in Akureyi as opposed to the ship excursions and in Husavic we plan to whale watch with North Sailing on the schooner.

A roll call for Iceland ProCruises would be great!

Hi, Joan. I went through a brief interval where I wasn't getting through to IcelandPro -- purely a temporary issue. Both these folks from the company were quick to respond when I emailed them. I'm sure either could answer your question about how soon they'll accept bags for drop-off. We're at a local hotel the night before, so we'll probably just leave luggage there for the day before boarding time.

Margret Lindal Steinthórsdóttir

margret.steinthorsdottir@icelandprotravel.com

Tinna Helgadóttir tinna.helgadottir@icelandprocruises.com

Re: my earlier post about shared tours .... I'm having good luck getting in touch with private operators along the route. Way too much info to clutter up the board, but if you're interested in staying in touch, my email is xtxhoward@bellsouth.net

Thanks so much for the email address. I will try them!

We're looking at the 7 day Northern Lights and Whale cruise, September 2017. Viewing the Aurora Borealis is on my Bucket List! Any input?

Hi everyone,

We have just returned home from our most amazing cruise and we were blessed with sunny weather throughout.

Firstly to answer some of your questions:

Luggage can be deposited with the cruiseline from 7.30am of the embarkation day.

We checked out of our apartment and went to the old harbour where the Ocean Diamond was docked at approx 11am. There was a security officer and a young man who is in charge of tagging the bags and storing them. We were asked to return at 4pm.

PRE-CRUISE

We spent 2 nights in Reykjavik which were arranged on our own.

Hotel near the old harbour is the Icelandair Marina Hotel. Right opposite that is the Planet Apartments (both are 5-10min walk from Ocean Diamond).

We stayed in a lovely 4th floor seaview 1 bedroom apartment which is in the same building as the Planet Apartment called 101 Reykjavik Apartment - Aegisgata 5. We paid approx USD 180 per night which included free basement parking (very good value for such an expensive city).

We hired a car (Renault Clio) for 2 days from Lagoon Rental (23000ISK) and stopped at the Blue Lagoon from the airport. We had a lovely and refreshing swim/dip which was great after many hours of flight.

The next day we drove round the GoldenCircel, though it was raining we enjoyed the unique landscape of Iceland.

EMBARKATION DAY

We were allowed to embark at precisely 4pm and were shown right to our cabin and our luggage were already in the cabin !

We were assigned a mid deck cabin on deck 6 (having booked only 8 weeks beforehand under a "guaranteed cabin basis").

I understand from other passengers that cabins on decks 3 & 4 had older furnishing while those on decks 6 & 7 were renovated.

Our cabin was spacious with nice big windows starboardside. I particularly liked the new bathroom with the powerful and instantly hot shower.

We had overpacked knowing the unpredictable weather so used a tip we picked up from cruise critic - we left our luggage open and slipped it under the bed and used the luggage as extra big underbed drawers.

There were plastic sports water bottles and rain jackets provided. We had a lovely cabin steward, Johrielyn who filled up our ice bucket daily upon asking her only on the first day.

There was a nice welcome buffet spread on deck 4 which was a lovely touch.

DINING

Breakfast buffet was served at 7.30-9.30am most days and consisted of a large spread of hot and cold offerings. Eggs could be ordered any style.

LUNCH

Also buffet style with salad, 2-3 main dishes, vegetables and pasta/rice.

Plus dessert and fruit. One could also order ice cream.

DINNER

This is also available on deck 4 in a smaller dining area with large windows. We dined here a few times but found the service slower than in the main dining room as there were only 2 servers for the 10 tables.

A full display of the dishes being offered each night was displayed at the main restaurant. There were several appetisers which included choice of soup. Entrees were usually 2 meats, a fish and a vegetarian option.

Thomas the hotel manager had told us that he bought 1000kg of fresh fish from the Westman Islands (our first stop) so we were able to enjoy icelandic cod/haddock/salmon etc every day.

The food was generally tasty though the accompanying sauce/gravy tended to be on the more salty side.

But all in all the dining experience was above average to good.

There were good wine packages available. We had a choice of 3 bottles for USD 60.

SUPERB BBQ LUNCH

Due to the fine weather, we had a delicious BBQ lunch on deck 6 in the outdoors. It was surreal to be enjoying a BBQ in the sun with icebergs and glaciers all around us! Thank you to all the dining staff who worked so hard to make this possible.

LIFE ON BOARD

We have cruised many times but this is our first expedition cruise. In contrast to the jam-packed activities of mainstream cruises, this was a quiet cruise. The only events being the 4 lectures on Greenland which were very informative and there were 2 speakers onboard. The lectures were delivered separately to the German-speaking and English-speaking passengers.

There were port talks the evening before arrival and these were done in both languages by a German excursion manager and a Danish guide in English.

Evening entertainment we had 2 singing performances of Icelandic songs which were interesting. Plus one sharing on the Greenlandic language, these were all the amusement onboard for the 12 day cruise.

This made for a lovely quiet cruise with lots of time for reading, sitting out on deck to enjoy the scenery till late (since we had lovely weather and the sun sets only about 11pm). However evening weather was foggy the further north we sailed in Greenland.

Watch out though for the announcements on Whale sightings which would send the passengers scurrying to the decks. We managed to catch a few sightings of whales and seals.

EXPEDITIONS

The expedition team was almost exclusively Icelandic.

They were very professional and the zodiac trips were very easy to handle. There was not any need for waterproof clothing nor shoes except on one occasion.

We had dreaded the crossing from Iceland to Greenland but it wasn't too bad. Some rolling but we were still able to enjoy all the meals on that day. At night up on deck 6, there was a bit more rock'n'rolling but that lasted only one night for us.

PORTS

Westman Islands

We had a sunny day which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. The zodiacs were out for about 2 hours cos everyone enjoyed the weather so much. We spotted puffins swimming and many other birds. We also had great fun in the caves. What a day! We also had time to explore Heimaey on our own - the lava fields, Stave church etc and some went on the ship excursion.

PRINS CHRISTIAN SOUND

Again blessed with blue skies, everyone was out on deck and when we passed our first huge iceberg, there were lots of cameras snapping away.

The expedition team decided to add an unscheduled zodiac excursion to a little settlement in South Greenland called Aptillaptoq - it was magical sailing by zodiacs into this colourful village in the evening. The 100 or so villagers were very friendly and curious at our landing. The church organist played for us as we visited and the children were happy to pose for photos.

NARSARSSUAQ/QARSSIARSUK

These 2 stops were stated in the brochure and website and I had enquired from the office regarding the amount of time we will spend at each port. The 2 places are separated by 5km of water. I was assured that zodiac shuttles will be provided so passengers can visit both ports. So I planned to do the Qarssiarsuk Viking ruins on our own.

At the port talk, I was told the ship would dock at Narsarsuaq and zodiacs to Qarssiarsuk are only provided for those booked on the ship excursion.

I was not happy at this miscommunication. If Qarssiarsuk is not included for all passengers then the day's stop should be listed as only Narsarsuaq.

Narsarsuaq is very small place, apart from an internet cafe and the Blue West Museum, there isn't much else to do.

By the way for those who are wondering which icefjord boat tour to do, whether the Qoroq icefjord from Narsarsuaq or the icefjord from Ilulissat, I was told by a couple who did both that the one from Ilulissat won hands down.

NUUK

This is the capital with a population of 16,000.

Complimentary shuttle buses were provided from where the ship was docked in the industrial harbour to the city centre.

A must do is a visit to the National Museum (entry is 60DKK) where one can view the famous mummies discovered near Uummaanaq.

ARSUK FJORD

There was a zodiac trip to view the underwater stalagmites of Ivitutt which was very interesting. We spotted several musk oxen at fairly close range from the zodiacs.

EQIP GLACIER

Zodiac cruises to view the glacier up close.

UUMMAANNAQ

Lovely little town with a heart shaped mountain.

Included admission to the church, don't forget to ask to go up to the belltower which has good views of the harbour. The included admission to the museums was very interesting.

There was a free guided walk to Santa Claus' House, about 2 hours round trip which we did. Alas Santa was on summer vacation :-(

ILULISSAT

Kudos to the captain and expedition team for making plans to visit this lovely place one evening earlier due to the favourable weather forecast.

We arrived at 8pm in the evening the day before schedule and were given the option of doing the icefjord boat tour in the evening. What a glorious trip it was - the gigantic and endless icebergs took our breath away and to experience the view bathed in the golden sunset at 11pm was truly out of this world !!

In the morning we were able to explore Ilulissat on our own or opt for ship excursions.

KANGERLUSSUAQ

The cruise ended here at 11am. Zodiac transfers to the town and we had booked the Ice Cap excursion. We were transported in these large all terrain vehicles and first stop was lunch which was a small buffet of Greenlandic cuisine. Then we travelled to the Reindeer Glacier, where we stopped for 40 minutes to admire the beautiful vistas. The journey through the varied inland landscape was very interesting and we spotted reindeer in the wild.

There were about 133 paasengers onboard with 99 staff (half of whom are Filipino) which meant the ship was never crowded. About 60-70% were German speaking. The hotel division which included the dining and cabin services was top notch, as good as in other mainstream cruiselines.

IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED

For those who have pre-booked the excursions, do not forget to bring your own print-out vouchers as the expedition staff was not happy at having to give me a copy. Official vouchers are only given to those who book onboard. It would be good if they just provided ALL passengers with vouchers like other cruise lines..

Apart from that there was the continued misspelling of my husband's name despite reminders to the office pre-cruise, on embarkation day when the cruise card had the printing error plus all the way to the airport for the flight back to Reykjavik.

Iceland Pro Cruises would do well to market themselves better with more information especially on the included zodiac trips which were actually available in Westman Islands, ARSUK FJORD, Eqip GLACIER. These were the highlights of the cruise and would be good selling points. As always these zodiac trips are subject to weather and safety conditions so passengers sign on with this understanding.

FREE WIFI

The ship had free wifi signs at 3 of their lounges and when the wifi abruptly stopped when we arrived in Greenland, many passengers were unhappy. Apparently this free wifi only applied to Iceland. Again better communication is needed.

WIFI is available at Narsarsuaq Blue Ice cafe for 200DKK for 500MB, Nuuk Centre cafe 50 Dkk for 1 hour. We were able to purcahse a SIM card at Nuuk TelePost 1GB for 400 Dkk plus 200DKK for the SIM card. This gave us the flexibility of using the wifi whenever the ship was at port in Greenland.

Be aware though that another passeneger tried to buy a SIM card from Uummaanaq TelePost and was told none were available for non-residents.

All in all we had a fantastic time. Greenland is definitely a unique country in its culture, people, landscape and way of life.

BTW the ship is being chartered by Albatross Expeditions this week and they have over 200 passengers. All our expedition team flew home to Iceland with us. Next year, I see that there will be a month between the 2 mirror cruises so it looks like Greenland is getting popular.

To all those booked, enjoy your cruise and hope you have brilliant weather like us!

Probably the BEST review I have ever seen on this thread. Great job. We are on the Greenland to Iceland portion next week with this boat so everything you said helps a lot!... Thanks Again!

Hi everyone,

 

We have just returned home from our most amazing cruise and we were blessed with sunny weather throughout.

 

Firstly to answer some of your questions:

Luggage can be deposited with the cruiseline from 7.30am of the embarkation day.

We checked out of our apartment and went to the old harbour where the Ocean Diamond was docked at approx 11am. There was a security officer and a young man who is in charge of tagging the bags and storing them. We were asked to return at 4pm.

 

PRE-CRUISE

We spent 2 nights in Reykjavik which were arranged on our own.

Hotel near the old harbour is the Icelandair Marina Hotel. Right opposite that is the Planet Apartments (both are 5-10min walk from Ocean Diamond).

We stayed in a lovely 4th floor seaview 1 bedroom apartment which is in the same building as the Planet Apartment called 101 Reykjavik Apartment - Aegisgata 5. We paid approx USD 180 per night which included free basement parking (very good value for such an expensive city).

 

We hired a car (Renault Clio) for 2 days from Lagoon Rental (23000ISK) and stopped at the Blue Lagoon from the airport. We had a lovely and refreshing swim/dip which was great after many hours of flight.

The next day we drove round the GoldenCircel, though it was raining we enjoyed the unique landscape of Iceland.

 

EMBARKATION DAY

We were allowed to embark at precisely 4pm and were shown right to our cabin and our luggage were already in the cabin !

We were assigned a mid deck cabin on deck 6 (having booked only 8 weeks beforehand under a "guaranteed cabin basis").

I understand from other passengers that cabins on decks 3 & 4 had older furnishing while those on decks 6 & 7 were renovated.

Our cabin was spacious with nice big windows starboardside. I particularly liked the new bathroom with the powerful and instantly hot shower.

We had overpacked knowing the unpredictable weather so used a tip we picked up from cruise critic - we left our luggage open and slipped it under the bed and used the luggage as extra big underbed drawers.

There were plastic sports water bottles and rain jackets provided. We had a lovely cabin steward, Johrielyn who filled up our ice bucket daily upon asking her only on the first day.

There was a nice welcome buffet spread on deck 4 which was a lovely touch.

 

DINING

Breakfast buffet was served at 7.30-9.30am most days and consisted of a large spread of hot and cold offerings. Eggs could be ordered any style.

 

LUNCH

Also buffet style with salad, 2-3 main dishes, vegetables and pasta/rice.

Plus dessert and fruit. One could also order ice cream.

 

DINNER

This is also available on deck 4 in a smaller dining area with large windows. We dined here a few times but found the service slower than in the main dining room as there were only 2 servers for the 10 tables.

A full display of the dishes being offered each night was displayed at the main restaurant. There were several appetisers which included choice of soup. Entrees were usually 2 meats, a fish and a vegetarian option.

Thomas the hotel manager had told us that he bought 1000kg of fresh fish from the Westman Islands (our first stop) so we were able to enjoy icelandic cod/haddock/salmon etc every day.

The food was generally tasty though the accompanying sauce/gravy tended to be on the more salty side.

But all in all the dining experience was above average to good.

There were good wine packages available. We had a choice of 3 bottles for USD 60.

 

SUPERB BBQ LUNCH

Due to the fine weather, we had a delicious BBQ lunch on deck 6 in the outdoors. It was surreal to be enjoying a BBQ in the sun with icebergs and glaciers all around us! Thank you to all the dining staff who worked so hard to make this possible.

 

LIFE ON BOARD

We have cruised many times but this is our first expedition cruise. In contrast to the jam-packed activities of mainstream cruises, this was a quiet cruise. The only events being the 4 lectures on Greenland which were very informative and there were 2 speakers onboard. The lectures were delivered separately to the German-speaking and English-speaking passengers.

There were port talks the evening before arrival and these were done in both languages by a German excursion manager and a Danish guide in English.

Evening entertainment we had 2 singing performances of Icelandic songs which were interesting. Plus one sharing on the Greenlandic language, these were all the amusement onboard for the 12 day cruise.

 

This made for a lovely quiet cruise with lots of time for reading, sitting out on deck to enjoy the scenery till late (since we had lovely weather and the sun sets only about 11pm). However evening weather was foggy the further north we sailed in Greenland.

 

Watch out though for the announcements on Whale sightings which would send the passengers scurrying to the decks. We managed to catch a few sightings of whales and seals.

 

EXPEDITIONS

The expedition team was almost exclusively Icelandic.

They were very professional and the zodiac trips were very easy to handle. There was not any need for waterproof clothing nor shoes except on one occasion.

We had dreaded the crossing from Iceland to Greenland but it wasn't too bad. Some rolling but we were still able to enjoy all the meals on that day. At night up on deck 6, there was a bit more rock'n'rolling but that lasted only one night for us.

 

PORTS

Westman Islands

We had a sunny day which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. The zodiacs were out for about 2 hours cos everyone enjoyed the weather so much. We spotted puffins swimming and many other birds. We also had great fun in the caves. What a day! We also had time to explore Heimaey on our own - the lava fields, Stave church etc and some went on the ship excursion.

 

PRINS CHRISTIAN SOUND

Again blessed with blue skies, everyone was out on deck and when we passed our first huge iceberg, there were lots of cameras snapping away.

The expedition team decided to add an unscheduled zodiac excursion to a little settlement in South Greenland called Aptillaptoq - it was magical sailing by zodiacs into this colourful village in the evening. The 100 or so villagers were very friendly and curious at our landing. The church organist played for us as we visited and the children were happy to pose for photos.

 

NARSARSSUAQ/QARSSIARSUK

These 2 stops were stated in the brochure and website and I had enquired from the office regarding the amount of time we will spend at each port. The 2 places are separated by 5km of water. I was assured that zodiac shuttles will be provided so passengers can visit both ports. So I planned to do the Qarssiarsuk Viking ruins on our own.

At the port talk, I was told the ship would dock at Narsarsuaq and zodiacs to Qarssiarsuk are only provided for those booked on the ship excursion.

I was not happy at this miscommunication. If Qarssiarsuk is not included for all passengers then the day's stop should be listed as only Narsarsuaq.

Narsarsuaq is very small place, apart from an internet cafe and the Blue West Museum, there isn't much else to do.

 

By the way for those who are wondering which icefjord boat tour to do, whether the Qoroq icefjord from Narsarsuaq or the icefjord from Ilulissat, I was told by a couple who did both that the one from Ilulissat won hands down.

 

NUUK

This is the capital with a population of 16,000.

Complimentary shuttle buses were provided from where the ship was docked in the industrial harbour to the city centre.

A must do is a visit to the National Museum (entry is 60DKK) where one can view the famous mummies discovered near Uummaanaq.

 

ARSUK FJORD

There was a zodiac trip to view the underwater stalagmites of Ivitutt which was very interesting. We spotted several musk oxen at fairly close range from the zodiacs.

 

EQIP GLACIER

Zodiac cruises to view the glacier up close.

 

UUMMAANNAQ

Lovely little town with a heart shaped mountain.

Included admission to the church, don't forget to ask to go up to the belltower which has good views of the harbour. The included admission to the museums was very interesting.

There was a free guided walk to Santa Claus' House, about 2 hours round trip which we did. Alas Santa was on summer vacation :-(

 

ILULISSAT

Kudos to the captain and expedition team for making plans to visit this lovely place one evening earlier due to the favourable weather forecast.

We arrived at 8pm in the evening the day before schedule and were given the option of doing the icefjord boat tour in the evening. What a glorious trip it was - the gigantic and endless icebergs took our breath away and to experience the view bathed in the golden sunset at 11pm was truly out of this world !!

 

In the morning we were able to explore Ilulissat on our own or opt for ship excursions.

 

KANGERLUSSUAQ

The cruise ended here at 11am. Zodiac transfers to the town and we had booked the Ice Cap excursion. We were transported in these large all terrain vehicles and first stop was lunch which was a small buffet of Greenlandic cuisine. Then we travelled to the Reindeer Glacier, where we stopped for 40 minutes to admire the beautiful vistas. The journey through the varied inland landscape was very interesting and we spotted reindeer in the wild.

 

There were about 133 paasengers onboard with 99 staff (half of whom are Filipino) which meant the ship was never crowded. About 60-70% were German speaking. The hotel division which included the dining and cabin services was top notch, as good as in other mainstream cruiselines.

 

IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED

For those who have pre-booked the excursions, do not forget to bring your own print-out vouchers as the expedition staff was not happy at having to give me a copy. Official vouchers are only given to those who book onboard. It would be good if they just provided ALL passengers with vouchers like other cruise lines..

Apart from that there was the continued misspelling of my husband's name despite reminders to the office pre-cruise, on embarkation day when the cruise card had the printing error plus all the way to the airport for the flight back to Reykjavik.

 

 

Iceland Pro Cruises would do well to market themselves better with more information especially on the included zodiac trips which were actually available in Westman Islands, ARSUK FJORD, Eqip GLACIER. These were the highlights of the cruise and would be good selling points. As always these zodiac trips are subject to weather and safety conditions so passengers sign on with this understanding.

 

FREE WIFI

The ship had free wifi signs at 3 of their lounges and when the wifi abruptly stopped when we arrived in Greenland, many passengers were unhappy. Apparently this free wifi only applied to Iceland. Again better communication is needed.

 

WIFI is available at Narsarsuaq Blue Ice cafe for 200DKK for 500MB, Nuuk Centre cafe 50 Dkk for 1 hour. We were able to purcahse a SIM card at Nuuk TelePost 1GB for 400 Dkk plus 200DKK for the SIM card. This gave us the flexibility of using the wifi whenever the ship was at port in Greenland.

Be aware though that another passeneger tried to buy a SIM card from Uummaanaq TelePost and was told none were available for non-residents.

 

All in all we had a fantastic time. Greenland is definitely a unique country in its culture, people, landscape and way of life.

 

BTW the ship is being chartered by Albatross Expeditions this week and they have over 200 passengers. All our expedition team flew home to Iceland with us. Next year, I see that there will be a month between the 2 mirror cruises so it looks like Greenland is getting popular.

 

To all those booked, enjoy your cruise and hope you have brilliant weather like us!

Thank you, Thank you for the fabulous review! We are booked next July for the Iceland circumnavigation cruise and very excited. Great tips to be aware of! Glad you had a fabulous time and great weather!

Hi Oren & pmjnh,

Thank you for your kind words.

Oren, hope the weather holds for you. I'm sure you will have a great cruise. There are a few surprises in store which I had intentionally left out of my review - otherwise they won't be surprises anymore.

The Captain is great and has an open bridge policy so do drop by. We went a couple of times and he even posed with us for photos.

Bon voyage!