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Sky Princess- Iceland Missed Ports

Rick&Jeannie

By Rick&Jeannie,
in Princess Cruises

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Rick&Jeannie "Live from...." Rare

Rick&Jeannie

Posted
Posted

Well, this particular cruise has been interesting to say the least! Our itinerary has been changed 3 times now if I am tracking all of the letters in cabin and captain announcements. We were to do 4 ports in Iceland. We just did one yesterday that was a substitute...I don't have access to the name as I am typing this...it started with "S" and looked very difficult to pronounce (for me anyway!)

 

Anyway, it appears as if we will be bypassing the remainder of the ports due to weather. Disappointing. 

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deltaqueenie

deltaqueenie

Posted
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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.

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JG&Lcruisingnewbies

JG&Lcruisingnewbies

Posted
Posted

I’m so sad for you both right now 😞 


Had a quick look on Marine Traffic. Have you been trying to get into Akureyri and having to come away again?  Your route on the tracker looks a right mess 😱

 

I hope you guys are ok & they sort out an alternative itinerary for you 😢

IMG_0711.png

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lucas34

lucas34

Posted
Posted

So sad about the harbors in Iceland.

 

Is Marco Fortezz now the captain?

 

I will have this same trip on June 3rd. Has anyone rented a car at the Iceland destinations on this cruise? Have you reimbursed the price when the ship does not visit the port? We have a car rented in Iceland in a couple of places. 

I hope you can make it to Reykjavik!

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Nicole&Pete

Nicole&Pete

Posted
Posted
Just now, Rick&Jeannie said:

Well, this particular cruise has been interesting to say the least! Our itinerary has been changed 3 times now if I am tracking all of the letters in cabin and captain announcements. We were to do 4 ports in Iceland. We just did one yesterday that was a substitute...I don't have access to the name as I am typing this...it started with "S" and looked very difficult to pronounce (for me anyway!)

 

Anyway, it appears as if we will be bypassing the remainder of the ports due to weather. Disappointing. 

I reckon that could have been Seydisfjordur - always wanted to go there was it nice?

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Nicole&Pete

Nicole&Pete

Posted
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Just now, deltaqueenie said:

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.

This sounds terrible, I did a similar itinerary last year and would have been very disappointed at this as to me that would not be a cruise to Iceland. I mean to cancel Grundafjordur to have another day in Reykjavik or substitute Akureyri for Seydifjordur fine but to cancel 3 ports????

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Glide

Glide

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On 5/21/2023 at 10:53 AM, JG&Lcruisingnewbies said:

I’m so sad for you both right now 😞 


Had a quick look on Marine Traffic. Have you been trying to get into Akureyri and having to come away again?  Your route on the tracker looks a right mess 😱

 

I hope you guys are ok & they sort out an alternative itinerary for you 😢

IMG_0711.png

Captain announced at about 8am that he had tried to get into port but the winds were to strong, so we have abandoned Akureyri and set back out to sea.

Then a medical emergency meant that an hour later we were sailing back to Akureyri to get someone to a Hospital. Hope whoever is sick recovers safely.

Now we are headed back out to sea again.

Strangely, the weather seems fine on on deck, and sea very flat, and the wind appears calm. The Windy app on my android phone is showing an 8 knot wind so puzzling to me why we can't get ashore, but that's the captains call, not a novice like me.

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Rick&Jeannie "Live from...." Rare

Rick&Jeannie

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1 hour ago, lucas34 said:

So sad about the harbors in Iceland.

 

Is Marco Fortezz now the captain?

 

I hope you can make it to Reykjavik!

Yes, Marco is the captain. 

Supposedly the jury is still out as far as Reykjavik goes.

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gottagocit Holiday Sharing Rare

gottagocit

Posted
Posted

Sorry to see you’re missing the Iceland ports. We so wanted to visit there a few years ago and had issues as well. 
 

Apparently the wind direction is critical to being able to dock at some of the Iceland ports. On two cruises to Iceland we have made 3 of 5 port calls. The other two were canceled due to weather. These were both in the last 4-5 years and we didn’t have severe winds. 
As for rental cars and being reimbursed by Princess, they won’t be reimbursing anyone who shelled out money for car or independent tour bookings at any port. We never book a car that doesn’t offer free cancellation, ever. Since we are always dependent on either a ship port call or a flight to get us to the place of rental, neither are guaranteed to occur as scheduled and too often get changed. Most reputable car rental companies do offer free cancellation so it’s never a problem or hasn’t been so far.
Tour companies are another matter and everyone must weight their own tolerance for loss of deposit or full payment should you not make the port stop. Luckily many tour companies won’t charge you for that unless they’re out money for bookings on your behalf such as hotel or unique experiences. 

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snoozecrooze

snoozecrooze

Posted
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I was debating whether or not to start a Live thread last night to discuss what has transpired onboard but decided my head was spinning enough lol

 

- first, two days ago, Seydisfjordur was announced because Akureyri would be pushed back while Isafjordur would be canceled

- then, Grundarfjordur and Reykjavik was announced as canceled to the shock of a silenced ship last night after another shocker of a magic show in the theater (a whole another story), so then Isafjordur was revived once again

- and then Akureyri knocked off this morning at 8AM

 

It's really quite sad and unfortunate, especially since the trip is like a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us, but...I don't really fault the captain at the end of the day. The weather has been petulant and forecasts do show the western side of Iceland will be slammed, as Captain Fortezze has said. And those in my traveling group made it out to the open deck this morning shortly after the captain's announcement and the winds were definitely howling -- it's easy to understand why docking was canceled. Still, you wonder what could have been had this low front just not decided to whip itself into a frenzy. Alas. But we're still on a cruise in a majestic region of the world! Beats cubicle life any day and the scenery has been wonderful regardless.

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lucas34

lucas34

Posted
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36 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

So sorry, we know how dissapointing this can be.  A few years back, we had all of our Iceland/Greenland ports canceled due to weather.  A big bummer!

Which cruise ship?

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Buckeye10640

Buckeye10640

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So sorry you are missing all of these ports. We all know it can happen but never expect it will happen to us!  So disappointing... hopefully they will get you in somewhere,  and offer some compensation or FCC.  I am considering a similar  cruise for next year and wondering if this is common or if it is  seasonal?

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JG&Lcruisingnewbies

JG&Lcruisingnewbies

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15 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

So sorry you are missing all of these ports. We all know it can happen but never expect it will happen to us!  So disappointing... hopefully they will get you in somewhere,  and offer some compensation or FCC.  I am considering a similar  cruise for next year and wondering if this is common or if it is  seasonal?

apparently It’s fairly common due to wind direction- not necessarily wind strength

I too was wondering if a ship sailing in height of summer has less risk

 

I live near Southampton, so cruising to Iceland is easier for me. And so is flying to it for a short holiday

 

These itinerary changes are disappointing for anyone. But if you fly a long way to get to Southampton it must be even more gutting 😞

 

totally agree that some fcc should be offered. I know they don’t have to & the T&Cs state they can’t be responsible for changes- but with so many cancellations rather than changes I’d hope they’d offer some to the poor people on the cruise, unless more iceland ports become possible

 

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