Aurora - Fjords & Iceland Cruise Review

Aurora - Fjords & Iceland

Mike had phoned to say he was in the English Pub - we, like his friends, would be shocked if he hadn't been in a bar somewhere! When we saw it was just around the corner from us, we decided to go and surprise him and found him sat outside with a pint and book.

Mike bought me a Coke and Juanita an orange then after a while left him to it while we continued to look around and shop. Despite it being cold and breezy on the coast, it was boiling in the centre. We spotted Marge and Cedric so Juanita sat and talked with Marge on one bench while I was with Cedric on another making it just like at dinner! As Cedric and I chatted, I noticed a little boy pull his trousers down and have a wee against the wall, all with the encouragement of his mother! Afterwards we carried on our way while they returned to the shuttle.

While Juanita went to look at the church, my back had had enough thanks to the hills so we arranged to meet by the statue before getting the shuttle. I started walking back the way we came then made a detour down a side street to see where that led - shortcut to the statue!

After freezing for forty minutes I tried to phone to find out where she was only it cut to voicemail after two rings. She'd been having trouble with that since it wasn't going at all when we set out of the trip and she thought she'd sorted it. Then I sent a text, telling her I was going for the shuttle.

As I waited at port security, I chatted to a couple from Melbourne who told me about their passport experiences with P&O. Juanita got back after 6pm. It was casual/C&W night and again, many never bothered. Cedric wore his daughter's Australian hat which passed muster and looked forward to the line dancing in Carmens that night. The assistant waiter, Mathi, told us he was heading into town with some of the others after they'd finished and was looking forward to it.

We passed someone n the stairs in full cowboy get-up which put Cedric's hat to shame! To the British Sitcoms quiz with Suzanne and would've won if I hadn't crossed out the correct year for Dear John - grrr! Mikey from the ents team was really annoying, standing there talking to Suzanne and making daft comments about the questions. We lost the tie-break with our friendly rivals because while they correctly put the year Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em began, I put when it ended. Well was was only three when it started! We chatted about various things afterwards and it became like a game of Six Degrees of Separation! With me knowing as much as Phil, it's no wonder we come so close to beating them. The wind had dropped drastically during our time in Reykjavik and it made it more pleasant to stroll around the deck without getting blown to pieces or wrapping up warm.

I went to the Cyb@study while Juanita went to see The King's Speech which, for some inexplicable reason, was being shown in the Curzon. They only have a small screen so Juanita said you couldn't read the text at the end unless you were at the front. Back at the internet, the log in page wasn't working, which is a fat lot of help. Christian checked them all and eventually managed to load it on my laptop via the parent site and then fixed the rest before going off duty at 10pm. Afterwards I chatted to an ex-pat living in South Africa who had done the previous cruise too then back to the cabin where I rested my back and watched the webcam, noticing a crowd of people then realised it was sunset time! I threw some clothes over my nightie and went up to get my own shots.

It was an early start on the 17th after our only night of not rocking because we were all back on track and had an excursion. The Golden Circle tour should really be renamed The Double Back on Yourself, because that's what we did! It was leaving at 8.30pm, meeting twenty minutes earlier. Now the Horizon said to collect your stickers from the Curzon between 7.30am-9am then proceed to the quayside AT THE STATED TIME and not to go ashore before then, only the nearly dead are either too senile or arrogant to obey instructions so were out from 7.30am! Ours was the first tour so there really was no excuse considering they were milling around until they let you on the buses at the allotted time, and there were ten to fill. Silly old fools weren't going to leave any faster. We boarded ours (8) and saw Marge and Cedric head towards number 10 but left early with people missing because no one bothered to check if anyone was still on the ship. Our first stop, just half an hour after setting off, was to Eden, a tourist shop you can buy refreshments and have a 'comfort stop'. We had half an hour here along with the other buses (half started this route, half did the tour the other way around). Rather than pay rip off prices, we went over the road to the petrol station where I bought a Coke. Brian asked Juanita were her mate was so she pointed to me and we chatted while Juanita and Val went inside briefly. He asked if I was a food critic then wouldn't say why when I said no. They told us about winning the Where in the World quiz the night before getting 20/20, the prize being a bottle of wine, and how a nearly dead two rows behind on their bus was complaining about someone getting full marks. Some people take it too seriously.

Back on the bus and at least this had aircon because it was a long, boring 75 minute drive to our next stop, Hotel Geysir so I put my music on since the guide had nothing of interest to say. Here we had half an hour to admire the landscape then it was lunch for forty-five minutes. Darren kept showing his builder's bum as he waiter for one to erupt. It really was uncooperative, either spurting after five minutes or making us wait. After it did about four burps in a row it was another twenty before anything happened again.

Lunch was slowly served, but then there were four other coaches and day trippers. I think the problem was they didn't have enough staff. Soup was served first, with one of our table being mother. Others had their main course and had finished long before we saw ours. If you didn't like salmon you could have something else. The fish was nice, as were the potatoes but no idea what the other stuff was except it was horrible. There was to be no dessert, only a small piece of chocolate on a saucer for coffee which came as we had to leave to make way for the other five groups. We spotted Brian and Val on the next bus as we boarded ours but they didn't see us.

Boy it had got hot so we needed the aircon as we made our way to a waterfall. Here you had an option to walk down to the car park with the group or staying on the bus to be driven down. Three of us opted for the latter! By all accounts it was the right decision because below had the better view and there wasn't the time to go to other parts around it. Brian and Val were there so I showed them the photos I'd taken before and we chatted a while before getting back on our respective buses.

Off we went again to our penultimate stop of Þingvellir/Þingvallavatn to see a lake in the National Park. Part of the journey had gone over a semi-repaired road, the bone rattling reminding me of being on Artemis! That played merry hell with my back, not to mention my feet. They'd been reasonable since the thyroid tablet dosage was doubled, not swelling as badly as they had, but this made them hurt a hell of a lot. Up there you had pay toilets and the guide's fake apology about that didn't wash with us. Again, you had the choice to walk or stay on the bus. Four of us turned into six as we drove down to the car park. Juanita phoned because she'd become confused with the guide's stupid directions regarding the bridge and found us easily enough after that.

Back onto the bus and down the hill to free toilets! Boy did the bus empty with so many of the nearly dead dashing to a wooden shack for a pee! The driver got himself a drink and then we were leaving when a nearly dead said his wife wasn't back. The driver drove slowly towards her but did she hurry, thinking we were going? Can we just ban these people from ever leaving their homes????

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