Antarctica - Cruise line choices - Reviews?

[cands]

It was great to read your postings. I didn't mean to sound too heavy.

 

With the lady that passed away I had considered that I couldn't think of a better way. Bit tough on the staff and others who become involved though. Also it felt quite ghoulish enjoying the detour when it was for such a reason.

 

Shmabbies - I was really just musing about the penguin rookies. At the Falklands we didn't actually walk through the rookery. There were unobtrusive posts marking where not to go past. There was also only a maximum of about 16-20 people at the rookery at a time as the four wheel drives were shuttling groups of four in & out all the time.

 

I thought Bernard Oldhouse(?) was on your Princess cruise with some of his graduate students in 2003, and ours in 2004. It was he that was doing tourism research. He had a large rookery as a control and another where tourist visits were permitted. The one that had visitors actually grew considerably while the control decreased. Blew that theory out of the water. He said that the rookeries are always expanding or contracting most likely in response to the available food.

 

Near where I live in Melbourne, at Phillip Island, there has been a penguin rookery open for tourism all of my life. They are small penguins (renamed from fairy penguins) and are the burrowing type. Most visitors to Melbourne want to go there and the last few times I've taken people there, there were 20-30 coach loads of people. The penguins return to their nests just after dusk and despite having people free zones, some usually walk up through the people as the path is easier. There are always some who use flash photography despite the warnings in several languages not to use flashes. Years ago it was thought that the penguins would move away but they haven't. There are also other places along the southern Australian coast that have penguins, but it's not advertised widely.

 

With the person who 'just had to get that shot', I can't remember the site I read it on- it was ac hat page. I had the impression that someone was leaning back to get a good angle while seated in a zodiac - if they had gone too far they would have grabbed at their neighbours, possibly taking them into the water with them. Sorry about my grammar - I didn't mean taking pictures on land.

 

I'm pleased to hear that you didn't get that wet in the Zodiac. I had visions of getting wind chill from wet patches!

 

I was a bit shocked when watching 'bergie' bits float past near our ship. They were very small and had dragged along the side of the ship. I noticed two different colours on them and thought they must of been some weird growth. I soon realised they were paint scraping off the ship. It was a form of pollution that I hadn't considered!

 

With regard to agility, I was not making a broad statement - just the point that some people might find it difficult. I spent a lot of my cruise listening to a lady of 89 years. She had wonderful stories of her life in South Africa and India. She also chatted about how annoying junk email was and how she had just installed a firewall! I had nothing but admiration for her and her ability to challenge sterotypes. That's one of the many pleasures of cruising.

 

With regard to the ozone hole, in Australia we are more acutely aware of it. In Australia, in the last 40 years, the amount of time in the sun to burn has decreased from about 20 mins to ~12 minutes depending on skin type. We also have the largest rate of skin cancer in the world.

 

On that cheery note I'll finish up!

 

Chris :)

[Aussie Gal]

Cands,

 

Thanks for your informative report and review. We are going on the Regal Princess next January and I have one question.

 

When you were on the Falkland Islands you mentioned you saw the penguins. Can you tell me which area you went to and was it on a ship's tour.

 

Jennie

[cands]

Aussi Gal,

 

The tour we did from Pt Stanley was the "Bluff Cove and Penguins" or thereabouts. I was a half day tour organised by Princess. Very professionally run. Consisted of a coach ride out of Port Stanley with a guide who gave a potted history of the Islands and some insight into modern life there. We stopped in what seemed like the middle of nowhere and transferred to Land Rovers. These took us across a summer track to the penguin rookery at Bluff Cove.

Very pretty place, even if there had been no penguins. We were then free for over an hour to visit with the penguins and to walk down to the cove itself.

 

There were hundreds of pairs of gentoo penguins, most with offspring at the furry, cute stage. Right in the middle of the rookery were three king penguins, looking like they owned the place. The area was only loosely marked with poles to suggest people not get too close. It was not crowded, as there were only 30-40 people there at a time.

 

The local population has installed a shack down by the cove, where they treat the tourists to a cup of tea and a piece of cake. This is done on a volunteer basis and shows the genuine welcome given to tourists in the Falklands.

 

The other great penguin place we went to was near Punta Arenas, in Chile. There we did our own thing by hiring a taxi to take us to the penguin rookery about 100km from Punta Arenas. The taxi company was well organised on the dock - all we did was say penguins, they told us how much (USD80 for the taxi (seats 4), and we were on our way.

The magellan, or ***** penguins were very different to the gentoos; they were spread in burrows through the sandhills. The park also provided a hide, so we could watch them as they moved to and from the sea. They have a call, just like a *****!

This was another memorable day. The drive to and from enabled us to experience the vastness of Patagonia - reminded us somewhat of home.

 

Steve.

[Aussie Gal]

Steve,

 

Thanks for all that information. We are hoping to see the penguins in the Falklands if we are lucky enough to be able to land, of course it all depends on the weather. Otherwise we may have to look for them elsewhere. As we are going on the Regal Princess I presume we will be offered a similar tour to yours in the Falklands. We really do not want to do the 100km drive in Punta Arenas.

 

I didn't realize you were also from Melbourne. We have often been down to Phillip Island to see the "fairy" penguins and I would love to see the bigger ones if we are lucky enough.

 

Did you see anything else of S.A. whilst you were there? We are also going to the Iguazu Falls, Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands. We will be away over six weeks, a trip of a lifetime! In the meantime we have a wonderful cruise in July going the other way, Greenland, Iceland, Shetland Islands and Norway to Holland.

 

Jennie

[cands]

Hi Jennie,

 

Small World! We live in Ashburton.

 

We only did the Falklands, Ushuaia, Punta Arenas, Puerto Montt and Valparaiso/Santiago. We really enjoyed them all.

We spent 1 night in Santiago; could have easily done 2 or three. Chile was such a friendly country!

 

Your South American itinerary sounds great. You certainly seem to be doing the major highlights.

 

I noticed from another posting that you are a fan of Singapore Airlines. We are too, and have been 'round the world' with them three times. The non-stop Singapore to New York will certainly be an interesting experience.

I checked out the cabin layout. It certainly looks pretty good in economy, with only 7 across and good leg room.

 

Our next adventure is in October. We fly to Rome to join the Westerdam for a 15 night transatlantic to Ft Lauderdale.

We transfer straight from Westerdam to Summit for a 14 night Panama Canal cruise to Los Angeles. We have a stop-over in Japan on the way home.

 

Happy Cruising.

Steve (and Chris)

[Aussie Gal]

Steve and Chris,

 

It is a smaller world than you think. You would not believe it but we live in the next suburb to you, Mount Waverley and obviously you love cruising just as much as we do. :p

 

Next year in September we are going to go on the Veendam from Vancouver, through the Panama and up the Amazon, a 34 day cruise which should be wonderful.;) ;)

 

We Aussie's certainly get around. Our trip in July will be our 12th to Europe in a row. Can't get enough of the culture over there. We are very much looking forward to seeing a little of the States precruise. We will see a little more in December/February on our way to and from South America. We are using Qantas F.F. points and are going via the States.

 

Jennie

[smoosh21]

Has anyone here done the Norwegian Coastal Cruises that also does the Chilean Fjords?

 

I want to be sure I go on a trip that gets me over to the land at least twice, but in spending that much money, I wanted to add a little more to the trip. This line seems to fill the bill, but I want to make sure what they don't have that the other lines do.

 

I don't want to do a sail by, which rules out all the larger lines. Its hard trying to find information on these smaller lines.

[ghlinger]

Has anyone checked the ship Discovery? We booked with them. Sort of guarantee 2 landings.

[gandp]

This thread has (dare I say it) gone a bit cold lately.

 

We're off to Macquarie Island, Commonwealth Bay, Dumont D'Urville, Sth Magnetic Pole in December on the "Marina Svetaeva", a newly refurbished Russian vessel, on a package with Aurora Expeditions (www.auroraexpeditions.com.au if interested). Ship is about 4000 tonnes, 100 pax & 34 crew, zodiacs and 2 helicopters. Very much an "expedition" type trip.

 

Anyone else on the same trip reading this board?

 

Cheers

 

George & Pauline

[freddie]

My partner and I are booked on the Hanseatic's 18-day Antarctica cruise beginning 20 January 2007. It goes to the Falklands, South Georgia, South Shetlands, and the Antartica Peninsula. Lots and lots of penguins!! Has anyone been on the Hanseatic in the last couple of years? It appears to be a wonderful choice for the Antarctic - a luxury ice-hardened vessel built specifically for adventure cruising, small (less than 200 passengers in all-outside cabins), a fleet of Zodiacs for landings every day, a boot-room in which to leave the smelly boots, etc. We would be delighted to learn of anyone's experience on this ship. Cheers, Fred

[ghlinger]

Fred - this looks very interesting. We had to cancel our Discovery cruise. Can you give me more info on Hanseatic

[ghlinger]

Fred - this looks very interesting. We had to cancel our Discovery cruise. Can you give me more info on Hanseatic

[freddie]

Ghlinger - The Hanseatic is, as far as we can determine, the only luxury adventure ship afloat. Here is the home page for the ship, which is part of the Hapag-Lloyd operation out of Germany:

 

http://www.hlkf.de/redwork/do.php?layoutid=100&node=39718&language=2

 

Here is another good link with lots of info. on the Hanseatic cruises in Antarctica:

 

http://cruises.about.com/od/cruiseshipprofiles/ss/hanseatic.htm

 

The Berlitz guide to Ocean Cruising and Cruise Ships 2005 rates the Hanseatic as 5 stars (a rating only 20 ships in the world received).

 

It is much smaller than the Discovery (former Island Princess) or the Explorer II. The Hanseatic sails with a maximum of fewer than 200 passengers. I understand that will still require that we go ashore in the Zodiacs in two groups (to meet the 100 people on shore at a time rules); but that will allow loads of on-shore time. Our TA has been to Antarctica on the ship and found the on-shore time to be extremely generous, even for her photographer husband. The ship loans us the red parkas and rubber boots for the length of the cruise, eliminating the need for us to schlep such bulky items down to South America. Further, the ship has the boot room in which to leave the odoriferous boots - much better than in ones bathtub.

 

The ship, due to its small size, does not have any formal entertainment. Rather, there are lectures by experts on the places visited, flora & fauna, history, etc.

 

The ship's passengers are mainly German-speaking, with the balance being English and American. I think that Hapag-Lloyd has scheduled a second 18-day cruise beginning in late February, 2007, because of the strong response to the January 20 departure. The second cruise is being marketed much more heavily to Americans and other English-speakers than the first one, which will have about a third of its passengers English-speaking.

 

The Hanseatic is the ship that Radisson used to charter for its Antarctica cruises.

 

Cheers, Fred

[calexand]

If you want to see 5* that sail to Antarctica check out Travel Dynamics International Fleet. Last year Orion this year Corinthian 11. We are seriously considering this line for our 2007 visit to Antarctica.

[TedC]

Ghlinger - The Hanseatic is, as far as we can determine, the only luxury adventure ship afloat.

 

It is much smaller than the Discovery (former Island Princess) or the Explorer II. The Hanseatic sails with a maximum of fewer than 200 passengers.

 

The Hanseatic is the ship that Radisson used to charter for its Antarctica cruises.

 

Cheers, Fred

 

Explorer II, which Radisson is using in January in Antarctica, is 436 feet long, a few feet longer than Hanseatic. While Explorer II accommodates 300 passengers, a max of 198 are carried on Antarctica trips. The ship also is used by Abercrombie&Kent