August 20, 2025 – Reykjavik, Iceland – Beautiful Sunny Day – 50F

August 20, 2025 – Reykjavik, Iceland 

We have been on this ship for a month and on the last day, when I had to be up early and out, I actually overslept.  I got up at 6:05 AM (the Oceanview Café was already open) and got up to the café as fast as I could.  The place was pretty crowded but I did get a window seat.  It is an absolutely beautiful day in Reykjavik – bright Sun and blue skies.  We are docked next to Mein Shiff 2. The Viking Mars was across the way.

I had some oatmeal, two pancakes with cottage cheese (it was still there waiting for me on the last day – I wonder if they will realize that I’m off the ship and put it back in the fridge).  I sampled the eggs with cheese and chives (cold and dry) and didn’t even finish my pancakes because I felt I was running late.

I brought Ellen her breakfast (cream cheese and lox on a brioche, fruit, and hot tea). 

We are due to leave our stateroom around 8:30 AM and hop on the ship shuttle to KEF at 9:00 AM.  We went to The Den to listen for groups to be called – Ellen asked around and it looked like everyone was just getting off.  We got in the line and scanned out and then got into a much longer line for our face-to-face with Iceland Immigration. This gave me a chance to get a picture of Quest docked.

The Immigration people were in trailers and the line was outside – the line moved pretty well.  We said goodbye to Martin at the trailer and the Immigration process was quick (I had said my goodbyes to Bernardo last night when he gave me back my jump drive – he also gave me an Azamara Jump Drive as a souvenir). 

We found our bags right away and were shown to the bus by a kid – maybe 12 – working with the port folks.  We got seats of our own and the bus left shortly after everyone got seated.  The 40 minute ride to KEF was comfortable and scenic – lots of lava and one perfect cinder cone in the distance. 

There was also a golf course on this route.

Keflavik (KEF) is a small airport located on a peninsula west of Reykjavik. 

We had done some research on the airport and how early we could check our bags.  The information we got said that you couldn’t check bags any earlier than two and half hour prior to flight time.  That would mean a long time with our bags and where would be have to stay until we could check the bags. 

That turned out not to be the case (the internet isn't always correct).  Once inside the airport, we checked with someone and she told us to use the kiosks to take care of our bags.  It was now around 10 AM or so but I entered the Booking Codes and the machine printed out both bag tags and boarding passes.  We then went to the bag drop that was totally automated.  You put your bag on the belt – scan your bag tag and then the machine scans your bag as well (looking for the little tags on your suit case).  It then says OK and your bags disappear into wherever bags go.  Easy and very neat.

We went upstairs to the Security Check Point and there was no one there except us and two agents.  Laptops needed to scanned along – even my watch needed to be scanned.  Then through the metal detector and into the airport.

KEV is more of a mall than airport.  Lots of shops and lots of seating.  Most of the seats are uncomfortable but there are some padded seats as well.  There weren't a lot of people at KEF at his point.

The food areas started to open around Noon and that’s when all the people showed up. 

Perhaps, and it doesn’t seem feasible, KEF only has post lunchtime flights.  For whatever reason, the airport started to get crowded.

Today, we broke our pattern and decided to buy lunch and have the food we brought for dinner on the plane.  Lunch consisted of a Margherita Pizza (3199 ISK and a Coke Zero (499 ISK – she only charged me for one of the two I asked for) at a restaurant called Trattoria in the Adalstraeti (Food Hall).  That came to $31.11.  The pizza was baked in a pizza oven and took about 10 minutes and came with charged crust – I liked the pizza – it was the first decent pizza we have had in over a month – we didn’t get pizza on the ship.  Lunch was a bit pricey but not a surprise since this was both in an airport and in Iceland.  No matter, it was good.

Our flight, F1853 (I guess “F” is Icelandair’s Code), is leaving from a “D” Gate but the exact number won’t be on the screen until 2:55 PM or about 40 minutes before we board – reminded me of Heathrow where you had to sprint for your gate when it came up.  The entrance to the D Gates was closed so there was no way to go there early and get seats. 

We checked the D Gate entrance in a few minutes and it has opened even though no gate number appeared on the information screens.  There are turnstyles that are opened by scanning your boarding passes and we were able to get to the D Corridor.  By this time, there were quite a few folks there.  When we went through the scanning process, the LED Screen said to “proceed to D24” so we did.  There weren’t a lot of seats near our gate but we did manage to get a couple.  We also were recognized by a couple of ship folks also waiting for their flight.

I checked the screen information at Gate D24 and indeed we were at the right gate.  There was no plane there – there were some aircraft from Iceland’s Low Price Airline, Play (they have the coolest all bright red planes). 

Boarding for our 4:25 PM departure was at 3:45 PM and people were already starting to line up (about 15 minutes early).  At 3:45 PM, we got in line (the Economy Line).  Even though there was no plane at our gate, the fancy folks started to board (passport and boarding pass required).  After they went through, they are gathered at the entrance to the gate.  In a few minutes, a bus arrived and it looked like our plane was somewhere else at KEF.

That bus left and it took about 10 minutes more to start our check-in (a new bus had appeared).  I almost didn’t get on the bus with Ellen as the tried to close the exit – I told the guy that I was with her and he let me on.  We drove to the other side of the terminal where our aircraft was waiting.  Instead of taking the stairs from the tarmac, we walked up a level to the jetway and got on the plane.  It seemed a little more complicated than it needed to be.

It may seem chaotic because Icelandair does not board by groups or row number but we all got on the jet smoothly enough.  Just as I thought everyone was on board two additional groups of people showed up – standby and connecting passengers, maybe – and all went to the rear of the plane.  We paid $95 each for premium seats (6.5 hour flight) and are in port bulkhead seats, 5A and 5B, on our MAX9 (that’s comparable to American and much less than United would charge).  The most legroom we have every had on a plane – I could fully stretch out my legs.  The only issue is the plastic divider between economy and first class and the swing up monitors.  To get out of the row, you have to avoid these two things by ducking and watching your feet.  Still, all that legroom and a window – I may have already gotten these seats on American or United and I don’t remember them being so roomy. 

The plane was nice although I couldn’t fully stand up in the washrooms.  Amenities are minimal on Icelandair – only soft drinks (and not always the can) and coffee or tea. No snacks at all – all the food on the plane has to be brought on or purchased on board.  We had food donated by the ship that would serve as dinner (lox and cream cheese on brioches plus crunchy snacks we brought from home a month ago). 

Despite the confusion during boarding, the plane actually pushed at 4:25 PM (on time).  KEF is small enough that the plane headed right for the active runway and spent no time waiting until the pilot gunned the engines.  I did notice that the flaps and slats are deployed late in Icelandair’s checklist but I did have confidence that these pilots knew what they were doing. 

The takeoff over the town of Keflavik on the Reykjanes Peninsula was smooth and scenic.  

The skies were blue and filled with high pressure clouds.  The plane climbed to about 14,000 feet and the pilot turned off the seat belt sign (US pilots usually wait until cruising altitude) and then leveled of at about 36,000 feet and headed for the southern tip of Greenland.  We never got to see the Prince Christian Sound on the cruises and won’t from the air due to the cloud cover.

The flight was smooth – no turbulence whatsoever.  We crossed the Labrador Sea, Labrador, 

the northern part of Quebec and finally the clouds broke so I could see farmland below.  We flew over Lake Huron and then over Lake Michigan – headed way West and turned around and landed at ORD at around 6 PM.  I texted Danny, who was waiting in the cellphone lot.  So glad he is picking us up,

We then walked literally a mile to the Global Entry Kiosks – endless long hallways, some with moving sidewalks, some without.  This might have been the longest walk yet to go from one place to another in an airport.  The scans at the Global Entry Kiosks took no time at all (no one in line) and we were handed our GLOBAL ENTRY PASSED laminated cards (needed to exit).  We waited quite a while at Carousel 6 until our bags finally came out.  There were a lot of people in the baggage claim area – several international flights must have come in at the same time.

We told Danny to meet us at Door 5D – the line of cars outside didn’t stop and we could find a spot of sidewalk to stand on (at this point, I was glad that we didn’t have to deal with a taxi).  After a bit of a wait (due to the volume of cars (BTW I did not see any taxis picking up people), Danny’s Honda showed up – we loaded our bags and we were headed out of the craziness of ORD T5. 

Danny dropped us off and Christian helped us get our bags down the stairs and got our mail for us. 

Danny had brought us some food (tomatoes and pepperoncini from the garden along with some eggplant lasagna (also home grown).  We were tired and jet lagged but I did eat some of it.

Just happy to be home.  It was actually warm and that was nice after a month of essentially cold and gray weather.

Thoughts about Food and Drink

I thought I would put together some information should we wind up on another Azamara Cruise in the future:

Good dishes

Breakfast – can’t go wrong with waffles/pancakes with cottage cheese and jams.  I had this breakfast 28 out of the 30 days on board.  I made my own coffee Americano by mixing regular coffee and hot water (1:1) in a to go cup.  Arranging to have cottage cheese with my name on it worked out really well – the suits and wait staff in Windows were great.

Lunch – Generally the salad bar was good (I especially like the sun-dried tomatoes) – Best dressing – Thousand Island.  Ranch was unusual and inconsistent.  Beyond Burgers were OK and I tried the Patio Tuna Wrap only once (the tuna was OK but the veggies along with it have been changed from asparagus to lettuce).  The tuna salad (in my opinion was the best on any ship) – that along with tomatoes, onions, and pickles made for a great tuna sandwich.  The soups were all good – Tomato, Cream of Tomato, Mushroom, Cream of Potato, Cream of Ratatouille (yes), and Pistou.

Dinner- The standard Salmon was good – prepared best and fresh on the Patio.  Mashed potatoes on the Patio – delicious.

The kosher options were plentiful and we tried them all – Best items: Spaghetti Bolognese, Stuffed Bell Peppers, Chicken Schnitzel, Shepherds Pie.  Ellen did not like the duck in any form.  The braised ribs (more like Brisket) was very good also.

I was also able to order special meals like pasta pesto and pesto aglio olio – both of which were really good. The suits were more than helpful in making sure we had items we could eat.

Bar – Best drinks – Disaronno Sours and Curacao Blue Sours.  Strawberry and Banana Daiquiris also.  I drank a lot of club soda on this cruise – a cheap date.

Service – we had Table 1 – best table.  We also scored Table 18 (aft with a window) a few times.  The waitstaff and suits also picked up on our special orders and started the meals right away for our time in the Discoveries Restaurant was fast and efficient (and the food nice and hot).  No more two hour dinners.

Bottom Lining It. It was a cold and gray cruise but you don’t get to Greenland and Iceland every day.  I also thought that seeing the more remote parts of Canada was interesting and our time in Quebec City was great (expecially the Azamazing Evening Concert).  Guest Relations was helpful throughout the whole cruise solving accomodation issues and anything else.  Devi and Katja and the two guys did a great job.  Working with Bernardo was great. The afternoon concerts in the Living Room were a good idea and a way to break up long days.