Favorite Norway/Iceland excursions?

[luv2sleep]

Our Norway/Iceland cruise is coming up this summer. Which DCL excursions did you choose and would you choose them again? If you didn't choose ones with DCL which non-DCL excursions did you like that were kid-friendly? Thanks!!!!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Which ports are you visiting?

 

[luv2sleep]

 

[aggiedog]

Highly recommend a south coast tour in Iceland. It gives you a good idea of the grandeur of the landscape. Waterfalls, black sand beach, horses, sheep.

I’ve heard “into the volcano” is pretty awesome.

We had great family portraits done, dressed as Vikings, by Mink photography.

 

[angelinaxox]

In Kristiansand, we just walked around on our own. It was easy to do this. I wasn't really interested in any of the excursions in this port.

I have been to Invergordon twice, once on a Princess Cruise and once with Disney. Both times, I did tours that were similar. I did the Princess cruise first with my parents and we did the excursion through them. I was looking for something similar to do with my husband, but the Disney version didn't include all the places I wanted to visit. So I ended up joining others in my meet up group and did the Wow Scotland tour and absolutely loved it. I would definitely use them again. We visited Calder Castle and the Cullodin Battlefield as well as other stops (some off the beaten path).

In Reykjavik, we joined others from our meetup group to do a small group Golden Circle tour with Extreme Iceland on the first Iceland day. We had a great day and it was nice beating the cruise ship buses to various stops. On the second Iceland day, we did the snorkeling excursion through DCL at the Silfra fissure. It was simply incredible snorkeling between two continents in crystal clear glacier water. It does take a long time to suit up as you have to wear a dry suit since the water is so cold. But it was one of the neatest experiences.

I thoroughly loved my picks in each port.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

What a great itinerary!!

If you are spending any time in Copenhagen, I suggest a visit to Tivoli Gardens.

In Kristiansand, we did the Dyreparken Kristiansand Zoo & Park which I HIGHLY recommend. It was so much fun!

In Stavanger, we just walked around the town and saw their canning museum, maritime museum and petroleum museum which were all very interesting to get a sense of the history of industry in Norway. We had lunch at Fisketorget which was very good.

In Alesund, we did the excursion that included Sunmore without the Anna and Elsa visit (I believe it's called Alesund highlights). Sunmore was wonderful. We saw Anna and Elsa on the boat numerous times so didn't feel the need to spend $1000 to see them at the museum!

In Reykjavik, we did the Golden Circle Tour which I highly, highly recommend! You will see the most amazing sights and learn so much about Iceland. We did the one with the BBQ dinner which wasn't great food-wise, but, when we went, there were Icelandic ponies there and a huge trampoline so the kids were happy to move around after being on a bus for 8 hours! On our second day, we did a puffin and whale watch excursion and just walked around the town.

We visited Kirkwall on our cruise, so I have no input on Invergordon, but it looks amazing!

 

[kandt]

What a great itinerary!!
We visited Kirkwall on our cruise, so I have no input on Invergordon, but it looks amazing!

Can I ask what you did in Kirkwall? We have that port next summer.

 

[i18mulan]

Rented a car at Reykjavik from Europcar. Depends on the size of your travel party but this absolutely saved us $$$. There are 7 of us in the group. We did the Golden Circle tour ourselves. Booked "into the glacier" where you actually walk in a glacier 25 meters down! Very interesting and kid friendly. We had 2 kids with us, 9 and 7 years old. Since we had the car and it never gets dark, we drove around till 3am. Went to Blue Lagoon as well. Note: you have to book online ahead of time. You can't just walk in. Good thing about having your own ride is that you could stay there for as long as you like. The tours only let you go for 2 hours. I think 2 hours is too short.

 

[Intr3pid]

If you had more than 8 hours in Alesund, it would be possible to do a road trip to Geiranger.

 

[stampinot]

Highly recommend a south coast tour in Iceland. It gives you a good idea of the grandeur of the landscape. Waterfalls, black sand beach, horses, sheep.

I’ve heard “into the volcano” is pretty awesome.

We had great family portraits done, dressed as Vikings, by Mink photography.

Did you book the Into the Volcano tour on your own? Or through DCL?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Can I ask what you did in Kirkwall? We have that port next summer.

In Kirkwall, in the morning, we went into the town to see the cathedral and palace, had a snack in a cafe/shop across from the cathedral and did a little shopping. DCL provided a shuttle into the town for everyone. In the afternoon, we hired a private car and guide through DCL to take us to Skara Brae and some of the other Neolithic sites plus Scapa Flow. It was AMAZING!

Edited to add: make sure you are on deck 11 or 12 as the ship sails away from Kirkwall as the local residents danced and played music for us when we left in 2015! It is such a lovely town with really lovely people.

 

[aggiedog]

I have not done the tour myself, just keep hearing good things about it. If it were me, though, I’d book it myself. Given past experiences, we prefer non-DCL tours when possible. It’s usually cheaper, more personalized, and a better use of port time.

 

[AquaDame]

If you had more than 8 hours in Alesund, it would be possible to do a road trip to Geiranger.

Agreed. We rented a car in Alesund and wish now that we had kept going to Geiranger (we got very close then turned around to get dinner back in Alesund since we were supposed to be in Geiranger the next day anyway). Got so windy that we ended up not being able to dock in Geiranger after all.

 

[dvcdisney]

I'm on this cruise as well so I'm looking forward to reading the responses.

For Kristiansand we're going to walk around town as well and for the same reason as a previous posted mentioned - none of the excursions seem particularly interesting to us.

But for Reykjavik, we're torn between so many things...I know we're at port for a day and a bit, but there doesn't seem to be enough time to do all the things we want to do...

I think this just means we have to go back.

 

[ACQUADUCK]

I'm on this cruise as well so I'm looking forward to reading the responses.

For Kristiansand we're going to walk around town as well and for the same reason as a previous posted mentioned - none of the excursions seem particularly interesting to us.

But for Reykjavik, we're torn between so many things...I know we're at port for a day and a bit, but there doesn't seem to be enough time to do all the things we want to do...

I think this just means we have to go back.

For Reykjavik and Akureyri our cruise group has chartered coaches to do group tours, doing more what we want, when we want, and at a cost saving on DCL.

We have booked with the leading private operators in Reykjavik and Akureyri.

For Reykjavik do not think Day and night, there is no night, so use the evening as well. Disney will put a film on that night, me most likely will have Toy Story 4 which will get repeated, and cabanas will have a Buffett 5 pm to 8 pm and 10 pm to midnight so you can miss dinner and stay out.

Kristiansand we walked the town and the forest park but the railway excursion was brilliant with DCL.

Kirkwall we booked private tours as there are only a few operators there.

 

[dvcdisney]

For Reykjavik and Akureyri our cruise group has chartered coaches to do group tours, doing more what we want, when we want, and at a cost saving on DCL.

We have booked with the leading private operators in Reykjavik and Akureyri.

For Reykjavik do not think Day and night, there is no night, so use the evening as well. Disney will put a film on that night, me most likely will have Toy Story 4 which will get repeated, and cabanas will have a Buffett 5 pm to 8 pm and 10 pm to midnight so you can miss dinner and stay out.

Kristiansand we walked the town and the forest park but the railway excursion was brilliant with DCL.

Kirkwall we booked private tours as there are only a few operators there.

I have been told that it's daylight 24/7 during the summer...I just don't think we could do much more than 10hrs of excursion the first day...but it's great to know that even if our excursion ends late, we won't have to worry about not being able to see the scenery.

It's good to know that DCL will offer Cabanas late in the evening in case we're hungry when we get back. I'm a bit disappointed that we'll miss our regular dining. I'll have to remember to let our servers know.

With regards to the railway excursion in Kristiansand, what did you like about it?

 

[ACQUADUCK]

I have been told that it's daylight 24/7 during the summer...I just don't think we could do much more than 10hrs of excursion the first day...but it's great to know that even if our excursion ends late, we won't have to worry about not being able to see the scenery.

It's good to know that DCL will offer Cabanas late in the evening in case we're hungry when we get back. I'm a bit disappointed that we'll miss our regular dining. I'll have to remember to let our servers know.

With regards to the railway excursion in Kristiansand, what did you like about it?

Great views from the steam train, and just a really nice rustic run up the mountain s.

 

[aggiedog]

I think the latest Blue Lagoon admission is 11:00pm. That would be a good way to wind down the day but still feel like you're using all your available time.

FWIW, you won't have 24/7 daylight in Iceland, but you will have 3 hours of "twilight" until 12:30, full dark for 2 hours, then twilight again until the sun officially comes up around 5:00am.

 

[ACQUADUCK]

 

[abja09]

We did this cruise last summe! It was amazing!!

In Reykjavik we did the Glacier Safari 4x4 and ice cave excursion with DCL. It was expensive but worth it! I tried to book it privately but due to timing no one could do it so had to go with DCL. We first stopped at the Thingvellur UNESCO site then drove to the Langjokull glacier and toured the ice cave. It was experience in itself driving on the glacier to get to the ice cave. On the return to the port we stopped for lunch and to see a waterfall. It was an awesome experience!

In Stavagner, our favorite, I booked a boat tour of the Lysefjord. It was much less expendive to do it privately with rødne. The tour was 3 hours which left us plenty of time to walk around the town and have lunch.

In Alesund, we did the kayak excursion through DCL and it was a disaster. It was very windy which made it very hard to kayak. Never again!! After the kayaking we walked up to the scenic overlook which was beautiful as wondered around the town.

We also stopped in Akureyri Iceland which I see you are not. It was a beautiful port as well.

Have a wonderful time!!