NCL Prima to Iceland

[YES2ES]

We are cruising in April on the Prima for 15 days and one port of call is Iceland.  We are scheduled to stay overnight.  I am wondering a few things about this port:

 

1) Is there a specific time we have to be back on board for the overnight.

2) What excursions did anyone take and what they thought of them.

3) Are there other things to do besides the excursions?

 

Any other helpful info would be appreciated.  Thanks.

 

[BirdTravels]

The gangway is open 24/7 on an overnight port call. 

[Huntingdon1701]

7 hours ago, wannabee1994 said:

 

2) What excursions did anyone take and what they thought of them.

3) Are there other things to do besides the excursions?

 

Any other helpful info would be appreciated.  Thanks.

 

 

Which port(s)? If it's Reykjavik then there are some good whale watching options, which will be cheaper than the ships tours. http://www.elding.is/ You can also take a trip to one of the hot spring lagoons - Sky Lagoon is quieter and newer (it's also closer and cheaper to get to) than Blue Lagoon . Easily accessible by taxi. The city is very walkable too and there are some food tours which will give you a good experience as well as food. It's well worth exploring and seeing the Cathedral. 

 

You can also do the Golden Circle but that might be pushing it with the time you have available if it's the transatlantic. I'd try for a whale watching experience and walk through the city.  

[mistertomatoe]

8 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

The gangway is open 24/7 on an overnight port call. 

 

Do you mean that specifically for Iceland or in general? Also, sometimes they won't let you back on the ship until the next morning if you miss a cutoff time. I've also booked the cruise in question. My past experience is sometimes they will do things differently depending on the situation so there are exceptions. I wonder if weather could be a factor.

[Asawi]

1 hour ago, mistertomatoe said:

 

Do you mean that specifically for Iceland or in general? .

I wasn't the one posting before, but on the three overnights I've done (Norway, Ireland, USA) gangway has been open all night and it has been possible to go on/off as you wish.

[cruisersMandW]

We had an overnight in Reykjavik on another cruise line.  A member of our CC group put together tours of The Golden Circle and South Coast through a local tour operator. They were 2 of the best tour guides I've ever had the pleasure of seeing.  Just note that distances are rather long so you will spend considerable time on the bus/ van (ours was a brand new larger van). It was well worth it because we really got to see the area.  I don't know if this link will work but it gives you enough info to find them.

https://yourdaytours.is/iceland/tours/golden-circle-afternoon-tour/

[MagnoliaBlossom]

We spent several days in Reyjakvik after our cruise. To Iceland last year.  We used Nice Travels and did three days of touring.   The Golden Circle is beautiful, fascinating because of the way they use geothermal heat,  if you can only do one tour I would recommend that.  The area the volcano is currently threatening is in the GC, and has temporarily forced the shut down of the Blue Lagoon.  Not sure if the other geothermal pools are open or not.and of course your cruise is sometime off so things can certainly be back to normal by then.

 

in one of the Icelandic ports prior to Reykjavik we did a ships tour to a beautiful waterfall.  It was beautiful and an amazing display of Mother Natures raw power.  
 

iceland is a beautiful place.  We are booked to return there for a cruise and will spend several days prior to see the sites we couldn’t squeeze into our three day visit.

 

enjoy!

[mking8288]

15 hours ago, wannabee1994 said:

We are cruising in April on the Prima for 15 days and one port of call is Iceland.  We are scheduled to stay overnight.  I am wondering ...

Welcome to Cruise Critic - and might I suggest that you come over & join the Prima TA roll call, activities and posts are picking up ... it is somewhat not well organized, but hopefully, things will get sorted all instead of a free-for-all. 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2908135-norwegian-prima-april-27-2024-15-day-transatlantic-france-iceland/page/8/

 

For port info - you can also browse & look into the Port of Call sections - here - https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/116-northern-europe-amp-baltic-sea/

 

In addition, have you use TripAdvisor online to look up and explore - that's CC's parent/affiliate, etc. 

Edited January 7 by mking8288

[dexddd]

We had an overnight there in late 2022.  Got there early due to missing a port.

 

We didn't have anything planned first day because of early arrival.  Socialite DW met a couple folks at the Local who had been there before.  He said he'd walk us into town.  Was a group of about twenty of us who walked to Leif Erikson, not to be confused with Leif Garrett, church.  It was a hike but our guide was entertaining.  No tip given though.

 

We then peeled off so DW and DD could shop.  Took taxi back to ship.  Note they docked where you either took a two minute bus ride to a shop for release or you could walk to shop along a path.  Since there were never many cabs in that area our cab was mobbed by those waiting and I felt like Leif Garrett, err, Erikson.  One of those.

 

Second day we had trip booked thru company starting with 'V'.  Great and not too pricey.  Had like a 30 seater bus.

 

MKing, you going late April?  If so, enough time to get base station and grow ops ready or are they already on standby?  Must be selling well as inside $4,000 and Haven cheapest over $20,000 up to $35,000. I can't sail and sustain at home at those prices.

 

OP, welcome to CC.

[mking8288]

@Dexddd - affirmative on your Q. DW convinced that it make sense to help "escort" her on the TA return to UK this time and 15 days onboard - taking bets as to whether we'll skip ports & how many, etc.  "The Price is Right" worked this time, stacked a 10% FCC discount from the Escape floating NY harbor hotel cruise on top of a 20% savings, CruiseNext DoubleUp and extra points ... and, the kicker cashed in one-time only cabin upgrade with a nice cabin to "chill" so the overall costs isn't bad.  Used 30k points to upgrade a 2nd cabin.  Didn't get time to check out the upper deck in November so ... do you wanna join, book last minute as I see good # of cabins.  Wait until they release the upgrade bidding.  

 

Base station & rest are on "continuous readiness" with carry-ons in "Go Bags" status, LOL.  Just need to decide to bring the Sony running Ubuntu or Dell NB on W11, now that these winter bench projects are nearly done.  

 

Back on subject, book a Reykjavik car rental for the overnight stop since it's just 4 of us on the overnight (not Hertz - airport is too far) with a 15 minutes walk to pickup location ... sounds like I shouldn't count on flagging down a taxi and just bundle up & walk over.  Google Map navigation should suffice from my research & sunset isn't until 10 PM ... that'll work for us.  Not finding too many good tours that start in the mid/afternoon on this extraordinary itinerary.  

[YES2ES]

Thanks MKing.  I am following the thread and sign up for the crawl and pull. 

[Slyfox16]

Where does the ship dock, when it overnights in Reykjavik?

[marys350]

25 minutes ago, Slyfox16 said:

Where does the ship dock, when it overnights in Reykjavik?

Skarfabakki Cruise Terminal.

https://www.iceland-highlights.com/cruise-ship-terminals-in-reykjavik-a-guide-for-cruise-passengers/

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, marys350 said:

Skarfabakki Cruise Terminal.

https://www.iceland-highlights.com/cruise-ship-terminals-in-reykjavik-a-guide-for-cruise-passengers/

And when our Prima cruise was there for an overnight this past August, there was a HAL ship that was docked out at sea which meant their cruisers would have to tender.

[PhillyTravelBug]

I would recommend a golden circle excursion if time allows.  Not sure what your port

times are for Reykjavik.

[mking8288]

@PhillyTravelBug  Coming eastbound from Halifax ... scheduled arrival is on a SUNDAY 13:00 hours at Reykjavik, overnight and depart for Amsterdam on Monday 14:00 hours (all abroad no later than 13:30) 

[PhillyTravelBug]

That's a bummer. We stayed a few nights before our cruise left and this was an 11 hour excursion. We got to see lots of falls, a volcanic crater, and the blue lagoon