Cheer Dad

Am on the Apex now and have tried the chocolate croissants from multiple venues. All chocolate croissants sampled seemed to be the same - not fresh but maybe from frozen. The plain croissants from Luminae seem to be baked fresh on board. The chocolate croissants seem to be baked elsewhere, have dark chocolate inserted after baking, frozen and packaged for delivery to ship. The sticks of chocolate can be removed entirely in one piece and don’t seem to have gone through the baking process. They all have dimpled impressions that would be removed in the baking process. What gives? Cheaper to make onshore in commercial bakery?

Family and I are just back from the Christmas sailing of the Silver Endeavour that departed King George Island on 12/19 and here are my thoughts, observations and suggestions for others to make note of should you follow in our footsteps. 1. We booked our own international air transportation from the USA to Santiago Chile after finding Silver Air very difficult to deal with. Of those we met on the cruise, I am aware of only one that used Silver Air for their transportation to Chile. After arrival, the Silversea representative was easy to locate at a position just before exiting into the arrival hall. We had contacted the Mandarin Oriental concierge to arrange transportation to the hotel from the airports since Silversea did not provide us with transport. In the arrival hall, there seemed to be an abundance to taxis for hire. 2. The check-in process at the MO was easy with a quick visit to the Silversea room on the M1 level. Since we arrived early in the AM from the USA, our room was not yet available so we ultimately had to make another visit to M1 to pick up our room keys a little later. After our first visit to M1, we visited the Silversea room in the hotel lobby for some additional info. Silversea seems to adjusting things as they go further into the season because we didn’t try on anything for sizing in Santiago as earlier cruises seemed to. 3. There is a mandatory briefing in the early evening that sets some of the ground rules for visiting Antarctica. This mandatory briefing was also presented in Punta Arenas however passengers only need to attend one briefing. It seemed like the overwhelming majority of passengers attended the briefing in Santiago. 4. Silversea provides an area to have exterior clothing vacuumed to remove lint and other debris before arrival in the Antarctic. You only need to have your previously used exterior clothing vacuumed. If you purchased new external gloves/hats and are opting to use the waterproof pants, parka, and backpack that Silversea provides, you do not need to have them vacuumed. Silversea’s room for such operation is on M1 but closes around 6 PM. It is a quick process done while you wait. 5. Silversea provided breakfast the next morning was in the main hotel restaurant. A general buffet was provided. We found that the service for drinks was very much lacking. The food offering is what I would consider adequate – runny scrambled eggs when they were available and if they had been replenished – as well as cereal, bacon, pastries, breads, cold cuts and fruit. 6. Transportation to the airport was around 10 AM and airport security seemed to done in the Domestic Terminal in a special area for the charter flight. After security screening, passengers then entered to departure level of the Domestic Terminal along with all the other departing flights. 7. Food provided on the approximately 3.5-hour flight was less that appealing. 8. The seating configuration is two seats on one side and three on the other. Because of the nature of the flight, on the three side the middle seat is left unoccupied. There are some seats at the front that have a little extra leg room but most seats are pretty tight on leg room for a 6-foot-tall person. 9. A few days before our departure for South America we got an email from Silversea informing us about “limited accommodations” throughout Punta Arenas. It seems that Silversea uses three different hotels in the city: Hotel Cabo de Hornos, Dreams Casino Punta Arenas and Hotel Almasur. We stayed on the way to King George at the Hotel Almasur and on the return at the Dreams Casino. The Hotel Almasur is rustic to say the least. The Dreams is like an old off-strip Vegas hotel complete with a casino, but windows are not air tight so if the winds are high then you will be entertaining by whistling all night long. Food at both locations was better than the food at the MO. The Hotel Cabo de Hornos seemed to be the better establishment. Parkas, waterproof pants, boots and backpacks are waiting in passengers’ hotel rooms. People are given an opportunity to make adjustments in sizing at their hotel before departure to King George Island. Make sure to try on all items including both boots. I had one size 12 boot and one size 10 boot which was easily remedied in Punta Arenas. 10. Departures to King George Island are dependent on fly windows which are determined by winds and visibility on King George Island. Our fly window was late in the day so we did not arrive to the ship until 8:30 PM which made for a quick dinner and briefing. We were allowed the use of our hotel rooms at Punta Arenas well past normal checkout time as we waited for our flight windows. Lunch was provided at the hotels and we could walk around the city sticking relatively close to the hotel during the day should the flight window change. 11. Flight from Punta Arenas to King George Island is about two hours again with the food offering leaving room for improvement. Again, seating configuration is 2 – 3 with several rows at the front that have extra leg room and all remaining rows the pretty tight space. On departure from the plane in King George Island, one must be wearing their parka, waterproof pants and boots. The flight attendants made an announcement close to landing to inform us that it was time to put on our waterproof pants and parka, as well as change into our boots. We wore normal shoes onto the plane because you will end up leaving your boots in the mudroom on deck three, and change back into your normal shoes to walk around the boat. 12. If passengers desire to kayak on the cruise, they must attend a mandatory briefing that is given only once on the whole cruise. So, if you only have the slightest desire, go ahead and attend the briefing – you have nothing to lose. Actual kayaking can accommodate 12 passengers at a time. Sessions are held most mornings and afternoons but is weather dependent. Slots are filled on a lottery basis. It seems that popularity of kayaking is low at the beginning of the cruise and then builds as word spreads. 13. Once on the ship, passengers are divided into four color groups and participate in excursions with their group. We had 146 passengers so 35 – 40 people were in each group. When your color group is called, you proceed to the port side mudroom that is being used to put on boots, put on a life vest and await the boarding of the zodiac. Each cabin has side-by-side spaces assigned in the mudroom for boot and life vest storage. Space in the mudroom can get very crowed with people putting on life vest and boots while wearing parkas, waterproof pant, hats and gloves. We found that wearing slide sandals to and from the mudroom allowed for minimization of time in the overly crowded mudroom. 14. Restaurant reservations while on the ship are needed in all venues for dinner with the exception of the main dining room. We made our reservations online before departing the USA. Since daily excursions and briefings sometimes run late, one should make reservations for “Regular” times which is 8 PM. The dinner menu in the Grill is a constant menu that does not change. Il Terrazzino has what seems to be two different menus that rotate every three days. We did not eat at La Dame, but we heard from others that they had a great experience. The room service menu is available to use in any restaurant for any meal. 15. There are robes and slippers in every cabin. If different sizing is needed, just ask. We got an XL robe and larger slippers for me. 16. The naturalists are really outstanding – not a weak one among them. We especially liked Nick Bredenkamp and the kayak leader Megan Savage. Many of them specialize in different areas and work together to provide different perspectives on each excursion from their respective specialties. Marieke Egan was the Expedition Leader for our cruise, and she did a terrific job. There was a weather system that came through during our cruise. Marieke remained very flexible, and found some great landings in areas that she didn’t plan for when she initially planned our sailing’s excursions. 17. When you come back from excursions you will clean your boots to make sure that you aren’t introducing anything new to the environment for your next landing. Make sure to double check your pants for any rogue specks of penguin poop. You use the “sit and slide” technique to load the zodiacs, so it is easy to end up sitting or sliding across an area where someone had previously stepped. Even the smallest speck of penguin poop can stink up a room. 18. There is entertainment provided every evening in the form of a pianist and a guitar player. One seems to be in the Explorer Lounge evenings with the other in Observation Lounge. They would rotate between each venue. Sergei the pianist is really exceptional, could play any type of music and we tended to follow him. The entertainment director, Yessey, was very personable and high energy. 19. We tended to have lunch in the Grill most days. The view from the 2 story windows can’t be put into words. 20. Upon return from excursions, you are welcomed back aboard with a warm beverage. In the afternoons, the Arts Café offered a warm broth that one could add noodles, protein and veggies to help shake the cold. There were also other small warm dishes, desserts, and sandwiches in the Arts Café, but the warm broth was a hit with my party. 21. Departure day does drag depending on when the fly window is. Departure from your room at 8 or 9 in the morning sees people camped in the common space for quite a while. We camped in the Observation lounge because of the views and it did fill-up. Our departure was at 5 PM so we had a lot of time between when we had to be out of our rooms and disembarkation. The lunch options were the Grill and the Arts Café. We, along with several others, took one last opportunity to enjoy the views from the Grill. 22. At the initial briefing on the ship, Silversea reps tell you about a thumb drive that will be given to each cabin at the end of the cruise. Upon looking at the contents after returning home, it was very disappointing. The drive contained 4 very short videos and a little over 10 still pictures. I know there were 2 different “photographers” listed amongst the naturalists as well as many of the other naturalists took pictures of wildlife during the excursions but most of those photos didn’t make it to the thumb drive. We took thousands of pictures on our phones and other travelers (some with high powered cameras) were kind enough to swap pictures with us. Airdroping of photos was a very big hit. 23. Our departure from King George Island was a thrill ride. The pilot set the break, revved the 4 engines to max power, popped the breaks and we were off. Some compared to the Rock’n Roll rollercoaster at Disney World. All the passengers’ heads whiplashed back when the pilot popped the breaks. 24. If you are fortunate enough to go on the Silver Endeavour this season, please tell a waiter that generally works the Grill named Ljubomir or pronounced Lubo for short, that the tall Texan with no hair on the top of his head says hello.