bilbobill

I am not totally sure on this as I departed at EZE but my departure sheet did not mention any option to go back to town from EZE. I would recommend calling Seabourn ahead of time and asking them. Even if they don't, it is pretty easy to catch a taxi from EZE to town so I wouldn't worry too much.

They are pretty flexible with the groups and in most cases people who went on the submarine were able to do a zodiac tour with any group available. We did not do the submarine but we heard the expedition staff telling other guests not to worry and that they could go before or after their submarine trip. Of course everything can change depending on the weather. I will say that there are plenty of zodiac tours so I don't think you will be left wanting even if you miss one. For kayaking the same applies however it is a little more difficult since the kayak trip takes a bit longer. Having said that, we boarded our zodiac with all the kayaks in tow, got a mini zodiac tour and then did the kayak tour. At the end we did not feel the need to do another zodiac tour in the same area.

I packed doorstops based on advice from other cruisers on the design of the Seabourn cabins and keeping closet and bathroom doors open with a rocking boat across the Drake. Honestly I did not get to test this as when we upgraded our cabin we ended up with an accessible suite that did not have this layout. Perhaps another cruiser can comment

The food was from the ship the morning of departure from Ushuaia and we ate it on the flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires so we did not leave Argentina and there were no checks

Yes the shop had a variety of HH gear so definitely a good place to use the credit. Also you have to use the Seabourn credit but the credit from my travel agent came in the form of a gift do I was able to get that refunded on my credit card while I was onboard.

And walking Poles.....

1). No, nothing required to cruise or kayak 2) that is correct, you are not allowed to rest anything on the ground other than your boots which are cleaned and sanitized after each landing. 3) Usually an hour or so on land and 20-30 minutes back and forth on the zodiac. They will take you back anytime if you want to so this was not a problem. 4) I don’t know the policy here as I didn’t personally know anyone with a cold or Covid on board. I don’t remember them mentioning anything about this on board so I think they leave it up to the individual unless they see the ships doctor. There were several people on board wearing masks however not sure if that was as a precaution or they were sick. There were people coughing without masks so I don’t think they have strict requirements here. 5) No mask requirements at any time - on flights, buses or the ship

The Kayak is an extra $200 and the Submarine is $1000. We found the Kayak well worth it and would do it again. We did not do the submarine but heard mixed reviews from other guests. Some said it was exciting and went very deep - up to 300 meters while others said there wasn’t much to see and it just dropped to the bottom and didn’t move around. The zodiac tours and hikes/landings are all included.

Just returned home after a wonderful trip. My wife and I both agree that this trip was fantastic and strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to see and experience Antarctica. We were also impressed with our first cruise on Seabourn and will likely cruise with them again. A couple of additional notes on the trip home. We had until 8am to be out of our cabins on disembarkation day. We ordered room service at 7:15 and ate a little but packed the rest for the flight home - the food on the charter flight is standard but not too tasty so this worked well for us. People were assigned to two groups - ours left at 8:30 for the airport and I think the other group left at 9:30. It is a short ride to the airport and we were there before 9 for an 11:15 flight back on Jetsmart. The airport was very crowded with multiple cruises doing the same thing so be prepared for some chaos at security. There is plenty of time though so we just relaxed while waiting the 20-30 minutes to get through. Once in the secure area there are food options if you didn't get anything on the ship. Flight back was similar to the flight before although our row was full this time. Legroom is pretty tight on these flights if you are on the taller side. This flight returned to EZE as I think most passengers are taking international flights back home. We landed around 3 so most people had a long layover as most flights to the US leave at night. Keep this in mind as it makes for a long day - it was 29 hours for us counting leaving the ship at 8:30am and arriving the following morning in Austin after a connection in Dallas. My wife was less than impressed with my trip planning on this one and suggested perhaps spending a night in BA before flying home. The US carriers in BA don't always open their check in desks until closer to the flight so in our case the American check in area did not open until almost 6. This means that you are stuck in the airport with all your luggage and can't get to the lounges to wait either. There are some restaurants there so we found an Outback and ate a late lunch while we waited. Another detail, there are many zones for check in - A, B, C etc.... which each airline being in one of these zones. However they use big monitors to display the airline logo in each zone. When the airline is not open, the monitor displays a blank screen so we were walking down the entire departure hall looking for American and couldn't find it. There is an Information desk who can tell you which letter it will be so I recommend checking with them first as they will also tell you when it will be open. Lastly, apparently Seabourn invites some of its customers to a lunch once they arrive in BA to pass the time waiting for their flights - I guess this requires some level of status as we did not get the invite but I heard several people talking about this. Security line was very easy at EZE but remember that there is immigration right after that. The line was super long. Tip - there is an automated kiosk line that says Argentinians only. We saw some some people go to that line, talk to the attendant there and then use that. We did the same and it saved us at least 30 minutes. We used the AA lounge once through security - very good food and drink options. It was totally full and standing room only by 7:30 pm so keep that in mind. That is it for me, I hope this was helpful. I know I didn't provide a lot of detail on the expeditions as I like surprises - but for those of you who want to see more, Seabourn provides a more detail summary of what we did and pictures and a video of the voyage on their website. Once you go to this page, go to the upper left corner menu (with the three lines) and select Seabourn Pursuit, 2024 and then the 12 day cruise and you will get much more detail. Here is the link https://www.seabourn.com/en/us/experience/voyagetracker/index.html

Agree about the Thermostats. I have found that many hotels now control limits on your thermostat and I end of being hot or cold. I did not have any issues on the Pursuit - was able to keep it cold at night the way I like to sleep and it heated up quickly in the morning when I turned up the heat. No issues whatsoever for me.

We have ATT and enabled wifi calling. This allowed us to call anywhere in the US without additional charge as long as we were connected to the ships wifi. ATT also covers Latin America when off the ship so we were able to call the US from land as long as we were in LA

We wore trail pants over the long underwear and that worked great. Some people wore sweats or stretchy jeans. We never hand any issues with our legs getting cold or hot - the hands and face are what you have to watch out for particularly if you are on a zodiac tour.

Wr had 246 passengers on board and all the rooms were filled (there were some singles). The crew told us that any ship under 500 can disembark on Antarctica but only 100 people at a time. This is why I think most cruise companies limit the size - too complicated to get 5 separate groups out of 100. I think the 250 level is a good one because it allows for economies of scale for the non expedition part of the cruise (dining, spa, entertainment) but still allowed us to do 2 expeditions a day given we were under 300.

Yes there are shops in Ushuaia and in walking distance from the ship. Several people did that on departure day. Also, we are expecting to arrive in Ushuaia Thursday afternoon instead of Friday morning to avoid some weather in the Drake and they said we could do some shopping then and come back to the ship afterwards to spend the night before leaving back to BA Friday morning.

Yes the parka with the inner lining they provide was plenty for us when doing the landings or Zodiac tours.. I brought a nice fleece jacket for when I am on the ship and my wife brought a light weight jacket as well. They have proven very useful for when we are out on deck or even inside some times when we have felt a bit chilly.