From the moment we landed till the day we departed, everything was right. There was, as advertised, a Gate 1 rep to meet us at the airport. On the way to the hotel, we met our Gate 1 tour guide Paulie. He was a former teacher and native of Iceland. For us he was perfect. Smart, interesting and fun but not in a cheesy way. No games or sing-a-longs. I liked that we had the same guide for all of our excursions.
We took the City tour, the Golden Circle, South Shore trip, Blue Lagoon and Northern Lights tour while in Iceland. The only one that was not with Paulie was Northern Lights tour. All were interesting and allowed us to see different parts of this beautiful country in comfortable motor coaches.
We stayed at the Hotel Cabin. It was a bit dated but clean and run very efficiently. Breakfast was included with the Gate 1 package. A cold buffet with a limited selection but good to start the day. The hotel also had a lunch and dinner buffet available for an extra charge. Caroline at reception was so friendly under a lot of pressure from guests that were not always nice. Caroline is an asset to the Hotel Cabin.
If you have done any research on Iceland, you may have heard it is quite expensive. I will wholeheartedly agree.
Examples-
1 can of beer $10.00
1 can of soda $8.00
disposable lighter $6.00
coffee cup (souvenir) $22.00
Christmas ornament-$27.00
key chain $10.00
bag of chips $9.00
on and on
This is not Gate 1 or the hotels fault. Most things in this country are imported. Bring snacks from home. You'll be glad you did.
Recommend? Absolutely!
I would like to go back someday in the summer and see Iceland in a different way.

This was very different trip from the previous trip to Antarctica that we made on the same ship (the Sea Spirit) and a little disappointing given that we had such a great time down South.
Seeing the polar bear, the walrus, the Arctic hare and the fin whales.

A jolly chap, maybe a bit too much so at times and like many Australians a bit overbearing.

The Arctic is an interesting place to visit but if you are really looking for wildlife experiences and can afford it, go to South Georgia/Antarctica!

There's a lot both good and bad I can say about this trip. But the number one reason I will never travel with Intrepid again is their complete lack of caring for their tour participants. We had a private van driven by our tour guide (I've never been on a tour where the guide is also forced to drive, but whatever). Our van was a disaster. It was totally inappropriate transportation for the roads in Iceland. You'd think the company never ran a tour in Iceland before. What's worse - we learned the previous tour guide had complained daily about this exact same vehicle, and was basically told to shut up and that she must have been a bad driver because she was a woman. So when our female tour guide complained daily about the same van, she got the same answer. We were constantly inhaling the horrible smell of burning rubber, shocks and/or brake pads. There were times the van could not get up the road and we had to get out and walk. The worst was when we had to turn back on what our tour guide called "the most beautiful road in Iceland" and take a detour that was HOURS long because the van was not appropriate for the road.

We also had to cut short visits at attractions so the tour guide could leave extra time to get from point a to point b in our crappy van. This stressed out our tour guide and everyone in the group, who spent every day waiting for the van to inevitably break down completely. She complained every single day and Intrepid totally blew her off. Until the very last day when we suddenly got a new van for the paved, flat, short drive back to Rekjavik. Useless. I wrote a review to Intrepid complaining about this and did not get any type of response. I should have stuck with G-Adventures. I've done a number of tours with that company and, other than one absolutely horrible tour guide, have had fantastic experiences.

Excellent tour guide. Good group of people on the tour. Well organised. I can delegate the planning and legwork of working out what to do to someone else

Harpa was a great guide. Everything went super smoothly, and the trip was fantastic.

Lived up to my expectations

The trip was very comprehensive, our tour guide was very informative and fun and the tour group was a small group of 12 people.

I was very happy with the itinerary, standard of accommodation and tour leader.t

Structured tours are not everyone's bag, but I would rave about Iceland and speak highly of my experience on the tour.

Iceland was amazing. The trip leader was terrific. Travelling the ring road gave a perspective of the whole country and included all the major sights.

I enjoyed every aspect of this trip ie the itinerary; the driver/guide, Harpa; the accommodation; the food; the included/non-included activities; the ease of booking; the clarity of the online information etc. This is the best holiday I've ever been on!

Outstanding leader, Harpa's.

Informative caring guide whose obvious love for her country was transferred to us by her encyclopaedic knowledge and wonderful personality.

I had high expectations before visiting Iceland and came away very happy with my experience.

I thought the trip gave a good overview of the main highlights of Iceland. May preference would have been for the trip to be at least 2-3 nights longer, I personally spent an additional 3 nights in Reykjavik and there is plenty to do. The trip was busy, quite long travelling days, packing in lots of sightseeing across a very diverse landscape.