Viking Expeditions Thread

[kchand]

I notice a lot of the pictures posted on Facebook holding an Antarctic Flag.

Where do you get them.

[Mike07]

20 minutes ago, kchand said:

I notice a lot of the pictures posted on Facebook holding an Antarctic Flag.

Where do you get them.

 

Probably Amazon or eBay. The ship, at least with Viking, doesn't provide them.

[kchand]

Viking usually  takes care of lots of things, but I guess not this one.

Thanks

[deec]

When we went to Antarctica someone had left a 2024 flag onboard and the team brought it to landings!

[Clay Clayton]

We have friends who we are trying to convince to take Viking to Antartica with us but they are worried about not actually landing.  They are looking at the NatGeo cruises that start with an expensive flight to Antartica which is beyond our budget.  
 

Other than diversions due to medical evacuations, I don’t recall any cruises that didn’t make a landing on Antartica-can others confirm? 
 

TIA!

[Ktwofish]

49 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

We have friends who we are trying to convince to take Viking to Antartica with us but they are worried about not actually landing.  They are looking at the NatGeo cruises that start with an expensive flight to Antartica which is beyond our budget.  
 

Other than diversions due to medical evacuations, I don’t recall any cruises that didn’t make a landing on Antartica-can others confirm? 
 

TIA!

The FB group has posts about these concerns. Weather can affect landings but we did not have an issue with weather. (We had the medical evacuation and lost 3 full days in Antarctica.) Also at one location, we just did zodiacs and/or special op boats because researchers were on location. If researchers are not in residence, then you can land. 

[Kountess]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

We have friends who we are trying to convince to take Viking to Antartica with us but they are worried about not actually landing.  They are looking at the NatGeo cruises that start with an expensive flight to Antartica which is beyond our budget.  

Clay, When are you planning to go?

[deec]

Perhaps a cruise may not land "on the continent" but not sure how you could really tell other than someone telling you that you were on an island.  We did not get to cross the Antarctic Circle...did not matter.  It was an incredible trip and the expedition's team made every landing or cruise wonderful.  We had our itinerary altered because of a medical emergency but still enjoyed plan B!!!  would go again in a heartbeat....Clay our world cruise was such an incredible fascinating 4 months of a journey we never dreamed of having....BUT Antarctica and the Expedition ships are another level of exploration! Most amazing trip remains an African Safari...I wonder if Viking has a plan to start a River safari

[Frenchberet]

We did the Viking Antarctic Explorer cruise in Feb 2023.  I guess we were lucky as we had a decent Drake crossing and landed 4 times in Antarctica.  Another day the seas were too choppy to land but we were able to take the zodiacs out to get up close and personal with a pod of whales.  It was a wonderful, transformational trip.  Do it.

[CurlerRob]

3 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

We have friends who we are trying to convince to take Viking to Antartica with us but they are worried about not actually landing.  They are looking at the NatGeo cruises that start with an expensive flight to Antartica which is beyond our budget.  
 

Other than diversions due to medical evacuations, I don’t recall any cruises that didn’t make a landing on Antartica-can others confirm? 
 

TIA!

 

Clay, we are booked for Jan 25 - maybe we'll meet!

 

In my research, you would have to be extremely unlucky not to land at all and I have not found a single cruise that has missed entirely thus far. You'd need a terrible combination of poor weather and likely a mechanical or medical emergency to lose the whole thing. That said, "00" in on the roulette wheel for a reason 👿

 

My larger concern with our timing is actually Avian flu. There are areas of South Georgia that are currently off limits to all expedition landings, and no-one knows for sure how the disease will progress in the far south. It has been detected in wildlife on the Peninsula, but no restrictions thus far. We've decided to roll the dice - not getting any younger, but you may want to monitor the expedition threads for Silversea and Seabourn.

 

Here's one I found, it's over now, so not completely current. I think it was post #212. Best of luck! 🍺🥌

 

 

 

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, Kountess said:

Clay, When are you planning to go?

 

9 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

 

Clay, we are booked for Jan 25 - maybe we'll meet!

 

In my research, you would have to be extremely unlucky not to land at all and I have not found a single cruise that has missed entirely thus far. You'd need a terrible combination of poor weather and likely a mechanical or medical emergency to lose the whole thing. That said, "00" in on the roulette wheel for a reason 👿

 

My larger concern with our timing is actually Avian flu. There are areas of South Georgia that are currently off limits to all expedition landings, and no-one knows for sure how the disease will progress in the far south. It has been detected in wildlife on the Peninsula, but no restrictions thus far. We've decided to roll the dice - not getting any younger, but you may want to monitor the expedition threads for Silversea and Seabourn.

 

Here's one I found, it's over now, so not completely current. I think it was post #212. Best of luck! 🍺🥌

 

 

 

We have some friends from the World Cruise who are going on Octantis on Jan 12 and we are considering changing our currently booked March Buenos Aires to Barcelona to join them. But had hoped to get our other friends to come along but at least one of them is pretty set on flying to Antarctica.  

[Kountess]

2 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

We have some friends from the World Cruise who are going on Octantis on Jan 12 and we are considering changing our currently booked March Buenos Aires to Barcelona to join them. But had hoped to get our other friends to come along but at least one of them is pretty set on flying to Antarctica.  

Darn!  We'll miss you again.  We are booked on The Americas, Chile and Antarctica cruise from Ft. Lauderdale on October 13.

[Clay Clayton]

2 minutes ago, Kountess said:

Darn!  We'll miss you again.  We are booked on The Americas, Chile and Antarctica cruise from Ft. Lauderdale on October 13.

Never say never.  We have decided we will wait and see if there are any promos later this fall.  If we went one cruise earlier the cost is $1000pp less and while it has a great deal more staterooms available, there are still a lot empty on the 12th so 🤞

[OnTheJourney]

On 3/2/2024 at 11:17 AM, Ktwofish said:

The trip across the Drake was smooth (so they say, but the ship still rolls and you will hold onto walls and rails.)

Not necessarily. Our sailing (both ways) was quite smooth. No rocking and rolling whatsoever, although that was on a much bigger ship than Viking expedition. I was so thankful cause I'd been wanting to go down there for literally decades but always pushed it off for fear of the possibility (or even likelihood) of encountering really bad conditions. Another thing that was amazing was that our weather was much warmer at times than anticipated. In Port Stanley I only had on a sweatshirt. Weather is so unpredictable down there though. We were told that had we tried to call at Port Stanley the day before, we wouldn't have been able to do it.

 

That was all back in '17, so then breathing a sigh of relief from having had that unexpectedly calm - but most welcomed - experience, the Viking Sky episode of '19 came along!!!! More than made up for it I suppose.

Edited June 5 by OnTheJourney

[Ktwofish]

1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

Not necessarily. Our sailing (both ways) was quite smooth. No rocking and rolling whatsoever, although that was on a much bigger ship than Viking expedition. I was so thankful cause I'd been wanting to go down there for literally decades but always pushed it off for fear of the possibility (or even likelihood) of encountering really bad conditions. Another thing that was amazing was that our weather was much warmer at times than anticipated. In Port Stanley I only had on a sweatshirt. Weather is so unpredictable down there though. We were told that had we tried to call at Port Stanley the day before, we wouldn't have been able to do it.

 

That was all back in '17, so then breathing a sigh of relief from having had that unexpectedly calm - but most welcomed - experience, the Viking Sky episode of '19 came along!!!! More than made up for it I suppose.

You were very lucky!  I guess we were lucky as well.  We just proceeded around the ship with care.  We also ordered room service one night.  So glad Viking will provide room service for no extra charge.

[YPT]

On 6/2/2024 at 4:52 PM, kchand said:

I notice a lot of the pictures posted on Facebook holding an Antarctic Flag.

Where do you get them.

Something like this?  

https://printerval.com/i-ve-been-there-flag-of-antarctica-house-flags-p158858549?spid=141002431

[YPT]

On 6/2/2024 at 4:52 PM, kchand said:

I notice a lot of the pictures posted on Facebook holding an Antarctic Flag.

Where do you get them.

 

here is another https://flagsforantarctica.com/products/antarctica-7th-continent-flag-2024?variant=44036623630619