Windstar Cruises Around Iceland Review from Firsthand Experience

Windstar's Around Iceland cruise from Reykjavik is the most enjoyable and efficient way to experience everything Iceland offers in a week. The Icelandic mountains, waterfalls, volcanoes, and countryside will leave you as awestruck as Windstar's hospitality and accommodations.

We glanced at bigger ships pulling into ports as we made our way around Iceland by sea and were grateful to be on the 312-passenger Star Pride with Windstar Cruises — a small ship cruise line that makes every passenger feel like a VIP. Puffins filled my camera frame on the shores of Iceland one day, and the next, an excursion took us around the Snæfellsnes peninsula. We got to walk around the Berserkjahraun lava fields and onto the shore of a black-sand beach in Djúpalónssandur. And we always returned to our incredible home base with an excellent crew, delicious meals, and cozy accommodations. It was bliss.

Cruising around this singular Scandinavian country in seven days was incredibly memorable, stopping at ports on Iceland's coastline each day to explore otherworldly landscapes.

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Windstar Around Iceland Cruise Overview

Windstar’s Around Iceland cruise minimizes your need to figure out time-consuming logistics and maximizes the time you spend enjoying your vacation. Their shore excursion options were plentiful and well organized, the onboard food was sublime, and the spacious guest suites were a delightful home away from home.  

The ship docks in the most ideal location for any cruise ship that visits Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, where you embark on your journey. Each day brought new treasures, whether an onboard lecture about Iceland’s history, a whimsical ceremony to mark crossing into the Arctic Circle, or reflection and conversation over quality cuisine at one of the ship’s signature restaurants. The icing on the cake was Windstar’s hospitality that unfolded each day through very special touches bestowed on guests.

Pre-Cruise Stay in Reykjavik

We arrived at Iceland’s Keflavik Airport two days before our cruise to adjust to the time zone before embarking on Star Pride. Though the time change in Iceland is just four hours ahead of the EST zone that we are used to, it was beneficial to arrive in advance to acclimate. 

For the two nights we had a pe-cruise, we stayed at two different hotels: the Center Hotel Plaza and the Radisson Blu. The Radisson Blu was booked through Windstar for the night before the cruise and was undoubtedly the nicer of the two hotels. 

Windstar Cruises Experience at the Radisson Blu

Windstar specifically sends a representative to the hotel to greet cruise guests and organize their luggage and transfers. It was lovely to have a point person to ask questions upon arrival about the following day’s embarkation schedule. 

The transfers were being arranged as a courtesy for guests uncomfortable with finding the port alone. We opted to have our luggage transferred but we walked five minutes to the ship to venture on our own; the port is incredibly close to the Radisson Blu.

Pre-Cruise Stay in Iceland and Embarkation Day

A lovely breakfast was included in our Radisson Blu stay, pictured above.

If you stay in the hotel before your cruise, inquire about a room where you cannot hear the music from the bars at night. Bars in Iceland often have live music, and we found out that there’s a bar close to the hotel that has very loud music until 1:00 am. The Radisson Blu in Iceland is made up of two buildings, which means that the main building, where the reception is, is the one you want to be in. You cannot hear the music from there, but you can hear it very clearly from the second building, where our room was.

Music aside, the Radisson Blu was in a great location, had a wonderful breakfast, and is a fantastic hotel. There was a hospitality room for Windstar guests the day before the cruise and the day of the cruise that we appreciated. 

In addition to coming into the city the night before the cruise, another option for a Windstar Around Iceland cruise is to stay after the cruise, do a post-cruise Reykjavik tour with the group, and leave later in the day or days after you disembark.

Windstar's Iceland Cruise Starts at an Optimal Location That Other Cruise Lines Cannot Access

One of the many benefits of cruising with Windstar in Iceland is that the ship's small size means it can dock in the center of town. The Windstar Cruises port location is centrally located in the city, a true advantage of sailing with Windstar.

Other cruise ships cannot dock as close to the center of downtown Reykjavik as Windstar ships can due to size limitations. Norwegian Cruise Lines, Carnival Cruise Line, Viking, and Atlas Ocean Voyages can't take advantage of such an optimal port location. While you can’t compare cruising on a Carnival or Norwegian ship to the experience of a Windstar Cruises journey, Star Pride's small length makes this perk possible for its guests.

Star Pride Guest Capacity

Star Pride can accommodate 312 guests at full capacity. If you're used to river cruises, that is approximately double the capacity of a typical river cruise ship that sails on the Danube River.

Extraordinary Windstar Touches During an Around Iceland Cruise

We’ve been on many cruise lines, and Windstar is a standout in adding extra special touches to make a cruise memorable. They walked the talk of their “180 Degrees from Ordinary” motto and did several things that made our Iceland cruise especially noteworthy.

We don’t want to spoil every surprise for you if you go on the Around Iceland itinerary. However, we’ll give you insight into two special treats to illustrate the point. One evening, we returned to the room to Icelandic Schnapps, and another night, an Icelandic chocolate-dipped licorice candy was waiting for us. We wouldn’t have purchased these things to try on our own because we didn’t even know about them before Windstar told us about them! And at that point, we had the treats in our hands. 

Each treat was accompanied by a small paper explaining its uniqueness to the region. 

Another example of Windstar going the extra mile and with a keen attention to detail is this: Our room attendant left a small Windstar lens cloth next to Dan’s sunglasses one day when he left them on the desk while we were on an excursion. Touches like that were truly impactful and set Windstar apart from the rest. 

Ports During The Around Iceland Itinerary

Iceland is not a big country in terms of size or population. The majority of Iceland’s inhabitants live in Reykjavik. So, as you can guess, the ports you stop in during your closed-loop itinerary, starting and beginning in the capital city of Reykjavik, are very small. 

In between starting and ending in Reykjavik, we visited: 

• Heimaey Island
• Seydisfjordur
• Akureyri
• Isafjordur
• Grundarfjordur (with an excursion to Snæfellsnes peninsula)

The small size of the cities you visit during this cruise makes it incredibly easy to walk around the areas in just an hour or two. But there aren’t many options for things to do in these places unless you sign up for an excursion. The Windstar excursions take you away from the town center into surrounding areas. 

Time in Ports & Excursions We Signed Up For

We had ample time in the ports. Each port was visited for just the right amount of time — not too much, not too little. We opted to tour Reykjavik on our own for two days before the cruise.

Signing up for these three tours, out of many tours offered, gave us a nice balance of organized activities and free time to explore independently:

Cost is another thing to consider when staying within a budget because tours in Iceland are expensive. This is true whether or not you're on a cruise. Things cost more in Iceland than in most of North America or Europe. The cost of tours in Iceland reminded us a bit of tours in Alaska.

We explored Seydisfjordur on our own, which was the perfect place to visit and roam around without an organized excursion for two reasons:

1. There is a gorgeous waterfall steps from where the ship docks. You can walk there and back and have time to idle around the falls within an hour.
2. Windstar's “Destination Discovery” program includes a cultural enrichment event on each cruise. Depending on the itinerary, the program is on the ship or off. 

The Around Iceland “Destination Discovery” experience was in the famous blue church in Seydisfjordur. Folk singers entertained us with stories and singing for 45 minutes. Between those two things, plus the town being cute to walk around for a little while, we had plenty to do there. If you are looking for a port to skip an organized tour that you pay for, we recommend skipping it in Seydisfjordur. Explore on your own, yet be sure to attend the fun performance.

Lecture Series Throughout the Cruise

Many people, including us, love learning about the places we visit during a cruise. This is why we enjoyed the onboard lecture series that Windstar offered. A professor's four lectures on Viking history enriched our knowledge of the area’s history. Since the lectures always took place before we reached the area mentioned in the lecture, it increased our excitement about our visit. 

Crossing the Arctic Circle 

Windstar hosts a fun and playful event that made the trip even more exciting. The “Blue Nose” ceremony commemorated the ship crossing over the Arctic Circle line between Seydisfjordur and Akureyri.

After dinner that day, we returned to our stateroom to find two enamel pins and a small paper certificate customized with our names and stateroom number. Shortly after finding these mementos, we headed to the Compass Rose lounge to join other gleeful guests, excited to get a blue dot on our noses to honor the occasion. 

Restaurants on Windstar's Star Pride

One of the benefits of sailing on Star Pride is that it has multiple restaurants. While we don’t mind the usual one restaurant on river cruises, it’s nice to have a change of scenery some nights if there are multiple restaurant options. Star Pride has three restaurants that serve dinner and the option of room service as well. 

All restaurants are included in the cost of your cruise fare. You do not need reservations for dinner at Amphora restaurant, the main evening restaurant. But you need reservations at the specialty restaurants, Cuadro 44 and Candles. Reservations at the two specialty restaurants are a necessity due to limited seating. 

Multiple options were also available for breakfast, including the Yacht Club cafe, the main restaurant, and room service. Room service was also available for lunch, dinner, and late-night snacks. Lunch was served inside where breakfast was, or there was an outdoor grill venue option, depending on the weather.

Food on Star Pride

The food was excellent. We were wowed by how consistently delicious it was and that we liked everything we ate. We can’t usually say that! Of all the cruise lines we’ve been on — and we’ve been on many — Windstar was at the top of the list for exceptional food. 

Drinks During an Icelandic Cruise with Windstar

We recommend factoring in the “All In” package for the price of your cruise if you are going to order alcohol and want Wi-Fi. For $89 per person per day, you get Wi-Fi, unlimited beer, wine, cocktails, and gratuities. You must book it at least five days before your cruise to take advantage of that pricing; once onboard, the price increases to $99 per day. If you don't add the “All In” package, you can purchase drinks a la carte and pay your gratuities separately.

We appreciated that they had some Icelandic beer on board during the first half of the cruise. Since we sailed in a region with cold weather, hot mulled wine was available throughout the cruise.

Icelandic Specialties During the Cruise

We appreciated that the cruise line leaned into the locale in a few ways regarding food and drink offerings. A little effort and creativity went a long way and made us notice that Windstar cares about such nuisances.

Each Drink of the Day had an Icelandic name, like the “Northern Lights” or “Vikings” cocktail. Several days of the cruise, if a guest wanted to try it, there was some sort of Icelandic dish on the lunch buffet, like Icelandic fish cakes or Icelandic stew.

We also appreciated a small card with Icelandic phrases that was left in our room early on in the cruise. While everyone in Iceland speaks English, it’s still fun to say some things in the local language or at least try to do so in the privacy of our stateroom.