Cruisin' and our last hurrah! 

luvinspud

Thursday, April 25th - May 3rd, 2024

Our last leg of this world adventure is going to be in Europe! We are hoping to visit as many countries as we reasonably can, but to get there we decided to take a  repositioning cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL)! If you are unfamiliar, most cruise lines do a one way trip to reposition their ships - in this case from the east coast to Europe - so they can run tours throughout the summer season. We decided to take a 14 day transatlantic cruise from New York to London, which stops in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Reykjavik, Iceland; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Cork (Cobh), Ireland; Portland, United Kingdom, La Havre, France; Southhampton, United Kingdom. 

I would highly recommend a cruise for anyone who has limited time and wants to see a little bit of each country. We were stoked to be able to visit Iceland with the cruise. Iceland was on our list of countries to visit, but realized we probably did not have enough time to to head that way so this was a perfect compromise. We stayed in Reykjavik overnight so had plenty time to explore. We rented a car and drove to the famous Blue Lagoon geothermal spa and then visited the Gullfoss waterfall and Geysir. 

Other nice things about cruising is that you don't have to pack and repack, food and drink 24/7, and the kids can safely be independent and manage their own activity. We like to meet up for dinners as a family and the shore excursions, of course, but during the day, they are on their own recognizance! They love it! 

Side note: we had a total of 6 days at sea - 4 of which were back to back as we crossed the Atlantic Ocean. We did not mind those long days on the ship because we were homeschooling and chillaxing. The ship fills the days and nights with all sorts of activities for passengers too, so it's not likely you will get bored. However, 4 days in a row is my limit. Any more than that I would have gotten restless. 

Boarding the ship at Manhattan Cruise Terminal.
Already the kids wanted to do their own thing as we disembarked from NY, so Scot and I decided to grab a drink and watch NYC go by. . .
Beautiful NYC. . .
First Sunset on the boat.
First Moonrise from our cabin.
First stop was Halifax, Nova Scotia. We drove to Peggy's Cove and visited the lighthouse.
One of the activities we all enjoyed was the balloon twisting!
In Iceland, our first stop was The Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa.
Entering the Blue Lagoon. . .
I didn't want to get my phone wet, so I didn't bring it into the pools, but we did drinks, mudmasks and a nice long soak in the geothermal spa. The blue comes from the silica and minerals in the water.
In Iceland, they gave Dexter a pair of gloves to eat his chicken wings. . .brilliant!
We saw a beautiful double rainbow on our way to Gullfoss Waterfall!
Gullfoss Waterfall is powerful and beautiful.
I couldn't tell if the snow accumulation is from the mist of the waterfall or a previous snowfall - either way, it was cool.
Selfie shot.
Welcome to Geysir!
There was one main geyser that would blow every 5 mins or so.
Our drive back to the port of Reykjavik along the Gold Circle.
The Harpa Center in Reykjavik was where the shuttle from the ship dropped us off.
We did not go in, but we could tell from the displays in the window what to expect from this specialty cafe. Haha
Beautiful Sunset leaving Iceland.

This article was updated on May 8, 2024