Live from the NCL Star July 23-August 15, 2023. Will I survive 23 days without the beverage package?

[Norwegianprincess]

@YVRteacher It was so lovely to have dinner with you and @TrumpyNor and Hein, both my friend and I enjoyed it very much! A very nice last night of a fantastic cruise. 
 

That said, this was my first cruise on the Star, and together with the Epic she is my least favourite of NCL ship so far. I too really miss an observation lounge. And food was a little bit hit or miss, even though we mostly had good/decent meals.
I really liked the layout of the pool deck, the terraced decks for sunbeds was nice. 

[Turtles06]

On 8/24/2023 at 7:45 PM, YVRteacher said:

I got the job!!! It’s my dream job! I was so happy when I found out I cried. The interview was 45 minutes and was intense.

Congratulations!!  I’m so happy for you!  And for the kids you’ll be working with — they will be so lucky to have you!

[Ottawa Lynne]

On 8/24/2023 at 7:45 PM, YVRteacher said:

got the job!!! It’s my dream job! I was so happy when I found out I cried. The interview was 45 minutes and was intense.

 

I’m still a teacher librarian (yay!) and in the new position at a new school I won’t be doing all the primary literacy groups, intermediate literacy groups and personal interest project groups I was doing at my previous school. I’ll be able to focus on kids and books! The school has more than double the size of student population and is in a great location. 

Fantastic news!!!

 

I hate the expression when one door closes, another one opens - but this really seems to apply to your case!

 

Congratulations!!!

[graphicguy]

On 8/25/2023 at 12:45 PM, YVRteacher said:

It’s going to be a bit of a slow haul due to the wildfires but the process has started.

 

I got the job!!!

So very happy for you.....CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by graphicguy

[SenatorsFan]

@YVRteacher so thanks for that website. I've just ordered some licorice and marzipan. DH was especially interested in the licorice. 😁

[YVRteacher]

Today’s breakfast is from Alta, Norway.

 

Amazing.

[Von & John]

16 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Yes!!!!

 

I bought a LOT of different brands of salted liquorice. All were delicious.  This brand was superior!

 

I searched on Amazon and they sell other treats by Malaco but I didn’t see this specific product.

 

 

 

Thanks  --  So looking forward to this...
Will order for myself & my siblings - we grew up on black licorice w/ Gramph!!!

[YVRteacher]

Disembarking in Reykjavik 

If you have a plan to sleep longer than 5:30am on disembarkation day, change that plan! Announcements for luggage tag colours begin at that time and continue every 20 minutes-ish. They are blasting loud!

 

There were no seats in the Garden Cafe at 8:00am so I sat outside in the grey drizzle.

Meeting time for tours ending at the airport was at 8:30. We left the Stardust Theatre at 8:50am. That was a small cluster ^*<£. They didn’t have enough Shore Ex staff working and people had their luggage and were sitting in all the aisle seats so other people couldn’t get by them to sit. 

 

We were directed to walk off the ship, pick up our luggage with black tour luggage tags then board bus #28. The bus numbers did not correspond to the posted number stations. Bus 28 was parked at station 7. 

 

Note that the taxi line is loooong and slow.

Our tour guide said it would be about a three hour line up since there are so few taxis. Did anyone departing the Star take a taxi and how did it go for you?

 

Interestingly, there was no customs or passport control.

 

Our bus driver was pretty out of it (I heard him tell someone he didn’t have any coffee at home) and he looks like he’s been retired for longer than I’ve been alive.

 

A whirling dervish of a woman with more makeup than sense tried to get in the seat next to me with her 23 backpacks, purses and bags. I gently suggested to her that she may need to store her items in the bus luggage compartment. This seemed to trigger her and she went off on me, then she slid backward into the aisle. She kept nattering at me and I just kept repeating that she needed to stop. Then she wisely decided to sit somewhere else. She is from New York so thankfully she won’t be on the same flight. 

This excursion is called Geothermal Landscape and Viking History With a Side of Crazy Lady Who Doesn’t Know How To Sit On A Bus.

 

On the day I disembarked many crew members were signing off and heading home for vacation. Many have had their contracts extended because NCL didn’t have the personnel to cover them. One person (not going to write his name) has been expecting his replacement for a couple of months and his contract keeps getting extended. He has now missed his kids’ vacation time and will be on board until at least mid-September. Other crew members were called back to the Star after only one month vacation.  August 15 is the changeover date for a new captain. It will be interesting to see which ports are made and which ports are skipped. Maybe there’s more Greenland in the Star’s future. (The replacement captain has been on board for a week transitioning. I asked the Cruise Next guy who the new captain is and he replied, “some Italian guy.”)

 

Scenes from the bus window

Landscape

 

We went to a town with a lot of roundabouts. Our guide said the mayor is called The Lord of the Rings.

 

Putting the geothermal in the Geothermal Landscape and Viking History Tour.

 

 

To get the full effect, imagine fermented shark being unearthed after a four month rotting process underground. Take that fermented shark and wrap it around a fermented cabbage. Then use that to mask the smell of the bubbling mud pots.

 

We drove through fascinating lava fields both ancient and new. The ones covered in moss are at least 2000 years old because it takes that long for the surface of the lava to break down enough for moss spores to grow.

 

At the Viking World (been here before on an NCL Shore Excursion) I spent most of my 40 minutes outside taking photos of rock art

and replicas of viking houses with grass roofs.

 

 

 

These are the last flower photos of the trip.

[YVRteacher]

Flight home

 

(I wrote this while in the airport and on the plane. The tenses are not accurate but it reflects my state of mind of the long-ish journey home.)

 

Flying into Keflavik airport was fine. Leaving was one step next to a nightmare. Iceland is so popular that the airport doesn’t have the capacity to handle the volume of tourists. The heat is cranked up to the temperature of a boiling mud pot, people are sprawled on the floor and there are zero places to sit, let alone comfortable places to park your booty and wait. The benches in the first holding area are either cement or wood. 

 

They sell vegan falafel bowls and smoked trout bowls. Don’t sit on a bench next to the guy who ordered the trout. Just trust me.

 

The best piece of advice I have is coming up now:

Don’t buy your Omnom chocolates, Draumer chocolate covered liquorice or salty liquorice in any of the small towns you visit on your cruise. Everything is 30% cheaper at the airport duty free and the selection is huge. I could have saved a lot of money and packed differently had I known.

Another tip for the airport is to make sure you have a charger with a plug adapter for Iceland or a wireless charger, especially if you have a tour ahead of time and have taken lots of photos of the magnificent landscape and your boarding pass is on your phone. I had anticipated this and was so glad. None of the charging station under the wooden benches work. The ones above the cement seats do work.

 

If you, like the Icelandic horses, want to look like Fabio, just use the hand dryers in the individual washroom stalls. They will blow you (and your hair) away.

 

Once your gate shows on the main board, if your flight leaves from a D gate there are actual seats made of non-yielding hard plastic at Gate D 26. There is also a large duty free store once you have gone through passport control to get to the D gates.  I hope I remember this the next time I fly out of Keflavik.

 

I did something stupid! My house keys are in my suitcase and I had to check my bag since the expanders were used. My next door neighbours have a spare key but they are on vacation. I wrote a note to myself to take the keys out of the suitcase then forgot to look at the note. This is what happens when NCL starts their morning announcements during sleeping time!

I have a sore neck! Not because the seat was uncomfortable but because just as I couldn’t close the curtains on the cruise, I couldn’t slide down the window covering and miss this:

 

Greenland!

I spent the flight with my head turned toward the window, just in awe of this vast planet. We flew over the Rocky Mountains and I realized how many parts of this earth have never been touched by a human.

Then we flew over Vancouver and I saw my dad’s home and my house. Then we kept going to Seattle. I was kind of hoping for a parachute and the courage to jump rather than doing the layover and the next flight from Seattle to Vancouver. IcelandAir doesn’t have direct flights from  Reykjavik to Vancouver on Tuesdays.

Next time I go to Iceland and Norway I hope to take a transatlantic cruise and fly home from the east coast.

When the plane landed in Seattle the flight attendant came on the PA to say that even if luggage was checked through it must be collected. This seems contradictory! She also said it is 104 degrees F! That is 33 Celsius.

 

I had to go through passport control; thank goodness for Nexus/Global Entry! The officer asked me one question: do you have any meat?😂

 

I had to go to the Alaska Airlines counter because although I had booked the journey through IcelandAir, Alaskan Airlines is not one of their partners and I couldn’t check in for the connecting flight online. The woman at the counter was so kind! I had been awake for what felt like 12 days and when she asked my name I said, “huh?” Then it was security round two. Then it was breakfast time at 7:26pm Pacific Standard Time. Thank goodness for apple and cheese trays with Ritz crackers. 

 

Planes are delayed because they are overheated and need to cool down before it is safe for crew and passengers to board. My flight from Seattle to  Vancouver was quite delayed. I’ve lost all sense of time so I don’t know how long. 

 

I’m so glad I didn’t drive to the airport in Vancouver as it definitely would have been hazardous for me to drive without sleep. 

 

[YVRteacher]

Some of my favourite sunsets from the cruise:

[Von & John]

24 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

The best piece of advice I have is coming up now:

Don’t buy your Omnom chocolates, Draumer chocolate covered liquorice or salty liquorice in any of the small towns you visit on your cruise. Everything is 30% cheaper at the airport duty free and the selection is huge. I could have saved a lot of money and packed differently had I known.

 

 

 

I hear you on the money savings...
But think of all the enjoyment you found collecting along the way 🙂 

Best of both worlds - collect as you eat on the way & purchase to stock up & take home at the Airport Duty free

Edited August 26, 2023 by Von & John

[Jojo27]

Thanks for another great review and  loved all your pictures.   If you fly Alaska airlines and have a frequent flyer number they are partners with Iceland air, just send them your Iceland air flight  info to claim you miles.  As I recall took a couple months for the miles to hit my AA account once I sent the request.  

[disneylover89]

Thank you, Yvonne, for taking us on this awesome ride!  I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review and looking at your pictures every day. Good luck on your new job and looking forward to your next review. Best wishes to your dad too.

[TrumpyNor]

This was the taxi line when we joined the que that same morning around 08.50 to get in to our hotel in Reykjavik. We waited until that time as we actually believed that at such a "late" time there wouldn't be much of a line waiting for taxis.... Luckily the rain stopped after just a couple of minutes, but it took us a good 30 minutes to get to the front of the line (well, 30 minutes is a much better waiting time than the 3 hours the guide told @YVRteacher on her bus excursion). 

 

PS: We also found the LOUD and EARLY announcements for disembarkment to be extremely frustrating as we originally had planned to have a good rest until around 07.00 AM that morning. 

Edited August 27, 2023 by TrumpyNor
misspelled

[TrumpyNor]

My husband and I joined @YVRteacher on the last leg of her cruise - from Tromsø, Norway to Reykjavik, Iceland (August 4-15). Because we mostly hiked on our own in each of the ports on the itinerary instead of joining organized excursions, I've agreed with her to post some photos and tips about where we went. All the walks are what I would call "easy" walks - some of them in a bit steep terrain, but by taking regular breaks we managed it without any problems. Our experience is that there were very good walking paths pretty much «everywhere», especially in Iceland. Perhaps the following posts can provide some helpful tips for others who are going to one of these ports in the autumn or in 2024. To avoid too long posts because of added photos, I will post information about each port separately.

 

Weather was as unstable as only the Norwegian Sea and the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean can be – we had temperatures ranging from around 5°C to 18°C/39°F to 64°F and many of the days also offered icy winds from the north and rain. So my suggestion when cruising in these waters during the months of May-June-July-August-September to bring clothing for «all weather types except snow». We were also very happy that we had brought with us some light gloves – on those windy, rainy days they were very good to be wearing… Shoes with a waterproof goretex membran is also a good idea – especially if you plan on doing some walking or hiking tours when in the ports. In some of the ports I activated the GPS on an app on my mobile phone, to track our movement, and I will add screenshots of those as well.

[TrumpyNor]

Harstad, Norway.

I had done some research and new that from the old TV-tower there would be nice views of the town. We originally planned on walking up there, but to save some time we decided to take a taxi up and walk down - very happy we did that, because parts of the way towards the top was rather steep... Taxi stop was located close to where we docked, and the trip up to the TV-tower only cost NOK 170, so it was absolutely worth it...

 

 

 

 

[TrumpyNor]

Olden, Norway.

The weather was not very good (lots of rain and wind), but since we had prepaid/booked tickets with the Loen Skylift we just decided to make the best of it. The Skylift was located just a short busride from the cruise pier, and the transport was included in the ticket.

 

We were brought 1000 (!) meters up to the top and the views were spectacular even in bad weather.

 

 

 

 

And then we decided to have some lunch with a view....!

 

 

[YVRteacher]

I need an Olden re-do!

[TrumpyNor]

Torshavn, Faroe Islands

In Torshavn the only thing we had planned in advance, was to walk up to an Obelisk that was located at 19, Hoyviksvegurat  to get a nice view over parts of the town. Other than that we just walked through various residential neighbourshoods – a nice walk with lots to see along the way, and just outside of the towncenter there were many properties that actually kept beautiful "viking type" sheep in their backyard. When we came back to the harbour, we turned right instead of going back to the ship. And we are very happy that we did just that, because that led us to Torshavn old town – and it was definitely our favorite part of town, with old very colourful houses that were all well kept.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TrumpyNor]

9 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

I need an Olden re-do!

Yes, you do. I remember you saying that Olden was one of the few places that you didn't enjoy - and that I suspect was mainly because of the bad weather... 

[TrumpyNor]

Djupivogur, Iceland

I had originally plans of visiting both the Black Sands beach and the 34 egg sculptures called Eggs of Merry Bay (Eggin in Gledivik in Icelandic), without really having a look at the map in advance. Turned out those two "destinations" were in opposite directions of eachother, so then we decided on a "nature experience instead of an art experience".  The Black Sands beach is loated by the local airport (small airport strip) – only about 30 min walk from the village. Followed the small road there and took a slightly different path through some "wetlands" back to the village, where we passed the Bondavarda viewpoint that is located very close to the harbour – that was actually a brilliant place to make photos of the ship anchoring in the fjord. 

 

 

 

[TrumpyNor]

Seydisfjordur, Iceland

GPS map showing our walk first through the town towards the blue church and after that heading for the Tvisöngur sound sculpture for some great views and good photo opportunities.

 

Parts of town:

 

 

 

 

Wide walking path towards Tvisöngur:

 

The Norwegian Star seen fromTvisöngur:

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by TrumpyNor
Adding photo.

[TrumpyNor]

Isafjordur, Iceland

After walking through town we went towards the Urdarvegur viewpoint and the Utsynisstadur observation deck that offered some great views of both the town and the surrounding area.

 

On our way back to town, we passed by the beach (note, only one way in/out to the beach – and that was through some narrow stairs at one end of the beach).

 

 

[TrumpyNor]

Grundarfjordur, Iceland.

We had originally plans on just walking towards the Kirkjufell mountain and Kirkjufellfoss waterfalls as it is less than 3 km (about 2 miles), but when we stepped off the tenderboat, we saw a small yellow bus that had «Kirkjufell Express» written on the side. It had departures every 30 minutes and we catched the first departure of the day, so it was not as crowded at the Kirkjufell lookout-point as it probably was later in the day. Ticket was 10 Euros per person, and included return – but I chose to walk back to town instead, as the weather was beautiful that day. I will just leave out photos from that walk, as @YVRteacher walked along the same route and has already posted beautiful photos.

 

Kirkjufell mountain seen from the seaside:

 

And then seen from the other, more famous side: 

 

Kirkjufellfoss waterfalls:

 

And «all -in-one»….

[YVRteacher]

I love seeing these photos, @TrumpyNor! Wasn’t that heritage neighbourhood in Torshavn a delight?