What are the pros and what are the cons of cruising to Iceland? I'm Gary Bembridge, and
this is another of my tips for travellers. I'm currently onboard Saga Cruises in
my cabin. This is the second time I've cruised to Iceland, and I
thought it was a great time to share with you the pros and cons, the good and
the bad about choosing to come to Iceland on a cruise rather than a
land-based trip. What do you need to know? Probably one of the biggest pros and
good things about choosing to cruise around Iceland, rather than do a
land-based, is the fact that all of the key sights and places you should go to
are around the coastal area. The centre of Iceland is basically a large
wasteland of lava, and so all the key sights and places you're going to
want to see, stop at or go to are around the coast. So, going on a cruise is
very logical. If you want to see Iceland by land, you have to drive around
one key road that goes right around the island. This is Highway 1, the Ring Road, and
it is 880 two miles long (1,300 kilometres) and, if you want to
see the island, you're going to have to go all the way around the outside. So, a
cruise is a great way of getting there. The Ring Road is not a particularly big
road and can be very busy, so it makes a huge amount of sense to go on a cruise.
It's going to take you to all of the key places and sights that you
want to see as they are in easy access of the port's that you call on. The two
big classic things that you're going to want to see are what's known as the
"Golden Circle" out of Reykjavik, and then you also have the "Jewels of the North".
If you go on the "Golden Circle", you're going to see three of Iceland's most
impressive and important landmarks: Thinkvellir, Gullfoss
and the Geysir. If you go to
see the "Jewels of the North"
you visit the bubbling mud pots of Namaskard, Dimburgir
and then the incredible beautiful Godafoss, the
waterfall of the gods. All the key sites
that you're going to want to see are on the coast or accessible from the coast. You will have
to drive quite long distances or fly to some of these places if you want
to be land based, but as you really need to get around the island to see the key places, why not
go on a cruise? On a cruise at all of the ports of call you're also going to
have a wide range of excursions. The cruise line will have curated and
pulled together all the important places you need to see , and you don't have to do
any research as they will take you on things like whale watching, can
to see birds like puffins, some take you to key sites where the
Game of Thrones series had some of its key scenes filmed and, of course, there
will be a series of different excursions, particularly at places like Reykjavik to
the baths, like the famous Blue Lagoon. I think the next key reason for doing a
cruise around Iceland, rather than land-based, is all of the benefits of
going on a cruise. I think these are particularly important when it comes to
Iceland. The fact on a cruise you only unpack and have to pack once. If you're
going to try and see Iceland on land, you have to keep moving between
different places and you will have to be packing and unpacking quite a lot. On a cruise, you get all
of that hassle and stress taken away. Then, of course, you have all of the perks
of being on a cruise ship. For example here on the Saga Cruise, we had a choice
of different places we could eat, including room service. On board
Saga there were bands playing in the various bars, a show
every night which was either guest entertainers or a production show. And of
course, even facilities like a Medical Centre if you had any medical issues
was available, so no need to worry like on land with dealing with
all of that. There was a shop on board if you'd forgotten any bits and pieces.
Coming to Iceland on a cruise makes it so much easier, and you can just
focus on the whole experience of enjoying the place. Another big Pro is
for those people who don't like to fly, or want to avoid the hassle of
flying, is you can do no-fly cruises from a number of places in
Europe. For example out of the UK you can cruise on cruise lines like the one
that I'm on, which is a Saga Cruise. They sail out of Dover up to
Iceland around the island and back to Dover. If you are Uk-based you can
avoid flying. There are other cruise lines that will come to
Iceland out of other ports around mainland Europe, so definitely if you are
based in Europe (or you want to minimise the amount of flying) going on a cruise
to Iceland is definitely one way of doing that. For me another big Pro of
going on a cruise rather than land-based is that when
you're on land in Iceland, it is pretty expensive. If you want to have snacks, buy
drinks, go out for meals or book accommodation and hotels, it can all mount up.
It's surprisingly expensive in Iceland, which I guess makes sense
because they have to ship so much of stuff into the island and Iceland is
pretty far away. The first time I came to Iceland I thought I was
getting the exchange rate wrong because things seemed really expensive when I
converted them, but that's not the case as things are expensive across Iceland.
The advantage of coming on a cruise is you're going to know what it's
going to cost you to get there, get around and other costs associated
with eating and dining. You will know that before you go and once
you're in Iceland you're not going to have a lot of additional costs. The
fact that Iceland is a pretty expensive place once you here on land, going on a cruise
is great because before you go what it's going to cost you,
and you have that all locked down. For me personally, one of the big big pros is
that when you come on a cruise you're can learn a huge amount about the
place and the line will have curated what you need to know and they make sure you see
the key sights. For example, on the cruise that I'm on
with Saga there are enrichment lectures, a whole series of experts who
talked about the history, ports, sights,
folklore, culture and
food. You learn a huge amount which is all included within your fare. On
the cruise ship you get destination guides for all of the ports, with
information around history, what to see, what to do, where to
go and maps of the places. On the in-
room television you'll often find the cruise ship have documentaries
about Iceland. One of the key things is you have a huge opportunity to learn
about, know about and understand what you're seeing, where to go and
how to do it without having do the research yourself. You then
also have the shore excursion team who will have been to Iceland a number of
times and you ask them questions and they can help you. You
have all these experts on hand with huge amounts of information about Iceland that you
can learn and get without having to do any extra work. You
have all the excursions to choose from with
expert guides, so again you know you're going to see the places you need to see and
the local guides know the place inside out. Those
for me are the six big pros and good things about coming to Iceland
on a cruise. So, what are the cons? What are things that may be less good about
coming on a cruise? One of the key additional costs above your cruise fare
is likely to be excursions. If you come to Iceland you certainly want to go out
and see all the great sights, but bear in mind most cruise lines do not
include excursions within your fare. For example here on Saga, everything
other than excursions were pretty much included: drinks,
accommodation, all the dining options including speciality
dining, some Wi-Fi and gratuities were included.
The only extras were things like spa treatments and shopping, and also
excursions were additional. These can add quite a
lot. For example, to give you a sense of what that could be,
if you go on a Golden Circle tour that cost around about £120 per person (US$150),
Jewels of the North was
about £175 (US$200) per person. If
you went whale watching, depending on where it was, that could be anything from
£129 / $1505 up to $200 or £190 pounds per person. Bear in mind
that one of the downsides of going on a cruise is that you still will have
excursions to do, and there is a cost associated with those. One of the cons
that you could argue of coming on a cruise, is that you are traveling around
Iceland in a little bit of a bubble as you're not on land staying hotels, eating in
local restaurants and so you didn't get as much immersion
and interaction with local people. Of course one thing you could do if you
come on a cruise is, there will be excursions which are going to give you
more cultural immersion and opportunities to mix and get closer
to the Icelandic people, and there are some ports like Reykavik, where many
cruises stay overnight. On this cruise we had a night in Reykjavik
so there was an opportunity to go out and experience
much more of the city and the local bars and places to eat. The other con one could argue, is that a
cruise isn't going to buffer and protect you from the crowds at the key sights, and
certainly isn't going to guarantee you great weather. Iceland has become incredibly
popular, especially since about 2010, and many of the key sites, particularly Golden
Circle and Jewels of the North, get very very busy and coming on a cruise is not
going to give you any special access or ways of avoiding the crowds. Of course,
the guides when they take around will try and take you the best times, but it is
pretty difficult. Do the cons outweigh the pros? The fact that I've come
here for a second time cruising to Iceland probably answers the question! I
think a cruise is a phenomenal way of seeing Iceland. If you want to come to
Iceland you do really need to go around the whole island to see the key places,
so why not do it on a cruise? I have many more videos including some about Iceland,
loads around cruising with tips and advice, so why don't you watch one of
those right now?