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The Best Cruise to the Artic ?

Sharon99

By Sharon99,
in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers

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Sharon99

Sharon99

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What cruise ship would you recommend ? We are under 50, and want this trip to be a trip of a lifetime - To see the best of the Arctic in terms of wildlife- a good combination of adventure/walking, good food, a pool and spa, gym, excellent talks, informative naturalists .........appreciate luxury but it doesn't have to be over the top .........We have heard Polar Quest, National Geographic or the New Scenic yacht could be the best to consider ? Would love suggestions or feedback

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gogo65 "Live from...." Rare

gogo65

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We are about to do Antarctica with Ponant, for us a good mix, of luxury, but still an expedition cruise, they cruise to the arctic so you could look to see what they offer.

The other company to look at would be hurtigrutin.

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davwen81

davwen81

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Definitely HURTIGRUTEN! Fabulous expedition team and ship. We went with them to Antarctica this year on Fram and couldn't fault them, fabulous trip, 13 landings. Their offerings for Iceland, Greenland and Spitsbergen are on our TO do list. Check them out. They have hot tubs, a gym, food is great and good variety of cabins and prices.

 

 

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Edited by davwen81
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Lanwood

Lanwood

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We did a cruise on Companie du Ponant and were not very impressed.

 

I did a review on this forum already, so won't go into deep details. The ship itself is quite nice, and I can speak French, so language wasn't a problem. But for the luxury price paid, we found the food to be terrible, and service and organisation very poor. If fact to this day, we still laugh and joke about how bad it was.

 

However, where they did shine was the specialists they brought on board were brilliant (ie - marine bioligist, botanist, various experts etc).

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davwen81

davwen81

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The talks we had from the Fram expedition team were also excellent. Must were also botanists, geologists, historians and wildlife experts making their talks fascinating. The conference rooms were always full. We also had films on Shackleton, an Albatross colony in NZ and various others as well as star gazing and wildlife watching on open decks. There were so many sea birds and having someone identify them for us was great. Also had a deck BBQ and a staff entertainment t that was truly hysterical, one of the best we've seen.

 

 

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AussieVisi2r

AussieVisi2r

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What cruise ship would you recommend ? We are under 50, and want this trip to be a trip of a lifetime - To see the best of the Arctic in terms of wildlife- a good combination of adventure/walking, good food, a pool and spa, gym, excellent talks, informative naturalists .........appreciate luxury but it doesn't have to be over the top .........We have heard Polar Quest, National Geographic or the New Scenic yacht could be the best to consider ? Would love suggestions or feedback

 

It really depends what you want. Do you want a "drive by" like celebrity does to Antarctic or do you want an expeditions ship where you do numerous landings a day in Zodiacs.

 

I did Antarctica this year with Poseidon Expeditions. It was an expedition trip. I went on Sea Spirit and it was the best trip ever.

I am doing the High Arctic with them in August 2017.

We did so many landing, so so many mammals and birds. Many of the staff have PhD's in things like Marine Mammals, Birds, Geology, Climatology etc.

 

I cannot rate them highly enough........and the price compared to the 'bid' names was brilliant. I did 21 days with them for what I would have paid for 12 nights on NG, Quark etc.

Sea Spirit was very luxuruios and all was included apart form alcohol.

 

I did a massive blog on the trip if you are interested. I know it's the wrong end of the world but gives you an idea of what to expect.

 

Raina

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Aussieflyer

Aussieflyer

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We visited the Arctic on Siversea's expedition ship. We left from Tromso and sailed to Svalbard via Bear Island and then to Jan Mayan and around Iceland. Lots of zodiac expeditions (usually a couple each day) with great polar bear and walrus sightings in particular. Excellent expedition staff and the lecturers included a geologist, botanist, archaeologist specialising in Vikings and film maker who worked with David Attenborough.

Would do it again in a heartbeat!

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PerfectlyPerth

PerfectlyPerth

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I've done Antarctica with Quark 3 times - they also do the Arctic

http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/en

 

Most of the Antarctica operators also do the Arctic.

 

agree with AussieVisi2r - you have to first decide whether you want to cruise by and "see" it - or go by expedition ship and truly experience it.

Edited by PerfectlyPerth
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beezer248

beezer248

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I was on the National Geographic Explorer last February to Antarctica. Did lots of research and NG/Lindblad was just amazing. I am in my low 50's and traveled solo as this trip was not one that my husband was interested in. Only negative is that I am dying to go back, and would truly book any trip that NG offers- staff, organization, safety, experience- everything was outstanding.

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beezer248

beezer248

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What cruise ship would you recommend ? We are under 50, and want this trip to be a trip of a lifetime - To see the best of the Arctic in terms of wildlife- a good combination of adventure/walking, good food, a pool and spa, gym, excellent talks, informative naturalists .........appreciate luxury but it doesn't have to be over the top .........We have heard Polar Quest, National Geographic or the New Scenic yacht could be the best to consider ? Would love suggestions or feedback

I was on the National Geographic Explorer last February to Antarctica. Did lots of research and NG/Lindblad was just amazing. I am in my low 50's and traveled solo as this trip was not one that my husband was interested in. Only negative is that I am dying to go back, and would truly book any trip that NG offers- staff, organization, safety, experience- everything was outstanding.

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PerfectlyPerth

PerfectlyPerth

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Thanks also for all the great info. Antarctica is on our bucket list, but waiting for our son to get a bit older - maybe 10-12. Any recommendations on which lines would be more suitable for families?

 

 

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Been a couple of posts on Trip Advisor forums about those that specialise in family trips - so there are kid friendly activities and lectures etc (not sure about kid family pricing haha). Nat Geo does at least one in their itineraries and A&K - more info here

http://antarcticafaqs.boards.net/thread/188/kids-antarctica

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RSLeesburg

RSLeesburg

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Been a couple of posts on Trip Advisor forums about those that specialise in family trips - so there are kid friendly activities and lectures etc (not sure about kid family pricing haha). Nat Geo does at least one in their itineraries and A&K - more info here

 

http://antarcticafaqs.boards.net/thread/188/kids-antarctica

 

 

Thanks - was looking at NG/Lindblad for Alaska trip [emoji1]. Maybe we try them out there before committing to a longer Antarctica one. Thanks.

 

 

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