Saturn's Iceland and Norway's Arctic Explorer-July 19-August 2 LIVEish

[slewis7]

Tracey and I were very recently aboard the Venus and visited a number of these ports.  We had a fantastic time and excellent weather (mostly)!  I hope you both have a similar experience.  Happy birthday to Mike!

[wynnsr]

And so it begins!

[Clay Clayton]

21 minutes ago, wynnsr said:

And so it begins!

Not for another 10 hours😂

[wynnsr]

38 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Not for another 10 hours😂

Thought you &Mike were in today?

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, wynnsr said:

Thought you &Mike were in today?

No, we fly this evening, arrive early morning tomorrow. Our plane is supposed to take off shortly headed this way which is when I will quit worrying too much about a plan B🤞

[SJD117]

54 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

No, we fly this evening, arrive early morning tomorrow. Our plane is supposed to take off shortly headed this way which is when I will quit worrying too much about a plan B🤞

When do you and Mike plan to arrive at the cruise terminal for embarkation? We have to disembark the Saturn by 9 am Wed morning. I’ll then go off-site to get our rental car, returning to the terminal to pick up Linda and our luggage. Any chance we could all meet to say hello about 10 am?  

[Clay Clayton]

12 minutes ago, SJD117 said:

When do you and Mike plan to arrive at the cruise terminal for embarkation? We have to disembark the Saturn by 9 am Wed morning. I’ll then go off-site to get our rental car, returning to the terminal to pick up Linda and our luggage. Any chance we could all meet to say hello about 10 am?  

Drop me an email BigNCBear at aol 

[SJD117]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

Drop me an email BigNCBear at aol 

Will do.

[Clay Clayton]

We beat the plane to the airport forty minutes ago but it just pulled up to the gate!

[Clay Clayton]

We're finally aboard!  Incoming flight was late and then seemed to take forever for them to turn the plane around.  We were supposed to be away from the gate at 8:30 and it's now 8:46 and the line of folks to board seems never ending.   I am happy though that this RDU-KEF flight seems to be popular. Lots of folks on board going onwards to Europe from what I could overhear in the waiting area. 
 

Also for you football fans, the Chelsea team landed and deplaned right next to us.  They are here for a match at UNC with Wrexham. 

https://abc11.com/amp/chelsea-wrexham-match-global-attention-nc-ryan-reynolds-kenan-stadium/13503635/

 

Presuming we ever get finished boarding, next stop Reykjavik!  Oh I love the flight attendants pillboxes. 

 

 

[CCWineLover]

Safe journey Clay and Mike!  At least you know KEF and Reykjavik, so that will take out some of the travel stress.  Wait til you see the lovely Viking Saturn.  ENJOY it !!

[aungrl]

39 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

We're finally aboard!  Incoming flight was late and then seemed to take forever for them to turn the plane around.  We were supposed to be away from the gate at 8:30 and it's now 8:46 and the line of folks to board seems never ending.   I am happy though that this RDU-KEF flight seems to be popular. Lots of folks on board going onwards to Europe from what I could overhear in the waiting area. 
 

Also for you football fans, the Chelsea team landed and deplaned right next to us.  They are here for a match at UNC with Wrexham. 

https://abc11.com/amp/chelsea-wrexham-match-global-attention-nc-ryan-reynolds-kenan-stadium/13503635/

 

Presuming we ever get finished boarding, next stop Reykjavik!  Oh I love the flight attendants pillboxes. 

 

Agreed - great hats!  And very happy faces (you and Mike).  Now the adventure really begins!

[CurlerRob]

2 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

We beat the plane to the airport forty minutes ago but it just pulled up to the gate!

 

A much better looking pic than the one I recall from your trip early after the restart! That was the boarding area "holding pen" with many without masks! Have a great trip! 🍺🥌

[Clay Clayton]

Good morning from KEF!  Now aboard the Flybus headed into Reykjavik. For anyone flying tomorrow, when you get to the customs hall watch the electronic signs that direct you to the various numbered que. We were about 100th in line as we were approaching the sign when it changed to other lines and we suddenly were 8th in line.  So it only took 8 minutes!

[oakridger]

I love reading your trip reports!  Have a wonderful time and have a Happy Birthday cruise for Mike!!  

 

~Nancy

[wynnsr]

Ran into some folks who just disembarked an around iceland cruise on Star. They saw lots of puffins on Vigur excursion! 😊

[Clay Clayton]

Arrived uneventfully at our hotel after the 15 min walk from the bus station.  My version of "mostly flat" and googlemaps is different. 😂

 

After dropping our bags, we meandered down the street and bought a prosciutto and Parmesan croissant and a cinnamon roll and went back to the hotel and enjoyed them with complimentary coffee. 
 

After the church opened at 9 we crossed the street and went inside. We had seen the outside (in the rain) when we were here in 2021 but it was after dinner on board the ship so the church had been closed.  The inside is just as clean and modern as the outside. 
 

We then walked down towards the harbour where we walked through the Harpa Concert Hall. Amazing building!

 

Writing this sitting at the old harbour waiting for Höfnin to open for lunch. Then I suspect we will taxi back uphill (we've been up 25 hours so are losing steam) to the hotel and relax a bit before we head to the Secret Lagoon at 3 to relax some more😂

[Hobson1754]

Great report Clay - really excited to see all photos as we’re sailing from Reykjavik in September (also on Saturn) & never been to Iceland before. Enjoy. 

[depplep]

I just looked at the photos of the ship. Very excited to be on this journey with you.

[wynnsr]

We're like ships passing in the night. Hotel is Edition. Doing whales & puffins today and walked by Hofnin about the time you were waiting. Didn't look. 🙄

[Frenchberet]

Thanks for taking us along on your trip.  Looks like you have a beautiful, sunny day!

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, wynnsr said:

We're like ships passing in the night. Hotel is Edition. Doing whales & puffins today and walked by Hofnin about the time you were waiting. Didn't look. 🙄

LOL and we walked through Edition as we walked from Harpa to Höfnin.  Thanks for the recommendation!  

[Clay Clayton]

29 minutes ago, Frenchberet said:

Thanks for taking us along on your trip.  Looks like you have a beautiful, sunny day!

It is!  Such a change from our other two times here which were mostly rainy.  We are wearing shorts!

[slewis7]

Clay, I would be curious as to how you like the hotel you are staying in.  We will be staying in Reykjavik next year after a Viking cruise and are looking for one in a downtown location.

 

On our very recent Viking extension in Reykjavik, Viking had us staying in a very small room in the Hilton Nordica.  It was located over a mile from downtown and we would definitely not want to be staying there again.

 

I am happy to see it remains sunny there, just like we left it!

Edited July 18, 2023 by slewis7

[Clay Clayton]

5 hours ago, slewis7 said:

Clay, I would be curious as to how you like the hotel you are staying in.  We will be staying in Reykjavik next year after a Viking cruise and are looking for one in a downtown location.

 

On our very recent Viking extension in Reykjavik, Viking had us staying in a very small room in the Hilton Nordica.  It was located over a mile from downtown and we would definitely not want to be staying there again.

 

I am happy to see it remains sunny there, just like we left it!

We are in a very small room, it's noisy, but a great location.  It's fine for our one night especially given how tired we are. But wouldn't want to stay here any longer.