Rate your excursion - Iceland/Norway cruise

[EllinK]

Would love to hear feedback from those who recently returned from this voyage. Please post your reviews of excursions/PA in Iceland, Norway, Scotland, etc. We are going next year and I can't wait!

 

[sayhello]

Would love to hear feedback from those who recently returned from this voyage. Please post your reviews of excursions/PA in Iceland, Norway, Scotland, etc. We are going next year and I can't wait!

You posted this in the ABD Forum, not DCL.

Sayhello

 

[closetmickey]

Anxious to hear reviews as well! Thanks for asking the question

 

[EllinK]

You posted this in the ABD Forum, not DCL.

I am so sorry! I hang out here and must have forgotten...

 

[sayhello]

I am so sorry! I hang out here and must have forgotten...

No prob! I figured it was something like that! It's been moved.

Sayhello

 

[aggiedog]

You might want to go over the CruiseCritic and post on their Ports of Call board. You probably won't get DCL specific advice, but there will be a lot more BTDT than here I think.

Personally, we like to arrange our own tours thru TripAdvisor. We've done some thru DCL, early on, but they were uniformly either more expensive, less efficient use of port time, and significantly more crowded (a charter bus with 50 instead of a minivan with 8-10.)

 

[EllinK]

Yes, we arrange our own tours too but I would love to hear about either DCL or private!

 

[aggiedog]

If you are overnighting in Reykjavik, I'd consider a south coast tour the first day, then either the Golden Circle (not as impressive as the south coast, and often, more tourists) or the Blue Lagoon the second. If you rent a car, you can head out early/stay out late since you'll have hours and hours of daylight. Or consider a superjeep tour to the highlands and a natural geothermal spring.

Tour operators range from big bus Greyline type tours to smaller minivans or super jeeps for the highlands, like Goecco and Arctic Adventures. Check out the TripAdvisor travel forum for Iceland. LOADS of good advice there.

 

[ldo]

geiranger: DCL was booked up, so DH and DS15 did guided kayak tour thru https://www.geirangerfjord.no/guided-kayak-tours. DD and I booked bus ride to Mt D also thru them. Both were excellent and cost was MUCH less than DCL. Kayak place emailed us to see if we needed a ride and sent a car to pick us up for free. Bus was right at port.
stavanger: 3 hour fjord cruise thru https://rodne.no/en/fjordcruise. Right at the port--very nice. Much less than DCL.
other ports we DIY: 400 step walk to lookout in Alesund (not too tough, many had 5 yr olds with them) and DIY walk of Bergen and Hanseatic Museum and included with Hanseatic ticket, free shuttle over to Fishing Museum--actually very interesting and great for kids.

 

[EllinK]

If you are overnighting in Reykjavik, I'd consider a south coast tour the first day, then either the Golden Circle (not as impressive as the south coast, and often, more tourists) or the Blue Lagoon the second. If you rent a car, you can head out early/stay out late since you'll have hours and hours of daylight. Or consider a superjeep tour to the highlands and a natural geothermal spring.

We have been to Iceland before and did an overnight South Coast tour, that was amazing!!! Unfortunately we did the Golden Circle after and it did pale in comparison. I am interested in trying a super jeep tour to Thorsmork or to Landmannalaugar-- have you done either? They both do sound like a lot of drive time, though.

 

[Brendan Glynn]

We just did the Disney Magic and spent two days in Iceland. I have a colleague from Iceland and sought his recommendations before we went. He suggested Blue Lagoon and Golden Triangle which we did once each day. I looked to do independently with other tour organizations but timing did not work. Our table mates did the glacier tour and loved it. Reykjavik offers a free daily walking tour that is 1 1/2 hours long and I found on TripAdvisor and highly recommend. It is both informative and funny - they do accept tips.

As far as Scotland, there is not much to see in Inversgorden so an hour walk in town is more than enough. We did the Loch Ness and castle tour which I did for our son as a novelty. As it turns out as tacky as Loch Ness may sound, it is gorgeous area and would be better off labeled as the Scottish Highland Boat and Castle Tour.

With regards to Norway we did two land and water tours that had great sights to see and gave a taste of Norway on land and sea. We were in Alesund on a Sunday and it was a short time so we did not book an excursion, but wish we had. Everything was closed on Sunday with the exception of a couple tourist stores so not much to do that day. Kristiansand had a great shopping district that is walking distance from the port.

Hope that helps. Happy to answer any other questions. Enjoy!

 

[aggiedog]

I did not do either tours. I'm working on getting back there for more adventures, but darn college tuition keeps getting in my way!

Pretty much everything will involve driving, as Reykjavik is not close to anything other than the Blue Lagoon and kind of the Golden Circle.

You could look at snorkeling in Silfra. Or Icelandic horse riding (don't call them ponies!) Or the Into the Volcano tour, which sounds amazing.

 

[aflynn33]

We just got back from the Norway Iceland cruise, too. We spent a few days in Copenhagen and liked it. We went to Alesund and were supposed to go kayaking through Disney, but it was cancelled due to weather. You can book that privately much cheaper. We ended up hiking to the high point and having coffee and then taking a different path back to the ship. Most stores were closed, but the tourist store near the dock was open and it had very nice items for sale. At Stavanger, we climbed Pulpit Rock using Disney Port Adventures. It was well done. Many others went on their own, but it was a short day and I have a major fear of missing the ship. In Reykjavik we did the Golden Circle with Disney and booked the Blue Lagoon directly. Your hours are better than ours, so you'll be able to book with private vendors. They are less expensive than Disney and you'll have more choices. If you have children with you, the private tours frequently don't charge for them or discount. Finally, in Scotland we booked privately with Invergordon tours and really enjoyed it. Smaller group than Disney and less expensive. Have fun on your cruise next year!

 

[mmmears]

We just came back from this cruise. In Kristiansand we took a short DCL excursion to the open air museum which was fantastic. In Stavanger we booked a fjord cruise through Rodne directly - really good and much cheaper than booking the same thing as a PA. Lots of people on our ship did the same thing. In Alesund we booked a PA to the overlook and Sunmore museum and it was great - we saw everything we wanted to see even though the day was short. In Iceland we booked a private Golden Circle tour the first day, and then Blue Lagoon the second day (also privately booked). We really enjoyed both. In Invergorden we booked a private tour through Invergordon Shore Excursions and saw Cawdor Castle, Culloden Battlefield, Loch Ness, Urquhart castle and a few other sights - great day.

 

[dvcdisney]

We are back from our 10 night Norway/Iceland cruise. We only ended up booking one DCL cruise - 2nd day of Reykjavik - Lunar Landscapes and Hot Springs. We had a short second day so we decided to book with DCL. On our 2nd day of cruise, we receive a message that the excursion was cancelled. So we decided to go into town. We visited Perlan and the church and had a great relaxing time.

All our other excursions were private. I did want to mention one excursion that was wonderful - we did a tour of Golden Circle and South Coast on our first day. Since it was a private tour, we were able to see everything before dark. It was amazing and exhausting. We saw so much in about 11 hrs. Our guide was awesome. He was very flexible but we kept with the schedule, even when he said to us "we sit down and eat or see everything"...we were chasing daylight so we kept going. We arrived on the ship around midnight and Cabanas was still open. I think it closed around 12:30am. There was a lot of people still in Cabanas when we left. I think most left the ship, but likely not as long as we did. But definitely worth it!

 

[Ladybugx87]

We are back from our 10 night Norway/Iceland cruise. We only ended up booking one DCL cruise - 2nd day of Reykjavik - Lunar Landscapes and Hot Springs. We had a short second day so we decided to book with DCL. On our 2nd day of cruise, we receive a message that the excursion was cancelled. So we decided to go into town. We visited Perlan and the church and had a great relaxing time.

All our other excursions were private. I did want to mention one excursion that was wonderful - we did a tour of Golden Circle and South Coast on our first day. Since it was a private tour, we were able to see everything before dark. It was amazing and exhausting. We saw so much in about 11 hrs. Our guide was awesome. He was very flexible but we kept with the schedule, even when he said to us "we sit down and eat or see everything"...we were chasing daylight so we kept going. We arrived on the ship around midnight and Cabanas was still open. I think it closed around 12:30am. There was a lot of people still in Cabanas when we left. I think most left the ship, but likely not as long as we did. But definitely worth it!

Which company did you use for the 11-hr tour and was it just your family?
Thanks.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

We signed up for the Pulpit Rock hike and beware it can be very difficult for some. Everyone started out at 9:30 if you didn’t make it by 12:00 you HAD to turn back for the bus. My wife and I had to turn back. We probably had about 10-15 minuets left to get to Pulpit Rock when everyone was heading towards us. My wife’s knees were giving out. The hike up was gray, misty, drizzly. The 2.25 hour hike back was in a steady rain.

In Iceland we thought because we had over 24 hours in Reykjavik we could get off the ship the first day and book an excursion on shore. Wrong, everything was booked on shore. So if you have the same cruise itinerary, book something now if you don’t want to use DCL. We went back to the ship to the excursion desk and luckily there was six openings for the next mornings tour for the Golden Circle tour. I think it’s safe to say all six of us would recommend this excursion.

If you are thinking of renting a car and driving it book the car well in advance. This was plan B but every car was rented out at the port. If worse came to worse we were going to hire a taxi for the tour. No idea how much that would cost seeing as we signed up for next mornings tour on DCL.

 

[aggiedog]

Wrong, everything was booked on shore

Good point. Iceland is not your typical European port, with decades/centuries? of commerce and travel. Until very recently it was very isolated, and the current tourist wave just began less than 10 years ago. It does not have the infrastructure that most European ports have, even in Reykjavik. Shoot, it doesn't even have the population. The entire country is 300K people, with 2 million in tourists annually. So plan accordingly and book ahead.

 

[dvcdisney]

Which company did you use for the 11-hr tour and was it just your family?
Thanks.

It was just the 4 of us in my family. We used Iceland Go Tours. They were awesome from booking to the end of the tour.

 

[yowcruiser]

Kristiansand: Went to Dyreparken park - Which is a zoo/theme park/water park. I do not believe that DCL is going to Kristiansand next year but we did enjoy our day there
Stavanger: Group was split between hike to Pulpit Rock and Fjord cruise (with a land stop at Baker's paradise). Both excursions were enjoyed, and through DCL
Alesund: Church and Viking Village experience: Enjoyable, but pricey. The Viking Village will let one through interact with the "actors' to experience a day in the life of. The temporary setup was right next so Sunmore. Note that Alesund is usually where Disney transfers Sunmore in Arendelle for a special party but did not do so this year due to short time in port
Reykjavik: We rented a car and did the Golden Circle on Day 1 and Blue Lagoon on Day 2. On Day 1, we kept on running into the DCL group at most stops... but did save quite a bit by doing it on our own
Invergordon: Different Scottish destination in 2019 so might be a moot point to evaluate PA there