Prima Iceland / Norway August 2023

[bwpaterson]

5 minutes ago, Let Me Travel! said:

Are you going at the end of September into October Reykjavik to London? If so, so are we! I’m really looking forward to it…I do think I’ll buy the BOGO NCL flight, but I really want to upgrade to at least Premium Economy…just because we have to fly so long from ATLANTA. We are doing 2 days on both ends also…have you booked your hotel or are you doing the cruise tour…we want to go to chartwell house when we are in England, so I think we have to do our own tour..let us know if you have booked your extensions yet…we can’t get anything booked until 10/15 or so, just because that will be a year out.

 

[bwpaterson]

We are on September 5 sailing so looks like we I’ll go before you.  We are going to also do 2 days on each end. We did a British Isles cruise a few years ago and spent five days in London. We stayed at Marriott St Pancreas and used hop on hop off bus. We got to see London and it was super convenient. Tube system is great and you might want to det an oyster card similar to Marta card for using subway. 

[PhillyTravelBug]

1 hour ago, Let Me Travel! said:

 

 

Hey PhillyTravelBug…your day by day review and photos have made my heart flutter!!! Thank you so much for your time and effort!

that means everything to me!!! Thank you.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

On 8/17/2023 at 9:02 AM, Turtles06 said:

We’ve done both tours. The South Coast is stunningly beautiful from start to finish. The traditional Golden Circle tour is more focused on several important points of interest.  Both are worth doing. 

 

Folks who are interested in doing either tour in a minivan with about 16 people will find recommendations for private tour operators over in the Northern Europe ports of call forum. 

We had such a terrific guide the day of the Golden Circle, he made it extra special.  By the big hot water lake we walked on the shore and saw these strange markers, he told us the bakery next door bakes their b read buried in the sand. While we were seeing the sites and testing the water with our hands, he showed up with a slice of bread for each of us.  It was maybe the best bread I’ve ever eaten.  Then we were admiring a flock of small Icelandic horses and he pulled in to the driveway and got us each a horse treat to feed them if we wanted, and pet their furry little noses.  We chose the option without Blue Lagoon as we thought it just made the day too long.

 

of the three, if I had to delete one it would be the northern peninsula, whose name is unpronounceable to me.  We saw some very nice things and had a great seafood lunch but of the three I would skip that one.

[sharonann24]

Enjoyed reading all of the posts and I have to say we loved our recent cruise, despite missing the two ports in Iceland and Belgium.  And to prove it...just booked our next cruise on the Prima for next October 2024 and convinced (it did not take ANY effort!) my father to join us again.  This one originates in London so we will get that pre cruise time.  Going to re-read the post again for any pre cruise suggestions.  Again, ignore the negative reviews!  

[ontheweb]

@PhillyTravelBug, how was the weather when you entered Geiranger? I ask because DW who did our photography commented to me yesterday after checking the pictures in her camera, that it was very cloudy for us. She wished she could have had less clouds for more spectacular pictures. I asked, and she did say the pictures were better from the funicular in Bergen.

 

(I probably should add that since she taught art for about 40 years before retiring, she can be very critical of her pictures.)

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, sharonann24 said:

Enjoyed reading all of the posts and I have to say we loved our recent cruise, despite missing the two ports in Iceland and Belgium.  And to prove it...just booked our next cruise on the Prima for next October 2024 and convinced (it did not take ANY effort!) my father to join us again.  This one originates in London so we will get that pre cruise time.  Going to re-read the post again for any pre cruise suggestions.  Again, ignore the negative reviews!  

Missing Isafjordur in Iceland was a bummer, but it was wholly expected as we could all see every cruise before ours also missed this port. And it seems the cruises after ours are also missing it.

 

Missing Bergen really hurt. I had noted that we were there on a Monday, and knowing that museums in Europe often closed on Mondays, I googled and was happy to find almost all would be open. DW is a retired art teacher, so visiting art museums is important to us. I also found that there was a museum dedicated to French fries, and that intrigued me. I had a Fodor's Belgium book out from the library, and with my list of open museums and that book, DW had plotted what we would like to see. And then I got that cancellation e-mail and had to break the news to her. 😢

[PhillyTravelBug]

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

@PhillyTravelBug, how was the weather when you entered Geiranger? I ask because DW who did our photography commented to me yesterday after checking the pictures in her camera, that it was very cloudy for us. She wished she could have had less clouds for more spectacular pictures. I asked, and she did say the pictures were better from the funicular in Bergen.

 

(I probably should add that since she taught art for about 40 years before retiring, she can be very critical of her pictures.)

 

We had an overcast morning, but it cleared up by 11and turned out to be a spectacular day.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

 

We had an overcast morning, but it cleared up by 11and turned out to be a spectacular day.

We did the cruise in the opposite direction that you did. We had good weather except our pre-cruise day in London when it poured and our disembarkation day in Reykjavik when it rained.

[marys350]

PhillyTravelBug, In Geiranger, did you have to tender to shore or did you walk off the ship onto a dock? It's hard to tell from your photos. Our Prima itinerary for June, 2024 lists Geiranger as a tender port. We want to book a private tour and wonder if it took very long for you to get off the ship. Loved reading your review and got some great ideas from your pictures and posts. Happy travels!

Edited October 12, 2023 by marys350

[ontheweb]

21 minutes ago, marys350 said:

PhillyTravelBug, In Geiranger, did you have to tender to shore or did you walk off the ship onto a dock? It's hard to tell from your photos. Our Prima itinerary for June, 2024 lists Geiranger as a tender port. We want to book a private tour and wonder if it took very long for you to get off the ship. Loved reading your review and got some great ideas from your pictures and posts. Happy travels!

I am not PhillyTravelBug, but DW and I did sail on the Prima this past August. And although Geiranger was listed as a tender port, we just walked off. There is a temporary floating dock that they use.

[PhillyTravelBug]

On 10/12/2023 at 2:09 PM, marys350 said:

PhillyTravelBug, In Geiranger, did you have to tender to shore or did you walk off the ship onto a dock? It's hard to tell from your photos. Our Prima itinerary for June, 2024 lists Geiranger as a tender port. We want to book a private tour and wonder if it took very long for you to get off the ship. Loved reading your review and got some great ideas from your pictures and posts. Happy travels!

we walked off the ship. It was a breeze.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

we walked off the ship. It was a breeze.

Yes, NCL lists Geiranger for the Prima as a tender port, but there is a temporary dock that they use that allows you to walk right off.

[Magnificentmillie1]

What times did you have to get back to the ship after your day onshore?

[PhillyTravelBug]

10 hours ago, Magnificentmillie1 said:

What times did you have to get back to the ship after your day onshore?

I believe it was 4:30 (16:30).

[bluesea777]

1 hour ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

I believe it was 4:30 (16:30).

It depends … actually the correct answer is usually 30 minutes before departure if the ship is docked, 1 hour if ship is anchored and tenders.

 

 

[Magnificentmillie1]

  We’re taking the same cruise as Philly in August and booking our tours now, found your blog fascinating, thank you so much, so much useful information and beautiful photos.   We’ve booked a canal/walk tour in Bruges that starts at 1300 and is 3 hours so was wondering if we’d get back to the ship in time. 

[PhillyTravelBug]

1 hour ago, Magnificentmillie1 said:

  We’re taking the same cruise as Philly in August and booking our tours now, found your blog fascinating, thank you so much, so much useful information and beautiful photos.   We’ve booked a canal/walk tour in Bruges that starts at 1300 and is 3 hours so was wondering if we’d get back to the ship in time. 

Thabk you so much. I’m so happy to hear it helped future travelers of this itinerary.

 

you are really going to have to rush back to the ship and with the bus you have to take from outside the port, it’s going to be close.   The canal tour was such a highlight for us!

 

[Magnificentmillie1]

Good to know I’ll change the time to 1030 so we have plenty of time.  I started our tours in Norway and Iceland after 11 as I read the fog obscures the views early AM.

[PhillyTravelBug]

I hope you have a wonderful time. Iceland was a bucket list and a beautiful country. However, Norway puts Iceland and Alaska (barely) to shame.

[Magnificentmillie1]

I noted the changes of arrival port in Holland to Ijmuiden. Does anyone know how to get from the dock to Amsterdam?

[marys350]

3 minutes ago, Magnificentmillie1 said:

I noted the changes of arrival port in Holland to Ijmuiden. Does anyone know how to get from the dock to Amsterdam?

Where did you see that there is a change of arrival port to Ijmuiden? Prima is scheduled to dock in Amsterdam.

[Magnificentmillie1]

I received an email from NCL this morning with changes to the itinerary. 

[marys350]

4 minutes ago, Magnificentmillie1 said:

I received an email from NCL this morning with changes to the itinerary. 

We are on the June 2, 2024 Prima sailing. I haven't received any notification from NCL yet. I hope that they don't change our port stop in Amsterdam.

[PhillyTravelBug]

On 4/26/2024 at 3:00 PM, Magnificentmillie1 said:

I noted the changes of arrival port in Holland to Ijmuiden. Does anyone know how to get from the dock to Amsterdam?

Somewhere this week I heard that Amsterdam is making a similar fuss as Venice with the volume of cruise ship passengers and the burden it puts on.  Can’t imagine changes would be implemented this quickly.