Prince Albert II or Le Diamand

[Lirio]

Hi fellows this is my first thread.

 

I am from Brazil and I like to cruise.

 

This time I am considering a cruise to Antarctica and I was offered Le Diamand and Price Albert II.

 

Which of them do you recommend and why?

 

My best wishes,

Lirio

[parischris]

Hi there,

 

no one has answered your question, so I'll try to. I think by Le Diamand you may mean "Le Diamant". This is a French-flagged ship. I have seen it in Ushuaia on both my visits there. It is an older ship than the Prince Albert, and very popular with French travellers. The primary language on board is French, then other languages to accommodate the majority of their passengers. Le Diamant is occasionally chartered by US universities for an 'at sea' semester.

 

I suspect the Prince Albert will be English-language only. It is a much more luxurious ship, owned by Silver Sea and will attract a broader range of Americans and Europeans, with the occasional Aussie thrown in.

 

Both ships take roughly the same number of passengers.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Cheers

[freddie]

Lirio -

 

The two ships are quite different in many respects. I would without hesitation choose Prince Albert II, while I would not consider for a moment going to Antarctica on Le Diamant.

 

Le Diamant is an old ship, first launched in 1974, and last "refurbished" after it was sold by Radisson Seven Seas Cruises to Ponant Cruises in 2004. It had been a very popular ship with Radisson, sailing as the Song of Flower, until Radisson determined that the sweet old ship was not up to the luxury standard Radisson required and could not be made so. When we saw Le Diamant in Antarctica two years ago, several people in our group who had sailed many times on her and had loved her declared that they would never sail on that ship in a place as remote and potentially hostile as Antarctica, due to concerns about the ship's engine and propulsion systems.

 

On the other hand, the Prince Albert II is much newer than Le Diamant and was extensively refurbished last year by Silversea Cruises to become Silversea's expedition ship. A number of our cruising buddies have sailed on the PA II in South America and the Arctic and find the ship both luxurious (which Le Diamant is not) and well-suited for expedition cruising. It is not easy to have both a luxury cruise experience and a great expedition experience. The ship on which we visited Antarctica, the Hanseatic, provides such a remarkable combination, as does, as far as I can determine, the PA II.

 

If you are not going to Antarctica until 2010, you might want to consider also the brand new ship being launched next year by Ponant Cruises, Le Boreal. It looks fantastic and will be a serious competitor to the PA II in the luxury expedition market.

 

I hope this helps a bit. We'll be in your Cidade Maravilhosa for several days at the beginning of December (only four weeks to go!!) before embarking on the Regent Voyager to cruise north to Ft. Lauderdale. Looking forward enormously to our time in Rio.

 

Tchau, Fred

[Lirio]

Hi fellows thanks for the replies. Unfortunatelly it turned out that PAII does only have expensive cabins available (the cheap one are fully booked) that I can not afford.

 

I am also looking to Quark Expetions cruisers in those russian boats and other alternatives. Any suggestion?

 

Fred, enjoy Rio de Janeiro, the wonderful city where I live, but be smart and safe.

[parischris]

Hi fellows thanks for the replies. Unfortunatelly it turned out that PAII does only have expensive cabins available (the cheap one are fully booked) that I can not afford.

 

I am also looking to Quark Expetions cruisers in those russian boats and other alternatives. Any suggestion?

 

Fred, enjoy Rio de Janeiro, the wonderful city where I live, but be smart and safe.

 

Hi Lirio,

 

There are a lot of great deals on at the moment. Contact me through the redbubble link below (send a Bubblemail) and I'll email you some websites.

 

Cheers

[Minya]

I was booked on Marco Polo to Antarctica Christmas /New year this year but she has been chartered by an English company and the Antarctic season has been cancelled for much needed refurbishing. Instead, I was offered Le Diamant and I am looking forward to my cruise commencing from Ushuaia on Dec 21st this year. I have a single outside midship cabin and for Antarctic cruises, reasonably priced. Cant wait. I am confident it will be a wonderful cruise and Le Diamant has rave reviews elsewhere whereas Marco Polo didnt particularly under their German Transocean company although they were starting to improve.

I looked at the low lying red Antarctic ships in Ushuaia Christmas /New Year 2007 including the one that had a mishap with the ice and returned to Ushuaia. I thought not for me!! I prefer a bigger cruise ship like Le Diamant she will be comfortable enough . This is the first time Le Diamant cruises have been marketed in New Zealand where I live. Sure French passengers wil be the majority but there wil be some English speaking passengers and the crew is bi- lingual. Looks absolutely fab on u tube.

[MMDown Under]

I was booked on Marco Polo to Antarctica Christmas /New year this year but she has been chartered by an English company and the Antarctic season has been cancelled for much needed refurbishing. Instead, I was offered Le Diamant and I am looking forward to my cruise commencing from Ushuaia on Dec 21st this year. I have a single outside midship cabin and for Antarctic cruises, reasonably priced. Cant wait. I am confident it will be a wonderful cruise and Le Diamant has rave reviews elsewhere whereas Marco Polo didnt particularly under their German Transocean company although they were starting to improve.

I looked at the low lying red Antarctic ships in Ushuaia Christmas /New Year 2007 including the one that had a mishap with the ice and returned to Ushuaia. I thought not for me!! I prefer a bigger cruise ship like Le Diamant she will be comfortable enough . This is the first time Le Diamant cruises have been marketed in New Zealand where I live. Sure French passengers wil be the majority but there wil be some English speaking passengers and the crew is bi- lingual. Looks absolutely fab on u tube.

 

What size is Le Diamant and how many passengers?

 

Good that you were able to get an outside single cabin.

 

What a wonderful memorable Christmas you are going to have.

[Lirio]

We gave up Le Diamant, and we are in the waiting list for PAII. Let´s see whats turn on.

 

Mynia, we love New Zealand. My daugther lived in Dunedin for 7 month for an high school exchange program in 2005. Then we travelled around for 1 month. It was fantastic.

 

Please let us know your experience with Le Diamant.

 

Cheers from Rio de Janeiro.

[Minya]

Marion and Barry

heres the info you asked abut plus extra

Length: 124 metres

Beam 16 metres

draft 4.9 metres

speed 15.5.knots

passenger capacity 226

cabin/ suites 113 over 5 decks

onboard currency will be the Euro. 220 voltage in cabins.

Ice class 1-D whatever that means

Le Diamant supplies parkas but gumboots (sea boots/ wellingtons) are not suplied

[Minya]

Did you get put off Le Diamant or just didnt get an answer with a booking query? They are very geared to the French because they are French and need a bit of a push to supply info for the English market.

good luck with PAII.

 

NZ: Dunedin is one of the coldest cities in winter but is lovely very Scottish, I like it there and the tours out tos ee the Albatross and Yellow-Eyed penguins.

 

i will be posting my Le Diamant experience after I get home so probably mid January.

Not long now cant wait:)

[Lirio]

Hi Mynia,

 

we just put off. We are in the waiting list of prince albert II which sailing date as more suitable for us.

 

Please let us know your experience in Antarctica.

 

I wish you a wonderful cruise.

 

Cheers from Rio de Janeiro.

[MMDown Under]

Marion and Barry

heres the info you asked abut plus extra

Length: 124 metres

Beam 16 metres

draft 4.9 metres

speed 15.5.knots

passenger capacity 226

cabin/ suites 113 over 5 decks

onboard currency will be the Euro. 220 voltage in cabins.

Ice class 1-D whatever that means

Le Diamant supplies parkas but gumboots (sea boots/ wellingtons) are not suplied

 

Thanks for the information.

 

Bon Voyage for your trip. I look forward to reading of your experiences.

[Minya]

Thankyou very much. I'm getting excited not long to go . Got my info from the shipping co. and pick up final documentation this coming week. Just as well I had already googled what i generally wanted to know. Have got myself a ski jacket and waterproof trousers . The waterproof parka supplied is for the zodiacs and landings and presumably a warm jersey underneath plus base layering. Not sure whetehr the ski jacket is worn under the parka or not i think it is as it doesnt say the parka is windproof , although its waterproof , so I might not need the jersey. . Got myself a mixture of silk, alpaca , merino wool, polypropclothing and a fleecy tracksuit and nice warm possum fur insoles for my boots. i want to allow for whatever conditions shed or add on as required on the day. i think i might take my larger size boots along and leave them behind when i go.They are not supplied nd they need to be non slip and able to take socks inside. I cant risk being able to find right size in Ushuaia but they are not particularly light but boots are vital.

[chalfont15]

I have posted a brief review of a recent Antarctica trip on PA11 on the Silverseas board.

[MMDown Under]

I have posted a brief review of a recent Antarctica trip on PA11 on the Silverseas board.

 

Thanks for putting this link to your brief review on Silverseas thread. I enjoyed your comments.

[Minya]

Absolutely fantastic cruise on Le Diamant Antartica South Georgia and Falklands Dec 21st to jan 5th 2010 pure magic with the fantastic Captain Etienne Garcia and the magnificant Florian Knik as cruise director - we were very lucky to have them .If you want a unique experience simply the best grab if you can If booking Jade Deck go for a midship cabin like I had perfect cabin 318 definately not bow too rocky had friends there. This is sadly Le Diamants last season in Antarctica. I will be posting under Antarctica

[Lirio]

Minya,

 

looking forward to see your review!

 

We are very happy you has a great cruise!

 

I will sail on PAII on March 9 departure.

 

Cheers from Rio de Janeiro.

Lirio

[Minya]

My review is there under Antartica. I hope you enjoy PAII and have afabulous time and will look foward in turn to you (hopefully) doing a review too!

cheers

Judith

from Nelson NZ

[Lirio]

Hi Mynia,

 

I will do a review.

 

I love Nelson with that flowers hanging and the artists and everything else. I had wonderful days there. Hope to get back soon.

[Minya]

yes we do ahve pretty hanging flower baskets and we have one of the best flea markets in New Zealand on Saturday mornings , a great place for artisans and artists and many unusual things for sale.

 

look foward to your review and im sure you will have an excellent cruise

[thomastoo]

We just returned from antarctic cruise aboard Le Diamant. It is an older but fabulous ship in excellent condition. French service and food outstanding. This was last Antarctic cruise for the ship which will do warmer routes in the future. The ship owner, Ponant, is putting into service a new Ship Le Boreal which will take over the Antarctica cruises. It looks like a really wonderful ship and will be captained by Etienne Garcia the former captain of Le Diamant. He has extensive Ice experience and is a wonderful Captain.

[Lirio]

Just uploaded some pictures of Prince Albert II in the Photo Gallery.

[Lirio]

My review is on board: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=66321