Trying to fly Delta is not working out very well; flight leaves Keflavik at 0830; I don't think there is any way to guarantee being able to make that early a flight. We might spend one night in Rejjkavik so we can do some touring and get the early flight the next day.

Marcie - that's probably the route home Alice and I will take too, to Seattle. We'd have a 2 hr 10mm layover then to Reno.

Marc - you definitely can't make 0830 flight the day you debark. The airport is 1 hour away from the city and the port and you would have to get to the airport before the ship docks. If you stay over, use the Flybus from the hotel to Keflavik, it's efficient and 1/4 the cost of a taxi.

Marcie - With a lot of people from the ship flying Icelandair Saga (business) class it can be a long line for check in so schedule an early bus. The Saga Lounge at the airport is really great so don't fret a long wait before boarding.
Jim

Jim, then I think we will just rent a car and see what we can see and take the bus to the airport the next day (actually may stay at the airport).

As for Oslo, I think we will join the others at the airport hotel. I can't believe there is neither a Hilton nor a Starwood property in Oslo.

So with you , Ralph! None of our friends or family quite understand the compulsion to plan so far in advance. We have 2 trips booked already for 2018! Not only do we get what we want but we have the joy of looking forward to so much!
We have also been to Oslo a few times so will likely do the airport hotel thing. But we have never been to Iceland so will likely stay a day or 2 after. Anybody with hotel suggestions there?
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Helen

There's not even a Marriott --- which is my main loyalty program.

You've got me Helen, we have 1 trip for 2018 but it's a whopper (Family Safari).

We've been to Reykjavik before so will likely not stay over. I can't remember the name of the hotel we stayed in for 3 or 4 nights. I just remember it was in a good walkable location and we ate at a good Italian restaurant several nights. Tony Mondae was so cute as we always had the same "Heidi" as our waitress.

Perfect Kim, more time with 2 of our favorite people !

Thanks Jim, with a 5:00pm flight we'll have lots of time.

Marcie, family safari is my ultimate dream trip but with 24 members of my immediate family, probably never gonna happen 😢.
I am excited for this trip though! What a great group we have and I am so hopeful that we will see more polar bears going west than we did on the 2013 trip from Churchill to Kangalussuag (sp). A very interesting and super enjoyable trip but a bit light on polar bears!
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Helen

Hope for more polar bears too. Starting to look at flights.

There used to be a doubletree in downtown Oslo but that is no more. The Hilton in Reykjavik is very nice though.

The Hotel Fron in Reykjavik is in walking distance of all you'll want to see. Good rates with breakfast included. Several good restaurants in the area.

I went on a mission trying to find out where we stayed when we were in Reykjavik on VIKING (that later became ING when the pod broke) in 2009. We stayed at the Reykjavik Grand

Grand Hotel

I found it in the 2009 seamail. I guess Joanna, Tony, Peggy & Jerry, Tom & I all stayed there. It's across the street from the Hilton. It's fun reading old seamail on LCT, but it sure makes me miss Joanna.
VIKING Seamail

Another nice hotel is the Hotel Borg, it is right across the street from a public park in town, and as I remember, we walked up the street each night to a wonderful and very well recommended restaurant, very European, yet hip and relaxed.

It is an old traditional hotel updated. Most of our touring was outside the city, so we took a cab to a car rental place, drove on the right side of the road with almost no traffic and saw the geysir as it was called, and many other sights. It was a great day or two! I wish I could bring up my pictures, but they must be on that site we used many years ago for Kodak. It was early in my cruising days, and one of my very favorites, as we continued on to the Norwegian Fjords, to me the most beautiful cruising in the world.

Most of the more natural "sights" in Iceland are outside of town. Our cruise continued on to a couple more ports in Iceland which I truly enjoyed.

We have decided on two nights in Oslo. We will stay at airport and take train into town on Monday for sightseeing.

We will stay one night at Keflavik. We will rent a car when we arrive and see how much we can see; starting with Blue Lagoon. Also looking at a flight seeing trip to the north to see waterfalls.

Norwegian Air doesn't work too well for us; we have to either get to NYC or Orlando. Icelandair has same issues. Will see what options delta has for us.

Marc

In the past when we have flown Icelandic, we took Aa to Boston on a separate ticket, spent the night in Boston, then on to Reykjavik on Iceland air.

Delta just raised their international award prices!?!?!

That is not good news, Marc! I am currently Platinum w delta and was planning on using FF miles for Walrus.
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Helen

I was also going to use some random Delta miles. I think I maybe still have enough.

Just got the airline tickets to Oslo. We leave on Aug 5 and arrive on the 6th. Got TUL-ORD-OSL with miles in F on AA and BA . Tons of availability. Other option available was Finnair, but their business class reviews are mediocre, particularly for tall people, which I am not but George is.

Congrats, Rachel! Guess it's time to to start looking around. Are you planning on staying on in Iceland or going straight on home?
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Helen

Well, that depends. If we get tickets using my delta miles, we will fly out the day after the cruise. So spend one night in Reykjavik. But if we have to buy icelandair tickets, we will go home the day of disembarkation.

We are going to stay at the Hotel Continental in Oslo on Am ex points.

I just booked SFO-CDG-OSL Business class on AF using Delta miles. 70k Delta miles per person departing on Aug 4. There is no more availability on 8/4 for the 70k mile award (everything is 135k or 220k), but I see some on 8/5. We will either do a one-way car rental and drive to SFO or fly RNO-SFO. Or maybe RNO-OAK. Not sure, but the hard part is done! YAY!

I can't bite the bullet and pay 140K open-jaw round trip. I still use two cents a mile which comes to $2800 per ticket. I have priced HSV-OSL with KEF-HSV in July 2017 in business for $3070 earning over 20,000 miles; a much better deal (to me) than miles. I will save my miles for one way tickets where it is hard to get cheap paid business class tickets. I need to explore Amex for hotel points; i have never used them for that.

Marc

Thanks for that info, Kim. I also got tickets to Oslo from lax - CDG- OSL for 70k miles. We will not arrive until the 7th though. Fingers crossed for decent deal for the return flights.
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Helen

Helen - That's great! Feels good to have the outbound nailed down! The return? Well.. yeah. It would be so easy if we still lived in Boston. Sigh... I'll have to gear up for another challenging exercise in finding the best miles/points vs money option. Fingers crossed here too.

I have booked return flights:
Icelandair 5:30 pm departure to Seattle on the day of debarkation in Reykjavik. We have a two hour layover in Seattle, then Alaska Air to Reno.

Success!

Delta -

HSV-ATL-AMS-OSL

KEF-MSP-ATL-HSV

Now, off to get hotels; two nights at Oslo airport and one night in Keflavik (after touring Blue Lagoon +)

We are set as well: LAX-CDG-OSL arriving Aug 7 and
KEF-JFK-LAX departing Aug 24.

We have not been to Iceland before so looking forward to at least 1 full day. Any ideas on what time we can expect to debark on the 22nd?

Been reading your posts for years, Marc. Look forward to meeting you!
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Helen

Helen-
The Silversea itinerary says we arrive in Reykjavik at 7:00 a.m.. I bet we can debark not too long after that. Alice and I will just see what we can see of Reykjavik in the few hours we will have there that day before our 5:30 pm flight. We would love to stay in Iceland longer and do a trip like Brad and Leslie did a few years ago. But we will need to do that as a separate trip.

I booked hotels in Oslo:
Hotel Continental for two nights.
Radisson Blu Airport hotel for the last night

I just booked the same flight from KEF to Seattle as you two. We have a 1hr 25 min layover in Seattle then fly to John Wayne (Orange County). Do you have anything planned for the day in Reykjavik ?

Yay! Marcie!
We don't have anything planned. I came across this when Googling what to do for the day:

http://totaliceland.com/three-reasons-why-you-should-not-spend-much-time-in-reykjavik-iceland/

The taxi story made me laugh.

Cute article Kim.

Does anyone know the approximate time of our flight to Longyearbyen? I'm looking at booking the Radisson Blu airport hotel for 1 night and some prices include breakfast, some not. Reviews say it's excellent but very $$.

Following is from Expert Flyer site. Shows flight at 9:44 am. to LYR. No guarantee this is the flight Silversea will use as they could create a semi charter flight but would guess not.

SAS 4414 1 OSL
08/08/17 9:55 AM LYR
08/08/17 1:55 PM 73W
Su,M,T,Th
NA / NA

Unfortunately we are canceling this cruise - Brad really, really, really wants to see the solar eclipse next summer. Since we have done the Svalbard portion of this cruise before, as well as spent time in Greenland on a previous Silversea cruise, I reluctantly agreed with his plans.

We are rebooking onto the 2018 Wrangel Island Silversea expedition that Ngaire has mentioned in another post.

Just as an FYI, when we took Silversea's Reykjavik to Churchill cruise a couple of years ago they charted a plane from Churchill to Winnipeg, so I imagine they might do that for WALRUS. The fights from Oslo to Longyearbyen are very full in the summer and it might be difficult for them to transfer you all via a commercially scheduled flight.

Booo.
Well, we will see you in Nome, then!

Leslie and Brad, sorry that we won't see you this cruise; maybe another cruise.

Marcie we are staying at Radisson Blu Airport two nights. Figure that it is only 100 meters from terminal so we can always find food at airport that may be cheaper.

We are also staying at Radisson Park Inn at Keflavik for one night; anyone also staying over a day?

Marc

PS Sure wish I still had gold points; these hotels are not cheap.

Another thought occurred to me about the charter Silversea had from Churchill. There were also staff members rotating on and off the ship who were on the incoming and outgoing flights adding to the load, so I would think for sure it will be a charter..

The flight from Oslo will leave with you first and then return with the disembarking passengers, so its likely your flight will be pretty early.

Thanks Marc & Leslie.

Leslie, so sorry that you and Brad won't be with us. The other Wrangel cruise you've chosen will be a great one too.

Ok we booked the Radisson blu airport hotel for the night of the 7th. Not sure what to do in Iceland yet. We are staying 2 nights post-cruise. I have been talking to Andi and Doug about finding a Northern Lights excursion for our first night. What else is a must-do here?
(We will miss you and Brad, Leslie! We are going to Africa again in May/June 2018 and I have future cruise certificate for Regent which will expire in 2018 so altho profoundly tempted by the Wrangell trip I don't think I can make that work. )
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Helen

Leslie, tell Brad I'm with him on wanting to see the eclipse. I was booked on a cruise that would have been in Indonesia last March. The eclipse was my only reason for booking. Unfortunately, I had to cancel. I am going to try again for summer, 2017. At least I won't have to leave the country for this one.