Live from the Venture - headed back to Antarctica

[markandjie]

We were at the pier coming and going.

 

I had a Patagonia nanopuff jacket and was glad to have it. 

[Laylam]

KathyL2537, How have you handled the Drake Passage?

[KathyL2537]

8 hours ago, Laylam said:

KathyL2537, How have you handled the Drake Passage?

We were very lucky and got the “Drake Lake” so while I had gotten the scopolamine patch I am not sure whether I needed it.   Here’s  a video I took from my sofa so you can see the relative calm. Had a great day yesterday, we saw  Elephant Island and A23a as well as lots of whales, penguins and birds. Just arrived at our first anchorage so hoping conditions are good enough that we can do our first landing! It’s 30 degrees with a 5 knot wind. 

[KathyL2537]

9 minutes ago, KathyL2537 said:

We were very lucky and got the “Drake Lake” so while I had gotten the scopolamine patch I am not sure whether I needed it.   Here’s  a video I took from my sofa so you can see the relative calm. Had a great day yesterday, we saw  Elephant Island and A23a as well as lots of whales, penguins and birds. Just arrived at our first anchorage so hoping conditions are good enough that we can do our first landing! It’s 30 degrees with a 5 knot wind. 

Video failed to upload, sorry. Will try again later.

[PACruiser5]

On 11/22/2023 at 12:02 PM, morganowl said:

Thanks so much for sharing!  We are on Jan 18, Seabourn newbies.  Your info is priceless!  Concerned somewhat about what to pack for dining room?  I am not a fashionista.

 

Expeditions are a different animal from more main stream cruises. Attire more LL Bean than fancy. Black pants and a nice sweater will do fine.

[KathyL2537]

1 hour ago, PACruiser5 said:

Expeditions are a different animal from more main stream cruises. Attire more LL Bean than fancy. Black pants and a nice sweater will do fine.

Absolutely agree. Many people are in jeans, sweaters and hiking boots in the main dining room at dinner. No one seems to notice or care. 

[DubLady]

So good to hear this. Thank you.

[Esquired]

On 12/5/2023 at 8:25 AM, markandjie said:

 

In case you want to see what this looks like in practice for a 16 yo. When orcas are frolicking there's no time to go back for pesky things like pants or shoes... 🤣

 

Shorts are not just for kids. Lots of adults wore them on our Antarctica cruise. 

[Esquired]

On 12/13/2023 at 6:12 PM, KathyL2537 said:

Absolutely agree. Many people are in jeans, sweaters and hiking boots in the main dining room at dinner. No one seems to notice or care. 

Saw women in fashionable jeans in heels.  Very stylish.

[nast]

How many suitcases can you take on flight Buenos Aires - Ushuaia? 

This is apparently only 1 suitcase per person?

[markandjie]

3 hours ago, nast said:

How many suitcases can you take on flight Buenos Aires - Ushuaia? 

This is apparently only 1 suitcase per person?

Same rules as any other flight, really. We each had a backpack and rollaboard. Our checked bags were taken from the hotel hallway the night before. Not sure there are any limits there. 

[jjs217]

3 hours ago, nast said:

How many suitcases can you take on flight Buenos Aires - Ushuaia? 

This is apparently only 1 suitcase per person?

No.  You can have two checked suitcases that are the same size as the major airlines' mandates.

[DubLady]

Kathy

how are you enjoying the cruise?

[KathyL2537]

4 hours ago, nast said:

How many suitcases can you take on flight Buenos Aires - Ushuaia? 

This is apparently only 1 suitcase per person?

For us last week the requirement was no more than two checked bags, totaling no more than 75 pounds, per person. We had packed a large duffel bag and pulled it out once we got to the Seabourne hotel in BA since we had spent a few days in Mendoza before arriving into BA and needed suitcase space for wine. So for two of us, we had three checked bags from BA to Ushuaia plus our two carry on backpacks. The duffel will be great for packing our parkas, beanies, dry bags and the other assorted Seabourn items that we’ve collected in the trip 🙂

[KathyL2537]

13 minutes ago, DubDublady said:

Kathy

how are you enjoying the cruise?

It’s been a really interesting blend of expedition and luxury, so I am kind of struggling with which measure to judge on. We’ve been very lucky with weather, only one landing aborted so three of our five days we had both a landing and a zodiac ride, one day was just a landing and the other day was just a zodiac.

 

 And yes, as previous posters have referenced, each outing is 60-90 minutes maximum so it’s not a lot of time off the ship. I think that’s a function of the ship size and the strict Antarctica rules; for every outing there are six groups and your time is tightly controlled. But they have been very well organized and everyone I’ve talked to has loved all of the outings. There are just no words for how stunning the scenery is, or how much fun it is to watch penguins.  
 

Given that, there is a good deal of time on board. The first two days crossing the Drake we felt pretty busy with activities, presentations and so on. It’s been less so while we’ve been on the continent but there’s a lot to be said for just watching icebergs drift by your window or spending time on deck to try and spot penguins, birds and whales. 
 

There have definitely been some glitches. They are minor but not what I would have expected from a luxury line. The Colonnade is packed at lunch, it is definitely undersized for the size of the ship. We’ve also found the opening hours overall to be weird, if you are going out on a 745 expedition, and don’t get back til 9 it’d be nice to be able to go have breakfast but from 9-930 it’s basically cereal, muffins and fruit. They tell you to eat at 645 before your outing but not at all of us are ready to eat that early. We’ve struggled to find a place for our standard 5 pm happy hour; two of the three main bars don’t open til 6 or 630 pm, and with the next day’s activity briefing typically at 6, that’s not terribly convenient. The one bar that’s open most of the day seems to only have one bartender, so if you go down at 5 and he’s stepped out, oh well. 
 

But again, in the grand scheme of things, these are definitely first world problems. On the plus side, I think the food has been good, DH is thrilled with having caviar every night. My wine glass has rarely been empty.  The expedition team presentations are very interesting. Our cabin is amazing, taking the upgrade offer to the Panoramic Veranda was well worth the cost. We’ve used the gym quite a bit and have only ever seen one other person there. The lounges are well located and comfortable. Have enjoyed the trivia and haven’t had any sales pitches for the shops, I guess they got that message!  The WiFi has been terrific. 
 

Hope that helps! Today is our last day in Antarctica and the forecasts for the next few days are again showing the Drake as a Lake so fingers crossed! 

[markandjie]

3 minutes ago, KathyL2537 said:

We’ve also found the opening hours overall to be weird, if you are going out on a 745 expedition, and don’t get back til 9 it’d be nice to be able to go have breakfast but from 9-930 it’s basically cereal, muffins and fruit.

 

This. Just so emblematic of the fact that expedition is a little too much of sideshow vs having the reigns on the overall operation. Breakfast (and everything else!) should work around the expedition schedule, not the other way around. 

[DubLady]

Thank you so much . Wonderful information. We travel in Jan 31st. Can’t wait. The breakfast issue is a little concerning. I could never eat before 8am. Great to hear the gym is not crowded. Good way to get steps in.

sounds like overall you have been very lucky with the weather

[cubancruiser37]

4 hours ago, markandjie said:

Same rules as any other flight, really. We each had a backpack and rollaboard. Our checked bags were taken from the hotel hallway the night before. Not sure there are any limits there. 

That's interesting, we board the Pursuit tomorrow and were just told specifically by to Seabourn Desk we needed to check our roller bags and could only carry on our backpacks 🤷‍♂️

[sfvoyage]

2 hours ago, KathyL2537 said:

We’ve been very lucky with weather, only one landing aborted so three of our five days we had both a landing and a zodiac ride, one day was just a landing and the other day was just a zodiac.

 

 And yes, as previous posters have referenced, each outing is 60-90 minutes maximum so it’s not a lot of time off the ship. I think that’s a function of the ship size and the strict Antarctica rules; for every outing there are six groups and your time is tightly controlled.

 

On the Quest a few years ago, with just over 400 guests, there were 5 groups (limit is 100 per landing), and thus we only did one landing per day.

 

On the expedition ships, the main advantage is the possibility of 2 landings per day.  In your case, you only had at most 1 landing per day.  Was there any attempt to do a 2nd landing on any day, weather permitting, or was that not even contemplated? 

[clafren]

4 hours ago, KathyL2537 said:

It’s been a really interesting blend of expedition and luxury, so I am kind of struggling with which measure to judge on. We’ve been very lucky with weather, only one landing aborted so three of our five days we had both a landing and a zodiac ride, one day was just a landing and the other day was just a zodiac.

 

 And yes, as previous posters have referenced, each outing is 60-90 minutes maximum so it’s not a lot of time off the ship. I think that’s a function of the ship size and the strict Antarctica rules; for every outing there are six groups and your time is tightly controlled. But they have been very well organized and everyone I’ve talked to has loved all of the outings. There are just no words for how stunning the scenery is, or how much fun it is to watch penguins.  
 

Given that, there is a good deal of time on board. The first two days crossing the Drake we felt pretty busy with activities, presentations and so on. It’s been less so while we’ve been on the continent but there’s a lot to be said for just watching icebergs drift by your window or spending time on deck to try and spot penguins, birds and whales. 
 

There have definitely been some glitches. They are minor but not what I would have expected from a luxury line. The Colonnade is packed at lunch, it is definitely undersized for the size of the ship. We’ve also found the opening hours overall to be weird, if you are going out on a 745 expedition, and don’t get back til 9 it’d be nice to be able to go have breakfast but from 9-930 it’s basically cereal, muffins and fruit. They tell you to eat at 645 before your outing but not at all of us are ready to eat that early. We’ve struggled to find a place for our standard 5 pm happy hour; two of the three main bars don’t open til 6 or 630 pm, and with the next day’s activity briefing typically at 6, that’s not terribly convenient. The one bar that’s open most of the day seems to only have one bartender, so if you go down at 5 and he’s stepped out, oh well. 
 

But again, in the grand scheme of things, these are definitely first world problems. On the plus side, I think the food has been good, DH is thrilled with having caviar every night. My wine glass has rarely been empty.  The expedition team presentations are very interesting. Our cabin is amazing, taking the upgrade offer to the Panoramic Veranda was well worth the cost. We’ve used the gym quite a bit and have only ever seen one other person there. The lounges are well located and comfortable. Have enjoyed the trivia and haven’t had any sales pitches for the shops, I guess they got that message!  The WiFi has been terrific. 
 

Hope that helps! Today is our last day in Antarctica and the forecasts for the next few days are again showing the Drake as a Lake so fingers crossed! 

Thank you so much @KathyL2537! Great info here.

 

For the odd breakfast times, is room service a viable option instead, or is the menu too limiting?

[whirldcruzrs]

14 hours ago, nast said:

How many suitcases can you take on flight Buenos Aires - Ushuaia? 

This is apparently only 1 suitcase per person?

No limit whatsoever - at least from Ushuaia to BA.  Just put outside suite night before. Had what we had for Biz Class which is pretty much unlimited. 

[KathyL2537]

15 hours ago, sfvoyage said:

 

.

 

On the expedition ships, the main advantage is the possibility of 2 landings per day.  In your case, you only had at most 1 landing per day.  Was there any attempt to do a 2nd landing on any day, weather permitting, or was that not even contemplated? 

No, it never seemed as though there was a plan for a second landing. Early on in one of the presentations, they said that they had to put in for their landing spots last winter so my take from that is they can’t really be changed on the fly, 

altho that was not specifically stated and it’s a great question. Those of you with more experience in Antarctica can weigh in here but I suspect it’s limited by the number of cruise ships in the area at this time of year balanced against the possible landing spots. You’ve made me curious though, I should check out the itineraries of the more expedition like ships and see if they get two landings. Maybe that’s why the price is double?

[KathyL2537]

13 hours ago, clafren said:

Thank you so much @KathyL2537! Great info here.

 

For the odd breakfast times, is room service a viable option instead, or is the menu too limiting?

Great point, we did get room service breakfast at 645 on our early days, my husband is quite happy to scarf at any hour! In looking at the menu though they will serve up to the 945-10 am slot, so I guess we could have had it delivered for 915 or so, assuming we’d be back by then. It’s a pretty full menu, I took a picture and attached it.

[cruiseej]

8 hours ago, KathyL2537 said:

they said that they had to put in for their landing spots last winter so my take from that is they can’t really be changed on the fly, 

altho that was not specifically stated and it’s a great question.

 

We went to Antartica and South Georgia Island last winter on a Silversea expedition ship. It's correct that the cruise lines book their landing spots for each morning and afternoon well in advance in a central database used by all the cruise lines, which does a good job of having only one cruise ship at each landing site at a time. But the bookings are most definitely changeable and are in fact ever-changing. Our expedition leader said she switched more than half our pre-planned landing sites as weather allowed, and as our planed itinerary changed and other ships changed their plans. For instance, we made a fast passage from the Falklands to South Georgia to beat a storm, so we were day ahead of schedule for the next several days, and arrived on the Antarctic Peninsula a day earlier. (We were incredibly fortunate to have two landings every day in South Georgia and Antarctica, with none canceled due to weather.) The expedition leaders and captains spend a lot of time mapping out their Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, etc. and then revising the bookings in the database. Our expedition leader was almost giddy with delight at a few of the landing spots they were able to swoop in and grab as other ships changed their plans.

[bilbobill]

Wow so much great information here from all of you - thanks for posting.  Can anyone comment on whether you recommend bringing trekking poles.  My wife and I are 60 and in good physical shape but wondering if it is slippery or if these may be helpful vs the effort of packing and bringing them in our luggage.