Northern European Cruise: Iceland

July 14, 2025 | From the Founder, Patrick Verst

Flying to Iceland

On June 11th, 2025, I began the most indirect route imaginable from Tampa to Reykjavik, Iceland, because I made the bold choice of paying Norwegian Cruise Line to book my flights. The flights included a United Airlines flight from Tampa to Chicago, an Air Canada flight from Chicago to Toronto and another Air Canada flight from Toronto to Reykjavik. It was very odd flying west to Chicago so that I could then fly east across the Atlantic. Thankfully, everything went smoothly with my flights, and I do believe I saved some money by having Norwegian handle my flights for me. Although I have heard of many horror stories from people who allowed cruise lines to handle their flights, I was very fortunate in my air travels.

Reykjavik, Iceland

When I arrived in Reykjavik, it was cool, windy and rainy. Although I was not at all surprised by the weather, this Florida man was certainly not mentally prepared for it after an overnight flight. Everything went smoothly with Norwegian's shuttle service from the airport to the cruise port. I was even fortunate enough to be allowed on the ship approximately four hours before my scheduled boarding time, which is never a given. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of handing over my suitcase with all of my clothes to the cruise line immediately upon arrival, forgetting that I wouldn't have access to it until my room was ready approximately five hours later. Given the fact that I did not have the proper clothes, rather than exploring Reykjavik for a few hours as I waited for my room to be readied for me like I had planned, I used those hours to take photos of the ship and grab a bite from the Surfside Café buffet.

Although I was mildly disappointed in myself for not planning better for my arrival in Reykjavik, I didn't berate myself too much, knowing that I will return to Iceland someday on a standalone trip, not with a cruise line.

Sailing out of Reykjavik, Iceland

Ísafjörður, Iceland

On day two of the cruise, we woke up in Ísafjörður, Iceland. Going into this cruise, I only booked three excursions total, all of which were booked through Norwegian. Any day that I did not have an excursion booked, I did my own self-guided tours with an abundance of help from Google Maps and reviews on Tripadvisor. Ísafjörður was one of those self-guided tour days.

Knowing prior to my arrival that Ísafjörður is such a quaint little town, I really didn't do much research on Ísafjörður. I simply got off the ship and started walking around. As I meandered out of the port, through the town and into a more residential area, I happened upon a little nature trail. Little did I know of the stunning views I was about to encounter on this trail! Living in Florida for the past six years, where there is practically no elevation gain, getting to experience any elevation gain in a place as naturally beautiful as Iceland is a marvel.

I was terrible at remembering to take photos of my meals during this trip, but for lunch, I ate at Koddinn and had their fish special they were serving that day. Although the employees did speak very good English, I couldn't quite tell what they said when I asked them what the seafood special was. It was some sort of pan-seared fish that was very mild tasting and served with potatoes and veggies. Absolutely delicious!

One thing to note about this meal: When I arrived at the restaurant, I had initially ordered for takeout because the restaurant was very busy, they didn't have a host/hostess seating people and all food and drinks were ordered at the cash register. In the U.S., you could usually order takeout and still dine in at those types of restaurants. However, in this particular case, they would not allow me to dine in even after a table did become available. I later learned that in Iceland, they typically charge more if you dine in. This is because tipping culture isn't as prevalent in Iceland. Thus, they essentially build the cost of gratuity into the cost of your meal only if you dine in. So if you order takeout, you technically aren't paying any gratuity, and they would prefer that you not eat the food inside the restaurant because of that. This was poor planning on my part, but I happily ate my food outside, where it was warm and sunny. Looking back at my ten-day cruise, this may have been my biggest moment of culture shock. I didn't realize why they wouldn't let me sit inside the restaurant to eat my takeout until days later...silly American!

Akureyri, Iceland

On day three of the cruise, we woke up in Akureyri, Iceland, which was the day of my first excursion that I booked through Norwegian! When selecting my excursions, I often opted for the excursions that ran for the longest amount of time and offered the most amount of sites to see and/or activities. On the Jewels of the North excursion, we primarily rode in a coach bus and got out at various places in Northern Iceland to explore and walk around. I booked this excursion primarily because it visited the Goðafoss Waterfall, but my goodness was the entire excursion absolutely stunning!

Rather than trying to go into extensive detail on each site we visited, I am primarily going to share my stories of this excursion through the photos themselves because we didn't have a whole lot of time at any of the sites due to time restrictions.

Goðafoss Waterfall

Skútustaðagígar craters

Dimmuborgir

Námaskarð

What amazed me the most about this excursion was just how diverse the topography is in Northern Iceland. From waterfalls to desert landscapes to volcanic activity to stunning green pastures with water-filled craters, it seems Northern Iceland truly has it all! This excursion in particular truly made me feel as though I was in a cold version of Hawaii. The only difference is that we didn't have to hop islands to go from one ecosystem to the next. Just a 30-minute drive from one destination to the next, and it was as though we were in an entirely different country already. Of the three excursions I booked through Norwegian, I believe this excursion was the most accurate to its description when booking, and it was very much worth the price I paid.

Akureyri was our last destination in Iceland, and day four of the cruise was a sea day as we traversed across the Atlantic over to Norway.