Iceland's Natural Beauty General - 2022

[Mehroswitha]

Buddysmom: Too bad we can't share the tour-- we'll be doing it on July 19. I'll try to post a report here!

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

If anybody knows more about cell phones with T Mobile service that are used when on a cruise ship, could you let me know?   I'm always confused by the old caution that this could incur a lot of money, as the call can get routed through the ship's system.  I usually wait until I'm ashore to make calls (at least ones not over the Wifi) but is that necessary?  I'm a cell phone dinosaur, I'm afraid. 

[AKexplorer]

The first thing I do when I get on a plane is to forward all calls to voice mail. Avoids the 3AM calls to buy a new auto warranty (LOL). On board the ship I set my phone to airplane mode and turn on the wifi (we always use wifi on board). This avoids any calls getting routed through the ships or the ports system. On land you can turn off airplane mode since your calls are forwarded to voice mail. You can text away using cellular data on your phone. Your mapping apps, translators, etc will all work great. We've also used facetime and Whatsapp in many of the countries we visited. We have the unlimited text and data (their over 55 plan)  and it has been a real bonus. I don't know if there's Uber available in Iceland, but that is also an app I've used overseas as well.

[AKexplorer]

No Uber in Iceland - and this site is worth a gander - especially if spending time before in Iceland or after the cruise.

https://guidetoiceland.is/travel-info/9-worst-tourist-traps-in-iceland

 

[Clay Clayton]

2 minutes ago, AKexplorer said:

The first thing I do when I get on a plane is to forward all calls to voice mail. Avoids the 3AM calls to buy a new auto warranty (LOL). On board the ship I set my phone to airplane mode and turn on the wifi (we always use wifi on board). This avoids any calls getting routed through the ships or the ports system. On land you can turn off airplane mode since your calls are forwarded to voice mail. You can text away using cellular data on your phone. Your mapping apps, translators, etc will all work great. We've also used facetime and Whatsapp in many of the countries we visited. We have the unlimited text and data (their over 55 plan)  and it has been a real bonus. I don't know if there's Uber available in Iceland, but that is also an app I've used overseas as well.

Same plan, same procedures though we rarely phone as we always seem to screw up the time calculations. 
 

Since you mention Facetime I presumed you have an iPhone.  I didn’t know I could forward calls to Voicemail. Thanks for mentioning it so I have now googled and learned my something new for the day!

[kate7047]

1 hour ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

If anybody knows more about cell phones with T Mobile service that are used when on a cruise ship, could you let me know?   I'm always confused by the old caution that this could incur a lot of money, as the call can get routed through the ship's system.  I usually wait until I'm ashore to make calls (at least ones not over the Wifi) but is that necessary?  I'm a cell phone dinosaur, I'm afraid. 

I have T Mobile. Personally, I would use Wifi on the ship for voice or data (WhatsApp or Messenger) and regular cellular phone service on land. Tmobile is compatible for free texting from the ship. On Tmobile, I typically buy an extra one time 5G data pass for $35 https://www.t-mobile.com/customers/data-pass  because while you CAN access data on land for free, the speed is only 2G, which drives me crazy. With the data pass, they only promise 3G but I have generally gotten 4G or at least LTE speeds. And 5G of data for 10 days is plenty for me. (I typically use 5G data in a month.) Caveat is I have never been to Iceland and that worked well in the rest of Europe. For longer trips they have a 15G data pass for $50 for 30 days. 

[TayanaLorna]

18 minutes ago, AKexplorer said:

No Uber in Iceland - and this site is worth a gander - especially if spending time before in Iceland or after the cruise.

https://guidetoiceland.is/travel-info/9-worst-tourist-traps-in-iceland

 

Good info.

[Clay Clayton]

54 minutes ago, AKexplorer said:

No Uber in Iceland - and this site is worth a gander - especially if spending time before in Iceland or after the cruise.

https://guidetoiceland.is/travel-info/9-worst-tourist-traps-in-iceland

 

Thanks! Gonna see if we can make it to the flea market

[FoggyEthan]

1 hour ago, kate7047 said:

I have T Mobile. Personally, I would use Wifi on the ship for voice or data (WhatsApp or 

Worth remembering that people on the first cruise reported limited or no Wi-Fi while along the northern face of Iceland or in a fjord. I'm guessing that there is a satellite somewhere over the equator that they need to be able to see, but the equator is a long ways away from Iceland.

[Clay Clayton]

2 hours ago, AKexplorer said:

The first thing I do when I get on a plane is to forward all calls to voice mail. Avoids the 3AM calls to buy a new auto warranty (LOL). On board the ship I set my phone to airplane mode and turn on the wifi (we always use wifi on board). This avoids any calls getting routed through the ships or the ports system. On land you can turn off airplane mode since your calls are forwarded to voice mail. You can text away using cellular data on your phone. Your mapping apps, translators, etc will all work great. We've also used facetime and Whatsapp in many of the countries we visited. We have the unlimited text and data (their over 55 plan)  and it has been a real bonus. I don't know if there's Uber available in Iceland, but that is also an app I've used overseas as well.

Well crap. Apparently there is some disconnect between tmobile and my IOS. It won’t stay on call forward. 

[AKexplorer]

3 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Well crap. Apparently there is some disconnect between tmobile and my IOS. It won’t stay on call forward. 

Try *21*1..........# where ........ is your voice mail number or any other number you want calls forwarded to. I have a google phone number that I use (free to set up) for forwarding my calls. I get email and text notifications for all calls that go to that number. To unforward use #21#. The alternative is to manually set call forwarding in your settings. BTW - the voice mail number for your account is not your phone number. I forget how to find out what it is but Dr, Google can probably help you figure it out.

 

[EJLobster]

2 hours ago, AKexplorer said:

No Uber in Iceland - and this site is worth a gander - especially if spending time before in Iceland or after the cruise.

https://guidetoiceland.is/travel-info/9-worst-tourist-traps-in-iceland

 

Recommended reading!!!  Thanks for the link.

[kate7047]

3 hours ago, FoggyEthan said:

Worth remembering that people on the first cruise reported limited or no Wi-Fi while along the northern face of Iceland or in a fjord. I'm guessing that there is a satellite somewhere over the equator that they need to be able to see, but the equator is a long ways away from Iceland.

Fjords could be a problem. But otherwise sounds more like a Viking thing with their guest Wifi. We were on Viking Sky 18 months ago in Alta, Norway, way above arctic circle and Wifi on ship worked fine. 

[Clay Clayton]

Just noticed there are two DVs available on our July 10th cruise….any last minute folks want to join us?

[Twitchly]

6 hours ago, AKexplorer said:

The first thing I do when I get on a plane is to forward all calls to voice mail. Avoids the 3AM calls to buy a new auto warranty (LOL). On board the ship I set my phone to airplane mode and turn on the wifi (we always use wifi on board). This avoids any calls getting routed through the ships or the ports system. On land you can turn off airplane mode since your calls are forwarded to voice mail. You can text away using cellular data on your phone. Your mapping apps, translators, etc will all work great. We've also used facetime and Whatsapp in many of the countries we visited. We have the unlimited text and data (their over 55 plan)  and it has been a real bonus. I don't know if there's Uber available in Iceland, but that is also an app I've used overseas as well.

This just sent me down a major rabbit hole. In order to set up call forwarding (Verizon), I have to enter the number of my voicemail, which is apparently a full 9-digit number. No idea what it is since I’ve never needed to dial it. Gack. Well, I have a few months before I need to figure this out. 

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

Thanks for the phone/Wifi advice.  I'm a little rusty on cruising.....as are most people now I guess!  

 

[AKexplorer]

19 hours ago, Twitchly said:

This just sent me down a major rabbit hole. In order to set up call forwarding (Verizon), I have to enter the number of my voicemail, which is apparently a full 9-digit number. No idea what it is since I’ve never needed to dial it. Gack. Well, I have a few months before I need to figure this out. 

Try reading here. It may help. For T-mobile users just scroll down past the verizon stuff. Even explains how to use a computer to access your T-mobile voice messages.

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-check-your-verizon-cell-phone-voice-mail-messages-from-another-phone

[NeilP57]

On the Live Thread some very interesting pictures of the current wine list showing lots of $6 per glass wines. I assume all these are available in all dining venues and not just the highlighted alternative wines that used to be  placed on a little card at lunch and dinner. 
 

is this a correct assumption?

[TayanaLorna]

13 minutes ago, NeilP57 said:

On the Live Thread some very interesting pictures of the current wine list showing lots of $6 per glass wines. I assume all these are available in all dining venues and not just the highlighted alternative wines that used to be  placed on a little card at lunch and dinner. 
 

is this a correct assumption?

Yes they are available in all dining venues and bars/lounges.  You may have to wait a tad if a particular wine you want is not behind the bar.  But they will get it for you.  We did find that toward the end of a cruise they would run out of some choices however.

[Shelley34]

1 hour ago, sinsonte said:

Hi, I am new to this forum and hope I am in the right place for some questions I have.  If not, let me know.

I am in the Iceland cruise on August 31 and the shore excursions have not been posted yet.  Does anyone know what the cost of the Dyjandi Waterfall, the Black Beach ATV and Lava Tunnel, and the Heart of Glacier excursions are?

TIA

If you go to post 1464 there is a link to a pdf that lists all the excursions, times, and prices from the July 3 Iceland cruise which was provided by Viking.  Helped me a lot.

[minka34]

Wondering if it will be ok to show up at the ship before 11am if on the first Jupiter cruise on July 13th?  Since no passengers will be getting off the ship, will we be able to drop our luggage off at say 9:30am?  I think we might find out since we booked a transfer to drop us at the port at 9:30. 😬  We may be wandering around Reykjavik with our suitcases for an hour or so.  Hoping there will be a place to drop them early at the port! 

[Bookworm114]

On 7/3/2021 at 3:04 PM, DJVKN said:

We took a taxi from city center this morning. Taxis are readily available and hotel can arrange for one. It’s about a 10 minute drive from city center to the port. We checked in with Viking onto the ship at 10:50. Stateroom was available at12:30ish. 

DJVKN - do you mind sharing the cost of the taxi? We will be doing the same thing as carld. 

[DJVKN]

3 hours ago, Bookworm114 said:

DJVKN - do you mind sharing the cost of the taxi? We will be doing the same thing as carld. 

The cost from the city center was $25

[Twitchly]

20 hours ago, AKexplorer said:

Try reading here. It may help. For T-mobile users just scroll down past the verizon stuff. Even explains how to use a computer to access your T-mobile voice messages.

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-check-your-verizon-cell-phone-voice-mail-messages-from-another-phone

Thanks, that was helpful. I still haven’t figured out how to forward my calls to voicemail, but at least now I know what number to call in order to access it.

[Jaea]

Tips from my sister-in-law who is half Icelandic:

Driving is on the same side of road as USA but study up on roundabouts and one-way signs. http://www.road.is/  If you use the parking meters you have to enter the license plate # of the car (car in Icelandic = bíll...sounds like beal)

Blue Lagoon: It might be beneficial to make a reservation. Allow 3 hours for the full experience. Get a mud facial. Bring a waterproof disposable camera.

Must do in Reykjavik: Settlement Exhibit, visit any bakery, enjoy a hot dog (made with lamb) at a hot dog stand, taste the homemade ice cream, walk around the pond in the center of town

Outside of town: Tour the geothermal plant (if allowing visitors). She says it's fascinating.

Most importantly, dress in layers and bring rain gear!