Iceland Excursions advice

[dburns1231]

Yes, you cross the Arctic Circle. No, there is no ceremony. If you want a certificate, see guest services.

[Gail Boertzel]

This is the information I received in April 2023 when I inquired why Vigur Island was not open for tours on June 13, 2024:

 

Thanks for your message - the reason for the closure is that this is the period the eider are nesting and the eiderdown harvest takes place. Too many visitors would disturb the nesting eider.

 

We are sorry that this closure coincides with your visit - but yes, it is the same period every year.

 

With best wishes,

Felicity

[Peregrina651]

It would be nice if they would say as much on their website. All it says is that they are open to visitors May-September. However, visit West Tours to see the dates when they offer tours to the island; there is nothing offered the first two weeks of June, 2024.

 

I also noticed when I read the website, that contrary to when I was researching the island for our planned but cancelled 2020 cruise, the island is no longer open for casual visits, wandering the whole island is no longer permitted (except for overnight guests) and there is no regular ferry service.

 

Edited January 20 by Peregrina651

[CDR2001]

18 hours ago, dburns1231 said:

Yes, you cross the Arctic Circle. No, there is no ceremony. If you want a certificate, see guest services.

On our trip last summer, the certificates were in our room with the Viking Daily. 

[duquephart]

Really nice? Suitable for framing?

[CDR2001]

50 minutes ago, duquephart said:

Really nice? Suitable for framing?

Fairly nice….but no framing here! 😜. 

Edited January 20 by CDR2001

[CCWineLover]

On 1/18/2024 at 5:17 AM, janetcbl said:

Just noted on our upcoming trip Vigur is not included as a possibility. That was the excursion I was most excited about (I had been there many years ago and remember it vividly. 😢

Janet -

I seem to recall you are on the May 25th sailing on Mars out of Venus.  We are also.  We loved Iceland last June so much we are headed back.  I also noted that there was no Vigur trip listed yet.  We took that excursion last June and it was quite good. As someone pointed out, it appears they are severely limiting people on the island, understandably - especially early June.  We had to pick between Vigur and the waterfalls so this time we'll try to do the waterfalls.   FYI - we also had quite a good included tour in Isafjordur!

 

FYI - since June 8 is a turnaround, with some getting off and some getting on, there may be some excursions added closer to sailing for those that continue on the B2B.  If not, you likely will get a shuttle bus to Reyjkavik, or can book tours yourself.

 

As for the other ports, I totally concur with several regarding:

Heimaey boat tour in decent weather!

Seydisfjordur - the Skalanes Nature Center

Akureyri - any of the natural wonders tours

Dijupivogur - we had an amazing long informative walking tour!

 

Edited January 21 by CCWineLover

[janetcbl]

17 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Janet -

I seem to recall you are on the May 25th sailing on Mars out of Venus.  We are also.  We loved Iceland last June so much we are headed back.  I also noted that there was no Vigur trip listed yet.  We took that excursion last June and it was quite good. As someone pointed out, it appears they are severely limiting people on the island, understandably - especially early June.  We had to pick between Vigur and the waterfalls so this time we'll try to do the waterfalls.   FYI - we also had quite a good included tour in Isafjordur!

 

FYI - since June 8 is a turnaround, with some getting off and some getting on, there may be some excursions added closer to sailing for those that continue on the B2B.  If not, you likely will get a shuttle bus to Reyjkavik, or can book tours yourself.

 

As for the other ports, I totally concur with several regarding:

Heimaey boat tour in decent weather!

Seydisfjordur - the Skalanes Nature Center

Akureyri - any of the natural wonders tours

Dijupivogur - we had an amazing long informative walking tour!

 

Thanks for your update. We have also been to Iceland a few times and have had great visits each time. The first time, many years ago, the only way around the island was Icelandair bus….the roads were terrible in spots. Things have certainly changed!

 

Vigur is not available due to the Eider ducks nesting at that time (I think).

I spent a lot of time on the phone this am with a very competent Viking Supervisor who seemed to understand the problem with the people boarding in Bergen in May vs. those boarding under the new earlier excursion rules in June, after I pointed out the problem. She will take the matter “upstairs”, so it will be interesting to see if anything happens to make choosing excursions “fair” for both the under the “old rules” Norway (May 25)  participants and the “new rules” Iceland (June 8 participants. 

[Peregrina651]

10 hours ago, janetcbl said:

I spent a lot of time on the phone this am with a very competent Viking Supervisor who seemed to understand the problem with the people boarding in Bergen in May vs. those boarding under the new earlier excursion rules in June, after I pointed out the problem. She will take the matter “upstairs”, so it will be interesting to see if anything happens to make choosing excursions “fair” for both the under the “old rules” Norway (May 25)  participants and the “new rules” Iceland (June 8 participants. 

 

Janet, my sister is on your cruise all the way to NYC (which is why I am following this roll call) and in the same situation. The day after Viking announced the change, my sister tried first to make head way with Viking via email to no avail (it was a lost effort when the Viking person didn't even know that Mars was doing a butterfly), then she was on the phone with the travel agent (my agent now her agent and brother's agent as well) who was then on the phone with the owner of the agency, who called Viking, directly via his channels, going to bat for their client. Last I heard, they were making progress but I haven't heard a follow up yet.

 

In other words, Viking was made aware of the problem very early on, not just hearing from a guest but from a cruise travel agency owner as well.

 

BTW, fair is that in each category, BGN to NYC gets to book in advance of REYK to NYC.

[janetcbl]

11 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Janet, my sister is on your cruise all the way to NYC (which is why I am following this roll call) and in the same situation. The day after Viking announced the change, my sister tried first to make head way with Viking via email to no avail (it was a lost effort when the Viking person didn't even know that Mars was doing a butterfly), then she was on the phone with the travel agent (my agent now her agent and brother's agent as well) who was then on the phone with the owner of the agency, who called Viking, directly via his channels, going to bat for their client. Last I heard, they were making progress but I haven't heard a follow up yet.

 

In other words, Viking was made aware of the problem very early on, not just hearing from a guest but from a cruise travel agency owner as well.

 

BTW, fair is that in each category, BGN to NYC gets to book in advance of REYK to NYC.

Interesting! I couldn’t believe that I was the first person to notice the problem. Now to see if they resolve it!

[rmalbers]

On 1/17/2024 at 8:50 PM, kkapaldo said:

We are on that cruise in July also.  I thought I read that we cross the arctic circle on the cruise. Does anyone know this and is there any ceremony ?

There was a ceremony in Sept when I did the cruise.  It was fairly well attended, people were having fun.  And we also got the certificates that looked like the ones in the previous post.  

Edited January 24 by rmalbers

[rmalbers]

On 1/17/2024 at 8:28 PM, kahuna21 said:

Sailing “Iceland’s Natural Beauty” this July. Can anyone with knowledge of Viking’s excursions comment on their excursions in Isafjordur, Seydisfjordur, Djupivogur, Heimaey? Thanks!

As far as excursions go, I really don't think you can go wrong, it's such a beautiful place.  All the paid excursions we went on were great.  I think how you enjoy a given excursion is going to be more dependent on the weather at the time, more than anything, and there is really nothing you can do about that, other than make sure you have the right outerwear and shoes, etc.

[Peregrina651]

Interesting Cruise Critic article about the 8 most cancelled cruise ports including Isafjordur:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/8-cruise-ship-ports-of-call-that-get-canceled-often

 

There are a couple of other ports that Viking visits also on the list.

[miami mama]

Will certainly have to keep the fingers crossed for this port. Sounds like those that tender may have a problem until the work is finished. On the itinerary, this is not listed as tendering. 

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, miami mama said:

Will certainly have to keep the fingers crossed for this port. Sounds like those that tender may have a problem until the work is finished. On the itinerary, this is not listed as tendering. 

 

In the article, for Isafojordur, the ship shown docked in the picture is a Viking ship.

[Wolrab]

On 1/18/2024 at 3:57 PM, janetcbl said:

“Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Beyond”, May 25, 2024-June 22, 2024. Going from Bergen to NYC. There are a number of strange things about this trip, for example no excursions listed for Reykjavik. It will be interesting to see what happens……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did the Med & Italian Sojourn which actually were two separate cruises connected just as yours will be.  Therefore, nothing was listed online for Rome and Venice (Others were going on for a third week with no excursions listed for either port).  Once onboard, flyers were put in our cabin with options for those cities for those staying onboard.  Only problem is you won't know the details until onboard.  Maybe you can find a CC board from a prior year for the same cruise for your questions.

[Mike07]

On 1/20/2024 at 2:59 PM, CDR2001 said:

Fairly nice….but no framing here! 😜. 

That's really nice! The one HAL gave me was on a piece of copy paper with smeared ink. Probably going to throw it away.

[miami mama]

Just starting to consider which excursions we would like to go on. Out of the port of Djúpivogur we are looking at the Rural East Iceland (we will have already visited the Ice Lagoon's on our own the week before). It includes an outlet glacier of Vatnajokull and an equestrian center. Anyone have any experience with this excursion? Since many of the excursions are very expensive, want to make sure it is a worthwhile one. Any info would be appreciated as well as suggestions/thoughts on any other excursions out of this port. 

[stu52]

Does anyone have prices on the following Viking excursions:

 

• Vigur Island out of Isafjordur.
• Golden Circle out of Reykjavik
• Northern Iceland's Natural Treasures out of Akureyri
• Skalanes Nature Center out of Seydisfjördur

 

Thanks

[slewis7]

42 minutes ago, stu52 said:

Does anyone have prices on the following Viking excursions:

 

• Vigur Island out of Isafjordur.
• Golden Circle out of Reykjavik
• Northern Iceland's Natural Treasures out of Akureyri
• Skalanes Nature Center out of Seydisfjördur

 

Thanks

I can give you prices for 2 of those excursions for my Viking June 22, 2024 cruise:

Vigur $229 per person

Skalanes $219 per person 

[CDR2001]

July 2023 prices, I expect that they are $20+ more for 2024.

Akureyri Northern Iceland Natural Treasures $199 Viking 

(We used Saga tours, small van, around $140 I think)

Golden circle $229 Viking

( We used Your day tours, small van, same route, $88).

 

[Cruising Domer]

9 hours ago, stu52 said:

Does anyone have prices on the following Viking excursions:

 

• Vigur Island out of Isafjordur.
• Golden Circle out of Reykjavik
• Northern Iceland's Natural Treasures out of Akureyri
• Skalanes Nature Center out of Seydisfjördur

 

Thanks

 

Here are the prices for those Viking excursions on an upcoming July 2024 cruise:

 

Vigur Island - $229pp

Golden Circle - $269pp

Norther Iceland's Natural Treasures - $299pp

Skalanes Nature & Heritage Center - $219pp

[CCWineLover]

3 hours ago, Cruising Domer said:

 

Here are the prices for those Viking excursions on an upcoming July 2024 cruise:

 

Vigur Island - $229pp

Golden Circle - $269pp

Norther Iceland's Natural Treasures - $299pp

Skalanes Nature & Heritage Center - $219pp

Wow!  Up significantly from our Iceland cruise last June!!  Inflation is high!!!

fyi we did all of these except did Golden Circle on Saga Tours.  Vigur, National Treasures, and Skalenes were all spectacular, especially the latter 2.

[SailorPaulH]

13 hours ago, stu52 said:

Does anyone have prices on the following Viking excursions:

 

• Vigur Island out of Isafjordur.
• Golden Circle out of Reykjavik
• Northern Iceland's Natural Treasures out of Akureyri
• Skalanes Nature Center out of Seydisfjördur

 

Thanks

Vigur Island = $229 pp

Golden Circle = $269 pp

NI Nat Treasures = $299 pp

Skalanes = $219 pp

 

I got this from MVJ for our July 2024 cruise - available to view now, booking time depends on cabin type.

[travelguy19]

 Akureyri port - does anyone have any insight into Northern Iceland’s Natural Treasures vs. The Diamond Circle? Both excursions are the same price (and seem to slightly overlap). Thanks!