Iceland & Greenland 2025 on Majestic Princess

[Lady Arwen]

13 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

We have sailed on the Majestic quite a few times and it's a ship that we have enjoyed very much.  The only exception is the fact that there is no Sanctuary, BUMMER!  We will be sailing on her for 33 days in April/May and for 51 days in December/January.  I plan on doing a "Live" thread for both, so if you have any specific questions about the ship I can certainly answer them for you.

I’ll be looking forward to it!  I’m sure to have questions for you.  It must be very exciting to sail on such lengthy itineraries.  We can only manage up to 17-19 days maximum because of our dogs.  Maybe one day we’ll be able to sail for as long as we want.

[Torfamm]

On 2/22/2024 at 1:47 PM, Lady Arwen said:

We recently booked a TA July 2025 on Majestic embarking in Southampton and disembarking in Boston.  Our itinerary includes Iceland and Greenland, two ports we have never been to and basically know very little about.

 

My DH has been researching weather and such, but everything is quite different on a cruiseship and we have never had the pleasure of sailing on Majestic.

 

I would appreciate any insight you could provide on the itinerary and on the ship itself.  I know many of you have experienced both and your opinion matters to me.

 

Thanks in advance!

Not sure which ports you’ll be visiting but we visited Iceland in 2019 and had great luck with private tours.
 

We were lucky with the weather and got to all three ports on our Greenland cruise in August. My experience was that tour options are extremely limited. Book early!

 

Nanortalik was easy to explore on our own and I definitely recommend visiting the open air museum 

 

We had a great experience on this tour in Qaqortoq. Even on a rainy day, in fact perfect for a rainy day as they provide dry suits

https://sagalands.com/tour-item/icebergsafari/

 

[Lady Arwen]

2 hours ago, Torfamm said:

Not sure which ports you’ll be visiting but we visited Iceland in 2019 and had great luck with private tours.
 

We were lucky with the weather and got to all three ports on our Greenland cruise in August. My experience was that tour options are extremely limited. Book early!

 

Nanortalik was easy to explore on our own and I definitely recommend visiting the open air museum 

 

We had a great experience on this tour in Qaqortoq. Even on a rainy day, in fact perfect for a rainy day as they provide dry suits

https://sagalands.com/tour-item/icebergsafari/

 

Thanks for the advice.  My DH is now perusing excursions.  We’ll also join our roll call and see if we can hook up with others to book privately.

[BabsinTX]

We did the eight-hour "golden circle" ship's tour out of Reykjavik a few years ago.  It's still my favorite excursion, hands down.  I pooh-poohed the power plant visit, but it was outstanding.  Steam vents everywhere, and the building's architecture was awesome.  And I loved walking between the two tectonic plates in Thingvellir National Park.  Whatever you do, you'll enjoy Reykjavik.

[Arizona Wildcat]

On 2/22/2024 at 11:47 AM, Lady Arwen said:

We recently booked a TA July 2025 on Majestic embarking in Southampton and disembarking in Boston.  Our itinerary includes Iceland and Greenland, two ports we have never been to and basically know very little about.

 

My DH has been researching weather and such, but everything is quite different on a cruiseship and we have never had the pleasure of sailing on Majestic.

 

I would appreciate any insight you could provide on the itinerary and on the ship itself.  I know many of you have experienced both and your opinion matters to me.

 

Thanks in advance!

The itinerary is great and the towns interesting to walk.  Never felt overrun with cruise ship passengers except at gift shops near the pier.

Bugs- if you are near the harbor unlikely to have any as almost constant ocean breezes keep them grounded.

Did a week in Greenland in August hiking years ago.  Only fought mosses in swampy areas a bit inland.  Never saw any in a month in Iceland 2 years ago.

Cannot help on the ship.

[cr8tiv1]

1 hour ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

The itinerary is great and the towns interesting to walk.  Never felt overrun with cruise ship passengers except at gift shops near the pier.

Bugs- if you are near the harbor unlikely to have any as almost constant ocean breezes keep them grounded.

Did a week in Greenland in August hiking years ago.  Only fought mosses in swampy areas a bit inland.  Never saw any in a month in Iceland 2 years ago.

Cannot help on the ship.

 

Iceland webpage says that they don't have mosquitos...but have no-see-ums.  

 

https://english.hi.is/news/learning_more_about_no_see_ums_and_fruit_flies

[chrysalis]

We are on this sailing in 25 also....but doing Greenland this summer from Boston. .

 

[Lady Arwen]

23 minutes ago, chrysalis said:

We are on this sailing in 25 also....but doing Greenland this summer from Boston. .

 

Lucky you!  Wish we could do both, but unfortunately not possible.  Have you sailed this itinerary before?  The other ports are lovely, too.  We love Southampton, so we’ll spend a couple of days there prior to the cruise.  We enjoy the Royal class ships, but have never sailed on Majestic.  Watched some YouTube videos and she looks awesome.

 

Perhaps we’ll meet onboard in 2025!

[chrysalis]

58 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Lucky you!  Wish we could do both, but unfortunately not possible.  Have you sailed this itinerary before?  The other ports are lovely, too.  We love Southampton, so we’ll spend a couple of days there prior to the cruise.  We enjoy the Royal class ships, but have never sailed on Majestic.  Watched some YouTube videos and she looks awesome.

 

Perhaps we’ll meet onboard in 2025!

New itinerary for us.... prior to getting on the majestic, we will be on the Emerald doing a UK cruise and then one night in Southampton between cruises.

Presently on board the enchanted for 40 days... with 12 days still to go.

[Lady Arwen]

3 minutes ago, chrysalis said:

New itinerary for us.... prior to getting on the majestic, we will be on the Emerald doing a UK cruise and then one night in Southampton between cruises.

Presently on board the enchanted for 40 days... with 12 days still to go.

Wow, I’m impressed!  We’ll be on Enchanted in August.  Those are the only Princess cruises for 24 and 25.  We do have some Celebrity and HAL cruises in the works, too.

 

I must ask about your profile pic.  I’m guessing Malamute or Siberian?  We have two Samoyeds.  We’ve fostered many huskies over the years and we love them.

[chrysalis]

1 hour ago, Lady Arwen said:

Wow, I’m impressed!  We’ll be on Enchanted in August.  Those are the only Princess cruises for 24 and 25.  We do have some Celebrity and HAL cruises in the works, too.

 

I must ask about your profile pic.  I’m guessing Malamute or Siberian?  We have two Samoyeds.  We’ve fostered many huskies over the years and we love them.

Malamute, Siberian mix.

 

He was a fantastic dog.

 

I think we live about 2.5 hours north of you.

[Lady Arwen]

8 minutes ago, chrysalis said:

Malamute, Siberian mix.

 

He was a fantastic dog.

 

I think we live about 2.5 hours north of you.

We live in Thornbury, 2 hours N W of Toronto.

Edited February 25 by Lady Arwen

[chrysalis]

58 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

We live in Thornbury, 2 hours S W of Toronto.

Right....had family that lived there. We're in Sudbury.

[Lady Arwen]

2 minutes ago, chrysalis said:

Right....had family that lived there. We're in Sudbury.

My daughter-in-law is from Sudbury and her mother still lives there.  Small world!

[KaiBlue]

While I can't speak to the ship, we did a cruise that included 4 stops in Iceland last August and have another planned for 2025.  My best advice is to buy the head nets for the midges that are in the north - particularly around the Myvatn area.  They are cheap and if you don't need them, great.  But we took a non-cruise line tour to Lake Myvatn on our stop in Akureyri and the midges progressively got worse at each stop.  The first stop we decided to use the nets because the bugs were just a slight nuisance and I think people on our small tour bus were snickering at us.  By the end of the trip, they were asking how we knew about the midges and wished they had known to bring them.  You literally couldn't open your mouth they were so bad.  It would have ruined the experience if we hadn't had them and they were maybe $6 for two and took up very little space in our carry-ons.  Layered clothing with a waterproof shell on top worked best for us and allowed us to be comfortable both outside and inside the ship. Waterproof hiking boots were a must.  Iceland was wonderful and we can't wait to go back.

[Lady Arwen]

13 minutes ago, KaiBlue said:

While I can't speak to the ship, we did a cruise that included 4 stops in Iceland last August and have another planned for 2025.  My best advice is to buy the head nets for the midges that are in the north - particularly around the Myvatn area.  They are cheap and if you don't need them, great.  But we took a non-cruise line tour to Lake Myvatn on our stop in Akureyri and the midges progressively got worse at each stop.  The first stop we decided to use the nets because the bugs were just a slight nuisance and I think people on our small tour bus were snickering at us.  By the end of the trip, they were asking how we knew about the midges and wished they had known to bring them.  You literally couldn't open your mouth they were so bad.  It would have ruined the experience if we hadn't had them and they were maybe $6 for two and took up very little space in our carry-ons.  Layered clothing with a waterproof shell on top worked best for us and allowed us to be comfortable both outside and inside the ship. Waterproof hiking boots were a must.  Iceland was wonderful and we can't wait to go back.

Great advice, thanks!  Where do I buy these nets?

[KaiBlue]

1 minute ago, Lady Arwen said:

Great advice, thanks!  Where do I buy these nets?

I purchased ours on amazon.

[chrysalis]

1 hour ago, Lady Arwen said:

Great advice, thanks!  Where do I buy these nets?

Canadian Tire in the spring 

[Lady Arwen]

1 minute ago, KaiBlue said:

I purchased ours on amazon.

I’m going to get them!  Thanks very much.

[KaiBlue]

1 minute ago, Lady Arwen said:

I’m going to get them!  Thanks very much.

I should add that they work best over a hat.  My husband had a baseball hat and I had more of a safari type hat.  Put the net over the hat and it stays off your face due to the hat's brim. Worked great.

[Lady Arwen]

1 minute ago, KaiBlue said:

I should add that they work best over a hat.  My husband had a baseball hat and I had more of a safari type hat.  Put the net over the hat and it stays off your face due to the hat's brim. Worked great.

You’re so helpful, thank you.