11 Night Northern Fjords cruise 2019 from Dover #5 Reyjavik Iceland

Texas Twin Sis

Earning My Ears
Joined
Aug 6, 2018
Reykjavik, Iceland – over night July 25-26, 2019

We awoke early to calm seas and watched the easy entry to the dock from the aft deck of Cabanas. The weather was partly cloudy and cool but would warm up throughout the day. So it was t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, fleece vest, jeans and hat. Same as yesterday we had to carry our Disney key to world card, government ID OR copy of OR original of passport. All members of your party must have these documents, even babies, to leave the ship in Iceland. Again Visa was accepted everywhere we used it.

This was going to be a long day with an early start. We were on another adult only RY13 Golden Circle 8 hour tour that was meeting up in D lounge. Originally I had booked through Extreme Iceland for this tour in a 20 passenger van not a bus as is Disney's. But since I couldn't guarantee us making the 8:30am pick up time at the ferry stop (a good distance from the ship) and since on shore was also at 8:30 I went with Disney and cancelled the other. If we had known that the evening meal would be open seating and service would continue into the night I would have booked it for a later departure through Extreme Iceland mainly because of the smaller group. So if you're taking this cruise next year those are good questions to ask about the overnight--the eating schedule and the on shore time.

Anyway we left on the Disney adult only bus, again nearly full. It was a long drive to the Thingvellir National Park. (Funny to see a National Park and no trees.) And I have to say our guide was not as talkative as the one in Scotland. Although she had lots of information, she stayed on script and timetable. It was a 45 minutes drive to the park and only 40 minutes to see the rift of the two plates. If you walk slow, as we do, you may need to strike out on your own down the rift because we could not keep up with her pace. As we experienced walking to the top of the rift for instructions. It was OK, plenty of information pamphlets and signage as you go. Many of us hit the restrooms (the women's had a line) first, which took time, then proceeded to walk down the rift without the guide.

The buses let you out at the top and you walk down a ramp path along the North American shelf and view the European to your right. It is about a quarter to ½ mile walk to the bottom. It is the only place on the planet where the rift comes on shore. It is separating at a rate of 2cm annually. As you walk down through the rift you drop approx 600 feet in elevation. The bus meets you at a parking lot at the bottom. Looking back I'm glad we didn't do it the other way and I'm glad we didn't wait for the guide to take the group for they caught up with us before we got to the bus. Your guide might be different. Test the waters.

We then got back on the bus we had a 35 minute drive to the Gollfoss falls. This is where we had a 2 hour stop with lunch for the group included. Off the bus we were lead through the very busy gift shop to the lunch area where tables were set up for our group. The restroom in the eating area was included with our tour, outside restrooms required payment. Both had long lines so hit the restroom once you know where your table seat is for lunch not after. We were served a two coarse meal, no private selections. We started out with mushroom soup with bread and coffee, tea or water. The second coarse was a full salmon meal with rice and veggies. Once finished we were free to view the falls and the ice sheet glacier. Did you know you can see the curvature of the earth atop the ice sheet? Take your binoculars. We then took a short drive to a geyser area. The bus parks in a parking lot of a large gift shop and you must cross a busy road, no signals, to reach geyser area. We had 30 minutes to view it. Like Yellowstone but much smaller area.
We then drove to the geyser hot water power plant. With only 30 minutes at this stop I suggest you do your research on it before you go and spend your time looking and taking pictures because not enough time to read and view all the exhibits, although all very interactive and interesting. We then had a 40 minute drive back to the ship with included a drive through part of the city.
Back on the ship (as I said earlier) we chose to eat in Rapunzel's Table over Lumiere's. They were open from 6pm to 8:30, Cabanas was open for supper 9-11pm. The show this evening was the new movie of Lion King. We saw in the shop windows on ship that the cruise specific merchandise caught up with us but we could not buy it until tomorrow when we were back at sea. We also learned that the house on a small island across from the ship was John Lennon's home where he wrote the song Imagine. Since we're staying in port, the weather was good and the sun was up until almost midnight we stayed on deck and experienced night life on the ship before hitting the hay. Another early start tomorrow.

A few notes if you are touring independently or renting a car. First they drive on the right as we do here in USA, but watch your speed. According to our guide all speed limits are monitored by camera and tickets and fines are added to your car rental. Try to avoid the Gullfoss falls 11-2pm and the geyser area 3-4pm very busy with tour buses. Food and souvenirs are very expensive with a large tax added on top. Know the exchange rate before you go. Have coin and paper of local currency for use of restrooms. If you use credit card for this you must go to the cashier and get a token or buy something at stops to use facilities unless with a tour. Each stop was different so be prepared. On the Disney tour we did not have to pay for restroom use at any stop since we were in a group and wearing stickers.

Second Day Reykjavik, all aboard by 1:00pm
Only a half a day to see the sights. Took a Disney all age group tour RY17 Reykjavik Highlights.
It was a beautiful day that started out partly cloudy then later mid 70s degrees with sun. Went from jackets to short sleeves by all aboard time.
Stopped at a house near the port where President Reagan and Gorbachev met to bring Cold War to end. Outside of house was a section of the Berlin Wall and across the street was the Opera House and the full size Viking ship sculpture named Sun Voyager. Drove thru the city to Hallgrimskirkja, a Lutheran parish church and stopped. In the square was a statue of Lief Erickson as a gift from USA proclaiming him the discoverer of America. After a visit inside we re-boarded the bus and drove to the Perlan (the Pearl) museum and observation deck. This was quite a building. It was 5 cooling towers for the power plant hot water placed together to form a flower petal shape with an observation deck and glass roof restaurant on top. Inside were museum exhibits. The observation deck gave you a 360 degree look at the city. Photographs along the railing help to identify what you were looking at. This was about a 30 minute stop. Then we drove through the university campus to the National Museum for a 1 hour stop. Inside was history and art exhibits. We then drove to Arbaer Heritage Open Air Museum which had costumed interpreters and a collection of buildings representing the viking turf top house through a 1930's fishing village. We only had approx. 40 minutes at this location and could have stayed longer but no time. All aboard was at 1pm and we got back with 15 minutes to spare. There was a Disney representative on the bus to observe this tour and I guess to make sure we made it back on time since it was so tight. Upon returning to the ship we realized we were not the only group getting back so close to all aboard time. Lots of us. We finally got underway by 1:35pm. And boy it had warmed up.

We went down to deck 4 because we saw the pilot boat coming and we wanted to see the transfer of the port pilot from the ship to his boat. After his pilot jump on to the bow of his boat he turned, bowed and waved to all of us watching. As we were coming out of the harbor we also waved at people on the point watching us go out.

Once out of the harbor the warm weather dropped off and here came the wind again. The temperature dropped approximately 15 degrees in a few moments. We followed the coast and at approximately 5pm we viewed a glacier atop volcano shaped mountain. There were good views of the Iceland coast on the starboard side of the ship most of the trip to the next port of call in Iceland, Akureyri.
The captain then announced that once we take the East turn towards that port the 45 knot apparent wind will hit the ship broadside at approximately 9pm to 4am.
Well try to his word during the Freezing the Night Away show on deck 9 there were high winds and boy it was cold. We had to pull out our cold weather gear for the first time and bundle up. The performers were real troopers. The audience was small but enthusiastic. It was hard to stand up straight with out holding the railing on deck 10 starboard side because of the wind. But the best seats were standing at the rail in front of the smoke stack so my sister toughed it out. Everyone quickly got down on deck 9 after the show. I noticed later the closed door straps were up on deck 4 on the starboard side as well as closing deck 10. It was really howling. But the ship was doing great and not as bad as a day or two before. We called it an early evening, discovered another fantastic towel animal with chocolates and hit the rack.
Tomorrow Akurreyri, Iceland.
 

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