Help Which Line...

[sarahvch]

We have always wanted to visit Antarctica and are ready to plan our trip. I have just begun searching but would like feedback on the best line. We want to do a trip where we are able to get off the ship. So far I have only been ale to find Lindblad national geographic but can't find any feedback on people that have been on the line.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

Again we are just starting our search and planning to go Dec or Jan or 2009/2010

[Jade13]

We have always wanted to visit Antarctica and are ready to plan our trip. I have just begun searching but would like feedback on the best line. We want to do a trip where we are able to get off the ship. So far I have only been ale to find Lindblad national geographic but can't find any feedback on people that have been on the line.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

Again we are just starting our search and planning to go Dec or Jan or 2009/2010

 

We are going on the Minerva. I also wish we had more feedback. One deciding factor was that it is through A&K and they have a great track record, and also we could pay with credit card. I know I looked at National Geographic. I forgot why we did not choose them. It may have been a longer trip on the dates that we wanted. Even a 10 night turns into over two weeks when you add in travel time and a pre-cruise stay.

[parischris]

We have always wanted to visit Antarctica and are ready to plan our trip. I have just begun searching but would like feedback on the best line. We want to do a trip where we are able to get off the ship. So far I have only been ale to find Lindblad national geographic but can't find any feedback on people that have been on the line.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

Again we are just starting our search and planning to go Dec or Jan or 2009/2010

 

There are oodles of Antarctica operators: Aurora Expeditions (operate out of Hobart, Australia for the Ross Sea), Minerva (I'm on the first sailing of the season this year), the MS Fram through Hurtigruten (I've sailed on the sister ship Nordkapp to Antarctica in early 2007), the Prince Albert II (Silversea I think). Then there are the russian icebreakers through Polar-Quest, Quarkexpeditions etc.

 

It really depends what level of comfort and experience you want. The above (not sure about the Prince Albert) are all expedition ships. That means entertain yourself - they are not cruise ships. Google any of the above to see the size and offerings of the operators.

 

Cheers

[soraya]

HI there, When I was doing the research into the different trips, ships and companies, I used the polar cruises website. They had a good comparison of the different ships.

 

 

It all depends on what you want, I wanted good amount of time on the ice and so settled on around 100 passengers. More than that and you out in relays. I also wanted to be reasonably comfortable ie no shared facilites and a window/porthole.

 

I found that an expedition style ship fitted the boll for us. I was surprised as I was thinking of the Marco Polo but the passengers it took didn't fit my spec.

 

I liked the Fram but there were problems with cancelled cruises and the Voyages of Discovery people had good prices if you were coming from the UK but I read here about engine problems.

 

I had settled on the Corinthian which is a luxury style expedition ship if money was no object and the Orlova as more sensible and cost effective.

 

We went for the Prince Albert as it had a great offer! It is more a luxury expedition ship with a proper ice rated hull and enclosed liferafts - the liferafts became an issue after last years ship sinking!

 

Worth making sure you're comparing like with like as some of the more expensive cruises include flights from BA to Ushuaia and nights in hotels.

[diebroke]

My sense from these boards is that almost everyone who chooses a small, expedition style ship is happy with the choice they made. The star of the trip is the environment, not the ship and the goal of these ships is to get you up close & personal with the environment. There is a range of prices for expedition style ships. I think most of the variation is in the luxuries aboard the ship and to some extent, how modern the ship itself is.

We did the Arctic on the Polar Star & really enjoyed it. When we went to Antarctica, we could afford the top end of the luxury market for expedition ships (I had recently robbed a bank when banks had money) so we chose Lindblad's National Geographic Endeavour which I thought was the top end at the time. It was outstanding in every way. The difference was a nicer dining & lecture environment, better meals, a few more experts to guide & lecture (including an amazing underwater expert) a somewhat nicer cabin, a somewhat easier zodiac loading process, and a ship that was ice rated & had stabilizers which were nice in open seas. I don't think most ice breakers have stabilizers. I think it also had a capability for higher speed cruising which allowed us to cross the Antarctic Circle on a relatively short trip.

This season, there are two new expedition ships in Antarctica - Lindblad's National Geographic Explorer and Silversea's Prince Albert II. You won't find reviews on either of them in Antarctica as they were recently launched. I predict they will both provide a spectacular experience. They were both designed to provide an optimum expedition experience from the quality of the lecture facilities to the zodiac launch operations. Lindblad is permanently moving the Endeavour to the Galapagos in May, 2009.

The passengers were slightly more affluent on the Endeavour than the Polar Star and covered a wider age range but there is more that unites passengers on these trips than separates them - their love for this amazing environment. I enjoyed everybody I met on both trips. As has been noted by another poster, I'm not sure that is true on larger ships doing other itineraries. I think the other thing that seems to be common among the smaller expedition ships is the quality of the expedition staff.

So, I'd say pick the ship that meets your budget & time frame and you won't regret your decision.

[Saga Ruby]

My sense from these boards is that almost everyone who chooses a small, expedition style ship is happy with the choice they made. The star of the trip is the environment, not the ship and the goal of these ships is to get you up close & personal with the environment. There is a range of prices for expedition style ships. I think most of the variation is in the luxuries aboard the ship and to some extent, how modern the ship itself is.

 

We did the Arctic on the Polar Star & really enjoyed it. When we went to Antarctica, we could afford the top end of the luxury market for expedition ships (I had recently robbed a bank when banks had money) so we chose Lindblad's National Geographic Endeavour which I thought was the top end at the time. It was outstanding in every way. The difference was a nicer dining & lecture environment, better meals, a few more experts to guide & lecture (including an amazing underwater expert) a somewhat nicer cabin, a somewhat easier zodiac loading process, and a ship that was ice rated & had stabilizers which were nice in open seas. I don't think most ice breakers have stabilizers. I think it also had a capability for higher speed cruising which allowed us to cross the Antarctic Circle on a relatively short trip.

 

This season, there are two new expedition ships in Antarctica - Lindblad's National Geographic Explorer and Silversea's Prince Albert II. You won't find reviews on either of them in Antarctica as they were recently launched. I predict they will both provide a spectacular experience. They were both designed to provide an optimum expedition experience from the quality of the lecture facilities to the zodiac launch operations. Lindblad is permanently moving the Endeavour to the Galapagos in May, 2009.

The passengers were slightly more affluent on the Endeavour than the Polar Star and covered a wider age range but there is more that unites passengers on these trips than separates them - their love for this amazing environment. I enjoyed everybody I met on both trips. As has been noted by another poster, I'm not sure that is true on larger ships doing other itineraries. I think the other thing that seems to be common among the smaller expedition ships is the quality of the expedition staff.

 

So, I'd say pick the ship that meets your budget & time frame and you won't regret your decision.

 

Spot-on comments about choosing a ship, diebroke, and well-put. And how clever of you to time your bank robbery to a day and age when banks actually had money. Thanks for my laugh for the day. You know what they say? Take away greed from Wall Street and all you have left is pavement.

 

Ruby

[diebroke]

And how clever of you to time your bank robbery to a day and age when banks actually had money.

Ruby

 

Timing is everything & rather than being clever, I was lucky.

[sarahvch]

Thank you all so much.

There are a few things we know we want.

Private bathroom, the biggest room we can get and lots of time off the ship. We do understand that we are about to shell out some big money for this trip but hey that is what we worked for, right!

We looked at the Prince Albert also. I forgot about that one. We dismissed it because it seemed too formal for us. We are not really the kind of people that want to spend the day out hiking and then have to come in and get all dolled up for dinner.

Thanks again for your suggestions. I am off to do more research.

[Saga Ruby]

Timing is everything & rather than being clever, I was lucky.

 

A couple of years ago, I felt that the financial institutions were saying that 2+2=5 and I didn't understand why anyone with a credit card and a pulse could qualify for a mortgage, so I fell off the turnip truck and went into cash. It's not in my mattress, but "near about." After living thru the Arab oil embargo in '73 and the crash of '87, I like to think I've learned my lesson. "Those who do not learn from history ..." and all that jazz.

 

I agree with Sarah - Prince Albert was a bit too frou-frou for my tastes. Having said that, by the time I pay $14,000 for a 10-day trip to Antarctica on an expedition ship (Corinthian II) in Jan 2010, I'll be grounded for the rest of the year. But I'll always have Paris. Uh, penguins.

 

Ruby

[Jade13]

HI there, When I was doing the research into the different trips, ships and companies, I used the polar cruises website. They had a good comparison of the different ships.

 

 

It all depends on what you want, I wanted good amount of time on the ice and so settled on around 100 passengers. More than that and you out in relays. I also wanted to be reasonably comfortable ie no shared facilites and a window/porthole.

 

I found that an expedition style ship fitted the boll for us. I was surprised as I was thinking of the Marco Polo but the passengers it took didn't fit my spec.

 

I liked the Fram but there were problems with cancelled cruises and the Voyages of Discovery people had good prices if you were coming from the UK but I read here about engine problems.

 

I had settled on the Corinthian which is a luxury style expedition ship if money was no object and the Orlova as more sensible and cost effective.

 

We went for the Prince Albert as it had a great offer! It is more a luxury expedition ship with a proper ice rated hull and enclosed liferafts - the liferafts became an issue after last years ship sinking!

 

Worth making sure you're comparing like with like as some of the more expensive cruises include flights from BA to Ushuaia and nights in hotels.

 

Did you rule out Minerva because it as 198 passengers? Just curious? The Fram was not sailing yet when we made our reservations. I don't think the Prince Albert was scheduled yet a year ago because I don't recall looking into it (can you pay by credit card? I crossed off a number of ships because I was really uncomfortable wiring money for final payment.) I can't imagine a "great offer" in this part of the world as I haven't seen one yet :)

[diebroke]

A couple of years ago, I felt that the financial institutions were saying that 2+2=5 and I didn't understand why anyone with a credit card and a pulse could qualify for a mortgage, so I fell off the turnip truck and went into cash. It's not in my mattress, but "near about."

 

Ruby

 

Ruby,

 

You win the smartest poster on Cruise Critic award. Unfortunately, I "invested" my bank robbery proceeds & now, to achieve the goal of my user name, I will have to die 10 years sooner.

A trip to Antarctica is worth it though.

[soraya]

HiJade,

 

The Minerva was borderline on passenger numbers - a bit big but it was the price at the time which was the issue. I did rule the Nordkapp out on passenger numbers as to me 350 seemed high but it didn't seem to be an issue for anyone on the Fram. Also I really liked their polar circel (sic?) which seemed a good development of the original zodiac design.

 

I didn't see much to differentiate the Minerva, Corinthian II and Prince Albert II. They all fell into the luxury expedition category. I'm not familiar with their cruise lines though so apologies to anyone who knows them well passing out at the thought that they may be similar!

 

This was a late booking over summer as we hadn't found the right cruise/price combination for Antarctica and booked a SA cruise with Celebrity - no Antarctica bit though. Then when we found my DH's new job meant we couldn't make the dates we looked for something else and found the PAII.

 

We booked with Silversea who did take credit cards without any problem.

 

I was told that the dress code was casual for the Antarctic rather than the smart casual that Silversea usually go for on their cruises. No intention of taking DH's kilt:)

 

Not sure I'm a big frou frou person at all but am a bit of a foodie. Not anticipating eating much during Drakes Passage (not looking forward to that at all) but hope that room service means I can get some chicken soup to help me though!

 

Ordered the parka at the weekend so it's feeling closer!

[Saga Ruby]

Ruby, you win the smartest poster on Cruise Critic award. Unfortunately, I "invested" my bank robbery proceeds & now, to achieve the goal of my user name, I will have to die 10 years sooner.

A trip to Antarctica is worth it though.

 

I wish I were that smart. Back in the day, I regarded Wall Street as the All-Powerful Oz then came to realize it was more the end of that fairytale - when the curtain is thrown open, a small man is revealed pulling levers and yelling into a microphone - total bunkum.

 

To quote a very smart man, if you take the greed out of Wall Street, all you have left is the pavement. After some painful lessons, I came to realize that I wasn't in the inner circles so I ran for the door.

 

Ruby

[Jade13]

HiJade,

 

The Minerva was borderline on passenger numbers - a bit big but it was the price at the time which was the issue. I did rule the Nordkapp out on passenger numbers as to me 350 seemed high but it didn't seem to be an issue for anyone on the Fram. Also I really liked their polar circel (sic?) which seemed a good development of the original zodiac design.

 

I didn't see much to differentiate the Minerva, Corinthian II and Prince Albert II. They all fell into the luxury expedition category. I'm not familiar with their cruise lines though so apologies to anyone who knows them well passing out at the thought that they may be similar!

 

This was a late booking over summer as we hadn't found the right cruise/price combination for Antarctica and booked a SA cruise with Celebrity - no Antarctica bit though. Then when we found my DH's new job meant we couldn't make the dates we looked for something else and found the PAII.

 

We booked with Silversea who did take credit cards without any problem.

 

I was told that the dress code was casual for the Antarctic rather than the smart casual that Silversea usually go for on their cruises. No intention of taking DH's kilt:)

 

Not sure I'm a big frou frou person at all but am a bit of a foodie. Not anticipating eating much during Drakes Passage (not looking forward to that at all) but hope that room service means I can get some chicken soup to help me though!

 

Ordered the parka at the weekend so it's feeling closer!

 

I checked and the Prince Albert has some great prices! Ok, well at least we get the Parka on the Minerva, and they supply the boots as well. Oh, and I recall it was the Corinthian II that requires wired money.

 

I would love to go to the Seychelles on Silver Seas. They are the only ones I have found so far doing a 7 night, but the dates do not work and the airfare is over 4K!

[Saga Ruby]

Somewhere in the Antarctica forum, someone posted a note saying that some expedition ships offered mostly buffet meals. That got my attention, so I sent a note to my TA and asked what percentage of meals on Corinthian II were served and what percentage were buffet-style.

 

I was pleased to learn that CII serves breakfast as a buffet because pax get up at different times, but lunch and dinner are served daily as seated meals. Whew!

 

I have reached a point in my life that I enjoy a bit of cosseting so thanks to whomever brought up that salient point.

 

Ruby

[2552phxcrzr]

On the Molchanov in January 2007 the only buffet meal was breakfast; both lunch and dinner were sit-down service.

[freddie]

"Ok, well at least we get the Parka on the Minerva, and they supply the boots as well."

 

I would respectfully suggest that no one consider a ship because one gets a parka to take home. Generally speaking, anyone who lives in a part of the world where parkas are useful already has several of them; and packing a parka to take back from Antarctica can be a challenge. Further, after 10-20 landings and wandering about (and often sitting down in) penguin colonies, that pretty red parka can be all too redolent of penguin poop!!

 

Rather, I would suggest that a good ship will provide parkas and boots to use during the cruise and then keep them on board to clean and offer to the next set of passengers. On our superb cruise on the Hanseatic in January, 2007, that was the system. Frankly, even if we'd been offered the parkas, we'd have left them on board. Why on earth pack a smelly parka back in our luggage??

 

When we took the Hanseatic cruise, that ship was the most luxurious of the ice-hardened-hull expedition ships in the Antarctic, with good cabins and very high quality food service. The downside of the Hanseatic is that it is marketed primarily to German-speakers and even on the few "bi-lingual" cruises such as ours, all announcements are in German first and then English.

 

If we were looking at an Antarctic cruise now, we would definitely focus on the Prince Albert II. It appears to be genuinelly luxurious (for an expedition ship) and (assuming it follows the excellent Silversea restaurant tradition) will likely have the finest cuisine in the Southern Sea, as good as or better than the Hanseatic (and vastly better than the Russian ships).

 

One final suggestion: If you can swing the time and $$$, it is wonderful to include South Georgia in the itinerary, in order to visit the huge King penguin colonies there. That usually adds 3 or 4 days to the itinerary; but it was absolutely the highlight of our whole trip. Priceless...

 

Cheers, Fred

[Jade13]

"Ok, well at least we get the Parka on the Minerva, and they supply the boots as well."

 

I would respectfully suggest that no one consider a ship because one gets a parka to take home. Generally speaking, anyone who lives in a part of the world where parkas are useful already has several of them; and packing a parka to take back from Antarctica can be a challenge. Further, after 10-20 landings and wandering about (and often sitting down in) penguin colonies, that pretty red parka can be all too redolent of penguin poop!!

 

Rather, I would suggest that a good ship will provide parkas and boots to use during the cruise and then keep them on board to clean and offer to the next set of passengers. On our superb cruise on the Hanseatic in January, 2007, that was the system. Frankly, even if we'd been offered the parkas, we'd have left them on board. Why on earth pack a smelly parka back in our luggage??

 

When we took the Hanseatic cruise, that ship was the most luxurious of the ice-hardened-hull expedition ships in the Antarctic, with good cabins and very high quality food service. The downside of the Hanseatic is that it is marketed primarily to German-speakers and even on the few "bi-lingual" cruises such as ours, all announcements are in German first and then English.

 

If we were looking at an Antarctic cruise now, we would definitely focus on the Prince Albert II. It appears to be genuinelly luxurious (for an expedition ship) and (assuming it follows the excellent Silversea restaurant tradition) will likely have the finest cuisine in the Southern Sea, as good as or better than the Hanseatic (and vastly better than the Russian ships).

 

One final suggestion: If you can swing the time and $$$, it is wonderful to include South Georgia in the itinerary, in order to visit the huge King penguin colonies there. That usually adds 3 or 4 days to the itinerary; but it was absolutely the highlight of our whole trip. Priceless...

 

Cheers, Fred

 

Fred, there was no Prince Albert when we booked 2 years ahead. My comment about the parka was because someone posted they are going on the Prince Albert because the price was better than Minerva. I looked and Prince Albert (or at least this season) is indeed less money. They than said they had just purchased a parka, so my comment was stating that at least we did not have to purchase 2 parkas (additionally expense) and didn't say anything about packing or bringing them home.

 

Btw, I am not familiar with Hanseatic. What is the name of the ship?

[soraya]

My DH has always wanted one of the red parkas that have an Antarctic logo on them. This despite living in Scotland where he has the whole range of technical clothing - breathable this that and the other!

 

For some reason it never struck me that that there were going to be penguin poo issues:) - how am I going to break it to him?

 

Strangely enough though the PAII don't mention boots!

 

The good price is linked to this being their first trip in Antarctica - so it is a learning experience for them. I went ahead because they were going to the Arctic first and we're on a cruise later in the season so I hoped they would iron out the kinks. I notice the earlier ones have an even better discount - more learning I guess.

[freddie]

Jade13 - According to the Silversea website, the parka is provided on a complimentary basis for polar cruises on the PAII. There is a place to order it on the website, under "Expedition Gear Shop"; and it will be available on the ship.

 

Soraya - I, too, am surprised that the PAII doesn't provide loaner boots. They are a very bulky (and heavy) item to schlep down to the Antarctic in one's luggage. But on the "Expedition Gear Shop", the suggested items to purchase include "Zodiac boots". That is odd, as most of the high-end expedition ships in the Antarctic provide the boots, as far as I could tell from the research we did. Maybe Silversea will figure that out eventually. As for the odiferous red jacka, if your DH insists on bringing it home, it might be wise to pack a very large ziplock bag in which to place the jacket before adding it to your return luggage. That's what we did with our expensive waterproof pants for the return trip. That way, they did not "perfume" the rest of our stuff. Once home, it only took six (count 'em, six!!!) washings to render the pants back to a suitably neutral state from an odor standpoint. And it isn't as if we rolled around in penguin poop - just walking around the colonies and occasionally sitting down to take photos gets the pants and jackets quite remarkably dirty. One very nice feature of the Hanseatic was the two boot-rooms, where we washed and stored our boots. Thus, the boots were never in our cabins. I cannot tell from the PAII website how they handle boot cleaning and storage.

 

Jade13 - The "Hanseatic" is the expedition ship of the German Hapag-Lloyd shipping company. (Hapag-Lloyd also has a couple of other cruiseships, including the "Europa", which has been rated as the top cruise ship in the world for the last several years by the Berlitz Guide to Cruising). As I mentioned above, the downside of taking a cruise (even a "bi-lingual" one) on the Hanseatic is that the large majority of the passengers are German speakers. On the Hanseatic and Europe cruises which are not marketed at bi-lingual, all the announcements, menus, etc. are in German only. Our cruise was a "bi-lingual" one, with about 20% of the passengers being English-speaking. Now that the PAII is doing Antarctica trips, that seems like a much better choice for most English-speakers than the Hanseatic for those passengers who want a "luxury" expedition ship. We loved the Hanseatic but would take the PAII if we were going now.

 

Cheers, Fred