northwoods2

We felt they are true to size. But very easy to change sizes if it doesn’t quite fit right

We had 1 rough day out of 2 both ways. Crew said it really wasn’t that rough.  There a couple people that were very seasick. Most were fine. I don’t usually feel seasick but did a little the first day. I just took it easy, drank water, and I had wristbands and took a little Dramamine. Stay midship if you feel sick.  The worst place was the auditorium where all the lectures were.  But they stream all of these to the tvs so I just watched some in my cabin. 

8 minutes ago, got2gocruzn said:

Could you provide a link to your husband's blog?

thank you 

Colleen 

Here’s the group of postings from the trip. https://reputablejournal.com/categories/antarctica/

9 hours ago, Cruisewilm said:

Thanks for all the info - very helpful - we leave in a few days.  One question I still have:  allowance on the Fly Bondi flight to/from Ushuaia is one carry-on.  Are we also allowed a personal item?  I usually take a backpack with various items that I like to keep nearby:  an extra sweater, iPad, headphones, magazines, snacks, etc.  Were you allowed a personal item in addition to the carry-on and if so, any size limit noted?

Yes one carry on and one personal that fits on the floor

Got it.  Thanks

shuyak 

Can you send me your video of the Orcas.  Mine didn't turn out very good.

4 hours ago, Database said:

Thank you so much!  Your report was informative and much appreciated.

 

We opted to do AOV's pre-cruise tour before our cruise that departs January 4th.  We booked this cruise through our own travel agent and have had great communication with AOV directly regarding some pre-cruise questions. 

 

We were told that there will be an AOV agent waiting for us outside customs to pick up on the first day for the pre-tour. It feels like everything will fall into place. We indicated that one of us has a food allergy and requires a gluten free diet.  We are very hopeful that will all fall into place as well, but will be packing GF snack items just incase.

 

Thanks again!

We had a Galley tour and they told us that they make all their own bread except they buy gluten free from Argentina since they don’t have the space to make sure it doesn’t cross contaminate. But their station for bread is separate from other areas so I think they take it seriously. 

One thing I forgot to mention that if you are arriving in BA more than the 1 night prior to the shuttle you can book additional nights at the Hilton through AOV at a much lower rate than booking independently.  And you won’t need to change rooms.   We just had our agent add 1 night for us.

9 hours ago, legalduck said:

I couldn't agree more. I've been interested in AOV for a year now after seeing last year's BOGO Antarctic fares. But when I called the number on their site I could not even reach an AOV rep, but instead, some travel agency they'd contracted with. And when trying to reach out to them on social media (Instagram, Facebook, etc.) it's radio silence. Even if they could ultimately address my inquiries to my satisfaction, their lack of communication is extremely concerning to me, particularly given the remoteness of the voyage I'm interested in.

We wouldn’t hesitate to book with AOV again!  The staff were wonderful and truly seemed to enjoy what they do.  The excursion staff were top notch!  We booked thru a bigger online travel agency and we’re assigned an agent who handles most if not all of their AOV. He was very responsive to our questions and requests. And we will be getting 10% back from them in form of a check.  All communication went thru him.  We met a couple of women who were traveling alone whose travel agent put them in contact prior to see if they would be interested in sharing a cabin so they could take advantage of the BOGO.  They made contact and decided to share.  They hit it off and had a great cruise.

9 hours ago, legalduck said:

Can you provide more information on the wifi situation? Specifically interested in what packages are offered (is there an unlimited package? How much?) I've been trying to find *anything* about how their internet packages work, but Atlas won't reply to any of my social media inquiries (a bit of a red flag if you ask me...), and nobody has seemingly commented on how it works after their partnership with Starlink. Thanks!

Each person is given 1GB of data.  Even though precruise info said it would only be 500MB. My husband and I did not even use all of our data but we made sure not to waste any.  Make sure you put the Wi-Fi on low data mode.  We both used our iPads not laptops.  We got our mail, daily puzzles we like to do, and checked Facebook and then turned off the Wi-Fi.  I was able to upload photos and video to Facebook 4 times and my husband had a daily blog that he uploaded with pictures. Friends we were traveling with had more issues - didn’t know to turn off the Wi-Fi between uses. Then didn’t have low data mode and her photos were trying to upload to google.  Reception was very nice and gave them each an extra 1G after the first mistake of not turning off the Wi-Fi.   I think it was $45 for an extra 500MB or $80 for 1G.  I don’t think there was any option for unlimited. Speed was decent considering where you are.  Uploads would take a minute or two.

Atlas Ocean Voyages

World Navigator 

11 Night Crossing the Antarctic Circle

Dec 8-19, 2023

What a truly awesome adventure!  I wanted to do a review as I found limited information prior to our cruise.  This is quite long.

We arrived in BA two days prior to the cruise so we could see a bit of BA.  I won’t go into the details but this is what we did.

Fogon Asado - outstanding experience.  A must do if you like food experiences. Tons of food!

Full day tour with  Iconic Buenos Aires - great informative tour. Highly recommend this tour.

Dinner at Desnivel

La Ventana Tango Show - good show

It was a short night after the tango show - shuttles to the airport start leaving at 4:30 am.  You are preassigned a shuttle time so just stop by the AOV desk in the hotel the day before.  You are required to put out your checked luggage the night before by 8:00 pm.  These will go directly on the plane. We flew on Fly Bondi.  No issues with luggage/carry on. There is no checking of weight.  You won’t see your checked bag until you pick it up in Ushuaia.  You then leave you check bag and any carryon you don’t want on the bus tour with the AOV people - it is delivered to your cabin.

You then get on a bus to go to Tierra Del Fuego.  The tour goes from 11-3 approximately.   They give you a box lunch on the bus.  The tour makes 4-5 stops in the park where you can get out and take pictures and walk a short bit.  Each stop was  15-30 minutes.  One stop had restrooms, a cafeteria and small gift shop.  I wish we could have had time to do a longer hike. The park is beautiful.   At least one couple opted out of the bus tour and instead took a taxi to town and explored on their own.  Unfortunately for them it was a government holiday so shops were mostly closed. 

The Ship

Check in is relaxing and simple. They bring you into the ship lounge and give you champagne and they bring your keys and any paper work.  Then they escort you to your room where your luggage is waiting for you.  It is a beautiful ship with winding hallways. We have one of the rooms with the drop down window instead of the balcony.  Which on this type of cold weather cruise is the perfect choice.  I spent many hours in one of the two chairs (there is a couch too) with my feet up on a stool watching the beautiful scenery go by.  So many icebergs!  The bath room is much nicer than other cruise ships.  I would say storage is worse (less) than we have had on other ships.  But we over packed. More on that later. 

Daily routine

Each morning we would hear the announcement by Jonathon ‘Good Morning, Good morning.  Our current position is …….   Today we will be arriving at .… around 8/9 am.  We will be offering a (zodiac ride / landing / kayak/ padding)’.  They alway announce the night before at the recap/briefing what the plan is for the next day, but weather conditions sometimes change this so it is nice to have the announcements.  Each day not in the Drake passage we typically had 2 excursions.  One zodiac and one zodiac/landing.  We had one day south of the polar circle where there was too much ice and we were not able to do an excursion.  It was snowing a lot but the winds were calm so they decided to have the polar plunge.  I highly recommend doing this.  Yes it is cold!!  But you are in and out quickly and then just standing inside the ship you feel perfectly warm again.   Between excursions and during the Drake crossing the Excursion team offers great lectures on all things Antarctica related.  The team they have assembled have so much knowledge and experience!  

They take safety seriously here.  You will be handed into/out of the zodiacs by at least 3 people.  Some of the hikes can be strenuous in deep snow if you step off the trodden down path in the snow.  But there were always short hike options.  Zodiac cruise drivers are outstanding in positioning the zodiac so everyone gets a chance for good photos.  We had one day that the call came out that whales had been spotted so our driver headed in that direction.  He cut the engine and we floated there as the whales were bubble feeding all around us.

Clothing for excursions - the parkas are VERY warm. Best to wear just a base layer top and the jacket. And if it is a warm sunny day remove the vest from the jacket. And if you are hiking know that the jacket can be taken off and has straps so you can carry it like a backpack - which was very helpful one day. As for bottoms - a base layer and waterproof pants is all that is needed.  I recommend getting a pair of thin gloves with removable finger tips (mine had pointer and thumb that could be flipped back).  These can be worn under thicker waterproof mittens. Most times I only used the thin gloves.  But if the seas are rough it is nice to have the warmer waterproof mittens. Also have a hat and neck gator or face mask. We only used these once.  One pair of warm socks was all we needed.   Boots were surprisingly comfortable - and my feet are sensitive 

Other additional charge activities

Kayaking - we were on the waitlist pre cruise but decided not to do it.  At the briefing they stressed that if you are kayaking you will miss the other zodiac/landing excursion that is offered.  You can’t do both and you don’t get to choose which days you want to kayak.  They put you in kayak groups and 1 or 2 groups go out each day that kayaking is feasible.  

Paddling - works the same as kayaking but you will only do it once per cruise 

Camping - we had planned to do this but after watching the briefing we decided not to.  Reasons - this is camping without a tent, dig a hole and lay your sleeping bag in it.  No bathroom.  We both had colds and were already having a hard time sleeping and decided it wasn’t worth the $750 / person.  Those that did it seemed to have a good experience but most said they wouldn’t do it again.  Our cruise was able to offer two nights of camping for 20 people each time.   Both nights it snowed on the campers.  No one got much sleep.

Meals

Breakfast from 8-10 normally sometimes from 7-9 if we need to get out on the zodiacs earlier.  Buffet with lots of fruit, fresh baked breads, yogurts, hot breakfast items and you can order from your table eggs, omelets, pancakes, waffles.  Drinks are ordered from your table too.

Lunch from 12-2 normally. Buffet as well as a live cooking station serving pasta or stir fry, and there is a chef carving some type of meat - chicken, suckling pig, etc.   great homemade ice cream always available.

Dinner 7:30-9:30 sit down order from the menu.  Choice of 5-6 rotating entrees, plus the always available steak, salmon, chicken, and pasta options. They always had 4 starters, a couple soups and a couple salads.  In addition they had some always available sides - broccoli, mashed potatoes, fries, truffle fries, truffle Mac n Cheese.  I highly recommend the two truffle items if you like truffles.   And if you like to have potatoes with your meal I suggest you order one of these sides as the amount of potatoes that are served with the entree seems to only be decorative. And amounts to about 1 Tablespoon.  Food was very good.  Wait staff was mostly delightful.  One of the waiters knew our names after just a couple times in her area. If you find someone you like, continue to choose a table in that section.  Wait staff don’t change sections.  And you get to choose where you want to sit.  Most tables are set up for 2.  But can be pushed together for a larger table.  They have one huge table for about 12.

Onboard entertainment and dress

Of course it is a small ship so entertainment is limited.   There are the excursion team lectures during the day.  In the evening there was either piano music or our cruise director was a trained opera singer so he offered some different music genre nights.  The staff also put on a talent show.  There are 3 large public areas - the Atlas lounge (with bar) on deck 4, theater on deck 4 right in front of it, and up on deck 7 the Dome. With bar.  All were used.  One nice thing was if you want to hear one of the lectures but didn’t want to attend in person (sea sick or other) you could tune in on the TV in your room.

Dress code - well there is none.  And we over packed.  Most people wore to dinner whatever they had on while relaxing on the ship during the day.  This means you will not feel out of place wearing sweats or shorts to the dining room. I would say less than 10 percent of the people wore anything nicer - like casual resort clothes.

I may add pictures when we are back home with good WI-FI.  We managed to go the whole cruise with our allotted 1G of data.

Sorry I didn’t get a chance to report on our excursions live.  I only had basic internet.  DH had upgraded but I didn’t.  Not a big issue for me.

Dora private tour in Cartagena.  Good guide with nice air conditioned van and driver.  My only complaint was we got out to view the fort but then had to get back in the van.  No time to visit the fort.  Otherwise very knowledgeable guide.  Really nice for just the 4 of us.

Best of Panama. Too much time on the bus with too many other passengers coughing. Was mad I forgot my mask.  Nice to see the new canal locks from the visitor center.   Visit to the Embrea village was nice.  They did some dancing and has some crafts for sale.  

Costa Rica walk in the clouds.  Another too long bus ride which I did not think was worth it for what we saw.  Short walk down into the jungle with some nice plants but didn’t really see any animals except this rhino bug. 
 

antigua transfer.   This was a much better bus ride.  Roads are better. And our guide was informative.  Didn’t expect we would get any guide with the transfer 

My guess is she did not actually upgrade to premium.  It is known you can’t access CC from the basic Wi-Fi. We will be getting on tomorrow and I got my DH premium so he can keep tabs on his business

We will be sailing with you.  We will be doing shore tours so maybe I can fill in the holes there. 
 

Cartagena - Private tour with Dora

Colon - Ship tour - Best of Panama

Puntarenas - Ship tour - Aerial Trek

Guatemala - Ship transfer to Antigua - self tour

Puerto Vallarta - nothing planned

2 hours ago, binky&jane said:

 

ALSO… @northwoods2 If you’re physically able to do so safely (which I assume since you’re interested in the overnight camping excursion), you MUST do the polar plunge. It was AMAZING! I would have DEEP regrets had I not…

 

 

Corey & Karen

I will definitely do the polar plunge.  Trying to convince my husband to do it.  He says ‘No Way’

I would love to hear more about your trip.  We are doing a 11 night in December

I wonder if we need to bring our own paddles.   I would love to play some on our 15 night cruise.  

Thanks.  I hope those flight times don’t change much.  Booked the flight today 

Looking at booking our flights for our December 2023 cruise.  Not sure what the charter flight times are.

I would love to book a flight leaving EZE at 9:15 pm the night the cruise ends.  Is this possible?

11 hours ago, scottsol said:

The first brochure listed was created while the old management team was in charge and is essentially worthless. The second was created under the current leadership.

Thank you!  I wasn't sure which was current.

43 minutes ago, GICNJC said:

I searched the public site and could not find it there.  I could email you a copy of what I have if it helps.  Would need your email or send me one at gerry_campbell  at  msn.com

I finally found 2 versions of the document for 22/23 season.  
https://atlasoceanvoyages.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-2023_AOV_WNA_ANTARCTICA_LAND_PROGRAMS.pdf
https://atlasoceanvoyages.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/AOV_ANTARCTICA_LAND_PROGRAMS_2022-2023.pdf

On 1/30/2023 at 4:15 PM, GICNJC said:

I downloaded from the Atlas site the Atlas Ashore Land Programs.  Only thing I have received from them is general personal info request (passport, names, DOB etc).  The brochure prices for the two hotels you listed are very close to when google the current prices. (i suspect with transfers fee are included thereby ending up cheaper)

Where did you find this to download.  We just booked last week for Dec 2023 and I can’t find any information on pre cruise hotel in BA

Sailed Carnival once and said I would only sail it again if it was free.  We love Celebrity. I feel that Celebrity is a step up from RC. I prefer the size of the Millennium class ships.  We aren’t into the big party crowds 

I have used Mixbook for about 10 different photobooks from trips. I used to use Apple. Good quality and there always seems to be a sale.  If not wait a week and there will be. 

I went through the menus trying to see if I would order off Blu or MDR and most of the nights I thought Blu appealed to me more.  This will be our first time in Blu so I have nothing to compare it too.