Fridtjof Nansen - Antarctica - Nov 18, 2021

[dbsb3233]

Hi all. I know it's still a bit risky to book a 2021 cruise like this, but we took the chance today and booked this one. I'm mad at myself for missing the deadline on a sale last week that would have saved us almost $2000 per person, but at least we still get the free single supplement for a 2nd cabin (there's 3 of us). 

 

I'm hoping we can find an estimate for when the flight(s) from the cruise returns to Buenos Aires after the cruise. The airport is a ways from the center of the city and it would be a lot easier not to go back and forth again after the cruise. There's an 11:30pm flight back to Denver, which would seem to be pretty safe. Anyone have a clue? I assume they use charter flights?  500 people looks like too many for regular scheduled flights. 

[dbsb3233]

Well, I should have looked closer. While the cruise looks fine, Argentina doesn't. I didn't realize there's still a LEVEL 4 - DO NOT TRAVEL Advisory in place by the US State Dept. Disappointed Hurtigruten's US website doesn't allude to that. I know they're hoping that clears in time, and they don't want to scare customers off, but still. 

 

Anyway, the credit card charge for the deposit hasn't even processed past PENDING stage yet, so I'm hoping they'll just terminate the booking since it's only been 1 day. I screwed up by not checking Argentina better first, but hopefully Hurtigruten is more understanding than their website is. 

[Heartfelttraveler]

We are booked for January 2022.  We just bought our airfare, booked hotels, etc.  We will go if possible.  We are vaccinated for Coronavirus.  We will be careful.

 

A lot can change in 4 or 6 months… 

[barnicle]

We were scheduled for last December, but due to COVID-19, we transferred the booking until this year. We're scheduled for the December 18 sailing. We're vaccinated and will be careful; fingers crossed...

 

I'm struggling with what to pack for life on the ship. Anyone have any ideas?

[dbsb3233]

I called Hurtigruten first thing Monday morning (after booking online the prior Friday night (customer support is closed Sat-Sun)).  Told them when I went to book flights on Saturday, that's when I noticed how bad the situation was in Argentina, including the LEVEL 4 - DO NO TRAVEL warning. While they're hoping that will ease up by November, they were willing to make an exception to their normal policies and OK'd a cancellation of our booking and will refund our deposit by check within 2 weeks.  We breathed a sigh of relieve they would refund our $5k after we realized we'd made a mistake in not checking the Argentina situation first.

 

I don't know whether they OK'd the deposit refund because we'd only just booked (and they basically treated it like a grace period), or whether they think the November sailing is in likely danger of cancelling anyway.  I suspect it's probably some of both.  The customer service rep messaged their boss while I was on the phone and got the OK to refund within a minute.

 

Hopefully the situation in Argentina improves dramatically by then and everyone already booked can sail. But with November only 4 months out, we just didn't feel that was very likely. It was important that we get back into the US for work right after the cruise, but presently that requires another PCR test (in Argentina) within 72 hours.  We don't have that time after the cruise.  Hopefully that requirement will change, but we'll wait to rebook until it does first.

 

We already got caught on a COVID cruise situation in March-2020. We were on a 2-week Celebrity cruise from Dubai to Singapore that only made it a week before getting stranded in Mumbai as countries started closing down.  Fortunately we'd booked air through Celebrity for that one, and they were GREAT about getting us home from Mumbai.  They even refunded the full cruise fare, even though we got 3 ports in. Can't speak highly enough of how they handled the chaotic situation.  But we don't want to get stuck in a similar situation again.  And I don't get the impression that Hurtigruten would be as accommodating as Celebrity was.  They seem to be focused only on their cruises, while getting to/from home is our own responsibility.  I'm not sure if they'd be of any help getting us home if things go sideways.

 

With life mostly back to normal in the US, I think we just got lulled into forgetting it's still a mess in many other countries (like Argentina). 

 

https://ar.usembassy.gov/covid-19/

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/argentina-travel-advisory.html

[Renta]

Yes I’ve booked Dec 8th 2022 and I’ve been checking Argentina numbers nearly every day as I have an app that includes their figures along with Australian cases. It does seem to have gone down this week but still very high numbers. I’ve got everything crossed that they might have their vaccines kick in by this time next year. I’ll have mine completed in two weeks so will be all good my end. Wishing lots of luck to those booked in the 2021/2022 season. Can’t wait to read some reviews! Fingers crossed everyone 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

[Roadracer2002]

We're from UK and booked for January 2022 on Roald Amundsen with flights booked through Hurtigruten.

Currently, Chile is on the UK Red (no travel) list and isn't letting in non-resident foreign nationals in any case.  Our final payment is due in October 2021 which isn't too far away.

We anticipate the cruise will be cancelled by Hurtigruten but the big question is when and will it be before the final payment due date?!

[Avram3]

My wife and I booked the Nov 2nd Antarctic cruise from Santiago, Chile, returning from Buenos Aries. As we all know, Argentina is in COVID bad shape and although Chile is 79% vaccinated, this country also remains locked down requiring five days of quarantine in a special hotel. Yet Hurtigruten has not cancelled our cruise Nov 2nd and final payment is due August 4th!

 

And here is some disturbing news I read yesterday on the Hurtigruten site. The crew is not fully vaccinated or required to be so. Why, I don't know but I'm will try to find out when I call them on Monday.

[firefightermom007]

We are booked on the Feb 12, 2022 from Santiago, boarding in Punta Arenas.  We also have our flights and pre cruise hotels booked as we planned on spending a week in Chile pre cruise.   Hopefully, we will get some answers soon, as the Antartica cruising season starts in October.  Thankfully our final payment is not due until November.

[Avram3]

We hope your cruise happens. Ours is so uncertain, leaving Nov 2nd, that we have not booked any flights or pre/post stays in Chile or Buenos Aires. We just paid our balance yesterday and are hoping for the best.

 

I spoke to the manager, Art, in the UK office two days ago. We was checking on the latest update for crew vaccinations. He said he would get back to me. He didn't so I have nothing new to report.

[dbsb3233]

Got the check today with full refund of our deposit, 2.5 weeks after calling to back out.  Right on time, as they said allow 2 weeks for it to go out.  Happy with that.  And relieved. 

 

We'll try it again sometime in the future when things really are back to normal.  I was exercising a little too much wishful thinking jumping in now, I'm afraid. 

 

Good luck to all. 

[Avram3]

Much thanks for letting me know that Hurtigruten does, in fact, refund the deposit promptly. We booked through the UK office and if we cancel now, it's non-refundable. We can however, move the pre-payments to another Hurtigruten booking. If they cancel, it's a 100% refund or applied to another cruise with a 10% discount. We also discovered we have up to two weeks before the cruise begins to change cruise bookings and apply all the money to another Hurtigruten sailing. So again, we hope we can make the November 2nd cruise happen. It's a bucket list event!

[dbsb3233]

7 hours ago, Avram3 said:

Much thanks for letting me know that Hurtigruten does, in fact, refund the deposit promptly. We booked through the UK office and if we cancel now, it's non-refundable. We can however, move the pre-payments to another Hurtigruten booking. If they cancel, it's a 100% refund or applied to another cruise with a 10% discount. We also discovered we have up to two weeks before the cruise begins to change cruise bookings and apply all the money to another Hurtigruten sailing. So again, we hope we can make the November 2nd cruise happen. It's a bucket list event!

Keep in mind that ours may have been an exception since I called immediately (morning of the next business day) upon realizing my mistake.  I have no idea if that really had anything to do with it or not, but it's possible that they treated it as a sort of unofficial 1-business-day grace period or something.

 

You might be able to get a refund anyway.  They have the "Request a refund" link on the COVID page.  My concern wasn't just about the cruise cancelling, but being late getting home if a 72-hour PCR test is required to come back.  As well as the overall difficulties in Argentina ruining that part of the experience.

 

https://www.hurtigruten.com/expedition-practical-information/covid-19-updated-information/expedition/?_hrgb=3

 

Anyway, best of luck!

Edited August 7, 2021 by dbsb3233

[Avram3]

Just found your reply now. US Hurtigruten and UK Hurtigruten are separate booking offices with separate rules. The US office give refunds for any reason up to the balance payment deadline.

 

We sailed with Hurtigruten before up and down the Norway coast so we now know how they operate. The PDR tests will be given onboard according to my latest call to customer service in the UK office.

 

Ultimately, we don't want a refund. We hope we can take the cruise it it they cancel, we could get a refund at that time. Thanks for following up on my reply.

[dbsb3233]

Out of curiosity, I decided to check back and see if this cruise would have proceeded.  Nope.  Looks like they canceled all the Antarctica cruises this season for this ship (MS Fridtjof Nansen).  Glad we backed out in July and saved the grief. 

 

I feel for anyone that was still booked.  I know it's a big disappointment and massive pain to have to cancel/rebook, especially late in the game.  Not just the cruise itself, but all the flights, hotels, tours, etc. 

 

We may try again in another year or two, if things ever get back to normal.  (And if Hurtigruten is even still in business by then.)  In the mean time, looks like another year of road trips for us instead.  Flying (especially out of the country) just isn't worth the mess.