Puffins, Fjords, & Luxury: Our Unforgettable Windstar Cruise Around Iceland

Our unforgettable experience cruising around Iceland with Windstar on the yacht named Star Pride is one for the books! Tune in to learn the unique advantages of small ship cruising in this outstandingly gorgeous Nordic country, including direct access to ports, personalized service, and immersive experiences. 

Learn exactly what ports we visited and why they were special, about the breathtaking landscapes, wildlife encounters, and onboard education that enriched the journey. We'll also share our practical travel tips for visiting Iceland, including what documents you need and the costs of the cruise compared to other cruise lines, making this episode a comprehensive guide for potential travelers.

Here are additional awesome resources for you to accompany this episode: 

• View photos from our Windstar Around Iceland cruise.
• Learn more about the ins and outs of Windstar's "All-In" package, with WiFi and alcohol included.
• If we're going to a destination with great wildlife spotting, like Iceland, we never leave home without our favorite binoculars. 
• Find out about the Celebrity Cruises The Retreat class if you're considering a cruise with them. 
• We never travel abroad without our Solis hotspot. Here's why we love it.
• Find out more about Three Flavors of Small Ship Cruises in a previous podcast episode, including river, yacht, and barge cruises.

Please note: The restaurant Basil + Bamboo will replace Cuadro 44 across Windstar's fleet, beginning in 2025.

Chapters

• 0:35 Exploring Iceland: A Unique Cruise Experience
• 2:16 Itinerary Highlights: Circumnavigating Iceland
• 9:06 Essential Things to Know about Visiting Iceland
• 9:53 Advantages of Small Ship Cruising on Windstar's Star Pride
• 13:41 Educational Enrichment Onboard
• 14:57 Iceland's Natural Wonders & Wildlife You'll Experience
• 18:39 Windstar's Excursion Options & Experiences in Iceland
• 20:26 Onboard Amenities & Dining Experiences
• 24:50 Windstar's "All-In" Package & Extra Special Touches
• 27:03 Cost of a Windstar Cruise in Iceland & Comparison to Other Cruise Lines
• 29:43 Practical Travel Tips to Prepare for an Iceland Vacation

Transcript

Dan (00:34)

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Small Ship Cruise Talk. Today, we are talking about fjords, puffins, and luxury. This all happened on our unforgettable Windstar cruise around Iceland.

Mikkel (00:48)

In today's episode, you will discover how to experience all of Iceland's breathtaking landscapes in just one week without the hassle of planning complex logistics thanks to small ship cruising and Windstar. We'll take you aboard Windstar's intimate Star Pride yacht ship to reveal why it is the ultimate way to explore this Nordic island nation. 

Whether you're drawn to otherworldly lava fields or something like charming coastal towns, or the wildlife you will potentially encounter, you're gonna learn how this unique cruise experience offers luxury, efficiency, and authentic immersion that land-based travel can't match, especially within the amount of time that a cruise can do it. We're gonna talk about our personal experience on this cruise that takes you around the island in a week, which is incredible. You circumnavigate an island nation in just a week. 

And we're also going to take you into the center of Reykjavik briefly in this, which is where we start and end the cruise. We did a pre and post war extension. So we know that it is worthy of its own episode, which is coming to you after this episode. So if you are listening after both have been published, then it's very likely that you can listen to one after the other, immediately. If you're listening to this when it is released then you have what to look forward to next week.

Let's jump in with the itinerary highlights, which is why this cruise was so incredibly appealing to us.

Dan (02:24)

At the beginning of the cruise, I was texting with a friend and he asked me if we'd ever cruised around an entire country on one cruise. And I was like, wow, what an interesting question. And no, we had not. I'm sure you can do it Australia, probably.

Mikkel (02:42)

Well, Greenland, I'm not sure you go around the whole thing. Even Japan, most itineraries don't take you around the island. It's like they go to some and then you go to mainland Asia.

Dan (02:44)

Japan? Yeah.

So it's a pretty interesting itinerary. And probably the coolest part is you circumnavigate the entire country in just seven days. Now it's not a huge country, but it's still... that's pretty neat.

Mikkel (03:05)

Yeah, it's really cool. And like I said before, we departed from Reykjavik and the port was just a 10 minute walk from the hotel. The pre cruise hotel that Windstar arranges is the Radisson Blu, and it is a fabulous hotel. They will transfer you from the hotel to the port location where you embark on the cruise. But we opted to walk because it was only a 10 minute walk and we walked with our luggage. We do carry on, only, whenever possible. And again, Windstar will transfer that for you without an extra cost. It's not a problem for them, but we just opted to do this on our own because we wanted the exercise and it is so incredibly close. 

And that's one of like the really cool things about this itinerary and specifically going with Windstar. The ship is small enough to dock in the primest location in Reykjavik. We didn't even see Viking ocean ships there in that same port area that fit 900 passengers, whereas Windstar Star Pride is about 300 passengers. So even a 900 passenger ship could not fit there like Windstar could. So I really want to emphasize that one of the highlights of cruising with Windstar was starting in the heart of the city center in Reykjavik. Some of the ports that we visited as we circumnavigated counterclockwise around Iceland was again we started in Reykjavik which is in the western part of the island. We went south to Heimaey Island. 

Now I will say this as a disclaimer on the entire episode: I don't speak Icelandic and neither does Dan. So I pre-apologize for any mispronunciations. I'm sure if you do speak Icelandic, that you are probably laughing at them, but we're doing the best we can. So Heimaey Island and the puffin colonies there, which was definitely a bucket list bird sighting. It is a small island off the South shore of mainland Iceland and it means "home island." So that was really cool. We went to Seydisfjordur and that is famous for its blue church.

And we did a Destination Discovery event there, which is one of Windstar's signature events. There's one per cruise and that is an excursion that is included for everybody. It's included in your cruise fare. You don't have to pay extra for it, whereas any other excursions that you add do cost

So that was Ísafjörður on the east side of the island of Iceland. And it is kind of located like

If the fjord was a…trying to think how to explain the shape of a fjord. A fjord is basically the body of water between two areas of land. So it's almost like a reverse, like negative space peninsula. So the peninsula is water instead of land. So Seydisfjordur is kind of in the crook, like the arm of the fjord. We went north to Akureyri, and that is the second largest urban area in Iceland. It is not close. It would probably take many, many hours to drive there from Reykjavik, but luckily due to this small ship cruise, we were able to access it without a problem. And that is famous for the Goðafoss waterfalls. I will say, even though I don't speak Icelandic, I do know that "foss," F-O-S-S, is waterfalls. So saying Goðafoss waterfall is kind of redundant, but since I'm mixing English and Icelandic, I'm going to do it. I'm going to take some liberty on that. 

It is on the north part of the island. Almost if you sliced Iceland in half vertically, it would be at that median at the top where that halfway line is. We also went to Ísafjörður.

And it was so charming. There's a lot of authentic Iceland and just everyday living from the residents there that can be felt. That's in the northwest area of the island. There's gorgeous sweeping landscapes for photos, very calm, tranquil environment to be in. We could see kids playing and couples walking and families kind of just enjoying day-to-day life there.

The highlight for me was that we went to the grocery store that was walking distance from the port and I bought some Icelandic lava salts, so that was really cool. And I'm sure if you've done any research on Iceland, you've seen very famous photos of the Rainbow Street in Reykjavik that you can see the famous church from. Well, the cool thing is in Ísafjörður there's another Rainbow Street area that is lesser photographed, but just as beautiful.

So if you walk towards the center of the city, it's a very small city. You can walk to the center of the city within 10 to 15 minutes from the ship. You can take another great photo there. And then we also ended the cruise in a very amazing place called Grundarfjörður. And that is part of a peninsula that's Snæfellsnes.

Look at the spellings and the show notes, you will understand why I'm having a little bit of a challenge pronouncing them. I had a look up how to say them before we recorded this. But what I loved about it is the black sand beaches along Iceland's west coast. Grundarfjörður. is on the northern end of the Western Peninsula. And also we saw this amazing church right by the beach.

I didn't realize that Iceland actually also has regular sand beaches like we have on Long Island where I'm from or Florida where we live. So that was really cool to see. And I also want to mention if you love Game of Thrones - the HBO hit show that came from the hit books - this could be a really cool itinerary for you because it goes through locations that were part of Game of Thrones.

Dan (09:06)

Some quick notes to keep in mind is you will of course need your passport because it's another country, but you don't need a visa to visit. The currency in Iceland is the Icelandic króná. But we didn't exchange cash. We were able to use just credit cards and our debit cards. We didn't need to do any exchange.

Another thing to note is the language is Icelandic, but pretty much everybody speaks English. So that shouldn't be a barrier to you visiting. You'll be able to get around and maneuver pretty easily on the island.

Mikkel (09:40)

100 % and a lot of everybody speaking English there is not just because they learn it in school, but also because tourism is one of the major drivers for their economy. So everybody speaks English.

I want to talk about the small ship advantages. So we touched on that talking about where you board the ship in the heart of Reykjavik. But let's get into some of the specifics of what makes Windstar's Star Pride special.

They have a very manageable amount of guest decks. It is six - six of those. And it is 522 feet long if you love hearing about some of those measurements. They have a 312 passenger capacity and 204 crew members. So that's nearly a one to one ratio. And it's even closer to one if the ship's not full.

Versus other cruise ships that go to Iceland, something like an Viking ocean ship that I had mentioned earlier: that has 930 passengers. And then a small Celebrity Cruise ship like Celebrity Silhouette that currently sails in Iceland has 2,886 passengers. So when we're talking small ship with Windstar, we are talking small and intimate at 312 passengers. There were a few people, especially on days six and seven, I had never seen before. And of course, there were people that we saw repeatedly. So you get a little bit of both of those things. They can access smaller ports around Iceland and Iceland's not huge. So the biggest city of Reykjavik is smaller than most cities that are popular in the United States. So I feel really strongly that going on a small ship around Iceland is the way to go.

Dan (11:29)

So another bonus with cruising with Windstar is there was no tendering required. Direct access to these destinations. So you're pulling up into these smaller cities and smaller towns and right off the boat, right into the heart of the city most of the time. It gives you that feeling of truly a VIP. Like you are walking off the ship, there's personalized service from the crew assisting you along the way and both onboard and off board.

You definitely feel like a VIP and you get that special attention. There's going to be less crowds on a ship this size also. So that stands to reason the amount of passengers and the size of the ship. But what that means is faster access to the ports and not that crowded viewing of landscapes or wildlife or anything like that. You really get to feel like you're a part of the places that you're visiting and not part of a crowd visiting the places.

Mikkel (12:25)

Yeah, and when we pulled into Seydisfjordur - this is a great example of two points that you just hit a very slow and lovely sail into that fjord to dock in Seydisfjordur. And when we sailed in, I very distinctly recall standing on the top deck, because it was a gorgeous sunny day, and you did not have to fight for a front row, so to speak, spot right by the railing to, you know - we bring our own binoculars. We'll link you up to those in the show notes, but we had our binoculars to get really close up on the waterfalls, even though you could see them in the distance. We opted not to do an excursion there because this was where the Windstar included excursion was. And also we knew that the waterfalls were really close by. So to your point, like we didn't have to tender, we just got right off the ship.

And we walked to the waterfalls and that was so beautiful. And the funny thing to us was that an hour and a half or two hours later after we had already been there and walked right off the ship because we docked right on the shore, we saw bigger cruise line was tendering guests in because their ship could not go there. And I felt like that was such a rock star VIP aspect of being on a small ship like Windstar in Seydisfjordur.

Dan (13:39)

Yeah, yeah, I definitely remember. One of the highlights for this Windstar cruise was the education on board. We had a professor that I think it was pretty much every day. He gave a lecture in the main assembly room.

Mikkel (13:53)

Theatre. Yeah, assembly room/theatre. It was kind of a multi-purpose room.

Dan (13:57)

Right. He Gave a lot of lectures about the Norse gods - about the locations and the history we had visited or that we were about to visit the next day. And his commentary and his insights for me brought the country and the history of the country into perspective and helped me put each port and each place that we visited into this history or lineage of the country.

Mikkel (14:25)

I thought that was amazing. It reminded me of my Greek mythology class in college, but the Norse version of it. And I was just soaking up everything that he said and it was so cool to learn about the, I would say, the mythology and legends associated with these real places that we were going to. And he had some really cool slides with different illustrations that really enriched our experience.

Dan (14:53)

Let's talk about some of the landscapes and just beautiful scenery that we saw. Next, let's talk about the beautiful landscapes and wonderful encounters with nature that we saw. So the first one that stands out for me is Berserkjahraun lava fields. They are estimated to be between 3,000 and 4,000 years old. And it's like you're on a completely different planet in a lava field, everything is black and gray and it's eerie, but also so fascinating.

Mikkel (15:25)

Yeah, it's hard to describe. I know it doesn't look like the moon. I mean, not firsthand. I know from photos of the moon, but it felt like we were just like interplanetary and we were just transported to a movie set, which is why Game of Thrones has obviously been filmed there. And the lava fields were incredible. And one of the reasons I thought that that was extra special was because when we were in Reykjavik, we went to the lava show, which is the only live real lava show in the world. So that was really cool. We were able to see that. We're going to talk about that in our Reykjavik episode that you can tune into. And another highlight was the black sand beach at Djúpalónssandur.

 Again, apologies for the pronunciation of these Icelandic words, but in our transcript, we do have them spelled out for you. It’s also in the captions on YouTube, if you want to tune in and see our faces and listen on YouTube anytime. And the fjord sailing experiences with the mountainous views were amazing. It's really shocking and wonderful how varied the landscapes around the entire island are. You would think it's one fjord after another, but I really felt like they were different everywhere we went in the different regions.

Dan (16:45)

Definitely, yeah. The difference in regions, the difference in landscapes, the difference in vegetation.

Mikkel (16:53)

Mm-hmm.

Dan (16:53)

Iceland has a lot to offer and a lot of different looks, really.

Mikkel (17:00)

Yeah. And I had been to Iceland previously before I met you and you had never been there. But I went as a stopover to Europe and I loved that - I suspected it before and I know it for sure now - that there's so much to explore beyond Reykjavik and this cruise, very easily, like we said at the top of the episode, allows you to do that without all the complications of renting a car, figuring out hotels, mapping it out. Some people love doing that. I would say the majority of people don't, which is why the majority of people never leave Reykjavik or the Golden Circle day tour that you can do from there. But it was such an amazing part of this cruise. And speaking of the different types of vegetation and landscapes, with that is some wildlife encounters. So some Icelandic wildlife that you can expect to see on the cruise is the puffin colony.

If you opt for this excursion at Heimaey Island. I put a little Hawaiian spin on that accent that time, but I don't know, mix it up. The Icelandic horses, and you'll hear a little bit on some of the tours about why the Icelandic horses are unique. They actually export them but never import them, just in case they come back with any diseases or anything. And also I thought it was so cool to see Icelandic sheep. 

I remember one of the rest stops that we made, there were like sheep in the distance and I kind of like walked over to take some photos of them with my telephoto lens that I always travel with on these types of wildlife cruises. And then also just spectacular waterfalls. I think it's pretty well known that Iceland is famous for its stunning waterfalls and they did not disappoint. Which brings us to excursion options.

Dan (18:39)

So we did a balance of organized excursions and independent excursions. It was approximately $150 to $275 per person depending on the excursion.

Three of them that stuck out for me was the the bus tour of Heimaey Island that made several stops, including the puffin colony, where I got probably 15,000 pictures of puffins.

Mikkel (19:09)

Not a bad thing. You say it like it's a bad thing. That was like when we got pretty much the same amount of photos of blue-footed boobies in Ecuador. But come on, these are bucket list birds.

Dan (19:10)

Okay. Right. Then the third one that sticks out for me is the Akureyri Godfoss waterfall excursion, and the botanical gardens. So it was those two highlights, but then also the town itself was very interesting and we enjoyed our time walking around and kind of bopping into a couple shops and I think we grabbed a beer or two there also.

Mikkel (19:43)

Yeah. And for me, the Akureyri Botanical Garden was a big surprise because you think, "We're in the Arctic. So what are we going to see?" But they do have their own flora and fauna, of course. And the flora at the Botanical Garden was so spectacular. I snapped a photo of this stunning Icelandic blue poppy that is like no flower I've ever seen in its color. And it's one of my rotating wallpapers on my phone and it just makes me smile and takes me back to Iceland every time I see it. And as Dan said, in addition to the excursion at Akureyri we did our own excursion because it is a major urban area on our own and we're able to grab a beer and do a little shopping so that was really fun.

But the nice thing is once you get on board, there's a whole additional on board experience that's really spectacular with Windstar Cruises starting with your spacious suites. So their ships actually went through an expansion for more spaces. So when we walked into our stateroom, I was actually stunned and taken aback by how big it was. It had a little lounge area. It had a very nice vanity slash desk area with plenty of storage. There was a walk-in closet, a really spacious bathroom. So that was really cool.

In addition, onboard amenities included an outside deck with local beers, so that was open when the weather was favorable. There's a hot tub that I ended up having all to myself one afternoon. And then only other one person came in and joined me, which we had a really nice conversation. And he gave me a little insider tip, having been on Windstar before, about what to order at the steakhouse, Candles, which I'll get to in a minute. 

And then also, just the experience of sailing through the fjords, like I mentioned before, is to me an amenity and having that spacious top deck. Let's get into dining and start with Candles. So this other passenger was nice enough to tell me that you should get the filet at candles. So if you are a carnivore and you do eat meat, it did not disappoint. It was amazing. And one of the things that Windstar does is they partner with the James Beard Foundation to get some unique items for their menu and different dishes. So I really loved a watermelon and tomato salad appetizer there. For example, that was created in partnership with the Top Chef from Season 14, Annie Pettry who is James Beard Foundation nominee.

And I'm going to tee it off to you to talk about Cuadro 44 because I know you're very passionate about the Spanish style of cuisine there and your favorite dish that you can share with everybody.

Dan (22:24)

Cuadro 44 was a Spanish-inspired restaurant on board. We ate there I'm pretty sure our first night and they had ham so I was happy. And Spanish wine and I believe there was Patatas Bravas and kind of the hits of the Spanish cuisine.

Mikkel (22:35)

Yeah, that's it.

Dan (22:43)

For me, loving Spain, like this was the perfect way to kick off the cruise.

Mikkel (22:49)

Yeah, it was and reservations are required at Cuadro 44 and Candles. However, it's not an extra amount of money. It's just because seating is more limited than at their main restaurant, which is a third dining option called Amphora. And one of the highlights there was a galley dinner that they opened the galley to guests and they set up a buffet style dinner there. 

And it's really cool to see behind the scenes if you haven't opted to do the free onboard tour of the galley at another time. And then lastly, in terms of public dining venues, the Star Grill - weather permitting again, just like that outdoor bar was open for lunch one of the days and we really enjoyed our meal out there because we didn't have to choose between seeing the view and dining at the same time. We could do both.

And then another thing I really love about Windstar, which feels really elevated and it's absolutely another dining option is room service. And we took advantage of this one day when we wanted to go on an excursion, but also have time to walk around town before the all aboard time. So we made the decision to do that and then just order room service when we got back to room because the lunch hours at the public dining spaces were closed.

Lastly is the Yacht Club Cafe, which is also a library and gaming space if you want to do some puzzles or take out one of the books that are there on the shelves, kind of self-service of that too. But we loved having a coffee there and looking at the gorgeous Icelandic landscape. It's really popular if you are sailing and the weather is inclement in any way. 

If it's cold outside or windy or raining, it's just a great place to get a complimentary coffee and a little bite to eat. And I will say, speaking of bites to eat, if you are a vegan, they have one of the most impressive vegan menus I've seen on any cruise line. I always noticed the vegan options that sounded delicious and they had vegan cookies out and assorted pastries and they were very vegan conscientious.

Dan (24:50)

Speaking of "All-In" package benefits, so what that includes is drinks and Wi-Fi, that's gonna be $99 per person per day if you do that five days prior to the cruise. Or if you're already on the cruise and you want to add it on, it's gonna be $109.

Mikkel (25:08)

So if you know you want to do it, we recommend for sure adding it before because it's a little bit of a cost savings. And like you said, Dan, it's per person per day. So maybe the difference of $10 isn't that much for one day, but that can add up over time, especially for two people in your stateroom when you are adding up the math. And also another perk of the All-In package is 30 % off upgraded bottles of wine.

So what happens if you don't get the All-In package or you do the "Cruise Only" rate as they call it? Those things just aren't included and you can pay a la carte for drinks and such. But otherwise, drinks aren't included like they are on a river cruise. You do need to pay for them a la carte or opt into the "All-In" package.

Dan (25:52)

There was a lot of small touches that made this cruise extra special. So there were candies or local culinary treats delivered to the room. On the night we crossed the Arctic Circle, there was a blue nose ceremony where they put a blue dot on everybody's nose and we got a certificate back in the room and they really made it fun, interesting and memorable along the way.

Mikkel (26:17)

Yeah, and for me, I'm such a detail-oriented person that I really appreciated that stuff. And along with the local candies and such, I remember that they put like a little Icelandic phrases card in the room, which was cool. And like we said, everybody speaks English, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with trying to speak a little bit of Icelandic while you're there and immersing yourself in the culture in that way. And I really felt like they helped us do that.

And even on the Discovery Excursion, the one in Seydisfjordur to the Blue Church, they partner with a local singer and guitarist that sang for us there. And they're very much local and native to Iceland and grew up in Iceland. And that was more of the cultural enrichment that I felt like Windstar really did a great job at.

So what is all of this costing for the investment of your hard earned dollars and vacation time?

For this Icelandic tour for the Around Iceland itinerary, if you want the All-In package, for example, and this of course is going to vary based on the date or the year you're looking at, but the all-in price starts at $3,700. That's Wi-Fi, unlimited beer, wine, and cocktails. And if you only want to do the cruise only, maybe you don't want Wi-Fi, you want to be unplugged, or you want no alcohol, that's going to be $3,000.

I want to compare this to the ocean ship options that we mentioned. So on Viking it starts at $4,300 for a Viking Ocean tour. So that is the cost difference of about $500 for a starting price.

With Viking, you get six guided tours that are included with that, whereas Windstar, the tours are a la carte. But again, different experience. And with Windstar, it's a third of the passengers of Viking. So, you know, just pick your poison, pick what you like in terms of cruising. And I also really think that the cost difference is kind of out the window when you consider how many ports Windstar can access that the bigger ships can't. And then I just want to mention Celebrity Silhouette, the one that we mentioned earlier, that's 2,800 passengers, approximately.

An ocean view room that we looked up starts at around $1,579 for a cruise that's entirely around Iceland. And I say that because as an ocean ship, they also have an option that goes transatlantic from New Jersey over to Greenland and then to Iceland. But I also want to mention that this Iceland only tour, just if we're going to compare as much as we can apples to apples here.

The Retreat, which is the ship-within-a-ship class on Celebrity that we've mentioned before, and I'll link that in the show notes for what The Retreat is, but that starts around $4,500 and does not include tours. It includes taxes and fees like the others. However, again, pick your preference. There's pros and cons to being on a big ship versus a river ship versus a yacht ship like Windstar, versus...you know, an expedition ship. So I'll also link up that in the show notes. Now that I say it out loud, we have a podcast episode discussing all of these differences, but the price difference is comparable for all these experiences. I think it's a matter of what kind of cruise you want around Iceland and the size of the ship.

Dan (29:43)

As we wrap up, here's a couple practical travel tips for your journey to Iceland.

For us, we got the Wi-Fi package, but when we were off the ship, we took our hotspot with us.

We use a Solis hotspot and it connects to the networks that are on land and we didn't have any problems in any port. So we were still connected to Wi-Fi off the ship.

The other thing that we strongly recommend is do a pre and post cruise extension in Reykjavik. Reykjavik is a great city to explore, but also for us, it's always that peace of mind getting in a day or two early before the cruise starts, and you aren't quite ready to say goodbye to your vacation yet, and so you stay maybe one or two extra days afterwards.

When you're packing your suitcase, Icelandic weather is unpredictable at best. There was days I was in a t-shirt and there was days I had 13 jackets on. So it is all over the board and you're probably going to get rained on at least once a day. If not three times a day. Like I said, it's all over the board. So bring your layers, your rain gear, some gloves, hand warmers, anything that you think you're going to need to be comfortable in a cool, wet environment even in the summer. So like I said, weather changes quickly and you're going to go from warm to hot to cold to rainy all within the course of one day.

For any nature lovers out there, of course, bring your binoculars and telephoto lenses. You are going to see amazing wildlife, amazing waterfalls, and not everything is right up close to the ship so you want to bring those binoculars to really bring it home and get the best views of all the crazy beautiful landscapes and wildlife.

Mikkel (31:40)

And that really enriched our experience because I could tell everybody around us that did not have binoculars because it's very much BYOB: Bring Your Own Binoculars. They could not get as close to those puffins as we did. I mean, just seeing the beaks and their little eyes and the colors of the feathers really close up was magical and a bucket list bird. I keep saying that, but it's just so true. It's a bucket list bird. The older we get, the more into birding we are.

It's just a fact of life. So I hope that this was helpful for you listening. By all means, if you have any questions we didn't answer, we love hearing from our listeners. So check out the show notes for ways to contact us. You can even send us a text and we will reply. The benefits of cruising and seeing Iceland on Windstar are numerous and we love that we were able to get to those ports and have that enrichment on board in those lectures and have these stunning views from the top deck and relax in our stateroom oasis that felt like an oversized room in the best way possible. And we were surrounded by an amazing crew.

If you want a little bit of a deep dive into Reykjavik, tune into the next episode when we talk about a guide to extending your trip. Like Dan said, in a pre or post or both extension on your own in Reykjavik, we talk about where the airport is, how to get into the city center from the airport, where to stay in Reykjavik, what excursions we booked that we're gonna include links and you can book them too so you don't even have to spend much time planning because we've done it for you.

So that is what we have to look forward to. As always, thank you for listening. We appreciate you and we will talk next time. Bon voyage.