Iceland or is it Iceland; Land of Fire and Ice
I’ll try to update as this tour progresses and try to address topics raised in older posts
We could have flown Delta, but surprisingly, Icelandair has a non-stop flight once a day out of RDU, our usual starting point. We have been flying mostly Business Class on long haul flights so have been spoiled with layflat seats. Icelandair uses a 737 and like previous posters their Saga (business class) seats are comfortable but don’t recline much and the spacing is tight. Bottom line, it was a tiring 6 hr flight which my body can’t handle anymore. The movie selection was terrible- only one from this year. Food- so, so. I’ve had better and worse.
We are staying in the Hilton Nordica- seriously, about 2.5 stars. It is not near downtown. Bathroom is tiny and room not much bigger, and no AC. I guess we can handle it for one night. I suspect our cabin on Le Champlain will be bigger. We arrived a day early, at 0630, but it took forever to get through passport control- what a zoo. We heard one person (staff?) say they had never seen it so bad. The lines and wickets snaked through a room filled with new automated equipment still wrapped in plastic. Hopefully, when they are up a running it will help with the long lines. With the 45 min. drive we didn’t get to the hotel until after 0900. Tauck arranged for early check in and even listed it on the summary of purchase as “no charge.” Even though it was our day of arrival we got complimentary breakfast (OK buffet) at the hotel. In summary, we experienced a mix of good and not so good.
This afternoon, if our friends arrive on time, we will visit the Lava Show
Comments
Le Champlain was literally brand new when we took the tour. What type of cabin do you have? On our most recent Ponant trip the TD’s were really downplaying the cabin sizes to trim people’s expectations compared to large cruise ships. There were a lot of Tauck first timers.
Alan - True, you can't step out the door of the Hilton Nordica and be in downtown, but we found the location acceptable for the short period we were there at each end of the tour.
We did a loop walk from the hotel to Hallskirche, downtown, over to the waterfront, up the waterfront and then back to the hotel. We spent about half a day. We had good weather and found it to be a refreshing way to get rid of the arrival flight cobwebs. Of course, stopping in a bakery for a local treat didn't hurt the process.
On the room size, we had three in our party so the room that we got was at the end of the building and was quite large. Just the luck of the draw, I guess. It was far from plush, per the Nordic ways.
Knees, overall conditioning, etc., limited my ability and desire to do a large amount of walking, so we took a taxi to downtown eating and tourist area. Taxis all accept plastic and tipping is not customary. After lunch we walked to the Lava Show then Fly over Iceland. Both were certainly touristy but actually very interesting and well done. They “made” real lava and a lava flow at the first attraction. The videography was fantastic at Fly over Iceland. This is not the attraction you should partake if you have visual and balance integration issues, but what stunning scenery! Despite the cost, we thought both were worth the price.
Alan - Glad your two outings were worth the money. Your knees will enjoy the mineral bath outings if you plan to partake in them.
Alan — It’s great to hear you back on the road. Wishing you a wonderful trip!
Alan: We stayed at the Grand Hotel, and the rooms there were not very ‘grand’ either. The public areas of the hotel were nice, but the breakfast was just average. I would give the hotel maybe three stars. The walking was not inviting so we also took a cab to the shopping district … to the top of the hill so we could walk back down … the driver’s excellent suggestion.
Our friends arrived late morning. Without missing a beat we headed off to downtown for lunch and the Lava Show. Since it was nearby we also did the fly over Iceland experience. Though touristic, both were very well done. The Lava Show used a large and very hot behind-the-scenes kiln to actually create lava. During the flow the guide explained and demonstrated the make up and features of lava. The viewing room got very hot. Fly Over Iceland was similar to Disney’s Avatar experience except this was real world, wild video of Icelands amazing topography (waterfalls, craggy peaks, etc.) taken from a helo and projected on a half-sphere while rows of seats tilted with the motion portrayed. It was very well done. Only a few viewers were affected by the sensory overload. (No photos allowed)
Lost? We’re not lost!
Same jacket, two circles. 😃
Day one complete. Breakfast at the Hilton was pretty decent again. Afterwards it was time to meet our TDs, turn in paperwork, settle our hotel bill, etc. We have 5 TDs and a tour liaison- a new term for us. One TD was Gilli, who we met on Blue Danube in 2018. I shared with her a photo of the two of us I had taken at the castle ruin on the hill in Durnstein- we both looked much younger!
There are 155 Taucktourians + the 6 Tauck staff- Tauck has the entire ship. About noon we boarded 3 buses for a short trip under overcast, rainy skies, to the Harpa Concert Hall for a nice but typically too big lunch at the onsite La Primavera restaurant. After lunch we reboarded the buses for a drive thru Old town, to the Perlman Museum. Due to the large crowd and mixed signals our group only got to see 2 of the lesser exhibit areas. We missed the best two, the Volcano show and the ice caves exhibits. The buses took us to Hafnarjordur to board Le Champlain.
After getting checked in and spending a little time in our cabin where our luggage was waiting, we had a shipboard briefing in the theatre followed by dinner. While we were eating, the ship got underway. Amongst all the paperwork we received, we got an envelope with a letter offering us each a $100 shipboard credit (for the spa, boutique purchases, laundry, etc.) for being “one of our most travelled patrons. . .”.
It has been a bit rough so far tonight on our journey to Heimay, our port of call for tomorrow.
Alan - Here's a picture of Gilli on Grimsey Island you can share with her from our trip in 2021. Hopefully the weather allows the tenders to go ashore when you get there.
Here were our Tour Directors.
We have traveled with Marcos in Iceland and somewhere else, possibly one of our Galapagos tours.
We have Mark and Gilli, and Mateo who is a friend of Marcos (both from Costa Rica).
Day 2
After a bit of a rough transit we spent the day at Heimaey Island. The main focus of today was the landscape and the impact of the 1973 volcanic eruption which nearly destroyed the entire village and port.
Food- the breakfast buffet at Hilton was better so far than on Le Champlain. While we expected it and it is early in the tour, there has been too much fish for our taste with too little available non- seafood options. Today we visited a small museum dedicated to the eruption. We then drove around the small island to see more remnants of the eruption. One of the highlights was a brief stop where we observed a Puffin rookery. Tonight was the Captain’s Dinner. We skipped tonight’s ABBA show,
You lucked out with Marcos. His knowledge of birds is incredible.
Alan - Your pictures bring back memories. You forgot to mention one of the highlights of that island, the golf course. There were lots of golfers playing when we were there.
We always went to the shows that began at 9-30pm but they were not well attended. On our recent tour, they had changed things and all but one show were in the lounge at about 6 pm before dinner. Which to us was a shame since you miss out on the really good backgrounds and lighting. At 9-30pm, the shows only last a half hour and a good way to wind down and digest the dinner. It’s not as if you have to get up at the crack of dawn on the small ship cruises, they are so laid back compared to the land tours.
This change was to improve attendance
Sam - nice to see you are getting some exercise while travelling - at least your arms and right ankle.
No golf for me on that trip, only envy! 😂
Day 3
Today we pulled into the fishing village of Grundarfjordur (don’t ask me how to pronounce it!) on the Snarfellish peninsula. Like all of Iceland, the topography was volcanic and the economy based on fishing and raising sheep (wool) and the small Icelandic horses for the tourist industry. The small horses are purebred and not to be confused with ponies or miniatures.
Our choice of excursions took us along the coastal areas just below the volcanic mountains outside Grundarfjodur and towards the Snaefellish Glacier. We were only able to catch brief glimpses of the glacier due to fog and mist. During the bus ride we passed a small coastal peak (Church Mountain) which was a filming location for Game of Thrones. Waterfalls appeared everywhere and the area was dotted with sheep farms and grazing sheep.
The big attraction was a visit to the Vatnshellir lava tube. It was a bit strenuous to descend two very tall narrow spiral metal stairs (are climb back up- no elevators!). The floor of the lava tube was very irregular, and though wet, not slippery due to coarse lava rock, but the random lava rock still made it difficult to traverse. We were given flashlights and helmets due to the low ceiling in one small section. The temp in the lava chambers was just above freezing.
Icelandic spelunking - interesting. You should visit Kartchner Caverns in Arizona. 😄
That was never offered on our tour
British - Not on ours either, but based on the scenery I can tell that was the day we had a very good excursion where they fed us fresh scallops, straight from the ocean during the birding and sea-life excursion.
Birding/fishing/scalloping excursion was cancelled abruptly a few months ago after the boat company informed Tauck with no prior warning that they were selling their boat and closing the business.
Don’t remember having that excursion either
We had that one canceled also. We enjoyed a day on the boat, cuz reviews of the alternative were not good and the water was rough and cold. The cave was not going to work for us.