Iceland's Natural Beauty General - 2022

[MarkTapley]

@DaveSJ711

 

Thanks much for the quick reply!

 

Jerry

[Heidi13]

4 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

Right you are.  Even if several Viking tours return at the same time the line moves with no waiting.  I understand on big ships they have to get in line early in the morning to get tickets for the tenders.  No way!  With Viking they ask people who are not on their early excursions to wait before going ashore but, even with an early private excursion, we have never had a problem getting the first tender.

 

This was our experience with Viking as well.

 

In Bay of Islands, we had a private tour, so they requested we meet in the Living Room Bar area, when our entire group was ready to go ashore. The first tender had a few seats available after the tours were aboard, so they asked us to head down to the tender platform. No tender tickets required.

 

Probably waited 10 minutes.

 

Our tour had Viking pax and also pax from one of the Gargantuan of the Seas. Their ship was scheduled to sail 1/2 hr before us, so the driver dropped them off first. They got off the bus to join a queue that circled the parking lot. When we arrived at our dock, we walked right on the next tender (last tender).

 

As we sailed out the bay, Gargantuan OTS was still working tenders.

[TayanaLorna]

5 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

 

With all of our cruises on HAL, which are considered medium-size cruise ships, we have had to tender in 9 ports. On 8 of 9 all we did was pickup our number to disembark, and embark at the end of the day without delay. #9 was Kotor, Montenegro. Those who have been to Kotor are probably familiar with the 20 minute tender ride. That one time we did have to wait for 45 minutes to re-board as we were on the  Nieuw Statendam for its first-time port call at Kotor. Crew familiarity may have been an issue as when it got to be our turn in line, we actually rode a local tender boat that they had contracted and added. Someone was thinking on their feet.

 

Holland America ships are considered medium-size cruise ships with 1450-2600 passengers but also carry more tenders than VO ships plus use two platforms on the side of the ship. The process moves very quickly.

 

I am interested how the tendering is to be done at Heimaey Island as we will anchor outside the channel that leads into the port. Winds are currently at 9 knots and seas at 3 Beaufort and 5 C.  If the Viking Sky anchors were I have seen photos of other cruise ships anchoring when calling, it looks to be approximately a 1-1/4 mile (2.03 km) ride on the tender. In the past we have had tender-only ports cancelled on us due to conditions. This is not my photo but is the ferry to the island at the opening of the channel. This is probably similar to current conditions. Hopefully on the days the cruises are stopping there, calm seas and sunny weather days which are are beautiful!

 

 

 

Photo does not look like a good tendering day.  I too have been wondering about Heimaey and if we even make to to the port.

[minka34]

12 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

 

Heartgrove, do you happen to have the Akureyri port web cam?  You've spoiled me.

 

[minka34]

I found the Akureyri port webcams, but they don't load for me.  I think that Sky should be at #2 Oddeyrarbryggja 12 when she arrives  https://www.port.is/index.php?pid=154
 

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

7 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

 

With all of our cruises on HAL, which are considered medium-size cruise ships, we have had to tender in 9 ports. On 8 of 9 all we did was pickup our number to disembark, and embark at the end of the day without delay. #9 was Kotor, Montenegro. Those who have been to Kotor are probably familiar with the 20 minute tender ride. That one time we did have to wait for 45 minutes to re-board as we were on the  Nieuw Statendam for its first-time port call at Kotor. Crew familiarity may have been an issue as when it got to be our turn in line, we actually rode a local tender boat that they had contracted and added. Someone was thinking on their feet.

 

Holland America ships are considered medium-size cruise ships with 1450-2600 passengers but also carry more tenders than VO ships plus use two platforms on the side of the ship. The process moves very quickly.

 

I am interested how the tendering is to be done at Heimaey Island as we will anchor outside the channel that leads into the port. Winds are currently at 9 knots and seas at 3 Beaufort and 5 C.  If the Viking Sky anchors were I have seen photos of other cruise ships anchoring when calling, it looks to be approximately a 1-1/4 mile (2.03 km) ride on the tender. In the past we have had tender-only ports cancelled on us due to conditions. This is not my photo but is the ferry to the island at the opening of the channel. This is probably similar to current conditions. Hopefully on the days the cruises are stopping there, calm seas and sunny weather days which are are beautiful!

 

 

 

I don't know about sea conditions, but there's a document someone posted many) pages back (maybe Cruise Iceland?) which indicated that the tender ride is 2.5 nautical miles for Heimaey.  There's a little map  and the "drift area" is pretty far away from the town.  So I don't think it will be a short ride.  But hopefully it will be an easy, successful one! 

[LindaS272]

4 hours ago, minka34 said:

I found the Akureyri port webcams, but they don't load for me.  I think that Sky should be at #2 Oddeyrarbryggja 12 when she arrives  https://www.port.is/index.php?pid=154
 

They don’t load for me either, but #2 gives a thumbnail of the ship—so she’s there!

[Dukefan]

1 hour ago, LindaS272 said:

They don’t load for me either, but #2 gives a thumbnail of the ship—so she’s there!

You can actually see the ship in the thumbnails of cameras 1, 2 and 3 but I can't get any of them to load live.

[bardstowntraveller]

13 hours ago, satchimosmom said:

Wow!  😱

 

Sure hope you get your passport in time! 🤞

 

At some point last week, we realized my husband’s pending renewal needed to get expedited or risk not showing up in time.  I called over 60 times this morning but finally got through to customer service.  She was just about to take his credit card info when the call dropped! Ugh. 
 

Approximately 100 more calls later, we managed to get through to customer service again (just after 4 pm EDT).  This time we were successful!  

Would strongly recommend that you also contact your US Senator or Representative to help. The passport office is now saying 6 weeks for expedited service and may take an additional 6 weeks for mailing. 

[patchicago]

58 minutes ago, Dukefan said:

You can actually see the ship in the thumbnails of cameras 1, 2 and 3 but I can't get any of them to load live.

I can see the ship in the thumbnail of camera 3 but when the shot loads the view is completely different.

 

[Heartgrove]

7 hours ago, minka34 said:

Heartgrove, do you happen to have the Akureyri port web cam?  You've spoiled me.

 

 

Here is a webcam that is working. It is a long range view but Viking Sky is visible.

 

https://www.livefromiceland.is/webcams/akureyri/

[Heartgrove]

Here is a webcam for Seydisfjordur that takes periodic snapshots. I believe that it is located on the Ferry Terminal building that the Norrona uses for those familiar with "Trapped" Season 1.

 

https://www.windy.com/-Webcams/Iceland/Eastern-Region/Seydisfjordur/Seyðisfjarðarhöfn/webcams/1496859218?65.264,-14.826,9

[FLORIDA FLOUNDER]

30 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

 

Here is a webcam that is working. It is a long range view but Viking Sky is visible.

 

https://www.livefromiceland.is/webcams/akureyri/

Incredible view!😍

[Heartgrove]

54 minutes ago, patchicago said:

I can see the ship in the thumbnail of camera 3 but when the shot loads the view is completely different.

 

 

The Viking Sky is actually docked where Webcam 4 is pointed, "Tangabryggia". Somehow it looks like the thumbnails are "history" photos?

 

Edited June 29, 2021 by Heartgrove

[FLORIDA FLOUNDER]

Not sure if it's been mentioned earlier on but there's a series on Netflix that's worth watching about Iceland (and other countries) 

Down to Earth with Zac Efron 

[patchicago]

1 hour ago, Heartgrove said:

 

The Viking Sky is actually docked where Webcam 4 is pointed, "Tangabryggia". Somehow it looks like the thumbnails are "history" photos?

 

You may be right. Those thumbnails aren’t changing like you’d expect to see with live cams.

[Twitchly]

8 hours ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

I don't know about sea conditions, but there's a document someone posted many) pages back (maybe Cruise Iceland?) which indicated that the tender ride is 2.5 nautical miles for Heimaey.  There's a little map  and the "drift area" is pretty far away from the town.  So I don't think it will be a short ride.  But hopefully it will be an easy, successful one! 

The surf along the southern coast can get pretty dramatic in some places. We were told to be careful on the Black Beach; people have a tendency to get swept away. 
 

Maybe Heimaey was chosen in part because of easier tendering. 
 

 

Edited June 29, 2021 by Twitchly

[Dukefan]

2 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

 

Here is a webcam that is working. It is a long range view but Viking Sky is visible.

 

https://www.livefromiceland.is/webcams/akureyri/

This appears to show the Viking Sky at the Tangabryggja 11A dock instead of the Oddeyrarbryggja 12 dock that it was scheduled to be.

[TayanaLorna]

2 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

 

Here is a webcam that is working. It is a long range view but Viking Sky is visible.

 

https://www.livefromiceland.is/webcams/akureyri/

It is a lovely view.  Thanks.

[TayanaLorna]

4 minutes ago, Dukefan said:

This appears to show the Viking Sky at the Tangabryggja 11A dock instead of the Oddeyrarbryggja 12 dock that it was scheduled to be.

Marine Traffic also shows the Sky at this dock.

[TayanaLorna]

2 hours ago, FLORIDA FLOUNDER said:

Not sure if it's been mentioned earlier on but there's a series on Netflix that's worth watching about Iceland (and other countries) 

Down to Earth with Zac Efron 

Goody, thanks.  I watched everything i could find so far.

[Dukefan]

2 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

 

Here is a webcam that is working. It is a long range view but Viking Sky is visible.

 

https://www.livefromiceland.is/webcams/akureyri/

I really like this web page.   If you clink the arrow on the left, you can hit on 2021-06-29 and be able to see the Viking Sky arrive.  (Note:  Bes sure to go to full view by clinking the bottom right hand corner first or another arrow will pop up sending you to a different Iceland camera)   When watching the Viking Sky arrive, I was able to see it arrived at 8:18 am instead of 8:00 am.

[janetcbl]

4 hours ago, Dukefan said:

You can actually see the ship in the thumbnails of cameras 1, 2 and 3 but I can't get any of them to load live.

#1 will load for me, but the ship is at a far distance away.

[TayanaLorna]

2 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

Here is a webcam for Seydisfjordur that takes periodic snapshots. I believe that it is located on the Ferry Terminal building that the Norrona uses for those familiar with "Trapped" Season 1.

 

https://www.windy.com/-Webcams/Iceland/Eastern-Region/Seydisfjordur/Seyðisfjarðarhöfn/webcams/1496859218?65.264,-14.826,9

I love how these 24 hour webcams show the movement of the sun and so little twilight.

[Heartgrove]

1 minute ago, TayanaLorna said:

I love how these 24 hour webcams show the movement of the sun and so little twilight.

 

I believe that this is the city that does not see direct sunlight during the Midsummer timeframe. The Sun never rises above the surrounding mountainside.