Since apparently we have more Hilton status than I realized, we joined about a hundred of our closest friends at the hotel breakfast buffet. But oh my goodness it was really good. I’m generally not a fan of buffets, to be honest they kind of creep me out. But if they are very well attended and the food is turned over frequently, then I can be down. And also since Reykjavik attracts a pretty geographically diverse tourist crowd, this buffet had the good stuff like cheeses and olives and grilled tomatoes and good bread.
During my early trip planning in looking at options from getting from our hotel to the cruise port, I had decided that we could just walk there, weather permitting. If we could save on the taxi fare then why not? Although the route was a little long for dragging rolling suitcases, it appeared to be flat on the map. And taking the city bus would only save us half the walking distance, but add the extra time and brain work.
Not only was the weather really nice, we had seen yesterday during our walk that Reykjavik has great sidewalks and walking paths. The walk was a nice start to our day, meandering through neighborhoods and even a park. Eventually we got the first close glimpse of our ship as we walked along the dock… I present to you the Norwegian Star.
Then we had the embarkation experience. And my mental health started taking a beating that would last through most of the day.
NOTE: The rest of this post is pretty whiny. I probably shouldn’t put this out into the world, but
I want to document both the greatness and sometimes disappointing nature of travel honestly.
The reader can simply scroll away if they want. You have been forewarned.
We had some great experiences after today, though!
Because we walked to the port, we didn’t approach like the busses and taxis. We kind of rounded a corner and landed right at the entry for the security/check-in line. So we just got in it. After we had progressed a bit through the line I started to realize many other people didn’t have their luggage and that we had missed wherever it is you can drop your bag for delivery to your stateroom later. That would later culminate in finding a place were we could drop our bags for safekeeping on board, but we were expected to come grab them later and bring them to our room ourselves. I know this sounds super princess-y, but that’s really how a cruise ship should operate.
I was honestly a bit surprised at the rudimentary nature of the port. This place gets a LOT of cruise ship traffic, yet it’s mostly a pop-up building. I’ve only been on a couple of other cruises (out of Venice and Rome) but they had big appointed buildings with bathrooms and sitting areas; Scott says the Seattle port is also well-appointed. This was very, very bare bones. And the gangways up to the ship were from the dock to I think Deck 4, which were steep, narrow, and had thick nonslip ridges in them that made walker and wheelchair accessibility impossible. I noticed a little lady with Parkinson’s really struggling to get onboard. I think it’s time to invest a bit more in your tourist infrastructure, Reykjavik?
As is typical, our room wasn’t expected to be ready until 15:00. After we dropped our bags we started to explore the ship. I knew from research that this is an older, “smaller” ship originally built in 2001 that had been refurbished in 2021. I have laughed in the past at people online saying they were skipping an itinerary because the ship offered was “too small”. Are you kidding me? How can a ship that carries 2,300 passengers and more than 1,000 crew members ever be considered small?
Well, I have become one of these people now. I was so overwhelmed by people as we walked around the ship. Claustrophobia-induced anxiety set in. The walkways felt so narrow. Poor Scott just had to follow me around while I muttered things like, “I need to find a quiet space”. I am so blessed with a patient partner! I seriously don’t know how he does it.
We went and found the spa area, and checked out the space known as the Thermal Suite (video is 7 years old, from before the refurbish, but the layout is the same). I believe anyone that purchases a spa service can access this area before the treatment, but you can also pay $250 for an unlimited pass for the duration of the cruise. The Suite has a heated pool, hot tub, sauna, and loungers that overlook floor to ceiling windows of the back of the ship. Most importantly they limit passes to something like only 60 people, and there are no kids. A quiet haven. Did we buy passes? Were we willing to add a last minute $250 pp for this? Nope, too frugal. Honestly kind of a big mistake, considering how much ship time we ended up having on this cruise (spoiler alert). Next time, this is a non-negotiable I think.
I think all-in-all we had around 3 hours of time on the ship before our room was ready. Again, poor Scott had to deal with this face the whole time.
This was my first time in an inside cabin (meaning no windows whatsoever). We booked it to be frugal, and submitted a $300 bid to upgrade to a balcony which failed. The cruise was 100% booked so no go on the upgrade. I didn’t take any pics but this is a good tour video if you’re curious. The room was pitch black for sleeping which was fantastic in a 24-hour daylight situation. I was super happy with the shower size, too. The only thing I missed about not having a balcony was the chance for a comfortable sitting space in privacy, but I think it was typically too cold to enjoy balcony sitting anyway. And of course our cabin steward did a great job of tidying it up every day. Usually we use the Do Not Disturb sign liberally on hotel rooms, but on the one day we left it like that on the cruise it seemed to cause some staff anxiety.
This was my least favorite day on our trip, but hey – we made it onboard and were on our way! And look how cute my mans is.
Kjar-ied Away 
One thought on “Thursday, July 13, 2023”