Ever since I went to Norway, I wanted go back and take Tom with me to see the fjords. So when Traveling Texans Over 50 – Austin offered the Iceland/Norway cruise, a “breathtaking adventure that will take you through Iceland’s natural wonders and stunning Norwegian fjords,” I signed up – especially since “This might be your last opportunity to visit the Norwegian Fjords by ship. After 2025, Norway is eliminating large cruise ships into this area.” I signed up way in advance, in January 2024 for the July 2025 trip. I was happy that flights were included in the price, not realizing that Norwegian Cruise Line would not have my convenience in mind when they booked our flights. I was not happy when we had to fly three legs: to Toronto, then Montreal, and finally to Reykjavik.
It turned out that we were lucky to fly through Canada. The six people who were to share a taxi with us from the airport to the hotel had connections on the East coast. They didn’t make it to Reykjavik until the day after. All flights along the U.S. East coast were cancelled that evening due to a storm. We were also affected by the storm but we were delayed by only one hour.
The hotel we were supposed to stay at was overbooked. We were sent to Grandi, their sister hotel, a few blocks away. We walked there on the cobblerstone streets and sidewalks. Grandi had our room ready for us when we arrived. After a much needed nap, we walked to FlyOver Iceland and bought tickets for the “flying ride.” We loved the FlyOver Iceland film and presentations.
On our walk to downtown afterwards, we discovered Reykjavik Fish which serves arctic char, a delicious fish I tasted on my first visit to Reykjavik with Larilyn eight years ago. We ordered a baked arctic char and a plokkari. We were not disappointed. The arctic char was so delicious, we should have ordered two of them. The plokkari was also good. I had the Viking gyltur premium beer.
We walked along the water and stopped at Harpa (Concert Hall), Settlement Museum (History of Iceland), Ingólfur statue (Founder of Iceland), and then onto Rainbow Street and Hallgrímskirkja (largest church in Iceland, towering over the center of town, at one end of Rainbow Street). There is a Leiff Eiricsson statue and a Hotel Leifur Eiriksson across from the church. I learned of the name Leif Erikson from the Vikings series. Apparently there are various spellings of the name of this explorer.
We walked back towards the water to see the Sólfariđ (Sun Voyager sculpture) and went inside Harpa to use the restroom and check things out.
Day 1 of Cruise - Departure from Reykjavik
I chatted with the people in the Traveling Texans group who stayed at Grandi to arrange to share a taxi to the cruise ternminal. We met with Helen, Sherri, and Darrell at the front desk at 11am when we checked out of the hotel. Helen paid the taxi with Króna and we paid her back with US dollars.
Our cabin was not ready for us when we boarded the Norwegian Prima. Tom and I visited the gym before going to Indulge Food Hall for lunch. We found our emergency station in front of the Prima Theater. We saw Sherri and Darrell at Indulge. They introduced Terri and Tiger from Traveling Texans to us. Their table was full so we didn’t sit with them. I ordered a Manchego tapa (sheep milk cheese) and a fish tikka. After eating, we walked along the Oceanwalk on Deck 8 and explored things on the way. When we got to The Wave waterslide, we heard the announcement that our cabin was ready. We went to our cabin and relaxed until dinner time.
We went to dinner at Hudson‘s to be with the Traveling Texans group. The receptionist couldn’t find our group. She said our seats were not ready and made us stand aside and wait. It was a good thing I saw Terri whom we just met at Indulge. She guided us to our tables and sat with us. We met a few more Traveling Texans. Marcia gave each of the Traveling Texans a Texas pin, saying it was her way to recognize people in the group. I was talked into buying a whole bottle of wine. I took the unfinished bottle back to our cabin. With the onboard credits we had, I bought a bracelet with five charms.
After dinner, we went to the Welcome Show at the Prima Theater. Then we went to The Local Bar & Grill for some late night snacks. I ordered pretzel bites with beer cheese fondue and chips with spinach and artichoke dip. Tom had loaded nachos.
Day 2 of Cruise - Ísafjorđur
I slept very well. Tom woke me up when he got back from the gym at 8am, the ship’s arrival time to the port of Ísafjorđur. This is the principal town of the Westfjords region, the most remote part of the island, at the northwest corner of Iceland.
On the way back, our guide told us three legends of the waterfall involving a magician and a beautiful lady. In the first version, the magician fell in love with the lady, but she didn’t return his love. He was mad and turned her into a waterfall, and the water is her hair. In the second version, the lady fell in love, but the magician did not. The water is her tears. In the third version, they both fell in love and the water is her wedding veil, being tapered and at its widest at 60 meters at the bottom.
We napped when we got back and ate at Indulge Food Hall when it opened. We wanted to watch the ship leave at the Observation Lounge but there was no room. We went to the Magic of Rick Green show and ate late night snacks at the Local Bar & Grill. I had loaded nachos this time and shared a cheesecake with Tom. He had a Reuben.
Day 3 of Cruise - Akureyri
The ship arrived in Akureyri at 6am. It is the largest city in North Iceland. We had breakfast at Surfside Café before disembarking at 7:30 am for our tour with BusTravel. Ivy was the tour guide and her dad was our driver. Ivy told us that the small waterfall we saw from our ship is a thermal one (one can see the steam from the waterfall) and she had come and sat in its water.
The tour bus took us to Gođafoss waterfall, Lake Myvatn Visitor Center, the Dimmuborgir Lava Park, and Námaskarđ Geothermal area (at the foot of Mount Námafjall) where we found bubbling mud pools and steaming fumarols.
Some people in our Traveling Texans group were in other two BusTravel buses. One of the buses took our friends to see where the North American Tectonic Plate meets the Eurasian Plate, but we did not get to do that. We stopped for lunch and Terri pointed out to me where the plates meet. Ivy and her dad entertained us with some music.
Ivy gave us interesting information about many things, including the legend of the Gođafoss name (which could mean either a Nordic God or a chieftain), their history of becoming a Christian nation, the Icelandic naming laws for people and horses, their old laws regarding illegimate children, fauna and flora (no snakes in Iceland, the national flower is the mountain avens), and the Yule Lads.
We got back to the ship early. I went for a massage and we ate dinner at Surfside Café afterwards. We saw something in the water and were not sure what they were. The next day we heard that they were humpback whales.
We went to Soul Legends at Sea with singer Tanya Edwards. She was very interactive with the audience and it was fun. We turned the clock one hour forward at midnight.
Day 4 of Cruise - At Sea
We spent most of the day at the thermal spa on the ship. We had dinner with the group at Hudson‘s. We sat with Marcia, Carol, Lisa and Kevin. Tom talked to Kevin mostly about rowing. I managed to get Tom to go to a photo shoot with me on the way to the Adult Comedy Show with Jenny Zigrino.
Afterwards, we went to Surfside Café for dessert and coffee. I turned my watch another hour forward, which means we were two hours ahead since Reykjavik. We were in bed by 11pm of our new time.
Day 5 of Cruise - Alesund
The ship arrived in Alesund, a port town on Norway’s west coast, at 11am.
We had signed up with the group for the NCL cruise of Hjorundfjord, regarded by many as one of the most beautiful fjords in the world and the Queen of Norway’s favorite. It is a 20-mile long arm of the Storfjord, located in the Sunnmore Alps heartland with pointed mountain peaks that encircle the bay on both sides. The north end of the fjord is over 1.5 miles wide, and the deepest point is over 1,446 feet. As NCL describes it, the boat took us along “the striking scenery that Kaiser Wilhelm valued so highly more than 100 years ago. The views of nature's mountains and fjords from this perspective are simply spectacular.” We enjoyed it a great deal. We hung out with Helen on the deck most of the time until it became too windy.
When we got back from the cruise we ate at Surfside Café for lunch. They had a limited buffet. I had a cheeseburger without bun and a lot of veggies and it was surprisingly good. We rested for a half an hour before going out again. When I got out of the ship, the wind picked up and that made me feel so cold, I put on everything I had with me in my backpack. I laughed at myself when I saw the locals strolling in their sundresses.
We found Fjellstua which is a famous viewpoint over the city. We had to walk up a steep hill for a while and then 418 steps more to the top. I didn’t think I had the energy to make it but I did. My legs were tired.
We got back to the ship after 7pm. We stopped at the Excursion desk and bought an excursion for Maloy before going to dinner. I wanted to eat at Hudson’s but Tom wanted Surfside Café. It was not a good dinner because it was crowded and they didn’t have any fish or seafood tonight. Tom got me some chicken. We didn't go dancing at the atrium as some of people in our group did.
Day 6 of Cruise - Maloy
The ship arrived in the small fishing port of Maloy at 7am. I wish we had explored the town more. We did not want to get up right away. We decided to have breakfast before the gym, so that we could have lunch before the excursion at 12:45pm. We ate at Indulge Food Hall for breakfast for the first time. It is a buffet with different stations. I went to the Metropolitan for origami folding cicada after stretching at the gym. I met some people there who told me that there is a waterfall in town that we can walk to. We ate lunch at The Local Bar & Grill at 11am before heading out.
We had an hour to walk around before our tour departed. We walked the zig-zag path which wasn’t always marked through town to the trail head of Mount Brurahornet, where there is a waterfall, and back. The path was sometimes paved road, sometimes dirt road, and sometimes stairs.
We took the NCL tour Explore West Cape with Maloy Adventures at 1pm. The bus took us along the coastline. Our guide read from a script the whole time instead of talking to us. Our first stop was at Stad Hotel at Leikanger. We shared a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll.
Our second stop was at a viewpoint where we saw the flat top seaside mountain.
The last stop was at the Serje beach. Tom dipped his toes into the water. He was the only one of the group who did this.
Day 7 of Cruise – Geiranger
The ship arrived in the village of Geiranger, at the head of Geirangerfjord, at 6am. We skipped the gym and went straight to breakfast when we got up at 6:30am. We went to the Surfside Café which was pretty crowded, but I did find an outside table by the window. We got off the ship as soon as we were done eating.
I wanted to make sure we knew where to meet for our guided RIB excursion with Bonseye before taking the Waterfall Trail to Geirangerfossen, the waterfall right in town. It is 1km away from the port. The walk is well developed with metal catwalks and interpretive signs.
Once we got to Geirangerfossen, we found the sign for Storseterfossen, another waterfall 3.2 km away. Tom thought it would take us 1.75 hours round trip, but it took longer. We went steadily uphill all the way. It took us one hour to get to the top but it was totally worth it. I’d have loved to have more time at the waterfall, but we had an excursion to catch.
It took us another hour to come down. We got to the excursion at the right time. They suited us up and we got on the Rigid Inflatable Boat with eight other people. I would have loved it much more if we got to sit in front. Also, we sat like on horseback riding so my legs got even more tired. We do love the sight. The waterfalls are beautiful. Our guide told us that the Suitor (Friaren) wanted to marry one of the Seven Sisters, but she refused because he drank too much.
We got back on the ship and went to the Observation Lounge. It was only 12:15pm and the ship didn’t depart until 4pm. I ordered a margarita which wasn’t very strong. Helen was up here so we talked. I didn’t see any other people I know from our group but then I didn’t know a lot of people. There were about sixty of us and I knew maybe fewer than ten. Helen joined us when she didn’t find a seat. Tom gave her his seat. Tom and I shared mine. When the boat departed, there was too much reflection of the glass to take good pictures. We should have been at our balcony instead. I ran to our balcony but I was a bit late to take a really good picture of Seven Sisters.
We left the Observation Lounge at 5pm to go to dinner at Hudson‘s. Tom had blue cheese, soup and broiled hoki. I had roasted vegetables and scallops and broiled hoki. For dessert, Tom had a fruit salad and I had a lava cake. We went to the gym after dinner.
In the evening, I got Tom to dress up in white and went for photo sessions. He wasn’t too happy when I took him to two photo sessions. I went to another two sessions myself later. We planned to go to the white party, but learned that it was at 10:30pm instead of 9:30pm. We decided not to go and stayed in our room for the night.
Day 8 of Cruise - At Sea
I could not fall asleep the night before for a long while. We decided to stay in bed until Hudson’s opened at 7:30am. I saw a nice sunrise at our balcony.
We sat at the window in the middle at breakfast at Hudson's. I ordered tomato juice, oatmeal, salmon bagel, and scrambled eggs. We realized that we could ask for egg substitute and we did. After breakfast, we went to the gym for half an hour. Tom went to the Captain & Chief Engineer Q&A at 10am. I went to the stadium to watch a ping-pong tournament. I played ping-pong with a boy for about five minutes, then I gave my paddle to another boy who wanted to play. I attended the Chinese Herbal Medicine talk at Mandara Spa and Secrets To a Flatter Stomach talk at Improv at Sea. I learned that a lot of things we eat are acidic and six cups of water are needed to neutralize one cup of coffee. I might have learned a thing or two but all these talks are designed to sell us things. Tom and I met for lunch at Indulge Food Hall at noon. I had a bowl of Indonesian Noodle soup. It was delicious but that was the only time I got to have it. We shared a salad and a Manchego plate.
We went to the Norwegian Prima Crew Talent Show at the theater at 12:30pm. I stayed for only half an hour because I wanted to attend Ladies Pamper Party at Mandara Spa. Afterwards, Tom and I went up to Deck 17 and slid down the Drop, a slide starting from the 18th floor and dropping to the 8th floor.
I tried to sign up for pickleball while Tom sat in the hot tub, but all the spots were filled. While I was there, I did the Drop again. I did not join Tom in the hot tub because it was very crowded.
Tom went back to the room to change while I went to the photo gallery to choose my ten free prints. Delano helped me order the package. I nominated him to be my Vacation Hero.
Tom and I went back up to the stadium to play some ping-pong, but both regular ping pong tables were taken. We played at a funky ping-pong table that curves into a round tube. Then we slid down the Rush, another slide from the 18th floor to the 8th floor.
We went to dinner at 5pm at Hudson‘s with our group. We sat with Teresa, Helen, Sherri, and Darrell. We left before the desserts came because we wanted to make sure we have seats for the Syd Norman‘s Tribute to Rumours. The show was good but the music was very loud for our taste. Before returning to our room, we went to Surfside Café to enjoy some desserts. I finally finished up my bottle of wine.
Day 9 of Cruise - Amsterdam
I had set my alarm for 6:30am, but I woke up around 6am and didn’t fall back to sleep. We went up to Surfside Café shortly after 6:30am and that was a good thing because it became very crowded at 7am. The omelet station opened early and I was able to get a spinach egg white omelet. Tom did the same to eat with his bagel. We went to Prima Theatre at 8:15am for our NCL Waterways of Amsterdam tour with Amsterdam Boat Cruises.
Our boat is named Tulip. Our guide pointed out that coffee shops may not sell coffee, that parking is very expensive, that many people live in houseboats - someone had turned their houseboat into a museum, that there are two bicycles per person in the city, that bicycles may be thrown into the canals, and that bikers do not stop for walkers. We saw a rusty old bike on our walk later and I wondered if it was a victim of being thrown into the canal at some point in its life.
We also came across a few of the “coffee shops” that don’t serve coffee.
Helen had told us that Amsterdam is dirty. Trash is indeed most noticeable on the water at the canal near the cruise port, which is a shame.
We rested and took a nap before joining the group at Hudson’s for dinner. There were only five of us from the group: Annalla, Terri, Teresa, and the two of us. I ordered potato soup, Alaskan pollock, and a coconut mango dessert. Tom ordered salad, Alaskan pollock, and a flan. We shared the desserts and switched because he liked mine more and I liked his more. We left Hudson’s at 6:45pm to go to The Magic of Rick Green show. Then we went to Indulge Food Hall for a bowl of Chinese Lanzhou. This noodle soup became my favorite.
We walked the Oceanwalk and went up to the Observation Lounge to watch the ship get into the IJmuiden sea lock, the largest lock in the world.
We went back to Prima Theater for the Tanya Edwards show. We sat on the upper balcony and the loudness was much more bearable. I went up to the fitness center to use the massage gun.
The sunset was beautiful tonight.
Day 10 of Cruise - Zeebrugges
I woke up at 5:30am from a strange dream of being in the passenger side of a car and my mom was driving. I needed to give her some guidance and help turn the wheel. I decided to stay up and start to pack a little. We went to the fitness center. I stretched and used the massage gun. Tom and I ate at Surfside Café. We had time to rest for an hour before meeting for our excursion at 9:00am. I left for the restroom right before they called our excursion, causing us to be the last ones getting on the bus. Our tour is called A Walk Through Brugges with De Buck. Roul was our guide. He gave us an hour tour and we then had 2.25 hours on our own. Roul told us that Brugges used to thrive as a trading post until it was replaced by Amsterdam. They didn't have money to build any modern buildings.
We wanted to buy tickets to go up the Belfry but they said the next reservation time would be for 2pm. We had only until 1:15pm to explore.
We got back to the ship around 2pm. I took a nap until Tom woke me up. We went up to the stadium to check out pickleball. We signed up for the earliest time we could which was 5:40pm. The two regular ping-pong tables were taken, so we went back to our room. Tom went to the gym while I went through the notes of the trip. We went back up to the stadium at 5:35pm to play pickleball. The twenty minutes went by quickly.
We went to the atrium to listen to Mellow Songs with Matthew. Afterwards we went to IndulgeFood Hall for dinner. I ordered a bowl of Chinese Lanzhou for the last time. We shared chicken tikka, fish tikka, two kinds of naans, and some desserts. We showered and packed before going to Prima Theater for our last show of Ocean Music Fest.
I had lost my pink necklace (the one that Lan had to restring for me, reluctantly – she doesn’t care for the necklace, but I like it) on the first day on the ship. I wasn’t sure if I had taken it off and put it somewhere in my luggage. I never thought to go to Lost and Found until today, after I started to pack and didn’t see it. There was a line at Guest Services the two times I went by, I didn’t wait because I thought the chance of getting it back would be very small.
The sky displayed a beautiful orange color outside our balcony.
Last Day - Southampton and London
I didn’t turn the clock back before going to sleep the night before. When the alarm went off, Tom asked me what time it was and I said 5:30am, he said he wasn’t going to go to the gym and went back to sleep. I suddenly remembered that I didn’t turn my clock back. I changed the time and went back to sleep and set a new alarm for 5:45am. We went to The Local Bar and Grill for breakfast. I had an English breakfast with no bacon or sausages, oatmeal, and a fruit salad.
On the way back to the room, we stopped at Guest Services. There was no line. I asked for the bill, and then for my lost necklace. Miraculously I got it back! I was happy that I thought of checking with Lost and Found before we left the ship and I was glad there was no line on the last day of the ship. After we finalized our packing, we had time to do some stretching.
We left our room at 7:45am and said goodbye to Mariced. We disembarked and met with Suzanne and Eli outside who would fly on the same flight with us the next day and would share a taxi with us. It took a while for our whole group of people who signed up for the Stonehenge tour to be together. The tour bus departed at 8:51am instead of 8:30am.
We got to Stonehenge around 9:45am before it got too crowded. We had until 11:30am to meet back at the bus. Carol, our group leader, got tickets for everyone. We took the shuttle from the Visitor’s Center to the Stonehenge. Even though it wasn’t super crowded yet, it was hard to get to read all the plaques because too many people wanted to read them.
Tom and I walked back to the Visitor’s Center. It took us 35 minutes. We didn’t really have time to explore the Visitor’s Center. We used the restroom and followed Cherelle who followed Carol to the bus stop. Some people were late and the bus didn’t leave until 11:50am.
The main road to London was closed. The bus driver took a different route. He went by Windsor Castle and let us off to take pictures. En route, I was able to check in for our flight home. I upgraded our seats to premier first, not realizing that we wouldn’t sit together.
We got to our hotel after 3pm. We checked in and went out exploring. Our first destination was the Eye of London. Our hotel is only a short walking distance away. We saw the Parliament and Big Ben across the Thames River. We bought 5pm tickets for the Eye of London but were allowed to get in about half an hour early. A gentleman offered to take pictures of us even though he didn’t seem to speak English. In return, I took pictures of him and his wife.
After the Eye, we had dinner at All Bar One Waterloo, a nearby restaurant.
We walked and stumbled on the tunnel called The Vaults which exhibit graffiti artwork on the walls and ceiling of the tunnel. We were offered a free sample of mocktail. I chose some ginger drink.
We continued on our walk and stopped at Lambeth and Archbishops Parks. We went back to our hotel and went to the spa to use the sauna and steam room.
Day of Travel Home
I woke up at 4am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I stayed in bed for half an hour before getting up to stretch. Tom and I went down to breakfast at 6:30am. Tom went to the concierge desk to arrange for a taxi for 6 people: Suzanne, Eli, Pamela, Jean, and the two of us before he went to the gym. I finished packing and rested in the room.
We checked out at 9am and got to the airport around 10:30am. It took us an hour to get to the gate. Our four friends were already there.
Boarding was uneventful. I didn’t want to fall asleep because I wanted to get back to Central Time. I watched four movies: The Friend (Bill Murray and Naomi Watts), Lessons from The Penguin, Accidental Getaway Driver (Vietnamese actors), and Laroy Texas. I had a white wine with a chicken dinner.
Our second leg at Houston was late. Eventually it was 2.5 hours late but we didn’t know it was that late at the time. We had plenty of time because we had the initial 2 hours layover plus another hour delay, so we were not rushed going through customs and security. The customs part was fast with no lines. The security line to all gates was long. It was crowded at our gate C34. There were people waiting to board a flight to somewhere else and there were people bound for Austin before us. Tom and I both brushed teeth and both felt a bit hungry afterwards. I started to feel sleepy. For some reason I was put in group #5, but I boarded with Tom’s group #3. We settled in our seats and I slept. We got to Austin at 11:40pm.
We waited for our luggage which never arrived.
When the last luggage came and ours were not there, I checked the app and got a message that our luggage would be in the next flight and to text BAGS to schedule delivery. I texted George who was at the cell lot that we were ready and would be at door K. I thought the process of scheduling luggage delivery would be fast and smooth but that was not to be the case. While I was on hold on the first call about the luggage, I started a text chat. The text chat put me on a queue to wait for an agent and that got resolved about 1.5 hours after we got home and before anyone responded to the call that was still on hold. Incredible!
Our luggage would be delivered to us the next day.
Despite the luggage problem and a few things that didn’t go our way, we enjoyed the trip a great deal. We loved the waterfalls and fjords of both Iceland and Norway. I like the gym on the ship. It sits on the front of the ship and offers a grand view while you work out. It has several massage guns. The spa lounge at a deck below the gym is also very nice with its heated lounge chairs, but there is an extra cost to use. I like the location of our cabin. It is two decks below the gym, eight decks above the theater, and very close to the staircase which we used a lot. The infinity pools look cool but the weather was a bit chilly for people to use them. The Drop and Rush slides are interesting and fun. The ping-pong tables and the pickleball court, albeit small, at the stadium are nice but we didn’t get to use them much at all. The Norwegian Prima would not be my ship of choice, however. Its Observation Lounge is the only place you can sit at and have a view of the ship going forward, but it is enclosed and it is much too small. My first dinner of shrimp scampi, the crème brulée, and the service I received that day were less than stellar. Both the shrimp and noodles were overcooked. The crème brulée was not smooth and creamy. Besides being incorrectly told that our seats were not ready, we had to repeat the request for coffee ten minutes later. The food scene is not as plentiful as it was the first time we cruised with Norwegian. The Local Bar and Grill is the only place with almost 24/7 service. Its restaurant is small, its menu is limited and most of the time you have to wait in line to get a table. Interestingly, Norwegian is not as strict about their “Washy Washy” practice this time as they were before the pandemic. I wish they were. The restaurants are often too crowded. We had to walk away from Indulge Food Hall a few times because there were not enough tables. There are only five complimentary restaurants and there are eight specialty restaurants. It should be the other way around.
Great report. Loved it !
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