Iceland: Alta, Akureyri & Honningsvag Anyone?

[tashaaa]

Hi ncl cruisers 😀

 

My husband and I are looking into cruise Iceland: Alta, Akureyri & Honningsvag, which visit Iceland, Svalbard, and Norway until Tromso. 
 

has anyone been? I am looking for some info, what it is like? 
so please share if you have been, or do you know where to find more info from people, who actually been. 
 

thank you ssoooooo much in advance 🤗

[CruiseMH]

I have been in all three of the se cities/ports last year.

The question is: what exactly do you want to know ?

 

[tashaaa]

This is the cruise:

https://www.ncl.com/fr/en/cruises/11-day-iceland-from-reykjavik-to-troms-alta-akureyri-and-honningsvag-STAR11REYDJUAKUISALYBHVGHFTALTTOS?embarkationport=4294949418,4294949465,4294949364,4294949398,4294949307,4294949345,4294949346,4294949326&sailMonths=4294949412&numberOfGuests=4294949461&sortBy=closer_to_me&autoPopulate=f&from=resultpage&itineraryCode=STAR11REYDJUAKUISALYBHVGHFTALTTOS
 

I’m new to NCL, this would be our first cruise. I watched some videos about free at see, will check the ship.

 

I’m asking about the itinerary, if its good to visit this citys per cruise, do we need to take excursions, or can we explore on our own (we manly do this).

we would like to visit the north pole, this we are considering to take the excursion.

how is the port in Svalbard? 
How are the waters there? 
 

Things like this…. If someone been on this cruise, did you like it? 

 
 

thank you 😊

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@tashaaa

 

we would like to visit the north pole, this we are considering to take the excursion.

 

We have done much of this cruise including Svalbard but it would not be possible to visit the North Pole!!   I presume you mean the North Pole Expeditions Museum  in Svalbard.  We didn't do that but did enjoy the tour of Longyearbyen.   However there is little chance of travelling far outside the safe area and little chance of seeing polar bears.

 

Will try to add other things later.   Any specific questions?

 

Anoynmous Phoenix.

[ontheweb]

Of those ports, we have only been to Akuryeri. We did not do an excursion. We went to the botanical garden there, the most Northernmost botanical garden in the world. We also stopped at a museum on the way to the botanical garden.

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@tashaaa

 

we would like to visit the north pole, this we are considering to take the excursion.

 

If, on the other hand, if you are talking about North Cape, then I would recommend it.

 

A P

[FredZiffle]

Excursions in Iceland are prohibitively expensive.  Consider renting a car in Akuryeri and driving to the sites.  Roads are better than most in the US.  We had no problem just using a map (back in the days before widespread use of GPS).  We just walked around Alta and Longyearbyen.  Not much in either port, although the museum in Longyearbyen was interesting.  

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@tashaaa

 

For Longyearbyen look at

https://en.visitsvalbard.com/

and

https://spitzbergen-reisen.no/en/adventures/day-trips/sightseeing-longyearbyen

 

We actually did a private tour which was very good.

 

A P

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@tashaaa

 

I agree with @FredZiffle Excursions in Iceland are prohibitively expensive.    Especially in the small centres.

 

A P

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@tashaaa

 

Here are some thoughts, we did a similar cruise this year and have been to Reykjavik & Akureyri more than once.

CRUISE ITINERARY OVERVIEv

Reykjavik, Iceland      Take a couple of local based tours, a 4hr sightseeing tour of Reykjavik and a full day Golden Circle tour.   If you are staying in a hotel near Klemmer, the bus hub, there is a Food Court there that is very good, well used by locals, cheap for Iceland!!

Djupivogur, Iceland    Tender in and then spend 2 hours walking round, that would be enough for you to see every house and vantage point!!

Akureyri, Iceland    Three possibilities.   1) The expensive Jewels of the North w/refreshments from the ship (excellent we did it a few years ago)   2) If you just want to do Godafoss then there are plenty of local offers (leave the ship and walk towards the town!!)  3) the walk as described by @ontheweb

 

Isafjordur, Iceland   Another place where you could spend 2-3 hours wandering if you were unwilling to pay for a ship tour.

Longyearbyen (Spitzbergen), Norway   A half day tour using a local company and then go to the museum in the afternoon.    DON'T expect to see polar bears in the middle of summer but the out of town locals MUST carry a rifle in their vehicle!!

Honningsvåg, Norway    If you haven't been there North Cape is a must, either by a local or ship tour.

Hammerfest, Norway  We did Hammerfest with Sami Experience from the ship this time and really enjoyed the experience.

 

Alta, Norway  Have not been to Alta

Tromsø, Norway   Two things you should do if staying in Tromsø at the end of the cruise, take the Fjellheisen cable car and also visit the Cathedral.

 

We enjoyed the whole trip but we had wonderful weather.   Be prepared to miss ports and have a rough time if you are very unlucky.   Also remember, if you are there in the middle of summer, that you will NOT see the Aurora and will have VERY LONG periods of daylight.   

If you want to guarantee darkness to sleep take an Inside cabin!   VBG

 

Anoynmous Phoenix.

[tashaaa]

Thank you so much for the replays 🙂 will check the tours in Longyearbyen.

I wanted to say North Cape (not North pole), my mistake.  If we are there, we will visit it.

 

I understand there is a risk that maybe we won't see all the ports because of the weather, bus I still hope that we visit most of the ports.

This itinerary is interesting for us, because of many port days, I don't like many sea days, it has 2 which is ok.

I saw some reviews for Norwegian Star, which are manly not good. We prefer the itinerary before the ship, so maybe this won't be a problem for us. We are a little new to cruising, only been to 3 cruises, two of them on Royal Caribbean. Is there a big difference between those two? We do prefere smaller ships.

Just one more question:

We would like to go on the Golden Circle tour in Reykjavik. This tour is 8h. I think it's not possible to make the whole tour because the ship leaves at 4 pm, and we have to be there two hour earlier, but maybe we can make some of the golden circle.

 

 

[MagnoliaBlossom]

We did a Southampton to Reyjakvik last year on the Star.  We did some of the ports you e listed.  We spent three days post cruise in Reyjakvik and tired with Nice Travels.  Can’t say enough good things about them.  They also offer a discount if you book more than one tour with them.  
 

we are doing the the same cruise as you on 5/29/25 and will spend at least three days to do more touring with them.  I started a roll call for that cruise if you’d like check in occasionally for updates.  Don’t know if you are sailing the same date but you may pick up some useful info.