I don't know if I can do it..

[kimkencruzers]

Hi all,

I've always wanted to go to Svalbard and this cruise gets me there plus Iceland as a bonus. It's on the NCL Star.  I can handle the cost of cruise with balcony, flights and transfers - but when I look at excursions in each place (I usually do non-ship excursions but I don't know if that is feasible here because of infrastructure and canceled ports??) it costs almost as much the whole cruise to see things at these places and I would have to do so much research at each place to plan my own excursions.  I'm a little bummed about the idea of this now.. Thoughts? Also, if I use the airline's flights do I have no say on routing? Can I do pre-nights, etc.?

 

[PLee]

We took this cruise earlier this year, it was amazing!  We booked all of our excursions ourselves, it was much more economical than going thru NCL.  You'll find Iceland and Norway are both very expensive.  So now is a good time to start planning.  Make sure to read the cancelation policy of the company you book with.  There are many options that do allow you up to 24 hours to cancel.  NCL does not allow you the option of choosing your flights.  Note, you may need to pay additional for baggage depending on the airline they use, i.e. SAS?  We did have the ability to extend both our arrival and departure by a few days, which I highly recommend.  Enjoy and safe travels.

[kimkencruzers]

Thank you!

[ontheweb]

If you do take the 1 or 2 day deviation, you will receive a credit for $25 off the first passenger.

 

Also note if you end up with Iceland Air, they do not provide a meal even on trans-Atlantic flights. They do provide beverages, water, soda, juice. Other than that, there is food for sale. But you are better off bringing you own. (We bought food at the airport for our flight back home on Iceland Air after our cruise.)

[edinburgher]

On 9/22/2023 at 3:42 PM, kimkencruzers said:

I would have to do so much research at each place to plan my own excursions.  I'm a little bummed about the idea of this now..

Well, unless you are prepared to fork out multiple $$$s to go everywhere with the cruiseline,or mostly stay onboard or go out for short walks in each port, it will be essential to look at different  options yourself.

 

Fortunately you have an itinerary which is calling into mostly smaller locations so it should be much simpler than it would have been were you heading to much larger cities with a huge number of options.

 

We have visited Longyearbyen.  Very very easy to walk around yourself at very little cost.. Neither of us can remember exactly, but we think there was a shuttle bus from the ship to a central point and thereafter we simply walked around exploring this rather unique town.We used the internet in the public library inside the little shopping centre and spent time in the church chatting with the lady minister who by chance was there at the time,and who told us about life there,  and visited the museum, and the little shopping centre, and the supermarket is interesting too for the limited selections and the ridiculously high prices.  We also walked to the sundial and enjoyed the overall views, really quite scenic.

 

You cannot give birth there, nor die there, nor be buried there due to the lack of services. There are "beware of the bears" signs  around (good for photo ops) and it is (or was) forbidden to venture out of town without a rifle.  Some of the few stores had signs at their entrance forbidding weapons inside.  And most properties are raised above ground due to permafrost. And outside all of them, you will see  skis and snowmobiles parked up.And the kids playgrounds outside the school and nursery had high  fencing around them to keep the kids safe from any bear attacks.  It was all really quite interesting, a brief glimpse of a life most of us could never imagine. And "researching" it wasn't onerous at all, mostly only reading, and if you read the above, you have already "researched" and it surely wasn't that hard was it? For additional information, google is your best friend.

 

if you never visited Honningsvasg before, then the "must-do" trip is to the North Cape.  There are a number of ways to get there including public bus, taxi, private tour or shorex, but I suggest you book this as either a shorex or a private tour.  Is there a roll Call for this sailing?  If so, do join as others may be planning private tours in some ports and looking for fellow pax like yourself to join them.

 

The Reykjavik most highly recommended tour is the Golden Circle so if you are flying in the day before you would have time for that (i think) on your boarding day, or depending on flight timing, the day you fly in.

 

isafjordur is tiny and offers little, so unless happy with a short walk around town then return to ship, you might want to look at tours here.

 

Akureyri is a brilliant location for touring some of the most natural and intriguing sites in Icelandand there are several previous threads here on CC which discuss these. Use the search tool under your user name to find them,(will work for your other ports too,) but this one would be a good starting point.

 

Tromso we have visited three times and DIY'd each time. Lots to see and do here so you should spend time researching the city to find the sights which appeal to you to enjoy the most on your one day..  Tripadvisor, guide books, many many other websites.  And past threads here on CC.

 

i am not familiar with hammewrfest, Alta or D????? but again, begin by searching past threads.

[edinburgher]

On 9/22/2023 at 3:42 PM, kimkencruzers said:

but I don't know if that is feasible here because of infrastructure and canceled ports??) it costs almost as much the whole cruise to see things at these places

I am not an expert by any means, but am unaware of regular  port  cancellations and tours not running due to infrastructure reasons but others can maybe confirm you are correct.

 

And be aware that Norway is one of the most expensive countries in Europe so you can expect prices to be higher than you would pay at home. And Iceland isn't too far behind.

Edited September 24, 2023 by edinburgher

[ljandgb]

We always prefer to find our own excursions.  Either private, or with a small group, which is way better than being in a big bus with 40 other people. Some companies offer small groups arranged by the company, other times the groups are formed on a CC roll call (I admittedly have not gone this route.) In general, I do some research online to see what's available at any given port, find companies that provide what I'd like to do that also have good online reviews (including from here at CC), then email several.  It's usually apparent quickly which companies are responsive to our questions and communication.  I never book thru a third party like Viator.  It's worked out well for us every time.  Always check cancelation policies, including if the ship can not make it to port.

 

Something to consider with these port stops is that the towns are small, and for Iceland, tourism is not their main focus.  There will be limited offerings, so if there is something you wish to do in some of the very small towns, I'd work on that first.  

 

There is also a lot of talk here on CC about Isafjordur.  It is a very small port whose pier does not support large ships, and some ships don't tender. They are working on enlarging the pier, but consequently, many ships have had to skip this port this year.  The weather in this part of the world is also harsher, and some ports have been canceled due to high winds.

 

I'll always maintain that Iceland is best done as a land trip, as it's easy to navigate and simply beautiful.  Since the common "ports" are often tiny villages, you are frequently left with whatever the ship can provide, and there's so much more to do if you could just get to it.  There are few to no cars to rent and no public transport.  At least consider arriving a day or 2 earlier and seeing more of Iceland.  The Golden Circle is the standard tour, but is honestly less inspiring than a south coast tour for most people, unless you are really into geothermal areas. (If you've been to Yellowstone, you'll probably be underwhelmed in Iceland.)

[kimkencruzers]

Thanks everyone! Lots to consider! I appreciate everyone’s time and effort and support!

[edinburgher]

13 minutes ago, kimkencruzers said:

Thanks everyone! Lots to consider! I appreciate everyone’s time and effort and support!

My aplogies.

 

I had a bit of a senior moment and forgot to include the Akureyri link referenced in my post #5.

 

It is this one. OP, ignore the first few posts on it as it morphs into a discussion of recommended tours and operators.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2910739-akureyri-activities/#comment-64715461

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by edinburgher

[kaisatsu]

My first visit to Svalbard was on the QE2 and I definitely didn't regret it. Cunard didn't offer any excursions, but we booked a half-day kayaking trip across the fjord to the abandoned mining town and then spent the afternoon visiting the museum and the town.

 

Of course the best way to see Svalbard is to do an expedition cruise to visit some of the other areas of the archipelago and potentially have the chance to see walrus, polar bears, etc. but you can see the iconic western Svalbard geology during the sail-in/-out to Longyearbyen, and you do get a small taste of the local lifestyle.

 

Personally, I prefer to visit Iceland by land, so I was happy to include it in a north-south Norwegian coastal cruise. Hammerfest and Alta wouldn't be among my top Norwegian cruise ports, and North Cape feels a bit underwhelming when you're headed all the way up to Longyearbyen!

[milolii]

Iceland:  Look at Iceland Everywhere Tours. IET.  We did three tours with them this summer.  Reykjavik, Akueryri, and Grundarfjordur. Excellent.  Siggi offered refund is ship didn’t make the port.   Also Arctic Shore Excursions.  They do have a penalty, but I think is closer to 20%.  It’s the deposit. 
 

I do remember reading on the Princess Forums there was a big storm around Iceland the end of May, 2023. Many ports were missed.   Once the Sky got to Norway, things went well.   I would check your roll call for the cruise for possible private tours.  I also would check a roll call from

 this year with a similar cruise. 
 

https://www.icelandeverywhere.is

 

https://arcticshorex.com

Edited October 31, 2023 by milolii

[kimkencruzers]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts

 

[tashaaa]

My husband and I also booked this cruise.

 

On 9/22/2023 at 7:21 PM, PLee said:

We took this cruise earlier this year, it was amazing!  We booked all of our excursions ourselves, it was much more economical than going thru NCL.  You'll find Iceland and Norway are both very expensive.  So now is a good time to start planning.  Make sure to read the cancelation policy of the company you book with.  There are many options that do allow you up to 24 hours to cancel.  NCL does not allow you the option of choosing your flights.  Note, you may need to pay additional for baggage depending on the airline they use, i.e. SAS?  We did have the ability to extend both our arrival and departure by a few days, which I highly recommend.  Enjoy and safe travels.

 

Can you write which tours you took? I'm already looking...

The bigest Problem is Longyearbyen, as there are very few excursions on the day the ship docks there. I found one boat tour (Better Moments). It's starts at 6:00pm and we should be back by 11:00pm (5h long tour), but my husband don't want to risk it, what if because of the weater conditions we arrive late and miss the ship, which goes at 12:30am.

The cruise line don't have any excursions there. Beacuse we will be there probably only once (the world is soooo biggg :)), we would like to do something, not only walk around.

any suggestions?

 

 

[PLee]

I could search and forward you those tours.  However, they may not even be available now.  In Svalbard/Longyearbyen it is a small, quaint town.  It was an easy walk (20 minutes) to town.  There is a museum at the University that is well worth it.  We took an excursion "Svalbard in a nutshell" for $35pp.  I found it on a website "Discover Svalbard" There were people from the cruise ship who paid $275. for the same tour!  This tour included seeing the Global seed vault that was very interesting.  Your not allowed to go inside, but make the walk and read the signs.  If you enjoy beer, there is  a brewery where you can enjoy a cold one at the most northern brewery in the World.  Hope this helps, enjoy!

[tashaaa]

Thank you for the tip in Svalbard, I saw this, now it would be easier to book as I have a good feedback 🙂 

[tashaaa]

One more question about this cruise which still confuse me…

in the description it’s: Enjoy an overnight stay in Longyearbyen.

But in the itenerary, we will be there from wednesday 8:00am to thursday 12:30am (00:30), this really is not an overnight stay. 
when I check in the shipmate app there its thursday 12:30pm…

now I’m confused… any suggestion, where to check this. 
@PLee how was it when you took the cruise? 

 

[clo]

On 9/22/2023 at 7:42 AM, kimkencruzers said:

Hi all,

I've always wanted to go to Svalbard and this cruise gets me there plus Iceland as a bonus. It's on the NCL Star.  I can handle the cost of cruise with balcony, flights and transfers - but when I look at excursions in each place (I usually do non-ship excursions but I don't know if that is feasible here because of infrastructure and canceled ports??) it costs almost as much the whole cruise to see things at these places and I would have to do so much research at each place to plan my own excursions.  I'm a little bummed about the idea of this now.. Thoughts? Also, if I use the airline's flights do I have no say on routing? Can I do pre-nights, etc.?

 

Norway isn't as expensive as Iceland but it IS expensive. Just put that in your mental file cabinet.

 

[kaisatsu]

23 hours ago, clo said:

Norway isn't as expensive as Iceland but it IS expensive

I think this depends a lot on context and base currency. We spent a week in Iceland with some friends over the summer and found a lot of restaurants and alcohol were cheaper than we were used to when we converted the prices to NOK!