Help please: celebrity silhouette to Iceland/ Ireland. I don’t know what I’m doing!

[dleahy4444]

Sailing July 2024. First time to Iceland. First time on the Silhouette. I booked a sunset veranda at a premium expecting great views as we approached port but now I’ve read that the real scenery is once you are on land? (Ican book an Aqua room for less, so if there is not much to see perhaps I’d switch) 

What are the must sees? Any tour recommendations? I’d appreciate any and all suggestions. Thanks so much!!

[lynncarol]

what ports are you visiting in Iceland?

[dleahy4444]

6 hours ago, lynncarol said:

what ports are you visiting in Iceland?

AKUREYRI, ICELAND ISAFJORDUR, ICELAND REYKJAVIK, ICELAND

[janetcbl]

On 2/22/2024 at 1:24 PM, dleahy4444 said:

Sailing July 2024. First time to Iceland. First time on the Silhouette. I booked a sunset veranda at a premium expecting great views as we approached port but now I’ve read that the real scenery is once you are on land? (Ican book an Aqua room for less, so if there is not much to see perhaps I’d switch) 

What are the must sees? Any tour recommendations? I’d appreciate any and all suggestions. Thanks so much!!

The Golden Circle is the most popular tour and probably a good suggestion for a first time visitor to Iceland. It includes Skogfoss, Geysir and Thingvellir. The first is a waterfall, the second a Geysir and the third is where the first parliament was held and where the North American and Eurasian plates come together (they have been growing apart- and you can see down in many places.) Many companies have this tour from Reykjavik.

 

[dleahy4444]

9 minutes ago, janetcbl said:

The Golden Circle is the most popular tour and probably a good suggestion for a first time visitor to Iceland. It includes Skogfoss, Geysir and Thingvellir. The first is a waterfall, the second a Geysir and the third is where the first parliament was held and where the North American and Eurasian plates come together (they have been growing apart- and you can see down in many places.) Many companies have this tour from Reykjavik.

 

Thanks so much! I will look into it

[lynncarol]

Is your ship overnighting in Reykjavik?  If so, try to get one of the later afternoon tours of the Golden Circle.  My husband and I have done this twice: once during an independent week in Iceland in 2006 and another in 2016 while on a TransAtlantic cruise. We were both stunned at how many more folks were visiting these sites in 2016 then 10 years earlier and I understand the crowds have only gotten worse now. So...you need a tour out of Reykjavik that either leaves port really early, or if, overnighting, later in the day.

Akureyri, at least in 2016, was a gorgeous area and much less crowded. We used Saga Tours for a full-day tour of the area that ended up with time at the Nature Baths. Isafjordur is a very small port and most cruise-ships use tenders. (Or at least  they did when we visited in 2016). When two ships are in town, it was a mob scene.  Try to get a ship excursion to see the nearby falls would be my suggestion, as you would get your money back if that port is skipped during bad weather.

[edinburgher]

On 2/22/2024 at 7:24 PM, dleahy4444 said:

What are the must sees? Any tour recommendations? I’d appreciate any and all suggestions.

You could do an easy search for past threads for all your ports using the CC SEARCH tool and read some for info and ideas.

 

To get you started, I think this is a good one for Akureyri.Ignore the first few posts on it, as it quickly morphs into recommenations for tours and tour operators.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=akureyri&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=2705

 

And have you joined any Roll Call for your ship and sail date?  Your RC is where you will find fellow pax on your sailing and with whom you can exchange info and ideas for port suggestions. And some of those fellow passengers may have arranged private tours and are looking for others like yourself to join them. You mentioned Silhouette.  Now you only need to search for any RC which matches your sail date.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/506-celebrity-silhouette-roll-calls/

 

Note that you must be logged in to access any RCs, even to read.

Edited February 25 by edinburgher

[dleahy4444]

8 minutes ago, edinburgher said:

You could do an easy search for past threads for all your ports using the CC SEARCH tool and read some for info and ideas.

 

To get you started, I think this is a good one for Akureyri.Ignore the first few posts on it, as it quickly morphs into recommenations for tours and tour operators.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=akureyri&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=2705

 

And have you joined any Roll Call for your ship and sail date?  Your RC is where you will find fellow pax on your sailing and with whom you can exchange info and ideas for port suggestions. And some of those fellow passengers may have arranged private tours and are looking for others like yourself to join them. You mentioned Silhouette.  Now you only need to search for any RC which matches your sail date.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/506-celebrity-silhouette-roll-calls/

 

Note that you must be logged in to access any RCs, even to read.

Thank you so much for these useful recommendations. I’m not very good at using the search engine so the links you provided are very helpful. I am also going to join the roll call today. Thanks again!!

[dleahy4444]

20 hours ago, lynncarol said:

Is your ship overnighting in Reykjavik?  If so, try to get one of the later afternoon tours of the Golden Circle.  My husband and I have done this twice: once during an independent week in Iceland in 2006 and another in 2016 while on a TransAtlantic cruise. We were both stunned at how many more folks were visiting these sites in 2016 then 10 years earlier and I understand the crowds have only gotten worse now. So...you need a tour out of Reykjavik that either leaves port really early, or if, overnighting, later in the day.

Akureyri, at least in 2016, was a gorgeous area and much less crowded. We used Saga Tours for a full-day tour of the area that ended up with time at the Nature Baths. Isafjordur is a very small port and most cruise-ships use tenders. (Or at least  they did when we visited in 2016). When two ships are in town, it was a mob scene.  Try to get a ship excursion to see the nearby falls would be my suggestion, as you would get your money back if that port is skipped during bad weather.

So many good ideas. Thank you. We are in Reykjavik just for the day, 7am-9pm but long enough for a golden circle tour. Do you think we would be ok booking an independent tour company for the golden circle or should I stick with the ship excursions? I am going to look into booking a ship excursion for Isafjordur based on your suggestion 

[edinburgher]

10 minutes ago, dleahy4444 said:

I’m not very good at using the search engine so the links you provided are very helpful.

for each port, go to the correct geographical forum ,( although CC isn't always accurate with these).

 

Stay on the main general page, not an individual thread.

 

There will be any empty SEARCH box directly under your user name. In turn, enter the name of each port, or town or city or whatever, and hit the little magnifying glass. Within a few seconds, all past threads which include that word should appear ready for you to choose which to read.

Edited February 25 by edinburgher

[dleahy4444]

3 minutes ago, edinburgher said:

for each port, go to the correct geographical forum ,( although CC isn't always accurate with these).

 

Stay on the main general page, not an individual thread.

 

There will be any empty SEARCH box directly under your user name. In turn, enter the name of each port, or town or city or whatever, and hit the little magnifying glass. Within a few seconds, all past threads which include that word should appear ready for you to choose which to read.

Thanks😊

[lynncarol]

You should be fine using local tours in Reykjavik. We used GeoIceland tours for the Golden Circle in 2016 and were very pleased. They picked us up right on the pier.  I just googled them and they are still in business with a 97% rating in TripAdvisor.  

[dleahy4444]

20 hours ago, lynncarol said:

You should be fine using local tours in Reykjavik. We used GeoIceland tours for the Golden Circle in 2016 and were very pleased. They picked us up right on the pier.  I just googled them and they are still in business with a 97% rating in TripAdvisor.  

Thanks so much, I’m going to take a look. 

[Nitemare]

You might also want to check the Iceland forum at Tripadvisor (sister company to CruiseCritic).  It is a very active forum with lots of excursion advice.  A few of us hang out there, too.

[dleahy4444]

1 hour ago, Nitemare said:

You might also want to check the Iceland forum at Tripadvisor (sister company to CruiseCritic).  It is a very active forum with lots of excursion advice.  A few of us hang out there, too.

Thanks for the tip!

[toucan49]

On 2/22/2024 at 1:24 PM, dleahy4444 said:

Sailing July 2024. First time to Iceland. First time on the Silhouette. I booked a sunset veranda at a premium expecting great views as we approached port but now I’ve read that the real scenery is once you are on land? (Ican book an Aqua room for less, so if there is not much to see perhaps I’d switch) 

What are the must sees? Any tour recommendations? I’d appreciate any and all suggestions. Thanks so much!!

In Akureyri go to the Godafoss waterfalls. I use GetYourGuide for my tour last year...and again this year.

[dleahy4444]

56 minutes ago, toucan49 said:

In Akureyri go to the Godafoss waterfalls. I use GetYourGuide for my tour last year...and again this year.

Thank you for your response but we canceled this cruise in favor of the Best of Scandinavia cruise 

[Nitemare]

For what it's worth, @toucan49,Getyourguide is a third party booker (like Viator and others), not a direct provider.  In places like Iceland, third parties are a bad idea because weather can change plans in an instant, and getting communication from a traveler to the provider or the other way on short notice is risky.

 

I generally don't recommend using third parties to book excursions at all, unless there is a strong, compelling reason to do so, like the provider just doesn't offer direct booking.