Circle Iceland with The Inside Cabin - 24 days on the NIeuw Statendam

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Nice Pastrami sandwich at the New York Deli!

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

1 hour ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

We enjoyed a nice lunch at the Gullfoss Panorama Restaurant on the Golden Circle near Reyjavik . The lamb soup was good but we liked the Tomato soup better . And the Black Forest Cake was really good .

 

  We don't know what you're doing in Seydisfjorour but we had a nice tour and it was the best area to see Puffins up close and we walked to a really nice waterfall very near to the port after lunch . We loved it - enjoy Iceland .

 

 

 

Here is what we have planned:

These three with Artic Shorex

Dynjandi & The Westfjords Tour in Isafjordur, Iceland

Myvatn, Godafoss & Nature Baths in Akureyri, Iceland

Puffins and Elves in Seydisfjordur, Iceland

 

I think we are going to have lunch in Gullfoss on our Golden Circle Tour - not sure which restaurant.

 

They say Puffins start to leave in mid august - hope we are not too late.

[1ANGELCAT]

Thanks for this thread. I recommend doing the Blue Lagoon near Reykjavik. 
If you are overnighting there and want fine dining off the ship , it looks Laerjarbrekka is still in business. Have a great cruise.

[Heartgrove]

According to the Port's schedule for Seydisfjordur, the Viking Mars will be berthed at the pier and Nieuw Statendam will be tendering. The cruise in the fjord is about 18km long and very scenic.

 

You will enjoy the excursion from Isafjordur to Dynjandi Waterfall. It is beautiful! Last year we spent a week driving in just the Westfjord Region. It may be too late for the Puffins by then. But - each year is different.

 

 

[VMax1700]

23 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

The Captain is Eric..

Captain Eric Barhorst

[Vict0riann]

At the nature baths in Akureyri, we feasted on the Arctic char on geysir bread!  Yummy!

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by Vict0riann

[scubacruiserx2]

2 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Here is what we have planned:

These three with Artic Shorex

Dynjandi & The Westfjords Tour in Isafjordur, Iceland

Myvatn, Godafoss & Nature Baths in Akureyri, Iceland

Puffins and Elves in Seydisfjordur, Iceland

 

I think we are going to have lunch in Gullfoss on our Golden Circle Tour - not sure which restaurant.

 

They say Puffins start to leave in mid august - hope we are not too late.

 

Super ! We hope that the puffins are there also . Hopefully the babies may be out of the burrows . Most people go to the right hand viewing area for a close view but off to the left is an overlook where you can see them and other birds fishing in the lagoon . 

  Loved Dynjandi . If you have a head net and or midge repellant take it as the midges at the waterfall can be bad . You can see some midges at the end of the video clip and the first guy has a head net on . If you don't have one you may want to get one at the stores near the  ports .

 

 

 

Myvatn nature baths was much less crowded then the blue lagoon .

 

Have a great trip and were looking forward to seeing and hearing more . ☺️

 

 

[swin26]

In Reykjavik I would recommend the south shore over the golden circle if you can. It is easily drivable if you rent a car or by tour.  If you are staying in town for dinner, Messin is excellent. The Arctic char was fantastic.  

[1ANGELCAT]

Update, sadly Laerjarbrekka is no longer in business.

[PACD_JG]

First off, super jealous, as I'm looking to do this in 2026 once my last kid graduates high school as a gift for the wife and I.  But I just looked at the HAL site and this cruise is only available once in 2023...on the Zaandam.  Any insight on why they would switch ships?

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Here is the latest from The Inside Cabin Black Falcon Check-in and SailAway (Post #3) Aug 04, 2022 02:31 pm | The Inside Cabin    Click "Show More Posts" to show all the links to the other posts for the 2022 Canada Greenland Iceland   Sunset SailAway from the Black Falcon in Boston Interactive Cruise Map Itinerary, Menus, When & Where and Entertainers Cruise Reference Items Boston Sail Away With all the changes in check-in protocols and our notice about a Coast Guard Inspection that would delay boarding, we weren’t quite sure what to expect today.  Our original boarding time was 11:40 am, but due to the inspection, everyone was lumped into 3 groups by Deck.  We would be in the 1:30 – 2 pm group.   The hotel is about ¼ mile from the cruise terminal, but there are two terminals, and the Nieuw Statendam was moored at the furthest one, meaning our walk would be about ½ mile.     The Hampton Inn is Point A – The entrance to the terminal is Point B, about 5/10 of a mile. We had 4 bags to check and I decided to get some exercise so I made 2 trips at around 11:15 am to drop off our bags.  The line was long at 11:15 am and would grow and shrink as each wave of transfer buses arrived. This was the check-in line around 11:15 AM We heard that if you got in line around 11:15, it took about 45 minutes to get through the check-in process.  Due to the Coast Guard inspection, no one was allowed to board and everyone was sent to a holding pen segregated by Mariner status.  As the day went on, they had to hold people outside for a bit when all the holding pens filled up inside.  The inspection was over around 1:15 pm and people began to board the ship. There was crew checking in at the other terminal  To avoid standing in line we stayed in our hotel lobby until 2:30 pm before walking over with our rolling carry-on bags.  We arrived at the entrance around 2:45 pmand we were in our cabin at 3:10 pm. They wanted to see a hard copy boarding pass with our bar code.  I didn’t have one so they asked for my cabin number and printed one out instantly with a small portable printer.  I think they had delays when people can’t get their phones open to the right screen etc, so they must think it’s easier for everyone to carry around a 3-inch paper square. Security screening was the longest line.  Once that was clear, the line was divided into the people with a good READY TO SAIL check on Verifly and those without.  This was a HUGE timesaver as the line for those without Verifly was long and moved slowly since they had to manually inspect all the COVID testing and Vaccine paperwork – checking the dates, etc.  With VERIFLY on our phone, we went to a counter where they made sure we were the ‘guy’ in the picture, and checked our ARRIVE CAN bar code (they didn’t scan it – just made sure we had one) – DONE!  We barely stopped walking. At this point suite people and 4/5 stars went to the left, everyone else to the right.  There wasn’t much of a difference in the line at this point.  We went to an open check-in terminal which is an IPAD type of device on a stand.  They press start, you stare at the screen to take your picture – it matches your check in documents using facial recognition – hit confirm – then scan your passport – DONE!  Less than 1 minute. The last thing to do was to get our embarkation photo taken or keep walking.   Then it was off to the gangway and onto the ship.  Our bags were already in our cabin. Once on the ship, we headed back to the SeaView pool for the sail-away party.  No live music, but they had a waiter passing hors d’oeuvres.  We found some friends from past and future world cruisers:  Sharon and John, Mary Ellen and Karl, Patrice, Susan and Bill, and Maggie and had a nice time catching up.   Check out Sharon and John’s blog HERE John enjoying some Hors D’oeuvres at the Sail-AwayTwo Thumbs up for a great Sail-AwayPete with his sister, Cindy, at the Sail-Away We didn’t depart until almost 7 PM. Judy took this great picture of the Boston skyline as we departed Interactive Cruise Map Itinerary, Menus, When & Where and

[The-Inside-Cabin]

The “Tuxedo Junction” is the place for people who enjoy wearing a tuxedo can gather and keep alive the tradition of classic formal wear

 

At Sea,

Judy spent the morning at her knitting class.  Kristin Drysdale is teaching knitting patterns from her recently published book, The Nordic Knitting Primer.  Judy is taking the Icelandic Sweater Class.  In three 3-hour classes on Sea Days, Kristin will teach all the techniques used in constructing an Icelandic Sweater.  Judy is knitting the Little Gretel pattern in a thinner yarn and smaller needles.  Her project will include all the techniques that are used in this pattern and should end up being a medium Teddy bear-size pullover.

I spent the morning unpacking, getting all my IT gear straightened out, and working on the blog.

Around noon, Judy and I went to the SeaView pool for lunch.  We picked up some sandwiches from the New York Deli.  I really like all the food they serve there.  I got the Pastrami sandwich and Judy got the Little Italy Meatball Sub.  There was a 35-minute wait to get our food, but we were given a pager and didn’t have to stay too close.

Great Pastrami sandwich from the New York Deli

We ran into Hyperion Knight, Guest Entertainer Pianist, who we have seen several times on previous cruises.  We enjoy his shows very much and we will be getting together for dinner in a few days.  He is a crazy good Trivia player – so if you see him at Trivia – get on his team quick!

I noticed that about 20% of the pool lounges were still untouched around noon.  No one seemed to be saving loungers and there was plenty to go around.  It was foggy most of the day and this isn’t a Caribbean cruise, so the pool isn’t as busy as it usually is on other sailings.

Dr Michael Douglas was the guest lecturer this afternoon.  He gave a talk on the Artic Environment to a packed house in the World Stage at 2 pm.

The Wine Tasting, also at 2 pm, drew a big crowd.

Tonight was the first “Dressy” night – Gala night is now RIP – at least on this ship.  There were a handful of men wearing tuxedos, maybe 10 % in suits, a few more in coats, ties, or jackets.  The rest were wearing the basic collared shirt.  I scheduled a Tuxedo Junction at 7 pm but this ended up conflicting with the Captain’s Welcome Toast at 7:15 pm so turnout was sparse.  We should get a few more people on the next “Dressy Night”.

Tom and Diane from Ontario awarded us honorary Canadian Citizenship with this neat “passports”. We’ll see how they go if we are asked for documents in Sydney We have some dressy masks to go along with our dressy outfits

The Cruise and Travel Director, Bettyann Chun, and Captain, Eric Barhorst, kicked off the Welcome Aboard Reception on the World Stage at 7:15 pm.  After a few remarks, Captain Eric introduced his Senior Officers and that was that – maybe 10 minutes once they got started.  The evening show was starting at 7:30 pm and we rushed out to get to dinner early.  We hoped to finish in time for the 9 pm show (moved up from 9:30 pm).

Cruise and Travel Director, Bettyann Chun, and Captain, Eric Barhorst along with the other senior officers at the welcome reception

We are at a 6-top table and we enjoyed the dinner and the company.  We had the Filet Mignon Oscar which was very good, along with the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail and a Creme Brulee for desert.

We finished our meal at 9 pm and walked straight to the World Stage for the show, getting there a few minutes after the show began.  Going forward we are going to start dinner at 7:30 pm instead of 8 pm and we should be able to get to the shows on time.  The late shows are lightly attended so getting a seat is never a problem.

No Lobster on the menu tonight – See a copy HERE.

Cantaré– a male quartet of talented tenors, was on the World Stage tonight – they sang a variety of popular songs – to a prerecorded backing track – no live band.  It was a good show, they are very entertaining.

Cantaré put on a fantastic show

We will be in Sydney, Nova Scotia, tomorrow.  There wasn’t any discussion of going thru Immigration tomorrow so I guess this is all being handled behind the scenes.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Welcome to Sydney, Nova Scotia!

 

 

 

 

Edited August 5, 2022 by The-Inside-Cabin

[CruiserBruce]

23 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Do you know if that will impact tourists? 

Probably not in the general Reykjavik area.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

20 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Probably not in the general Reykjavik area.

I wonder if the tour operators could adjust golden circle tours to see the activity 

[Alberta Quilter]

59 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I wonder if the tour operators could adjust golden circle tours to see the activity 

 

Based on what I understood from the news reports, it's a bit of a hike to get see the activity - something like 90 minutes, IIRC.  I believe that's 90 minutes one way!

 

Enjoying your reports so far, thank you!  

Edited August 5, 2022 by Alberta Quilter

[cat shepard]

1 hour ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I wonder if the tour operators could adjust golden circle tours to see the activity 

When I was there last year the site where the lava was currently flowing was at least 45 minutes from the parking area - one way. And it was flowing underground, so you could not see it. 
 

And that site was much closer to the parking area than the original eruption site, so depending on where it is currently erupting - it could be a moderate to strenuous hike. 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

2 hours ago, Alberta Quilter said:

 

Based on what I understood from the news reports, it's a bit of a hike to get see the activity - something like 90 minutes, IIRC.  I believe that's 90 minutes one way!

 

Enjoying your reports so far, thank you!  

Well.  That probably is too far for a 1 day tour 

 

thanks!

[The-Inside-Cabin]

We spotted these red chairs at the Alexander Bell museum in Baddeck.   
 

 

Here is the story about the red chairs. 

Here

 

Edited August 5, 2022 by The-Inside-Cabin

[fsdj1097]

4 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I wonder if the tour operators could adjust golden circle tours to see the activity 

Hey Pete, from what I'm reading on the Reykjavik Grapevine website, they are discouraging tourist from visiting the eruption site.  They say that the hike in is very treacherous and long, and that the gasses from the eruption can be very dangerous...if not fatal.  

[The-Inside-Cabin]

20 minutes ago, fsdj1097 said:

Hey Pete, from what I'm reading on the Reykjavik Grapevine website, they are discouraging tourist from visiting the eruption site.  They say that the hike in is very treacherous and long, and that the gasses from the eruption can be very dangerous...if not fatal.  

Thanks.   Sounds like a hard pass for us.  

[roberts2005]

If you want to spend the money, I have heard of people doing a fly over.

[sandiego1]

Love the tuxedo!! You and Judy look fabulous in your Gala attire 

[BarbinMich]

Interested to hear about this Iceland itinerary RT from Boston.  We've visited Iceland several times, but always near the end of a WB TA.  Looks like you'll be getting a real in-depth visit!  I'll have to put this on my future-cruise-to-do list!

[The-Inside-Cabin]

1 hour ago, sandiego1 said:

Love the tuxedo!! You and Judy look fabulous in your Gala attire 

It's now "dressy attire".  😂