Lindblad anyone?

[magandab]

Yes, I will read over on the Lindblad boards but I wondered if any of my HAL buddies had tried Lundblad and what you thought of it. Mom and I are thinking of a Columbia River cruise this year, something closer to home.

 

Your thoughts and opinions would be most welcome. I did some preliminary research on their website and saw that first we need to get past the sticker shock.

[Greythoundmom]

I haven't sailed HA yet (next month will be my first), but I've done 3 trips with Lindblad (Costa Rica/Panama, Galapagos, Amazon), so maybe I can help? We love Lindblad, but it is a very different experience than the large ships. The food is fantastic, guides are great, the places you go are off the beaten path. Cabins - meh. Don't pay for an upgraded room, it's not worth it. There is no "entertainment", the fun is in the twice-daily shore excursions. Feel free to ask me any questions!

[magandab]

I haven't sailed HA yet (next month will be my first), but I've done 3 trips with Lindblad (Costa Rica/Panama, Galapagos, Amazon), so maybe I can help? We love Lindblad, but it is a very different experience than the large ships. The food is fantastic, guides are great, the places you go are off the beaten path. Cabins - meh. Don't pay for an upgraded room, it's not worth it. There is no "entertainment", the fun is in the twice-daily shore excursions. Feel free to ask me any questions!

 

Thanks for that. From what I am reading, this may not be the line for my mom. She's 85 with some minor mobility issues and it sounds as though the excursions might be beyond her ability.

[Greythoundmom]

There are usually "more active" and "less active" options for the excursions. If she can climb in and out of the pangas (the zodiacs they use to shuttle you to shore) without too much assistance, it might work. You can always call to ask what the options are on that itinerary, if you are interested. Note, there are no elevators that I know of on the ship I think they use, so I think that climbing stairs is a must. I don't think their trip would be worth it if she couldn't do the excursions, there's not enough to keep you busy for a week on board.

[rafinmd]

I did this (Sea Bird) in 2001 so some of my info may be out of date. I greatly enjoyed the itinerary and the cruise but didn't think Lindblad was truly special. There are several other companies doing the same itinerary and you should investigate all of them.

 

A couple of points about Lindblad. Sea Bird and Sea Lion are offshoots of an early generation of ships used by Blount Small Ship Adventures. The ships were designed to go through the Erie Canal with 17-foot bridge clearances and that limitation did not leave space for elevator machinery. Blount's later ships were equipped with stair chairs but Sea Bird did not have them, at least when I was on board, so problems with stairs could be an issue.

 

 

The other thing I found about them is that once you sail them once you get bombarded with tons of their junk mail. 12 years later I still get about 4 brochures a week, even after asking them to stop.

 

Roy

[fionan]

I've done Alaska on both lines and they are a completely different experience:

 

Things HAL does better:

 

• cabins - by a mile. On LB the cabin was strictly somewhere to sleep. Narrow single beds at right angles in a tiny cabin and as for the bathroom - cabin attendant called it the "shoilet" basically a toilet, tiny hand basin and telephone shower head on a hook, in a space the size of a phone booth. Remove toilet paper before showering. There were better cabins that were larger, but the bathrooms were equally spartan.
  
• Shopping and ports. We went Sitka to Juneau and only visited one other settlement for the entire week.
  
• Entertainment and general "cruise experience"
  
• Accessibility - level access, elevators between floors, handicapped accessible cabins. (However, there were some cabins on the main deck level with the bar and restaurant)
  

 

Things LB did better:

 

• Food - the food was amazing, as you would expect from a smaller number of passengers. Ingredients were top range - eg King Crab legs, steaks; sauces were Cordon Bleu class; wine was included at meals; special requests were anticipated and offered - eg chef created (unasked) sugar free wholefood deserts for my diabetic partner. They just arrived on the table - "the chef thought you might like to try this".
  
• Going with the flow - itinerary was infinitely customisable - eg one afternoon a huge pod of Orcas came by the ship. We spent 3 hours hanging out with them rather than moving on. One evening a big old bear was feeding on the shore. We just stopped and watched him until the light faded.
  
• Excursions - all included, with an emphasis on nature watching but at different levels of ability. A lot of patience from the staff helping less confident passengers get comfortable with the zodiacs.
  
• Expertise on board - naturalists who really knew their stuff and a photo adviser who gave lots of tips on how to photograph what we were seeing.
  
• Actually getting to see Alaska, 100% of the time on board.
  
• Predicting the total cost - excursions all included in cost as was wine with meals - so onboard expenses much much lower.
  

stuff that was just different

 

 

• Spa services - there wasn't a proper spa with beauty treatments, but there was a very skilled massage therapist on board - if you wanted a massage you put your name on her list and she came to find you when the boat was underway and nothing interesting happening to compete.
  
• Staff service ethos - Great, professional and appropriate service on both lines, just very very different. On HAL there is a professional and committed staff from 3rd world who take pride in their service levels, address you respectfully "Miss X", and have very defined roles. On LB the staff were younger, American and egalitarian in approach. The same staff worked as cabin attendants and waitstaff, we were on first name terms, a much more casual relationship yet at the same time taking equal pride in their service levels.
  

I hope the above is helpful. I'd say give LB a call if you have any concerns about accessibility of your particular boat or itinerary. I think I've read that the Alaska boats are the least comfortable in the fleet, so some of my comments above might be too negative for the trip you are planning. For me there was no contest - the LB Alaska trip was just miles better in every way, but that was because Alaska rather than the ship was the destination.

Edited January 4, 2014 by fionan

[donaldsc]

I have never done Lindblad but my brother has done 3 or 4 of them. He obviously likes them.

 

DON