claimers

So happy to find this thread! It appears that many different sailings are posting here. I enjoy reading about all the itineraries and opinions. Do you recommend I start a thread for our specific sailing, or continue to post here?

We will be sailing on the Baroness in August 2018 - the 14-day Danube with Prague and Budapest. Anyone else out there joining us?

We usually do "private tours" when we travel, but the prices for the optional excursions do not seem unreasonable. Is that other people's opinions as well?

We will be sailing on the Viking Hemming "Portugal Rivers of Gold" cruise on 8/16/15 departing from Porto.

Can find any roll call for our cruise.

Anyone have any suggestions? I have searched and searched.

Thank You

We've had two trips to Antarctica, amounting to almost three weeks and going as far south as 68°, and all but two days featured sunny blue skies.

Thank you for your comments.

May we be so lucky.

I was wondering the same question as you! How to travel more than half of the world, spend some money, of course, and not know how it works out?

As we all know weather can be somewhat unpredictable. A journey to Antarctica is allways some kind of lottery. Some get, others unfortunately lose. I was among the first (lucky me), on the same cruise last year (17th of February 2013). Our cruise director called it "Golden Cruise". We were truly blessed with plenty of sunshine, blue skies and calm sees. Did all ports as scheduled, on the Falkland Islands (was a bit windy and cloudy in the morning) we finished our day almost in short sleeves. While cruising on Antarctic peninsula it was warmer than I thought it would be. So, I even didn't use all my clothing (just 2-3 layers needed). Great naturalist who was on board and was already on his thirteenth cruise to Antarctica said, that is the first time he sees the entire, most impressive Endurance glacier on Elephant Island.

White magic everywhere you look, what a scenery, unspoiled nature in all it's glory, silence, silence and then suddenly echo of the scottish pipes (we have listen to), seals and penguins on a floating ice - take a deep breath, it's unforgetable.

The entire cruise was wonderful experience (although it was just drive or pass by and at this point I totaly agree with Turtles 06), we saw a lot of wild life out there. Have to say Celebrity did a very good job on this one, excellent chef capitan and the crew, nice and friendly staff, very good food (in the MDR), entertainment etc. We were like one biiiiig familiy and really there was nothing to complaine about (but maybe I'm just not that picky).

Because this is probably the closest I'll ever get to Antarctica (oh, I would really love to do the landings, but pockets are not deep enough for now), I'll keep this beautiful memories for a life time.

 

I would say: Go and hope for the best, there is nothing else to do.

Good luck and enjoy!!!

THANK YOU Jonzara,

You made me want to hop on the plane tonight!

Here's a quick look at a very few of the many pictures I took.....unsorted:

 

http://www.23hq.com/receive/15559914/D50E878E67BAF5186

THANKS!

Great photos

I trust you will have many fond memories of your trip.

Claudia, given what you would like to see, have you considered at all whether a small-ship trip to Antarctica with landings on the continent is something you would have the resources to do? I realize not everyone can manage this, but if you could do it, you would have a completely different and extraordinary experience.

Thank you Turtles 06!

I will definitely check out your National Geographic photo album.

The cruise is scenic with many sea days...and scenic is subject to weather including rain, snow, fog....the Antarctic is rarely sunny with blue skies. As you know, our itinerary changed due to weather but we had great visibility when it counted....with some strong very cold wind. Often the Falklands are too windy to tender and the southern ocean can be very rough. On the other hand, we had good weather, light seas, once the schedule was changed, and we saw many whale spouts, a school of orcas, icebergs and glaciers. If you think about it, it's actually very hard to see a whale. We saw penguins swimming in groups.

 

For wildlife, it's imperative that you book tours yourself...do not use celebrity excursions. Pira tours in Ushuaia takes a small group to a penguin rookery where you are walking with the penguins. Similar comment on Patrick watts in the Falklands...even though there was another ship the day we arrived and they had booked all the jeeps, so those on the infinity couldn't go. We missed puerto madryn so I can't really comment on that one, but I had another small group tour planned. In exchange for the missed port, we sailed drake passage in both directions which was very nice.

 

I have mixed feelings on whether I would recommend the cruise to new cruisers...although we met some who were on their first cruise. I think for experienced cruisers, it offers a different experience which celebrity does quite well.

 

Not sure I answered your question...IMHO it's not a must do cruise, but it's an interesting cruise. Which definitely is improved with small group or private excursions in the few ports....but that applies to most celebrity cruises. For wildlife, the Galapagos is far and away the best cruise and should be on everyone's bucket list.

THANK YOU! I really appreciate your candid response. And thank you for taking the time to respond.

We always try to avoid the excursions sponsored by the ships. We have already reserved with Patrick Watts and working on Ushuaia. We HAVE been on Celebrity's Xpedition to the Galapagos - an AMAZING trip and I totally agree with you - a MUST DO - I think that is why I got a little nervous reading your minute-by-minute reviews; I didn't want to be disappointed.

We will give this trip some serious consideration before booking our non-refundable airfare.

Safe, healthy travels the rest of your journey,

Claudia

According to two different sources 2% of the passengers caught the virus...or reported getting sick.

 

Disembarkation was quick and smooth. We found a very flooded hallway carpet this morning on deck 9 between the midship and rear elevators on the port side which will require some serious drying....I feel sorry for whoever had the problem in their cabin.

 

We saw the crew starting to wipe down everything as we left. Some days off we're postponed...they are doing the right things to avoid a real outbreak.

Dear ghstudio,

We will be sailing in February of 2015, but I read your report daily. THANK YOU for taking the time to do this. I have enjoyed your humor, suffered with your frustrations, learned a lot from you (port charge credit, etc.) and some days wished I were there with you RIGHT NOW - not one year from now.

If I may, I would like to ask a very serious question. Knowing all that you now know and experiencing what you have just experienced, would you have taken this cruise? Would you recommend this cruise to friends? I so want to see the wildlife…the penguins, the whales, and Antarctica. Did you see enough to make the challenges worth it? You have mentioned a lot of the negatives - which we all need to hear, but did the positives outweigh them? Hope so!

Stay healthy and enjoy the next leg of your cruise!

I look forward to an HONEST response,

Claudia