Viking plane arrives at 7am at KEF. What to expect?

[Redtravel]

Our plane booked through Viking arrives at 7 am on the day of embarkation.  Embarkation doesn’t begin until 11am.  Transfer is included.  How do we spend time in between ? Is there somewhere that we can get breakfast?  

Edited August 5 by Redtravel

[CDNPolar]

1 minute ago, Redtravel said:

Our plane booked through Viking arrives at 7 am on the day of embarkation.  Embarkation doesn’t begin until 11am.  Transfer is included.  How do we spend time in between ?

 

Many things can happen here....!  

 

Viking will arrange - in our experience - a very timely transfer from the airport.  You should not wait long, if at all, once you have your luggage.

 

If you are arriving that early, so are others...

 

Viking will take you to a hotel conference room where there will be refreshments.  You will keep what you want in carryon luggage and the rest of the luggage will go directly to the ship.

 

We have also been hosted in a building right beside the ship.  Not exactly the cruise port building, but beside that.  It could be a reception area in the cruise port building. 

 

Once you can start your embarkation at 11am then you can go to the World Cafe for lunch.  Your cabins still may not be ready.

[dd57]

After we landed at Reykjavik oh so early, Viking took us to a restaurant.  This was in 2022.  On other cruises, both before and after ours, people reported being taken to a room at the concert hall.

[Breckski]

Let Viking provide you with the transfer to the designated waiting area - hopefully near town.  Then leave your bags with Viking to take to the ship and explore the city for a couple of hours.  Take a cab to the port.  Even if you've spent time in the city before, I'd still rather walk around and explore vs sitting with bunch of other folks essentially waiting for the doors to open.

[Capt_BJ]

last July they used a room at HARPA as the waiting area ...... about 2.2 miles from the pier ....

 

[deec]

that sounds like a great reason to go in early!!  After an all night flight who wants to sit in ball room?

[CDNPolar]

With our bags in Viking safe keeping, if the opportunity presents, we are going to let ourselves loose on the city / town.  After an overnight flight I don't want to rest or sleep, I want to explore and stay awake until at least 8pm or 9pm local time and then crash.  The more sightseeing we can fit in the better.  That is what we are there for.

[SteelCity Cruiser]

First, it is a good hour's drive from the airport into the city, so by the time you clear immigration and get your luggage/clear customs, find the Viking personnel, get on the bus, get everyone's luggage on the bus, etc, it could be close to 9 am before you get into the city.  We did our cruise in Iceland immediately post-covid so things may have changed, but we were taken to the Harpa to get checked in, pick up our room keys and excursion ticket and such, meanwhile  our luggage was taken to the ship - we only kept our day-bags with us. Viking provided a shuttle bus from the Harpa to the ship throughout the day.  We spent several hours walking around the city doing some sight seeing and shopping because it would be the only time we'd have to see the city itself.  We caught the shuttle to the ship around 1 pm - had a quick lunch then went to our stateroom to settle in.

[BRWolf]

On our cruise this summer, we arrived at approximately the same time.  The airport was somewhat crowded with arrivals and the Viking Representatives not easy to find.  Once we found one, it was smooth sailing (so to speak).  Getting our baggage was simple and we bought an item at the duty free shop. We boarded our bus and went straight to the ship.  No stop anywhere else.  No hotel, HARPA, nada, straight to the ship.  Only, the ship had moved.  Apparently a bigger ship bounced it from where it had first docked.  So, we did the check in at that location and boarded another bus to go to where the ship was docked.  Only, the bus driver didn't know how to get there.  They made three or four efforts and finally found the correct location.  So, we then boarded the ship.  It was an experience unlike any other.  Oh, sometime later, the ship moved again.  Don't know why.  

 

Luckily, our airline served a nice breakfast an hour or so before landing.

 

We hope your experience is much better.

[deec]

BRWolf that could have been a nightmare for an independent traveler trying to find the ship.

[LindaS272]

That’s why it’s prudent to bring your travel documents with you that include the phone number for the ship. If it’s not where it’s supposed to be, you can always call them!

 

(Although it didn’t work so well for us when taking a taxi back from HCMC to the massive port an hour or so away. We had the port address but it was very vague. Upon calling the ship (I took the Daily with us), they couldn’t even describe where the ship was docked!)

 

But no worries, Reykjavik is much smaller!

[Clay Clayton]

If you aren’t up to walking around but would like to get a taste of Iceland, I highly recommend spending the morning at Sky Lagoon. After the overnight flight with little to no sleep, it is great to be outside and enjoying the warm water soothing those muscles that weren’t used much during the flight.  

[Capt_BJ]

here's a left field hint. Load the MarineTraffic app on your phone. MarineTraffic gathers ship AIS positions and displays a real time map. You can enter your boat's name and if it is reporting to the AIS system, it gets displayed - and legally it should be reporting and major ports are covered. You can play with the website b4 marinetraffic.com.  For example look who's at Reyk' cruise terminal right now.

 

[The Other Tom]

Most flights to Europe from the US arrive in the morning, and all of them that I've been on serve breakfast an hour or so before landing.  As others have said, Viking will most likely provide a snack of some kind prior to embarking.  

[Redtravel]

Our plane was delayed 2 hours.  That got us into KEF at 9 am. Went through immigration and got our luggage.  Viking host took our luggage. It was delivered to the ship. We were escorted to a bus. Bus took us to the ship. By the time we got on the ship, it was close to 11am.  Dropped carryons in our cabin and went to the World Cafe.