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Venture Expedition...or is it? Edinburgh to Tromso


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On 5/31/2024 at 8:19 PM, ellasabe said:

 

Do you have any idea if Lucqui is always on Venture?  We will board in Edinburgh for our Longyearbyen expedition on June 20. Wonder if he stays on Venture for the season??   Sounds like the people/team make a huge difference.  We noticed this as well on our Silversea expeditions to Antarctica and Galapagos.

 

Sorry for the late reply.  It appears that most of the present Expedition Staff including Luiqui will be on board for at least the next few voyages.  There are some excellent staff and we have enjoyed getting to know them. Fresh and enthusiastic. Matt, River, and Paul are favorites. Brent is still the Rockstar and Brandon has moved up to AEL.  I still feel the team is light in depth and quanity. The aforementioned bad driver should not be allowed to drive a zodiac, bumper cars with the rocks.  😄

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Vaeroy,  Lofoton

 

Always happy to be in Lofoton.  One of my favorite places. A decent stop. A monster hike was offered and folks enjoyed it. Otherwise not much.  We did the cultural tour last time we were here. It was lap around town with a local high school girl, enjoyable. She explained that the kids rake in serious cash cutting the tongues out of Cod.  Yep, tongues.  She made enough to buy a car and has enough to spend a few summers in Europe.   Not mush to the "fishing museum".  This time we did the lap on our own. Grocery store was the highlight. Scenery for days.

 

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I don't think there is a Pub 2.

 

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It's all about the Cod. Racks and racks.  Each part has a different market.  For example the heads primarily go to Nigeria for Fish head soup.

 

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Who said there's no wildlife on this trip?

 

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Reine, Lofoton 

 

Reine might be the most scenic spot in Norway and competition for world status.  

Our afternoon stop was a drive to the end of E10 to the town of A with a visit to a fishing village museum.This was a bus ride

 A bus ride you want to take. 

Between the 2 stops today we clicked off 7 miles.

 

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Too many people keep falling off this mountain on the hike to the top.  Himalayan sherpas we're hired to erect stairs to the top.  The stairs on the other side.

 

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Geologists attributes the differences in the rock formations of Lofoten to the age of the rock. At the far end of Lofoten, as in Lofotodden National Park, the peaks are wilder and sharper because they consist of harder rock types that originate from the earth’s primeval times. Hard rock such as granite grinds down more slowly, thus the dramatic appearance. Further into Lofoten, towards Leknes, there are younger and less hard rock. The consequence is a softer appearance of the surrounding mountains.

 

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A short zodiac and easy pier landing.

 

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Scenery at the fishing museum. Worth the short hike.

 

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The fishing museum was the spiffed up remains of the old fishing village.  Quaint.

 

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A Cod liver oil tasting anyone?

 

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Warning, it doesn't taste bad at first, in fact interesting. Unfortunately it doesn't go away an gets worse.  A quick trip to the small market for a palate cleanser. Problem solved.

 

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On 6/7/2024 at 6:51 AM, highplanesdrifters said:

 

Sorry for the late reply.  It appears that most of the present Expedition Staff including Luiqui will be on board for at least the next few voyages.  There are some excellent staff and we have enjoyed getting to know them. Fresh and enthusiastic. Matt, River, and Paul are favorites. Brent is still the Rockstar and Brandon has moved up to AEL.  I still feel the team is light in depth and quanity. The aforementioned bad driver should not be allowed to drive a zodiac, bumper cars with the rocks.  😄

No worries with the time it took to get any information you could.  We are currently in San Sebastian, working our way thru Spain to eventually end up in Edinburgh for our charter flight to Longyearbyen to start the expedition.  Quite a routing, but we are very excited. 

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On 5/31/2024 at 11:19 AM, ellasabe said:

 

We will board in Edinburgh for our Longyearbyen expedition on June 20.

 

When your have a moment, can you kindly come back with comments on your EDI-LYR charter flight experience later this month?  (We'll be doing the same in July.)  In particular, I'm interested in the following:

 

1.  Suitcases will be picked up the night before outside your room at the George Hotel, and you won't see them until after landing in LYR (or, if no customs is involved at LYR, perhaps not even until you get to your ship cabin).  There will be no weighing or control of luggage allowance.

 

2.  Edelweiss Air is the charter service, A319 or A320 aircraft, with 3-3 configuration.

 

3.  Two flights, with departure at 06:35 (arr 11:20) and at 12:25 (arr 16:55)

 

4.  When is the pick-up time for airport transfer at the George for your flight at EDI?

 

5.  Flight time should be around 3h40m?

 

6.  Upon landing at LYR, are passengers taken straight to the ship?

 

Thanks.

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, sfvoyage said:

1.  Suitcases will be picked up the night before outside your room at the George Hotel, and you won't see them until after landing in LYR (or, if no customs is involved at LYR, perhaps not even until you get to your ship cabin).  There will be no weighing or control of luggage allowance.

I just did a quick search online and can answer part of my question #1 above regarding customs:

 

As Svalbard is outside the Schengen area, travellers must clear customs and immigration when travelling to Svalbard from mainland Norway and vice versa.

 

If arriving from mainland Norway requires customs and immigration clearance, arrivals from the UK must as well.

 

Edited by sfvoyage
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1 hour ago, sfvoyage said:

I just did a quick search online and can answer part of my question #1 above regarding customs:

 

As Svalbard is outside the Schengen area, travellers must clear customs and immigration when travelling to Svalbard from mainland Norway and vice versa.

 

If arriving from mainland Norway requires customs and immigration clearance, arrivals from the UK must as well.

 

You may find that they are "involved" in assessing this as a low risk to the point where you never see them.  And this only talks about customs, not immigration.  Customs is something, both here in the UK and in other European and Nordic countries, that typically involves walking straight through a green lane or taking yourself into a red one to declare goods.  Here in Edinburgh, we don't even have that - there's a phone on the wall to declare anything you need to.

 

If an international flight connects to a domestic one, you don't see your bags until the final destination, where they appear on a belt with all the other purely domestic ones.

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13 hours ago, ellasabe said:

We are currently in San Sebastian, working our way thru Spain to eventually end up in Edinburgh for our charter flight to Longyearbyen to start the expedition

 

Sounds like the perfect start to me!

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Svolvaer, Lofoton.  Norway

 

Svolvaer is the largest town in Lofoton, and becoming quite the Hotspot.  Lots of weekend condos and restaurants.  What a change from the last time we were here.

 

Easy zodiac ride and landing right in town.

 

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I'm not sure I'd like a condo with a Cod drying tower.

 

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It was off to the Viking museum for us. It is the site of one of largest Viking Long houses ever discovered.   A repeat visit I had been looking forward to. Last time we were rushed through the museum part and I missed all the artifacts.  We'll jokes on me, they moved most of the artifacts to Oslo.  Ugh.  

 

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The Long House replica. It's really more of a Viking Experience now, less of a museum.  If time allows it's worth a walk around to look at some excavations.

 

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Even then the Scandis were  careful about safety.

 

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Drive by this time, wooden church, worth a visit if you're in the area.

 

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Metropolitan Svolvaer

 

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Condo in your future?

 

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Highplanesdrifters - given the way this post started we would be interested in your thoughts now this segment has concluded. We are remaining on board and expect the next leg to be more expedition. This is our second expedition. While we have enjoyed it, we have found it a bit odd.

We have booked a future expedition which also has the potential to be a mixed bag and are thinking to revisit the decision in a few months before the next payment is due.

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15 hours ago, BasandSyb said:

Highplanesdrifters - given the way this post started we would be interested in your thoughts now this segment has concluded. We are remaining on board and expect the next leg to be more expedition. This is our second expedition. While we have enjoyed it, we have found it a bit odd.

We have booked a future expedition which also has the potential to be a mixed bag and are thinking to revisit the decision in a few months before the next payment is due.

 

Just looked at your itinerary. Your second leg should be fabulous.  We did this on Ventures first season. We had a lot of fog in Svalbard so shore excursions were somewhat limited. I guess not being able to see the Polar Bears before they eat you is a problem. Ha ha. I can't wait to go back to Scorsby and hopefully do King Oscar.  Spending time in the Polar Ice cap was magical.

 
 I would love it if you would consider an occasional comment on how things are going.  I'm curious to know if Venture slips back into real expedition mode or if this hybrid model sticks. What are the tours like in Nordkapp? Did they charge to go to the top? Other than kayak and submarine are they finding things to charge you for?  Of course I don't think they can offer bus tours in Ittoqqortoormiit. But, If they charge you to see the dog feeding, REVOLT!
 
MTC on expedition vs ocean 
 
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Posted (edited)

@BasandSyb

 

Important note before you read the following.....

We had a fabulous time! If you're not happy you're not happy.  

 

The following are my opinions. Those that feel differently please feel free to chime in. All are welcome. Rules if civility shall apply.

 

As I have posted along the way we were rather disappointed in the expedition offerings. This WAS a hybrid expedition/ocean cruise. Although there were included options, we were offended by the eye waterwatering prices for non included. There were more bus tours than you could shake a stick at. The first leg tours were dropped a few months before with no alert. The second Norway leg tours...I'm not sure when they were dropped. So unless you are checking weekly you potentially missed out on some tours.

 

Luiqui is a great EL and did the best with the hand he was dealt. However the Expedition Staff was light in terms of both quantity and quality. Don't get me wrong there were some stellar enthusiastic staff onboard. Matt, Paul, River, Brent, Brandon, just to name a few. I just wasn't feeling a depth of knowledge in general and found many to be just zodiac drivers who would often make stuff up when asked questions and get it horribly wrong.

 

On days when zodiac shuttles were available the frequency was sometimes dismal. Communication between tours coming, going, and needing more zodiacs was poor. This left many standing in the rain waiting for a ride. Drop more zodiacs and have enough staff to drive them.

 

Hikes.

 A good portion of the hikes were Strenuous to Very Strenuous. Many carried price tags. I'm used to a few options, easy, moderate and difficult...all included.

 

There were some spectacular highlights, Isle of Noss

Trollfjord, just to name a few. On a proper expedition these are the norm as opposed to being told they are a special treat. Ya ya, weather conditions need to be just right so one could argue that they were special treats. That makes them special treats from Mother Nature, not Seabourn. 

 

When we booked all we had was the basic itinerary. No possible excursions options or details. There was also no warning that not all excursions except for kayak and sub would be included. And, silly me I figured we would have a proper expedition. 

 

We have 2 Seabourn expeditions coming up. One is past refundable date so we will stick with it.  The second, I'm not sure yet.  The rest are booked with Ponant and Silversea. 

 

Review of Seabourn Venture and staff coming up. Both excellent.

Edited by highplanesdrifters
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1 hour ago, highplanesdrifters said:

@BasandSyb

 

Important note before you read the following.....

We had a fabulous time! If you're not happy you're not happy.  

 

The following are my opinions. Those that feel differently please feel free to chime in. All are welcome. Rules if civility shall apply.

 

As I have posted along the way we were rather disappointed in the expedition offerings. This WAS a hybrid expedition/ocean cruise. Although there were included options, we were offended by the eye waterwatering prices for non included. There were more bus tours than you could shake a stick at. The first leg tours were dropped a few months before with no alert. The second Norway leg tours...I'm not sure when they were dropped. So unless you are checking weekly you potentially missed out on some tours.

 

Luiqui is a great EL and did the best with the hand he was dealt. However the Expedition Staff was light in terms of both quantity and quality. Don't get me wrong there were some stellar enthusiastic staff onboard. Matt, Paul, River, Brent, Brandon, just to name a few. I just wasn't feeling a depth of knowledge in general and found many to be just zodiac drivers who would often make stuff up when asked questions and get it horribly wrong.

 

On days when zodiac shuttles were available the frequency was sometimes dismal. Communication between tours coming, going, and needing more zodiacs was poor. This left many standing in the rain waiting for a ride. Drop more zodiacs and have enough staff to drive them.

 

Hikes.

 A good portion of the hikes were Strenuous to Very Strenuous. Many carried price tags. I'm used to a few options, easy, moderate and difficult...all included.

 

There were some spectacular highlights, Isle of Noss

Trollfjord, just to name a few. On a proper expedition these are the norm as opposed to being told they are a special treat. Ya ya, weather conditions need to be just right so one could argue that they were special treats. That makes them special treats from Mother Nature, not Seabourn. 

 

When we booked all we had was the basic itinerary. No possible excursions options or details. There was also no warning that not all excursions except for kayak and sub would be included. And, silly me I figured we would have a proper expedition. 

 

We have 2 Seabourn expeditions coming up. One is past refundable date so we will stick with it.  The second, I'm not sure yet.  The rest are booked with Ponant and Silversea. 

 

Review of Seabourn Venture and staff coming up. Both excellent.

 

1 hour ago, highplanesdrifters said:

@BasandSyb

 

Important note before you read the following.....

We had a fabulous time! If you're not happy you're not happy.  

 

The following are my opinions. Those that feel differently please feel free to chime in. All are welcome. Rules if civility shall apply.

 

As I have posted along the way we were rather disappointed in the expedition offerings. This WAS a hybrid expedition/ocean cruise. Although there were included options, we were offended by the eye waterwatering prices for non included. There were more bus tours than you could shake a stick at. The first leg tours were dropped a few months before with no alert. The second Norway leg tours...I'm not sure when they were dropped. So unless you are checking weekly you potentially missed out on some tours.

 

Luiqui is a great EL and did the best with the hand he was dealt. However the Expedition Staff was light in terms of both quantity and quality. Don't get me wrong there were some stellar enthusiastic staff onboard. Matt, Paul, River, Brent, Brandon, just to name a few. I just wasn't feeling a depth of knowledge in general and found many to be just zodiac drivers who would often make stuff up when asked questions and get it horribly wrong.

 

On days when zodiac shuttles were available the frequency was sometimes dismal. Communication between tours coming, going, and needing more zodiacs was poor. This left many standing in the rain waiting for a ride. Drop more zodiacs and have enough staff to drive them.

 

Hikes.

 A good portion of the hikes were Strenuous to Very Strenuous. Many carried price tags. I'm used to a few options, easy, moderate and difficult...all included.

 

There were some spectacular highlights, Isle of Noss

Trollfjord, just to name a few. On a proper expedition these are the norm as opposed to being told they are a special treat. Ya ya, weather conditions need to be just right so one could argue that they were special treats. That makes them special treats from Mother Nature, not Seabourn. 

 

When we booked all we had was the basic itinerary. No possible excursions options or details. There was also no warning that not all excursions except for kayak and sub would be included. And, silly me I figured we would have a proper expedition. 

 

We have 2 Seabourn expeditions coming up. One is past refundable date so we will stick with it.  The second, I'm not sure yet.  The rest are booked with Ponant and Silversea. 

 

Review of Seabourn Venture and staff coming up. Both excellent.

I was on the same cruise and the experience I had was very different. I would concur that Seabourn did appear to drop excursion availability at random. I read the notes in the cruise itinerary and it was followed very closely. For instance the expedition from Solvaer to Trollfjord was not a surprise and was clearly signposted by Seabourn on the website, as far as I was concerned there were no surprises.

 

What is an expedition? it is different things to different people, to me I loved the hikes, but am not so keen on looking at birds but I appreciate that there are those who do. So I am interested to know what High Plains Drifter would define as a Expedition Cruise, particularly as they were critical of a "difficult" hike in Scotland.

 

I thought the expedition staff were excellent, they were often asked idiotic questions but always responded with patience, and they supported and mentored the weaker hikers (me). I have been on a zodiac tour today when one passenger just would not stop talking about the tours she had been on, when I wanted to drink in the scene and keep quiet in the hope of seeing puffins and seals. To the guides credit he was very patient.

 

I do not recognise the issue with zodiac shuttles, at no point did I have to wait for an excessive time for any shuttle, even in the remotest spot (the south of Vaeroy) for instance.

 

I will make an observation without any hard evidence. Most of the people on board had considerable OBC, chargeable tours maybe a way of Seabourn clawing this back without penalising the cruiser.

 

I thought it was a great cruise and did exactly what it said on the tin, staff superb, ship superb, expeditions great, just need more comfortable seats in the Club!

 

We are now enroute to Svalbard, the vibe is different but whether it is more of an expedition cruise is in the eye of the beholder. 

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3 hours ago, Nops said:

 

I was on the same cruise and the experience I had was very different. I would concur that Seabourn did appear to drop excursion availability at random. I read the notes in the cruise itinerary and it was followed very closely. For instance the expedition from Solvaer to Trollfjord was not a surprise and was clearly signposted by Seabourn on the website, as far as I was concerned there were no surprises.

 

What is an expedition? it is different things to different people, to me I loved the hikes, but am not so keen on looking at birds but I appreciate that there are those who do. So I am interested to know what High Plains Drifter would define as a Expedition Cruise, particularly as they were critical of a "difficult" hike in Scotland.

 

I thought the expedition staff were excellent, they were often asked idiotic questions but always responded with patience, and they supported and mentored the weaker hikers (me). I have been on a zodiac tour today when one passenger just would not stop talking about the tours she had been on, when I wanted to drink in the scene and keep quiet in the hope of seeing puffins and seals. To the guides credit he was very patient.

 

I do not recognise the issue with zodiac shuttles, at no point did I have to wait for an excessive time for any shuttle, even in the remotest spot (the south of Vaeroy) for instance.

 

I will make an observation without any hard evidence. Most of the people on board had considerable OBC, chargeable tours maybe a way of Seabourn clawing this back without penalising the cruiser.

 

I thought it was a great cruise and did exactly what it said on the tin, staff superb, ship superb, expeditions great, just need more comfortable seats in the Club!

 

We are now enroute to Svalbard, the vibe is different but whether it is more of an expedition cruise is in the eye of the beholder. 

 

@Nops

I am so pleased you chimed in and enjoyed the cruise. Different opinions and perspectives make a market. I'll do my best to respond.

 

" I read the notes in the cruise itinerary and it was followed very closely. "

 

Yes the itinerary was followed. As mentioned, my disappointment comes from what was and wasn't done on the itinerary.  Again, I booked when the only info available was just the itinerary.  I assumed it would be a true expedition, not a hybrid with bus tours. I know better now.

 

"For instance the expedition from Solvaer to Trollfjord was not a surprise"

Perhaps I was mistaken. I thought the 14 mile zodiac ride from Svolvaer to Trollfjord was a last minute addition. 

We did something similar on Quest in 2016 when Seabourn was just starting its expedition activities. Except back then Luiqui had the zodiacs loaded with Champagne. Luiqui hasn't aged a day.

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As a kudos to Luiqui the decision to drop the zodiacs at Isle of Noss was incredible. Especially given how late in the day it was.  Isle of Noss is almost impossible to get close to. A very rare treat! 

 

"particularly as they were critical of a "difficult" hike in Scotland."

 

I was critical that a difficult hike was the only one offered on that day.  As I  mentioned in my previous post a good expedition should offer hikes for all ranges and they should be complimentary. I was pleased that the folks who could do the difficult hikes had some great opportunities. 

 

"So I am interested to know what High Plains Drifter would define as a Expedition Cruise"

 

I would define an Expedition Cruise as one that has a focus on outdoor activities and nature. Depending on location, say PNG or South Pacific, native cultures.  It should have activities for all levels of reasonable fitness. Did some of this occur on this cruise, yes. On the whole I found it lacking. There were more bus rides than you could shake a stick at. Check out the link I posted to a similar itinerary on Silversea. That was a proper expedition. 

 

"I will make an observation without any hard evidence. Most of the people on board had considerable OBC, chargeable tours maybe a way of Seabourn clawing this back without penalising the cruiser."

 

I wondered the same.

 

"I do not recognise the issue with zodiac shuttles, at no point did I have to wait for an excessive time for any shuttle, even in the remotest spot (the south of Vaeroy) for instance."

 

Sometimes its the luck of the draw. We happened to get caught numerous times. Hence the complaint. Several times I overheard staff grousing about not getting lunch, a break or where are all the zodiacs. Thus probably added to my frustration. Shame on Seabourn for not staffing up enough. When we boarded an expedition was introduced a friend traveling with us said "where's the rest of the staff?".

 

I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the patience of the Expedition Team.  The can be true saints. The yappers also make me crazy.

 

The seats in the Club belong in a Grammer School.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted (edited)

Venture and Staff

 

Enough with the negative, on to the positive.

 

I love Venture! She is so sleek and elegant, rides like a dream. Quiet as a church mouse. Barely know she's moving half the time.

 

Staff on this Voyage were exemplary.   It might have been some of the best service we have ever had.  In the Constellation Lounge our drinks almost beat us to our table. Thank you Portia!

Cabin crew, perfect. Hold on to your hats...Seabourns Square reception staf were amazingly  excellent, especially given some complicated situations.

 

Food.

Everyone has been grumbling about Seabourns tired Menus. I'd agree the The Restaurant menu was a tad pedestrian.  We only ate there twice. The food was very good both times. Butter poached Lobster was a dream. They occasionally open for lunch, but limited recycled menu.

Colonnade - Lunch still a buffet scrum. Just a bad design. Food was OK, sometimes good.

Dinner was much better with a few excellent ethnic meals.

Sushi - is it great sushi, no. Was it tasty and did it hit the spot, you betcha. FYI, Edamame is not on the menu but is available. Cocktails also excellent up there.

 

Sommiler bent over backwards to help us spend our OBCs.🤣

 

The only big miss was the Bow Pantry on 6. Rarely stocked with anything more than cookies. 

 

Entertainment - The usual duo and solo singer weren't bad. One never expects Entertainment on an expedition. There was a mind reader folks seemed to enjoy. We thoroughly enjoyed the Nordic Brothers.

Edited by highplanesdrifters
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Ooops, just realized I hadn't posted anything about the famous Trollfjord.  Our third trip here and it's always special.

 

A 14 mile zodiac ride was offered from Svolvaer.  Some friends said they loved it.  It is truly special being on the water looking at the ship in this tiny slit.

 

Off in the distance you can see Hurtigruten entering Trollfjord.

 

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A game of chicken?

 

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We win.

 

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Is it a Troll face?

 

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I love the comment about zodiac passengers who apparently need to yap nonstop without any consideration of others who might be forced to sit within mere feet of them for the entire transit or tour duration. Of course if you are in some assigned group rotating daily on zodiacs you can bet you will never ever get a break and avoid these clowns.
 

And then there are those eager souls who like to ask questions in the pre-arrivals briefing sessions. Sometimes I think they were pressing to deliver their own take on what should happen and what they know, thereby crowding out others who might have an open ended question that allows the specialist to deliver material for everyone. But oh no.


Just sayin”…


Happy and healthy sailing!

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Our recent “ expedition” cruise on Pursuit from Papeete to Guam was similar to what @highplanesdrifters describes.  Lots of bus tours and pay excursions in many ports.  Buses were crowded ( think 200 people all visiting the same places) vs small and intimate groups.  We did go into expedition mode in Vanuatu ( although what we did is well documented on other expedition cruise sites) and most of PNG and Micronesia.  But things were a bit haphazard.  We had no idea even in regularly cruised ports what would be offered until the night before.  That was very frustrating especially for people like my husband interested in WW2 sites.  Would we see them or would we not?  ( we booked privates in advance so didn’t worry but at the prices Seabourn charged we should not have had to).  At the end of the day those large group tours were offered but at the last minute and having 200 people descend on these sites at once was not small and intimate.  The tours could have been staggered throughout the day so poor planning.  
 

Our expedition team had many great individuals and some very good lectures.  It was the organization, the communication, and lack of planning that was poorly  done.  I completely understand in some of the very remote ports it was hard to plan in advance and like on all cruises planned tours are sometimes canceled due to weather, inability to access a port etc, but there is no excuse not to have anything laid out in advance.  I actually looked on the SS website where they do publish many of the activities to get an idea of what we’d be doing on various ports and things.  Nine times out of ten that’s what we ended up doing.  
 

On the positive side Pursuit is a beautiful ship, the staff ( room attendants, dining staff, bartenders, guest services) were all terrific.  We had a great time but the extra charges for tours, the lack of communications and somewhat disorganization of the expeditions and activities was frustrating.  Again many of the tours could have been communicated on the website way in advance, people could have signed up in advance and this could have prevented  last minute scrambles.  Hopefully this will improve on Seabourn expeditions going forward. Or if they are going to be more hybrid with many charged tours it should be communicated and priced accordingly.  

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Posted (edited)
9 hours ago, Nops said:

I have been on a zodiac tour today when one passenger just would not stop talking about the tours she had been on, when I wanted to drink in the scene and keep quiet in the hope of seeing puffins and seals. To the guides credit he was very patient.

 

I can totally empathize - this happened to me recently on a small van (with 8 guests and a guide, who happened to be one of the expedition leaders) in PNG on the way to the Baining Fire Dance.  Apparently this guest had just done an optional challenging hike through forests up a mountain in Rabaul, and he wouldn't shut up talking about it the whole time (the ride was 75 minutes each way).  Unfortunately for the rest of us, the expedition leader was also on his hike and so enabled and encouraged his non-stop bragging.  I had just wanted to relax and nap during the ride... not! 

 

On the way back, some people were talking about the fire dance, but the guest switched the topic to his hike again.

 

Lesson learned:  bring ear plugs.

Edited by sfvoyage
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3 hours ago, markham said:

I love the comment about zodiac passengers who apparently need to yap nonstop without any consideration of others who might be forced to sit within mere feet of them for the entire transit or tour duration. Of course if you are in some assigned group rotating daily on zodiacs you can bet you will never ever get a break and avoid these clowns.
 

And then there are those eager souls who like to ask questions in the pre-arrivals briefing sessions. Sometimes I think they were pressing to deliver their own take on what should happen and what they know, thereby crowding out others who might have an open ended question that allows the specialist to deliver material for everyone. But oh no.


Just sayin”…


Happy and healthy sailing!

 

 

The yappers....oh please give me a mute button!!!  And can it please work for people who park next to me on a lounge or seabourn square and pull out their phone to face time with screaming grandkids. I also got to hear all about Patricia's bathroom remodel and how well the new green tiles worked. Lovie calls them string talkers. 

 

As for the question askers, I agree. Interesting development this trip.  Folks were told to see speakers at the podium with questions.  I can't recall Luiqui taking questions unless they were shouted out.

 

On our recent Silversea Antarctica Cape to Cape in March we met a group of like minded individuals who  tried to stick together. Quiet for the most part enjoying nature...except for occasional witty remarks.   Happy to switch spots to be fair. We were so lucky. 

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