deltaqueenie

I just received my full refund from Iceland Everywhere (IET), it was such a pleasure to work with Dodo and Sigi. Some of these ports were canceled on a moment’s notice, and I was constantly canceling and rebooking these tours while onboard the Sky….I HIGHLY recommend this company!

It seems to amaze me what fellow CC members know, thank you for the info. While onboard, I actually spoke to Passenger Services about this, and they didn’t know if the Sky was a more difficult ship to maneuver. After we were missing so many ports, I asked why we didn’t substitute another port- I inquired about the Shetland Islands or Faroe Islands (we sailed by them twice), was told ‘it couldn’t be arranged’..From past experience when missing ports, we usually had another port substituted. Maybe this azipod issue was a factor. It looks like the Royal Class ships are: Royal, Regal, Majestic, and Sky. So why would Princess use one of these ships on this difficult Iceland itinerary?

I think you did a great job explaining how people have different perspectives according to their own personal circumstances. I agree with your example of people who travel a lot probably have another trip just around the corner- so it may not be as upsetting. But, for the ‘once in a lifetime’ people- missing 3 out of 4 Iceland ports and only being compensated 20% (that they may never use) was not enough…as I’ve stated before, while the ‘goodwill gesture’ was appreciated- we all are entitled to our own opinions, and for me the 20% wasn’t even close to compensation for the planning and money that we invested in this trip.

We booked with ArcticShorex/Wild Westfjords in Isafjordur. The company was wonderful to work with- we had to cancel while onboard due to missing ports (received refund in a day!) and because of further itinerary changes we needed to rebook. ArcticShorex, on a few hours notice, arranged our original 18psgr minivan tour to see the Westfjords, Dynjandi Waterfalls, and Villages I think both 5hr excursions are similar: ArcticShorex $140.00 per person (didn’t include lunch) approx 8:15am-1:30pm Princess $384.95 per person The waterfalls, hike, and scenery were beautiful (we would be the red circle- to show you how huge the waterfalls are). Our guide was fantastic, and it was a great tour!

I would say that surprisingly (3,550 psgrs onboard) both the Estrella and Soleil Dining Rooms have been great for us. We haven’t made reservations, and have been able to walk in, (request a table for 2 and be seated) between 6:00pm-7:30pm every night without waiting! I think they have the signs, but it doesn’t seem to matter- I’ve not seen anyone waiting with ‘beepers’.

I would highly recommend booking Iceland with these two tour companies: IET/Iceland Everywhere and ArcticShorex/Wild Westfjords, both companies are extremely reasonable. We exchanged emails daily due to the changing of the ship’s itinerary. Aukureyri was canceled at 7:30am, minutes before our tour was scheduled to begin. I had prepaid ALL Iceland excursions before leaving with the contracts including the phrase (‘refundable if your ship doesn’t dock’). ArcticShorex had already processed my refund in a day! Ironically, we did end up porting in Isafjordur (on a different day), and AcrticShorex organized two 18psgr mini vans on a few hours notice providing us our original Dynjandi Westfjords 5hr tour! Even though the contract says ‘refundable’…you really never know- most of these cancellations took place less than 24hours before, due to the Captain constantly canceling our itinerary.

I’m so sorry this happened to you, it sounded very stressful….but, did you receive 100% of your entire “cruise fare” as an FCC? 20% and 100% are quite different…

I assume they were scheduled but I wasn’t informed…I included the National Holidays issue because I learned something- I should have done more research prior to booking (checking Norway National Holidays) and realized 2 of the 3 Norway port days occurred during Holidays when everything was closed, just disappointing..

We actually missed three originally scheduled ports: Reykjavik, Aukureyri, and Grandarfjordur..

We actually missed 3 out of 4 of the original Iceland itinerary planned ports. Isafjordur was the ONLY original itinerary port we visited.. and even Isafjordur was cancelled on the date we should have been there (May 21) and was changed at the last minute to another date (May 22). However, as I mentioned earlier, we did go to all THREE ports in Norway….but there were National Holidays that occurred at TWO of those ports- nothing was opened..

To my fellow Cruise Critic members, A big thanks to all of you who have expressed sympathy, I appreciate it 💕 and I hope this will not happen to any of you who plan to cruise Iceland…

Has anyone actually received FCC in this manner? This is the letter we received. It states a Future Cruise Credit of 20% of “paid cruise fare”.. My invoice from my travel agent reads: CRUISE FARE $1,696 (20% of this is $340) NCF $700 (if this is added then my FCC is $480) GOVERNMENT TAXES $350 (if this is added then my FCC is $550) And I’m sure Princess is not going to reimburse me for airfare ($1,800) insurance or anything else… It is a “goodwill gesture” and while I appreciate this effort, IMO $340 is not nearly enough for what we missed. Not to mention we had 8 Sea Days (originally had only 6) on a VERY crowded ship… As far as weather conditions..really who knows? I chose the May dates because Iceland has less rain in May..Even though we have 25 cruises with Princess, this cruise has made me rethink ANY cruise itinerary…

Original itinerary: Akureyri- canceled Isafjordur- originally canceled, but we did go there today Grundarfjordur- canceled Reykjavik- canceled So we made it to ONE port that was on our itinerary, and a substituted port, Seydisfjordur. In Seydisfjordur Princess Shore Excursions were unable to schedule ANY excursions, so we were on our own.. I imagine the Captain had his reasons for canceling, ☹️ but ironically enough, the weather on those days seemed fine… Just a very disappointing expensive cruise to Iceland… And I might also add that National Holidays occurred on 2 out of 3 ports in Norway- pretty much everything was closed….

We are missing Reykjavik, Grundarfjordur, and Aukureyri…and the captain continues to change our itinerary…I do understand that weather can affect a cruise, but this has been a HUGE disappointment. It seems every day I have canceled and rearranged private tours with IET, and ArcticShorex. Our original itinerary had 4 Iceland ports, and we had one substituted with Seydisfjordur.. IMO I would not do Iceland on a cruise- this has been a mess.

IMO ‘free internet for a specific amount of minutes’ used to be the BEST free perk for us. Why? because back then, the internet usually worked! Now we’re paying (50% off) for a product that mostly doesn’t even work…that seems like a rip off to me.