Iceland's Natural Beauty General - 2022

[SantaFe1]

39 minutes ago, temerarious said:

I'm going to look like a yellow bear..

I’m so glad we are all going to be bears together!  

[librarylady19]

10 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

 

My understanding is that on the return flight that you need to produce a negative test or else be denied boarding.

 

I expect that the test upon arrival for vaccinated passengers to be lifted on May 1. The reason being that I read an article on "The Points Guy" blog that Iceland currently only has the capacity to test 500 passengers arriving at Keflavik daily. A disturbing piece of information in the same article is that Icelandair has been cancelling flights. But -  no information was given on TPG detailing why. I know currently FI has only been flying certain days from BOS due to lack of travelers. The full schedule for all the US destinations has yet to roll out. UAL is only starting their second route (ORD-KEH) to Iceland July 1 but the EWR_KEH starts June 3.

I read that blog also and I was similarly concerned, since we are booked on Iceland Air. I do think that there will be more demand in future, given Iceland opening up to vaccinated travelers so hopefully that doesn’t happen to us. 

Edited April 21, 2021 by librarylady19

[LindaS272]

On 4/16/2021 at 7:00 AM, Peregrina651 said:

 

They leave a residue in the dryers that builds up over time and will get on the clothing of anyone who uses the dryer. Dryer sheets are on the list of products that folks with skin rashes are told not to use, even the ones that are fragrance free..

Some do, some don’t. Not a problem for this chemically sensitive gal. I have started bringing my fragrance free laundry soap on all our travels and was pleasantly surprised to find that Viking’s laundry soap was fragrance free. I use free & clear dryer sheets though.

[id4elizabeth]

Note: the regular Viking website has updated the shore excursions for the Iceland Natural Beauty cruises, including the excursion options in the last 2 ports.  Still can't book, but at least there's more information listed

 

 

 

[vslparis]

1 hour ago, id4elizabeth said:

Note: the regular Viking website has updated the shore excursions for the Iceland Natural Beauty cruises, including the excursion options in the last 2 ports.  Still can't book, but at least there's more information listed

 

 

 

I noticed that nothing was said about the Atlantic Puffins for Westman  Islands.  I guess that they don't want to commit themselves even at this time of the year. I see that on the Wildlife of Heimaey by boat, they talk about birds that come there to breed, which would be the puffins, but do not mention them by name, 

[id4elizabeth]

Supposedly the Westman Islands have the largest concentration of Puffins in Iceland, at least according to one of the guidebooks I'm reading.  Wonder why they didn't mention them.

[id4elizabeth]

Regarding short excusions -

In some ports we're there for 8 to 9 hours but the excursions are 2 to 4 hours long.  Does anyone who's sailed with Viking know if we can sign up for multiple excursions on the same day?  When it's time to sign up do you recall if you sign up for a specific time slot, or just for that particular day with no control over when?

[minka34]

 

5 minutes ago, id4elizabeth said:

Regarding short excusions - ... do you recall if you sign up for a specific time slot, or just for that particular day with no control over when?

You can (usually) sign up for more than one excursion in a day.  There are specific times and so need to pick accordingly so you do not have an overlap.

[Peregrina651]

4 minutes ago, id4elizabeth said:

Regarding short excusions -

In some ports we're there for 8 to 9 hours but the excursions are 2 to 4 hours long.  Does anyone who's sailed with Viking know if we can sign up for multiple excursions on the same day?  When it's time to sign up do you recall if you sign up for a specific time slot, or just for that particular day with no control over when?

 

Yes, you can sign up for multiple excursion. Before, there had to be at least 30 minutes between the end of one and the start of the next. Don't  know if that will continue to be the same. Also, you used to be able to add an excursion simply by showing up at the muster point and asking if there was space. Sometimes, this was the safer move if you were concerned that you would not be back in time. Better/cheaper to add than pay for a tour that you might arrive late for.

[id4elizabeth]

Good to know - thanks!

[Doc who loves to travel]

We bought these at amazon to protect our covid vaccine card from damage. We didn't want to laminate them in case we need a booster next year. https://amzn.to/3u1Szem

[Peregrina651]

2 hours ago, Doc who loves to travel said:

We bought these at amazon to protect our covid vaccine card from damage. We didn't want to laminate them in case we need a booster next year. https://amzn.to/3u1Szem

 

Great idea!

 

[TayanaLorna]

4 hours ago, Doc who loves to travel said:

We bought these at amazon to protect our covid vaccine card from damage. We didn't want to laminate them in case we need a booster next year. https://amzn.to/3u1Szem

Great thanks.  Ordered them.  Looks like they might have a hole for a lanyard.  Can use for the room card too.  Always searching my pockets or bag for that one.

[Peregrina651]

31 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

Great thanks.  Ordered them.  Looks like they might have a hole for a lanyard.  Can use for the room card too.  Always searching my pockets or bag for that one.

 

 

Yes to room card, great idea...

 

but, for me, no to one sleeve for both. Since we don't need the vax card for the duration of the cruise, I will feel more comfortable having it locked in the safe with my passport. 😱 (this emoji is called "face screaming in fear" --and what use is an emoji if you have to explain it???)

 

[TayanaLorna]

13 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

 

Yes to room card, great idea...

 

but, for me, no to one sleeve for both. Since we don't need the vax card for the duration of the cruise, I will feel more comfortable having it locked in the safe with my passport. 😱 (this emoji is called "face screaming in fear" --and what use is an emoji if you have to explain it???)

 

Well the order says 5 sleeves.  So one for his vax card, one for her vax card, one for his room key card (if he wants - probably not), one for her key card, one left over.  Yes!  I agree vax card in safe.  Passports in safe.  Photocopies of both in safe.

[Seaharvest]

36 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

 

Yes to room card, great idea...

 

but, for me, no to one sleeve for both. Since we don't need the vax card for the duration of the cruise, I will feel more comfortable having it locked in the safe with my passport. 😱 (this emoji is called "face screaming in fear" --and what use is an emoji if you have to explain it???)

 

You are right -- requiring an explanation really does defeat the purpose.  LOL

[Seaharvest]

We personally had to add the vaccination lot # on our CDC card issued by the health dept in the county where we got our shots. They provide the number on line but do not add it to the card for us. I hope this flies with airline and Iceland officials.  Picture face screaming  emjoi here.

[TayanaLorna]

2 hours ago, Seaharvest said:

We personally had to add the vaccination lot # on our CDC card issued by the health dept in the county where we got our shots. They provide the number on line but do not add it to the card for us. I hope this flies with airline and Iceland officials.  Picture face screaming  emjoi here.

I worry about the validity of our CDC card.  All the info is there but is hand written.  It does not say where we got the shots just the pharmacist signatures.  I see some card people have contains a vaccine mfgr and lot # label.  We got our shots at Walgreen's pharmacy and have the usual receipt that a person gets when they have a prescription filled so that cannot be faked at least.  Will be interesting to learn what happens in the first sailings.

[SantaFe1]

I was worried about this, too.  Ours has one entry that is handwritten, with the type and lot number but just the initials of the little clinic in Colorado we drove to get it (we didn’t  even get it in our own state). The second entry  is a sticker, off the box, with the same info.  But I just have a feeling there are going to be as many types of entries on these cards as there are people carrying them.  So, I’ve moved on to worrying about having enough time to make our connecting flight at JFK on the way home, when we only have 2 1/2 hours to go through immigration, customs, collect and return luggage, and maybe go through security again.  I’ve retained the Dogsitter for an extra day!

[TayanaLorna]

14 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

I was worried about this, too.  Ours has one entry that is handwritten, with the type and lot number but just the initials of the little clinic in Colorado we drove to get it (we didn’t  even get it in our own state). The second entry  is a sticker, off the box, with the same info.  But I just have a feeling there are going to be as many types of entries on these cards as there are people carrying them.  So, I’ve moved on to worrying about having enough time to make our connecting flight at JFK on the way home, when we only have 2 1/2 hours to go through immigration, customs, collect and return luggage, and maybe go through security again.  I’ve retained the Dogsitter for an extra day!

At least it is on the way home.  This is our first time through JFK and we have to switch between terminals 5 and 7.  Don't know if we will have to haul our luggage from arrival terminal 7 to departure terminal 5 after clearing in on the way home.  We didn't have to do that in MIA because AA domestic and international was at same terminal.  I booked us with long layovers just to be sure.  But 2 1/2 hours should be enough.  

[SantaFe1]

We are on Delta, which might put both flights in terminal 4.  At worst 4 & 2, with the Delta shuttle running between them.  There seem to be two schools of thought about whether that shuttle keeps you in the secure area.   I hope so.  Going through security again would be a pain, ever with Sky Priority!  We are on the first cruise, so I will post our COVID card experience.  But I am hoping some of those arriving before June 26 will do that first.

[Peregrina651]

3 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

At least it is on the way home.  This is our first time through JFK and we have to switch between terminals 5 and 7.  Don't know if we will have to haul our luggage from arrival terminal 7 to departure terminal 5 after clearing in on the way home.  We didn't have to do that in MIA because AA domestic and international was at same terminal.  I booked us with long layovers just to be sure.  But 2 1/2 hours should be enough.  

 

You may have to claim your luggage, walk it though border control and then hand it back to the airport baggage handlers.

[SantaFe1]

Yes, such a pain.  I am thinking of shipping it home via Luggage Forward, which we used on the WC, but it’s REALLY expensive this time!

[Clay Clayton]

If you’re on one ticket, you shouldn’t have to tote your luggage between terminals. Typically (YMMV) one clears immigration, picks up luggage off the wheel of misfortune, clear customs and then drop the bags on another conveyor belt for transiting passengers. 
 

The changes that Delta just made (which shortened our outbound layover) to our scheduled gives us an extra hour in JFK so we will now have 3.5.  Given that we may check our rollaboards rather than handling them ourselves. 
 

[Peregrina651]

 

The JULY 20 roll call is really quiet, so I thought I would share a link for it:

 

July 20th Icelandic Cruise