Just returned from the Zaandam to Antarctica with kids

[t60]

Enjoyed your review. Organising private excursions and not getting the money up front from everyone is always a risk as the ¨no shows¨ feel no obligation to contribute their share sometimes they don´t even contact you to excuse their non attendance.

Your embarkation experience in Rio, brought back memories for us. The whole experience was totally chaotic as there were several ships in port, our cases were whisked away by the porters as soon as we arrived and we were convinced they were not going to show up on the correct vessel (luckily they did, although not til late in the evening) The queues were horrendous and we had priority boarding, no wonder many people who used wheelchairs for embarkation (and de-barkation in San Fransisco) did so even though they were completely active during the cruise.

We´re off in March on Zandaam Valparaiso to BA

 

Sandy in Spain

[monina01]

thanks for the review! Interesting, I see you did not have Punta Este or Chacabuco or Chiloe on the itinerary.

 

Did you meet Nyree? She's great and does such a wonderful job with the tours.

 

You did not see any Gentoos at Volunteer Point? There were so many Gentoos last year....or maybe they were in a different place this year? The Gentoos were great :). The Magellans were all in their burrows, so we were very glad with the opportunity to see them at Punta Arena's. I wonder if it is because the time of year? We were there in February.

 

We did Punta Arena's with a speed boat. It was a bumpy ride, but it got us there quickly and we spent about an hour on the Island. How much time did you have there?

 

Ushuaia....we had a totally different experience there as well. I guess it all depends on the weather and the kind of tours taken? Tierra del Fuego NP was gorgeous.

 

Re people dropping out on tours: I had the same problem with some people on a tour. We had a fixed price for Chiloe based on the amount of people in the group. There was one person who joined in at the last moment for the tours that still had space (not many) and then it turned out they did not show up for any of them. I had a feeling this would happen (call it gut instinct, I need to listn to it more!), and called them on board. No they were not going on the tour, which left me scambling to find 2 people who would want to go. I started to write a whole ramble on that in my blog, then deleted it. I was pretty upset about that though. It had me worrying all through the remainder of the evening and morning. The other people on the roll call were great and we are all still in contact with each other, but unfortuantely there are those who give no thought to others. Argh. :mad:

 

Thanks for the review, I am very curious about Zaandam as it will be our next ship, and also I love to read experiences of those who have done the same (or almost the same) cruise to Antarctica as we did.

 

Glad your kids enjoyed it as well, I was wondering how kids would experience Antarctica.

[erewhon]

Not OP but they were included in the cruise fare.

 

Thank you for your response.

 

Thought that there was an extra charge, as the OP stated that the "expert talks were very interesting and worth the price of admission".

[comcox]

You're welcome! By the Friday night before the cruise, I was so sure we weren't going to make the Falklands that I almost emailed Estancia to cancel.

 

By the way, in the past, Patrick Watts has been recommended on these boards for the Falklands. Apparently, he is no longer doing excursions.

 

Estancia was very professional. There were about 40 vehicles total at Volunteer Point, including the ship's excursions, so only about 200 people were there. About 12-16 vehicles were Estancia's. All the vehicles at Volunteer Point were Land Rovers or similar.

 

Not so, at least for our cruise, as many of us (with crossed fingers) are booked with him for the Jan. 29th sailing of the Zaandam.

[boulders]

Thank you for your response.

 

Thought that there was an extra charge, as the OP stated that the "expert talks were very interesting and worth the price of admission".

 

Sorry you misunderstood, it's a colloquialism. I did pay to be on the ship though. ;)

[boulders]

Enjoyed the review.

 

Lettuce wraps are usually an 'assembly required' type of meal.

 

Yes, I've had lettuce wraps many times before. There was no lettuce on the plate. They were wrapped in a leafy vegetable that was not identifiable to me, but which my table mates said were collard greens.

[boulders]

thanks for the review! Interesting, I see you did not have Punta Este or Chacabuco or Chiloe on the itinerary.

 

Did you meet Nyree? She's great and does such a wonderful job with the tours.

 

You did not see any Gentoos at Volunteer Point? There were so many Gentoos last year....or maybe they were in a different place this year? The Gentoos were great :). The Magellans were all in their burrows, so we were very glad with the opportunity to see them at Punta Arena's. I wonder if it is because the time of year? We were there in February.

 

We did Punta Arena's with a speed boat. It was a bumpy ride, but it got us there quickly and we spent about an hour on the Island. How much time did you have there?

 

Ushuaia....we had a totally different experience there as well. I guess it all depends on the weather and the kind of tours taken? Tierra del Fuego NP was gorgeous.

 

Re people dropping out on tours: I had the same problem with some people on a tour. We had a fixed price for Chiloe based on the amount of people in the group. There was one person who joined in at the last moment for the tours that still had space (not many) and then it turned out they did not show up for any of them. I had a feeling this would happen (call it gut instinct, I need to listn to it more!), and called them on board. No they were not going on the tour, which left me scambling to find 2 people who would want to go. I started to write a whole ramble on that in my blog, then deleted it. I was pretty upset about that though. It had me worrying all through the remainder of the evening and morning. The other people on the roll call were great and we are all still in contact with each other, but unfortuantely there are those who give no thought to others. Argh. :mad:

 

Thanks for the review, I am very curious about Zaandam as it will be our next ship, and also I love to read experiences of those who have done the same (or almost the same) cruise to Antarctica as we did.

 

Glad your kids enjoyed it as well, I was wondering how kids would experience Antarctica.

 

We did meet Nyree very briefly as she was overwhelmed by people trying to get on a tour. She was very responsive to emails. While on the tour, she did a great job of keeping track of all the tours via radio. I did not see gentoos unfortunately.

 

In Punta Arenas, we had one hour on the island, plus a total of 5 1/2 hours in transit. Although we made good time on the ferry to the island, we then had to sit offshore for 20-30 minutes as only one ferry can dock at a time. One woman on our tour was surprised that the tour did not go to more places as it was a 6 1/2 hour tour in total.

 

The scenery that we saw in the national park in Ushuaia, was not much different from home, plus it was raining and the windows in the bus were fogged up. It was just after Antarctica, which had fabulous weather and views, so it paled in comparison. I much prefer wildlife tours too.