For our next port in Iceland, we chose to walk to a nearby waterfall that we'd read about rather than taking a shore excursion.
After our long tour day in Reykjavik and an extensive excursion scheduled for our next port, Akureyri, we appreciated the concept of a slower paced day.
Princess offers a handful of guided excursions from the port in Grundarfjordur, with the top recommendation being the Best of Snæfellsnes Peninsula at $254.95 per passenger.
Other tours cost almost that much, so we were never really tempted.
Had we been cruising with Regent Seven Seas, which includes unlimited excursions, or Viking Ocean Cruises, with one introductory excursion per port, we would certainly have taken advantage of those offerings, assuming the ships called on this port.
Then again, those more deluxe cruise lines obviously cost considerably more than mainstream Princess Cruises. As the late Milton Friedman famously stated, "There is no such thing as free lunch."
We started the day with bran muffins and cappuccinos at the International Cafe. With 7 AM arrival time in port, we could have also selected a Princess Egg Muffins with no additional charge at that little cafe in the atrium. We enjoyed those delicious McDonalds-inspired creations in a couple of other early morning ports, but on this particular day we went up to the buffet for omelets, fresh fruit, potatoes, etc.
An advantage of cruising on the same line a lot of times is the preferred tender access, so as usual we were on the first tender boat heading ashore.
The short, pleasant tender boat ride on a gorgeous sunny day brought us to the little town. It was larger than Seydisfjordur, which we had visited on a different cruise, but it still is not a place where you would be likely to spend much time.
There's not much chance of getting lost.
We followed signs toward the Visitor's Center, which we somehow missed.
I stand corrected.
Without trying, we spotted the Orca Statue that we'd heard about in a port talk onboard but didn't take a photo. The artwork signifies the fact that whales can be spotted here in season.
We turned right when we saw an old lady sitting at a fold-out table selling a few items in a mini-yard sale.
No, I wouldn't count on that landmark being there should you come.
We meandered through a small neighborhood, finally finding our way to the main road leading out to the waterfall.
As we walked the coast, we could always see what I thought at first to be a volcano island, but Julie, having actually looked at the map, immediately knew it to be the peninsula with Mount Kirkjufell, or "Church Mountain," perched on it. It simply looks very different depending on the angle from which we looked at it.
Along the way, the waterfalls beckoned us visually from afar, if we zeroed in on them.
The route really was very simple, but we had hoped to find an alternative to walking on what for Iceland was a busy two-lane highway for at least part of the walk.
To be clear, this road was not one that a fast-food chain would target as a source of business.
Maybe a hundred cars per hour on this busy day with a large cruise ship in port.
Not enough cars to disturb the beautiful Icelandic horses in their pasture beside the road.
All in all, it was a very pleasant walk out to the falls.
Kirkjufellsfoss is gorgeous.
It's a series of three waterfalls.
Mount Kirkjufell makes a dramatic backdrop.
We return knowing that we were correct in assuming this site is the reason Princess chose this port, and on a cruise where it is easy to spend hundreds of dollars on shore excursions, it is always nice to have awesome natural wonders easily accessible.
The distance to these marvelous cascades are about two miles each way from the tender port.
Would it be wonderful to seek panoramic views from Mount Kirkjufell or take a guided excursion?
Probably.
But sometimes less is more. We were elated by our easy day in Grundarfjordur.
On this sunny day, Julie and I snagged seats at the top of the tender boat for the short ride to Caribbean Princess for lunch.
Notwithstanding Friedman's adage about free lunches, we enjoyed a terrific lunch, which if not free was, like breakfast and dinner, already included in our cruise fare.
Once again, we lavished in lovely views from the ship on a sunny afternoon in Iceland. Never underestimate the value of these sea views of lovely ports.
On this particular afternoon, we took advantage of the perfect temperature on our balcony.
In a photo Julie captured the book I found in the ship's library, If You Would Have Told Me. By the way, if you ever wonder how I remember different details of a trip weeks or months later when writing my blog, it often comes back to photos taken on the voyage.
It seems like I always find an interesting biography that I read on a cruise. This time, it was the autobiography of John Stamos.
As the book's title alludes, if you would have told me I'd be reading a book about John Stamos on this cruise, I'd never have believed you.
I was not, as you may logically infer, a big fan of his TV show Full House, although I had watched a few episodes over the years. I picked out the book because I had met him once, and he seemed to be a nice guy.
Working behind the desk at my suntan salon in Anaheim, Stamos came in with a friend to use tanning beds. The friend had a playful look about him as he asked, "Don't you know who this is?"
"No."
"This is the famous actor, John Stamos."
"Oh, nice to meet you. You'll need to fill out these questionnaires."
I still had no idea who he was, but I figured the friend was trying to score free tanning sessions, which wasn't going to happen on my watch.
Anyway, they had no cash, so John wrote a personal check. I noted the address was in a neighborhood that wasn't far away.
After the tanning sessions ended, they sort of paused by the door, John Stamos smiled bemusedly looking to see if I knew who he was. This was pre-internet, so unless he had been in the edition of Forbes Magazine that I happened to be reading, the answer would have still been no.
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| Here's a photo approaching the waterfalls. |
My cousin Bonnie came in a couple of hours later to relieve me. When I pulled the check from the till to take to put in the floor safe, I asked her if she knew who John Stamos was.
"Oh my gosh, was JOHN STAMOS HERE!?!!!"
"Yeah, you know him?"
"He's Blackie! On General Hospital. He's in all the fan magazines."
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| If you choose to just look at the pretty photos, I understand. |
So anyway, seeing his face on a book cover aboard Caribbean Princess reminded me of that day, so I checked out his book. What was it doing in the limited selection of that cruise ship library? It might have to do with his ex-wife Rebecca Romijn cohosting The Real Love Boat with her new husband. Just a guess.
In his autobiography, John talked about going to Disneyland with his friend --- the friend with him at the suntan salon? --- while in high school to meet girls. That reminded me of similar adventures at Disneyland on weekend nights that I had with my friends Chris and Kevin.
Stamos wrote that he always wanted to be a celebrity, and on more than one occasion, his friend would pretend to recognize him as an actor in a Disney movie to impress some girls they admired from afar. My friends and I did stuff just as goofy. I enjoyed thinking about my own past while reading about his.
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| Seeing photos of waterfalls is better than me describing them. |
It was an enjoyable read, cover to cover, because as odd as it seems, I could relate to a lot of his experiences and aspirations. One other note is that Stamos said he made the second worst movie in history (right behind Showgirls) at what must have been about the time I met him.
Upon returning home, I found that movie, which co-stars Gene Simmons of KISS, available for free viewing on youtube. Never Too Young to Die is so bad that you might find it as amusing as I did, so I linked it for you to view, should that interest you..
I read a few chapters on the balcony that day before taking an afternoon nap.
As we cruised from Grundarfjordur, we enjoyed our usual cruise ship evening of happy hour, live music in small venues, gourmet, multi-course dinner and a big show in the Princess Theater.
Life is always good, but taking a cruise makes that all the more obvious.
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