Trip Report for Apex Iceland Cruise 7/723

[kwokpot]

On 7/12/2023 at 10:53 AM, penzance30 said:

May I ask, is it warm on the ship in the evening? Just wondering if people are dressing up after all weather wear in the daytime? TIA

The ship generally is comfortable temperature-wise. The Theater can be a bit chilly, and the corridors and stairs are cool, but otherwise the ship is not generally cold. As reference I get cold easily and we are keeping our cabin at 74 degrees. I don't feel I need to wear a sweater or hoodie around the ship. 

[penzance30]

Thank you, that's what I was hoping you would say. Enjoy!

 

[kwokpot]

2 hours ago, toronto guys said:

Great photos and notes. Please let me know the tour company you used as there does not seem to be any availability. Do you recall seeing any locals in the port offering this tour as you disembarked as you tend to see in other ports? Thank you

It was with artic shoreex

https://arcticshorex.com/

They have both group and private tours . This was a private tour that another passenger organized. We were originally booked for the longer 5 hour tour but Artic shoreex commandeered the van for another tour ( we didn't fill up the van)  and said we can have the van afterwards for a shorter tour, which is what we did. 

[soozles]

What are the times of the shuttle into the city center? Just thinking ahead how early would we need to get up to do a little sight seeing that second day. 

[toronto guys]

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

It was with artic shoreex

https://arcticshorex.com/

They have both group and private tours . This was a private tour that another passenger organized. We were originally booked for the longer 5 hour tour but Artic shoreex commandeered the van for another tour ( we didn't fill up the van)  and said we can have the van afterwards for a shorter tour, which is what we did. 

ok thank you for the assistance. We leave on August 9, 2023

[horseymike]

Great Photos.

 Thanks for sharing.

[kwokpot]

2 hours ago, soozles said:

What are the times of the shuttle into the city center? Just thinking ahead how early would we need to get up to do a little sight seeing that second day. 

As a point of reference our day 2 all aboard was 12:30pm.

Edited July 13, 2023 by kwokpot

[Missusdubbya]

Wonderful review so far, thank you!

[jwlane]

Eyes up!  Looks like around 40% chance of aurora visibility tonite.

[kwokpot]

7 minutes ago, jwlane said:

Eyes up!  Looks like around 40% chance of aurora visibility tonite.

The problem is it doesn't get really dark, it stays light out until past 2:30am

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

The problem is it doesn't get really dark, it stays light out until past 2:30am

Sleep is overrated 🤣

[Nado44]

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

The problem is it doesn't get really dark, it stays light out until past 2:30am

 

Pish posh. Please take and post photos.

[kwokpot]

29 minutes ago, Nado44 said:

 

Pish posh. Please take and post photos.

Ship Time 2:00am, we moved forward 1 hour from Iceland time. 

[WeeDram]

I find this fascinating.  This time of the year Reykjavik gets no night at all. Thanks for all the great photos.

[kwokpot]

Just now, WeeDram said:

I find this fascinating.  This time of the year Reykjavik gets no night at all. Thanks for all the great photos.

That's what I was saying about seeing the Northern Lights. It won't be dark enough. 

[kwokpot]

Day 7 Reykjavik port day, Evening

I was able to get in a good workout at the gym late afternoon/early evening. Dinner tonight at 7:30 in Normandie. The dining room wasn't busy and we were seated right away. For appetizers I had the Panzanella salad and husband had the Cream of Chicken soup. Both was good. For entrees I had the almond crusted Hake and husband had the Strozzapreti Carbonara from Tuscan. My Hake was just OK, the first entree on the cruise that I didn't think was up to standard. My husband's pasta, though not an authentic recipe, was quite tasty. We decided to skip dessert in the dining room since nothing stood out on the menu. The two courses took about 35 minutes tonight. 

 

We went to our usual after dinner spot, Cafe Al Bacio for decaf Americanos and some dessert. I enjoyed the matcha cake. We thought about attending the late show of Tree of Life but after awhile we decided not to go. We've seen that show many times. We just relaxed, listening to the music from the Grand Plaza and people watched until we went up to our room. 

[theopup]

It certainly must be strange with so much daylight hours. Really enjoying your review

[kwokpot]

FYI

Ports of Call information sheet

Scanned_20230714-1007.pdf Scanned_20230714-1008.pdf

[kwokpot]

16 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

FYI

Ports of Call information sheet

Scanned_20230714-1007.pdf 328.26 kB · 2 downloads Scanned_20230714-1008.pdf 313.78 kB · 2 downloads

Reposted as photos 

[Beachlover1989]

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

FYI

Ports of Call information sheet

Scanned_20230714-1007.pdf 328.26 kB · 5 downloads Scanned_20230714-1008.pdf 313.78 kB · 3 downloads

Thank you so much! This is very helpful for our Aug 9 cruise on Apex!

[podsnel]

I can’t thank you enough for your fabulous trip report!! It is really getting me excited for our 8/9 cruise- the pics are incredible- looking forward to more. 😃

[kwokpot]

Day 8 Sea Day, Morning

This seaday is a needed rest after our three in-a-row Icelandic ports. Losing a hour didn't help the sleeping but necessary. For breakfast we decided to go to the Eden Cafe since it's only open on seadays. There we had oatmeal, which is made with milk rather than water like it is at the Oceanview Cafe. The milk makes it taste much creamier (I use almond milk at home). If I remember correctly in the past both the Eden Cafe and Spa Cafe offered Apple cider oatmeal. It was quite tasty when made correctly but would be too tart if the ingredient proportions were incorrect. I'll have to check tomorrow if the Spa cafe still has the Apple cider oatmeal; if not it probably wasn't a passenger favorite and thus eliminated. We also had some fruit, Greek yogurt with granola and berries, and an egg, bacon, and cheese sandwich. Everything was good and tasty. FYI breakfast at Eden Cafe ends at 9:30am (sorry no photos, I didn't have my morning coffee and wasn't in the mood).

 

We had to do Immigration check this morning. It was assigned times based on your cabin deck and you had to appear before UK Immigration officials with you passport, which subsequently the ship took to hold until they are returned after our last port stop of the cruise in Cobh, Ireland. Then back to our cabin to catch up on some news on TV. 

[JackE]

On 7/13/2023 at 12:50 PM, kwokpot said:

Day 7 Reykjavik port day - Morning &  afternoon

After a buffet breakfast I utilized the free city shuttle provided by Reykjavik to do a little more sightseeing before all aboard at 12:30pm. Ging alone today, husband is staying on the ship. We have another sunny rainless day at 50 degrees but extremely windy. It's nippy when the wind blows. 

Reykjavik City Center is extremely picturesque and one can spend hours waking around and checking out the shops, cafes, restaurants, museums. The streets are spotless and the atmosphere is calm and serene. Here's all the photos I took. Full disclosure, the cathedral photos are from yesterday after we missed our more Golden Circle tour but before the replacement afternoon tour. It was a long day yesterday!

 

Great photos! Especially love the street art on how to tie a tie! We hope to sail to Iceland some day as well. 

[kwokpot]

On 7/11/2023 at 1:24 PM, Poconolady said:

Kwokpot, if you happen to wander by the Apple Store, could you ask what generation IPads they have, and how much? Thinking of how I’m going to spend all my obc! Thanks in advance

9th gen on the larger ipad 10.2", 6th gen on the iPad mini. 

Edited July 14, 2023 by kwokpot

[kwokpot]

Day 8 Sea Day, Afternoon

Being a Seaday all the food venues were pretty crowded for lunch. We initially tried Eden Cafe for lunch but it was crowded and my husband didn't want anything from there so we decided to go to the buffet BUT not before getting a couple of the famous brownies and cookies from Eden Cafe (More on that later).

 

As expected the buffet was packed at 12:30pm and it took a few minutes to find an empty table. There's a daily lunch food theme and today was French. But I gravitated to the Indian selections again (My husband doesn't eat Indian so this is my opportunity). I did have some of the French soft cheeses and also liver pate. After lunch we went down to Cafe Al Bacio for Jasmine Green Tea and to try out the desserts from Eden Cafe.

 

For those who aren't aware when the Edge Class ships first debuted the Eden Cafe had two desserts during lunchtime that wasn't served anywhere else on the ship nor on the M or S class ships. The brownie and walnut chocolate chip cookie were both excellent and a treat to savor. When the Beyond debuted last year people were saddened that at least on that ship the recipe for the brownie had changed and it was closer to a dense fudge than a traditional chewy but cake-like brownie texture. I can report that the Apex Eden brownies are nothing like then ones on the Beyond and ALMOST like the originals. The slight difference is the top layer which previously had a thin crispy 'crusty' layer. The walnut cookie is also better than the Beyond version. After tea and brownies we went back to our cabin to read and relax. 

 

As I previously said we're not big activities people so I'm sorry I can't discuss about all the scheduled things to do on a Seaday. What I can do for all of you is printout today's daily planner so you can see for yourself all the scheduled activities and entertainment.