Iceland - Reykjavik disembarkation information

[Jay19]

We are currently booked on an Iceland Intensive cruise with Azamara next year and I'm in the process of booking flights.   On the day our cruise finishes the ship arrival time is shown as 7am.    Has anyone done this cruise this year and can tell me what is the earliest time you are able to disembark if you carry your own luggage?   Also any experiences with getting to the airport and time to get through security/passport control etc?    I would be booking a private transfer to the airport so if anyone has any suggestions about who to use that would also be very helpful.   Thanks for any advice.

 

 

[uktog]

Last year embarkation started at 0800.  There was no immigration as I recall so it was about 10 minutes from gangway to pavement outside. The airport is a good hour out of town 

Edited October 4 by uktog

[Jay19]

Thanks very much for your reply.    Do you by any chance remember if there was any earlier disembarkation if you just walked off?    My problem is that the flight I need has changed its previous departure time from afternoon to mid morning and other possible alternatives seem to leave around the same time.   I'm trying to work out if there would be any chance at all of making it or whether it would be too risky.     

[uktog]

1 hour ago, Jay19 said:

Thanks very much for your reply.    Do you by any chance remember if there was any earlier disembarkation if you just walked off?    My problem is that the flight I need has changed its previous departure time from afternoon to mid morning and other possible alternatives seem to leave around the same time.   I'm trying to work out if there would be any chance at all of making it or whether it would be too risky.     

0800 was the early walk off.

[Jay19]

Thank you.    That makes the decision for us, it is obviously not doable.    I really appreciate your helpful advice as always!

[Cruiser Craig]

20 hours ago, Jay19 said:

We are currently booked on an Iceland Intensive cruise with Azamara next year and I'm in the process of booking flights.   On the day our cruise finishes the ship arrival time is shown as 7am.    Has anyone done this cruise this year and can tell me what is the earliest time you are able to disembark if you carry your own luggage?   Also any experiences with getting to the airport and time to get through security/passport control etc?    I would be booking a private transfer to the airport so if anyone has any suggestions about who to use that would also be very helpful.   Thanks for any advice.

 

 

It really depends if you have an overnight in Reykjavik or not.  We did overnight there this past July at the end of our Iceland Intensive and our flight had a schedule change to leave earlier than originally planned.  We walked off with our luggage at 4:30-5:00 AM.  Ungodly hours to disembark, but we made it to our flight!  And guess what, the food and beverage manager was waiting outside in order to wish those few who were disembarking at those early hours a safe journey home.

[Jay19]

Sadly we don't have an overnight and the ship isn't scheduled to arrive until 7am.   From uktog's post above, the earliest we would be able to disembark would be 8am which would mean no chance of getting there on time.   

 

It is certainly very impressive that the F & B Manager was on hand to say goodbye, I think that is one of the things Azamara do so well.    On other lines we haven't seen anyone around even in the daytime, let alone at the crack of dawn!   

[SkystheLimit]

The airport can be a bit chaotic with many arrivals and departures in the 9-12 slot.  We spent almost an hour and a half clearing everything before we actually were able to head to the gate. It was very foggy for our drive from the city to the airport.  It took about 30 minutes longer than normal for the bus. Our next trip we stayed at the Courtyard Marriott near the airport for an early departure.  Much better experience overall as far of time, etc.

 

[Jay19]

Thanks for letting me know your experience.   We definitely came to the conclusion that flying out the morning the ship arrived would not work so ended up changing our plans completely.   Having read your post I am very glad we did that.   Thanks too for the advice about the hotel, it sounds a lot less stressful!

[Kitekat]

Unless you are flying business class, all of the airport processes are self managed. If you check in online you need to queue first to get a screen to print your luggage tags both the wrap around the handle ones and the small bar code ones. If not, then the same screen can be used for check in and bag tags.

Once you have tagged your bags, you need to join another queue to drop off the bags. It is a single queue with multiple drop points. Except, there was only one working when we were at the airport in July and the response to getting someone to sort it out was - oh, they are all at lunch! 

At the screen for the luggage drop off you need to scan your labels and load the bag(s) onto the conveyor. 

It's all very manic but might be better first thing in the morning or late afternoon. And there do not seem to be many people around to help!

[Jay19]

Sounds very like my #1 most disliked airport terminal, namely T5 at Heathrow where there never seems to be anyone to help and there are always machines that don't work.   Our new flight is late afternoon so I hope that will be better, however from what I have read elsewhere there are a lot of inbound and outbound flights around that time as well.    I will hope for the best and thank you for letting me know what to expect!