British Isles & Iceland – Day 10 can be found here.
Hello Reykjavik!
Those of you who followed our previous cruise posts were no doubt expecting our trip to draw to an end a few days prior. (We certainly were.)
But I’m thrilled to say that we’re bound for Greenland.
What? you wonder. How is that possible?
Well, it started as an idle musing a few days ago.
“I wonder if they still have room on the next leg…”
We checked, and they did. So, we met with the onboard booking manager and made an offer.
And then we made a larger offer.
And then a little bit of a larger offer beyond that.
And that offer was accepted.
The adults in the group had always wanted to go to Greenland, but we felt that it was too much for the kids’ inaugural expedition cruise. We had no idea whether they would enjoy it and handle the rough seas, or if they would be able to behave at an appropriate level for that length of time.
But it worked out much better than we expected – so we talked to the on-board sales representative to see if there was anything he could do.
And then we talked to the kids to make sure it would work for them too. Because as much as a cruise to Greenland is one of those amazing, bucket-list kind of trips, it’s not necessarily as exciting for a ten and a seven year old who might be missing soccer games and time with their friends.
So we asked our kids what they thought, and we talked it through – and we were thrilled when they agreed that this was the right decision.
The deal was only struck on our last day at sea – as we were anchored outside of Heimaey – so there was much that needed to be done to make the switch. Some of that was painful – like saying goodbye to 75% of the value of our Airbnb rental for the last two days in Iceland, and paying an exorbitant amount for our single-day rental car. And there was also the not-so-little matter of needing to pick up cold weather expedition gear, particularly for our daughter – who was smaller than any of Silversea’s parkas – and to replenish our seasickness medication.
But we ripped off the proverbial band aid and carried on. So by the time we landed in Reykjavik, we were ready to put our plan into action. My wife took our kids off to shop for clothing, and I made my way towards the ‘downtown’ Avis car rental office, which in fact is about 5 km out of downtown.
Reykjavik’s ultra-modern downtown – the ideal place to be an investment banker who is also really into Arctic exploration
Thankfully, I managed to catch a taxi and had my car within 30 minutes of disembarking. I caught up with my wife just as she was buying the last of the jackets at North 66 and Arctic Explorer, and we even had time for a few delicious pastries at Bakabaka before we went off to find a pharmacy.
And the award for “most difficult sign to read” goes to…
I need a regular-sized pain au chocolate for scale, because this one was absolutely massive
Most pharmacies are closed in Reykjavik on a Sunday, but we did manage to find one that was open – and picked up a few more packs of Bonine (aka Meclizine) to see us through what might prove to be a rough crossing between Iceland and Greenland.
At this point, we were running ahead of schedule – which proved to be something of a problem, as we were not booked to go to the Blue Lagoon until 2 pm. We attempted to shift the booking via their online portal, but it claimed they wouldn’t have enough room. So instead I placed a call via Skype and they very kindly moved our booking forward to 12 pm. With that confirmed, we were back on the road once more.
Or, mostly. One of the downsides of renting a car in Iceland is that the manual transmission is far more prevalent than the automatic. Which is fine, mostly, unless you’re someone like me who mostly drives a manual when they are on vacation in Iceland. And the last time that happened was about 5 years earlier. So one could say I was out of practice. Or you could say that I was complete rubbish. Both would be accurate.
How rubbish, you ask? Well, I managed to stall the car about four or five times before I left the parking lot. Then I realized I was trying to start off in 3rd gear. With that bit of hard earned wisdom, my driving became significantly easier. But not flawless. So if you were one of the inhabitants of Reykjavik who woke to the smell of burnt clutch on Sunday morning – you have my sincere apologies.
(My son is reading this over my shoulder, and pointing to the back of his head – which I inadvertently bounced against the seat rest numerous times with my terrible, bouncy starts. So apologies to my family, too.)
Terrible shifting aside, we managed to reach Blue Lagoon by 12 pm – and we had a lovely visit. Yes, it’s touristy. Yes, it’s expensive. Yes, it’s a fancy name for what is essentially a flooded old quarry. But try telling that to our children as they soak in the pale blue waters, with a raspberry slushy in hand. How will they reply? Another $8 slushy, please.
I didn’t trust my phone inside the Blue Lagoon’s sulphurous mineral bath, but even the ‘moat’ around the Lagoon is photogenic…
Practically speaking, though, it was good that we changed our booking, as it was quite busy and they were making people wait if they arrived prior to their booking.
And how busy was the lagoon itself at noon on a Sunday? Actually, not that bad. It’s a very large site. So there were plenty of places where we could find a quiet spot relatively free of other bathers. And all together we were in the waters for about 90 minutes before we decided it was time to move on.
Mother Nature seemed to have similar ideas and rain started coming down hard as we walked through the parking lot on our way to our single-day rental car. It was about 40 minutes back to Reykjavik, then I dropped off my wife and kids next to the Cloud so that they could reboard and settle themselves in while I returned the rental car.
Refueling the rental was easier than is often the case, as there was – for once – a gas station close to the Avis office. Getting back to the cruise ship, however, was a more difficult proposition. The Avis office had very kindly offered to call me a taxi when I returned. However, they closed early on Sunday and so there was no one there to call when I returned the car.
Instead, I tried to use the Taxi Hreyfill app to very mixed success – it appeared to set my pick up location as the entirety of the shopping plaza, which made it quite difficult for the driver to decipher. The driver attempted to call but I was reluctant to answer due to Bell Canada’s exorbitant roaming fees – in this case, $16 the moment I picked up the phone.
But as rain poured down and the Cloud’s departure ticked ever nearer, I bit the bullet and answered the driver’s second call – at which point I was able to explain that I was up by the Avis office. I’ve never been so glad to see a Tesla in my entire life.
I shared a pleasant chat with the driver about Iceland’s fantastic swimming pools and water parks – which we were sadly unable to visit this trip – before he returned me to the Cloud in exchange for his fare and a generous tip. All in all, I was glad not to have spent 30 – 40 minutes dealing with the matter as I had in Dublin.
Back aboard the Cloud, and then off to our new rooms – we’ve bid goodbye to the Royal Suite, and are instead in a pair of verandah rooms. While I’ll miss my coffee machine, the change has been welcome – I’d say we have more storage space in 2 x verandahs than we did in the single suite, and it’s lovely to have two bathrooms instead of one (even if that one bathroom was generously slathered in marble and had both a shower and a bathtub).
Better still, we’re now further back from the front of the boat – which should dramatically cut down on the extent to which we feel the swells and the chop of the ocean. A key consideration given that we’re about to cross the North Atlantic between Iceland and Greenland.
We spent the next few hours unpacking and dealing with assorted admin – rebooking dinner reservations, and confirming that we don’t need to book any excursions. This will be an expedition-heavy trip, so very few advance arrangements can be made. That suits us just fine.
No parkas in our room, but we’ve been told that we should be able to pick those up during the parka exchange the following day. We do have boots, but they range from men’s size 10 to 12. So, not ideal for young children. But there is also a boot exchange on the schedule, so we’ll cross fingers and hope for the best.
We were then off to the head-of-department introductions and the expedition brief, where the appearance of the children once more drew wary glances – though the much-welcome waves by fellow guests who welcomed them back aboard and praised their behaviour seemed to help. Still, we’ve cautioned our kids that they need to make a good first impression with the new guests.
Then it was off to the Grill / Hot Rocks for another round of extremely messy outdoor dining. The main change this time – the kids are no longer allowed to have the rocks directly in front of their place setting, nor are they allowed to do any of their own cooking. Apparently there was an incident wherein a minor guest burned themselves on one of the stones and then the family turned around and sued Silver Seas.
That sort of frivolous litigation seems quite silly even to the children, but we didn’t object to the new change – not when we were eager to get started on cooking some delicious filets mignon and prawns.
There was a major staff changeover when we landed in Reykjavik. This is particularly noticeable in the expedition team, the majority of which is new on the ground. But some familiar faces are carrying over, and we’re up to 26 members. So it looks like we’ll be well looked after.
In terms of guest numbers, I counted around 180 names on the zodiac lists. We were not initially on that list, so it might be more once the dust has settled.
But I digress – we were talking about food. After the Grill, we decided to switch it up with dessert at the Restaurant, where I got the hazelnut cheesecake and my son ordered a cassis mousse cake. (The maitre d’ offered to give our daughter six scoops of coffee ice cream – but thankfully, this was one rare instance when the parents were able to overrule the crew.)
The kind of Hazelnut cheesecake you’d get if Ferroro Roche made a pact with the devil
Is it cake? Is it mousse? I don’t know what’s real any more…
Speaking of which, the crew has been so great with the kids, and have really gone out of their way to welcome us back to the Cloud. Most of this is just genuine kindness and skill on the part of the crew, but I do think it helped that we took the time to name so many crew in our feedback survey, as well as in a separate letter than we penned to the Hotel Director on the last day of our cruise. Being ‘mentioned in dispatches’ really helps with job progression, apparently.
And on that note – we congratulated our former stateroom attendant on his promotion to butler!
Returning to our rooms, we noticed that the Cloud still hadn’t set off yet. From what the crew said, this was due to low tide and a delay in taking on provisions – much of what should have been loaded in bulk apparently had to be loaded by hand instead. Though I expect we won’t have any difficulties making up lost time during the next day-and-change at sea.
Artistic interpretation of Crew Loading Provisions, or do I just not know how to rotate pictures? We’ll let the reader decide
The Cloud did eventually sail from Reykjavik. And as my wife and I took in Iceland’s cloud-swept hills and lush green plains, it finally started to sink in – this was really happening.
We’re sailing for Greenland!
Continue reading Greenland – Day 2 here.