Almost live Iceland’s Majestic Landscapes, July 28th 2023

[duquephart]

4 hours ago, FatBoy20 said:

Iceland & Norway are both very expensive.

 

.4L glass of Guiness Stout in a Norway hotel was nearly $15. Then they had the gall to include a tip line on the bill.

[Mackdogmolly]

4 hours ago, FatBoy20 said:

Iceland & Norway are both very expensive.

As is Denmark.

[WanderingBrit]

We stayed at Fosshotel Lind, $226 per night. They offered early check in and rooms so spotless they were positively spartan. Scandinavians looked at the decor and said “wow, that’s sterile”. The room was small, but the location was good. Easy walking distance but quiet at night.

View from our room, and outside.

 

 

 

[WanderingBrit]

Having unpacked, a quiet moment to recuperate seemed called for. I quite like the Jaquard Brut.

 

Bridge tour booked for August 2nd, a sea day.

[duquephart]

20 minutes ago, WanderingBrit said:

Having unpacked, a quiet moment to recuperate seemed called for. I quite like the Jaquard Brut.

 

Bridge tour booked for August 2nd, a sea day.

 

 

Bridge tour? Lucky!

[WanderingBrit]

31 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

Bridge tour? Lucky!

That’s why it was on my “embarkation afternoon “ to do list 😎

[duquephart]

7 minutes ago, WanderingBrit said:

That’s why it was on my “embarkation afternoon “ to do list 😎

 

Lucky in the sense that the tour was even offered - quite often not. Seems to depend on the captain.

[WanderingBrit]

Viking isn’t just my cruise line, they’re a customer- even though I work for a different division of Ecolab 😎

[WanderingBrit]

You could visit Reykjavik a dozen times and not have an evening as nice as this

 

[CurlerRob]

1 hour ago, WanderingBrit said:

You could visit Reykjavik a dozen times and not have an evening as nice as this

 

That about sums up our experiences 🤬. Still love the city / country! 🍺🥌

 

 

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, CurlerRob said:

 

That about sums up our experiences 🤬. Still love the city / country! 🍺🥌

 

 

 

But, making lemonade, you got a rainbow.

[WanderingBrit]

Based on limited observations, service is not what we experienced 2 years ago on Orion sailing around Bermuda - when admittedly the ship was at 50% capacity.

 

Seated in two areas of the World Cafe yesterday evening we had to flag down someone to ask for water, or walk up to the bar to request the house wine pour. No one ever checked to see if we needed refills, and we put dirty plates on a table next to us where they sat apparently unnoticed.

 

Breakfast in the Restaurant this morning was something of a let down. The staff had chosen to open only half of the space, presumably because of early excursions leading to lower numbers. They picked the starboard side facing the industrial port, rather than the port side looking out over beautiful landscapes. This also meant that diners had to walk through the disembarkation staff to get to the Restaurant, which was awkward.

 

Despite low numbers, we were still seated at one of the 737 layout two tops, closer than we would have chosen to other guests. Breakfast took 35 minutes to arrive, by which time the toast was cold, having been on the table for 25 minutes. My wife’s eggs Benedict were at best lukewarm, cold in places. There was no check to see if we needed more water - both our glasses were empty  - and no check to see if I wanted more tea, I had to ask. We popped up to the World Cafe to grab some fruit, and saw that we could have had our choice of nicely spaced tables facing the mountains, so I’m certain we’ll be having breakfast there from now on.

 

Service in The Living Room was excellent, too much so, and we rather got our Silver Spirit’s money back in Jaquard Brut yesterday afternoon 😁 . Our room steward is exemplary - apparently popping in whenever we’re out to switch out sodas as we’d asked, or replace toiletries we’d moved in to the shower. When we bumped into him this morning he seemed genuinely to want us to have something, anything, we could ask of him, so I asked for foam pillows which arrived 5 minutes later.

 

Time for our first excursion!

[WanderingBrit]

A nice enough included excursion, “Panoramic Reykjavik”, that gave nice views over the city from the Perlan followed by a very informative tour of the whale museum.

 

Lunch at The World Cafe was plenty tasty for me, a bit more challenging for my vegetarian wife. After sitting and watching other tables seat, and be waited on for drinks, I have to conclude that I’m putting out some sort of vibe that makes waiters ignore me. We again had to get up and flag someone down in order to get water.

 

[WanderingBrit]

Our room was immaculate when we returned to it, though some sort of maintenance activity has meant we can’t use our balcony.

 

We very much enjoyed the thermal spa, and are now enjoying the main pool, where we were promptly visited to see if we’d like a drink.

[Peregrina651]

6 hours ago, WanderingBrit said:

Seated in two areas of the World Cafe yesterday evening we had to flag down someone to ask for water, or walk up to the bar to request the house wine pour. No one ever checked to see if we needed refills, and we put dirty plates on a table next to us where they sat apparently unnoticed.

 

Well, that's not good!

 

How much do you want to bet that this changes in the next 24-48 hours once the home office passes this information on the hotel manager and restaurant manager.

 

Keep an eye on it and comment again if you don't see any changes of behavior.

 

6 hours ago, WanderingBrit said:

The staff had chosen to open only half of the space, presumably because of early excursions leading to lower numbers.

 

They always open the same section for breakfast, right behind the host desk. They rarely have enough people eating in there to warrant opening more seating. STILL, that does not explain why it took so long for you to be served.

 

1 hour ago, WanderingBrit said:

a bit more challenging for my vegetarian wife.

 

Make sure to check BOTH sides of the service line; they are not exact duplicates. Lunch is also available at the Pool Grill and be sure to check the noodle station on the aft end of the service lines, portside Iand ask if they can do a vegetable stir fry for you. (I'll sometimes stop and ask for just plain noodles with a bit of butter or olive oil; they have never said no).

 

That said, have a chat with the staff and see what they might suggest to supplement her choices. Remember the squeaky wheel😉.

 

6 hours ago, WanderingBrit said:

apparently popping in whenever we’re out to switch out sodas as we’d asked

.

Giving credit where credit is due: Actually, the stewards are not responsible for the contents of minibar. That's a team from another department (and hence on a different schedule from your steward).

 

BTW: If you want to make sure that your minibar is serviced daily, don't leave the "Do not disturb" sign on the door while you are out of the cabin for the day. That sign is sacrosanct and crew will not enter your cabin or even knock except in an emergency.

 

Finally, GREAT BLOG!!! Lots of helpful information for future cruisers --not to mention the great pictures. Thanks.

[WanderingBrit]

Pool area staff were exceptional; we were brought complimentary sorbet, had a touching chat with a lovely waiter from Uganda who, at 38, was outside his country for the first time. When he first approached us to ask if we needed anything he said it made him delighted to see us - which I dismissed as a bit OTT. As we chatted with him later I understood the sincerity of his meaning; in Uganda he “only ever saw white people from a distance. I thought they were gods …. but now I see we are all gods the same!”

 

All aboard was 5pm, but at 5:20 we saw Viking excursions still returning and no sign of us casting off any time soon. This reinforces the argument in favor of cruise line excursions - the ship will wait for you if you’re late back!

[CurlerRob]

10 minutes ago, WanderingBrit said:

This reinforces the argument in favor of cruise line excursions - the ship will wait for you if you’re late back!

 

Just for new cruisers - they will try to wait, but it's not always possible. There may be tidal requirements, port deadlines or impending weather issues, any of which may force the ship to leave cruise line excursion pax behind.

 

The upside is that the cruise line will do all it can to reunite you with the ship, but that may be a bit of an adventure as well!

 

Greatly enjoying your detailed and measured impressions ... thank you! 🍺🥌

[duquephart]

Isn't there some sort of guarantee that the ship will not leave behind anyone on a Viking excursion? I think it's one of the points they make to dissuade people from booking non-Viking tours which are often better and substancially cheaper.

[CurlerRob]

43 minutes ago, duquephart said:

Isn't there some sort of guarantee that the ship will not leave behind anyone on a Viking excursion? I think it's one of the points they make to dissuade people from booking non-Viking tours which are often better and substancially cheaper.

 

Nope - that's a commonly held misconception, sometimes reinforced by inaccurate information from cruise line reps. See my post #42 for some examples. Or, if you prefer the painful language, check out item 15d in the pax ticket contract - like all cruise lines, there is zero guarantee that you will not have to be left behind. 🍺🥌

Edited July 29, 2023 by CurlerRob
Completion

[SJD117]

14 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

 

Nope - that's a commonly held misconception, sometimes reinforced by inaccurate information from cruise line reps. See my post #42 for some examples. Or, if you prefer the painful language, check out item 15d in the pax ticket contract - like all cruise lines, there is zero guarantee that you will not have to be left behind. 🍺🥌

There are far worse places than Iceland to be left behind. Just make sure you have a fat wallet.  🙃

[WanderingBrit]

Chef’s Table was perfect this evening. I’d made the reservation hoping to align nicely with sail away, and nailed it.

 

We were seated at table #1, the rearmost 2 top by a window. A quiet corner with a good view of the room and out the window of Reykjavik sailing by. The 4 top next to us was never occupied.

 

We’d had the Asian Panorama menu 2 years ago, but it still seemed fresh. At each course the vegetarian alternative for my wife was excellent, even down to how well it paired to the wine. Her alternative menu was also different from what we’d had 2 years ago, as were the wine pairings. Service was everything one could hope for, and it was a standout evening!

 

Music and coffee in the atrium are the perfect complement.

[cmmaxwell03]

2 minutes ago, WanderingBrit said:

Chef’s Table was perfect this evening. I’d made the reservation hoping to align nicely with sail away, and nailed it.

 

We were seated at table #1, the rearmost 2 top by a window. A quiet corner with a good view of the room and out the window of Reykjavik sailing by. The 4 top next to us was never occupied.

 

We’d had the Asian Panorama menu 2 years ago, but it still seemed fresh. At each course the vegetarian alternative for my wife was excellent, even down to how well it paired to the wine. Her alternative menu was also different from what we’d had 2 years ago, as were the wine pairings. Service was everything one could hope for, and it was a standout evening!

 

Music and coffee in the atrium are the perfect complement.

Happy to hear they nailed it when it came to dinner at the Chef's Table.  Also happy that the options for your wife were equally enjoyable.

[ReaderGirl57]

We are just off this same cruise on the Jupiter - from Bergen to Reykjavik. We ate in the World Cafe almost exclusively - if you sit on the starboard side near the stern you may encounter Julian who is wonderful about keeping your wine glass filled. This was our first Viking Cruise and will most likely not be our last. Except for the dealings with the home office pre-cruise (difficult to say the least), we loved everything about it - especially the friendliness of the staff, the excellent enrichment lectures, and the delicious food (well except for the watered down orange juice). It’s a great itinerary. Even the on and off rain for the entire Norwegian portion didn’t matter in the end. And we were able to visit the Faroes! As the captain said - “The Faroes are sort of like the Loch Ness Monster: often talked about but seldom seen.” But the seas were calm and we didn’t need our Dramamine in the end. 
I look forward to your postings so I can relive what was a fabulous cruise!

[WanderingBrit]

Daylight never ends! It’s fun to actually be a ship at sea, to feel the thrum deep down in the keel.

 

I picked a starboard cabin so we’d have views of land as we sail clockwise around Iceland. We think the PV cabins are the perfect sweet spot between price, space, and amenities. Eagle eyed may spot the magnetic clips I use to manage our excursion tickets 😎

[May B]

1 hour ago, ReaderGirl57 said:

We are just off this same cruise on the Jupiter - from Bergen to Reykjavik. We ate in the World Cafe almost exclusively - if you sit on the starboard side near the stern you may encounter Julian who is wonderful about keeping your wine glass filled. This was our first Viking Cruise and will most likely not be our last. Except for the dealings with the home office pre-cruise (difficult to say the least), we loved everything about it - especially the friendliness of the staff, the excellent enrichment lectures, and the delicious food (well except for the watered down orange juice). It’s a great itinerary. Even the on and off rain for the entire Norwegian portion didn’t matter in the end. And we were able to visit the Faroes! As the captain said - “The Faroes are sort of like the Loch Ness Monster: often talked about but seldom seen.” But the seas were calm and we didn’t need our Dramamine in the end. 
I look forward to your postings so I can relive what was a fabulous cruise!

Next time, don’t drink THAT o.j.; ask for fresh-squeezed. Sometimes they have to get it sent up from The Restaurant, but sometimes they already have it there.

 

Right now, the Jupiter is on the top of its game. Not perfect, but really great.