PA11 Antarctica review

[chalfont15]

Recently back from 17 night Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica itinerary.

 

Found the crew and expedition staff to be very welcoming and the ship interior was well furnished and clean. Food was good, not brilliant.

 

Overall, a good trip but the main drawback was the division of passengers into 4 groups with only 2 groups landing at any one time (the ship carried 120 passengers and only 100 allowed on South Georgia and Antarctica at one go). Meant that time ashore was limited to about 1.5 hours and felt rushed at times- for example, 2 walks on offer at Deception island, both about 40 minutes, but could only do one. Would have preferred more time ashore but then the compromise is that you go on a smaller, less luxurious ship.

 

The timing of the group landings was also very strange- one morning we were scheduled to be the first group out at 5.30 am (having been the last group back the previous night) and were then the last group to leave the ship in the late afternoon. This meant a long day in between on the ship.

 

Had a rough crossing back on the Drake Passage (waves up to 12 metres) but we personally enjoyed this as would have been disappointed with calm seas and saw this as part of the experience. Were very disappointed that the captain tuned homewards early from Antarctica (lunchtime) to miss the worst of the storm as this meant we were only 2 hours from the mouth of the Beagle Channel at 10am the day before we were due to dock in Ushuaia and just sailed slowly until the pilot could take us through at 5pm. By 9pm we were docked in Ushuaia so did not have our last night at sea. The crew were very glad to be going ashore but it did seem that our cruise had ended early, perhaps for their benefit- the previous cruise also docked the previous evening and it will be interesting to read the journals to see whether this continues. According to the brochure, the ship is meant to dock at 8am on the last day.

 

Overall, however, had a great experience and the best bit was definitely South Georgia.

[Lirio]

Thanks Chalfont15. We will go on March for the same 17 days trip. We saved for many years for this cruise, I hope we will enjoy.

[cthip]

Thanks for your review--we'll be looking at a similar voyage in the future.

 

I don't think I would blame Silversea for the relatively shorter landings (any ship with over 100 passengers would be forced to do the same), or for navigating around rough weather. Still, I will be following this thread and reading other reviews to be sure that this does not become a pattern that is unique to the PAII.

[tgh]

We were on the same cruise and found the overall experience excellent.

There will always seem to be winners and losers in the group landing "lottery" ,but we found the team tried to even it up

We are still "on the road' but I will provide a report after we arrive home

[Wilcoam]

The for the review

My wife and I sailed on the PA ll this past Jan 29th - Feb 9

 

We also landed in Ush 9:00p that evening so I think this is standard but we used the time to bar hop where we got to hang with some of the crew which to us was alot of fun

 

We thought the dining was SPECTACULAR but truth is we are not regular SS or even high end cruiseline pax, Celebrity being our usual fare - Unlike the Xpedition staff however we also found some of the hired naturalists to be more than a little condescending, sometimes way too busy doing their own research than being informative with the pax - There was one SS staff member 'Esther' whom was just downright ornery all the time

 

On the other hand some of the staff and naturalists were more than eager to discuss their live stories and their expedition adventures with us at lunch and dinner and these were some of our fave moments of the sailing, especially one evening when dinner was transformed into a mega whale watch, with literally 120 pax crammed into one side of the dining room, with naturalists running around with cameras, etc, too funny, all that luxary and prim n proper stuff literally tossed aside for sake of the adventure

 

We lucked out weather wise, and numbers wise - We never seemed to be over 100 pax off-board, we just assumed X pax were here for the cruise, not the adventure, or were brought along by the sig others, so we doubly lucked out

 

We really hope to return to the Antartic within the next 5 years, and are really hoping the PA ll will still be sailing in the area

 

jc

Toronto

[Keith1010]

Thanks to all of you for sharing the reviews and comments.

 

Keith

[RachelG]

Trying to decide between the 11 day and the 17 day cruises. I would love to do the 17 day, but it is a stretch with my job. Any thoughts?

[ging466]

Trying to decide between the 11 day and the 17 day cruises. I would love to do the 17 day, but it is a stretch with my job. Any thoughts?

 

Go for broke...17 days:D I won't consider a cruise under 14 days but then I have to travel so far to get to them, it isn't worth my while to do anything less. Antarctica is not the kind of place that you would keep going back to so if you can, do the longer trip.

 

Cheers

ging466

[chalfont15]

It really depends on what your interests are.

 

For us, South Georgia was the absolute highlight in view of the abundant wildlife and the wonderful weather we had on our day with two fantastic landings. In fact, that day was one of the best ever days we have experienced in our extensive travels and if we had seen nothing else from then onwards then that day would have made up for it.

 

The downside of the 17 day itinerary is that you don't spend so long in Antarctica. As the weather is so variable, this may mean that you see relatively little whilst you are there- on our trip, one landing on Deception Island was cancelled because of ice conditions but then we got the chance to walk on sea ice. As previously reported, we also missed out on the Lemaire Channel. On the 11 day itinerary, you are on the Peninsula for 5 days so overall, no matter what the weather is like, you should see more although not as much wildlife as South Georgia (although maybe this depends on the time of year). We also found the Falklands interesting.

 

Also bear in mind that on the longer itinerary, although Elephant Island is a scheduled stop, the ship has rarely stopped there because of ice/ sea conditions and this turned into another sea day for us.

 

Personally, I would do the 17 day trip but if you were prepared to consider less luxury and comfort and want a more active holiday, go for a smaller ship (less than 100 passengers) so you land more frequently. We loved the ship but found it very frustrating to be somewhere but not be able to fully experience it because only 50% of the passengers were ashore at any one time (this did not apply to the Falklands stop)- obviously, this was not the fault of the ship as these are the rules under the Antacrtic Treaty.

[Lirio]

Rachel,

 

I had the same doubt and problem. Finally decided for the 17 days. I made arrengemnets in my job.

 

Due to my budget constrains, it is unlikelly that I can go twice to Antarctica, so I decided for the 17 days. In this way I can see more.

[RachelG]

Definitely want the luxury--we are too old and spoiled now.

 

Looking at the schedules, there is one 17 day that overlaps 2 months. That could be doable for us. I have to take an equal number of call days each month as my 3 partners. No way to do a 17 day cruise if it is all in one month unless I wanted to be on call every other day for the entire rest of the month, but if it overlaps 2 months, I could possibly do it.

 

Thanks for the advice. I would confer with my husband, but he always says it's up to me as far as travel. I know he would find the Falklands very interesting as he is Mr. History Channel.

[ilovhywd]

I enjoyed reading your review.

 

We were in Ushuaia on Saturday night, November 28, 2009. While we were eating dinner, we saw the Prince Albert II come into the port about 9:00 pm.

 

We were wondering how they did the landings, as we only saw one or two small zodiacs on the deck of the ship. Were there more that we didn't see?

 

We arrived that morning on the Via Australis from Punta Arenas which had 4 large zodiacs for a maximum of 120 passengers, so each one made two trips ferrying the passengers at each location where we did a landing.

 

Just curious, since we didn't seem to notice enough zodiacs on the PAII.

 

On board, we saw two National Geographic movies that you might like. They were "Survival Island" and "Eden at the End of the World". One of them was about South Georgia Island.

 

After the taste we had of small ship cruising, our appetite has increased for an Antarctica trip in the future! And I don't think we will EVER go on a large, mainstream cruise ship again!

[RachelG]

Bit the bullet and booked the 17 day cruise this am!

[tgh]

Haven't had time to do a review.. but you won't regret the 17 night decision.

South Georgia is a very special place, and as a bonus , if you are late season , you may even get into elephant island.

Do pack some olefactory desensitisers tho .. :D

[Lirio]

RachelG,

 

in which departure are you in? I am at March 9, 2010.

 

regards,

[RachelG]

We are on the Jan 25--have to be able to overlap the months to take that long a trip.

My nose is pretty tough (ob/gyn for 20 years and own a cattle ranch)!

[mrset425]

Did they have boots towear or did you have to bring your own

[chalfont15]

Re the zodiacs- I think there were 5 or 6. The majority carried only 10 passengers but there was at least one which I believe carried 16.

 

We took our own boots but there were plenty available on the ship. They also took walking sticks ashore for you to borrow.

[RachelG]

Do you think they have size 13 boots? My husband has big feet.

[pacmom]

RachelG,

 

Are you going in 2010? We are on the Jan 18th trip in 2010. It is 11 days, so can't figure how you will start on jan25.

[RachelG]

2011--a ways off but for something this major, you have to plan ahead. Hope to hear a report from you when you return. I would be esp interested in how internet access is on board when you are that far south.

When we were cruising Norway this summer on Regent Voyager, the satellite connection just did not work well at all when we got above the Arctic Circle.

[basedow]

My husband and I are extremely interested in this cruise too. However on the Silver Sea cruise site I cannot find descriptions of the cabins. Is there someplace this is shown so as to choose accommodations?

 

Rachel, are you using your AA ff miles to get there? Except of course for that charter plane at the very end?

[RachelG]

Using AA FF miles to get to Buenos Aires.

 

I had to google Prince Albert II deck plans to get to see the cabins. It is no where that I can find on the Silversea site, which is weird.

 

Would love to have you along!

[basedow]

Thanks Rachel. We'd love to be there too! We won't know if we can spare the time until sometime in the summer, if there's space left.

 

We would have enough miles too and I hope the seat availability is good. It seems expensive to get it through SS.

[pacmom]

RachelG,

Will be sure to let you know about the trip. We've also been planning for over a year. Got wellies from Wal-mart and water proof pants from LL Bean. Also ordered a polar tec type balacava from Lakeside Collection here in the states. Merry Christmas.