Seyðisfjörður (Seydisfjordur), Iceland

Rough sea conditions resulted in our first scheduled Iceland port, Akureyri, being postponed and replaced with Seydisfjordur.

We had a great Viator excursion booked in Akureyri, which seemed destined to be a highlight of our trip, but that would have to wait, so we went online to cancel well outside of the 24-hour parameter to avoid penalties.

Seydisfjordur is a tiny port, making our arrival more akin to Skjolden, our first port in Norway.

Rather than walking ashore as in Skjolden, however, seldom-visited Seydisfjordur requires a tender boat.  

With few public transportation possibilities and very limited tours offered, most of us rode the tender and were involved in something of a scrum to get free information at the pier.

Julie and I knew we would follow port advisor Julio's advice to take the road along the east bank of the Fjarðará River to view multiple waterfalls, not unlike our day in Skjolden.

It didn't turn out to be Deja Vu.  We walked through the wooden buildings in downtown Seydisfjordur, which was less scenic than our first steps in Skjolden.

People with mobility challenges or incapable of walking a few miles had few options in town beyond visiting the old but not otherwise remarkable Blue Church, where Julie and I said a prayer of thanks before going on our way.

Nothing else in the town favorably attracted our attention, so we proceeded along the highway toward waterfalls a couple of uphill miles away, as did many others

We passed green fairways of an executive golf course along the road.

It should have been positioned to take advantage of 3,000 cruise customers without specific plans, many of whom must have been golfers prepared to rent equipment and play at least nine holes, but on this day, a brisk wind would have made reaching the greens difficult, and we didn't see anyone playing.  Perhaps the golf season hadn't begun.

As in Norway, skiing is available not too far above sea level near Seydisfjordur, but May 20 was too late for the slopes to be open, even as far north as Iceland.  As we walked along the road, I kept thinking that this area could benefit from hundreds of years of global warming to catch up with Norway's relatively lush foliage.

While the appeal of experiencing waterfalls up close drew Julie and me forward, we saw many people turn around upon seeing some distant waterfalls off the side of the road, but we pushed on.

Eventually we came to a beaming hiker returning down the road.  She pointed to the left and said to head that way for some beautiful falls that turned out to be somewhat hidden by surrounding terrain.  She went on to add that it was well worth continuing on from there to see the larger falls.

True to the hype, the waterfalls are lovely, as our photos attest.

We spent quite a bit of time feeling the power of the cascades, which is something we appreciate whenever we encounter these wonders of nature anywhere in the world.

Walking back to town, we played it forward, advising people we passed that it was indeed worth the effort.

Back at the port, we found the pier jammed with travelers returning to the ship, which can be something of a pain for tender ports on a mega-ship.

I didn't hear anyone raving about how great the museums or anything other than waterfalls had been.

Assuming Sky Princess would be arriving at the larger port of Akureyri the next day, most of us made less effort to maximize time in Seydisfjordur than might have been the case if we knew we would not visit that port.  After all, the only question for Julie and me about Akureyri had been whether we would be taking the nature bath on our Viator Tour to Lake Myvatn, Dettifoss and Goddafoss Waterfalls Day Tour from Akureyri.

We had already re-booked that excursion from May 20 to May 21, and then the Captain announced we would not be going at all.  We actually cruised into Akureyri on the morning of May 21 and were shocked when suddenly Sky Princess turned around to cruise back out.

A later announcement came that seas were too rough, but the water conditions didn't seem that dire to Julie and me as we sat in the International Cafe at the point when the ship turned around.

The weather, in fact, seemed pretty nice all day long as we cruised the waters near Akureyri.  Julie and I took advantage of sunny skies to enjoy hot tubs of different temperatures aboard the ship, which along with other ship activities to appreciate on a sea day was certainly pleasant.  They were nonetheless definitely not the Blue Lagoon, and we were extremely disappointed to miss that port day.

In the final analysis, we only can play the hands we are dealt, so if something like this happens to you, always do your best to make Limoncello out of lemons.

Fortunately, Viator waived the penalty they could have charged us for cancelling less than two hours before the tour was scheduled to begin.

The episode was a good reminder that an excursion booked with the cruise line automatically cancels with full refunds, whereas independent tours can involve extra stress as well as potential cancellation fees if the ship misses a port, unless there is "port protection," as there always are with our Cruise Planners affiliate Shore Excursions Group.

Missing a port just gives you an excuse to return another day to explore more.