Thinking of cancelling my Iceland cruise

[beachdrmn]

Would you mind sharing what companies you used for the tour? When I planned our trip to Scotland I really liked using tour companies to get to places so I think I'd want to do something like that for of our trip. That's good to hear driving isn't too difficult. I would love to see Northern Lights and snow, but the earliest we can take this trip is March and I don't really want to delay it later than August.


We didn’t really use a tour company so much as we just booked the tours through the companies that offered them. If you Google Inside the Volcano you will find their website. They will pick you up and drop you off in Reykjavic but we just drove ourselves since we had the car. The benefit was they let us down in the volcano first from our group and we didn’t have to wait on everyone to get through it to leave so it definitely gave us more sightseeing time.

You will probably need to rent a car get to the Westman Islands. its about two hours outside Reykjavic. I think you can catch a plane but that is probably really expensive. You can leave your car on the “mainland” side and take the ferry without it as the town is small and really walkable but we chose to take ours over and are really glad we did. It’s a small island but I think we would have missed some cool hikes and views had we not taken it. The rib boat tour operator was www.ribsafari.is. It was our absolute favorite thing we did on the trip.

For Jokulsarlon you can take a tour that will take you on a big charter bus for a day trip but it’s a pretty far drive so I think you would be limited for time when you get there. Again since we had a rental we drove. We stayed at an awesome cabin about two hours from there for three nights and made a day trip. We visited the diamond beach and then did the zodiac boat tour through www.jokulsarlon.is.

If you decide to do the land based I would be happy to share our itinerary with you and the Airbnb’s we stayed at with you. We were really happy with the ones we chose and they were much cheaper than hotels.

 

[FSU Girl]

Thank you! I'll let you know if we decide to go that route.

 

[otten]

Yes the baby planning is one of the reasons I am hesitant to cancel the cruise. You make a lot of good points!

I am going to counter that and say that because of the baby factor I would do the land trip now. A land trip in Europe where you are getting on and off trains and really seeing places is a lot harder to do with kids, for a lot longer. Sure you can't cruise past 24 weeks and until a baby is 6 months to a year depending on itinerary but after that point cruising is a much easier family vacation option. It may be years and years before you will want to do a land trip in Europe with kids. If you want to see Iceland, see it now, properly with a land trip where you can make your own itinerary and stay as long as you like in each spot. Revisit cruising once you have a baby/small child and want the convenience of being able to see different places without having to worry about getting from place to place.

 

[smmco]

I've never driven out of the country, but I've heard it's easier to drive there the roads aren't too confusing and they are on the same side. So I'm sure my husband would be up for it lol. When I was researching for my honeymoon in the UK we had thought of getting a car and he was okay with it so I'm sure it would be find there.

If you do the cruise I’d downgrade to an inside-. You can rent a car at the ports in Iceland. Also don’t book any excursions through DCl. You can book tours on your own and save money. It’s very easy and fun to drive in Iceland. The roads are empty. If your goal is to see Iceland I’d do the land trip. Rent a car and drive around the whole island.

 

[laceltris3]

I am going to counter that and say that because of the baby factor I would do the land trip now. A land trip in Europe where you are getting on and off trains and really seeing places is a lot harder to do with kids, for a lot longer. Sure you can't cruise past 24 weeks and until a baby is 6 months to a year depending on itinerary but after that point cruising is a much easier family vacation option. It may be years and years before you will want to do a land trip in Europe with kids. If you want to see Iceland, see it now, properly with a land trip where you can make your own itinerary and stay as long as you like in each spot. Revisit cruising once you have a baby/small child and want the convenience of being able to see different places without having to worry about getting from place to place.

I agree with this. First, kids in the room are much cheaper per person than the first 2 passengers. Also, cruising with kids is SO EASY. We did the first when my youngest was 2, and did Alaska when he was 3 and Baltic when he was 5. The Disney cruises will be a great mix for you as a family. We had to wait until he was 6-7 to do more land based trips, and then those can be pricier.

 

[quandrea]

I am going to counter that and say that because of the baby factor I would do the land trip now. A land trip in Europe where you are getting on and off trains and really seeing places is a lot harder to do with kids, for a lot longer. Sure you can't cruise past 24 weeks and until a baby is 6 months to a year depending on itinerary but after that point cruising is a much easier family vacation option. It may be years and years before you will want to do a land trip in Europe with kids. If you want to see Iceland, see it now, properly with a land trip where you can make your own itinerary and stay as long as you like in each spot. Revisit cruising once you have a baby/small child and want the convenience of being able to see different places without having to worry about getting from place to place.

Have to agree with this. We have traveled extensively with twins around Europe and North America with our infant twins and older daughter. It makes getting around so easy.

 

[aggiedog]

In Europe I feel like I'll barely be on the ship so the crazy upcharge Disney does I'm not sure will be worth it or not.

I've been to Iceland twice on land trips, have done DCL and cruised the Med on MSC - because DCL was just too darn expensive for a port intensive cruise.

If you really want to see Iceland, do a land trip. Your statement there says it all. I loved our DCL cruises, but for the Med, we went concierge with MSC and still saved over half what non-concierge was with DCL. That gave us enough money left over to do a week in France, arranged by a travel company so I didn't have to do all the planning even. Perfect! You could do the same - find a non-Iceland northern Europe cruise and plan a land trip to Iceland on the way there. IcelandAir lets you do up to a 7 day stop over on one of your legs of the trip. It will help with jet lag, since it's only 5 hours from the east coast (bonus.) You could do the entire ring road in 7 days, or spend it in a few places in the west and south if you wanted to be a little more relaxed.

Driving would be easy. There are very few roads in Iceland, so hard to get lost, particularly once you leave Reykjavik, which you really, really need to do. Reykjavik is a nice city, but the draw of Iceland is it's amazing scenery. Planning for next year, you still have LOTS of time to find lodging to your taste and budget. Iceland is expensive, because it's an island with few natural resources, but you can cut costs by self driving, self catering at airBNB's, and enjoying the scenery is free. I'd splurge on specific activities - zodiac boats in Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon, an Into the Volcano tour, and snorkeling at Silfra. I would LOVE LOVE to get out to the Westman islands and the westfjords.

The major sites near Reykjavik are "crowded" for Iceland, but once you get out of that part of the country, it's better. And with the long days, and your own car, you can see the sites very early or very late and avoid almost all people.

 

[Mango7100]

We did a week long trip to Iceland at the end of May 4 years ago. We were in Reykjavik for 2 days (did the Blue Lagoon from there) and drove around for the rest of it. You really need to rent a car and drive to see the country. It is very easy to drive (we have travelled in Europe a lot but had only taken trains before). There is one main road (two lane) that literally runs a circle around the country. It is an amazing place and I felt like we were on another planet sometimes! I think we had 21 hours of daylight, so we got a lot done.

 

[FSU Girl]

I am going to counter that and say that because of the baby factor I would do the land trip now. A land trip in Europe where you are getting on and off trains and really seeing places is a lot harder to do with kids, for a lot longer. Sure you can't cruise past 24 weeks and until a baby is 6 months to a year depending on itinerary but after that point cruising is a much easier family vacation option. It may be years and years before you will want to do a land trip in Europe with kids. If you want to see Iceland, see it now, properly with a land trip where you can make your own itinerary and stay as long as you like in each spot. Revisit cruising once you have a baby/small child and want the convenience of being able to see different places without having to worry about getting from place to place.

That's a really good point too. I do want to still travel when I have a baby, but I'm sure that could all change when I actually have one.

If you do the cruise I’d downgrade to an inside-. You can rent a car at the ports in Iceland. Also don’t book any excursions through DCl. You can book tours on your own and save money. It’s very easy and fun to drive in Iceland. The roads are empty. If your goal is to see Iceland I’d do the land trip. Rent a car and drive around the whole island.

The only reason I like booking through the cruise is the guarantee the ship will wait for you or they'll get you to the next port if they can't. It gives me peace of mind. My last couple cruises all had a balcony, I'm not sure how I'd be in an inside cabin on such a long cruise. We do like hanging out in our cabin and I've always felt like interior ones feel like coffins. It's just such a huge price difference.

I agree with this. First, kids in the room are much cheaper per person than the first 2 passengers. Also, cruising with kids is SO EASY. We did the first when my youngest was 2, and did Alaska when he was 3 and Baltic when he was 5. The Disney cruises will be a great mix for you as a family. We had to wait until he was 6-7 to do more land based trips, and then those can be pricier.

When I've priced out land vs cruises land usually comes out cheaper for me. But I do think it would be a lot easier to travel with a baby on a cruise instead of a land trip. I've already talked my parents into doing a cruise on Disney with us when we have a baby and they don't even like Disney lol.

I've been to Iceland twice on land trips, have done DCL and cruised the Med on MSC - because DCL was just too darn expensive for a port intensive cruise.

If you really want to see Iceland, do a land trip. Your statement there says it all. I loved our DCL cruises, but for the Med, we went concierge with MSC and still saved over half what non-concierge was with DCL. That gave us enough money left over to do a week in France, arranged by a travel company so I didn't have to do all the planning even. Perfect! You could do the same - find a non-Iceland northern Europe cruise and plan a land trip to Iceland on the way there. IcelandAir lets you do up to a 7 day stop over on one of your legs of the trip. It will help with jet lag, since it's only 5 hours from the east coast (bonus.) You could do the entire ring road in 7 days, or spend it in a few places in the west and south if you wanted to be a little more relaxed.

Driving would be easy. There are very few roads in Iceland, so hard to get lost, particularly once you leave Reykjavik, which you really, really need to do. Reykjavik is a nice city, but the draw of Iceland is it's amazing scenery. Planning for next year, you still have LOTS of time to find lodging to your taste and budget. Iceland is expensive, because it's an island with few natural resources, but you can cut costs by self driving, self catering at airBNB's, and enjoying the scenery is free. I'd splurge on specific activities - zodiac boats in Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon, an Into the Volcano tour, and snorkeling at Silfra. I would LOVE LOVE to get out to the Westman islands and the westfjords.

The major sites near Reykjavik are "crowded" for Iceland, but once you get out of that part of the country, it's better. And with the long days, and your own car, you can see the sites very early or very late and avoid almost all people.

I'd love to combine Iceland with a cruise, but we don't get a lot of vacation time so we have to pick one or the other. I'd love to do all you mentioned for Iceland. I'm planning to do some research today to see how the costs compare between the land and cruise.

We did a week long trip to Iceland at the end of May 4 years ago. We were in Reykjavik for 2 days (did the Blue Lagoon from there) and drove around for the rest of it. You really need to rent a car and drive to see the country. It is very easy to drive (we have travelled in Europe a lot but had only taken trains before). There is one main road (two lane) that literally runs a circle around the country. It is an amazing place and I felt like we were on another planet sometimes! I think we had 21 hours of daylight, so we got a lot done.

Was May a good month to go? I'm trying to figure out what month we would go if we did a land trip and weren't tied to certain dates. I love how easy the roads sound.

 

[Rob1872]

We stopped off for 2 days in Iceland while flying from the East Coast to England for our 25th anniversary. We spent an afternoon exploring Reykjavik, and then the next day took a Golden Circle tour. You definitely can't do all of Iceland during your DCL layover, but you can get a nice 'overview' and see some of the high points. Yes, if you want to do the Southern coast and see some remote places up North and soak in the Blue Lagoon, etc. you need more days. But just remember, Iceland is @#$%! expensive for both food and lodging. So if you are talking about substituting an Iceland only trip, you aren't going to be saving that much money over the cruise cost.

We've done connecting inside staterooms on Magic and the large family verandahs on Fantasy and Dream. Yes, it was nice to be able to stand out on your verandah in the morning while pulling into a port (or just looking out for a few minutes at night), but I don't know if I'd say that it was worth another $4,000 for a few minutes each day of using the verandah. We weren't in our rooms enough on Magic to make me upset that I didn't have a view.

 

[FSU Girl]

We stopped off for 2 days in Iceland while flying from the East Coast to England for our 25th anniversary. We spent an afternoon exploring Reykjavik, and then the next day took a Golden Circle tour. You definitely can't do all of Iceland during your DCL layover, but you can get a nice 'overview' and see some of the high points. Yes, if you want to do the Southern coast and see some remote places up North and soak in the Blue Lagoon, etc. you need more days. But just remember, Iceland is @#$%! expensive for both food and lodging. So if you are talking about substituting an Iceland only trip, you aren't going to be saving that much money over the cruise cost.

We've done connecting inside staterooms on Magic and the large family verandahs on Fantasy and Dream. Yes, it was nice to be able to stand out on your verandah in the morning while pulling into a port (or just looking out for a few minutes at night), but I don't know if I'd say that it was worth another $4,000 for a few minutes each day of using the verandah. We weren't in our rooms enough on Magic to make me upset that I didn't have a view.

My plan today is to try and price out a land trip to see how much it'll cost. I have been hearing that Iceland is very expensive so that could change things if it ends up being around the same cost.

 

[aggiedog]

But just remember, Iceland is @#$%! expensive for both food and lodging. So if you are talking about substituting an Iceland only trip, you aren't going to be saving that much money over the cruise cost.

Iceland is expensive, but I'm positive you can do a week in Iceland, self driving, for less than $10K. Self catering as well, or even just packing picnic lunches, would make it even cheaper.

To the OP, go to the TripAdvisor Iceland forum. Lots of good advice there.

 

[Rob1872]

Iceland is expensive, but I'm positive you can do a week in Iceland, self driving, for less than $10K. Self catering as well, or even just packing picnic lunches, would make it even cheaper.

Agreed. But when you look at two plane tickets, 7 nights of hotels, a week of a rental car, and a week of eating premium priced meals, you are in the range of the $6,000 inside cabin.

 

[FSU Girl]

Iceland is expensive, but I'm positive you can do a week in Iceland, self driving, for less than $10K. Self catering as well, or even just packing picnic lunches, would make it even cheaper.

To the OP, go to the TripAdvisor Iceland forum. Lots of good advice there.

Thanks I'll check that out. We aren't really the picnic type people and would probably eat meals at restaurants. I've looked at a couple things so far and the car rental and hotels don't seem too bad. I'm also used to Disney hotels crazy pricing so I feel like I'm always pleasantly surprised when I stay at a normal hotel lol.

 

[FSU Girl]

Agreed. But when you look at two plane tickets, 7 nights of hotels, a week of a rental car, and a week of eating premium priced meals, you are in the range of the $6,000 inside cabin.

I'm not really going to include the flights in deciding since we need to fly no matter what. And both places don't have direct flights.

 

[aggiedog]

I'm not really going to include the flights in deciding since we need to fly no matter what.

This. You beat me to it. Good luck deciding, since you can't go wrong either way, but each trip definitely has a different focus. Personally, Iceland is my favorite place on the planet. I'm hoping to go in about 2 years for a 2 week self drive the ring road trip. I'd go sooner, but other commitments make me have to put my Iceland obsession on hold for a little while.

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

Have you looked at the Adventures by Disney Iceland itinerary? It's amazing, and although the price would be higher than a cruise, the value is phenomenal. Other guided tours in Iceland might be worth looking at, too.

 

[FSU Girl]

This. You beat me to it. Good luck deciding, since you can't go wrong either way, but each trip definitely has a different focus. Personally, Iceland is my favorite place on the planet. I'm hoping to go in about 2 years for a 2 week self drive the ring road trip. I'd go sooner, but other commitments make me have to put my Iceland obsession on hold for a little while.

I do think whichever I choose I'll have a fantastic time

Have you looked at the Adventures by Disney Iceland itinerary? It's amazing, and although the price would be higher than a cruise, the value is phenomenal. Other guided tours in Iceland might be worth looking at, too.

I have. It does look really great, but it is way more money. I might take some parts they do and incorporate it into my trip if I do a land vacation. I did that when I went to England I looked over what they did and found a high speed boat ride that was so much fun. There's no way my husband would agree to their pricing.

 

[Mango7100]

Was May a good month to go? I'm trying to figure out what month we would go if we did a land trip and weren't tied to certain dates. I love how easy the roads sound.

I thought it was—we went at the end of May and it was still considered shoulder season so not as many tourists and cheaper. Temps are still chilly—I think it ranged from a high of 40 to a high of 55 when we were there. Dressing in layers is key and always be prepared for rain. We had no issues with ice or snow on the roads. And I think our trip totaled $5000 for air fare, lodging, car rental, and tickets for attractions

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

We just did a land-based Iceland trip last month for 10 days. We stayed in 5 different Airbnb’s all around the southern and southeastern side of the island. Having done that there is no way I would want to only visit from a cruise ship for two days. The most amazing scenery we saw was away from the cruise ports and the tourists. And boy are there a LOT of crowds near the main attractions. For example the Golden Circle was cool and had some beautiful sites but it was lost some because of the crowds. Our favorite hands down location was the Westman Islands. We took our rental car on the ferry over and stayed the night but we all wish we had stayed a day or two more there. It was breathtaking! Won’t see that on a cruise. Absolutely there is more than enough to do for a week. I would love to return someday and spend longer! I’d be happy to answer any questions.

We did a land based Iceland trip 2 years ago in August/Sept. 11 nights. We drove the ring road, stayed 1-2 nights per location. There is so much to see and do. Even got lucky enough to see the Northern Lights, which it's usually too early for. We used booking.com to find and book all of our hotels. We used google to plan what we were seeing each day, determine driving distances, and and decide where on the route we were staying. Yes, with a cruise you're barely scratching the surface. If you really want to see the country, do a land trip. If you're more excited by the cruise aspect of the trip with some Iceland thrown in, go for the cruise. Driving in Iceland is not difficult. Other than driving in Canada, it was my first time driving out of the country too. Credit cards are accepted everywhere. We didn't even change any currency. It's an easy flight from the US. While I really enjoy Disney cruises, I don't think it would be my preference for areas I really want to see in depth (ie Europe). We took children. They loved it. They like vacations like that more than they like Disney.

Have you looked at the Adventures by Disney Iceland itinerary? It's amazing, and although the price would be higher than a cruise, the value is phenomenal. Other guided tours in Iceland might be worth looking at, too.

When I priced the ABD Iceland trip 2 years ago, it would have been 48K for my party of 6. For I think an 8 night trip. We got 3 more nights at less than a quarter of the cost. That made up my mind ABD is definitely not for me!