Iceland: Djupivogur and Akureyri
Djupivogur and Akureyri -- July 14-15, 2023
We arrived at Djupivogur, a tender port. The captain and team tried and declared tendering not possible or safe enough. We saw Djupivogur from afar but did not get to go ashore. I called it DJ since I could not pronounce it. The crew did a good job pronouncing it; more practice, I guess.
At breakfast at O'Sheehan's (before arriving), I found the arms off the biggest Icelandic glacier on the south coast. For breakfast, Travis had oatmeal and coffee; I had a breakfast sandwich with a brioche bun, scrambled eggs, American cheese, aka hamburger cheese in Iceland, and ham. It was pretty good.
Today, we had our behind the scenes tour with platinum status. They offered two during the cruise for the number of people. We visited the Theater, Laundry, and a Galley. We met the Stage Manager, Laundry Manager -- that I did not note and remember their names, the head chef: JoJo, and our tour guide from the CruiseNext department: Jefferson. In the gallery, we saw two prepped trays that we later found in the buffet. Travis later had one of the sandwiches for lunch. We had the buffet for lunch; the Asian beef stir fry was really good.
We had Le Bistro with our platinum certificate booked, online before boarding -- since it is a la carte, you can book beforehand without having to pre-pay. We did not try it, but I heard that you can pre-pay for others and get it back as onboard credit, but is still onboard credit. Since Moderno is not a la carte, we were in the line in the included Asian restaurant to book right after boarding, but I got the NCL app to work to book and did not have to keep waiting -- yay. I let another person know; hopefully, they got it to work too. The platinum certificates now look good for any restaurants, so that is a nice change. Before one for Le Bistro or Cagney's, and one for the Italian or Moderno. I had the Steak Tartar, the pork chop -- was good; my favorite, beef tenderloin is now an extra upcharge -- boo! Later, I got the smaller filet at Cagney's. If only we ate there first, I could have ordered the bigger one and had them reheat it for me at Le Bistro. Kidding, but it was tempting. Travis had goat cheese croquettes with beets salad and lamb shank and chop, which he said was very good.
For dessert, Travis had Fraisier, and I had 70% chocolate.
The acrobat show was scheduled today. I was excited and always enjoyed their show/talent, but then it was canceled. Disappointing! Hopefully, no one was injured. About to cross the Artic circle at bedtime, so we grabbed some pictures. No announcement or celebration like circling Cape Horn or, I have heard, crossing the equator. Woohoo, in the Artic.
Our next stop was Akureyri; it was a dock port. Akureyri is in an fjord. There was a good waterfall view from the ship. There was wi-fi available in the port, and also a store where I got a puffin magnet. We got off the ship twice -- to the Botanical Garden the first time and walk along the coast the next. It was not great weather this day. We looked at the public pool (with water slides); this is part of their culture and was a recommended thing to do. But, with the weather, we did not try it. We did walk by it. People were there and in line for the water slides, luckily the spiral up lines were enclosed in plex glass to be warmer against the wind. It still looked cold though.
There were vendors selling tours to the Godafoss waterfall and Lake Mývatn that I wish we noticed when we first got off. The companies that I found online before had 24 cancellation refunds, but not if your ship missed the port, so I did not pre-book. But, note that you can book ashore if you want.
We found an adorable seal by the whale tail statue. He was so sweet. Later in the afternoon, a sick looking one was there instead, so much so that they put up caution tape for him.
Past the whale tail, named Strandgata, was the Hof cultural center. Then I just liked this building's architecture; it was a cold weather clothes store. Then we found a church, called Akureyrarkirkja, similar to the one in Reykjavik; it was by the same architect.
Most of the towns looked to have a rainbow sidewalk or street. This yarn chicken was a trashcan; we also saw a frog, cute idea. More of the church with our ship in the background.
Birds that we identified when we were there, but forgot now. Then we arrived at the Botanical Garden. It was misting/raining off and on.
For lunch, we went to the buffet. I found a pork corden bleu, which was really good. The NCL pizza is improved and pretty good now. The chili corndog did not have much chili taste.
When we got back off the ship we walked along the coast. I liked the apartment colors. The sculpture is called Samkombru. Though it is labeled an observation deck in google maps, so maybe I have that wrong.
The Akureyri International Airport with runway ending in the water. Trying to spread tourist out more and handle more tourists, they built this airport to help out KEF near Reykjavik. We learned on our taxi ride, post-cruise, that KEF was a US military base and airport post-WWII until 2006. Our taxi driver pointed out some US military housing, noting that it had mostly been repainted from the army green. Then Travis made me walk up a hill.
During an economic downturn, they put up lights with the red light in the shape of a heart to cheer people up.
For dinner, we had O'Sheehans. I had the nachos again and the hot wings. Travis tried the pork lechon asado that he really like and had again later. Later, I also had to try some of the skirt steak that was the advertised special in the buffet; it was good!
After, we visited the hot tub. It was toward the front of the ship on a high deck 13 or 14 -- they are not really labeled outside that I saw. It was a maze at the front of the ship of levels. An interesting location, and I'm not sure how many people found it. We found it on the first day exploring the ship. We had it to ourselves. It was good but cold getting out! While we were in, the captain did his daily announcement.
Next up...Isafjordur
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