Antarctica Live On Board

[LadyVol1]

I know that many other companies start their Antarctica cruises from Ushuaia. One of the reasons I picked Seabourn was due to the uncertainty in air travel there due to weather delays. I read all sorts of stories about missed cruises since planning on arriving three days early to Ushuaia didn’t cut it due to weather issues. That might be why Seabourn doesn’t want to start at Ushuaia.

 

I think Silver Seas (or another high end cruise that starts in Ushuaia - maybe Ponant??) does a charter flight from Santiago to Ushuaia to “guarantee” its passengers arrive together. I guess Seabourn could do that.

[galeforce9]

I know that many other companies start their Antarctica cruises from Ushuaia. One of the reasons I picked Seabourn was due to the uncertainty in air travel there due to weather delays. I read all sorts of stories about missed cruises since planning on arriving three days early to Ushuaia didn’t cut it due to weather issues. That might be why Seabourn doesn’t want to start at Ushuaia.

 

I think Silver Seas (or another high end cruise that starts in Ushuaia - maybe Ponant??) does a charter flight from Santiago to Ushuaia to “guarantee” its passengers arrive together. I guess Seabourn could do that.

 

 

 

Interesting. I think punta arenas might be better then. There are plenty of daily flights to punta arenas from Santiago. It can be windy but believe me they seem to operate regardless!

 

 

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[galeforce9]

The electrical sockets are us and European, not British

 

 

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[notjaded]

The electrical sockets are us and European, not British

 

 

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Thanks!

[LadyVol1]

Well, my husband (58) and I (53) kayaked yesterday for the second time (ever) on this cruise. We won’t ever kayak again. We work out with a personal trainer twice a week and I played volleyball at the University of Tennessee. Neither of those things helped us with the coordination and technique needed for kayaking. (We are not outdoorsy people and haven’t canoed or sailed, either.) I also spoke to three other first-time kayak couples on this cruise and they’ll never go again either. I only post this to let other rookies know of our opinions. The Expedition folks did as much teaching as can be expected for a kayak excursion. The fault is ours, not theirs.

 

We were never in any danger or anything like that, it’s just that we paddled the entire time (well, 95% of it) and therefore couldn’t really appreciate the porpoising seals around us. This kayak experience was better than the one the day near Palmer Station since we didn’t need to avoid icebergs, bergy bits and growlers but it still was not “fun”. We survived just fine but added “kayaking” to our “do not do” list even if it’s free!! (And each of these two kayak exercursions were certainly not free at $295 pp.)

 

And on a different note, I was perplexed about the whole walking stick thing. Get them/don’t get them?? We didn’t and when I asked Iggy, the leader of the Expedition team, prior to us getting to Antarctica if we should buy some in Punta Arenas, he answered, “Only if you use some kind of a stick (cane) at home or if you’re used to using them.” That made me feel confident that we didn’t need them and he was 100% right. If you don’t use them for hiking or if you don’t use a cane, don’t get them. They’ll just be trip hazards for you and others and it’s one more thing to have in your hand(s). You definitely want to travel lightly ashore on the landings.

 

Last but not least, you’ll be told you can take the special zodiac lifevest off when you get ashore. Don’t bother. After you get it sized correctly and buckled on you won’t notice it. It IS heavy but the weight is distributed so well that you really won’t notice it until you take it off back in your cabin. It’s just one more layer to wear....

 

And, if you’re worried about being bored on the ship while all the landings are going on, don’t be. (Or if you decide to stay on the ship.) Every day there seems to be a lecture at 9:45 by an Expedition team member, a film at 11 and another lecture at 2:30 by an Expedition team member. If you’re ashore during any of these you can always watch them in your cabin on TV whenever you want. They are definitely worthwhile to watch. (Rather than going to The Restaurant one night, we ordered pizzas from The Patio Grill and took them to our cabin and got caught up with the ones that interested us.)

 

We’re having a great time and today we’re scheduled to go ashore at Grytviken, South Georgia Island to tour an old whaling station, church, souvenir shop, museum and cemetery (including Shackleton’s grave). We are expecting to see more fur seals and pups, too.

Edited January 7, 2018 by LadyVol1

[florisdekort]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on kayaking. I just wanted to say that everyone’s experience will be different. I also had zero kayak experience when going to Antarctica but did well and had an awesome time. And I’m NOT the sporty type at all, quite the contrary. So everyone should make their own decision based on individual circumstances / preferences.

 

 

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[The-Inside-Cabin]

Well, my husband (58) and I (53) kayaked yesterday for the second time (ever) on this cruise. We won’t ever kayak again. We work out with a personal trainer twice a week and I played volleyball at the University of Tennessee. Neither of those things helped us with the coordination and technique needed for kayaking. (We are not outdoorsy people and haven’t canoed or sailed, either.) I also spoke to three other first-time kayak couples on this cruise and they’ll never go again either. I only post this to let other rookies know of our opinions. The Expedition folks did as much teaching as can be expected for a kayak excursion. The fault is ours, not theirs.

 

We were never in any danger or anything like that, it’s just that we paddled the entire time (well, 95% of it) and therefore couldn’t really appreciate the porpoising seals around us. This kayak experience was better than the one the day near Palmer Station since we didn’t need to avoid icebergs, bergy bits and growlers but it still was not “fun”. We survived just fine but added “kayaking” to our “do not do” list even if it’s free!! (And each of these two kayak exercursions were certainly not free at $295 pp.)

 

And on a different note, I was perplexed about the whole walking stick thing. Get them/don’t get them?? We didn’t and when I asked Iggy, the leader of the Expedition team, prior to us getting to Antarctica if we should buy some in Punta Arenas, he answered, “Only if you use some kind of a stick (cane) at home or if you’re used to using them.” That made me feel confident that we didn’t need them and he was 100% right. If you don’t use them for hiking or if you don’t use a cane, don’t get them. They’ll just be trip hazards for you and others and it’s one more thing to have in your hand(s). You definitely want to travel lightly ashore on the landings.

 

Last but not least, you’ll be told you can take the special zodiac lifevest off when you get ashore. Don’t bother. After you get it sized correctly and buckled on you won’t notice it. It IS heavy but the weight is distributed so well that you really won’t notice it until you take it off back in your cabin. It’s just one more layer to wear....

 

And, if you’re worried about being bored on the ship while all the landings are going on, don’t be. (Or if you decide to stay on the ship.) Every day there seems to be a lecture at 9:45 by an Expedition team member, a film at 11 and another lecture at 2:30 by an Expedition team member. If you’re ashore during any of these you can always watch them in your cabin on TV whenever you want. They are definitely worthwhile to watch. (Rather than going to The Restaurant one night, we ordered pizzas from The Patio Grill and took them to our cabin and got caught up with the ones that interested us.)

 

We’re having a great time and today we’re scheduled to go ashore at Grytviken, South Georgia Island to tour an old whaling station, church, souvenir shop, museum and cemetery (including Shackleton’s grave). We are expecting to see more fur seals and pups, too.

 

 

 

Thanks for your thoughts on the Kayaking and the walking sticks.

[rallydave]

Believe there is some miscommunication regarding walking sticks. We were on the previous cruise and heard nothing like what has been said. In fact whether or not to bring the sticks was mentioned every day based on conditions ashore.

 

 

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[Chairsin]

As I noted in my recount of our holiday cruise last year more often then not sticks are are a hazard. Most people don’t know how to use them and stick them in the backpack in a way when they turn around they almost take someone’s eyes out. We only had ours with us because of a week of hiking pre cruise in the Torres del Paine. We certainly would not have brought them otherwise. The only place in Antarctica we used them was when we hiked the narrow deep snow/slush track up the steep hill at a Neko Harbor.

 

And I love that you pointed out it is wise to keep the life jacket on while on shore. I did make the mistake of taking mine off one day and I regretted it later when I had to reach into the barrel to retrieve one and put it back on (which in and of itself is a process - especially for those who forget to put there good up first and have to fuss to get it in place).

 

Not to be morbid but I have to chuckle when I recall what Trevor (who had this wonderful habit of saying it like it is) corrected a women in our zodiac who called it a life jacket. He told her no it was not a life jacket rather it was a body retrieval floatation device because once you hit the water you would like freeze to death before they could haul you out.

 

Can’t wait to hear if your love Grytviken as much as we did. Hope you took the docent led tour around the whaling station.

 

 

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[rallydave]

There was a bit of confusion regarding how to carry the sticks to shore first being told how to put them in backpacks later told to carry in hands and pass to crew first when getting zodiacs Worked well carrying snd neither saw of heard of any issues of sticking others

 

 

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[LadyVol1]

Believe there is some miscommunication regarding walking sticks. We were on the previous cruise and heard nothing like what has been said. In fact whether or not to bring the sticks was mentioned every day based on conditions ashore.

 

Yes, the CD does mention whether or not walking sticks are “needed” when she makes the announcements but I, as an able-bodied person, honestly don’t understand how she (or probably the Expedition team) determines when to say they are needed or not. A few times she has said to use them when we’re on flat terrain. And then she said to use them in her first announcement at the Chilean base where there were concrete sidewalks to use for the majority of time. But based on Iggy’s recommendation to me in a one-on-one situation to only use them if I was used to using them, I’m glad we didn’t buy them.

[LadyVol1]

I’m sure I’m going to be flamed for this but here it is:

 

Our stewardess is doing a wonderful job and has excellent English so there is no miscommunication. Her contract started with our cruise and she has been a stewardess on Seabourn before. On the Antarctica cruises, crew members are allowed to get off during their free time and some of them are also assigned shoreside traffic control positions and things like that. There are clothes they can borrow for the cold weather.

 

Our stewardess hasn’t had an Antarctica contract before and we’ve been asking her just about every day if she’s getting off. She finally told us that she has five cabins in the purple group and she can’t do five cabins in an hour but by the next cruise she’ll have figured out the color system and will get her cabins done so that she can get off. I don’t know what the color group has to do with it, but that made us realize that she can’t get off until all of her cabins are done. (I was thinking that maybe a supervisor helped out in order to let stewardesses go ashore or something like that but I was obviously wrong. They have to fit it in just like a normal port visit.) Given the timings of the various zodiac departures and that some of the rides aren’t that short, crew members have to have a pretty big chunk of free time to commit to a landing. Anyway, now that we figured all of that out my husband and I told her last night that we didn’t want our room done until tonight and that we would keep the “Privacy” hangtag on the door AND we would tape a note to the door addressed to our stewardess saying we didn’t want any service until tonight. (Although this note was addressed to our stewardess, this note was really for the supervisor in order to protect our stewardess.) Our stewardess was very happy with this. Had I realized this earlier in the cruise I would have asked two of her other cabins to do this. I realize it might make her next cleaning longer but I truly doubt it will be twice as long. We just don’t make our room that dirty in one day! Just a thought for those of you on future Antarctica cruises.

Edited January 7, 2018 by LadyVol1

[Chairsin]

I don’t know why you think you would get flamed for this. I think this is you being very thoughtful. While crews work very hard on all Seabourn cruises I personally think they work the hardest on the Antarctica cruises because of all of the additional responsibilities. And worse they have fewer opportunities to go ashore and get away from it all. I was delighted to find that all extra slots on landings are filled with crew but wish it could work out so that each of them have an opportunity to go ashore at least once during the Antarctic experience phase of the cruise. We saw our stewardess ashore one day and she was practically giddy with amazement. As a new stewardess finding life on Seabourn daunting it lifted her spirits for the rest of the cruise.

 

And btw, not just on this cruise, but on many of our cruises once every few days we will tell our stewardess to just bring us fresh towels and make the bed and leave it at that. (We do make sure to tell the head housekeeper this beforehand as we don’t want our stewardess to get in trouble).

 

 

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[FlyingScotSailors]

Janet, we were on the fantastic cruise just before yours. Our stewardess was also on her first Antarctica contract. One evening, she told us very excitedly that she had gotten to shore and saw a penguin! She explained that we and two other of her suites had the "do not disturb" signs out. Since these were her last suites to clean, she ran to her supervisor and received permission to go to shore.

 

Chairsin, we agree that it was delightful to see how excited the crew were on shore. In that regard, on our Alaska cruise, we took a zodiac ride with eight crew members, and their excitement (and chatter in various languages) made the ride even better. We thought it was interesting that the Expedition leader asked us first if we would mind if crew went with us.

[florisdekort]

Janet, maybe this will make you feel better. We were on the last Antarctica cruise of the season last year. On day 5, the Captain came on and asked for our understanding if our suites would get cleaned late or not at all, as they were going to attempt to get all stewardesses that hadn’t been yet on shore - and they did. Ours was part of the landing and we survived totally fine without a morning service [emoji846]

[LadyVol1]

I’m happy to read all of the above posts.

 

I just got back from a wonderful two hours ashore at Grytviken. For future information, postcards can be mailed from here to anywhere in the world for USD$1 per postage stamp. There will be a small South Georgia Island store onboard the Quest that will take your postcards and dollar bills but if you wait until you get ashore, you will be able to use an ink pad stamp to add some local “color” to the postcard before you then give it to the postmaster along with your dollar bill. I didn’t know that and “mailed” all of them from aboard the Quest so that I wouldn’t have to worry about doing it ashore. I wish I would have taken them ashore in order to use the free ink pad stamps. The supply ship comes every six weeks so they won’t be received by the addressee very soon. The gift store had a lot of SGI long and short sleeve T-shirt’s, polos, hoodies, fleece jackets, books, kids tshirts and socks, postcards, non-SGI hand knit hats, mittens and scarves, etc. We spent 80 pounds (20 pounds for a T-shirt and 60 pounds for Shackleton scotch) which converted to USD$122 which we paid in cash since the credit card reader doesn’t always work. We were hoping to find clothing with the SGI coat of arms on it with its reindeer, seal and penguin but that didn’t exist. Another great day aboard the Quest.

[galeforce9]

LadyVol1 thanks for the continuing excellent reports. Did you find time to see the church and Shackleton’s grave? I wondered if they had a regular Sunday service there? We attended a church service in Stanley on the last cruise.

 

 

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[LadyVol1]

Yes, we went to the church and cemetery and saw Shackleton’s grave. The church does not have regular services for the 20-25 (total) people that live on South Georgia Island, all at Grytviken. There was info in the church that said weddings and other ceremonies are still held there and are usually officiated by ship captains since there is not a local pastor. And since Grytviken is so small it is very easy to see it ALL in the two hours each group was given. The museums (a bigger historical one and a smaller maritime one) are tiny but are basically world class in my opinion. And the post office has a back room which is a museum and it also sells stamps, books and clothing that are different from the museum store’s inventory so be sure to go into it, too, even if you have nothing to mail. We did not have time for the 30-minute docent-led tour of the entire outside whaling station but there are signs scattered about that explain each of the areas.

[frantic36]

Lady Vol from your reports and from reports from other friends onboard it sounds like it has been a great cruise.

That is so kind of you to give your stewardess the morning off and also to highlight that point here. We usually give our stewardess a morning off at least once, more if we are sailing a longer cruise. As florisdekort said we can easily survive without a morning service every day :). We just get them to swap out the towels.

 

Julie

[notjaded]

For those who have kayaked on these Antarctica cruises, can you discuss the difficulties/advisability, if any, of bringing along a camera to take pictures from the kayak? I'm thinking that holding on to the oars and a camera might involve some juggling?

 

Thanks in advance.

[galeforce9]

Please see earlier in thread or on separate Antarctica camera thread this year. I have commented

 

 

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[galeforce9]

Camera around neck (slr) with waterproof jacket. Rest oars to take photo. Easy. Just been editing mine these last few days but be careful as you won’t have opportunity to wipe lens with anything dry if you get splashes on. A lens hood is a big tip on an slr.

 

 

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[notjaded]

Camera around neck (slr) with waterproof jacket. Rest oars to take photo. Easy. Just been editing mine these last few days but be careful as you won’t have opportunity to wipe lens with anything dry if you get splashes on. A lens hood is a big tip on an slr.

 

 

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Thanks.

[frantic36]

When I kayaked I also took some lens cloths that I tucked into the little front pockets on the life vest. Then I was able to clean the lens. I also found it was rockier so harder to get stable shots, but I just took lots of photos and edited later. This was in Alaska but I am thinking I will experience similar in Antarctica?

 

Julie

[galeforce9]

When I kayaked I also took some lens cloths that I tucked into the little front pockets on the life vest. Then I was able to clean the lens. I also found it was rockier so harder to get stable shots, but I just took lots of photos and edited later. This was in Alaska but I am thinking I will experience similar in Antarctica?

 

Julie

 

 

 

Yes Julie. Unfortunately my gloves were wet, from the pogies dangling in the water (I wasn’t using them) but they told me to then move them to the middle of the kayak so they dropped water everywhere. So I recommend ask for a paddle with no pogies (there were some). The problem is once I had wet gloves, once you’ve picked the cloth up it’s wet and salty against the lens for a following use.

 

I’ve found with my pics you’ll want a shutter speed of 1/1000 or higher and an f stop of around 8-11 for best effect. I had iso set between 100 and 400 as it was quite bright. Any lower f stop (largeraperture) you’ll tend to get only some penguins in groups in perfect focus as the depth of field isn’t great enough, even if they appear to be in line. I found even with landscapes, which I’d usually shoot at f16, they were better at about f9.

 

I didn’t find it too rocky but you have to be quite stable. I was taking with one hand and supporting the paddle in my other. I usually use that one under my camera to avoid camera shake

 

I picked a wide angle lens as I thought this would be better to pick more icebergs all around us up and kayaks. I then suffered though as we came upon the most photogenic gentoo on an iceberg who just stared at us and called. I couldn’t zoom in enough but eventually others dropped back, we got our turn at the front and we could see it ok.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

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