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.

We had 7 expedition days on our cruise. A typical day was a landing in the morning and a zodiac cruise in the afternoon. There were a couple of days where we deviated from this and just did a zodiac cruise and then another activity like whale watching from the ship but most days we did both. I felt like this was plenty and the benefit of the “larger” ship was the level of luxury and amenities we enjoyed. If you are the super adventurous type perhaps a smaller boat would provide more activities but I felt it was a great balance on the Pursuit. We also had several lectures every day so I felt plenty busy with things to do.

Well we have completed our 7 days of Expedition in Antarctica and are now on our way back to the Drake Passage and Ushuaia. It was truly a fantastic experience and definitely exceeded our expectations. I think 5 days of expedition is more typical for Seabourn but I liked having the extra two days as it allowed for more landings and exploration and also gave us a cushion in case there was bad weather. We only really had one bad weather day though - glorious sunshine and calm seas almost the whole time. Crew said it was the best weather they had seen in a long time. I had planned on giving more detail on what we did here but as I mentioned earlier I really enjoyed being surprised and I don't want to ruin that for anyone else - and trust me there are some surprises that amazed me. A couple of observations: I probably packed too much but it is difficult to know what the weather will be. Plenty of storage space so I would rather be overprepared. Plus the self laundry was pretty busy and who wants to do laundry anyway on vacation. Walking sticks were very helpful on 2 of the hikes, the rest of the time we didn't need them. If you are pretty mobile, you could go without them. We only brought 2 pairs of thermals and that was enough. I didn't bring a sportscoat and didn't see many wearing them. I found slacks and a sweater to be the best. I brought some dress shirts but I found it a little cold even inside the ship without a jacket so I recommend nice sweaters or go ahead and bring the jacket. My wife also wore mostly pants and a sweater although we did see ladies dressed elegantly at times. I would bring some cold medicines and supplies in case you get sick. There is not much available on board without seeing the doctor. My wife got a cold about half way and having Nyquil was priceless. Most guests are coming from Europe and North America winters so viruses travel with them. Some of the crew got sick as well I only brought my iphone for photos but wish I would have brought my camera with a good telephoto lens. There are so may great photo opportunities and the telephoto lens also helps you see. There is a lot of telephoto envy on board - I have never seen so many giant lenses. There is one set of binoculars in your cabin and they are very nice - we ended up just sharing so we didn't have to carry the other set around with us. I found the wine and alcohol included on board to be good - the one bottle I purchased wasn't that great so I just stuck with the free stuff after that. Staff and service was great - I was impressed with Seabourn and will look to cruise with them again. Any other questions please let me know, have a couple more days on board before we get home.

I have seen so many Penguins that I feel like they are my family now. They walk right by you at almost every stop and you can spend as much time as you like watching them. We have seen Penguin eggs, Penguin chicks and even Penguins feeding their young. We have seen Seals and Whales and all sorts of interesting birds. You will see plenty, don’t worry!

No, from what I understand that is a separate itinerary and we won’t be going there. We did hear this evening that we will be going beyond the Antarctic Circle so we are excited about that. This is apparently the first time this season that the Pursuit will be making it this far South

You can buy poles in the giftshop on board but not rent. As for bug spray, I saw a lot of mosquitos in Buenos Aires so if you are going to spend time there it may be helpful although I saw some people selling "Off" wipes on the street so you could also get it once you arrive.

Third - the crew is awesome. I have seen some comments here and there about the service on these expedition vessels perhaps not being up to Seabourn standards. This is my first Seabourn cruise so I really can't comment on that but for me they are awesome. There are a lot of new crew on board I guess because this is a new ship but everyone has been so friendly and helpful and I haven't had any significant service issues. The ship is full but it doesn't feel crowded to me - we have always been able to get a table wherever we go and service is prompt. I was surprised at the passenger to crew ratio being so good but here is what the captain told us on the first day: Passengers 246 from 43 countries with US being the dominant country by far. Crew 241 from 43 countries

Second- The Expedition team is awesome! They really try and maximize your experience during landings and Zodiac tours are full of information. One thing to be aware of is that there are a lot of changes and cancellations depending on the weather and conditions. If it is windy or too choppy they will cancel the kayaks and diving excursions. Today they had to cancel some of the dives because there was too much ice so you have to flexible on your expectations. They will try and add additional sessions during the cruise and rebook you but it is not guaranteed. Our kayaking trip was canceled yesterday but still waiting to be rebooked. They were canceled another day too. My advice if you really want to kayak - book several before the cruise and you can always cancel one later. Having said that we are having a great time on the landings and zodiac tours and feel we are getting the full experience. On additional piece of advice here - make sure you bring good waterproof pants and they will fit over the boots provided here. We got soaked on the Zodiac tour yesterday with some unexpected high winds and waves so really glad to have those.

Sorry for the delay, they have been keeping us busy and we have been having such a good time I didn't want to sit down to the computer until now - we were the first group out today at 7:30am so I have some downtime now. Here are a few things of note: First the poles - funny you asked now because today was the first day we used them. There was not a lot of snow the first two landing sites but as you can see from the photo below, today there was quite a bit and we had to hike up and down a hill. While we could have done the hike without them, it was helpful to have them and gave us more confidence we wouldn't slip. The only downside is they are another thing to take with you on the zodiac so we only take the ashore if it looks snowy or muddy when we arrive at the site. The expedition team is a good source of advice here and of course it depends on your individual situation. Also, there was another flatter hike at the site which you could take if you didn't want to go up. They also provide some large walking sticks at every landing - I will try to remember to get a photo of those but they don't provide the grip of a real walking pole.

Once on board the Pursuit, we had a quick x-ray for our carry on’s and then through a metal detector before registering with a photo. The Colonnade was open for lunch so most headed there to wait for the rooms to be ready. By the time we finished lunch our room was ready and we got settled. Bags were delivered soon after but I did hear some people saying their checked bags didn’t arrive until after 5pm so it is good to bring any essentials with you. There was a mandatory safety briefing on your TV that you are required to view. Your TV won’t work without it being activated so best to get that out of the way early. Then there was an in-person safety/briefing (muster drill) in the Discovery center which is also required, and they scan your card to make sure you attend. I will post the the daily Herald for Day 1 and 2 so you can get an idea of the activities and opening time of the dining and bar venues. My first goal with this thread was to help everyone with the details before the cruise since I felt Seabourn communication was a little lacking in this area. Now that “we have you on board” I’m just going to focus on any highlights you might need to know before you cruise rather than give you a minute by minute account of my journey. If you’ve read this far you can probably see that I love details but I think I a little surprise is good so I don’t want to ruin that for future travelers. So from here on out I will just post things I think are interesting to know or that I have seen questions about in previous threads. Also, if you have anything specific you want to ask about, do it here and I will respond as best as I can. Or perhaps some of my fellow travelers can give their views. A few highlights for now Ship is beautiful – everything sparkling new. Our sailing is full but it doesn’t feel crowded. Had no problem finding a seat at dinner last night in the Restaurant and only saw a couple of men wearing sportscoats. Most people were smart casual. I am also including a pic of part of the wine list so you can evaluate pricing. Note that they have a program that helps you get additional wine for free if you spend enough. Our Drake crossing has been a little wavy but nothing serious. We brought Scopolamine patches just to be safe but I think we could have gone without. Coming back may be a different story. Fellow travelers are awesome – this is my first trip on Seabourn but now I see why it has so many loyal cruisers – the people (passengers and crew) are great!

Yes I believe that is possible. We asked the Seabourn rep on the plane and she said no water but security didn’t seem so strict so It probably varies. Worse they will do is make you pour out your water or throw it away so worth a try.