Woodrowst

We used the old city Dubai self-guided tour available online through GPSmyCity and enjoyed it. GPSmyCity is our go to site for self-guided tours. They have a number of tours Dubai and most other major cities.

We were on the Seabourn Venture to Antarctica in January. If it makes you feel any better (i.e. misery loves company) the Seabourn charter flight got us to Buenos Aires in the early afternoon and our connecting flight was not until nine hours later at 11:15pm. Seabourn took us out to a local restaurant for a very nice early dinner and returned us to the BA airport at 5:30pm. I believe the dinner was only provided to those who booked air through Seabourn. Some who were told they could not join us were upset.

In this day and age one has to differentiate between traditional and expedition cruises. The expedition trips are mostly on the Venture and Pursuit. Expedition voyages are very different animals than the traditional voyages in terms of dress, activities and ambiance. In fact, most of the criticism of expedition cruises I have seen posted on CC revolves around passengers who were not aware of the difference and expected a traditional voyage. Seabourn includes excursions on the Venture and Pursuit, mostly because the out of the way destinations that define an expedition cruise do not have the infrastructure to provide excursions on their own. The classic example is Antarctica. My comments also apply to traditional vs expedition cruises on Silversea.

One of the long standing rules of conventional wisdom has been that if there is a place that you must absolutely visit then a cruise is not the way to do it. Go by land, not by sea.

I haven’t heard “trunk” used for luggage since my sailing on the Titanic. Luckily I had travel insurance, but that is for another discussion.

We were on the Venture this summer to Antarctica. Landings and zodiac rides were fairly brief - 75 minutes at a time. As such, I did not feel the need to take the backpack. The trips were too short to need water or to change layers. I don’t remember seeing many other passengers take backpacks and I suspect those that did used them mostly for photo gear.

With all the posts confirming short distances you now know why they call them landings instead of walks or hikes ☺️

Sounds like a great plan.

Keep in mind that there are substantial luggage limitations for the charter flight from Buenos Aires to/from Ushuaia. Boots are big and take up a lot of that precious space. Most of the people I have heard about who bring their own boots do so for orthopedic reasons. My wife has wide calves and consulted Seabourn about whether to bring her own boots. They told her not to and they were right. When she could not get her calves into the boots they made a small slit at the top that took care of the issue. I was impressed, since they essentially had to throw the boots out after the cruise since they had been cut into and were willing to do so. I found the supplied boots quite comfortable. Are you concerned about an orthopedic issue?

It depends on your definition of hiking but you will at most walk a mile or so at most landings. It can be less. The things to see tend to cluster at and within a short walk of the water. And the boots, while comfortable, aren’t really made for long walks. You land on the Antarctic peninsular for the sensory experience (sight, sound, smell), not for aerobics. Standing next to a penguin and watching it is a lot more fun than walking by it. If what you want is to truly stretch your legs I believe there are boutique lines that will better serve you than Seabourn will.

If you are interested in the kayaking I would book it in advance. I waited until I boarded the Venture and was lucky to get one of the last remaining slots. I thoroughly enjoyed the kayaking and felt it was worth every penny.

I fully agree with MEFlowa. If shopping is your thing, check out authentic shops on land and get a bit of the culture with your shopping experience. Some pre-cruise googling can help locate authentic shops that are often within walking distance of the pier.

I have traveled extensively to the UK. It would be hard to imagine not spending any time in London on my first trip to England, Edinburgh on my first trip to Scotland, Dublin on my first trip to Ireland, or Belfast on my first trip to Northern Ireland. They are all amazing. The good news is that each of these cities have wonderful day trips to smaller towns or rural areas so you can get the best of both worlds. Next month my wife and I have an expedition cruise coming up that spends its time going around the lesser traveled outer Scottish islands. But I would not do that as my first UK cruise.

If you have booked air through Seabourn and have a night flight Seabourn will take you out to a nice restaurant for dinner and return you to EZE at about 5:00pm.

My suggestion would be turn a problem into an opportunity by booking a car/tour guide for the day. Load the luggage in the car, enjoy a tour of Rome, have a nice authentic lunch in the city, and get dropped off for embarkation in the afternoon.