NCL Prima ... Isafjordur, Iceland

[bluesea777]

Prima is DOCKED ... first visit to Isafjordur this year, and first time docked.

 

 

No, correction: it's Prima's first time to Isafjordur ever!!

 

 

[ontheweb]

28 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

Prima is DOCKED ... first visit to Isafjordur this year, and first time docked.

 

 

No, correction: it's Prima's first time to Isafjordur ever!!

 

 

Glad for all passengers aboard, but for us that is basically 9 months late.

Edited May 21 by ontheweb

[Asawi]

Wow! That is good news! I'll be in Isafjordur on Star in September. I do hope we dock! 

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, Asawi said:

Wow! That is good news! I'll be in Isafjordur on Star in September. I do hope we dock! 

The passengers on the Star last summer at least were able to visit Isafjordur by tender unlike those of us on the newer Prima. I guess one of their improvements for a newer ship was to have lifeboats not certified as tenders.

 

But I do agree that it will be better for you if you can just walk off the dock rather than have to tender.

[Asawi]

12 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

But I do agree that it will be better for you if you can just walk off the dock rather than have to tender.

Absolutely! I was on Star last summer and we did indeed tender there. It was an easy tender so no big deal. But docking is nicer! And I felt bad for all the Prima passengers that missed the stop completely. So this really is great news!

[julig22]

6 minutes ago, Asawi said:

Absolutely! I was on Star last summer and we did indeed tender there. It was an easy tender so no big deal. But docking is nicer! And I felt bad for all the Prima passengers that missed the stop completely. So this really is great news!

Yes, was there in 2022 on the Star and it was a tender. Going again next month, also on the Star - docks are almost always a better option.

Interesting that the lifeboats on the Prima can't be used as tenders - sounds like someone really missed the mark on that decision.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, Asawi said:

Absolutely! I was on Star last summer and we did indeed tender there. It was an easy tender so no big deal. But docking is nicer! And I felt bad for all the Prima passengers that missed the stop completely. So this really is great news!

Before the season started and it became evident that the ship was going to skip Isafjordur, we (sailing on the Prima) booked a private excursion that really sounded interesting. The small tour operator informed us due to her costs there would be 5% not returned if the ship did not make it there to port. We agreed as it was not that much.

 

And then the ship kept skipping the port. When I kept telling her that I really did not think the ship was going to let us get off, she then at one point said it sounded like we really did not want the tour. Cancelling would have cost us all our money. I told her no we really wanted it, but doubted it could happen.

 

And then we finally got the notice that the port was officially cancelled, and I forwarded it to her. She then wrote back that since it was not weather causing the ship to not port there, she at first intended to keep 40% of our money. (If she had done that, I would have filed a complaint with the credit card company). Then she said she cooled off and decided it was also not our fault. She then said she was keeping 10% instead of 5%. The difference really was not enough to make a complaint about. Plus, I felt sorry for her as a small businesswoman whose season was being screwed over by NCL (and Iceland not finishing the dock). Oh, she did offer us a discount (I don't remember what %, maybe 5 or 10, if we booked with her again.)

[cruiseny4life]

19 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Before the season started and it became evident that the ship was going to skip Isafjordur, we (sailing on the Prima) booked a private excursion that really sounded interesting. The small tour operator informed us due to her costs there would be 5% not returned if the ship did not make it there to port. We agreed as it was not that much.

 

And then the ship kept skipping the port. When I kept telling her that I really did not think the ship was going to let us get off, she then at one point said it sounded like we really did not want the tour. Cancelling would have cost us all our money. I told her no we really wanted it, but doubted it could happen.

 

And then we finally got the notice that the port was officially cancelled, and I forwarded it to her. She then wrote back that since it was not weather causing the ship to not port there, she at first intended to keep 40% of our money. (If she had done that, I would have filed a complaint with the credit card company). Then she said she cooled off and decided it was also not our fault. She then said she was keeping 10% instead of 5%. The difference really was not enough to make a complaint about. Plus, I felt sorry for her as a small businesswoman whose season was being screwed over by NCL (and Iceland not finishing the dock). Oh, she did offer us a discount (I don't remember what %, maybe 5 or 10, if we booked with her again.)

Well you just had all sorts of fun with your canceled excursions on this cruise. 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

Well you just had all sorts of fun with your canceled excursions on this cruise. 

The funny thing is we did all the ports on our own. They cancelled the ports that we had excursions booked. In addition to Isafjordur where we had booked a private excursion well in advance, we had booked an NCL excursion, Brugge on Your Own, because we figured with the "free at sea" $50 discount for me and a latitudes discount for both of us, it made sense. Then they cancelled the port of Zeebrugges for an extremely low tide.

 

We did end up buying one excursion on the ship, going to the airport with a stop at a museum as DW said we are not spending forever at the airport (which we did anyway as our plane's departure was delayed.) Even then there was supposed to be 2 excursions, but the other one disappeared. She really wanted the other one, but it was just as will it was cancelled. It was a nature walk, and it was pouring that day. And the museum about the geology of Iceland was fascinating.

[PhillyTravelBug]

I’m glad to see the Prima finally docked there. We had 2 days in Akureyri, which ended up being enjoyable.

[ontheweb]

12 hours ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

I’m glad to see the Prima finally docked there. We had 2 days in Akureyri, which ended up being enjoyable.

We ended up with an extra sea day. I think it depended on which direction the ship was traveling. We were headed toward Reykjavik, was your cruise in the opposite direction? 

[kitkat343]

On 5/21/2024 at 5:34 PM, ontheweb said:

Before the season started and it became evident that the ship was going to skip Isafjordur, we (sailing on the Prima) booked a private excursion that really sounded interesting. The small tour operator informed us due to her costs there would be 5% not returned if the ship did not make it there to port. We agreed as it was not that much.

 

And then the ship kept skipping the port. When I kept telling her that I really did not think the ship was going to let us get off, she then at one point said it sounded like we really did not want the tour. Cancelling would have cost us all our money. I told her no we really wanted it, but doubted it could happen.

 

And then we finally got the notice that the port was officially cancelled, and I forwarded it to her. She then wrote back that since it was not weather causing the ship to not port there, she at first intended to keep 40% of our money. (If she had done that, I would have filed a complaint with the credit card company). Then she said she cooled off and decided it was also not our fault. She then said she was keeping 10% instead of 5%. The difference really was not enough to make a complaint about. Plus, I felt sorry for her as a small businesswoman whose season was being screwed over by NCL (and Iceland not finishing the dock). Oh, she did offer us a discount (I don't remember what %, maybe 5 or 10, if we booked with her again.)

I have a lot of sympathy for the local vendors that lost out on other opportunities all season, but in Europe there are some private tour operators who don't offer refunds at all.  So she needs to decide on a refund policy and post it on her website/include it in her informational email and stick to it.  Her moving refund policy would have made a real mess for people trying to get reimbursed from their travel insurance if her refund policy keeps changing.  

 

I'm considering planning a late trip to Iceland and might be too late for organized tours - did you feel your independent ones worked well?

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, kitkat343 said:

I have a lot of sympathy for the local vendors that lost out on other opportunities all season, but in Europe there are some private tour operators who don't offer refunds at all.  So she needs to decide on a refund policy and post it on her website/include it in her informational email and stick to it.  Her moving refund policy would have made a real mess for people trying to get reimbursed from their travel insurance if her refund policy keeps changing.  

 

I'm considering planning a late trip to Iceland and might be too late for organized tours - did you feel your independent ones worked well?

IIRC, the 5% if the ship did not make it was posted on her website as well as included in our e-mail correspondence.

 

In Akureyri, we intended to take an easy day and just go to the world's most Northernmost botanical garden. It was not as easy as planned as it was quite a hike uphill. We did also stop at a museum on the way.

 

We had previously been in Iceland, and DW decided the only thing we had missed was the Blue lagoon, so we booked that. Going to the airport, we onboard booked an excursion to the airport that included a museum dedicated to the geology of Iceland. It was fascinating. I wish we had more time there (especially as our flight was delayed. IIRC, the name of the museum was Perclan.

[bluesea777]

11 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

 

In Akureyri, we intended to take an easy day and just go to the world's most Northernmost botanical garden. It was not as easy as planned as it was quite a hike uphill. We did also stop at a museum on the way.

 

We had previously been in Iceland, and DW decided the only thing we had missed was the Blue lagoon, so we booked that. Going to the airport, we onboard booked an excursion to the airport that included a museum dedicated to the geology of Iceland. It was fascinating. I wish we had more time there (especially as our flight was delayed. IIRC, the name of the museum was Perclan.

 

The world's most Northernmost botanical garden is not in Akureyri but in TROMSO, Norway, that is way above the Arctic Circle.

 

About 99% of Iceland is below the Arctic Circle. 

 

 

[PhillyTravelBug]

9 hours ago, ontheweb said:

We ended up with an extra sea day. I think it depended on which direction the ship was traveling. We were headed toward Reykjavik, was your cruise in the opposite direction? 

Yes. I was happy we hit Iceland first. It was gorgeous, but then we got to Norway and was even better!

[ontheweb]

On 5/22/2024 at 3:25 PM, ontheweb said:

The funny thing is we did all the ports on our own. They cancelled the ports that we had excursions booked. In addition to Isafjordur where we had booked a private excursion well in advance, we had booked an NCL excursion, Brugge on Your Own, because we figured with the "free at sea" $50 discount for me and a latitudes discount for both of us, it made sense. Then they cancelled the port of Zeebrugges for an extremely low tide.

 

We did end up buying one excursion on the ship, going to the airport with a stop at a museum as DW said we are not spending forever at the airport (which we did anyway as our plane's departure was delayed.) Even then there was supposed to be 2 excursions, but the other one disappeared. She really wanted the other one, but it was just as will it was cancelled. It was a nature walk, and it was pouring that day. And the museum about the geology of Iceland was fascinating.

I realize I should correct myself, we actually did one shore excursion. In Alsesund, Norway we did an excursion exploring the art deco nature of that city,

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

 

The world's most Northernmost botanical garden is not in Akureyri but in TROMSO, Norway, that is way above the Arctic Circle.

 

About 99% of Iceland is below the Arctic Circle. 

 

 

Then we fell for false advertising for the botanical garden in Akureryi. 

 

BTW, we did enjoy it, and DW got lots and lots of pictures.

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

Yes. I was happy we hit Iceland first. It was gorgeous, but then we got to Norway and was even better!

Yes, Norway is a truly spectacular country.

 

We did scenery in Geigranger, museums plus the Funicular in Bergen, and explored the art deco in Alesund. All were very different ports. On a previous cruise we had a wonderful day in Oslo.

[Asawi]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Then we fell for false advertising for the botanical garden in Akureryi. 

 

BTW, we did enjoy it, and DW got lots and lots of pictures.

I'm sure you enjoyed it because it's a very nice botanical garden! Very well set up and a little bit of you more in many of the information signs.