earth117

As @Primus said, many of the 9 day cruises in 2024 did circumnavigate Svalbard, e.g. the June 28 and July 7 sailings (despite their brochure "maps" indicating only an up and back), as well as the 11 day July 16 sailing. The July 16 sailing went east of Nordaustland while the other two took the Hinlopen Strait between Spitsbergen and Nordaustland, but all three did a circumnavigation. The July 7 sailing (that I was on) had the same number of polar bear sightings as the 11 day sailing, and in fact went slightly further north (to 80.9 degrees). You can get more info on the July 7 sailing and July 16 sailing on the Cruise Critic threads linked. I have no doubt that an 11 day sailing is about 11/9 times better than a 9 day! Of course any actual route depends on weather, sea conditions, and the new regulations but Svalbard is wonderful. 

I did a similar Azamara cruise in Dec 2022 so I'll try to help where I can. South Africa will have the best wildlife viewing, but not the "megafauna" within a day of Cape Town. The penguins and baboons near the cape are definitely worthwhile, and there are lots of great non-animal sights (Stellenbosch wine country as well as Cape Town itself). Namibia is superb - almost any shore excursion will be great, whether 4x4 through Namib-Naukluft Park (ostrich, antelope) or climbing the highest sand dunes. Luanda is... not. Except for the coastal strip it is an unexciting city, with only minor historical sites. The ship's excursion bus had an entourage - several police cars and an ambulance - because the city was so intent on making sure the rare tourists had no problem. There are wonderful natural sights in the country (waterfalls, cliffs) but generally too far from Luanda for a short excursion; if your cruise offers them they might well be worthwhile. Banjul is colorful - no must-do sites but it's pleasant to walk through the (crowded) markets and just see life going on. My cruise offered an excursion from Banjul to Fathala Wildlife Preserve in Senegal (they canceled our Dakar port for no stated reason). This is worthwhile since you see more wildlife, get a picturesque large local ferry across the Gambia River filled with locals in colorful dress, and get some taste of rural West Africa when crossing the border. We saw giraffe, various large antelopes, etc. The ship arranged the visas, but charged us double for Gambia (without telling us in advance) since the excursion left it and came back. Anyway, have a great trip! 

I believe main dining room lunch usually starts at 12. Paula's Pantry is open pretty much all daytime and has some sandwiches, quiche, etc. Not sure what room service for lunch would be. Enjoy Seville! 

I really enjoyed reading your adventures @81Zoomie from the Svalbard sailing after mine. Thanks! Your last post reminded me of a couple of tips: the Svalbard airport does indeed have open wifi and oddly it has the eduroam network (global network used by universities - if you have a university account you can connect automatically without login; not sure why an airport has this!). Neither charter airline ever weighed the carryons. My luggage was also flagged by the airport scanner and was swabbed multiple times - the agent asked if I carried heart medication (not sure why - nitrogen rich?) and then if I had used hand cream. He checked the label on the hand cream/moisturizer and said that it was probably an ingredient in that (very odd, wouldn't everyone in the Arctic be using moisturizer for their dry skin?). The shop past security has both souvenirs and food - the premade sandwiches (which ran out quickly) were the most substantial and cheapest I saw anywhere in Norway! To all those considering a Svalbard trip, I'd definitely recommend it.

The shower had three L'Occitane bottles: body wash, shampoo, conditioner. The drinks menus differ somewhat between the Atlas Lounge and the Dome but you're sure to find something you'll like. After getting off the Zodiac excursions I liked to warm up with either Irish coffee or hot chocolate with Bailey's! (Speaking of hot chocolate, there is almond milk and soy milk available at all venues.) 

World Voyager cabins have both US and Euro plug sockets, but not both everywhere (I think the desk has only Euro, while the bedsides have both?). So you might want to bring adapters to use the extra sockets. Evening meal dress is whatever you like - some people even wear the Atlas vest that zips out of the parka! Meal times on the July 7 sailing were one seating at 7pm, one at 7:30pm, based on 5th floor or 6th floor cabins, alternating days. Sometimes this changed depending on late excursions. There are tables for 2, 4, up to ~10. On the July 7 sailing there were 28 nationalities, but US was the largest part, and there were 47 people from China - apparently this is a rapidly growing customer base for Arctic cruises. [Note there are other topic threads on meal times and dining experience you might look at as well.] [Note you shouldn't wear jeans in the zodiac excursions; the guides insisted on waterproof pants for safety.] Attached is a picture of a B1 cabin on the World Voyager (with Longyearbyen out the window). 

A lot depends on the captain and the weather. Both the June 28 and July 7, 2024 World Voyager 9 night sailings actually circumnavigated Spitsbergen (the largest island in Svalbard) rather than following the brochure/online map of up and back. The east side is worth it for the differing scenery (more glaciated), Alkefjellet bird cliffs, and further chances at polar bear sightings. You just have to gamble whether the 9 night sailing you choose ends up circumnavigating (but presumably even the 11 night wouldn't circumnavigate if the ice prevented it). Good luck!

Thanks for your posts, it's a lot of fun seeing the similarities and differences to the previous sailing. You're going a lot further to the east than we did. Tip for the zodiac excursions: try to ride with Sasha - he seems to go further afield than others, is supercompetent (spent 5 winters working in Antarctica), is funny, and has great stories. 

A few more details. Paula's Pantry is a gem. They have a different "boost" juice shot every day, as well as ~4 juice blends, with my favorites being the Turmeric-Ginger one and the Celery Detox. Lots of good snacks also. My favorite dinner wine was the Comte Alexander, a blend of 5 grapes including grenache. Internet was ok throughout (except for being shut off near the Ny Alesund research stations) if all you want is text based; turning off app updates and turning off wifi after each session is essential. The dining staff are very helpful - just ask if you want something a particular way. Any feedback you give to the maitre d' or yacht general manager is swiftly acted on. There's a really good atmosphere onboard. 

Just got back from the World Voyager July 7-16 roundtrip from Longyearbyen. Very good adventure cruise, second only to Antarctica. Details below, feel free to ask me questions: 

Route - Despite being shown in the brochure as an up and back, we circumnavigated much of Svalbard! Unexpected and a great bonus. We saw lots of great areas and animals we wouldn't have seen only on the west coast. (Note that since the west has the Gulf Stream, the east is a bit colder.) 

Charter flights - The charter airlines (Amelia - a French company - going from Oslo, and SAS returning to Oslo) were good, no problems. At Oslo airport it's not clear where to find Amelia as the Atlas sign only went up ~1.5 hours before departure, but just ask at various counters. Note that seats were assigned randomly and couples won't sit together! Just negotiate with your fellow passengers when on board. Note: Svalbard is outside the Schengen area and you have to go through immigration at Oslo airport going and returning! 

Land operations - Atlas falls way short yet again. They had been a disaster in Ushuaia, and close to that in Longyearbyen. There are no Atlas representatives or signage anywhere in sight when you arrive on the charter flight. The buses have no signs saying Atlas. You just have to ask the driver, but even then they weren't clear on whether they were supposed to take you on a tour of Longyearbyen (as Atlas said) or go straight to the ship. We were taken to the ship, and then had to go out again later for the bus tour (to the interesting Global Seed Vault, and then into town). Disembarking, we had to tender from the ship to a pier about 5km from Longyearbyen, and there was no one from Atlas there to tell us when the bus would show up to take us to the airport (after we stood outside on the pier for about 45 minutes the buses showed up). At the Longyearbyen airport there were no Atlas representatives and no signage indicating where to check in. The only counter was labeled Ponant, and the agents said we needed to use the machines along the wall and enter our airline record numbers - we told them we were on a charter and had no record numbers! After about 45 minutes they finally agreed to check us in on our SAS charter. Atlas - please up your game on land, way up. 

Sights - As mentioned we actually circumnavigated on the 9 day cruise - fantastic! Incredibly dramatic landscapes of cliffs, mountains, glaciers, ice filled bays, and more. We reached the pack ice at 80.9 degrees north. Animal sightings included 3 instances of polar bears (mother+2 cubs, mother+1 cub, solo), many walrus, seals, many reindeer, 1 minke whale (and 1 blue whale, but not by me), arctic fox (not by me). Many birds, including the impressive Alkefjellet bird cliffs with 120,000 guillemots, and tundra flowers. 

Food - Overall, quite good. There was a selection of ~4 dinner entrees that changed each night plus a standard one of potato pillows (lighter than gnocchi) and ravioli. Plus a plant based daily menu (with 1 entree) right on the main menu, and an unchanging menu (including plant based steak). The fruit was excellent for the whole trip! Also noteworthy was the hummus. The Atlas tragedy was the non-European dishes. The head chef, Made, is from Bali but the Indonesian, Thai, etc. dishes were completely bland. It was explained that he was not allowed to change the recipes from the German head food office. Atlas - give your excellent onboard chefs a freer hand! 

Cruise and ship - The voyage was smooth, with remarkably good weather for the Arctic - rain just the first day, overcast most days but dry. World Voyager is quite similar to Navigator and Traveler, though I prefer those ships' color schemes (blue and brown seem more nautical than gold and chrome). Definitely take advantage of the open bridge to go up and chat with the captain and officers, get info on animal sightings, etc. And great compliments to the zodiac drivers! 

Thanks for the info, I was hoping some landings might be ok. Do you know when the March 15 sailing passengers were informed? I heard that they were told South Georgia was still in the itinerary, as of March 5 at least. But I guess they got a bonus of the Antarctic Peninsula at least. 

The World Navigator sailing of March 15-29 was supposed to go to South Georgia - did that change? On marine traffic ship locator sites the ship is shown enroute from the Antarctic Peninsula (not on the original itinerary) to West Point, Falklands. It was supposed to be in South Georgia yesterday. Anyone know info about this? We can also use this topic more generally for any Atlas itinerary change - it's good to keep up to date!

Oh Azamara, what have you wrought?! 

A clearly labeled vegetarian dish in the Windows buffet had huge chunks of ham in it. 

Aboard the Journey: 

All passengers had Covid antigen tests yesterday. Rumor says 14 tested positive and are quarantined in their cabins for 5 days. The test requirement comes from Angola authorities and you must carry a letter on shore showing your negative result (though no one checked me off the ship). 

Luanda is less than impressive and I've heard a number of complaints about the tours quality (I just walked on my own along the shore promenade and to the Iron Palace by Eiffel). It's a real shame as Azamara put in our cabins a list of gorgeous waterfalls, canyons, lakes, wildlife reserves within about 70 km but offered no tours outside the Luanda area. 

Regarding vegetarian food, there is a vegan menu one can order from. I gave up on it after realizing that the entrees were things like quinoa cake, chickpea cake, rice cake on successive nights. Azamara is the best cruise line I've seen on pervasiveness of vegan food, but they need to up their game on imagination. (I had been excited by the vegan menu online but have seen few of those choices offered.) There is no vegetarian choice on their "classic" menu, i.e. offered every night. And they don't seem to understand vegetarian food can be anything on the main menu, made vegetarian; I'd love to have the featured Thai dish with tofu, Italian dish without sausage, etc. Anyway, that's why I usually go for the Windows buffet for dinner. And I do want to really praise the Indian food, which is varied and tasty when available (often for lunch). 

Aboard the Journey: 

Azamara, alas, is plunging in performance. 

For the second night, the dinner buffet in Windows had no vegetarian main. It's a buffet, it's not that hard! 

For the Gambia visa Azamara stated USD 56 would be charged to our accounts, but we were each charged USD 112. Why? Because we took the ship's tour "Exploring Senegal" we re-entered Gambia. Apart from getting a (1) visa that clearly states "multiple entry", there is the issue that this is not what Azamara wrote to each cabin (indeed stated $56 clearly) and also did not say it when selling the shore excursion. We're just talking basic communication here. 

Aboard the Journey: Takoradi Ghana today. I took the Kakum National Park tour. It's nice to see, but frankly too little for the long time (9 hours total). It's extremely rare to see animals on the canopy tour, and this was exacerbated by a "bridge ***" - a guide with two private clients who were terrified of the swaying bridges (so why were they there?), who yelled loudly at everyone ahead of them not to stop (e.g. to take pictures) but to get off the bridge. We all ignored him, but the yelling would have scared off any animals. With three days at sea in between every port, the middling shore excursions are a bit disappointing. The Ghana countryside itself is picturesque (but 9 hours is overkill). 

Three hours after sailing time, we're still in Takoradi, apparently waiting for some container (provisions?). 

On the missed ports, I'm not sure from whom I would get a straight answer, but I'll try.

Aboard the Journey: slight correction to my previous info on the Exploring Senegal excursion from Banjul Gambia: 

"By the way, onboard accounts are charged USD50 for the Gambia visa and USD56 for the Ghana visa (for most nationalities)."

I got them backwards - it was USD56 for the Gambia visa (for citizens of Bulgaria, Czechia, Iceland, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, US - presumably other nationalities are either free or weren't represented on our tour). Note the Gambia visa is multiple entry, allowing you to get back to the ship after entering Senegal! Ghana visa was USD50, no nationalities indicated so presumably all nationalities represented needed. 

For the future, we are told that Namibia visas will be done through the ship for those needing (only Bulgaria, Czechia, Poland, Turkey listed) for USD135.

Visa fees are charged directly to your onboard account. It's nice that Azamara does not seem to charge an extra fee for its part in the visas.  

Aboard the Journey: report on "Exploring Senegal" excursion from Banjul Gambia.

But first, shockingly there was no vegetarian entree at the Windows buffet for dinner. When I asked, the server pointed to the peas and carrots. 

Exploring Senegal: Fathala Nature Reserve was good, with some caveats. It took more than 5 hours (on what was supposed to be an 8 hour tour) from the meeting time to reach the nature reserve. Lots of delays first at Gambian immigration entry, then the ferry, then the Gambia exit was reasonably quick (the guide brought all the passports to the officials), then Senegal entry was fairly efficient but long because of long lines. At Senegal entry you had to show yellow fever and covid vax certificates. Several people ignored the 10+ times this was said, and had to go back to the bus to get theirs. A couple people had ignored all previous notices about certain nationalities requiring visas and had to go through the visa process at the border, delaying everyone else. 

The nature reserve is mostly low story forest - if you've never seen African animals you will enjoy it a lot, if you've been to any East or Southern Africa game parks you'll yawn (well, maybe not, they are still impressive animals but in nowhere near the numbers or setting of those game parks). We saw roan antelope, waterbuck, eland, giraffe, red colobus monkey, zebra - all in small groups. 

The return was faster, though we still had the border stops (so 6 passport stamps in a day!), but in the end the ship sailed 2h20 late. Clearly their 8 hour estimation for the tour was a guess (first time Azamara has done this tour; some staff came on the tours). By the way, onboard accounts are charged USD50 for the Gambia visa and USD56 for the Ghana visa (for most nationalities). 

p.s. the vegetarian selection on the excursion was a scoop of rice and steamed carrots. Fortunately this could be saved taste-wise by the bottle of West African yellow pepper sauce on the counter.

1 hour ago, SFtraveller said:

As for losing Senegal, on Nov. 5 WHO registered ZERO cases. Anyone find out why Senegal was cancelled?

Senegal is a really strange case for the cruise. Azamara Journey dropped the port of Dakar, but runs a shore excursion from Banjul Gambia into Senegal ("Exploring Senegal" tour to Fathala Nature Reserve). No visa required for US/UK passports. Apparently the port has different rules than inland. I'm doing that tour tomorrow and will report how it goes (if I get back!). 

Aboard the Journey: For the second time in a few days, the vegan dinner came as the meat version of the dish. At least this time they caught it before serving it.

Aboard the Journey: apparently 23 passengers debarked after the yellow fever exemption letter issue.

Here is the official Azamara Journey letter about yellow fever exemption letters. Our hearts go out to those on whom this was suddenly sprung, to great disappointment no doubt. 

Aboard the Journey: Funchal Madeira today. Due to the late start from Lisbon, the on shore time was cut from 9 hours to 4.5 hours. On the positive side, the predicted all day rain did not arrive so it was pleasant.

1 hour ago, uktog said:

When you get a chance can you see if anyone is still cruising with an exemption certificate re YF. I’m not allowed one 

Notice delivered to all cabins today saying to go to Guest Relations if you have an exemption letter. My guess is so they can transmit it to the immigration officials. If you have the vaccination shown on your yellow card, you don't have to do anything more. 

Aboard the Journey: We are finally sailing now, Dec 1, a bit later than the Nov 29 date. It's great to be at sea! 520 passengers boarded (capacity is ~700). Rumors are a few of them got off before sailing because of the yellow fever requirements. Over 100 people had to get YF shots - so it was "fortunate" we had an extra day in Lisbon due to the strike. Grandma Cruising's tip on the Energizer smoothie was great - very tasty and gingery (especially good to help getting used to the sea motion). The smoothie bar can put the ginger syrup in any smoothie you want, or you can have it neat. Candied ginger at Guest Relations desk. For the vegan dinner menu, now I'm told there's no need to order in advance.