Background
My report will be from a somewhat different perspective than some others posted here. I am 84, and don’t move as quickly as I once did, and my wife cannot walk more the a few steps without her walking sticks, a wall or railing, or someone’s arm for balance. So we are “those people” some here post about who slow down the excursions. We chose the less strenuous excursions, and found the pace of them worked well for us, though we would have preferred the 8:15 departures several days had been a bit later.
The weather was less than cooperative on our cruise, making some excursions less pleasant than they might have been, producing several evenings of fairly rough sailing, and causing two stops to be missed. Substitutes were provided, as I will cover in more detail below. Temperatures were mostly in 40’s, occasionally in the high 30’s and low 50’s, high winds some days, cloudy most days, and rain one day.
I’ll also try to include some details that answer questions we had before the trip.
Getting to Iceland
We flew Icelandair, an attractive option for many North American passengers because they offer direct flights from more than a dozen North American cities. Icelandair calls its best service Saga Class, which offers seating much like domestic US first class; no lay flat beds. This works from eastern North America where the flight times are around five hours or less, but perhaps not so well from western points with longer flight times. We found booking full fare “Saga Premium Flex” with the airline cost less that the fares Tauck offered. It also allows last-minute cancellation with no penalty, which we found useful two years ago when I caught Covid the day before we were to leave, and offers lounge access at many US airports.
We live three and a half hours from RDU airport, the closest one Icelandair flies from, and because the route to the airport is often congested we allowed lots of time. At RDU, like many US airports I think, Icelandair has only one round-trip flight daily and uses contract services at the airport. So, arriving more than three hours before our 8:30 flight we found no Icelandair check-in counters. At 5:30 several of the Lufthansa counters became Icelandair counters, and check-in proceeded quickly. At RDU Icelandair Saga Premium Flex passengers have access to the United Club, a fairly small but quite nice lounge with beverages, light snacks, and helpful staff.
When flying from east-coast US cities, seats on the left side outbound, and right side returning offer the best chance of seeing Greenland as you near Iceland. On our outbound trip we got only a brief view before it hid behind clouds, but we had an excellent view on our return.
We were the twelfth of thirteen Icelandair flights from North America scheduled to arrive at Keflavik airport between 6:00 and 6:40 am. The airport is fairly small, but still has long walks that challenge those less agile, culminating with a seemingly endless forced march though the duty-free shop. Keflavik has not fixed the huge backup at immigration that time of day. Once through that our bags were already waiting, and customs consisted of walking out the “nothing to declare” door. Tauck’s transfer people were waiting when we exited and drove us with one other couple the 45 minute trip to the city.
Pre-day In Reykjavik
We booked a pre-day in Reykjavik, at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica. Booking thought Tauck, even if you don’t have a Gift of Time available, offers the significant advantage of early check in, which is great when you arrive around 8:00 am. Not only did we get into our room without delay, but we had access to the extensive breakfast buffet both that morning and the next before starting the cruise. Our room was spacious and comfortable, furnished rather sparsely in a Scandinavian style. The only issue we had was there is no air conditioning, which I understand is common there, and our south-facing room got pretty warm on the sunny day.
The hotel, and the other used by Tauck, are a fair walk from the areas of interest. As others have reported, the downtown area is quite compact and suitable for walking for those without mobility issues. But that’s not us, so we booked a private auto tour of the city with Reykjavik Private Tours. The three-hour tour took us to all the points we were interested in, with plenty of time to stop and walk around were we wanted. In fact our guide was stretching to find points of interest before we were done. We drove though but did not walk the shopping and restaurant streets that many probably find interesting.
We did have time to take the elevator to the top of Hallgrímskirkja, which offers great views of the city. The elevator takes you to the level of the bottom of the clock faces. Climbing several flights of stairs took me to the bell level, with even better views. And very close to the bells that chime every quarter hour very loudly. We were glad we did that because the church is no longer a stop on the Tauck post-lunch tour since the city no longer allows coaches to stop there.
There are a number of restaurants, mostly quite casual, near the hotel. The reviews of the hotel restaurant did not encourage us to have dinner there, so we booked reservations at Brasserie Askur, a block from the hotel. It was excellent. On Sunday evenings they have a “steak buffet” which seems to be very popular with the locals, but also offer a limited version of their menu which we preferred. Reservations seem advisable, at least on a Sunday evening.
Sun Voyager Sculpture
Cathedral of Christ the King
Tjörnin Lake in Central Reykjavik
Hallgrimskirkja
Bells in Hallgrimskirkja Tower
View to the North from Hallgrimskirkja Bell Tower
