cruisinqt

Sometimes the car service is very expensive if it’s a long drive. On our last Elite cruise they drove us from the cruise pier in Miami to the Fort Lauderdale airport. I’ve also used the free car service from Orlando airport to the Cape Canaveral pier. If I’d used Uber it would have cost a lot. Some of the other perks not talked about but worth mentioning is the free room service. On one Elite cruise we ordered two 12 packs of Pepsi from room service which cost $40 but was free for us. We’ve also ordered Pizza, steak dinners, high end desserts, etc. Our free gifts have been waterproof shower speakers, nice Tervis tumblers, and big beach towels. They also send you the $50 fruit basket, extra bottles of wine, and plates of cookies when you’re Platinum too. And when I’ve got my Platinum lanyard on I usually have a casino host approach me in the casino and offer me free specialty dining. We’ve done Rudi’s Sea Grill, Cucina Del Capitano, and the steak house for free many times. So the Elite cruises offer a lot in my opinion and are definitely worth trying.

The Vista is a good deal newer than the Magic. It has a lot more bells and whistles so to speak. There are a lot more free (and paid for) dining choices. It also has a microbrewery, the new Havana area, the sky ride and an IMAX theater. I would choose it every time hands down. But I like the bigger newer ships that have more things to do and places to eat. My husband loves doing the microbrewery tour and always gets the beer sampler. I like watching first run (currently in theaters) movies at the IMAX theater with their comfy reclining seats and buttery popcorn. But I also love the Magic because the Dream class has the best spas in the carnival fleet. But it would definitely be the Vista for me.

Our best so far has been a 2 week transatlantic cruise out of Barcelona with $500 OBC, $500 free play, free drinks everywhere on the ship for both of us, in a balcony cabin for only $508 total which was mostly port fees & taxes.

I think English isn’t their first language and there may be a misunderstanding. I asked if they meant $50 each way and they said no $50 total. But after talking to my husband he says they probably meant 50 Icelandic Krona which would convert to roughly $348 US dollars. And that would be more in line with the price you were quoted.

We will be in Seydisfjordur on 8/28. The price was for our family of 4 round trip from the cruise pier at Seydisfjordur to Vok baths and back to the cruise pier at Seydisfjordur. In the first email I asked what they charged for a roundtrip for a family of 4. In the next email they asked me what day we would be arriving. I said 8/28. They replied that it would be $50 total for all 4 people. I emailed them back asking to reserve that day. At that point I assumed it was all handled and arranged since they’d been emailing me very promptly and even gave me a price quote. But I’ve not heard from them since then and I sent the email Saturday. I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t follow through and confirm the reservation promptly. Their name was Hlynur Bragason. Vok baths gave me several names so now I’m contemplating contacting one of the other people on the list. I know it’s pretty far out and they may not want to commit themselves this early. But there’s not a lot of transportation choices to choose from in Seydisfjordur and I’d like to get mine confirmed now.

Same here. I love all the extra drinks included almost as much as I do the alcohol, especially the specialty coffees and milkshakes.

So I went to the Vok baths website and contacted them about the best way to get there from Seydisfjordur. They gave me a couple of taxi services to contact. One of them responded promptly and was very nice. I’ve secured a taxi service for the day we are in port for only $50 round trip. I can’t believe how inexpensive it is!

The terminal is a fairly long walk away but there are bus stops at the terminal that take you into the city center. I’m assuming you have a long port stop like me, mine is 14 hours. We are doing the Golden Circle tour then relaxing on the ship before heading into town (via bus) to look around and shop or grab a bite of food. I love to try native dishes in the country I’m visiting. I haven’t researched restaurants yet but I’ll let you know what I found out.

Lol I had the same problem. It autocorrected it to Voss several times. I hate autocorrect too 😆

Just for clarification on the cheers drinks package. You’re limited to 15 alcoholic drinks a day but everything else is unlimited including milkshakes, specialty coffee, juice, bottled water, energy drinks, etc. There’s a great milkshake place called The Shake Spot that has amazing milkshakes. The best regular milkshakes are the chocolate caramel and the strawberry creamsicle. The best spiked milkshakes are the Spirit Of Kentucky and the Black Raspberry Truffle. I found that the bar at Summers Landing had much stronger drinks than the rest of the ship.

When you recommended Nice Tours I contacted them but they told me they were sold out of the Golden Circle tours for my cruise in August. But they were super nice and recommended Saga Travel. They said they’re very reliable and do great tours. I don’t think they’d recommend someone that wasn’t pretty good since it would reflect on them. So far Saga has been great.

The cancellation policy states “The client is able to cancel the tour up until 24 hours prior to departure without a cancellation fee. The cancellation fee is 100% of the tour fee if cancelled within 24 hours from departure of the tour. For the cruise ships, the cancellation policy does not apply if the ship does not make it to the harbor. In case of the ship not reaching the pier, you’ll receive a full refund without cancellation fee.” I think that’s a pretty generous cancellation fee. That gives them only 24 hours to fill your spot in the tour if you cancel so they’re risking a good bit of income there. If they allowed free cancellation at any time they could lose a whole entire tour group at the last minute and be out all of that money without any way to recoup their losses. I’ve booked a lot of tours and the 24 hour cancellation clause is pretty much the standard with most local tour operators. But I can understand your dilemma if you’re not arriving via cruise ship. There’s always the risk of missing your flight or your flight getting cancelled or delayed. I hope things work out for you.

Oh wow I had no idea there was a Netflix series based in Iceland, I’ll have to check it out. I need something to download and watch for our upcoming cruise so I think I’ll download it. Thanks again for your help.

I went to their website and it seems really nice. I also looked at the TripAdvisor reviews for them and it reinforced my desire to go there. They have a restaurant, changing rooms, bathrooms, a tea bar, an in water refreshment bar, and a sauna. I noticed their “how to get there” page too but it was for Egilsstadir. I’ve emailed them but haven’t heard a response back yet. Thanks for Information Center address I’ll contact them, I didn’t think of doing that. You obviously put a lot of effort into helping me and I appreciate it. I was just hoping some other cruiser might have visited there themselves and could give some insight on how they did it. Or maybe someone did a tour there through a local company they could recommend. Our ship has a tour going there but it’s quite expensive and our family of four would cost over $1100. Thanks again

The Vok baths are in Egilsstadir which is about a 30 minute drive from the nearby port we will be visiting, Seydisfjordur. They are at the base of Lake Urridavatn and have the only geothermal water that is so pure that it’s certified as drinkable. I’ve went to their website and they have a very nice facility with bathrooms, changing rooms, a restaurant, a tea bar, an in water refreshment bar, and a spa. I’m thinking it won’t be very crowded or touristy either.

We are interested in doing the Voks baths while in Seydisfjordur. We can’t find any local tours that do just the baths. We wouldn’t mind doing just a little bit of sightseeing before the baths but our main interest is the baths. And we haven’t found any tour operators offering what we are looking for from the cruise port. Most of the tours we are seeing are for hotel guests and are quite lengthy. So we are thinking about just going straight there from the cruise port ourselves. I imagine a taxi would be expensive and I doubt they offer Uber. I’ve heard there’s a bus but I can’t find any info on it. What would be the best way to get there? Or do you know of a local tour offering this for cruisers from the pier?

We booked our tour in Reykjavík through Saga Travel. You can book right online without any delay or messaging people. And the tours are for cruisers with pickup and drop off at the cruise pier. Just pick your day and time then click enter then pay. They have great reviews on TripAdvisor and several good tours to choose from in both Reykjavík and Akureyri. We booked the Golden Circle tour In Reykjavik and the Mayvatn tour in Akureyri. Those two tours were the most recommended ones for those ports.

Hmm I haven’t heard of them I’ll have to check them out. I still haven’t made a final decision on which baths to do. We just know we definitely want to try out the nature baths in Iceland.

I haven’t booked Blue Lagoon after the Golden Circle tour yet. We are in port from 9 am till 11 pm so we could do it but I agree it would be a long day. Our Golden Circle tour is 7 hours long (it’s an adjusted tour made to fit cruisers schedules.) But it’s still a pretty full day since we will need to fit dinner in between the two. I’m contemplating doing the Myvatn nature baths at the end of that tour (it’s a 6 hour tour), or the Voks nature baths that are offered out of Seydisfjordur. I’m leaning towards doing the Voks nature baths since I’m not finding any other tours that sound better out of that port. It’s hard to find reviews of it though.

Yes there’s just 2 drink packages. Late night food options after 10 when most of the restaurants close: pizza till 4 am (free), soft serve ice cream in the lido & summers landing area (free), and Guys bbq has a late night buffet from 11:30-1:00 (free). There are two presentations each evening of the main show to accommodate both early and late dining. Yes the pool chair hogs will be in full force. I’ve seen Carnival start to remove their stuff recently though. Bolt is $15 and well worth it. Shows aren’t booked ahead of time on Carnival. A few other tips: Carnival has something similar to the key, it’s called faster to the fun. It doesn’t have as many perks but it’s cheaper. The bottomless bubbles package doesn’t include a cup so be prepared to bring your own or use one of their small cups at the soda fountain. Two weeks before your cruise you’ll need to go online and choose a check in time. That’s when you’ll show up at the pier for your cruise.

I agree. I’ve read lots of glowing reviews of both the Golden Circle and Blue Lagoon.

I just realized that Reykjavik is our longest port stop. We will be there from 9-11 so I’m pretty sure we can fit in both. I’m really looking forward to it since both the Golden Circle and Blue Lagoon are very popular. Thanks for your input.

Thanks that helps a lot.

I would love a tour that could either do both the Golden Circle and Blue Lagoon or just drop us off at Blue Lagoon at the end of their Golden Circle tour. I’ll contact them, thanks.

After your comment I looked it up and that sounds like a good solution. Blue Lagoon is much fancier with a restaurant, spa, and private showers but the Myvatn nature baths sounds nice too. I’m not sure how I feel about the open showers though. Were the open showers uncomfortable for you? I’m very shy about that stuff and where I come from everything’s very private.