12 hours in Iceland

[bspill]

We're booked on the Venture for a Greenlan/Iceland cruise.  We arrive in Rekovich at 9 am.  The ship sails at 8 pm.  Seabourn has us scheduled for transportation from the airport to the ship.  Does anyone know if we can board that early for an 8pm sailing.

[Mr Luxury]

2 hours ago, bspill said:

We're booked on the Venture for a Greenlan/Iceland cruise.  We arrive in Rekovich at 9 am.  The ship sails at 8 pm.  Seabourn has us scheduled for transportation from the airport to the ship.  Does anyone know if we can board that early for an 8pm sailing.

If Seabourn are taking you to the ship then that's when you should be boarding.

[PolarDrifter]

It will take you somewhere in the neighborhood of an hour or more to get off the airplane (you deplane on the tarmac and bus to the terminal) and get thru immigration and customs w/luggage.  The drive to Reykjavik is close to an hour.  My guess is they wait to fill the busses as your fellow passengers arrive.  I wouldn't expect you will arrive at the port until 12-1 PM at best.  Seabourn may take you on a little tour to further delay your embarkation time.

[bspill]

Good information.   Thanks.

[PolarDrifter]

We're on Seabourn's Greenland adventure that embarks July 16 in Reykjavik.  We'll be taking a tour of Iceland's south coast with BTH Travel the day before.  We sailed on Crystal's then-expedition ship, Endeavour, back in the summer of 2021, on a circumnavigation cruise of Iceland.  Absolutely phenomenal ship, crew and expedition staff.  We're hoping the Venture can equal that experience.

 

When we sailed on Odyssey in Alaska last year, Seabourn staggered boarding times (based on your cabin selection, i.e., pay more; board earlier).  We showed up early for our boarding time, no one was there waiting, so they told us to in-process and board.

Edited May 25, 2023 by PolarDrifter

[mnocket]

On 5/25/2023 at 10:56 AM, PolarDrifter said:

It will take you somewhere in the neighborhood of an hour or more to get off the airplane (you deplane on the tarmac and bus to the terminal) and get thru immigration and customs w/luggage.  The drive to Reykjavik is close to an hour.  My guess is they wait to fill the busses as your fellow passengers arrive.  I wouldn't expect you will arrive at the port until 12-1 PM at best.  Seabourn may take you on a little tour to further delay your embarkation time.

I'll be cruising Iceland for the first time in Sept.  Different cruise line, but maybe you can help me decide about what to do on the day we arrive, which is 2 days prior to boarding the ship.  We arrive at 6am and I doubt our hotel room will be ready until sometime that afternoon.  It was suggested that a good way to spend the day would be a stop at the Blue Lagoon (since it's near the airport) before proceeding to the hotel in Reykjavik. There are several transportation options for traveling from the airport to the Blue Lagoon, but it seems you need to purchase transportation for a scheduled departure time.  Am I reading your post correctly in that I should be OK scheduling  7:30am transportation given a scheduled arrival time of 6am?  Would it be better/safer to schedule the transportation for 8:30am and plan to eat breakfast at the airport?

 

It's kind of difficult deciding how to kill 9hrs between landing and the hotel room being ready given I do tend towards being a jet lag zombie (my body will be 6hrs earlier - i.e. landing at midnight body time).

 

Thanks for your thoughts.   

[highplanesdrifters]

14 hours ago, mnocket said:

I'll be cruising Iceland for the first time in Sept.  Different cruise line, but maybe you can help me decide about what to do on the day we arrive, which is 2 days prior to boarding the ship.  We arrive at 6am and I doubt our hotel room will be ready until sometime that afternoon.  It was suggested that a good way to spend the day would be a stop at the Blue Lagoon (since it's near the airport) before proceeding to the hotel in Reykjavik. There are several transportation options for traveling from the airport to the Blue Lagoon, but it seems you need to purchase transportation for a scheduled departure time.  Am I reading your post correctly in that I should be OK scheduling  7:30am transportation given a scheduled arrival time of 6am?  Would it be better/safer to schedule the transportation for 8:30am and plan to eat breakfast at the airport?

 

It's kind of difficult deciding how to kill 9hrs between landing and the hotel room being ready given I do tend towards being a jet lag zombie (my body will be 6hrs earlier - i.e. landing at midnight body time).

 

Thanks for your thoughts.   

You can also book the 'Retreat Spa' at the Blue Lagoon for the day.  It is a private area with private blue lagoon and other amenities for retreat guests only. Very serene. Lots of places to recover quietly from jet lag.

[cruiseaholic78]

You can of course go to the Blue Lagoon and the retreat spa sounds great but why not just contact the hotel and ask what the extra cost would be to have an earlier checkin. ?

[Aexboeingdriver]

You should check out the Sky lagoon rather than the blue lagoon. The water in the sky pool is clear and it is right by the ocean. The architecture of the building is very icelandic in design - there is a ritual experience including saunas with ocean view and cool mist. You could go to your hotel, drop off your bags - it is about 10-15 mins drive from the city

[Aexboeingdriver]

The easiest way to guarantee a way to check in when you arrive is to book the night prior. We will also arrive at 0600 and the hotel has tagged our room as a red eye check-in.