I love travel, but hate travelling {Norwegian Cruise to Iceland & Norway}

Our next stop was a quick one in the rain to Kerid Crater, created from a volcano. 

One of my favorite stops of the day was to the Geysir geothermal field. I had never seen a geysir before, so I was pleasantly surprised to see several active geysirs bubbling and erupting.

Down the road a quick trip was Gullfoss Waterfall. Mike is a very big waterfall fan, so he was loving Iceland and all the natural beauty. 

Our final stop on our small Reykjavik road trip was to Thingvellir National Park to see where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet. It’s hard to locate the exact spot where the actual line is, but the park was beautiful and was even a filming location for shows like “Game of Thrones” and “Amazing Race”. 

After our long day, we were absolutely shattered, so we took a Dominos pizza back to our air bnb for dinner. For dessert we had an Isey Skyr yogurt, and it was out of this world delicious. 

In the Summer, Iceland experiences the midnight sun, where the sun doesn’t set almost at all, or if it does it’s for only a few hours of darkness. We took a walk at 10pm to see some of the sights in Reykjavik before bed since it was still so bright out. We passed through the famous Rainbow Street and Laugavegur Street to get to Hallgrimskirkja Church.

The next morning we walked back to this area for breakfast at Braud & Co, where we had a carmel muesli cinnamon roll & raspberry vanilla croissant. These two items we would talk about for the rest of the trip because they were so incredibly delicious! 

We also drove to Sun Voyager statue and Harpa Concert Hall because these are Icelandic icons. 

Then it was time for us to board our Norwegian Cruise! 

The cruise was a ten day itinerary, and this was Mikes first REAL cruise, so we were excited to get onboard the NCL Prima. Our balcony stateroom was number 11728 located on the 11th deck, and it was so great. The bed was super comfortable and the room was very spacious. 

We were in the hot tub on this ship mostly every day, and with views like this, can you blame us?! 

If we weren’t in the hot tub, we were probably found in the gym. 

We set off from Reykjavik and we’re officially setting sail for our next destination. The rest of the day was filled with exploring the ship and having late night snacks like French fries and ice cream. 

Day 2 of the cruise started off incredibly strong with perfect views of active whales and dolphins at Surfside Cafes breakfast buffet. 

Cruise ships often have small games and activities to keep you entertained. One of our first experiences of this was the win, lose, or draw game where one person draws and the other guesses the word. Mike and I totally won this against the other couples but they had one team with a child and gave them a pity win point. 

Our lunch stop for the day was at the Indulge Food Trucks. The whole place looks like a pack of food trucks and you place your order on an iPad and the waiters bring the items from the various ‘trucks’ to you. Mike loved the pesto gnocchi and I really enjoyed the German Spoetzl noodles. 

You have to finish the meal off with a poolside ice cream of course!

Once making it through the Fjord, we landed in Akureyri, Iceland. We took a little walk around the small port visiting the various tourist shops. 

Our dinner that night was one I had been looking forward to for a while. The cruise offers special dining packages for their speciality restaurants and we purchased the 2 pack, where we picked the Mexican restaurant, Los Lobos. The food was great but a huge shout out to the table side guacamole made just the way you like it! 

I thought the guac was gonna be my favourite part of the meal, but the churros were out of this world. 

Also thanks to our incredible server who gave us a free ‘sample’ of their margaritas! 

In the evening, the provided entertainment was a Michael Sterling Concert, who is a famous West End performer, and he was phenomenal.

Day 3 was our first excursion technically in Akureyri, but we actually drove the tour bus about an hour away to HusAvis for whale watching with North Sailing Company. 

We got very lucky and saw so many animals, like  humpback whales-

puffins (and we even took one home with us!)- 

white beak dolphins and Harbour porpoises- 

Since it was with a tour, we didn’t really have a lot of say in what was for lunch… 

Before we got back on the bus back toward Akureyri, we took a pit stop at the whale museum, where they had a huge blue whale skeleton that had washed up on the shore years ago. 

Our last stop on the tour was to Godafoss Waterfall. Mike, the waterfall lover was once again in heaven. 

That evening for entertainment we stumbled upon Syd Normans Rock the Pour House, and the singers were fantastic!! I was very happy we randomly wandered in. 

We took off from the port of Akeryeri and crossed through the Arctic Circle at one point, so that was a neat bucket list fill!

Our fourth day on the cruise was our first day at sea, and it was a cold and gloomy one, but we managed to see dolphins outside our balcony!

We visited our favorite waiter Justine at Hudsons for breakfast before wandering around the ship to some areas we hadn’t seen yet. 

One of the stops was to the Stadium, where they have putt putt golf and shuffleboard. 

There was also a foosball tables, ping pong tables, and foot soccer.  

We also stopped by the Galaxy pavilion for a brief moment to say we had seen it. It was where you can pay to use the virtual reality games, escape room, and virtual golf.

One of the cool parts of the Prima is it’s first of a kind ship go kart track. The track takes up about 3 decks and only operates when the weather is clear. We did not pay to ride the go karts but we did go visit the track and check it out. 

Lunch was at the Local, where our favorite bar snacks included the pretzel bites and cheese and hot fudge sundaes! 

For dinner we went to the Commodore, which was the same food options as the Hudson, which we quickly realized was the better option. Commodore was located next to the Casino and lacked the nice views (and Justine) that the Hudson had, however, the cornbread was one of my favorite dishes we had the whole cruise. 

The headline musical on NCL Prima was “Summer: the Donna Summers Musical”, and as a musical theater lover I really, really wanted to enjoy it. We ended up watching the show twice. This first time we saw it, some of the understudies went on and I’m pretty sure by the fear in their eyes it may have been their first time. I’m not going to lie to you, it was a rough show. The second time we saw the show the original cast was on, and although I was following the storyline a lot easier, and the singing was incredible, the story itself is just not written well. 

We did visit Karaoke after the show and it quickly became one of our favourite ship activities to watch a few nights a week. Our first day at sea was very rocky and so cloudy out that you could hardly see past your balcony.  

We were very happy to be waking up in Alesund, Norway and no longer at sea. After a quick local stop for breakfast, and a short hot tub trip, we headed out into Alesund to start our Land of the Trolls tour. 

Norway is famous for their troll stories, and we had a 8 hour excursion planned to visit several local troll stops. The first stop was to Trollveggen, which was more of a rest stop with an incredible view. 

Nearby is a 1,000meter high cliff that people come from all over to rock climb.

Our next stop was for lunch at Trollstigen small local camping site. The food was a local spread, but I did not end up eating much of it. Slowly starting to realize Norwegian food may not be my favorite. 

The next stop was the main event at Trollstigen. This required the big tour bus to go up 11 terrifying hair pin turns to the summit. It absolutely scared the living daylights out of me.

The view at the top was really beautiful, but I really was so shaken from the drive up I could really not have cared less. 

And I got to touch Norwegian snow!

The tour made two more smaller stops on the way back to the cruise ship. The first was at Gudbrand Juvet Ravine.

The next was the Rose Church, which is suppose to have beautiful artwork on the inside, however, it was closed. 

Our tour bus also took a lap around the city of Alesund so we could see it, and it was giving me major Epcot vibes.

We made it back onto the ship in time for dinner, another Michael Sterling concert, and more karaoke. 

We had come to day six in our cruise, and this time we woke up in Olden, Norway. 

We started our day off early with another smaller tour excursion. Our tour bus took us to the small 40 minute journey to Briksdal Glacier, where we began our 20 minute hike. 

The hike was relatively easy, but steep in a few areas. The view kept you distracted though because you had 360 degree views of absolute breath taking beauty to distract you the whole hike. 

If you did want to skip the hike, you could always take one of the little troll cars to the top instead.

While in Norway, I was living my “Frozen” dreams, seeing where all the inspiration for this movie must have come from. We even passed a little patch that looked like the trolls and the Earth giants. 

We finally reached the summit of our hike, where you could get up close and personal with a real glacier. The color of the crystal clear water was incredibly stunning, both in the glacier and melting into the glacial lake below. 

On the hike back down, we took a different path and found the most sensational looking waterfall. 

At the bottom again, our tour had 14 local cakes for us to sample (that’s a lot of cake at 10am but when on a cruise I suppose). My favorite was the Kvaefjord, which tasted like a Bavarian Cream filling with almonds. 

We headed back to the ship for lunch at Surfside buffet, which had a German theme to it, and then it was back off the ship to explore the port of Olden. 

One of the cool parts about Norway and Iceland were the gender neutral bathrooms. There is a central bathroom sink area, then several stalls with doors top to bottom like a closet where any one can use them. It’s great to keep families together and one line for everyone instead of a really long line for women’s and short line for men, which tends to often be the case. 

One of our favorite things to do aboard is check out the local grocery stores and see what may be different. The stores in Norway and Iceland felt very similar to each other. 

Finally back on the ship, it was time to have some pool time. The sun had come out and the weather was perfect. We even tried out the Rush water slide. 

That evening, we had dinner at Hudson’s and Mike started feeling a little sniffly. He ended up with a small sinus infection, which is the worst, but at least he was still functioning for our trip. In the evening, they put on the Ocean Music Fest show, where all the atmosphere singers on the ship put on a big concert at the Prima Theater. We ended up leaving early so Mike could get some rest, and we are old people who don’t like to stay up late, haha. 

One week into our cruise and we awoke to our last Norway stop in Bergen. I was excited to be in Bergen because this was the inspirational area for the town of Arendelle in “Frozen”, and you could definitely see where the inspiration came from. When we first boarded the cruise ship, I heard my name from across the hall, and lo and behold an old Disney World friend of mine was standing there. Tiffany and I spent time in the Grotto together and since we both had spent time with the Frozen sisters we thought a photoshoot was in order. It was really nice getting to spend some time with another couple on the ship and be with a familiar face, especially another couple who would say the words “this looks like Epcot” as many times as we did. 

Some of the stops we made in Bergen included trying a Norwegian cinnamon roll. It was no Holli cinnamon roll, and actually it needed some more sugar in my opinion. 

We walked through the famous fish market, where you could taste whale, reindeer, and moose (which we did not). We also loved just exploring all the cute hidden alleyways.

Another stop we like to make while traveling is to see how different McDonalds is in each country. The decorative McDonald’s in Norway stood out the most. The food inside seemed mostly similar with small exceptions.  

Our walk took us to the historic UNESCO Hanseatic Wharf area where we souvenir shopped and wandered around in the rain. 

When we had enough of the rain we headed back to the ship for a burger and a hot fudge sundae from the Local before getting in the hot tub. Dinner that night was at Hudsons because the famous lava cake was back, and Justine was up for making us feel special by adding some ice cream to it!

We rushed from dinner to the main event for the night, The Price Is Right Game Show. We were given name tags and had a blast watching all the audience participation. 

We also watched our favorite group on the ship, the Syd Norman singers perform the Rumors album. 

Day 8 was our second and final day at sea, but the weather was much nicer than the last day at sea. We had breakfast at the Surfside buffet before we did our immigration checks for the UK. We then sat through a presentation from one of the local crew members on what sites to see in Amsterdam since we’d be stopping there tomorrow. 

We were starting to get a little tired of boat life by this point in the cruise, so we started taking things a little slower, but we also wanted to make sure we did all the things onboard. Lots of sunbathing and hot tub time, and a little Hudson’s lunch. There are 2 dry slides on the ship, the Rush and the Drop. They are very twisty, and you sit inside a sack to go down. 

This was our final Indulge dinner with the food trucks, where we had some of our favorites. In the evening we watched the Donna Summers musical for the second time, and finished the night with our favorite snack of French fries and soft serve ice cream. 

Day 9 of our cruise, we woke up in Amsterdam. Mike and I had visited Amsterdam during our big European backpacking adventure back in 2018, however, we were only there for about 5 hours and it was pouring rain. This time, the weather could not have been better for a stroll passed Central Station, through the canals, and around the city. We also had to watch out for the millions of bikers, who were not there last time because of the rain. 

We wandered passed the Anne Frank Huis, which we had done the last visit, and I still found it extremely compelling. 

We also passed the Tulip Museum and the Bloomin’ Market, which was definitely not happening the last time we visited. 

We wandered down Kalverstraat Street where all the main tourist shopping areas are. 

When you’re traveling with a cruise and all your meals are paid for already, it’s hard in ports to want to get additional food options. This did not stop us from trying a stroopwaffle in Albert Cuyptmarket at Rudi’s Original. These were warm and so delicious. 

We also made a stop at Febo Dutch Fast Food to use the fun vending machines. We tried the special of the day, which was a deep fried shell filled with beef, chicken, onion, and herbs. It was surprisingly so good. 

Most of our time in our ports we found bathrooms and free wifi at Starbucks along the way, so big shoutout to their sponsorship, haha. For dinner back on the ship, we had another special dining package meal. Hasuki hibachi dinner was both entertaining and tasty! 

This night we finally got to see the sunset, and although it barely got dark, it was nice to see the bright colors for the first time in a while. 

The evening main event was marketed as “Sensoria”, an immersive night club experience. While it was an interesting concept, it’s not exactly our scene. We enjoyed watching the ship dancers in their colorful costumes participate in their dance battles however, after speaking with several others on our cruise, most people seemed disappointed with the cruise entertainment offerings overall. 

Our final full day on the Prima, we woke up in Zeebrugges, Belgium, and if you’re thinking, “hmm I’ve never heard of that place”, you’d be right. It was very much in the middle of nowhere, far from everything. You needed a bus or transportation to get to anywhere. 

After starting our morning off on the wrong foot because we had set our clocks wrong, Justine helped us make up for it with some Belgium waffles from Hudson’s. 

We have had to change our clocks back and forth so much in the last month, my brain has no idea what to think anymore. We decided last minute to use public transportation and take the tram to Blankenberge Pier and beach. 

The boardwalk was a nice little area for snacks but we couldn’t find any Belgium fries in a cone that we wanted, so we settled for another Belgian waffle. I was so glad we did because it was piping hot, and coated in sugar, and so yummy. 

Before heading back to the tram, we got a little sidetracked watching people play Snookergolf, which was a lot like mini golf played with pool sticks. 

Our final lunch on the ship we had the Local and finally got to try the carrot cake, which I’m now realizing I should have had a lot sooner because it was so good. 

While in our afternoon hot tub trip, we saw something that looked like a log floating in the water. Upon further inspection during a dive, we realized it was a Sea Lion! Sadly we didn’t get a photo, but honestly our eyes barely even believed seeing it, I don’t even think if I had my camera on me I could have captured it fast enough. After some chill time, we had our final Hudson’s dinner where we had to say bye to our amazing server, Justine! 

Our final entertainment for the night was visiting our favorite concert at Syd Normans while they Rocked the Prom, and they rocked it per usual. 

The morning was another time change situation, but we made sure we got it right this time. The ship was bustling pretty early since it was disembarking day. We arrived in Southampton, UK, where we packed up and had our final breakfast before saying our goodbyes to our ship.

We headed off the boat and walked around the port for about 2 hours. South Hampton is known for being the port the Titanic took off from, so walking around the historical areas was incredibly interesting. 

We also had some time to grab a Boots meal deal!

We then headed to National Express Coach Buses for our 2 hour bus ride to London Heathrow airport to take off to our next destination, Lisbon, Portugal!  

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