Ofinn
DCL Platinum
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2013
If anyone has the time, money or desire to visit this beautiful country I highly recommend. We just returned from our Iceland, Norway cruise. Of all the places we visited this is the only one I have put back on my bucket list to return. All the ports were great, but Iceland is in a class to itself. We had beautiful sunny 60 degree weather the three days we were there.
We didn't do any excursions through DCL.
London- We spent three nights there. Had a great time. I did brave taking the underground from LhR to kings Cross and then a taxi from kings cross to the Aldgate premier Inn. It wasn't bad. It would have been super easy with my dh helping with the luggage, but he flew in 2 days later. I loved the Aldgate area. It was a very close walk to the Thames, London bridge, and Tower of London. I actually preferred it over the Waterloo area. It is much less crowded. We paid about 130 usd. per night. The hotel is brand new and very nice.
Newcastle- We took the Metro to Newcastle, walked around and had lunch. Very nice city.
Kirkwall. We took a public bus tour. 12 usd per person. We drove right behind the DCl bus tour, visited all the same spots, and I know these people paid a lot more than 12 usd per person.
Reykjavik- We did a the golden circle tour through Reykjavik excursions. It's was 185.00 for 2 adults, 1kid and 1 teen. Kids 11 and under are free, and teens are half price. You can also book the blue lagoon through them kids under 15 are free. Just an FYI for those you that are like me and like to save money.
Aukueri- We rented a car 132.00 USD plus 40 for gas. This was by far the best way to tour Iceland. We visited Godafoss falls, Lake Myvatn, a geothermal lake, had lunch at a farm house, took some side roads that always led to something special. I enjoyed our tour in Reykjavik, but next time we will definitely get our own wheels. It's very easy driving in Iceland.They drive on the right side of the road and there is no traffic.
Bergen- We took the funicular up the mountain and hiked down. It cost 16 usd for the four of us.
Stavanger- We took a cruise the fjords through Rodne tours. It was 157.00 usd for the four of us. No need to book ahead you can walk off the ship and do it. There are other company's than do tours also.
The cruise itself was the typical Disney cruise. Service was good not the best we've had, but good enough. Don't expect shampoo or conditioner without asking. We also did not get a call about our platinum gift like we normally do. I guess I've been on so many Disney cruises the magic is kind of lost on me at this point. This cruise was all about the ports and they were fantastic.
We happened to be in Reykjavik when Iceland beat Austria. The town was a big party a lot of the crew went out. The whole ship erupted in cheers when they beat England. Sorry Brits, but Iceland gained some American fans on that cruise.
LHR gets the award for worst airport ever visited and I've been to a lot. Lets just say Europeans have no concept of waiting in line for an elevator. After the kids and I were trampled over 4 times. My Irish temper came out and I went into full B**** mode. I pretty much threw myself in front of the elevator and dared anyone to set foot inside before my kids made it on with their luggage. The second time through LHR I came prepared for battle.
Overall it was a great experience. We did everything we wanted to do and spent very little money. About 700.00 total in the ports. Anyone planning this cruise this year or next I would look outside of DCL for your port days. You will save a lot of money.
Just to add if you are a runner this is great cruise. I was able to get off the ship at every port and get a run in. The ports are safe and nice. Lots of running trails and nice scenery.
Any questions just ask.
We didn't do any excursions through DCL.
London- We spent three nights there. Had a great time. I did brave taking the underground from LhR to kings Cross and then a taxi from kings cross to the Aldgate premier Inn. It wasn't bad. It would have been super easy with my dh helping with the luggage, but he flew in 2 days later. I loved the Aldgate area. It was a very close walk to the Thames, London bridge, and Tower of London. I actually preferred it over the Waterloo area. It is much less crowded. We paid about 130 usd. per night. The hotel is brand new and very nice.
Newcastle- We took the Metro to Newcastle, walked around and had lunch. Very nice city.
Kirkwall. We took a public bus tour. 12 usd per person. We drove right behind the DCl bus tour, visited all the same spots, and I know these people paid a lot more than 12 usd per person.
Reykjavik- We did a the golden circle tour through Reykjavik excursions. It's was 185.00 for 2 adults, 1kid and 1 teen. Kids 11 and under are free, and teens are half price. You can also book the blue lagoon through them kids under 15 are free. Just an FYI for those you that are like me and like to save money.
Aukueri- We rented a car 132.00 USD plus 40 for gas. This was by far the best way to tour Iceland. We visited Godafoss falls, Lake Myvatn, a geothermal lake, had lunch at a farm house, took some side roads that always led to something special. I enjoyed our tour in Reykjavik, but next time we will definitely get our own wheels. It's very easy driving in Iceland.They drive on the right side of the road and there is no traffic.
Bergen- We took the funicular up the mountain and hiked down. It cost 16 usd for the four of us.
Stavanger- We took a cruise the fjords through Rodne tours. It was 157.00 usd for the four of us. No need to book ahead you can walk off the ship and do it. There are other company's than do tours also.
The cruise itself was the typical Disney cruise. Service was good not the best we've had, but good enough. Don't expect shampoo or conditioner without asking. We also did not get a call about our platinum gift like we normally do. I guess I've been on so many Disney cruises the magic is kind of lost on me at this point. This cruise was all about the ports and they were fantastic.
We happened to be in Reykjavik when Iceland beat Austria. The town was a big party a lot of the crew went out. The whole ship erupted in cheers when they beat England. Sorry Brits, but Iceland gained some American fans on that cruise.
LHR gets the award for worst airport ever visited and I've been to a lot. Lets just say Europeans have no concept of waiting in line for an elevator. After the kids and I were trampled over 4 times. My Irish temper came out and I went into full B**** mode. I pretty much threw myself in front of the elevator and dared anyone to set foot inside before my kids made it on with their luggage. The second time through LHR I came prepared for battle.
Overall it was a great experience. We did everything we wanted to do and spent very little money. About 700.00 total in the ports. Anyone planning this cruise this year or next I would look outside of DCL for your port days. You will save a lot of money.
Just to add if you are a runner this is great cruise. I was able to get off the ship at every port and get a run in. The ports are safe and nice. Lots of running trails and nice scenery.
Any questions just ask.
We did the inaugural cruise last year and since we left on 6/29/15, all our Timehop pictures are popping up on FB and bringing back awesome memories from last year. We were actually in Iceland a year ago and over the 4th of July. Like you, we also used Reykjavik Excursions for the Golden Circle Tour (and did the evening version) and then used them for the Blue Lagoon the next morning. We created our own excursion in Akureyri and loved it. Glad you had such a great time! We are huge soccer fans (go Germany!) but we've been pulling for Iceland since the Euro started and I bet that was simply amazing being there when they won - very cool 
