SBS - Cruise pandemic doco -MV Greg Mortimer

[Aus Traveller]

10 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Yet Princess's medical said they were not charging anyone presenting with flu like symptoms.

Maybe she didn't read the notices delivered to her cabin.

[MicCanberra]

1 minute ago, Aus Traveller said:

Maybe she didn't read the notices delivered to her cabin.

or listen to the announcements.

[pully8]

4 hours ago, NSWP said:

There were some large cruise ships, but they dont gonrightvdown tobthe ice.

 

My son had a charter, think it was Ocean Atlantic, 150 pax and got them out on  a chartered LAN plane from Buenos Aires, with guests from one of his land tours to Macchu Picchu. Stressfull times for us.

Can well imagine. Thankfully there were great efforts to bring people home and cooperation from some local authorities. Albeit at great cost in terms of life/health and money. Remarkable stories were told and some were extremely sad.

Still can understand the desire to see that beautiful part of the world may we get the chance to travel again.

Hard to believe that less than 12months ago we were unaware of such life challenging events, including being denied the right to leave Australia indefinitely.    

[MicCanberra]

The times, they are a changing.

[NSWP]

6 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

The times, they are a changing.

As Bob Dylan said...'Come gather round people, wherever you are....

watch.html

Edited October 16, 2020 by NSWP

[ilikeanswers]

Watched part 2. It was very interesting as I did not realise that the crew had been left on the ship a month after the passengers were repatriated. It is rather disappointing the treatment of the crew by the cruise line 😔. 

Edited October 20, 2020 by ilikeanswers

[Ondine]

Uncle Les this is good.  Pity SBS don't run with it.  Not sure if it is posted right but if you click on "open in new window" it does the trick and then select the youtube picture at the end for the video.

 

https://www.chimuadventures.com/en-au/2020-calm-chaos

[NSWP]

On 10/30/2020 at 3:41 PM, Ondine said:

Uncle Les this is good.  Pity SBS don't run with it.  Not sure if it is posted right but if you click on "open in new window" it does the trick and then select the youtube picture at the end for the video.

 

https://www.chimuadventures.com/en-au/2020-calm-chaos

Thanks I was just about to put the link up, a very unbiased doco re the dramas encountered, the company did an excellent job producing it.  I was personally informed of the progress of the whole incident by my son, as it happened.

 

In the introduction my son Greg, is the one on the right, with the beard.

 

If anyone has 40 minutes to spare, tune into the above.

Edited October 31, 2020 by NSWP

[NSWP]

45 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Thanks I was just about to put the link up, a very unbiased doco re the dramas encountered, the company did an excellent job producing it.  I was personally informed of the progress of the whole incident by my son, as it happened.

 

In the introduction my son Greg, is the one on the right, with the beard.

 

If anyone has 40 minutes to spare, tune into the above.

I just watched the Chimu Doco re Ocean Atlantic through again, hopefully SBS will air it.  A real life story, no actors !

Edited October 31, 2020 by NSWP

[MMDown Under]

5 minutes ago, NSWP said:

I just watched the Chimu Doco re Ocean Atlantic through again, hopefully SBS will air it.  A real life story, no actors !

I look forward to watching it later. 

[PerfectlyPerth]

On 10/15/2020 at 2:05 PM, NSWP said:

$15,000 a ticket on the Greg Mortimer, the reason why so many doctors and dentists and lawyers on board, they have the big $$$$.

Plus airfares to South America, business class of course for the above.

 

A tad judgmental. $15k is cheap for a polar trip. I have done 4 and paid a heck of a lot more than that and I am not wealthy nor in that kind of profession. The reason there were so many medical professionals on board is there was a medical convention group pre booked. I know several people who were on board - both passengers and in the expedition team. 

[NSWP]

44 minutes ago, PerfectlyPerth said:

 

A tad judgmental. $15k is cheap for a polar trip. I have done 4 and paid a heck of a lot more than that and I am not wealthy nor in that kind of profession. The reason there were so many medical professionals on board is there was a medical convention group pre booked. I know several people who were on board - both passengers and in the expedition team. 

Maybe Medicare paid for the convention, lol. Prices vary dependent on the tour operator, itinerary, duration and ship used. I have seen the prices as low as $10,000, inside cabin, pptws.

Edited November 1, 2020 by NSWP

[ilikeanswers]

Turns out it was lucky they had all those medical professionals. When the onboard doctor got sick there was someone to take over😆.

 

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

Maybe Medicare paid for the convention, lol. Prices vary dependent on the tour operator, itinerary, duration and ship used. I have seen the prices as low as $10,000, inside cabin, pptws.

 

At the beginning of the year I found a fantastic offer for an Antarctica cruise including South Georgia that I was really tempted to book. Thankfully I decided against it. Yes it was cheap for that type of cruise but still 10s of thousands and with the way things are going I don't think I would want that much money tied up in something so unpredictable☹️.

[Aus Traveller]

3 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

Turns out it was lucky they had all those medical professionals. When the onboard doctor got sick there was someone to take over😆.

 

At the beginning of the year I found a fantastic offer for an Antarctica cruise including South Georgia that I was really tempted to book. Thankfully I decided against it. Yes it was cheap for that type of cruise but still 10s of thousands and with the way things are going I don't think I would want that much money tied up in something so unpredictable☹️.

If you can do an Antarctic cruise one day, I urge you to choose one that includes South Georgia. The wildlife was fantastic. My cruise was 21 days Ushuaia to Ushuaia. I decided that I would probably only do such a cruise once, so I wanted to see South Georgia as well as the Antarctic Peninsula etc. The cruise also included the Falklands that interested me because of the history.

[ilikeanswers]

9 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

If you can do an Antarctic cruise one day, I urge you to choose one that includes South Georgia. The wildlife was fantastic. My cruise was 21 days Ushuaia to Ushuaia. I decided that I would probably only do such a cruise once, so I wanted to see South Georgia as well as the Antarctic Peninsula etc. The cruise also included the Falklands that interested me because of the history.

 

I have the same thinking if I'm going to do Antarctica I'm going to do it once so I want to see as much as I can. I'm in two minds as to the route to take, I would like to see South Georgia so the round trip from Ushuaia sounds great but the one way from NZ to Ushuaia via the Ross Sea with visits to Macquarie Island are also very appealing. Maybe Covid will end up deciding for me😂. Who knows what the industry will be like post pandemic.

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

I have the same thinking if I'm going to do Antarctica I'm going to do it once so I want to see as much as I can. I'm in two minds as to the route to take, I would like to see South Georgia so the round trip from Ushuaia sounds great but the one way from NZ to Ushuaia via the Ross Sea with visits to Macquarie Island are also very appealing. Maybe Covid will end up deciding for me😂. Who knows what the industry will be like post pandemic.

For me, South Georgia and the wildlife, was the highlight of the trip. There were several people on the ship who had been to Antarctica previously, but some hadn't been to South Georgia on their previous trip. They went on this 21 day cruise so catch up with what they had missed. I went with Quark on the Ocean Endeavour. I did check out Chimu before I booked, but they were using a much smaller ship. Both companies limited their numbers to 199 for environmental reasons. Only 100 people are allowed to land on Antarctica at one time, so for the whole trip, while one half of the pax landed, the other half did a wildlife tour in a zodiac.

 

The person I found most helpful with information was one of our CC members - Perfectly Perth. She has been on numerous trips to Antarctica.

[MicCanberra]

9 hours ago, NSWP said:

Thanks I was just about to put the link up, a very unbiased doco re the dramas encountered, the company did an excellent job producing it.  I was personally informed of the progress of the whole incident by my son, as it happened.

 

In the introduction my son Greg, is the one on the right, with the beard.

 

If anyone has 40 minutes to spare, tune into the above.

I found it very refreshing to the stuff that has been broadcast on several channels lately. Well done Chimu and Les, you must be very proud of your son.

[NSWP]

38 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I found it very refreshing to the stuff that has been broadcast on several channels lately. Well done Chimu and Les, you must be very proud of your son.

Appreciate your comments Mic, yes, very proud of what he and Chad - his co director have achieved the last 16 years, so much effort has gone in. I just hope and pray they recover.  They have tremendous staff, so loyal and passionate, I have met several of them.

Edited November 1, 2020 by NSWP

[MicCanberra]

We used Chimu, prior to knowing you, for our Galapagos Island trip o of Quito.

[NSWP]

2 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

We used Chimu, prior to knowing you, for our Galapagos Island trip o of Quito.

Yes, you told me that, good people you and Rosie.

[MMDown Under]

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

If you can do an Antarctic cruise one day, I urge you to choose one that includes South Georgia. The wildlife was fantastic. My cruise was 21 days Ushuaia to Ushuaia. I decided that I would probably only do such a cruise once, so I wanted to see South Georgia as well as the Antarctic Peninsula etc. The cruise also included the Falklands that interested me because of the history.

I agree.  Our cruise on Hurtigruten's Fram visited three islands in the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica.  As everyone says a trip of a lifetime. 

[PerfectlyPerth]

On 11/1/2020 at 3:49 PM, NSWP said:

Maybe Medicare paid for the convention, lol. Prices vary dependent on the tour operator, itinerary, duration and ship used. I have seen the prices as low as $10,000, inside cabin, pptws.

My comment related to the judgemental statement re someone's occupation - by a poster with dozens of cruises in their signature block that likely added up to a lot more than $15k. Also inappropriate to suggest Medicare paid for the trip. I can assure you everyone paid for their own tickets. 

And yes there are cheaper trips - short tick & flick ones mostly designed for time poor Americans.
Aussies, Nz, Brits & Europeans tend to be on the longer expedition voyages I have taken that range from 24 to 33 days long. And my experience is that no-one on board judges you for your occupation or imagined wealth level. 
 

Meanwhile back on topic. The behaviour of Aurora management (which is detailed on many of the personal blogs by the expedition team, particularly the treatment of the ships doctor and the expedition teams doctor) during this event is going to really harm the company's long held good reputation. Which is very sad for the industry. 

[NSWP]

3 hours ago, PerfectlyPerth said:

My comment related to the judgemental statement re someone's occupation - by a poster with dozens of cruises in their signature block that likely added up to a lot more than $15k. Also inappropriate to suggest Medicare paid for the trip. I can assure you everyone paid for their own tickets. 

And yes there are cheaper trips - short tick & flick ones mostly designed for time poor Americans.
Aussies, Nz, Brits & Europeans tend to be on the longer expedition voyages I have taken that range from 24 to 33 days long. And my experience is that no-one on board judges you for your occupation or imagined wealth level. 
 

Meanwhile back on topic. The behaviour of Aurora management (which is detailed on many of the personal blogs by the expedition team, particularly the treatment of the ships doctor and the expedition teams doctor) during this event is going to really harm the company's long held good reputation. Which is very sad for the industry. 

I respect your opinion, but we can be a little jocular on here, Medicare assertion was jocular, if you were offended, sorry. But my sons company sells many 12 day Antarctic expeditions on chartered vessels to Aussies, Kiwis, Brits as well as Americans.

Edited November 3, 2020 by NSWP

[PerfectlyPerth]

18 minutes ago, NSWP said:

I respect your opinion, but we can be a little jocular on here, Medicare assertion was jocular, if you were offended, sorry. But my sons company sells many 12 day Antarctic expeditions on chartered vessels to Aussies, Kiwis, Brits as well as Americans.

 

I am well aware of who your son is but I think when we are talking about an expedition that resulted in a death and several near deaths, and many people (passengers, expedition team and crew) who are still suffering months later from the effects of the virus then no - there really is no room for 'jocularity' - its actually quite insensitive.