antarcticanewbies

We are planning a round the world trip and will be in Sydney July/August and looking for a South Pacific Island to spend a few days. We are using oneworld so we would like to be able to fly direct from Sydney using Qantas or a oneworld affiliate such as Air Fiji. We would like to stay on a preferably quiet island where we can easily access the snorkelling (preferably without having to take a boat) and that offers other activities including walking/exploring. Any suggestions for an island and accommodation... ps French Polynesia was on our list but not really doable with oneworld round the world

Would also like to hear about experiences on Sylvia Earle, we are considering an Arctic Cruise (Svalbard in Depth)?

Thanks for this, not come across this cruise and looks like a great option to look at...

We are planning a Svalbard cruise for July 2025 and we like the look of AE, would be either the Sylvia Earle or Greg Mortimer. We like the fact that these cruises are relatively small (~132 passengers), nice ships and also the Svalbard cruise seems longer than other companies. We looked at Silversea (~274 passengers and shorter cruise) and Hurtigruten (~318 passengers). Has anyone experienced Aurora Expeditions and would you recommend for the Arctic?

We have decided to go for Svalbard for July 2025 and we like the look of AE, would be either the Sylvia Earle or Greg Mortimer. We like the fact that these cruises are relatively small (~132 passengers), nice ships and also the Svalbard cruise seems longer than other companies. We looked at Silversea (~274 passengers and shorter cruise) and Hurtigruten (~318 passengers). Has anyone experienced Aurora Expeditions and would you recommend for the Arctic?

Oops, should read July 2024!

We go in January and will report back, thanks again...

We are looking at "Circumnavigating Svalbard The Ultimate Expedition" with Hurtigruten in July 2023. Any thoughts on this cruise, will be our first Arctic adventure? My wife was asking whether there are any small boat cruises (we explored the Galapagos on a small Evoventura boat last year (Origin)) and wondered whether such a small boat would work with Svalbard and if so any recommendations?

Thanks for all the replies, we went for the 23 day trip on The Fram, a lot of positive reviews and counting down the days!

We were due to travel to Antarctica this Saturday on the Silversea Silver Cloud (booked in December 2020!). We cancelled yesterday due to family illness and are hoping to rebook a cruise for next year. We chose this particular cruise as it included both the Falklands and South Georgia. Silversea do not include the Falklands in January 2024 unless you take the Endeavour, which is double the price of the equivalent cruise we were going to take. There is a Silver Cloud cruise that we are looking at that dos not include the Falklands, however, we have found a Hurtigruten 23 day Antarctica cruise that includes the Falklands. This will be our first "proper" cruise (we have used Ecoventura in the Galapagos and also toured the Yangtze River) and were so looking forward to our Silversea cruise. We do not have much time to research as we need to book soon. Any thoughts on Hurtigruten, I appreciate it is not as luxurious but will we get the same Antarctica experience? Any thoughts/comments/advice welcomed...