Yay or Nay- 11 night Iceland and Norway

[Ladybugx87]

so the Norway cruise has been on my list for awhile but the 7 nights always conflict with school schedules so....what are the pros and cons to upping to the 11 night Iceland and Norway cruise besides cost?

My travel group is husband and me with our kids who will be 9 and almost 5 at time of the sailing. We have already done 7 night Med (with only older daughter), 7 night Alaska, 7 night Baltic, and will do 7 night western Caribbean this year. I really want to do the 2019 11 night but know hubby might have concerns about that long of a cruise (plus different start and stop points for flights).

Appreciate any thoughts you all have.

 

[olafLover]

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[gilsan]

I am also interested in this cruise. There will be lots of choices for flights, Norwegian Air and Icelandair are good choices for cheap flights to Europe and it is easy to book one way flights with them. IMO longer cruises are better, the extra 4 days will fly by on a cruise like this. The only con will be the price. I was checking to see the cost in 2017 for the same cruise and the prices were high. The cruise in 2017 was late June and this one is late July, I think it will be popular.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Best.Cruise.Ever We did this on the inaugural sailing in 2015 and LOVED it! My DS was 11 at the time and it was his first time to Europe (I grew up in Europe and DH had been with me to Germany before). We flew into Copenhagen 2-3 days prior to adjust to the jet lag (which I highly recommend) and Copenhagen is among my/our very favorite cities! We met up with cruise friends while there, and we also took the train to Malmo, Sweden while there (very easy) and my DS was excited to collect another country, ha ha.

After the cruise, we disembarked in Dover and stayed in London for another 3-4 nights before flying back to the US. My best friend lives in London so we all spent time together and then also did the Eurostar to Paris for the day - very long day - but SOOOO worth it! I hired a private, local tour guide in Paris for the day so we could maximize our entire day there and I customized what I wanted us to see (I've been to Paris several times but wanted my DH and DS to have a great first experience) and it was fabulous!

We also used a private company in Akureyri (and again cruise families joined us) and had a blast. We booked our Blue Lagoon tickets and transportation directly on their website and did not go through DCL and also did the Golden Circle tour with https://www.re.is/day-tours/the-golden-circle/

We flew with Iceland Air both ways and had no issues at all and they were by far the cheapest of any of the other airlines. Others have mentioned Norwegian (and friends used them to get to Copenhagen from FL) so definitely consider them. We loved flying into one country and leaving from another as we got to experience so much more.

Again, we had a blast and no regrets! Something I've learned with some of these European cruises or speciality type cruises, if you see one that fits your schedule and can make it happen, you probably should. DCL has changed up the Norway sailings/dates and mixed up some of the other offerings and many who had planned to go in future years have found when they are offered, the dates no longer match up with school calendars. Just my two cents!

Hope this helps,
Heather

 

[ACQUADUCK]

Best.Cruise.Ever We did this on the inaugural sailing in 2015 and LOVED it! My DS was 11 at the time and it was his first time to Europe (I grew up in Europe and DH had been with me to Germany before). We flew into Copenhagen 2-3 days prior to adjust to the jet lag (which I highly recommend) and Copenhagen is among my/our very favorite cities! We met up with cruise friends while there, and we also took the train to Malmo, Sweden while there (very easy) and my DS was excited to collect another country, ha ha.

After the cruise, we disembarked in Dover and stayed in London for another 3-4 nights before flying back to the US. My best friend lives in London so we all spent time together and then also did the Eurostar to Paris for the day - very long day - but SOOOO worth it! I hired a private, local tour guide in Paris for the day so we could maximize our entire day there and I customized what I wanted us to see (I've been to Paris several times but wanted my DH and DS to have a great first experience) and it was fabulous!

We also used a private company in Akureyri (and again cruise families joined us) and had a blast. We booked our Blue Lagoon tickets and transportation directly on their website and did not go through DCL and also did the Golden Circle tour with https://www.re.is/day-tours/the-golden-circle/

We flew with Iceland Air both ways and had no issues at all and they were by far the cheapest of any of the other airlines. Others have mentioned Norwegian (and friends used them to get to Copenhagen from FL) so definitely consider them. We loved flying into one country and leaving from another as we got to experience so much more.

Again, we had a blast and no regrets! Something I've learned with some of these European cruises or speciality type cruises, if you see one that fits your schedule and can make it happen, you probably should. DCL has changed up the Norway sailings/dates and mixed up some of the other offerings and many who had planned to go in future years have found when they are offered, the dates no longer match up with school calendars. Just my two cents!

Hope this helps,
Heather

Fully agree, best cruise ever, of all DCL cruises, and we have activitie cruise meets already with over 20 who have made advance reservations and more who say they will.

 

[FSU Girl]

Definitely book it. The dates don't work for me on Disney, but I'm doing my honeymoon cruise on Celebrity that goes to Ireland and Iceland. I've been wanting to go to Iceland forever and am so excited for the trip. Long cruises are fun, you really get to relax and get into vacation mode on them.

 

[aggiedog]

The only downside is that a couple of days in port is not nearly enough time in Iceland, but I’m biased. It’s my favorite place in the world.

 

[Ladybugx87]

We've asked our TA to book this one for us!
Longer is always better! I'm not sure we'd want to do a 7-day because we feel it is too short (never done it though). What are his concerns with the longer cruise? We were never bored on our previous 11 night cruise, and we had 6 sea days (of which 4 in a row!)

I'm pretty sure you can find a cheap flight from Copenhagen to London, so you can book a return flight to either city and a cheap one way in between

Thanks - I think his concerns will be work related but it’s only a few days more so wish me luck this weekend as we chat about it.
And great tips on the flights.

 

[Ladybugx87]

Best.Cruise.Ever We did this on the inaugural sailing in 2015 and LOVED it! My DS was 11 at the time and it was his first time to Europe (I grew up in Europe and DH had been with me to Germany before). We flew into Copenhagen 2-3 days prior to adjust to the jet lag (which I highly recommend) and Copenhagen is among my/our very favorite cities! We met up with cruise friends while there, and we also took the train to Malmo, Sweden while there (very easy) and my DS was excited to collect another country, ha ha.

After the cruise, we disembarked in Dover and stayed in London for another 3-4 nights before flying back to the US. My best friend lives in London so we all spent time together and then also did the Eurostar to Paris for the day - very long day - but SOOOO worth it! I hired a private, local tour guide in Paris for the day so we could maximize our entire day there and I customized what I wanted us to see (I've been to Paris several times but wanted my DH and DS to have a great first experience) and it was fabulous!

We also used a private company in Akureyri (and again cruise families joined us) and had a blast. We booked our Blue Lagoon tickets and transportation directly on their website and did not go through DCL and also did the Golden Circle tour with https://www.re.is/day-tours/the-golden-circle/

We flew with Iceland Air both ways and had no issues at all and they were by far the cheapest of any of the other airlines. Others have mentioned Norwegian (and friends used them to get to Copenhagen from FL) so definitely consider them. We loved flying into one country and leaving from another as we got to experience so much more.

Again, we had a blast and no regrets! Something I've learned with some of these European cruises or speciality type cruises, if you see one that fits your schedule and can make it happen, you probably should. DCL has changed up the Norway sailings/dates and mixed up some of the other offerings and many who had planned to go in future years have found when they are offered, the dates no longer match up with school calendars. Just my two cents!

Hope this helps,
Heather

Awesome thank you.

 

[Ladybugx87]

Fully agree, best cruise ever, of all DCL cruises, and we have activitie cruise meets already with over 20 who have made advance reservations and more who say they will.

I think I just requested to join said group. I plan to book next week (silver)

 

[msmama]

YAY!!

We did the 11 night last summer. It was amazing! Definitely didn't feel bored at all.

The seas leaving Iceland were pretty rough. We did the things in Iceland that I think everyone has to do on their first trip to Iceland (golden circle, blue lagoon). We did it through Disney and I'm glad I did, but I also think if I did it again, I'd be fine booking through outside companies. I'm convinced that Akureyri is the most beautiful place I've ever been (though we happened to hit it on a good day, and the locals made sure we knew it wasn't always as nice and sunny).

Ours was roundtrip from Dover so we spent a few days in London beforehand (which I'm glad I did because my 9 year old didn't handle the time change well). After the cruise we took the train to Paris for a few days and then spent another few days at Disneyland Paris.

 

[ACQUADUCK]

YAY!!

We did the 11 night last summer. It was amazing! Definitely didn't feel bored at all.

The seas leaving Iceland were pretty rough. We did the things in Iceland that I think everyone has to do on their first trip to Iceland (golden circle, blue lagoon). We did it through Disney and I'm glad I did, but I also think if I did it again, I'd be fine booking through outside companies. I'm convinced that Akureyri is the most beautiful place I've ever been (though we happened to hit it on a good day, and the locals made sure we knew it wasn't always as nice and sunny).

Ours was roundtrip from Dover so we spent a few days in London beforehand (which I'm glad I did because my 9 year old didn't handle the time change well). After the cruise we took the train to Paris for a few days and then spent another few days at Disneyland Paris.

 

[tink1970]

The cons-price and time.

The pros are well stated above

That said, I've requested our TA book us on this trip Monday, I'm super excited about it! We'll probably do RT to LHR and just hop from Copenhagen to LHR after disembarkation...a couple extra days in London is always good!

 

[abja09]

YAY!!

We did the 11 night last summer. It was amazing! Definitely didn't feel bored at all.

The seas leaving Iceland were pretty rough. We did the things in Iceland that I think everyone has to do on their first trip to Iceland (golden circle, blue lagoon). We did it through Disney and I'm glad I did, but I also think if I did it again, I'd be fine booking through outside companies. I'm convinced that Akureyri is the most beautiful place I've ever been (though we happened to hit it on a good day, and the locals made sure we knew it wasn't always as nice and sunny).

Ours was roundtrip from Dover so we spent a few days in London beforehand (which I'm glad I did because my 9 year old didn't handle the time change well). After the cruise we took the train to Paris for a few days and then spent another few days at Disneyland Paris.

I was on this cruise as well not was the best cruise ever! Being on the Magic for 11 nights was amazing. Norway and Iceland were absolutely beautiful. I would not hesitate to book it. We are going to book the cruise to Norwegian Fjords in 2019 so we can return to Norway.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

The con of booking a longer cruise is that a 7 day will seem much too short after it.

 

[JulieODC]

Thanks for asking this - we are planning to book this as well. Debating the verandah vs ocean view room. Any input in that??

 

[RebeccaLovesDisney]

I also asked our TA to book this cruise on Monday! I'm so excited that they are offering this itinerary again. We did the 12-night British Isle cruise last summer and it was amazing. I don't think any cruise would be too many nights for us, especially on the Magic - our favorite ship!!

 

[Ladybugx87]

Thanks for asking this - we are planning to book this as well. Debating the verandah vs ocean view room. Any input in that??

I’m
Thinking verandah.

 

[RedSox68]

Well, we put in a request for a quote on this one -- but with the amount of interest already expressed, I can imagine the pricing for this one will start high

We're looking at maybe doing b2b ones, and also looking at the 10-day one in August.

 

[cruiser21]

Best cruise we've done. We did it in June and got a great IGT rate. They've moved the cruises to July and August and they're priced higher and they sell better. I'm glad we took advantage of it when we did. It's really a great cruise. Ours was 12 nights.