markandjie

Yes, you'll have some time though not a lot given I believe the safety briefing was at 4:30p. By the time you collect luggage, bus to the ship, check in, go to your room, maybe get lunch, etc... But some people definitely did get off and explore Ushuaia a bit. Parkas should be in your suite when you arrive, so from that perspective you should be good to go.

They did an Indian night in the Colonnade on the Venture in July. It was not well attended. Half our crew went there while the other half held down our normal table in MDR. Thus I was able to nuke my tastebuds for dinner (delicious but SPICY) and yet still sit down for a soufflé dessert.

That is simply not the Seabourn way (to base anything on what suite you're in). I'm quite confident they'll make your wedding anniversary a very special meal.

Curious what others say, but I'd be very surprised if this factored in. Certainly the suite class I think would be completely irrelevant. Status could be a factor, but more likely in that you'd know more of the staff and have a better working relationship than anything else. Plus, Seabourn is a repeat customer business...those with less status are just opportunities to earn loyalty for future cruising.

In case you want to see what this looks like in practice for a 16 yo. When orcas are frolicking there's no time to go back for pesky things like pants or shoes... 🤣

This. And the beauty of a small ship is that one is never far from your room. And indeed, from the MDR all rooms are more or less on the way to the various forward looking viewing areas. Not to mention the bridge usually spots wildlife from a distance and starts moving towards them at a slow pace, so you have time.

You literally won't find out where you're going until the day before. It can change based on weather, ice conditions, etc.

You'll be well taken care of. Tons of single cruisers on our recent cruise on Venture. All 132 cabins booked yet only ~245 passengers. Lots of dinners and such for single pax

The post office was on our visit to Port Lockroy, which may not be a stop on your itinerary.

I think they fit pretty true to size. If you have a Patagonia jacket at home I find I'm the same size in both. Don't remove your tags and you can exchange for whatever size you need.

We just stayed in WG on Venture and had same thought given zodiacs are directly above. On the plus side, we always had advanced notice whether we needed to start getting ready for a landing. So many things about WG on Venture are head scratchers... Including best suite requiring taking stairs up to the bedroom, bizarrely little storage in an otherwise large bathroom, and questionable furniture placement in several spots.

There's "patio" seating behind the colonnade, but it's all in the shade. Not nearly so nice as sitting in the sun

My first travel blog was back in the old days of 2015 when bandwidth was hard to come by and not only did you have to be selective on photos but also usually had to export a low res version or your upload would time out. Got very accustomed to picking the couple of photos that represented the day. Regardless, you're very welcome and thank you for the nice note.

Don't remember, but I checked my Google maps timeline and it says 3:24p. Seems about right.

We flew straight to EZE. Took a minute to get off the plane as we disembarked via stairs to waiting busses and then our bags took a bit to arrive. We made it to the international departure check-in area just before 4:30p.

Ok, one last thing. I took a bunch of short video snippets here and there (LOVE new mirrorless cameras over DSLRs!) and decided to edit them into a montage to share with family. Figured I'd share here as well: Note there's no music as I thought hearing the background noise gives a more immersive experience. Plus I suck at editing videos so just getting a title screen in there felt like a win.

The dolphins we met at the entrance to the Beagle really did form a sort of grand finale for the cruise. We had a final evening on the ship while docked in Ushuaia, and it was clear many of the crew were excited to get off the ship to hit up the bars and nightclubs on their one night off before heading back south to do it again. We were treated to the expedition video, which is always a fun way to relive the trip with all our fellow passengers, and I think the new videographer, Morne, did a fine job with it: https://*****.com/3r8f4z3h They started getting folks off the ship at 8:30a for the charter back to Buenos Aires, with the objective I believe of having everyone off by 9:30. There was apparently a bus tour that spent some time in and around Ushuaia before flying out later, but it was either sold out prior to our booking or we just missed it. So, we were in the first group and had a few hour wait at the Ushuaia airport. We experienced some epic turbulence on the way out (not sure I've ever had my head hit the wall of the plane before!) but then an otherwise uneventful flight. It was a beautiful day and fun to see Venture and Pursuit lined up on the pier (rear two ships on the side closest to the plane): We arrived in Buenos Aires with about 2 hours to kill before the United counter opened. There was an offer to go to a local restaurant but we elected to stay at the airport. Glad we did, as we heard it took forever to get there, the restaurant was not good, and they had hardly any time there before returning to the airport. Sadly our requested upgrades didn't clear and we were stuck in economy for the 10+ hours from BA to Houston. Surprisingly, so were many fellow Seabourn passengers, so we had good company. Home safely now, thought I'd add some reflections on the cruise: Staffing is an issue, and apparently it's worse on the Venture/Pursuit in Antarctica because: - These ships have the lowest staff:passenger ratios in the fleet, and that's a structural limitation based on crew cabins. Some of this is offset by having a more automated and modern ship that requires fewer staff to operate, but I think it's felt in customer-facing roles as well. - Crew don't want to do Antarctica because they can't get off the ship on a regular basis. The new ships broke some aspects of the Ventures/Expedition model that we really loved, especially kayaking. Again, because of crew capacity it's unlikely these can be easily fixed as they can't just add expedition team members. And inexperienced staff is an issue here as well. I had a very disappointing incident with an expedition team member that is far and away the worst I've been treated by any Seabourn employee ever and the apologies I received from the chain of command were tepid at best. So much of your experience on these ships will be dictated by the Expedition Leader, and there is zero way of knowing in advance who that might be. The Pursuit was in Antarctica one more day than us (6 vs 5) but had double the landings. I believe they only had 1 day that was limited to a single activity for the day...we had 3 (out of 5!!!). You can blame the weather, but apparently no other ship in the area thought it wise to go so far south except ours...and that cost us. We still had a memorable time and the boys loved the trip. Do I regret spending the time and money to go? Definitely not. But, we're going to do some research and try to identify another offering that provides the combination of luxury and expedition that we're looking for. Everyone is looking for something a bit different and I'm afraid that in our case Seabourn has moved further from rather than closer to the mark.

One thing I'd suggest in the MDR is to ask to be seated immediately behind the hostess station when you are dining with the baby. These seem to be regarded as less desirable tables in general and are often the last to be utilized, so you have a higher chance of having a buffer of empty tables around you. They are also close to the exit should your daughter become fussy. We've taken our son on Seabourn since he was 7 years old and without fail have had other cruisers complement us on his behavior. In fact, in Greenland the hotel director informed us that it was the first time he'd had someone come to him to complement a child's behavior! So it can be done, and if you are consistently focused on the experience of those around you and ensuring your daughter isn't negatively impacting others then you will be more than fine.

On our Venture cruise we noticed that half (and sometimes more) of the 'Inspirations' appetizers were vegetarian almost every night. I wondered the same thing...is that a cost cutting measure hidden within the menu?

Almost back to the Beagle Channel and nature had another surprise for us! PXL_20231127_143234712.TS.mp4

I have thoughts on this after two expedition cruises on Venture in pretty short succession. The ship is wonderful, but I think the expedition offering has taken a step backwards and it's due to more than just difficulty hiring staff. It seems the addition of the subs plus the size of the ship means that the expedition team is structurally understaffed and spread thin. This results in a suboptimal expedition experience, which is kinda the point of the ships.

The sojourn did have zodiacs and kayaks for Alaska back in 2018. But I don't think they've done a Ventures cruise on sojourn since 2019. This year Alaska was done on Odyssey, and again they did have zodiacs and kayaks.

I'd highly recommend you read up on the impact of avian flu in South Georgia. From what we're hearing from expedition staff on the ship they believe it will soon be completely closed to landings. Apparently some sites there are already closed.

Good to know re Windstar. I looked at Nat Geo for Galapagos and they don't do any diving. Once Pursuit gets out and does the South Pacific I think we'll have a better sense for it.

The Venture does handle rough seas like a champ. Remarkably stable despite Windy looking like this: