Southampton to Reykjavik ports

[SubmarineMark]

For the ports in Brussels, Norway and Iceland. Has anyone just used a local tours you find off the ship to see the area?

[SubmarineMark]

We are frequent cruisers so we understand the importance of getting back to the ship on time. 

[CruiserBruce]

Tour vendors at the dock in Europe is not anywhere near as common as the Caribbean, for example. In fact it is probably considered rare.

[John Bull]

Hi Mark,

 

Your Belgian port is Zeebrugge.

Brussels isn't the best choice for most folk - it's about an hour from the port by train and is a commercial city, the headquarters of the EU administration with multiple associated businesses and few spread-out tourist sites.

Most folk head the 8 miles from port to Bruges (Brugge), a few centuries ago an important port until ships got bigger & the canal silted-up, leading to the "new" port of Zeebrugge. So it's a historic city with a compact & very walkable cobbled centre with mainly 17th/18th Century buildings, lots of coffee-shops and lace & chocolate shops.

 

You need to name your Norwegian & Icelandic ports, some like Bergen don't need a tour, others are quite small & you need to get out of town & explore the fjords, lakes, mountains, waterfalls & glaciers.

Check out the forum for https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/116-northern-europe-baltic-sea/ and mebbe the new Iceland forum

 

JB 🙂

Edited May 23 by John Bull

[SubmarineMark]

Thank you

[onyx007]

the only ports where you could find local tours like at the pier in my experience were Akureyri in Iceland and Honningvag in Norway (the one with the North Cape) - but for the rest it's better to do it either without a tour or book beforehand in pages like getyourguide.com

[edinburgher]

19 hours ago, SubmarineMark said:

For the ports in Brussels, Norway and Iceland. Has anyone just used a local tours you find off the ship to see the area?

Definitely pre-book ahead of time as there are fewer local tour operators in a number of ports and countries in Europe  post-pandemic as many in the travel industry had to find alternative work when the world closed down.  With fewer companies and individuals offering tours and cruiselinesl sometimes booking them out for their own shorex means  little or nothing available even ahead of time never mind at the port.

 

And have you joined any Roll Call for you sailing as it may be that some fellow pax have arranged private tours and are looking for others like yourself to share.

[SubmarineMark]

Thank you everyone.