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Iceland Pro Cruises on the ship Ocean Diamond trip report


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Those who like smaller cruises of less than 200ish people the Pro Iceland Cruises have a ship called the Ocean Diamond which does either a circumnavigation around Iceland or an Iceland to Greenland trip. This report is on a circumnavigation with nine stops around Iceland that starts and finishes in Reykjavik.

For the most part the cruise was great the rooms are in good shape and in the cabin we were in there was plenty of room to hang up our clothing and some drawers to put socks and thing in. There is a TV / DVR that we never used and the bathroom is a typical ship convenience one person at a time unless you like squeezing real close together. My one suggestion is to bring night shades for your eyes as in the summer the sun never really relinquishes it's light and even with the blackout curtains the room is still very light. The hotel staff keeps the rooms very clean and we did not have any issue with missing things that we left out. There is a key lock drawer that one can put in small phones, iPad, laptop and a point and shoot camera but not much so take that in to consideration on what valuables you want to bring with you. For those of you from America you will need Adaptor pugs for the outlets they are typical deep 220 dual round prong that are keyed for both top and bottom. If you have a CPAP machine, you will want to bring an extension cord with you there are no outlets near the bed. (At least in the 600 rooms) Make sure your electronics can handle 100 – 240 VAC, they will not need a separate transformer, most phone chargers, laptops and CPAPs can be plugged in without any issues. Again always, look at the AC to DC converter before plugging them in so you do not let out the magic smoke.

Breakfast times change with what time of day tours are scheduled for the morning, but they give a daily brief sheet every night so you will know. Breakfast is typical European but they will cook eggs to order for you just ask. As a side note at breakfast you can ask for some condiments if you are taking a sack lunch on a long tour and make your sandwiches taste better. I would ask for lettuce, mayonnaise, tomatoes and I would take some extra cheese from the buffet to give my sandwich more taste to my liking. (The sack lunches come with yogurt, some kind of fruit, a snack pack that changes daily, spoon, and napkin. There will be a choice of 3 different types of sandwiches, one vegetarian and the other two some type of meat.)

Lunch I only had twice on the ship because of the tours was never back to the ship until later but there were different choices that were ok, and if you don’t like the choices you can order a hamburger which is cooked nicely and served with French fires.

Afternoon snack, not sure what to say about the food it was more of a teatime and if you are hungry not much there to help. The offerings were some finger sandwiches, rolls and something sweet (sometimes it was a mystery dish at least to me, but then again I am a barbarian). This is where I do find fault with the service, most of the tours would get back after 4pm and there wouldn’t be any snack food left or it would have been cleaned up I really feel they should have had some food for the tour people coming in after 4PM. And after riding a bus all day and eating usually around 11am would like something for the corner of the stomach until 7Pm when diner was served, in the bar they would have some pretzels or peanuts so that helped.

Dinner is served promptly at 7PM and had three choices one fish, one vegetarian, and one that would change mutton, beef, chicken and more fish. There were choices of soups, salads, and different deserts and an ala cart menu of burgers, chicken (the chicken is about ¼” thick fillet) the servers and kitchen staff work extra hard and try to make sure, if you have any food allergies that you don’t get sick. However, I would add if you have a seafood allergy, they do not have other choices and the burgers do get old after a while. (Not complaining just putting out information did not like lamb so that is not the chef’s fault) Just remember if you are American they are mainly serving German and English appetites and their tastes are quite different and not very much spices…. Well hot spices anyway, found the food to be more on the bland side.

Pro Iceland Cruises also has their own tour company and so the tours you chose to go on are mostly theirs. These tours are not bad, but the bus rides are very long and then to wear on you after a few days. The guides do give out good information and will answer all your questions, but be aware they stop at gas stations, and coffee houses along the way for a bathroom break, but the main reason is the tour guides get free food at these places. It would have been nicer to spend more time at the waterfalls some of them are quite impressive but only having one hour is not long enough to walk up to them and get the full enjoyment. We spent a hour and half at one coffee house while our ships tour guide talked with a girlfriend where most of us on the bus would have rather spent extra time at the water fall. Their tours are expensive and I do not understand why the cruise passengers do not get a price break for taking the cruise and booking tours along the way. Nevertheless, having said that the views were tremendous, breath taking and worth the time and effort to get to them and we are glad we did and have wonderful memories and pictures of each place we visited. The one stand out tour was a super jeep trip to the Mid-Atlantic Rift lava fields and steam mud pots we actually ate lunch on “two continents” American plate and the European plate. That day was a warm sunny day, everyone in our jeep had so much fun, and our guide driver really had a wonderful since of humor.

The cons we noted on our trip: This is cruise line mainly targets Germans and Europeans so you will be treated noticeably different; the Germans had better buses and guides. I got on the German bus on time because I wanted to hear the difference in the guide’s talk (I do understand German although not as good as I once did) and their talk was much more informative and the bus was more comfortable. You can tell the difference between a Mercedes tour bus and the one the English-speaking people were on. There was also a group called the “Road Scholars” they had their own guides and somehow managed to have permission to hold talks in the forward observation lounge always at prime viewing times and yet they were having a “talk and learn” not even looking out the windows. As a whole, that group of people was probably the most petulant rude group I have ever run across in all my years of traveling. They also took over one of the other dining areas that had the best views to the outside even thought that was a first come first serve available for anybody. After talking with the hotel manager was informed that their wishes were part of their contract, but he also told me I was not the first to complain about them. That group of 20 to 30 people thought they were the cat’s meow during the whole cruise, but almost every English-speaking person on the boat did not like their attitudes.

Final con: When first going to the boat the directions was to meet, the ship at the old harbor but the cruise ship was not there and it was a $30 taxi ride to find the ships docking place. Apparently, there was some sailor holiday and the ship berth at the new harbor, which would have been nice to know in advance.

The Pro’s: The Crew really went above and beyond to provide an excellent vacation and the places we visited will long live in our memories. The ship is very clean, bright and well maintained and the daily briefings were fun and exciting to hear. The food on the whole was tasty and the fellow travelers on the cruise were fun to be with, and we met some people that we will further communicate with which is always nice. If you are looking for a small cruise line that circumnavigates Iceland you might give Pro Iceland Cruises a look and see if it fits what you are looking for. One last note average age of travelers is probably 60+ with a few younger people around 40ish and a few older than 80+

The Good: had a wonderful time and saw parts of Iceland that most people do not

The Bad: There were some things that irritated us but we did not let that spoil our fun or enjoyment of this cruise.

The Ugly: No ugly just a wonderful time

On the scuba bubble scale of 1 to 10 bubbles I give Pro Iceland Cruises 6+ bubbles

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