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Should you cruise to Iceland? If you want to visit Iceland what are the pros and cons of cruising over doing a land-based visit. There are many good things about taking a cruise, and I explore the 6 best pros of cruising to Iceland before looking at the 3 top things you need to consider that may make a land-based trip a better option for you.
Note: I travelled as a guest of Saga Cruises on a round Iceland cruise when making this video. A lot of the footage and tips also draw on my Voyages To Antiquity cruise to Iceland last year too.
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Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.
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0:00
what are the pros and what are the cons
0:03
of cruising to Iceland I'm gay beverage
0:07
this is another of my tips for travelers
0:09
I'm currently onboard a saga cruises in
0:12
my cabin this is the second time I've
0:14
actually cruised to Iceland and I
0:16
thought it was a great time to share
0:18
with you the pros and cons the good and
0:21
the bad about choosing to come to
0:23
Iceland on a cruise rather than a
0:25
land-based trip what do you need to know
0:28
probably one of the biggest pros and
0:31
good things about choosing to cruise
0:33
around Iceland rather than do a
0:35
land-based is the fact that all of the
0:37
key sites all of the settlements all of
0:39
the towels are on the coastal areas the
0:42
center of Iceland is basically a large
0:44
wasteland of lava and so all the key
0:48
sites and all the places you're gonna
0:49
want to see stop at and go to are around
0:52
the coast there for going on a cruise is
0:54
very logical in fact if you want to see
0:58
Iceland by land you have to drive around
1:00
one key road that goes right around the
1:03
island this is higher one the Ring Road
1:05
it is 880 two miles long 1,300
1:10
kilometers so basically if you want to
1:12
see the island you're going to have to
1:13
go all the way around the outside so the
1:16
cruise is a great way of getting there
1:17
the Ring Road is not a particularly big
1:19
road and it can be very busy so it makes
1:22
a huge amount of sense to go on a cruise
1:24
it's going to take you to all of the key
1:25
places and all of the key sites that you
1:28
want to see are within very easy access
1:30
of the port's that you call on the two
1:33
big classic things that you're going to
1:35
want to see are what's known as the
1:37
Golden Circle out of Reykjavik and then
1:39
you also have the jewels of the north so
1:42
if you go on the Golden Circle you're
1:43
gonna see three of Iceland's most
1:45
impressive and important landmarks
1:47
you're gonna see think Vella Gullfoss
1:49
and the Geezer the other that's critical
1:52
here is a place you're going to want to
1:54
see or what is known as the jewels of
1:56
the north and the jewels of the north
1:59
are where you visit the bubbling mud
2:01
pots of NamUs card you then visit dumb
2:03
burger and then you go and see the
2:07
incredible beautiful goda foss the
2:10
waterfall of the gods so all the key
2:12
sites
2:13
that you're gonna want to see are on the
2:15
coast accessible on the coast you have
2:17
to drive quite long distances you can't
2:19
fly to some of these places if you want
2:21
to but you really need to get around the
2:23
island to see the key places so why not
2:25
go on a cruise also on a cruise at all
2:28
of the ports of call you're also gonna
2:30
have a wide range of excursion so the
2:32
cruise line would have curated and
2:34
pulled together all the important places
2:35
you need to cease it don't have to do
2:36
any more research and they will take
2:39
your things like well watching you can
2:41
go and see birds like puffins someone
2:44
even take you to key sites where the
2:46
game of Thrones series had some of its
2:49
key scenes filmed and of course there
2:52
will be a series of different excursions
2:54
particularly places like Reykjavik to
2:56
the baths like the famous Blue Lagoon I
3:00
think the next key reason for doing a
3:03
cruise around Iceland rather than
3:04
land-based is all of the benefits of
3:07
going on a cruise and I think these are
3:08
particularly important when it comes to
3:10
Iceland the fact on a cruise you only
3:13
unpack and have to pack once if you're
3:15
gonna try and see Iceland on land you're
3:17
gonna have to keep moving between
3:18
different places you have to be packing
3:20
and unpacking quite a lot so you get all
3:22
of that hassle and stress taken away
3:24
then of course you have all of the perks
3:26
of being on a cruise ship so for example
3:28
here on the saga cruises we had a choice
3:32
of different places we could go and eat
3:34
or have room service also here on board
3:36
saga there would be bands playing in the
3:40
various bars they would also be a show
3:42
every night which was either guest
3:43
entertainers or a production show and of
3:46
course even right down to the Medical
3:49
Center if you had any medical issues
3:50
that's all available you know to worry
3:52
once you're on land about dealing with
3:54
all of that there was a shop onboard if
3:56
you'd forgotten any bits and pieces are
3:58
coming to Iceland on a cruise it just
4:01
makes it so much easier and you can just
4:02
focus on the whole experience of
4:04
enjoying the place another big Pro is
4:07
particularly for those people who don't
4:09
like to fly order like the hassle of
4:11
flying you can actually do no fly
4:14
cruises from a number of places in
4:15
Europe so for example out of the UK you
4:18
can cruise on cruise lines like the one
4:20
that I'm on which is a saga cruises and
4:22
they will sail out of Dover right up to
4:26
Iceland around eyes
4:27
and back to Dover so you can actually
4:29
avoid flying Pacific uk-based there are
4:33
other cruise lines that will come to
4:35
Iceland out of other ports around
4:36
mainland Europe so definitely if you are
4:39
based in Europe or you want to minimize
4:41
the amount of flying going on a cruise
4:43
to Iceland is definitely one way of
4:45
doing that for me another big Pro of
4:48
going on a cruise
4:49
rather than land-based is in fact when
4:52
you're on land in Iceland is pretty
4:53
expensive if you want to have snacks buy
4:56
drinks if you want to go out for meals
4:59
accommodation hotels can all mount up
5:01
and it's surprisingly expensive and
5:03
Iceland which I guess makes sense
5:05
because they have to ship so much of
5:07
stuff into the island and Iceland is
5:10
pretty far away certainly the first time
5:12
I came to Iceland I thought I was
5:13
getting the exchange rate wrong because
5:15
things seemed really expensive when I
5:17
converted them but that's not the case
5:19
things are pretty expensive and Iceland
5:21
so the advantage of course coming on a
5:22
cruise is you're going to know what it's
5:24
going to cost you to get there get
5:26
around and all those costs associated
5:28
with eating dining do you gonna be able
5:30
to know that before you go and then once
5:33
you're in Iceland you're not gonna have
5:34
a lot of additional costs certainly the
5:35
fact that Iceland is a pretty expensive
5:37
place once you here on land gonna cruise
5:40
is great because before you go you're
5:42
gonna know how it's going to cost you
5:43
and you have that all locked down for me
5:46
personally one of the big big pros is
5:49
that when you come on a cruise you're
5:51
gonna learn a huge amount about the
5:53
place and they have really curated what
5:55
you need to know and make sure you see
5:57
the key sights this is really important
5:58
so for example on the cruise that I'm on
6:00
with saga there are enrichment lecture
6:02
there's a whole series of experts who
6:05
talked about the history they talk about
6:07
the ports they talk about the sights
6:08
they talk about the folklore they talk
6:10
about the culture they talk about the
6:11
food so you learn a huge amount which is
6:14
all included within your fest also on
6:16
the cruise ship you get destination
6:18
guides for all of the ports with all the
6:20
information around a little bit of the
6:22
history what to see what to do where to
6:25
go
6:26
maps of the places to go also on the in
6:29
room television you'll often find the
6:31
cruise ship will have documentaries
6:33
about Iceland so one of the key things
6:35
is you have a huge opportunity to learn
6:39
about know about and
6:40
stand what you're seeing where to go and
6:43
how to do it without him to do any of
6:45
the research yourself of course then you
6:47
also have the short excursions team who
6:50
will have been to Iceland a number of
6:52
times and you can just go there and ask
6:53
questions and they will help you so you
6:56
have all these experts on hand huge
6:59
amounts of information about Iceland you
7:01
can learn and get without having to do
7:03
any extra work and of course then you
7:05
have all the excursions to choose from
7:07
and they will have chosen guys and
7:09
experts so again you know you're gonna
7:11
see the places you need to see and
7:12
you'll have guys who are local guides
7:15
who know the place inside out so those
7:17
for me certainly are the six big pros at
7:20
six good things about coming to Iceland
7:22
on a cruise so what are the cons what
7:24
are things that may be less good about
7:26
coming on a cruise one of the key
7:28
additional costs above your cruise fare
7:30
is likely to be excursions if you come
7:32
to Iceland you certainly want to go out
7:34
and see all the great sights
7:35
bear in mind most cruise lines do not
7:37
include excursions within your fare so
7:40
for example here on saga everything
7:42
other than excursions were pretty much
7:44
included so drinks were included
7:46
accommodation was included of course all
7:48
the dining option clean especially
7:49
dining was included some Wi-Fi was
7:51
included and drinks were included so
7:55
there any extra really was of course
7:56
things like spa treatments or shopping
7:59
or souvenirs on lad but excursions were
8:01
additional max business can add quite a
8:04
lot so for example to give you a sense
8:06
of what that could be
8:07
if you go on a Golden Circle tool that
8:10
cost around about one hundred twenty
8:12
four powers of a person so about 150 US
8:15
dollars the jewels of the north was
8:17
about one hundred and seventy nine
8:18
pounds which is about $200 per person if
8:21
you went well watching depending on
8:23
where it was that could be anything from
8:25
129 pounds or 150 dollars up to $200 or
8:30
190 pounds per person so do bear in mind
8:33
that one of the downsides of going on a
8:35
cruise is that you still will have
8:37
excursions to do and there is a cost
8:40
associated with those one of the cons
8:42
that you could argue of coming on a
8:45
cruise is that you are traveling around
8:46
Iceland in a little bit of a bubble that
8:48
you're not on land staying hotels eating
8:51
your local restaurants so you didn't get
8:52
as much immersion
8:54
and interaction with local people of
8:57
course other things you could do if you
8:58
come on a cruise is there always be
9:00
excursions which are going to give you
9:01
more cultural immersion and
9:03
opportunities to mix and get much closer
9:06
to the Icelandic people and there are
9:08
some ports like a wreck avec where many
9:11
cruises will stay overnight so example
9:13
on this cruise we had a night in wreck
9:16
of echoes of course Athena the
9:17
opportunity to go out and experience
9:19
much more of the city and the local bars
9:22
the other con one could argue is that a
9:24
cruise isn't gonna buffer and protect
9:27
you from the crowds at the key sides and
9:29
certainly isn't gonna guarantee you
9:30
great weather Ison has become incredibly
9:33
popular solely since about 2010 so many
9:37
of these key sites particularly Golden
9:39
Circle and jewels of the north get very
9:42
very busy and coming on a cruise is not
9:44
going to give you any special access or
9:47
ways of avoiding the crowds of course
9:50
the guys when they take around will try
9:52
and take you the best times but it is
9:54
pretty difficult do the cons outweigh
9:57
the pros will the fact that I've come
9:59
here for a second time cruising to
10:02
Iceland probably answers the question I
10:04
think a cruise is a phenomenal way of
10:07
seeing Iceland if you want to come to
10:09
Iceland you do really need to go around
10:11
the whole island to see the key places
10:13
so why not do it on a cruise I have many
10:15
more videos including some about Iceland
10:18
loads around cruising with tips and
10:20
advice so why don't you watch one of
10:21
those right now
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