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Kayak or Zodiac tours?


kjbacon
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For those of you with experience in Ventures by SB, do you prefer the kayak tours or the zodiac tours? There are locations where both are offered for essentially the same tour. We are new to SB and I’m trying to finalize my shorex. Thank you!

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Hi kjbacon:

 

We got to do both many times from the Quest (2019).  In Antarctica, the zodiaks were included so we got to do 6 of those trips, but we had to pay for the Kayaks.  Best money we ever spent!  If the water is calm, they are so peaceful.  And you really did not need any previous experience.

 

We initially signed up for 3 kayak trips just to make sure that we would get the opportunity to do at least one, as the weather in Antartica is unpredicable (days 1, 3, and 5 all worked out, but days 2 and 4 had to be cancelled).   But after clear blue sky, no wind, glassy water, outstanding support crew and top notch equipment, we kept the other two trips and were lucky to get to do them all.  One difference was that in Antarctica, we got to do both the Kayak and Zodiak trips every day, so we did not have to choose.

 

Each trip was different, but we would not have given up any of them.  And since we were taken to the Kayaks using the Zodiaks, we actually got to do 3 additional zodiaks trips.  They took us to spectcular locations separate from the Zodiak locations. 

 

We are doing Alaska in a few weeks on the Odyessy and will opt for the Kayaks.  If the weather is not ammenable to kayaking, you might still get to do a zodiak trip.

 

Hope this is useful!

 

 

IMG_E1316 - Copy.JPG

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15 hours ago, DTtravelers said:

Hi kjbacon:

 

We got to do both many times from the Quest (2019).  In Antarctica, the zodiaks were included so we got to do 6 of those trips, but we had to pay for the Kayaks.  Best money we ever spent!  If the water is calm, they are so peaceful.  And you really did not need any previous experience.

 

We initially signed up for 3 kayak trips just to make sure that we would get the opportunity to do at least one, as the weather in Antartica is unpredicable (days 1, 3, and 5 all worked out, but days 2 and 4 had to be cancelled).   But after clear blue sky, no wind, glassy water, outstanding support crew and top notch equipment, we kept the other two trips and were lucky to get to do them all.  One difference was that in Antarctica, we got to do both the Kayak and Zodiak trips every day, so we did not have to choose.

 

Each trip was different, but we would not have given up any of them.  And since we were taken to the Kayaks using the Zodiaks, we actually got to do 3 additional zodiaks trips.  They took us to spectcular locations separate from the Zodiak locations. 

 

We are doing Alaska in a few weeks on the Odyessy and will opt for the Kayaks.  If the weather is not ammenable to kayaking, you might still get to do a zodiak trip.

 

Hope this is useful!

 

 

IMG_E1316 - Copy.JPG

Very useful, thank you, and the gorgeous picture is a bonus! I am going to add some kayak tours to my shorex today. You were lucky that you had them included, sometimes both in a day, on your cruise. Theses tours are extremely expensive on our cruise. The Iceland and Greenland segments of our cruise don’t include the perks of the arctic cruises, not sure why.

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1 hour ago, kjbacon said:

Very useful, thank you, and the gorgeous picture is a bonus! I am going to add some kayak tours to my shorex today. You were lucky that you had them included, sometimes both in a day, on your cruise. Theses tours are extremely expensive on our cruise. The Iceland and Greenland segments of our cruise don’t include the perks of the arctic cruises, not sure why.

 

They never have been included and I think it is because it is more expensive to store and maintain many double and single kayaks plus special wet suits on the ship which can only take a few passengers as opposed to the zodiacs which take more passengers and no special clothes needed.

 

We enjoyed multiple kayaks when we did our Alaska cruise. So many different environments. Going up to Hubbard glacier, but you have to maintain a certain distance due to risk of calving. Misty Fjords was lovely with gorgeous scenery such as all waterfalls and watching the planes come in, though they were noisy 😊

And there was one place we went to which had a whole big family of seals that was very peaceful. Sorry the photos are out of sequence.DSC_8097.thumb.JPG.aabaa1036de24701c8689607ebf26616.JPGDSC_8105.thumb.JPG.b6b289627171d7b434b6b5445a304d52.JPG

IMG_0920.thumb.JPG.c305ed9cdb2c28a84f44630cc2ee5615.JPGIMG_0931.thumb.JPG.c74fe0b854c867ac2100074deb7b0539.JPG

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/26/2022 at 6:39 AM, kjbacon said:

For those of you with experience in Ventures by SB, do you prefer the kayak tours or the zodiac tours? There are locations where both are offered for essentially the same tour. We are new to SB and I’m trying to finalize my shorex. Thank you!

We  have done both, in Greenland, Antarctica, and Alaska. We have liked them all, and one never knows which will end up being more special. On our recent Alaska cruise, we decided to switch from Kayak to Zodiac, and got to see way more and benefited from the expedition leader being able to give us a running commentary.

 

Try both!

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3 hours ago, skybluewaters said:

We'll be in Alaska on Odyssey the last two weeks of September.  One of us is fairly susceptible to sea sickness.  Would a zodiac tour be a problem in this regard?  Thanks

Zodiacs so far have been fairly calm tours.  We have a few more planned at Tracy Arm and Misty Fjords.

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Thanks for the additional input! I’ve booked several of both and a couple of different tours for the Iceland and Greenland ports of our cruise. I’ll be thrilled if we experience  half the beauty of the pictures some of you posted here!

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