Varying logistics and confidence for getting in and out of zodiaks

[Catlover54]

I have been researching zodiak loading and unloading of pax to see how hard it is, there are few pictures and even less videos. I learned apparently there are different systems: National Geographic has nice stairs going down to the zodiak , and then a small step and 3 more stairs in the zodiak to get further in and seated, like this video shows, from the back of the boat.

But not all lines load from the back, some loud from the side on other lines, brochures do not say, and I cannot find a single useful discussion showing it

Does anyone who has done expeditions with SB, SS (especially on the Cloud) or other small luxury lines like HL know if the zodiaks load like that, or how the Scenic Eclipse will load?

Hurtigraten apparently has Polarcirkel boats with even nicer steps built in and you do not sit on the edge either, you are inside

I could easily do steps on the zodiak shown, especially with someone holding my arm, but I can’t just stand on one leg on the last stair of a ship and then toss it over the edge of a fat, stairless zodiak edge, with a gap of ocean in between us and hope I make it over and in. DH told me to step back and forth over the coffee table several times pretending it is a zodiak edge ( he did it with ease) , it was difficult for me (weak thigh muscles from my medication). I do not use a cane or walker and am fine walking on land on irregular surfaces, but I worry about a bobbing boat and having to do acrobatics on one leg, i.e., need to have strong legs to go over the zodiak’s edge one at a time if there are no stairs.

Am I overworrying this? So many people way older than me are shown in pictures of zodiaks, somehow they get in!

[Catlover54]

Freeze-frame of nice stairs on National Geographic ships:

 

 

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[Catlover54]

Polarcerkel (Hurtigraten)

 

 

 

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