Friday, July 14, 2023

Today the planned cruise port stop was Djupivogur, a small town on the south east coast of Iceland. I’m so glad I blog and don’t vlog because I can’t pronounce this town’s name.

The ship’s shore excursion options weren’t particularly appealing, and they ranged in price from $199-$499 per person. Even if they had been great I still would have gone in search of a local operator to see what other options were on offer – always the better choice! I was actually pretty shocked on board to see people at the shore excursion desk throughout the cruise making last minute choices for what they were going to be doing at ports.

Thanks to prior planning I totally scored and found the Berufjordur Experience from Arctic Fun. This is a kayaking outing into a fjord that lasts about 2 hours for ~$113 pp if doing single kayaks (we don’t do double kayaks because we value our relationship). By local Seattle standards that price is absolutely outrageous – you can rent a single kayak at a good location (without a tour guide) for $25-$30 pp here. But by ship excursion standards this was a steal – NCL wasn’t offering a kayaking excursion at this port, but at an upcoming port they were charging $429 pp.

I had a couple of questions for this company before I was willing to book and they were super responsive to email. Just prior to the cruise they wrote and asked if we minded pushing our start time back a half an hour due to other cruise passengers’ requests that would also be in our group and of course that was no problem. Then the morning of our scheduled stop we got an email explaining to us that the weather was a bit sketchy but might clear up later, and did we want to cancel for a full refund or wait and see. We said wait and see.

Well… then as the morning progressed we started hearing from the ship’s captain that the weather was sketchy and our docking would be delayed, possibly cancelled. Then later… yup, cancelled due to weather and unsafe conditions.

Now, I don’t remember checking to make sure the kayaking experience was fully refundable for a last minute cancellation, but that’s what Arctic Fun did without hesitation. They submitted the refund back to our credit card within 24 hours. I’m sad for them that their small business had to take a hit like that, but so thankful we weren’t out the $226! So consider this a little free advertising for them – if you are stopping in Djupivogur as part of a cruise or Iceland road trip or whatever – book with Arctic Fun! They also do a bicycle tour if kayaking isn’t your thing. When we go back for an Iceland road trip I will be booking with them again!

So… unexpected ship day #1, making this cruise now at least 4/10 days of ship time. Should have paid for the Thermal Suite.

The views from the ship were lovely though. We spent the day eating, drinking, reading, knitting, people watching. Scott is looking out the window from Proof Whiskey Bar. My mental health was better today dealing with the crowds. Did the liquor help? Maybe. Did the good night’s sleep help? Absolutely.