Iceland and Northern Europe Cruise

[Snate]

I was looking at this cruise for next summer on NCL.  Never been on NCL so no idea what to compare it to (have done Princess and Celebrity mostly).  This is on the ship, Prima.   Any advice on if this itinerary is any good or what I should expect in each port?  It would be in early July so hopefully it would be cool weather in most of these ports but I really have no idea.  I have done Alaska 3 times so was worried the Norwegian Fjord only type cruises would be kind of similar to that scenery and thought this would be something different.  

 

Itinerary

1. Day 1

   Reykjavik
   Iceland
   6:00pm

   ---

2. Day 2

   Isafjordur
   Iceland
   8:00am — 6:00pm

   ---

3. Day 3

   Akureyri
   Iceland
   6:00am — 4:00pm

   ---

4. Day 4

   At Sea
    

   ---

5. Day 5

   Aalesund
   Norway
   11:00am — 10:00pm

   ---

6. Day 6

   Geiranger (Geirangerfjord)
   Norway
   6:00am — 5:00pm

   ---

7. Day 7

   Bergen
   Norway
   8:00am — 5:00pm

   ---

8. Day 8

   At Sea
    

   ---

9. Day 9

   Amsterdam
   Netherlands
   7:00am — 5:00pm

   ---

10. Day 10

    Zeebrugge
    Belgium
    7:00am — 5:00pm

    ---

11. Day 11

    Southampton
    United Kingdom
    6:00am

[jrmende63]

I have not sailed on NCL so I can't compare it. But I have been to Alaska twice and Norway once. Norway is Alaska on steroids. Norway is gorgeous. We loved Alaska, but we LOVED Norway.  This looks like a good itinerary. 

I don't think you can go wrong even if you didn't like the ship.

 

[Traveling Library]

Only sailed NCL once but this is a really nice itinerary. You will see more than just the Norwegian fjords which are beautiful! Iceland is interesting and Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities. Enjoy!

[Snate]

Will that itinerary be the fjords or just those coastal towns.  I really don’t know where the route takes you and what you see.

[CCJack]

We have been on a Norway only cruise, an Alaska cruise and an Iceland (+ Ireland) cruise.   I agree with jrmende63 in that I really enjoyed our Norway only cruise (more than Alaska).   I would not shy away from Norway only cruise  just because you have been to Alaska, it is quite different.   That said, your suggested itinerary looks fine.    My only concern would be it tackles a lot of countries / ports for one cruise.   Our Iceland cruise as an example spend 2 days in Akureyri and 2 days in Reykjavik.  Your suggested trip might be a bit of a whirlwind trip.   Only one afternoon in Amsterdam is quite short for a city like that.   

 

As for cruiselines, we love Celebrity.   We have only been on one NCL, and I thought it was a step down from Celebrity, but it was only one so I hate to make a generalization on NCL but that was our experience.

 

I would prefer to leave from Amsterdam for a Northern Europe cruise rather than Southampton or Reykjavik and spend a few days in Amsterdam.

 

Have fun planning!

 

 

 

[PhillyTravelBug]

I am on this itinerary for August 2023. My last cruise was Alaska on NCL. I would like a Norway only cruise, but Iceland is a must do for me and this seemed like the best bang for the itinerary.

 

plus with NCL from Alaska… they have an absolute awesome observation lounge that made the trip for gazing out into the scenery.  We also had thermal spa passes which was the best. They have the awesome glass views while lounging on heated tile loungers. It was heaven!!!  Really looking forward to this itinerary on the Prima.

[ontheweb]

We are booked to do that itinerary in reverse (the only difference is an overnight at the end in Reykjavik). We booked it because the itinerary looked so great to us. (we previously missed Norwegian fjords in 2020 as the cruise we had booked of course never sailed.)

[ljandgb]

I'm a firm believer that Iceland needs a land trip.  One thing to consider is that IcelandAir will let you do up to 7 days as a stopover in Iceland either inbound or outbound.

 

As far as the itinerary, it looks a bit like a taste of each country, which some people prefer.

 

 

[Scottishclover]

Agree with the above. The best trip we have ever done was a land trip to Iceland. Scenery is other worldly. We did a fjord cruise in 2016 and Norway is beautiful from the water. Added bonus you don’t need to eat out much at exorbitant prices. Norway prices were eye watering.

If you were to have a week in South Iceland before this itinerary, that would be the perfect trip.

[ontheweb]

14 hours ago, ljandgb said:

I'm a firm believer that Iceland needs a land trip.  One thing to consider is that IcelandAir will let you do up to 7 days as a stopover in Iceland either inbound or outbound.

 

As far as the itinerary, it looks a bit like a taste of each country, which some people prefer.

 

 

They also have deals bundling the airfare with the hotels that they own. That is what we did when we did a land trip to Iceland.

[PhillyTravelBug]

Since we have our air booked with NCL, we can extend the beginning and end of our trip by 2 days each.  I’m thinking about doing the golden circle and then blue or sky lagoon the other day. I’m hoping this gives us enough of a taste of Iceland, along with our other two port stops in Iceland.

[Snate]

It seems my biggest problem is the airfare to Iceland from Dallas.  It’s not an easy place to get to apparently.  Dallas is a American Airlines hub and all the flights to Iceland go to London first making it a 30 hour travel day which won’t work.  I can try and fly to New York and then spend the night but that doesn’t have great flight times either for some reason.  I am afraid to do the NCL airfare because I have no desire to be put on a flight that leaves at 6am and has 4 stops taking 30 hours or something.  

[Nitemare]

Look into flights to Boston and from there to Iceland.  It seems to be a pretty good portal to Reykjavik.

 

It's also quite worth getting to Iceland a day or two early and seeing some things on your own or on a tour

[thehowlingroad]

We did Norway/Iceland earlier in the summer on the Enchanted Princess and just got back from Alaska for the 2nd time. The Norwegian fjords alone blow Alaska out of the water completely. You won’t regret going.

 

Our itinerary had 4 Icelandic ports— it sounds like you’re okay with tacking on extra days in Reykjavik before the cruise, but I would have chosen something that stays longer in Akureyri, since it gives you a chance to do the Diamond Circle loop as opposed to the “standard” Myvatn one. But otherwise, this is a solid choice— the typical recommendation for Norwegian ports is that at least one of them should be a “fjord port,” which you’ll get with Geiranger. It’s worth waking up every day at 5:30 am on these cruises because the sail-in scenery is unmatched.

Edited September 21, 2022 by thehowlingroad

[ShopperfiendTO]

On 9/20/2022 at 3:16 AM, Scottishclover said:

Agree with the above. The best trip we have ever done was a land trip to Iceland. Scenery is other worldly. We did a fjord cruise in 2016 and Norway is beautiful from the water. Added bonus you don’t need to eat out much at exorbitant prices. Norway prices were eye watering.

If you were to have a week in South Iceland before this itinerary, that would be the perfect trip.

 

Iceland's prices this past August were not that far off eye-watering either!

[oracer]

Looking at this cruise on Prima as well as the 14 day one that goes a month later.  We are wanting to see "hopefully " the northern lights. Yes it is dependent on weather and such, but the later one has a better chance. The fjords are the other reason.  
 

I was hoping that during the evening on either of these cruises that after midnight you could just sit on the top deck and witness the northern lights. 

[Snate]

6 hours ago, oracer said:

Looking at this cruise on Prima as well as the 14 day one that goes a month later.  We are wanting to see "hopefully " the northern lights. Yes it is dependent on weather and such, but the later one has a better chance. The fjords are the other reason.  
 

I was hoping that during the evening on either of these cruises that after midnight you could just sit on the top deck and witness the northern lights. 

My wife’s bucket list item is seeing the northern lights but we still have a kid in school so we can’t go that late in the summer unfortunately. 

[ontheweb]

14 hours ago, Snate said:

My wife’s bucket list item is seeing the northern lights but we still have a kid in school so we can’t go that late in the summer unfortunately. 

My DW just retired as a teacher. We did a land trip to Iceland and saw the Northern Lights while she was on their Easter vacation.

[Senga]

Northern Lights September 3rd in Alberta, CANADA.

[anjuan]

We're doing this itinerary at the end of May 2023 on the Prima as well for my daughter's high school graduation. We are using NCL's flights. I know that some people have complained about them but I priced flights out and we'll be saving about $1,800 from Chicago. We're flying in a few days before the cruise and staying a few days after as well. Really looking forward to it!

 

[CPT Trips]

On 9/20/2022 at 6:43 PM, Snate said:

It seems my biggest problem is the airfare to Iceland from Dallas.  It’s not an easy place to get to apparently.  Dallas is a American Airlines hub and all the flights to Iceland go to London first making it a 30 hour travel day which won’t work.  I can try and fly to New York and then spend the night but that doesn’t have great flight times either for some reason.  I am afraid to do the NCL airfare because I have no desire to be put on a flight that leaves at 6am and has 4 stops taking 30 hours or something.  

Are you committed to flying AA? If not, there are a number of more direct, one stop options from Dallas to Iceland (Chicago, Boston, or Newark) using other airlines. 

[hoopslover]

On 9/25/2022 at 11:00 AM, anjuan said:

We're doing this itinerary at the end of May 2023 on the Prima as well for my daughter's high school graduation. We are using NCL's flights. I know that some people have complained about them but I priced flights out and we'll be saving about $1,800 from Chicago. We're flying in a few days before the cruise and staying a few days after as well. Really looking forward to it!

 

Is NCL allowing the 2 day deviation again?  Our TA told us that it was not being offered.  Our friends used NCL air in September to fly to Copenhagen and the 2 day deviation was not honored and their flight was booked to arrive at 11:30 am on cruise day.  They had to have NCL rebook and it cost $670 pp to arrive 2 days early. What did you have to do to get the 2 day deviation?

[PhillyTravelBug]

On 11/5/2022 at 3:46 PM, hoopslover said:

Is NCL allowing the 2 day deviation again?  Our TA told us that it was not being offered.  Our friends used NCL air in September to fly to Copenhagen and the 2 day deviation was not honored and their flight was booked to arrive at 11:30 am on cruise day.  They had to have NCL rebook and it cost $670 pp to arrive 2 days early. What did you have to do to get the 2 day deviation?

Not true. I just recently extended my 2023 booking.

[cc-riderslc]

Just yesterday I was able to add an air deviation, going 1 day early into Southampton, England. There was no problem. Cost stayed the same for air plus they gave me a credit of $25. 

[ontheweb]

18 hours ago, cc-riderslc said:

Just yesterday I was able to add an air deviation, going 1 day early into Southampton, England. There was no problem. Cost stayed the same for air plus they gave me a credit of $25. 

Yes, we were also able to get the deviation and were rewarded with a $25 credit each.

 

I see you just today joined our roll call. Welcome, it has been really dead for a while. I just decided to check it out, and was pleasantly surprised to see a new post. Maybe we will get to meet. 😊