Q re PAII arrival in Reykjavik

[luxury-lizard]

we'll be arriving and disembarking from PAII in Reykjavik on Sept 7 and I cannot find where the PAII will dock. I have searched TA and the web and all Silversea doco - the best I can find is that there are 2 or 3 possibilities - the old port which is very close to the city, the container port which is 5 k's away or apparently some cruise ships don't dock at all but anchor offshore and ferry passengers in.

 

Also, my SS documentation states that disembarkation is at 8:00AM - does this mean you must be off the ship by 8am or you start the process at 8:00am - I would like to know this so we can organise a rental car pickup.

 

Finally, does anyone know if SS offer any sort of transfer to points various for disembarking passengers.

 

many thanks.

[ging466]

we'll be arriving and disembarking from PAII in Reykjavik on Sept 7 and I cannot find where the PAII will dock. I have searched TA and the web and all Silversea doco - the best I can find is that there are 2 or 3 possibilities - the old port which is very close to the city, the container port which is 5 k's away or apparently some cruise ships don't dock at all but anchor offshore and ferry passengers in.

 

Also, my SS documentation states that disembarkation is at 8:00AM - does this mean you must be off the ship by 8am or you start the process at 8:00am - I would like to know this so we can organise a rental car pickup.

 

Finally, does anyone know if SS offer any sort of transfer to points various for disembarking passengers.

 

many thanks.

 

Hi luxury-lizard

 

Call SS - they have an office in Sydney.

 

Cheers

Jennifer

[jpalbny]

The official site for the Reykjavik port is http://www.faxaports.is/en/overview/ (this should be the English version, but if not click on the option for English). Currently, this has PAII arriving at the Miðbakka pier Sept 7th. That's the port closest to the old town.

 

If perchance this changes, which can happen up to the last minute, all is not lost; we have been at the other pier both times and that is within walking distance (<2 miles) of town.

 

PAII is tiny; I sincerely doubt you will be tendering passengers. Also, the port's website lists you as the only ship in port that day so there should be plenty of berths free.

 

Can't help you with rental cars at the old port in town, but one time Europcar met us at the other pier with the car. The second time they couldn't meet us, so we walked into town to get a picture of the viking boat statue, then took the public bus to Europcar.

[unfathomable]

It's very unlikely that you'll anchor on a changeover day. It makes luggage handling too difficult.

 

Disembarkation is likely to be from 8.00 am and you are likely to be asked to leave no later than 10.00 a.m.

 

SS will offer a choice of group and individual transfers for disembarking passengers. These do tend to be expensive, so you can almost certainly organize your own transfers much more cheaply if you do so in advance.

[luxury-lizard]

Thanks everyone - I called SS in Sydney (now that it's Monday AM here) - you are all correct - the PAII will dock at Midbakki Pier in the old port which is good. They also said one could expect to be off the ship and through immigration and customs by about 10:00AM. So we can organise our hire car who have e-mailed us to say they can pick us up at either port (for an additional charge).

[RachelG]

You will find the rental car people in Iceland to be very easy-going and helpful. When we were there in May, I called Budget to find out where to drop off our rental car in town before we embarked on Regent Voyager (we had picked up the car at the airport and didn't want to drive all the way out there). He said not to worry, just leave it at the hotel, and they would pick it up.

[meow!]

The official site for the Reykjavik port is http://www.faxaports.is/en/overview/ (this should be the English version, but if not click on the option for English). .

Thanks for the link. We are planning on going to Iceland aboard Azamara Journey in August, 2011. We would appreciate more information on Reykjavik where the ship is scheduled to overnight.

[jpalbny]

Thanks for the link. We are planning on going to Iceland aboard Azamara Journey in August, 2011. We would appreciate more information on Reykjavik where the ship is scheduled to overnight.

 

@meow! - we have never stayed overnight in Reykjavik though we've been there twice. Both times we have rented a car and driven out of town as quickly as possible, to see what we consider the more interesting part of Iceland - the wild countryside.

 

The Golden Circle is easily accomplished in a day on your own, which we did 2 years ago. The pics2 link below from our Tahitian Princess TA last year has shots of our adventure on the Reykjanes peninsula south of Reykjavik.

 

If you have any specific questions about doing car trips on your own, I can give you more information but can't help much with the city proper.

[meow!]

Thank you so much for your reply. Are taxis readily available dockside? Is it easy to have a try at the natural hot spring? Are US$ and euro generally accepted? How much will it cost (and how long will it take) to have a taxi tour both inside and outside the city? Any nice thing to do ashore (shows, dinners, etc) at night? Thanks again.

[jpalbny]

Thank you so much for your reply. Are taxis readily available dockside? Is it easy to have a try at the natural hot spring? Are US$ and euro generally accepted? How much will it cost (and how long will it take) to have a taxi tour both inside and outside the city? Any nice thing to do ashore (shows, dinners, etc) at night? Thanks again.

 

Well, can't answer some of these, as we tend to do stuff on our own. But I'll take a shot:

 

I did remember seeing taxis dockside in the other port, so I assume they should be around when you disembark. I have no idea about time or cost though because we've never used one. It's very easy to drive in Reykjavik and the surrounding area so you can rent a car and do it on your own if you want. Iceland is now in my Garmin GPS database so navigation should be even easier now.

 

There are tons of natural hot springs around so I don't imagine it would be difficult to do one. Look for signs - they were blue, with wavy lines and showed someone's head sticking up from the waves. The blue lagoon is worth a visit for pictures though it's criminally expensive to swim there - I think they were charging almost €30 last year. The cold section is empty, and very picturesque.

 

Regarding currency, we found that rental cars and chain hotels have started quoting prices in euros, but most everywhere else is still using Icelandic kroner (though as above, the blue lagoon was using euros). That may change by next year, or may have already changed this year. The ISK is still fairly worthless at 125 ISK to the dollar. I tipped someone ISK 500 last year and he didn't look too happy; I think he would have preferred euros :o.

 

We have wanted to climb the steeple of Halgrimmskirkja, which looks beautiful, but the last 2 times it's been covered in scaffolding for renovations. Hope that will be down by next year. Otherwise, the Perlan has a nice view of the city.

 

Hopefully someone else can help you with nighttime activities in Reykjavik, as we have no experience with that yet. We have thought about a 10-day circumnavigation with a few nights in Reykjavik, but that's on the back burner for now. Enjoy!

[meow!]

Thank you kindly for such an informative reply. You are very helpful.