2021/2022 Antarctic Cruise Season Go or No Go??

[ed1aa]

Quark cancelled the January 10, 2022 Expedition due to COVID.  We came back to the US on Monday.  I am not too sure these guys are really organized.  Will await our refund.  We have already filed the paperwork.

[PaulMCO]

1 hour ago, ed1aa said:

Quark cancelled the January 10, 2022 Expedition due to COVID.  We came back to the US on Monday.  I am not too sure these guys are really organized.  Will await our refund.  We have already filed the paperwork.

If you booked with a TA have them followup 3 weeks after you submitted the request with your bank data.  Quark promised a cruise refund in 4 weeks.  My TA sent them a reminder mail plus I did same stating that if the money was not received at the 4 week mark, I would dispute the charges with AMEX.

You always have that option if you paid with a CC.

 

Did Quark promise any compensation for your wasted trip??

 

I sent a separate request with bills for the extra COVID tests, the air fare, plus the wasted Trip insurance.  I do not expect to receive this as Quark will likely state that the future credit of 25% would cover those items.

 

Best of luck and I am truly sorry your voyage was cancelled.

 

 

[smgapp]

I am so  sorry that the  Antarctica cruises are all having issues... I know we all want to get to the beautiful 7th continent. I have been following this post and  appreciate everyone's comments- it helped us make a decision. Four of us  were booked on Quark Ultramarine for Feb 10, 2022 and just decided to cancel and get the future travel credit voucher  (we tried to  get a refund but  a refund  is not an option unless   Quark cancels the cruise).  We felt it was too iffy to go  at this point... My friend was on an Atlas Antarctica cruise that went out the end of Dec.  They loved it but when they got back in early Jan,  at least 26 passengers tested positive and had to stay 10 days in quarantine.  Luckily my friend and her mom were negative and able to fly home but she said everyone worried about the covid risk during the cruise. I just checked cruisemapper.com and there are 5 ships anchored off Ushuaia & not moving, not a good sign... 😞

[DavidandKaren11]

Like ed1aa we were on the Quark Jan 10 sailing, having been rebooked a few months ago from the cancelled Ocean Diamond  February trip.  Quark called to cancel less than 24 hours from Day 1.  We were enroute to BA when we got the call from Quark. If they had called a few hours or a day or two earlier we wouldn’t have used the 1st leg of our air tickets and been stuck with the cost. 
This is our first experience with Quark and I don’t know what to think of them. In many ways they’ve been very accommodating and of course they can’t control Covid, but are they too quick to make promises that are overly optimistic?  We started the refund process yesterday and we’re told 4-6 weeks. We’ve probably lost the business class tickets we used 1 leg of and the many incidental expenses although I’m checking the detailed terms of our travel insurance.  Every international trip we’ve booked in the last year has been cancelled or moved - I think we are going to tour the USA for the next 12 months. 

[DavidandKaren11]

I’m concerned and I’d like others opinion. We were told Quark cancelled because of Ushuaia port out of space for Covid quarantines. Then why is the Ultramarine almost at the South Shetland Islands?  There shouldn’t be a cruise booked until the 22nd and it’s darn expensive to take this ship on a joy ride. Did they lie about this?  Also, on Facebook they said they’re back in Antarctica 2 days ago. Marketing hype? Bad taste?  What’s going on?

[PaulMCO]

If you check the latest offers they are for March and they do not go to Antarctica but do the fjords in Chile from BA.   But yes rather odd that they are sailing and the route is not a touristic zig zag in and out of channels. Maybe training or supply delivery to a research center??

 

I doubt your insurance will cover the ticket costs, since you began your journey.

USA -- you might consider an Alaska cruise.  I think these will still go this summer.  That is what we are planning.

 

[DavidandKaren11]

PaulMCO - thanks for your thoughts about the air ticket - that's a good idea.  I looked up the Ultramarine this morning on Cruisemapper and it looks like they spent the night in the S. Shetlands and are now heading directly to Deception Island, but of course thats a guess.  I suppose whats in the back of my mind is did they cancel the Jan 10 cruise for the benefit of the passengers because there was no viable choice, or was there an economic incentive because they've got another charter or something else for which Covid would be less of a concern?  I don't think they could have done that even if they wanted to, but it is an unusual thing to take this expensive ship out without a trip on the calendar.

[ChiChi43]

We were told that it is cheaper for them to hang out in Antarctica than it is to pay the daily port fees to stay near Ushuaia, so they’re spending the time scouting for future trips. I don’t think it’s anything nefarious, nor do I imagine any last-minute chatter would be possible or more profitable than a fully booked  trip, especially when you consider refunds and flight reimbursement, etc. 

[schnapperin]

A lot of cruises are currently cancelled a day or so before - reason is that ships do a Covid test shortly before arrival - the last published Argentina requirements are that everyone on the ship does a PCR test, all positives cases are then placed under isolation (sometimes on the ship as isolation hotels are full).

 

so the typical turn around (disembarkation in the morning - embarkation at late afternoon) is in that case no longer possible. Sadly a short notice cancellation is part of travel during a pandemic

 

Think Quark also gave notice that the rise in cases resulted in disturbance with the ground handling? With the ship been new (and all cruises before had been cancelled because of Covid) they might decided to try some things out - but it seems strange to do that (money wise), Atlas was parked at the entrance to the Channel (probably to save money)

Edited January 17, 2022 by schnapperin

[DavidandKaren11]

Thank you both for your thoughts.  Yes, if there are significant port fees then maybe it's better to put the crew to work scouting.

[Pirateskigirl]

Still waiting on our refund from Quark from the cancelled Dec 13 trip..  We sent our paperwork within 4 days of receiving it.  After numerous emails & phone calls asking about the status of the refund(none of which received a reply), I finally got a live person.We were told they never received it(sigh/Grrrr).  Resent it and Quark confirmed they received it.  Now, we wait.  i will be nagging them about it until I get my money back.   Or I will call AMEX. At least, our trip got canceled before departure.  My January cruise got cancelled less than 24 hours before departure, when we were in the air.  Waiting on my money from that trip too.  Frustrated and so over this COVID climate.  

Edited January 18, 2022 by Pirateskigirl

[Quark Expeditions]

On 1/14/2022 at 7:25 PM, DavidandKaren11 said:

I’m concerned and I’d like others opinion. We were told Quark cancelled because of Ushuaia port out of space for Covid quarantines. Then why is the Ultramarine almost at the South Shetland Islands?  There shouldn’t be a cruise booked until the 22nd and it’s darn expensive to take this ship on a joy ride. Did they lie about this?  Also, on Facebook they said they’re back in Antarctica 2 days ago. Marketing hype? Bad taste?  What’s going on?

Hi David and Karen, 

This is Nicolas Singh, the Community Manager at Quark Expeditions. We understand the confusion caused by Ultramarine heading down to the Peninsula after the extremely disappointing decision to cancel the January 09th expedition.

We've taken the opportunity of using the time to send the Ultramarine to Antarctica with only expedition staff and crew to conduct operations exercises, scout for new landing locations for zodiac operations and to conduct helicopter scouting for potential helicopter landing sites.

Ultramarine will return to Ushuaia from Antarctica for the start of the 23 day Epic Antarctica voyage departing January 22, 2022.

[ethan1171]

On 1/19/2022 at 9:47 AM, Quark Expeditions said:

We've taken the opportunity of using the time to send the Ultramarine to Antarctica with only expedition staff ... Ultramarine will return to Ushuaia from Antarctica for the start of the 23 day Epic Antarctica voyage departing January 22, 2022.

@Quark Expeditions Can you please explain how an "expedition only staff" got infected leading to the cancellation of the January 22 2022 trip? What are we missing?

[ed1aa]

On 1/11/2022 at 3:03 PM, PaulMCO said:

If you booked with a TA have them followup 3 weeks after you submitted the request with your bank data.  Quark promised a cruise refund in 4 weeks.  My TA sent them a reminder mail plus I did same stating that if the money was not received at the 4 week mark, I would dispute the charges with AMEX.

You always have that option if you paid with a CC.

 

Did Quark promise any compensation for your wasted trip??

 

I sent a separate request with bills for the extra COVID tests, the air fare, plus the wasted Trip insurance.  I do not expect to receive this as Quark will likely state that the future credit of 25% would cover those items.

 

Best of luck and I am truly sorry your voyage was cancelled.

 

 

Paul:

 

They added $300 in the refund amount for incidentals and the hotel was paid for through 01/12/2022.  So you could stay at the hotel on their dime if you wished.  Our TA is following up with them  to make sure our refund data is in the hopper.  In about a week I will start doing the same.

[cboyle]

See my post above for some interesting posts on Trip Advisor

 

[PaulMCO]

On 1/18/2022 at 5:48 PM, Pirateskigirl said:

Still waiting on our refund from Quark from the cancelled Dec 13 trip..  We sent our paperwork within 4 days of receiving it.  After numerous emails & phone calls asking about the status of the refund(none of which received a reply), I finally got a live person.We were told they never received it(sigh/Grrrr).  Resent it and Quark confirmed they received it.  Now, we wait.  i will be nagging them about it until I get my money back.   Or I will call AMEX. At least, our trip got canceled before departure.  My January cruise got cancelled less than 24 hours before departure, when we were in the air.  Waiting on my money from that trip too.  Frustrated and so over this COVID climate.  

I would call Amex.  Since it is 30 days, and Quark has not responded, they will issue a temporary refund and finalize it with 14 days.  Use the terms "failed to deliver the services contracted for" in your discussion.

 

We received our cruise money after 3 weeks.  You could also post to their Facebook page.  However we submitted receipt for other charges (since we were already in BA), and they have yet to acknowledge it.  It has been over one month.

[Roger88]

All of you, those who got their cruise posponed or cancelled - dont worry people! I am pretty sure things will get better soon and all of you will have a chance to travel again. Its a pitty to get such news, but unfortunatly, there isnt much we can do about it. Hope everyone is doing alright

[PaulMCO]

Just a note -- Quark just cancelled their voyages for Feb and March.  They had removed these weeks ago from the web site.   Now informing passengers.

[Quark Expeditions]

On 1/21/2022 at 11:34 PM, ethan1171 said:

@Quark Expeditions Can you please explain how an "expedition only staff" got infected leading to the cancellation of the January 22 2022 trip? What are we missing?

@ethan1171 Hi Leo, at this time, our main priority is ensuring the health and safety of crew and Expedition Team members onboard Ultramarine, and we don’t have any new information to share about source of the spread. 

[Quark Expeditions]

On 1/25/2022 at 9:14 AM, ed1aa said:

Paul:

 

They added $300 in the refund amount for incidentals and the hotel was paid for through 01/12/2022.  So you could stay at the hotel on their dime if you wished.  Our TA is following up with them  to make sure our refund data is in the hopper.  In about a week I will start doing the same.

Hi @ed1aa, we really appreciate your patience as we’re assisting all affected guests, please allow us 1 to 3 business days to respond to your email.

If you don’t hear back from our team via your travel advisor in the next couple of days, send us a direct message with your full name, reservation number and we’ll have one of our Client Experiences team members look into your file.

Nicolas Singh, Community Manager at Quark Expeditions

[Quark Expeditions]

9 hours ago, PaulMCO said:

Just a note -- Quark just cancelled their voyages for Feb and March.  They had removed these weeks ago from the web site.   Now informing passengers.

Hi @PaulMCO, that is correct. Given how the situation in Ushuaia has developed, we believe the risk of ongoing disruption is too high. In the best interests of our customer experience and of the working conditions for our team, we have reached the difficult decision to postpone the remainder of our Antarctica season through February and March 2022.
 

The cancellation of the four remaining voyages this season was finalized yesterday and we’re currently in the process of notifying affected guests. For transparency, we did not remove any of these expeditions from our website before they were officially cancelled. 
 

[Quark Expeditions]

On 1/25/2022 at 1:47 PM, PaulMCO said:

I would call Amex.  Since it is 30 days, and Quark has not responded, they will issue a temporary refund and finalize it with 14 days.  Use the terms "failed to deliver the services contracted for" in your discussion.

 

We received our cruise money after 3 weeks.  You could also post to their Facebook page.  However we submitted receipt for other charges (since we were already in BA), and they have yet to acknowledge it.  It has been over one month.

Hi Paul (@PaulMCO), we appreciate your patience through the refund process as we’re helping all our affected guests.

We’ve just heard back from our Client Experience Team and they’ve advised us that the refund of your incidental expenses is being processed right now and an update will be sent to your travel advisor, if it hasn’t already.

Have a great weekend, 
Nicolas Singh, Community Manager at Quark Expeditions

[PaulMCO]

5 hours ago, Quark Expeditions said:

Hi Paul (@PaulMCO), we appreciate your patience through the refund process as we’re helping all our affected guests.

We’ve just heard back from our Client Experience Team and they’ve advised us that the refund of your incidental expenses is being processed right now and an update will be sent to your travel advisor, if it hasn’t already.

Have a great weekend, 
Nicolas Singh, Community Manager at Quark Expeditions

I really appreciate this and thank Quark for is flexibility.

Hopefully we can see you all on a future cruise on Quark

[Pirateskigirl]

Hey @Quark Expeditionsany update on my refund from the cancelled Dec 13 Ultramarine sailing?  I don't seem to be getting any replies from emails or phone calls.  

Stacy

[Quark Expeditions]

@Pirateskigirl Hi Stacey, could you send us a private message with your full name, email address and reservation number (if available)? 

This information will help me look into your case and see if there have been any developments, an updated ETA, etc. 

Thanks, 
Nicolas