wismergirl

July 26, 2015 – Reykjavik, Iceland

7:30 – started Golden Circle private tour with IG Tours (US$850 in a 16-seater Mercedes van for 10 people); 7:55 – drove by the geothermal power plant, Nesjavellir; 8:15 – visited the site of Quake 2008 in Hveragerdi; 9:30 – Faxi Waterfall; 10:30 – Gullfoss Waterfall; 11:40 – Strokkur & lunch at Geysir Visitor Centre; 13:50-14:50 – Thingvellir National Park; 15:40 – Hallgrimskirkja Church; 16:00 – city tour before driving back to port; 16:55 back to ship

An overcast sky welcomed us in Reykjavik, the last port in Iceland. 8 CC friends joined us to form a private tour to go around the Golden Circle. Our guide from IGTours was amazing and professional. The 16-seater vehicle was new and comfortable, the best of the whole cruise. We started off early at 7:30 am in order to beat the crowd from the ship.

We drove past the Geothermal Power Plant, Nesjavellir.

There were geothermal activities everywhere in the area.

Restaurants cooked their food in the outdoor geothermal kitchens.

Then we had a washroom break at the site of the 2008 Olfus earthquake (+6 Richter) in Hveragerdi. There was an Exhibition Centre with an earthquake simulator, but we were too early so the centre was not opened. Nonetheless, we could see the illuminated earthquake crack that was encountered at the building.

This picture showed what happened to a local home kitchen during the earthquake.

I'm actually looking at booking Iceland Air out of YYZ to LHR next year, you can stay over in Iceland for up to 7 days at no extra charge. Renting a car sounds like a good way to get around. Do they drive on the "Canadian" side of the road there?

 

Ron

Yes, driving on the right in both Canada & Iceland.

My cousin's family rented a car in August to drive around the whole Iceland in 14 days and their pictures were totally amazing. A lot more beautiful sights were covered and they managed to hike a lot.

My co-worker also took Iceland Air on her way back to Wales and spent 5 days in Reykjavik.

I can't imagine there's anyone who doesn't get the warm fuzzes when they look at puffins.

 

Great pictures as always and what a different itinerary this is.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Norris

I totally agree that the puffins made our Iceland cruise all worthwhile!

Great to know that we share the same experience with Princess excursions. I would say that self-driving around Iceland would be the perfect way to enjoy its beauty! It's really unfortunate that we couldn't even rent a car in Seydisfjordur & Grundarfjordur.

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July 25, 2015 Grundarfjordur, Iceland

The best collection of the puffin pictures was definitely from the water...unbelievably amazing!

Praise the Lord for a fantastic afternoon in beautiful Grundarfjordur and the Melrakkaey Island!

We booked the Puffin Island tour just in case we were not able to see any puffin in other locations, so it’s not the best to see them close-up. We knew that the boat could not go very near the island and the birds were very small so we brought effective binoculars (not the dollar store ones!!). My husband still complained that his zoom lens were not powerful enough for the distance. This was the boat we were on.

The scenery was indeed very beautiful, though it was quite windy. It was quite a pleasant short 2-hour cruise with the beautiful sunny weather. We were all bundled up to enjoy the cruise comfortably with hats, scarves, gloves and thick jackets.

Without binoculars and zoom lens, this was what you could see. Many people with just mobile phones or point-and-shoot digital cameras were all complaining that they could see nothing or take pictures of the birds.

We could see lots of puffins using the binoculars.

There were tons of other birds on the island other than the puffins.

Nonetheless, my husband could capture some amazing pictures with the puffins on the Puffin Island (Melrakkaey), a nature reserve where many oceans birds such as puffins, shags, cormorants and kittiwakes are nesting.

July 25, 2015 – Grundarfjordur, Iceland

Finally we were at the Bjarnarhofn Shark Farm.

The museum we got to visit was actually a very small house though it’s the highlight of the tour. The farm’s shark master shared with us the secrets of the traditional process of preparing shark meat. There was also the boat they used to catch the sharks.

We were able to taste fermented shark meat called hakarl with their local schnapps. The shark meat was quite bland, so not many people bought it as souvenirs.

Large chunks of fermenting shark meat was hung up in the outdoor drying house.

After the tour, we walked around the small town of Grundarfjordur for a bit before our afternoon Puffin Island Tour.

Then we had local fish soup in Laki Café, where we assembled for our Puffin Island Cruise. The Laki Tour office was very close to the tender pier.

July 25, 2015 – Grundarfjordur, Iceland (Sunny, 50°F/10°C, arr. 8:50, dep. 18:02)

8:20 – met for Princess’ 3-hour Shark Farm Tour; 8:30 – Tendered to shore; 8:50 – boarded Princess Coach; 9:00 – Tour started; 9:20 – Photo stop at a blue lake; 9:40 – Helgafell Hike & nearby church; 10:30 – Stykkisholmur; 11:10 – visited Bjarnarhofn Shark Farm & Museum; 11:40 – drove back to port; 12:40 – lunch at Laki Tours Office; 13:45 – walked to pier; 13:55 – joined Laki Tours to cruise to Puffin Island; 15:30 – cruise finished; 15:35 – walked around town; 16:45 – boarded tender; 16:55 back to ship

This was the first and only SUNNY day of our Iceland cruise.

It's also Grundarfjordur's annual town festival so the whole town was decorated in 4 different colours (red, blue, yellow & green)... very interesting!

Originally, we wanted to book the whale watching tour run by Laki Tours but it started from Olafsvik at 10:30 so we didn’t have enough time to go there from Grundarfjordur. As a result, we joined Princess’ half-day tour to Bjarnarhofn Shark Farm. Other than the farm, the Helgafell hike was not that interesting and the scenery was nothing special.

This lake (with name I couldn't get from the guide as it was too Icelandic) was our first photo stop.

This was the church near Helgafell, I personally found it more interesting than the hike to the top of the 240-foot mound.

Our next stop was Stykkisholmshofn located on the northern coast of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula.

This was an Icelandic horse we saw at the Bjarnarhofn Shark Farm & Museum.

where are the photos posted ??

doing the 2016 north cape & summer solstice on the emerald princess

both Iceland & Norway are expensive countries for travel

Don't quite get your question. Are you talking about her "typo"?

Excellent review - very informative. Your husband's photography skills are excellent as well. I appreciate your candor especially regarding Princess shore excursions. We learned the hard way on the Grand in 2011: one hour at Bodnant in Wales due to "late start" but we still managed an hour plus at the souvenir stop...

 

Looking forward to your next review.

Glad you liked my husband's pictures. The photos made the cruise extremely worthwhile! It's really a shame that we HAD TO join the ship's tours in order to sight see in those small Iceland towns.

Before going back to the port, we went to a horse farm to see some Iceland ponies.

Beautiful lakes, rivers & waterfalls were not that “special” after all the amazing ones we saw.

Our driver took us on the “old” route which was more scenic to go back to the port. Again, I prayed for zero car problems as we were quite close to the all-aboard time. This was an amazing view of the Ocean Princess in port:

This map may help those who choose not to go far to explore.

Thanks for the reply. On the Ocean Princess we too made many friends. This did make finding things to do on sea days easier. It was the friendliest ship we were ever on. (The unfriendliest was the gigantic NCL Epic, a lot of entertainment, but a ship in which no one wanted to even share a table.). I just thought five sounded like an awful lot of sea days, and wondered about that.

Hi ontheweb,

I found that the sea days were very appropriately put in place, that's why I chose that itinerary. You always need a day or 2 to relax and rest after exploring each country. It's just the first sea day that you need to find things to do as you haven't made that many friends yet. Many people used that day to recover from jet lags but we spent a few hours in the spa to relax and to get ready for the explorations ahead of us. We are the lucky ones who don't have jet lags as we could sleep on the planes, even before take-offs!! We love flying red-eyes to Europe and Asia as we would go to sleep in a different continent when we are tired in the early evenings instead of around midnight, then we'll be fine the next day.

We are the type that likes to move around a lot, to fit as much as we can in a day, so we need time to rejuvenate after long days of excursions. After all, we are in the early 50's so we are learning to slow down...which is a big challenge for me! That's why those Princess excursions that were so slow-paced and expensive were not my cup of tea. The Akureyri private tour was exactly what I'd like when I travel - sightseeing with a jam-packed itinerary.

I'm enjoying your review. Beautiful pictures!:D

Thank you! We definitely went to Iceland for its beautiful scenery.

The bathing lagoon is a man-made construction. Its bottom was covered with sand and gravel. The water, however, contains lots of minerals and is alkaline. Its trace elements are considered to be good for the skin but very bad for the hair. Its water supply runs straight from the National Power Company’s bore hole in Bjarnarflag, with a temperature of 36-40°C. Water was not deep and the bottom was quite levelled and easy to walk on.

While we were enjoying ourselves in the lagoon, some of our friends from the Ocean Princess also arrived. Unfortunately they didn't bring their bathing suits or towels, nor did they have any time to bathe there, so they could not enjoy any lagoon bathing. Planning ahead is SO IMPORTANT!

Beautiful view from the parking lot of Myvatn Nature Baths.

Our guide took a break and had lunch while we were at the lagoon. We just had a quick soup before heading back to Akureyri. On the way back, he showed us a small lagoon where locals would go. The water was certainly very blue there, but it involved a steep descent on rugged rocks.

The Myvatn Nature Baths were the highlight of this tour. Usually the 7-hour tour would not have included this site but we requested it specially. We were so happy to have made the correct decision of skipping lunch in order to include this in our itinerary. Our guide helped us get cheaper tickets for ISK 3,400 each (a saving of ISK 300 per person). If there were 10 in the group, the entry fee was only ISK 2,900 per person. Seniors were even cheaper, ISK 2,700 each (US$21). Blue Lagoon charges 45 Euros (US$50), so it’s twice as much. But Myvatn was almost empty when Blue Lagoon was at its full capacity. We had some friends who went to the Blue Lagoon in Reykjavik on July 26 just to find out that they could not get in because there was no more room:mad:

Before we entered the change rooms, there was a corridor with shelves for our shoes. We could sit down to take our shoes off comfortably.

Then there were lockers inside the change rooms. We had no problems putting our backpacks there. We got a token to put in the slot when we paid our entrance fees. Once we closed the locker door, we could take the key out. It’s important to put everything in the locker before shutting the door, otherwise you would need another token to lock the door again.

Many people were embarrassed by the fact that everyone had to be completely naked to take the cleansing shower in the big shower room, though not unisex (female and male change rooms are separated). If you were one of those people, I would suggest you go to the overflow change room which was not connected to the main building. I was the only one there when the main changing room was packed. There were lockers and showerheads like the other change room but so much cleaner and bigger.

I got the above pictures from the Myvatn website...wouldn't dare to take pictures of those private areas!! :p

You could walk right into the baths from the change rooms.

The colourful mud pools in the Namafjall geothermal area that were boiling relentlessly were must-sees in the Myvatn area. Our guide was so thoughtful to offer us shoe coverings to protect our shoes from the sticky & muddy soil. There was only a slight smell of sulphur in the air, so even for someone like me who has asthma found it okay to walk around.

From the parking lot to the mud pools.

There was steam everywhere.

The beautiful boiling mud pools.

I looked at the itinerary for this cruise for next summer, and saw there were 5 sea days. I was wondering if you found enough to do on those days.

 

We were on the sister ship, Ocean Princess, on a 7 day British Isles cruise in 2014. So, I know it is a small ship without many of the bells and whistles of the larger ship.

 

We did find things to do. My DW was one of the few to swim. I participated in every trivia contest. We both attended dances and took the few dance lessons. I would assume the Pacific Princess has the same type of wonderful library as the Ocean did. And of course there is always food. Still 5 sea days on that small ship seems a lot. So I'm wondering how you spent your time those days.

You are so right that there was not much to do on sea days. We basically slept till 11 am so we could do brunch. It's too cold to swim in the outdoor pool (look at the temperature I posted in each place). The only place you could swim was actually Dover & that's it! We spent lots of time in the library, doing jigsaw puzzles, sudokus, etc. I did some sewing to make my formal wear fit better. DH spent his time looking at the thousands of photos he took on the computer & resizing them for Facebook postings. We also visited the spa a few times.

We made many friends on board so we were always chatting with them somewhere on the ship, mostly in the Tahitian Lounge, during afternoon tea time in the MDR, happy hour in the elite lounge & in the buffet area after dinner & entertainment. We also spent about half an hour each night in the casinos to do the slots, and it ended up that we only spent $20 each for all the time we stayed in the casino.

We knew it was not the Oasis or Allure, so we didn't plan on doing much on sea days. The dances were good and we had fun doing the line dances and enjoyed the Oldies there. Just set your expectations differently & you'll enjoy the sea days a lot more.

Excellent report. Thanks so much. I'm thinking about Iceland next year.

The Princess itinerary was very good, but I think I'd prefer to drive around the whole island for a couple of weeks to enjoy Iceland's natural beauty more thoroughly.

Great pictures. You take me back. :)

Without the pictures, I couldn't possibly write this trip report. Huge thanks to DH for his huge collection!

The thrilling off-roading began.

We had to do a little climb to get the stunning view.

Beautiful cinder cones.

Approaching the Namafjall Hot Springs area.

July 24, 2015 – Akureyri, Iceland

7:30 – met Ingi from Taxi No.17 at the port entrance (ISK 23400 or US$180 p.p. in a 4-pax 7-hour private tour); 9:00 – 20-min washroom break; 9:35 – Dimmuborgir lava field; 10:20 – off-roading on lava field; 11:20 – Namafjall Mud Pots; 12:00 – Myvatn Nature Baths; 13:10 – scenic drive in Myvatn area; 13:25 – Icelandic ponies; 15:00 – back to port; 23:00 – crossing the Arctic Circle

July 24, 2015 – Akureyri, Iceland

This was definitely my favourite day in Iceland. When we were having breakfast we could already see our tour guide waiting at the port entrance for us. He's the one in red by the white booth.

Europcar has an office a few hundred meters from the port entrance and we were told that there was also an Avis down the road, so renting a car in Akureyri was actually very easy & convenient. We had a wonderful private tour with Taxi No,17. The 5-seater SUV was specially rebuilt to enable better sightseeing with bigger tyres.

Our driver/guide, Ingimundur Robertsson (edmonddechristo@hotmail.com), was so passionate that he took us to a lot of scenic spots only licensed tour guides could go to. Since we are the adventurous type we loved the hike, the climb, the off-roading & the mud-treading. And best of all, the relaxing time soaking in the Myvatn Nature Baths.

We started our day early so we could beat the crowd at the famous Godafoss Waterfall. It's a pity that there was no sunshine but at least it was not windy and rainy like the Princess tours.

Water gushing down from the waterfall.

The area was beautiful with many lakes and lava fields.

The Dimmuborgir Lava Field is a must-see. We did an easy 30-min hike.

Great pictures,

Your rate of the excursion -- FUNNY and I am sure very accurate!!!!!!

Elliott

The U

Each of the following area receives one star:

1) Bird-watching (1 whole star because of the puffins)

2) waterfalls (0.5 star - not as good as Akureyri or Reykjavik)

3) tour itinerary - (0.5 star only because of the puffins)

4) tour guide (0 star)

5) value (0 star)

Sorry! Should have explained it earlier.

We drove past many beautiful waterfalls.

The best one located right at the port of Seydisfjordur, which offered an awesome view of the very long one. We took many pictures while waiting for the last tender to take us back to the ship.

The view of Ocean Princess from the port was awesome!

I would only rate this excursion 2 stars out of 5, 1.5 for the puffins & 0.5 for the waterfalls.

Lunch was at Alfheimar with local fish soup & entree.

Then we had a brief 10-min photo stop at Njardvickurskridur (Njarovik Screes). Avalanches & mudslides after heavy rainfall occur all the time, making it a very dangerous road.

At 2:35 pm, we had another washroom break. There was a tourist info desk so we could ask for our location: Egilsstadir. From there we picked up some brochures for our next 3 ports in Iceland. That place was quite new and clean, but there was only one washroom for each gender. Long waiting lines as usual!!

As it was drizzling, the ride back to the port was not as scenic as what we expected.

Tell Brian I think his pictures are just great! I'm enjoying looking at them all!

Harriet

Hi Harriet,

Brian said Thank You! We'll be staying at the Harbourfront in Hong Kong in December, he should be able to take some great pictures with the Christmas lights & the fantastic harbour views.

Marina