Review: GAdventures "Expedition" to Antarctica, Dec. 2012

[dtvmacdonald]

It appears impossible to write a "Review" of a cruise on a ship that is not on Cruise Critic's list of companies, so this can't be a formal review, but I'll try to include all the "usual" comments.

 

 

This is for a cruise on GAdventure's ship "Expedition" Dec. 22, 2012 to Jan 3, 2013, titled "Quest for the Antarctic Circle".

 

 

First a few words about why I chose this particular Antarctic cruise on this ship. I wanted to get south of the Antarctic Circle itself. I wanted to go camping at least one night. I wanted a landing on the Continent itself, not just an island. I wanted a fairly long cruise, but not one to South Georgia. And I wanted to be there when penguin chicks were hatching. All this results in a rather tight time frame, as the chicks hatch just as the ice south of the Circle breaks up. I wanted, ideally, a ship with a smaller number of passengers. This is because only 100 at a time are allowed on land. So ideally one wants a ship carrying less than 100 people so all can at least theoretically be ashore at once. It actually turns out to be more complicated than this, see below, but I didn't know this before the cruise. This ship carries 125 to 135 passengers. Finally I wanted a single cabin, and was willing to pay and pay, but still, value is value.

 

 

 

This was also my very first cruise on a "ship". I've been on three cruises in SE Alaska, including Glacier Bay, and one in the Galapagos, but all four of these were on small boats with 10 or fewer passengers, and the Alaska ones were very upscale (e.g. fresh crab many days, like two hours ocean to table, thanks to arrangements with crab pot owners, plus fish caught onboard!)

 

 

 

So I spent a lot of time choosing a cruise. I tried numerous lines, but in the end only one offered what I wanted: the ship MV Expedition owned by GAdventures in Canada. This company does mostly land tours and does not have exactly the best reputation for being upscale. And oh yes ... the previous boat they owned actually sank a few years ago in Antarctica. So I checked very carefully recent trip reports, and they were all quite positive. So I went for it.

 

 

And the results were everything I had hoped for. I should add that I had checked and while it would have been nice, I found they never land on the Continent itself south of the Circle.

 

 

This cruise starts in Ushuaia, Argentina. At Christmas one always expects airline disaster starting in my home town, so I left Dec. 14 and spent one day touring the Everglades in Florida, two days walking around Buenos Aires (and missing a large and violent anti-government demonstration by about three minutes), and a day and a half in Ushuaia, taking a boat tour on the Beagle Channel and a bus tour to the National Park, both quite nice. A night at the Albatros Hotel was included in the price. Its a perfectly nice hotel of the rather ordinary blah sort. On the morning of embarkation we left our bags in the hotel lobby so they could be moved to the ship. Embarkation was at 4 pm. The Albatros is on the same street as the port and the ship would have been a four minute walk, but apparently the port requires embarking passengers to be bussed in, so we did that, two busloads. It was very efficient; the actual boarding at the dock took about 15 second per passenger. All they did was check our name on a clipboard and up the ramp we walked.

 

 

My room was the cheapest cabin on the ship which turned out to be an advantage. It was right next to the Mud Room where one goes to get on kayaks or Zodiacs, which is convenient, and that room has the mud room on one side and a utility closet on the other, so one has no neighbors to get loud. It is also on the lowest passenger level and exactly midships, so the rocking in bad weather is vastly less than on the upper decks, especially at the bow. The downside is that there is a modest hum from the diesel generators and a very modest exhaust smell. The Expedition is a refurbished ferry formerly plying the Baltic, and is what is called ice class Ib (IaSuper being "almost icebreaker", Ia heavy ice, Ib modest ice (up to 2 feet), Ic being even lower rated, and “big ships” being class 3.) As such, the rooms are not luxury. They are nice with bunk beds, a small bathroom with shower (which gets the whole floor wet), and a desk. On the lower level they have portholes, the upper levels having small windows. The rooms were tended by the staff twice a day. My cabin was very roomy indeed for a single, but would have been very cramped with the max of three people. On this ship (and indeed almost any ship in Antarctica) no one does anything in the cabin except sleep and rarely read a book, since if an announcement occurs "humpback whales directly ahead" it would take too long to get up to the levels with deck access.

 

 

 

The ship has a large public room on the top cabin level which is used for meetings, talks, movies, etc. which holds all the passengers at once in swivel chairs at tables suitable for snacks. This room always had coffee, tea, and cookies available, and at times near meetings there is bar service. This room has windows all around with great views. Above it is the dining room, which also seats all passengers at once. It too has all-around glass. On the same level as the dining room, at the aft end, is a bar open in the evening. Above this level is the bridge, which is usually open for visitors, a small (very small) fitness room, and lots of open deck space. There is in fact open deck space all around on the top three decks, mostly open to passengers, but sometimes the parts on the sides of the ship require ducking ones head to get under fittings for lifeboats, etc. There are enough covered lifeboats for all passengers plus quite a bit, and enough rafts, etc. for all passengers and crew to get off using only one side of the ship, as best as I could tell. Considering the fate of the company's previous ship this is reassuring. All these public areas are nice, but not really upscale. Its not clear how much was remodeled when the ferry was converted. It is clear that the outside of the ship was merely repainted as areas show where the previous layer was chipped. And when wet it is very mildly slippery.

 

 

But the bottom line for the design for the ship, for its current purpose in Antarctica, is simply SUPERB. All that outside deck space, all around the ship, open bow to stern, allows all the passengers to get out on deck, on the same side, near where the wildlife action is, no matter where it is. The open deck areas bow and stern are each, by themselves, large enough for all the passengers.

 

 

 

About food: I am a real "foodie" and willing to pay (and pay I did, $180 for one meal at "La Bourgogne" in Buenos Aires, for a seven course dinner with wine) for the best. And even in my small town (Champiagn, IL) one can, on occasion, get really five star food. I was not expecting any of that, but rather solid two or three star food, and that's what it was. As expected, all "fresh" produce has to be trucked from Buenos Aires so its not fresh. Breakfast and lunch are buffet. Breakfast is standard American fare, eggs, bacon, etc. plus lots of semi-fresh fruit, canned fruit, cereal, pre-made pancakes, made to order waffles (poor), and lots and lots of sweet pastries, which were very very good and kept hot. Lunch had various "meat" things, as well as usually some pasta and Asian items, and salads, in great profusion, but only 25% changing from day to day. It was all Ok and good, but clearly nothing special. Dinner is sit down service. Two appetizers, two main courses, and two deserts were offered each day. Apparently vegetarians were offered special things. The main courses were varied, and were generally of a much higher quality than lunch, but most emphatically not gourmet in 2012 terms. They would have fit in perfectly in 1980 at a high scale catered banquet. Desserts at dinner were lackluster. Oh, did I mention, it was high calorie? It was.

 

 

 

About drink: wine and beer were offered with meals, and in the bars. I didn't have wine, just beer. The local beers were of, at best, maybe, "Sam Adams" quality, more often, Bud quality. The foreign beers offered were no better. Guiness Stout was considered the epitome of upper scale. (gag!) Beer was $4, mixed drinks, also lackluster, $6. Soft drinks were $2 (ouch!). The good news: there was no prohibition for BYOB (or BYO coke or pepsi) to be consumed in the rooms. There was was a corkage fee for BYO wine in the dining room. If you bought their wine bottle and didn't finish they would somehow save it; I didn't see how this worked. The bars were not always open. When they were not, you could carry your own drink up to the public areas and they didn't care. A hint: they didn't officially offer free ice except when the bars were open, but they didn't care if you snuck behind the counter and got some yourself. Also, if you had a suitable bag, you could chill drinks by hanging them off a railing just outside a door in the Antarctic's free icebox.

 

 

 

About “service”: Lots of reviews here make a big deal of “service”. For this cruise, with these passengers, it is a nonissue. Except in the dining room, there isn’t any (except room cleaning). After all, one night we had to build our own home (the tent). For dinner in the dining room, it was good but not absolutely perfect. Food orders were done 100% correctly and promptly, but sometimes drink orders were slow, especially at breakfast. For breakfast I gave up asking for a Coke (which is available then) and brought one from my cabin, cooling it outdoors first and getting ice from the bar.

 

 

 

Dress code: casual, very very casual. They provide rubber boots for shore excursions and, for this cruise only, due likely to the fact we paid extra for Christmas, they provide a quite nice (but heavy!) two-layer duck down parka for everybody, which we got to keep. I guess they paid perhaps $125 wholesale for this discontinued model ($500-700 retail for current models).

 

 

 

Laundry: they did laundry OK, but expensive.

 

 

 

Type clientele: People who really want to go to Antarctica. I don't know the actual counts, but it just felt like it was 45% USA/Canada and 45% Australia with 10% other, such as Japan and Croatia. Ages varied fairly smoothly from college students ("semester at sea") to old agers. Since its an "active shore visit" cruise, everybody, without exception, was very able-bodied indeed. Equal numbers of P&S and dSLR cameras with very long lenses, many white (for you who know what that means), were seen.

 

 

 

Lectures and entertainment: This being Antarctica, they had a seasoned Antarctic staff. The cruise director was "Julio" and he was very good. The penguin expert was Frank Todd who literally wrote the book. And while the others could not beat Frank, they were all excellent, really truly excellent. The key is that these folks were not "trained tour guides" they were real experts, and it showed. I'm a scientist and I can tell. One way is how often they say "we [sic] don't know" at the right time. Like "how do penguins sleep at sea?". There were lectures most days, and on days at sea only, two or three a day. All were very good. Every evening there was a recap of the days events and sightings, with pictures.

 

 

 

There is a small library with one bookcase of novels and two with a complete set of Lonely Planet for the whole world. Actual entertainment was sparse, with numerous showings of Antarctic-themed documentaries and the occasional regular move at night. Since this was a Christmas/New Year's cruise, there were events for those, with guest participation, like the penguin dress-up-alike contest. There was a singer in the bar most late evenings. Most of the passengers were not real party people, except some Aussies and the college agers.

 

 

Our Drake passages were uneventful, with mostly quiet seas. I did have a seasickness scare one evening, but taking one extra pill quickly fixed that permanently. We saw lots of birds and whales at sea. We didn't have much of the sun shining, except the last day, but never had bad weather.

 

 

Our first encounter with land was our Circle crossing. We were the first ship this season to make it, but didn't make a landing. Instead we did a Zodiac cruise and spent a good amount of time walking on sea ice and seeing seals there.

 

 

 

I'm not going to discuss every shore excursion, since these were the usual suspects for a cruise going this far south. They included Vernadsky Station, Petermann Island, Port Lockroy, Jougla Point, Waterboat Point, Cuverville Island, Deception Island, and Half Moon Island. There were also several Zodiac cruises. Some folks signed up for kayak trips instead of some landings and Zodiac cruises, but I did not as I wanted the most land time. Since this ship had more than 99 passengers (and fewer than 35 kayakers) we all could not be on land at one. We were divided into four groups, two of which were ashore at one time. These were staggered as to which was first and which went with which. Most landings were in the 1 1/2 to two hour area. The big question is, therefore, "was this enough"? Or would three hours, which could be done with a sub-100 passenger ship, be better? For most of the places we went, the answer is that longer would not have been better, since we saw all there was to see. Also, there are places where 100 people simply cannot physically fit, so one would need a 40 passenger ship to get all ashore at once. For a couple of places, especially Deception Island, I would have liked much longer. We didn't get to do any really long hikes, which was a downer. I had checked before signing up and had found that few, very few ships and fewer cruises offer things like actually climbing a (modest) mountain. And there were none that met my other requirements.

 

 

 

The camping was for me merely a “checklist item” but for lots of people it was the highlight of the trip, as they had never camped before. Lots of people stayed up sliding down a hill on the snow until well after midnight (and it was, of course, still light.)

 

 

 

We saw all the expected wildlife, and then some, including a lone Macaroni penguin, and a leucistic (white semi-albino) gentoo penguin, which I was able to photograph "flying" underwater. We also got our camping in, 60 people in 30 tents (!) near Port Lockroy. At the very end we got to within 2 kilometers of Cape Horn, which is unusual.

 

 

Our debarkation was trivial ... I just got off, picked up my luggage and put it on the proper bus, and headed for the airport.

 

 

Was this trip up to my expectations? Yes, absolutely, in every way. Could a cruise be better for me? Well, for me, the only thing better would be long hikes, like climbing a small mountain, and a longer cruise with fewer than say 60 passengers and more landings. Will I ever go back to Antarctica? No. But I will make it to South Georgia and the Falklands. Would I use this ship to do that? Probably not, as I will try for a much much smaller number of passengers. Is this the cruise for you? If you want what I did, absolutely yes.

 

Since there are no “Reviews” for this ship, I’ll give my rankings here, but add comments.

 

Dining: 3 (based on 5 for a first rate land restaurant)

Public Rooms: 4

Cabins: 3

Entertainment: Movies, live music, etc: 1 Nature talks: 5+

Spa and Fitness: 3

Shore Excursions: 5

Embarkation: 5

Service: 4

Value for money: 4

Overall: If I could give a separate overall impression, rather than an average, weighted for what matters, its a 5-.

[Turtles06]

dtv: thanks so much for taking the time to post such a detailed review! Having come back only three weeks ago from our (awesome) expedition on the National Geographic Explorer, reading your review brought me right back to Antarctica and I could picture everything you were doing ...I loved reading what you wrote. Of course, we were there later in the summer -- the chicks were running around, starting to fledge... It was pretty active in the rookeries . . .

 

Besides walking on sea ice (which sounds wonderful), the one thing you did that we didn't do was camp. I'd love to hear more about that if you feel like getting into it...

[dtvmacdonald]

Walking on sea ice is not "wonderful" ... its no different than walking on very flat land with snow on it, plus in our case seals.

 

The camping was mainly a "check off the list" thing for me. It apparently was a big experience for very many people as few had ever camped in a tent before and fewer still had camped on snow. I've done it a very lot. First to note is that we didn't eat at the camp site, only going there after dinner and returning before breakfast.

 

While we ate they 30 ferried tents, 60 sleeping bags and pads, and two mini-porta-potties to the site, which was at Damoy Point, right next to Port Lockroy and got the potties set up (one in a former rescue hut, one over a small hill). This is not on the mainland. Earlier on the ship they had shown people how to set up the rather standard two-man tents, of the four crossed stressed aluminum pole sort. These had "rain" flies and are staked down on the snow with very large "boat anchor" stakes. This is very easy in good weather, which this was. Then people put the pads and bags in the tents. The pads were somewhat of a joke, not the usual Thermarest foam ones but just crinkly aluminum foil!

 

Once set up there is nothing special to do except go to bed, so some people went off to look at penguins, which were not extremely plentiful, but most climbed a large hill which overlooked Port Lockroy and our mother ship. Once on top snowball fights broke out and when that subsided people either walked back or slid down the hill or in some cases shoe-skied down it. Some people went up and down several times. Eventually people realized that they were not going to get darkness for sleep and went to bed anyway.

 

In the morning we simply took down the tents, restuffed them and the bags, and headed off to the Zodiacs to return to the ship for breakfast.

 

Many people didn't know how warm these sleeping bags get at 32 degrees F, inside a tent, and left their clothes on. They almost melted. Once nice thing: they did have extra long bags for those over 5 feet 10 inches.

[2552phxcrzr]

I read your experience with interest. And it confirmed what was important to us when we went in 2007 ... max time on landings. Our decision to go on the Professor Molchanov (chartered by Quark at the time) meant going on a ship that was rather basic, but with 48 pax., it meant no one had to wait around to take turns to go on zodiac cruises or go ashore. It was the right choice for us.

[Turtles06]

I read your experience with interest. And it confirmed what was important to us when we went in 2007 ... max time on landings. Our decision to go on the Professor Molchanov (chartered by Quark at the time) meant going on a ship that was rather basic, but with 48 pax., it meant no one had to wait around to take turns to go on zodiac cruises or go ashore. It was the right choice for us.

 

For folks who might be reading this thread and considering a trip to Antarctica, and speaking of course only from my own recent experience aboard the 148-pax Nat Geo Explorer, we weren't "waiting around." We were divided into six groups, and half would go ashore and half would be on zodiac cruises (or, on some occasions, kayaking), and then the groups would switch. I don't want anyone to come away thinking that people were on board twiddling their thumbs and "waiting" for anything; there was a ton to see and do. I can't speak for a much larger ship, of course, only for my own personal experience.

 

I'm glad we were all more than happy with our own experiences!

[dtvmacdonald]

I consider the Nat Geo Explorer, but none of the itineraries listed going south of the Antarctic Circle, so I excluded it. I later saw that on occasion it has gone that far south, but I wanted the best possible chance, explicitly included in the itinerary. And for me camping was a must. And I was completely satisfied.

 

In some cases our non-kayakers were indeed "waiting". In other cases they were spending the extra time on the Zodiacs. But on the good side some days we made three 1 1/2 to two hour excursions. Absolutely no one felt that the waits were a problem. Also, except for kayakers, there was never a "choice" of what to do: everybody else, without exception, got to do everything. The kayakers had a choice of skipping the kayak trip and doing what other people did. The only thing I missed was at least one much longer excursion, like 8 hours climbing a peak. But exceedingly few itineraries offer that.

[dtvmacdonald]

When I said I wanted more time on land, I forgot we camped, so we

had many, many hours. I only got 4 1/2 hours sleep it was so much fun.

 

It turns out that there is a video of this on Youtube.

 

[2552phxcrzr]

For folks who might be reading this thread and considering a trip to Antarctica, and speaking of course only from my own recent experience aboard the 148-pax Nat Geo Explorer, we weren't "waiting around." We were divided into six groups, and half would go ashore and half would be on zodiac cruises (or, on some occasions, kayaking), and then the groups would switch. I don't want anyone to come away thinking that people were on board twiddling their thumbs and "waiting" for anything; there was a ton to see and do. I can't speak for a much larger ship, of course, only for my own personal experience.

 

I'm glad we were all more than happy with our own experiences!

 

That's good to hear ... I was speaking of what I had read prior to booking our cruise and what several operators told us when I was doing my research on ships and itineraries. When we were in the Arctic a few years ago on the Silver Explorer, we did have to wait around for our turn to go ashore or on a zodiac cruise. Missed some great opportunities because of it. Friends who were on a larger ship to the Antarctic a few years after us (don't recall the ship but it was about 200 pax), did also experience the wait-for-your turn. Good to hear that some operators find a way to eliminate the wait ... bears asking the question of the operator when making plans.

[dtvmacdonald]

No ship in Antarctica over 100 passengers can avoid serious "you may miss something" problems. That's because regulations prohibit more than 100 passengers ashore at once. The Nat Geo Explorer could avoid passengers waiting on the ship by sending the excess out on a Zodiac cruise, and on some occasions ours did too, but one group or the other will almost certainly miss out on something like whale sightings from Zodiacs, or the single Macaroni penguin "Mack the Knife" at Half Moon Island, etc. Even with a ship with only 50 people some will miss out on some things because the Zodiacs get separated a lot. And at some places even a 100 passenger ship can't get all ashore at once since they literally will not fit.

 

On our cruise nobody missed out on Mack The Knife since he was there the whole time, but many missed out on the leucistic (semi-albino) penguins at

Waterboat Point since they were coming and going and the exact location where they were could only hold maybe 10 people. And only my Zodiac had one swim right next to us underwater, quite a special show.

[dtvmacdonald]

Since I mentioned leucistic penguins, I thought I'd post a couple of picture.

I hope this works.

 

[Shawnino]

Thank you very much for the exceptionally detailed review. Great read, and a couple of great photos of the leucistic penguins. Write-ups of your calibre are why I check this board every day.

 

Question: how easy is it to get on and off the zodiacs at the ship if a person isn't all that mobile? You said everyone on your trip was in great shape. Can you speculate as to how people with mobility issues might do? Thanks very much.

[dtvmacdonald]

As to mobility issues, I really don't know. Zodiacs are boats with flat hard floors surrounded by large rubber tubes. You sit somewhat awkwardly on the tubes unless you want to face exactly sideways, which of course you can, but then you miss on some views.

 

On our ship you got onto the Zodiacs by stepping down a couple of stairs to a platform. Then you stepped onto a flat plate set on the rubber tube, onto a flat stand on the floor, and then onto the floor. There were two people, one on the mother ship and one in the Zodiac to hold very firmly onto your arms.

 

Getting off at shore is different. You somehow get to the front of the Zodiac, sitting on the tube. Then you swivel around so you face out, raising your feet over the tube. Then you hop into the water. In no case on our trip was the water deeper than six inches. All our beaches were nice gravel, easy to walk on. Once on shore walking around is not a problem.

 

Somebody with mobility issues would have to ask the particular ship owner if it would work for them. On the MV Expedition, not being able to get up and down rather steep stairs is a complete show stopper since there is no elevator and the dining room, meeting room, and mud room are on different levels.

 

People with modest mobility issues can get ashore if on the right ship.

[Turtles06]

No ship in Antarctica over 100 passengers can avoid serious "you may miss something" problems. That's because regulations prohibit more than 100 passengers ashore at once. The Nat Geo Explorer could avoid passengers waiting on the ship by sending the excess out on a Zodiac cruise, and on some occasions ours did too, but one group or the other will almost certainly miss out on something like whale sightings from Zodiacs, or the single Macaroni penguin "Mack the Knife" at Half Moon Island, etc. Even with a ship with only 50 people some will miss out on some things because the Zodiacs get separated a lot. And at some places even a 100 passenger ship can't get all ashore at once since they literally will not fit.

 

On our cruise nobody missed out on Mack The Knife since he was there the whole time, but many missed out on the leucistic (semi-albino) penguins at

Waterboat Point since they were coming and going and the exact location where they were could only hold maybe 10 people. And only my Zodiac had one swim right next to us underwater, quite a special show.

 

My own personal conclusion from this extraodinary trip is that everyone "misses something," and everyone has his or her own unique experience. Maybe you were in the zodiac that the minke whale decided to follow, maybe you weren't. Maybe you were standing right in the bow of the ship when the killer whale decided to surface right there, maybe you weren't. Maybe you were standing at a particular point on shore when a penguin chick decided to see what that big thing taking a nap was... (that turned out to be a leopard seal)....

 

Given the very nature of this trip, particularly with zodiacs and wildlife coming and going, I think that unless the group were small enough to fit inside one zodiac and constantly stayed together the entire time, someone would "miss" something...

 

What you are saying is that the smaller the group, the more similar the shared experience. And that's of course a truism. :)

[SarniaLo]

I think that unless the group were small enough to fit inside one zodiac and constantly stayed together the entire time

In which case, they all would miss a lot of things together! ;)

I fully agree with your point of view. And you miss things when you eat, when you sleep... It's impossible to experience "everything" on such a trip, just be sure that your own experience is as full as possible.

When I went to Antarctica onboard the MS Fram, one of my best memories is actually one time when I was "waiting" on board for my turn to land, near Detaille Island. We were moored in a field of icebergs, the size of which we slowly discovered as the clouds were lifting up. The sun came in, the mountains appeared, I was running from one side of the ship to the other to take it all in. I never felt that "waiting time" was wasted.

Thank you dtvmacdonald for this interesting review.

[2552phxcrzr]

Since I mentioned leucistic penguins, I thought I'd post a couple of picture.

I hope this works.

[ATTACH]262821[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]262822[/ATTACH]

 

Very neat ... we saw a leucistic gentoo in South Georgia ... it certainly stood out amongst all the B&W penguins ;-)

[digitl]

Question: how easy is it to get on and off the zodiacs at the ship if a person isn't all that mobile? You said everyone on your trip was in great shape. Can you speculate as to how people with mobility issues might do? Thanks very much.

 

Fram uses Polar Cirkle boats and they are really easy to get in and out of. A passenger who used a wheelchair was able to go ashore in one on our trip.

[Shawnino]

I was interested in the G Adventures ship in particular because I'd been left wholly confused. Before OP's piece, I have heard first-hand accounts that vary wildly as to how accessible their boarding procedure was--so much variance, in fact, I almost can't believe these people were on the same ship 11 months apart! Since the OP did such a well-written, thorough review, I was rather hoping for definitive word. OP's descriptive reply leaves the matter open, which is still more info than I had before.

[evie0110]

I have a mobility disability (use walking sticks and am not what anyone would optimistically describe as great shape) and have traveled with G on the MS Expedition to the Arctic, but procedure is the same down south - if you have any particular questions, shout and I'd be happy to answer!

 

As a couple of general points:

1) At no time did anyone offer any extra assistance or make any allowances for my disability, I was treated exactly the same as any other passenger. This wasn't an issue in most places, I manage perfectly fine on my own, but if you think you need extra help or assistance, then make this clear to booking company and then the expedition leader as soon as you get on board. Do not assume that they will see you with walking sticks and move you to the front of a queue so there is less standing for example. It also may be the case that this trip is not suited to you. There is a lot of standing and walking and many many very steep stairs (57 from the mud room up to the top deck) which you will take multiple times a day to get from shore to lunch. Be sensible and decide if this is in your ability limits, if not then sadly, this is not the trip for you. The expedition leaders are hectic all the time and do not have the time (or the training/liability insurance) to be focusing that much attention on one passenger if their abilities are so far away from the rest of the group.

 

2) Boarding zodiacs - this is the easy bit where help is given to everyone, and if you need more it's freely available. You still need to be able to get down several stairs unaided, hand your bags/sticks/anything else in your hands to the guide in the zodiac. The ship guide will then hold one arm while the zodiac guide takes the other, and you are shuffled from the big ship to the little boat. Easy!

 

3) getting ashore - also easy and with lots of help. You sit on the side of the zodiac, hand all your gear to a guide on shore who also takes your arm, shuffle your bum to towards the land and swing your legs over the side of the boat, where you gracefully stand in ankle deep water and walk up the beach! So far, the Expedition has never had anyone fall in the water.

 

4) On shore - it's up to you here really, there are always options on walks, if you want to take the longer one then that's great and if not there's always something to be amused by on the beach or scenery to admire. Keep in mind these are beaches, and sometimes the loose gravelly sort can be very hard going.

[Shawnino]

evie0110:

 

That's brilliant--thank you. Specifically, here's what's going on:

 

I just got back from Antarctica/S.Georgia with Lindblad and had a wonderful time. I wrote about it in context of my mobility issues here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1751600

and more broadly here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1751022

 

Quite honestly I can't wait to go back, especially to S. Georgia.

 

I had always thought I'd be returning with Lindblad, but friends now want to come and they are looking for something more economical. So G Adventures was found. They happen to be based out of my country (Canada) and their ship crossed paths with the Lindblad ship in my time in Antarctica.

 

I've spoken with two people who have gone with G Adventures. One thought I'd have no problem on their ship; the second flatly said I'd have no chance. Such a stark difference of opinion has left me very much confused, and why I'm trying to suss out more stuff in this thread. OP has been helpful, as have you with your details (57 steps from mudroom to lunch and so forth).

 

Since you've graciously offered to field questions, here we go:

 

1) Did you experience much ocean motion? If so, could you walk around the ship comfortably?

 

2) Was there a lot of queueing?

 

3) Zodiacs: our naturalists were very good/careful; regardless, two of our passengers fell in water in two separate incidents going ashore. (Although perhaps voted "Most Likely to...", it wasn't me wither time.) I'm somewhat skeptical of the company's "never" claim. That said, the trickier bit for me will always be at the ship. How large/stable are the boarding platforms? Are there a lot of stairs?

 

4) More generally, are there a lot of stairs full-stop? Are the stairs steep, shallow, wide, narrow?

 

5) Are there a lot of grab bars in the rooms, and handrals about the ship?

 

Thanks very much evie0110, and to anyone else who chimes in.

[dtvmacdonald]

evie0110:

 

Answers about the Expedition:

 

1) Did you experience much ocean motion? If so, could you walk around the ship comfortably?

 

2) Was there a lot of queueing?

 

3) Zodiacs: our naturalists were very good/careful; regardless, two of our passengers fell in water in two separate incidents going ashore. (Although perhaps voted "Most Likely to...", it wasn't me wither time.) I'm somewhat skeptical of the company's "never" claim. That said, the trickier bit for me will always be at the ship. How large/stable are the boarding platforms? Are there a lot of stairs?

 

4) More generally, are there a lot of stairs full-stop? Are the stairs steep, shallow, wide, narrow?

 

5) Are there a lot of grab bars in the rooms, and handrals about the ship?

 

Thanks very much evie0110, and to anyone else who chimes in.

 

 

1. On my trip, not much motion as Drake goes. Could I walk around the ship comfortably? 97% of the time yes. 3% of the time I felt the need to hold on tight to railings ... which don't cover 100%. I felt unsafe for perhaps a total of 30 seconds on the cruise, staggering across the spaces with nothing to hang on to.

 

2. There was a bit at the buffet line ... and note, some people were queued on the stairs. The queue never took more than 3 or 4 minutes. There were queues in the mud room that were much worse.

 

3. I was not aware of any incidents. But during all landings the weather factor was zero. The boarding platform at the ship is about 3x3 feet and

very stable. There are three steps down to the platform.

 

4. As mentioned, lots of stairs. Stairs everywhere. Some narrow enough to grab ahold of side rails on both sides at ones, some not. All steep. All shallow steps front to back. Could be a show-stopper, or not, sorry to be unspecific.

 

5. Yes, but as mentioned above, unfortunate gaps.

 

I tried to find suitable images of the stairs and failed. I took none.

Call GAdventures and simply ask.

[evie0110]

evie0110:

 

That's brilliant--thank you. Specifically, here's what's going on:

 

I just got back from Antarctica/S.Georgia with Lindblad and had a wonderful time. I wrote about it in context of my mobility issues here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1751600

and more broadly here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1751022

 

Quite honestly I can't wait to go back, especially to S. Georgia.

 

I had always thought I'd be returning with Lindblad, but friends now want to come and they are looking for something more economical. So G Adventures was found. They happen to be based out of my country (Canada) and their ship crossed paths with the Lindblad ship in my time in Antarctica.

 

I've spoken with two people who have gone with G Adventures. One thought I'd have no problem on their ship; the second flatly said I'd have no chance. Such a stark difference of opinion has left me very much confused, and why I'm trying to suss out more stuff in this thread. OP has been helpful, as have you with your details (57 steps from mudroom to lunch and so forth).

 

Since you've graciously offered to field questions, here we go:

 

1) Did you experience much ocean motion? If so, could you walk around the ship comfortably?

 

2) Was there a lot of queueing?

 

3) Zodiacs: our naturalists were very good/careful; regardless, two of our passengers fell in water in two separate incidents going ashore. (Although perhaps voted "Most Likely to...", it wasn't me wither time.) I'm somewhat skeptical of the company's "never" claim. That said, the trickier bit for me will always be at the ship. How large/stable are the boarding platforms? Are there a lot of stairs?

 

4) More generally, are there a lot of stairs full-stop? Are the stairs steep, shallow, wide, narrow?

 

5) Are there a lot of grab bars in the rooms, and handrals about the ship?

 

Thanks very much evie0110, and to anyone else who chimes in.

 

Your Lindblad trip sounds wonderful! I've actually only been to the Arctic so far, but Antarctica is all booked up for November and I'm so excited to be back on the Expedition for it! (as an aside, I see you were there in November, does it ever get truly dark? I've got one night camping and am contemplating whether it's worth schlepping the astrophotography kit)

Hope some of the below helps, if you need me to expand or dig around for more photos, just shout.

 

1) As I was only in the Arctic I can't speak as to the Drake passage, but the calm Spitsbergen waters had some slight barely perceptible motion on a stormy night, but otherwise nothing that I noticed consciously. The ship is a converted car ferry and has stabilisers so theoretically she's one of the less wobbly ones out there.

 

2) Queuing was fairly minimal - there was some at the buffet at lunch but easily avoided if you waited 2mins and then went up after the main OMG FOOD rush. Also in the mudroom to board zodiacs, but again the whole area is full of benches, so you can easily sit and have a companion hold your place and join them when it comes to the swiping of cards to leave the boat bit, or wait for the last zodiac and get straight onto it. I was always of the 'must get off the boat NOW' lack of patience camp, so did stand more than I could have if I'd just chilled out a bit.

 

3) I asked the EL that question because it looked so hazardous to me too. He said that they've only ever had one fall when he's been aboard ship, and that was someone tipping backwards into the Zodiac, never into the water. They're very clear about how you disembark so that any risk of slipping is into the craft and not freezing sea. We had eight days of landings and half a ship of very uncooperative guests, if none of them fell in (despite wishing it) then I think that's as good as it gets! The zodiac boarding at the ship sounds very similar to how you described on Lindblad. I did actually take a couple of shots so hope these help to illustrate - http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8095/8539515191_803b063313_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8510/8540618936_782d145fa8_c.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8232/8540678042_6586567b6c_c.jpg

 

4) There are no lifts on the ship. There are stairs from deck four (mudrooms and most basic cabins - at water level) to deck three (more cabins) to deck two (public areas, observation lounge, bar, outside deck access) and up again to deck one (restaurant and pub). Here's a photo of stairs from deck four up to three http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8102/8540618562_5b775798fe_c.jpg. Stairs from three to two are just as steep but much wider so you could only hold a handrail at one side at a time.

 

5) Lots of grab rails in corridors http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8088/8539604895_16c42b8cd6_c.jpg but none that I remember in the room or in public lounges - my room was a triple http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8009/7636374262_960ca13825_c.jpg. One thing I will say about the room, possibly only that class so might be worth confirming - the bathroom is tiny. Good news is that there isn't really enough room to fall, bad news, getting any kind of bench/chair into the shower would be pretty difficult.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8095/8540707354_983cf4828b_c.jpg

The lounge is filled with lots of closely packed tables and chairs. Getting around the outside would be fine, but weaving in the middle might be more problematic http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8090/8540690968_4bb4327da9_c.jpg

 

and why yes, I did photograph everything :D

[Shawnino]

DTVM/Evie: Thank you both so very much. Your answers were on point and Evie those photos are great. The differences to the Lindblad ship are then, principally two in practice and one more I observed whilst in S. Georgia:

 

1) Though the Zodiac pulls up alongside and is outside, the boarding structure with Lindblad sits inside the ship herself. That is, the stairs down and boarding platform are inside the mudroom area, covered and 99% protected from the elements.

 

2) 85% of the Lindblad ship is accessible by elevator. Not accessible: lounge (three steps), bottom of zodiac boarding platform (seven steps), fitness centre (full flight), bridge (full flight).

 

3) Caught in a storm in S. Georgia, we found ourselves in a semi-exposed area. While both ships tried to drop anchor, only the Lindblad ship managed to set. The G Adventures ship dragged anchor and was blown out. Not sure how big a deal that was, if it was at all.

 

How dark it got varied by how far south we were--we did not reach the Antarctic Circle, turning for home at 65 degrees South. We generally got at least two hours of decent darkness each night. Our latest sunset was roughly 10pm, our earliest sunrise 3am, with some twilight either side.

[Turtles06]

For anyone with mobility issues who might be considering an expedition ship, please keep in mind that the elevators might be taken out of operation temporarily while crossing the Drake if the conditions warrant. On our recent trip on the Nat Geo Explorer, this was the case for about a day in each direction...

[Keith1010]

Thanks for writing this review.

 

Keith

[EnglishChick]

Thank you for taking the time to write. Really informative. I cant wait to go