Review: Nov 2012 Antarctica, S. Georgia, Falklands

What follows is a potentially-too-wordy synopsis of my trip on NG Explorer's Nov 2012 itinerary to Antarctica, S. Georgia and the Falklands. Happy to answer questions and read any shipmates' opinions. (Especially those who disagree without being disagreeable.) I'll also post a companion piece about my experience on NG Explorer as a passenger with disability, but I'll start this thread more generally.

RESERVATIONS/PREP

Went through a top-notch agent (Mary Eliasewych at Flight Network). My own e-mails to Lindblad were answered only 50% of the time. Glad Mary had my back and got answers, including on a false itinerary switch after we'd already landed in BA.

LOCAL AGENTS IN BUENOS AIRES/USHUAIA

Consistently excellent service. Our overnight flight got in an hour ahead of the group flight; group flight subsequently delayed another hour. Agent Sylvia suggested she put us in a secure taxi rather than have us hang around, gratis. Spent the afternoon with another very good guide, Beatriz, seeing BA. Ushuaia guides also very good and knowledgeable though neither was native to the area.

LAN CHARTER FLIGHTS

First the good news: weight limit advertised pre-trip was absolutely not enforced. Suitcases picked up from hotel (on return, ship), and we saw them at our destination. Thus completely finishes the good news.

Bad news: Plane crowded, cramped. Sat 90 minutes on way down on tarmac without word. Crew surly: on way back, older gent marched back to his seat and denied lavatory because seatbelt sign was on (no turbulence). Passenger was in some distress and told to “just hold it”. No clue if he managed to “just hold it”: not something one can ask in polite company. Food awful: I had better food in a jail cell in Germany. Honest. Flight down and flight back equally crap.

Abjectly unacceptable for the service promised on a Lindblad trip. I will never fly LAN by choice, ever. Could slough this off as par-for-S.-America but that'd be brutally unfair to other airlines: spent the rest of the trip bouncing around on TACA, Copa, and AeroGal when not on LAN... all the rest offered exemplary service on par with or better than what I get in N. America. Only LAN was terrible.

SHIP STAFF

In a word, fantastic. Expedition leader Bud Lehnhausen, his second Rachel Eaton, and their naturalists and photo instructors were absolutely brilliant. I learned so much... like being back in graduate school without the pressure of exams. I'll get into this more in the other post, but they all really helped me make the most of the trip with my limited mobility.

SHIP OFFICERS AND CREW

I had little interaction with Capt. Skog and his officers (a multinational team who really seemed to know what they're doing re: navigation) but the Filipino crew befriended me (to the point them spiriting me below deck for karaoke). These people work long days in 8-10 month stretches with very few days off. I never heard one of them complain ever. I guess, by Philippine standard, it's good money, but they earn every penny by providing excellent service.

SHORE LANDINGS

If you want intense, in-your-face experiences with nature, this is the trip. We;'re supposed to keep 15 feet from the animals, but penguin and seal literacy is shockingly low—and they hadn't read the memo to keep 15 feet away from us. (I even briefly fended off a ferocious fur seal with a trekking pole.)

ZODIACS

Naturalists doubled as Zodiac drivers. Getting on and off was very easy for able-bodied people. (More on my situation in the other thread, but people who moved a little stiffly had no issues at all.) Step on to the Zodiac seat-ring which was basically level with the ship platform, step down on a solid yellow soapbox, step on the Zodiac floor, all while crew assist and support you. Sit. Slide to the rear. Painless. Most times we disembarked in calm water no higher than mid-shin, never as high as the knee.

ANTARCTICA, SURE, BUT SOUTH GEORGIA'S BETTER

Parischris on this board and others around the Internet are right: Antarctica is amazing, but for diversity and volume of wildlife, South Georgia trumps it easily. By all means, see both, but if I could only go back to one spot it'd be South Georgia—my new favourite place on earth.

WILDEST MOMENTS

--Defending oneself from aggressive fur seals, and staying out of the way of three-ton elephant seals

--Chasing killer whales (themselves chasing seals) in zodiacs

--Watching a leopard seal rip an Adelie penguin to shreds (that's Chinatown: everybody's gotta eat)

--Watching elephant seals battle to be boss-of-the-beach

--Being inspected up-close by a group of Gentoo penguins who were just as curious about my overshoes as I was about them

--watching the sun rise over thousands of penguins

--Photographing albatrosses in flight

MISSED LANDINGS

We got what was termed very good weather, and three landings were missed: one in Antarctica for ice, one in S. Georgia for wind, and Prion Island where the 99% were militant fur seals who had Occupied the beach and boardwalk. Whose beach? Most definitely THEIR beach. Alternate activities were laid on when possible. In other instances, days were flipped on-the-fly to avoid missing landings, a testament to the way the expedition team and ship officers use their knowledge together to benefit guests. (One example: Brown Bluff was inaccessible on our first day in Antarctica, so it got swapped with Deception Island, previously scheduled for the last day. We got to experience both.)

Missed landings happen. This is one of the last truly wild places on earth. Get used to the notion. If you go with an experienced captain and expedition leader, these difficulties will be minimized.

LECTURES

Informative, exciting, and always accompanied by slides. Pulitzer prize winner Jay Dickman showed us how he composes and puts stories together. Don Walsh, one of two men on the first trip to the ocean's deepest floor, discussed underwater exploration and the earliest Antarctic surveys. Naturalists spoke about ocean currents, penguins, vegetation, Shackleton, birds, and whaling. All but one was a self-taught teacher, and as a former educator that floored me—the talks were engaging and inspiring, as if they'd been through teachers' college.

Evening recaps featured mini-lectures and dive team video.

OCEAN MOTION

We had four runs of about 40-48 hours each exposed to the ocean. Swells were deemed average, and winds were often classified as helpful (at our back). The vast majority of us who took ills or wore patches were fine. (Some times saw me confined to cabin as I found walking tricky—a tale for the other thread.Ordinary people held the handrails and ropes and were fine.)

GUEST COUNT/ONSHORE LIMITS

We were about 142 guests (capacity 148) so we couldn't all go ashore at once in Antarctica (limit 100 people including guides). This was no problem as either alternate zodiac excursions were offered in parallel with groups switching after an hour or so, or there was simply enough time for everybody. Not everyone went ashore every day; some people only wanted to stay a short while. Every guest I talked to felt unhindered by the 100-person rule, and thought we were better off on a slightly larger stabilized ship that minimized ocean motion.

FOOD

Oscar, the bread-baker, moonlights on the dive team. Or maybe it's the other way around. Whatever—he bakes amazing bread, different each day. The desserts were superior. The lunchtime soups were good. The rest, especially the mains and buffets, ranged from average to poor with presentation outperforming taste.

Some allowance has to be made here for the fact that the ship can't always have fresh ingredients: there are no markets in Antarctica. Kitchen mechanics are that the giant freezer gets opened once each morning, and it's a challenge to work with components that may have been stored for months. We weren't early explorers subsisting on penguin and seal hoosh, but there was a lot of airline-quality main dishes.

Low-point: one undercooked US Thanksgiving turkey exacted revenge as about a dozen guests had food poisoning (they all sat together). Cases ranged from mild upset to two-plus days confined to bed/bathroom.

CABIN

My wife and I had the least expensive cabin, up in the bow, porthole only. It was still very comfortable and fairly spacious. Bed softer than I'm used to but very soothing. The ample shower accommodated a bench I requested (more on that in the other thread) for rough sea days. Our stewardess, Maria, kept everything spotless. 220V and 110V inputs, ethernet port, TV which broadcast ship cams and a closed circuit feed of the lectures in the lounge.

COMMON AREAS

Gutted and refitted in 2006, the ship has an airy and expansive lounge, ample outer decks, glassed-in observation deck, and a mud room to prep for landings. The Bridge is a common area, with guests welcome anytime.

GUESTS

Our group skewed younger and more international than what's been reported here on other Lindblad trips. We were only 85% full, so some remaining guest berths were offered at cost to American 20-somethings who had worked as stewards on the Alaska and Baja ships this spring and summer. They brought a real energy to the trip. There was a group of 15 guests from Australasia, another 15 or 20 of us from the Commonwealth, and a few from Europe. Almost all guests had post-secondary education. Guests open about their own alternate lifestyles seemed to be at ease with shipmates, but I cannot speak for them. One couple of bright, engaging ladies sought us out for meals a few times.

BONUS BASEBALL

We got to do two of the three things that while unadvertised, seem to be de rigeur on the Lindblad Antarctica trip: On was the polar plunge (not in the warm-spring, instead clean into -1 degree water) and the sunrise photo shoot at Gold Harbour; off was the ice walk: captain ploughed the ship into ice, and one brave naturalist was roped and run off the gangway, but the snow was quickly up to his neck and they hauled him in.

ANNOYANCES

Laundry was expensive, and the Internet was stupid expensive. Lindblad should not be trying to make money off those things on a three-week trip; Lindblad should offer these services on an at-cost basis.

VALUE FOR MONEY?

Many people were traveling on someone else's dime or on discount (as were we) but the listed rates effectively start at $1000 p.p. Dbl. per day and you can pay well more for a room midship, a balcony, or a suite. (We saw no need to upgrade: food, activities, and enrichment were offered equally to all, and who needs a balcony if the temperature's near the freezing point?)

I thought it was amazing; I'm glad I saved up and went. I'd love to go again. Someday I will. Is it too expensive? Well, if you want to be on a comfortable ship in the hands of an able captain, be led by Lehnhausen and Eaton, get photo instruction from a team led by Dickman and Ralph Lee Hopkins, and be in the wild with skilled naturalists, that's what Lindblad can charge. Your call.

Edit, Ocean Motion section should read: " The vast majority of us who took PILLS or wore patches were fine." Oops.

Hey Shawnino, welcome back, and glad you enjoyed your trip. Once you have 'ice virus', it doesn't let go in a hurry, so start saving :-).

Also, apologies. That staircase/boardwalk at Prion Island was built by Australians to reduce the impact of humans trekking up the hill to see the albatross - the law of unintended consequences kicked in and the seals are smart enough to realise that THEY can now get up the hill easier and higher than before.

P.S. Find a way to forgive LAN - charter flights are also crappy unless the plane is half full. They are an excellent SA airline.

Parischris-- so glad you talked me into adding S. Georgia. My new favourite place. Thank you so very much.

Prion Island was a complete write-off because once our three-hour window for the boardwalk was gone, it was gone for good. Scout staff returned to the ship a little shaken up: they had originally guessed the fur seals would back off and not only did the animals not retreat, some tried to attack. The first two Zodiacs of guests had already been sent toward Prion and the guests watched nervously from the water as staff scrambled back onto their own Zodiac. An orange cone or two was initially left behind in haste by staff, and carefully retrieved a few minutes later once heads cooled.

This was our second day on S. Georgia, and if any passengers still needed to differentiate "cruise" from "expedition", this did the business.

Parischris-- so glad you talked me into adding S. Georgia. My new favourite place. Thank you so very much.

 

Prion Island was a complete write-off because once our three-hour window for the boardwalk was gone, it was gone for good. Scout staff returned to the ship a little shaken up: they had originally guessed the fur seals would back off and not only did the animals not retreat, some tried to attack. The first two Zodiacs of guests had already been sent toward Prion and the guests watched nervously from the water as staff scrambled back onto their own Zodiac. An orange cone or two was initially left behind in haste by staff, and carefully retrieved a few minutes later once heads cooled.

 

This was our second day on S. Georgia, and if any passengers still needed to differentiate "cruise" from "expedition", this did the business.

I think the day is rapidly approaching when the albatrosses abandon Prion Island in favour of the nearby island (where landings are not permitted), which will be a shame as seeing the wanderers up close is magic. The young fur seals were hassling them for the (fur seal) fun of it, which just incents the birds to leave their nests.

I've just finished my photobook from my 8 week journey that included Sth Georgia and the Tristan group across to Sth Africa. 200 A3 pages by the time I finished - hopefully it will be back from the printer before Christmas.

What are you planning to do with your photos? Oh, and how was the Gold Harbour sunrise? Good colours?

Cheers

Thank you so much for your report and great descriptions. We will be on the Explorer in a month and are very much looking forward to our expedition. One question-is there an extra charge on board for beer and wine?

Thanks for the review!

Seahorse Lover: Alcoholic beverages are extra. Wine in the neighbourhood of $6-$9/glass and a fairly extensive by-the-bottle cellar for such a small ship. House wine complimentary for three or four meals. My wife had a Bloody Mary, $10. Wasn't really beer weather so I can't comment but beer was available (I think most people were drinking German brands, or Stella, Leffe, or Grolsch.

Parischris: Gold Harbour sunrise was a funny one. The night before, Ralph Lee Hopkins talked me into not going ashore but actually shooting it from atop the ship, and then doing the regular morning landing--he knew I'd be a little nervous stumbling about half-in-the-dark with gear. So I was up on the observation deck behind the bridge by 3:45 ready to rock for a 4:07 sunrise. There was some delay getting the landing party out and it was at least 4:20 before they left the ship.

So I could have made the landing easily, but Ralph positioned me for a ton of shots and I have no regrets. I obviously didn't see every picture that came back, but the travelers' late start meant I didn't see a breathtaking sunrise-glow picture like yours. There were good pictures, especially elephant seals wrestling, as the seals were all generally more active so early, but nothing that screamed "Sunrise!"

As to my pictures, in order to make myself learn digital I joined an online community last year (I'm Shawn Young at DigitalRev) and I'll post dribs and drabs there. I'm mostly using that as a learning tool. I hope to make a book for myself and get some mileage out of that with local shoots. A couple years from now I think I'll have both my camera and Lightroom figured out.

As to the albatrosses, you're almost certainly correct, now that I think about it.

Thanks you for your review! I am in the infancy of choosing our trip...I think you have about convinced us that if we can spare the time (oh, my dog will kill me for leaving for a month:() we need to include S Georgia. All of your details are very very helpful!!

After pouring through brochures just yesterday, we are narrowing quickly based on our needs- real shore excursions and experts...and emphasis on the journey and the environment around us, not the free drinks or jackets at dinner!

That leads me to ask...what was the dress at dinner time? DH will not pack a jacket for this trip- feels its absurd, a parka definitely, a jacket...ridiculous;)

Sorry to hear about LAN- we usually fly American and I believe that means LAN to S America.

FGB: I was on the underdressed side and I wore sweatpants and jeans with polo shirts. I was not alone. Most men wore jeans or a pair of slacks with a polo shirt or an oxford shirt (more often than not, short-sleeved). One or two wore jackets the first couple nights and then the jackets disappeared in favour of just the shirt or a sweater. Fleece was a popular choice for all occasions.

Women consistently wore slacks, with tops ranging from sweatshirts (more common) to sweaters (common) to blouses. A handful of women dressed up for dinner in pantsuits but not dresses nor skirts. A photo instructor wore her little black dress to the farewell cocktail party after wearing stylish-but-utilitarian clothes all trip and as all the men stared at her Jackie Kennedy moment, our spouses quietly picked our jaws and tongues up off the floor.

Please do consider adding South Georgia to the trip. You'll see a lot of wildlife and scenery there you just won't see in Antarctica. Parischris likely has pictures up and can perhaps direct us; I'll have a bunch up in a few weeks. That said, pictures don't really explain the majesty of the place. It's magic.

Parischris likely has pictures up and can perhaps direct us; I'll have a bunch up in a few weeks. That said, pictures don't really explain the majesty of the place. It's magic.

I'm rebuilding my website at the moment - give me a week or so. Planning to be done by Christmas. :)

I will confess at the outset - I am a Lindblad "groupie" - the Epic South America 38 day cruise in Sept. aboard NG Explorer will be our 19th Lindblad trip. We have been to Antarctica twice. On the original Explorer in 1997 (now at the bottom of the icy waters) and on the Lindblad Endeavour in 2003. The 2003 trip went to South Georgia. The review reflected our experience with Lindblad accurately. And, definitely if the extra time and expense can be managed, INCLUDE SOUTH GEORGIA! Not only is it a wildlife spectacular, the staff does an excellent reliving of the Shackleton story.

Indeed, the staff is what makes every Lindblad trip memorable.

Everyone headed for the Antarctic should know that you pay your dues crossing Drakes passage - it can really be exciting!

That LAN flight sounded really yucky - we always have low expectations for charter flights - have had a few nice surprises.

The passenger complement is always an interesting mix - on a cruise to the Norwegian Arctic, had dinner several times with a younger couple - found out that he had piloted the space shuttle 3 times - I asked for his autograph!

Shawnino---Thanks so much for your reply on the costs for beer & wine. We were planning on alcohol being an onboard expense, per the Lindblad brochures and booking info, but two months ago we were on the Sea Bird on the Columbia River cruise with Lindblad and we weren't charged extra for the wine consumed on that voyage. A nice surprise since the prevoyage info indicated there would be a charge. So I was just wondering what to expect on the Explorer. BTW the Columbia River trip was our first with Lindblad and we are now converts. What a great staff and an all around good time!!!

Hmmm. May have to do Lewis and Clark again!

Shawn, glad you had such a great trip (except for the charters); thanks for taking the time to post a detailed review. Our trip is fast approaching, and we are incredibly excited, of course. (But now you have us dreading the LAN charters!)

At dinner, I will definitely be in the jeans and fleece group; glad to know I'll be in fashion for a change. :)

Two questions: anything that you didn't pack that you wish you had? Anything that you brought that you could have left home? Thanks...

Turtles:

My wife accompanied me and she took charge of the packing. Most of this is her wisdom.

We overpacked clothes. Most people brought three shirts/pants and did laundry in the sink or sent it to be done (rather expensive IMO). The missus also did laundry in the sink, but we brought way too many changes of clothes.

We brought walking/hiking sticks. No need: there's a very ample supply of sturdy poles on the ship.

While they supply good quality shower gel and shampoo in the shower dispensers, Lindblad does not supply conditioner. My wife did not see any in the boutique (which was selling toothpaste, mouthwash, etc).

As a matter of philosophy, I opted not to bring a laptop. I told myself that I wanted to spend my trip taking photos, not editing photos (I have all winter for that). I did bring an iPad instead to connect to the Internet (expensive) and a colorspace hard drive to back up memory cards. But people who brought laptops to edit/display/share photos seemed very happy to have them. I remain ambivalent about my choice.

The one thing I was edgy about before travelling was relying on the Lindblad parka, which I opted to do to cut down on packed weight. Have no fear: it's of excellent quality and has a removable inner jacket for milder days.

I'm rebuilding my website at the moment - give me a week or so. Planning to be done by Christmas. :)

Parischris: your site up?

Cheers,

Shawn

Kind of, it's taken me a lot longer than I'd hoped. I haven't even started on the galleries, but the blog for two trips is done.

Still working on a new logo as well, but have a look at work in progress by following the link to travelimages.com.au in my signature.

Wow Chris--some seriously amazing photographs on the front page. Bookmarking your site, great stuff.

What follows is a potentially-too-wordy synopsis of my trip on NG Explorer's Nov 2012 itinerary to Antarctica, S. Georgia and the Falklands... .

 

 

LAN CHARTER FLIGHTS

First the good news: weight limit advertised pre-trip was absolutely not enforced. Suitcases picked up from hotel (on return, ship), and we saw them at our destination. Thus completely finishes the good news.

 

Bad news: Plane crowded, cramped. Sat 90 minutes on way down on tarmac without word. Crew surly: on way back, older gent marched back to his seat and denied lavatory because seatbelt sign was on (no turbulence). Passenger was in some distress and told to “just hold it”. No clue if he managed to “just hold it”: not something one can ask in polite company. Food awful: I had better food in a jail cell in Germany. Honest. Flight down and flight back equally crap.

 

Abjectly unacceptable for the service promised on a Lindblad trip. I will never fly LAN by choice, ever. Could slough this off as par-for-S.-America but that'd be brutally unfair to other airlines: spent the rest of the trip bouncing around on TACA, Copa, and AeroGal when not on LAN... all the rest offered exemplary service on par with or better than what I get in N. America. Only LAN was terrible.

 

. . .

 

 

We've just returned from our expedition to Antarctica on the Explorer. It was amazing beyond words, and I'll be posting my own review, but I recalled the remarks above about the LAN charter and been concerned about them, so I want to say that our experience on the LAN charter flights was quite different from Shawn's. On both the outbound and return flights, the LAN crew could not have been friendlier or more helpful (and our flight to Ushuaia was delayed for two hours, so pax were a bit frazzled). In fact, on the way out, a really kind flight attendant, without being asked, moved my very tall spouse (stuck in a middle seat by Lindblad, despite my request to them more than a year ago about this) to the exit row.

As for the food, really tasty snack box on the way down and an acceptable lunch on the way back.

Perhaps Shawn caught the crew on a bad day....

We did have the same (good) experience about the weight limits for carry ons. Not only was nothing being weighed, there wasn't a scale in sight. You just need to be careful that the bag doesn't look too large.

Again, the trip was amazing!!!

Turtles: looking forward to reading more about your trip. I'm glad your experience on LAN was better than ours. That's excellent. Ours really was tough, and such a stark contrast to the uniformly excellent service we got on other airlines in the region.

On your flight down to Ushuaia, was your delay spent in the aeroport (we left from the municipal aeroport) or on the tarmac? We were on the tarmac, without explanation, with false reassurances that it would continually be just another fifteen minutes. There wasn't much in that aeroport, but had they let us return to the gate and disembark while the delay was worked out I think most people would have appreciated the opportunity to stretch legs and work out nervous energy.

PS--that wasn't Lindblad who stuck your spouse in a middle seat to start with, that was LAN. Several people on our flight had made seat requests, all were denied, and we were told by Lindblad that it had been LAN's call. We also had an Explorer crew member rotating out whose dietary needs were ignored. We all felt awful for him, but as we all had the same "food", there was nothing we could do.

Turtles: looking forward to reading more about your trip. I'm glad your experience on LAN was better than ours. That's excellent. Ours really was tough, and such a stark contrast to the uniformly excellent service we got on other airlines in the region.

 

On your flight down to Ushuaia, was your delay spent in the aeroport (we left from the municipal aeroport) or on the tarmac? We were on the tarmac, without explanation, with false reassurances that it would continually be just another fifteen minutes. There wasn't much in that aeroport, but had they let us return to the gate and disembark while the delay was worked out I think most people would have appreciated the opportunity to stretch legs and work out nervous energy.

 

PS--that wasn't Lindblad who stuck your spouse in a middle seat to start with, that was LAN. Several people on our flight had made seat requests, all were denied, and we were told by Lindblad that it had been LAN's call. We also had an Explorer crew member rotating out whose dietary needs were ignored. We all felt awful for him, but as we all had the same "food", there was nothing we could do.

Fortunately for us, the long delay of the flight to Ushuaia was mostly spent in the terminal, although we weren't being given any information and couldn't go anywhere. But still better than being stuck on the tarmac.

As for that middle seat, it may well have been LAN's doing. But I have to say, this was a private charter, Lindblad gives LAN a ton of business, and I simply refuse to believe Lindblad could not make this happen if it really wanted to get it done. My view here is also colored by the fact that over the year in which I dealt with Lindblad's "shoreside" administrative personnel, I at times found them to be inept, clueless or ineffectual (in sharp contrast to the fantastic operations aboard the Explorer), which truly surprised me about such a high end travel company.

My view here is also colored by the fact that over the year in which I dealt with Lindblad's "shoreside" administrative personnel, I at times found them to be inept, clueless or ineffectual (in sharp contrast to the fantastic operations aboard the Explorer), which truly surprised me about such a high end travel company.

This point is probably well taken. The missus and I had lots of questions pre-trip, and although we booked via a travel agent, when we e-mailed Lindblad (in NYC) with questions directly, we might have gotten replies 50% of the time, and sometimes they did not answer the questions asked.

In re: the charter flights, there was more chaos I didn't go into in the original post, and it surely rests at Lindblad's feet. When booking, we set up a three hour "window" from the return charter to BA to our onward connections, figuring three hours was enough. I didn't have the option of overnighting in BA on the way out with my particular schedule.

Upon landing in BA from N. America to start the trip, we were told, to our surprise, that the charter flight both left from and returned to the smaller municipal aeroport. All of a sudden, three hours' connection time was likely nowhere near enough, as the bounce to Lima was from the International aeroport EZE. Panicked e-mail to travel agent, and off we went to Ushuaia.

Return e-mail from travel agent a couple days later: return charter is to EZE, we're fine, people in BA mis-spoke. Good news for us, but a large contingent had thought it was flying back to the municipal, and they'd booked their connections from there.

Piecieng this together now that we're home, a bunch of people missed their connections. With the flight back from Ushuaia late, we barely made ours, and we didn't need to switch aeroports. Without the quick thinking of expedition leader Lehnhausen (himself headed home on leave) and the Lindblad's subcontracted ground staff in BA, we might have been cooked: I had to get to Ecuador for the next morning.

This sort of confusion doesn't speak well of Lindblad when the on-ship experience is so wonderful.