Greenland/Iceland cruise!

[TourDeCruise]

On 1/16/2023 at 9:12 PM, son3cruisers said:

I will second everything AstoriaPreppy just posted. We followed the same plan. In Greenland you do not  need a tour. You can easily walk around and follow the one road to the highest point. The views are spectacular.

 

We also rented a car in Akureyri, We rented a car from Akureyri rent a car. 

https://akureyrirentacar.is

Car was waiting for us ( with an agent ) in the first parking lot leaving the ship and was an easy drop off to the same place. I would highly recommend . 
Isafjord we rented ATVs ( private tour) 

https://atv-isafjordur.is

Again, an amazing tour of the both city and off road.

Once we arrived in Reykjavik we rented a car and headed to the Southcoast for 4 days of site seeing. That was the most amazing part of the whole trip. I recommend if you are travelling all the way to Iceland, you might want to stay a couple of extra days to see  it all, We also stayed a night at the Blue Lagoon. So much to see and do  .

Here is Qaqortoq Greenland: 

 

We are booked for Reykjavik to Boston for 2024. We are interested in this climb to the top. Is it an actual road, path, or does it require a lot of rock climbing? We want to pack light, and I only plan on wearing/bringing two pairs of lightweight jogging shoes that I will use as walking shoes. Dh thinks we would need to bring heavy hiking boots. 

[son3cruisers]

21 minutes ago, TourDeCruise said:

 

We are booked for Reykjavik to Boston for 2024. We are interested in this climb to the top. Is it an actual road, path, or does it require a lot of rock climbing? We want to pack light, and I only plan on wearing/bringing two pairs of lightweight jogging shoes that I will use as walking shoes. Dh thinks we would need to bring heavy hiking boots. 

We had hiking boots on, but I’m sure a good pair of runners would be fine. I would recommend bringing hiking boots for this cruise though if you plan to adventure out and about. Some of the best views require a bit of off road through some rugged terrain. The picture below might give you a better idea of a bit of our climb. We went up a few of these sets of stairs, thinking about three different sets? Then a winding road through the houses and a bit of uneven ground to get to the top. There is only one road to follow. 
When you get off the tender , turn right and follow the road up. 

Edited March 6, 2023 by son3cruisers

[TourDeCruise]

3 hours ago, son3cruisers said:

We had hiking boots on, but I’m sure a good pair of runners would be fine. I would recommend bringing hiking boots for this cruise though if you plan to adventure out and about. Some of the best views require a bit of off road through some rugged terrain. The picture below might give you a better idea of a bit of our climb. We went up a few of these sets of stairs, thinking about three different sets? Then a winding road through the houses and a bit of uneven ground to get to the top. There is only one road to follow. 
When you get off the tender , turn right and follow the road up. 

 

Looks like a fun day in Greenland! Did you retrace your steps to get back to town or is it a loop?

 

We have been to Reykjavik and Akureyri before but on this cruise, we are thinking about going to Viday Island from Reykjavik and on hiking trails in Akureyri.

[Arizona Wildcat]

14 minutes ago, TourDeCruise said:

 

Looks like a fun day in Greenland! Did you retrace your steps to get back to town or is it a loop?

 

We have been to Reykjavik and Akureyri before but on this cruise, we are thinking about going to Viday Island from Reykjavik and on hiking trails in Akureyri.

There is a loop but it is rough and long.  You climb for the view.  Returning the same way allows for better photo ops.

[son3cruisers]

1 hour ago, TourDeCruise said:

 

Looks like a fun day in Greenland! Did you retrace your steps to get back to town or is it a loop?

 

We have been to Reykjavik and Akureyri before but on this cruise, we are thinking about going to Viday Island from Reykjavik and on hiking trails in Akureyri.

You turn around, and  take the same route back.  Now, we did meet someone at the top that went through the outdoor arena area ( looked like a large outdoor tennis court) and said there was a path through there as well . When we walked back down, we made it to the other side ( left off the tender) and the views were also spectacular along the water. 
 

[JBSteelerfan]

Check out Your Day Tours (Small Group Day tours in Iceland | Your Day Tours) in Iceland.  We used them twice last year to do the Golden Circle and South Coast tour, and they are great to work with, and both tours were excellent!  

[NutsAboutGolf]

For 2023, the Summit visits the Akureyri inbound on Aug 16th and outbound Aug 20th

 

Rental car pricing:

 

Aug 16th and 20th is $300/day with Eurocar

 

Aug 16th and 20th is $182/day for an automatic or save $10-$20 if you okay with a manual https://akureyrirentacar.is/ 

 

I I haven't dove super deep into this but would imagine you're on the hook for expensive gas for sure, potential mileage, potential parking and potential attraction entrance fees putting you over $200/day and possibly $250+.  Some may still value renting a car for the freedom however on Aug 20th, the office doesn't open until an hour after the Summit arrives (Aug 16th is fine).

 

There are both ship and private tours cheaper depending what you're trying to do/see

 

Remember rates (both the rental agency and exchange rate) fluctuate yet you have to have the right expectations as it's highly unlikely it's going to drop $50+

Edited March 6, 2023 by NutsAboutGolf

[CruiseMelissa]

On 1/16/2023 at 5:11 PM, AstoriaPreppy said:

We did the NJ-Iceland leg of the sailing this year.

 

Most of the Celebrity shore excursions were not worth the price in Canada. Halifax and St. Johns were very walkable, with a lot of the excursions just being a ride with a guide to a location that was walkable/quick taxi ride from the ship.

 

Qaqortoq was tiny. The cruise ship excursions were mostly wandering the town with a guide, or visiting someone's home. They're not really set up for tourism like a typical port. 

 

Iceland was a bit different. The excursions were plentiful, and generally well packaged, but were limited in scope. For example: in Akureyri, instead of taking a town tour and stopping at Godafoss, we rented a car and drove to Godafoss, saw the steam vents and thermal features at Hervir, and finished out at Dettifoss. This cost less money than an excursion, and maximized our time. 

Also, there's lot of different thoughts on doing this as a B2B, but we really enjoyed spending a few days post cruise in Reykjavik with a rental car, which gave us the ability to do the south coast (which this cruise skips entirely). 

Can I ask where you rented your car in Reykjavik?  We are doing the same this August, there looks to be a Budget and Avis that are a 30 minute walk to the port, I'm wondering if there are any options closer or something I'm not thinking of.

[AstoriaPreppy]

On 3/6/2023 at 7:17 PM, CruiseMelissa said:

Can I ask where you rented your car in Reykjavik?  We are doing the same this August, there looks to be a Budget and Avis that are a 30 minute walk to the port, I'm wondering if there are any options closer or something I'm not thinking of.

 

We used the Holdur branch of Europcar, which is a major rental agency in Iceland and Europe in general. The Reykjavik branch was a full-service location: toilets, coffee, etc. The prices were significantly better than Budget/Avis, and the cars were better as well. 

 

We also rented from Europcar in Akureyri and Isafjordur, but these were satellite locations. Akureyri was in a shipping container near the port that was unmanned when we arrived (they thought we came in on the Princess ship earlier and had left when we didn't pick up the car). We had to call and wait for someone to come out and give us the contracts/keys. Isafjordur in a hotel lobby a block or two from the tender pier: we told the front desk we were here for a Europcar rental and a guy showed up with keys and a CC machine. 

 

Pro tip: rental agencies provide a booklet about driving in Iceland when renting. I'd highly recommend reading and processing before driving, especially regarding one-lane bridges, roundabouts and livestock. 

[CruiseMelissa]

14 minutes ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

 

We used the Holdur branch of Europcar, which is a major rental agency in Iceland and Europe in general. The Reykjavik branch was a full-service location: toilets, coffee, etc. The prices were significantly better than Budget/Avis, and the cars were better as well. 

 

We also rented from Europcar in Akureyri and Isafjordur, but these were satellite locations. Akureyri was in a shipping container near the port that was unmanned when we arrived (they thought we came in on the Princess ship earlier and had left when we didn't pick up the car). We had to call and wait for someone to come out and give us the contracts/keys. Isafjordur in a hotel lobby a block or two from the tender pier: we told the front desk we were here for a Europcar rental and a guy showed up with keys and a CC machine. 

 

Pro tip: rental agencies provide a booklet about driving in Iceland when renting. I'd highly recommend reading and processing before driving, especially regarding one-lane bridges, roundabouts and livestock. 

Thank you!  Europcar wasn't on my radar, it looks like there is one that's a 33 minute walk from the cruise terminal (Europcar, Skútuvogur, 104 Reykjavík, Iceland).  Is this the one you are talking about being full-service?  Or the one downtown?

 

Great tip on reading the manual!

 

 

[AstoriaPreppy]

On 3/6/2023 at 12:47 PM, NutsAboutGolf said:

For 2023, the Summit visits the Akureyri inbound on Aug 16th and outbound Aug 20th

 

Rental car pricing:

 

Aug 16th and 20th is $300/day with Eurocar

 

Aug 16th and 20th is $182/day for an automatic or save $10-$20 if you okay with a manual https://akureyrirentacar.is/ 

 

I I haven't dove super deep into this but would imagine you're on the hook for expensive gas for sure, potential mileage, potential parking and potential attraction entrance fees putting you over $200/day and possibly $250+.  Some may still value renting a car for the freedom however on Aug 20th, the office doesn't open until an hour after the Summit arrives (Aug 16th is fine).

 

There are both ship and private tours cheaper depending what you're trying to do/see

 

Remember rates (both the rental agency and exchange rate) fluctuate yet you have to have the right expectations as it's highly unlikely it's going to drop $50+

 

I'd make the case that having a rental was totally worth it. Even at $350, the only additional expense ends up being gas. You're on your schedule, and TBH we really appreciated being able to venture to places even private tours wouldn't go (Dettifoss, etc). That money seemed totally worth it when we realized we both beat the tour buses to Dynjandi waterfall, and also had a full day ahead of us (instead of just back to the ship).

 

Iceland is exceedingly easy to navigate on your own, and very tourist friendly. There's also not a ton of cultural interpretation required at most sites (it's not a European "what is this ruin I'm looking at?" thing). I'd recommend picking up Rick Steve's Iceland guide. We found this invaluable in helping us plot out our excursion days, along with our post-cruise stay in Reykjavik. 

[RichYak]

2 minutes ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

I'd make the case that having a rental was totally worth it. Even at $350, the only additional expense ends up being gas. You're on your schedule, and TBH we really appreciated being able to venture to places even private tours wouldn't go (Dettifoss, etc).

On this year's Bayonne to Reykjavik sailing, the Akureyri port is from 11:30am to 8pm. Still worth renting a car in your opinion? I'm assuming it's a tender port, so even a shorter stay.

[AstoriaPreppy]

Just now, CruiseMelissa said:

Thank you!  Europcar wasn't on my radar, it looks like there is one that's a 33 minute walk from the cruise terminal (Europcar, Skútuvogur, 104 Reykjavík, Iceland).  Is this the one you are talking about being full-service?  Or the one downtown?

 

Great tip on reading the manual!

 

 

 

That's the one. It's walkable, but just be aware that the walk is up a hill, and then back down the hill descending to the rental agency. There's sidewalks, but we were a bit of a sweaty mess on finally getting to the rental agency at the end of the walk.

[AstoriaPreppy]

2 minutes ago, RichYak said:

On this year's Bayonne to Reykjavik sailing, the Akureyri port is from 11:30am to 8pm. Still worth renting a car in your opinion? I'm assuming it's a tender port, so even a shorter stay.

 

Akureyri is a dock, not a tender, which helps. Re: timing, it's important to remember that Iceland at that time of year has like 16-17 hours of daylight, and there's no real closing time for sites... so you're basically able to push the touring as long as you're comfortable. We were docked from 11 am - 8 pm, and didn't feel rushed at all, even with going to Dettifoss which is 2 hours from Akureyri.

 

 

[RichYak]

7 minutes ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

 

Akureyri is a dock, not a tender, which helps. Re: timing, it's important to remember that Iceland at that time of year has like 16-17 hours of daylight, and there's no real closing time for sites... so you're basically able to push the touring as long as you're comfortable. We were docked from 11 am - 8 pm, and didn't feel rushed at all, even with going to Dettifoss which is 2 hours from Akureyri.

 

 

Ok, thanks, that's incredibly helpful. We don't plan to go as far as Dettifoss. We'll drive to Viti crater and work our way around Myvatn with multiple stops, we'll visit Godafoss falls on the way back, then up to Laufas before returning to Akureyri.

[AstoriaPreppy]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

Ok, thanks, that's incredibly helpful. We don't plan to go as far as Dettifoss. We'll drive to Viti crater and work our way around Myvatn with multiple stops, we'll visit Godafoss falls on the way back, then up to Laufas before returning to Akureyri.

 

You'll absolutely have time for that. I'd also recommend the Hverir thermal area. It's on private land, slightly past Myvatn, but is an excellent assortment of thermal features (mud pots, steam vents, etc). There is a nominal cost to park, but it was well worth it.

[RichYak]

1 minute ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

 

You'll absolutely have time for that. I'd also recommend the Hverir thermal area. It's on private land, slightly past Myvatn, but is an excellent assortment of thermal features (mud pots, steam vents, etc). There is a nominal cost to park, but it was well worth it.

Thanks again. Do you need ISK cash for parking? I hadn't planned on getting any cash.

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

 

I'd make the case that having a rental was totally worth it. Even at $350, the only additional expense ends up being gas. You're on your schedule, and TBH we really appreciated being able to venture to places even private tours wouldn't go (Dettifoss, etc). That money seemed totally worth it when we realized we both beat the tour buses to Dynjandi waterfall, and also had a full day ahead of us (instead of just back to the ship).

 

Iceland is exceedingly easy to navigate on your own, and very tourist friendly. There's also not a ton of cultural interpretation required at most sites (it's not a European "what is this ruin I'm looking at?" thing). I'd recommend picking up Rick Steve's Iceland guide. We found this invaluable in helping us plot out our excursion days, along with our post-cruise stay in Reykjavik. 

 

Do you recall the name of the guide?  Going to see if it's online.

 

Rental car would make sense for many; the more people in your party the cheaper it gets

[AstoriaPreppy]

21 hours ago, RichYak said:

Thanks again. Do you need ISK cash for parking? I hadn't planned on getting any cash.

 

A lot of the parking areas in Iceland use an a phone app called Parka. Not sure if that's what was in use here, but it's good to have in Iceland. 

 

21 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

Do you recall the name of the guide?  Going to see if it's online.

 

Rental car would make sense for many; the more people in your party the cheaper it gets

 

https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/iceland

https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/iceland-guidebook

 

Available at lots of public libraries as an ebook, along with major book resellers. 

[kathynorth]

23 hours ago, CruiseMelissa said:

Thank you!  Europcar wasn't on my radar, it looks like there is one that's a 33 minute walk from the cruise terminal (Europcar, Skútuvogur, 104 Reykjavík, Iceland).  Is this the one you are talking about being full-service?  Or the one downtown?

 

Great tip on reading the manual!

 

 

 

Speaking of radar, be very careful with your speed when driving in Iceland. There is radar everywhere. They warn you with signage when a speed is about to change. The penalty for speeding is very high and is charged to the rental agency. The rental agency then charges your credit card with an added fee that is very high. You won't know you were caught speeding until weeks after you arrive home from your trip. Plus with the wide open and often empty roads it's very easy to speed without noticing. 

[AstoriaPreppy]

On 3/12/2023 at 10:43 AM, kathynorth said:

 

Speaking of radar, be very careful with your speed when driving in Iceland. There is radar everywhere. They warn you with signage when a speed is about to change. The penalty for speeding is very high and is charged to the rental agency. The rental agency then charges your credit card with an added fee that is very high. You won't know you were caught speeding until weeks after you arrive home from your trip. Plus with the wide open and often empty roads it's very easy to speed without noticing. 

 

I'd also add to keep an eye out for livestock. There were multiple times we tried passing people, only to find that a flock of sheep had wandered on to the road. 

[KruznKimmie]

On 1/16/2023 at 4:24 PM, Harrylinden said:

We just booked a Greenland/Iceland B2B on the Eclipse from NJ and returning to Boston for August 2024. Suggestions wanted for shore excrusion's from anyone who's done this cruise! We have no idea what to do to get the best experience while there!

Hello, there is roll call for this cruise here on CC if you would like to join.  We will also be on the August 16, 2024 cruise.

Edited March 25, 2023 by KruznKimmie

[Elainemh]

We just did Iceland last September on the Silhoutte.  In Reykjavik

we did a 8 hour Golden Circle Tour with Iceland Everywhere Tours.

I would highly recommend.

[NutsAboutGolf]

@Ken the cruiser @Jim_Iain @AstoriaPreppy, I understand some did a B2B, either way, does anyone recall what time the US to Reykjavik sailing disembarkation for self-carry-off started last year?  This year the ship is scheduled to arrive at the port at 530am

[Ken the cruiser]

25 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

@Ken the cruiser @Jim_Iain @AstoriaPreppy, I understand some did a B2B, either way, does anyone recall what time the US to Reykjavik sailing disembarkation for self-carry-off started last year?  This year the ship is scheduled to arrive at the port at 530am

Not quite sure exactly when we arrived. But around 10 am at post #375, this is what the taxi line looked like for those disembarking. If I recall there were a few other ships in port also disembarking passengers, many of whom were also looking to catch a taxi to the airport or hotel. However, if you’re lucky enough to be the only ship in port the day you arrive, getting a taxi should be a lot easier.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2871021-live-from-the-summit-87-to-831-from-an-aqua-passenger-viewpoint/page/15/