Live (when possible) from the Venture in Antarctica 1/3 - 1/16

[crunchii]

1 hour ago, toseaornottosea said:

Are the divers inspecting the stabilizers?

I believe so. At least that's what my husband heard from someone.

[2SailingNomads]

Looks like you got some great stops, even accounting for the less than ideal weather.  We were on the same cruise w/ Fletcher and simply sailed past Elephant Island, there never was a plan to explore it. Plus you had the possibility of multiple landings per day.  That was a great cruise for many reasons but when we return to the Antarctica it will be on a smaller ship than the Quest.  So many more choices now with all the expedition ships released and yet to come on-line.  Glad we started in Santiago instead of travelling on that worse for the wear plane.  

[crunchii]

While sailing through Beagle Channel this morning, they offered the tour of the engine control room.

We arrived at Ushuaia around noon today. They said they'd have the tenders out to take us ashore, but that didn't happen until around 5 pm. There was an event going on at 6:30 pm, so we didn't bother with the tenders.

While eating our dinner, the ship actually docked, so after dinner, we went out for a stroll. Not much to see here, and most shops were closed since it's Sunday, so no souvenir shopping. Just snapped a few pictures and went back to the ship.

We're disembarking tomorrow morning, so we had to pack and put our luggage out on the hallway by 11 pm tonight…

[neophyte]

Hello PPRICENH, there is a roll call for the January 25/26 Venture cruise if you want to check in.

 

Crunchii, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to send us all this information.  Very thoughtful of you and so very helpful.  Hope your journey home went smoothly.

[ppricenh]

2 hours ago, neophyte said:

Hello PPRICENH, there is a roll call for the January 25/26 Venture cruise if you want to check in.

 

 Thanks!  Done.  Checked in on the FB rolls call earlier also.

Edited January 17, 2023 by ppricenh

[crunchii]

I am home now. The flight home was brutal, so I pretty much slept the whole afternoon.

 

The Jet Smart flight to Buenos Aires was on another old Airbus A320 (this time I checked), but at least we had a window this time. I didn't see any broken seats, but the seats were filthy (crumbs all over.) Thank goodness I had some disinfecting wipes! I'll definitely give them a big thumbs down in the post-cruise survey.

 

Seabourn offered to take us out to dinner upon arrival in Buenos Aires, but American Airline check-in counter didn't open till 5 pm, so by the time we checked in our luggage, it was too late, so we didn't go.

 

I'll write a more detailed review at a later date (probably this weekend), but it was a FANTASTIC cruise, and the Venture was a great ship!

Edited January 18, 2023 by crunchii
typo

[w.w.voyager]

12 hours ago, crunchii said:

I am home now. The flight home was brutal, so I pretty much slept the whole afternoon.

 

The Jet Smart flight to Buenos Aires was on another old Airbus A320 (this time I checked), but at least we had a window this time. I didn't see any broken seats, but the seats were filthy (crumbs all over.) Thank goodness I had some disinfecting wipes! I'll definitely give them a big thumbs down in the post-cruise survey.

 

Seabourn offered to take us out to dinner upon arrival in Buenos Aires, but American Airline check-in counter didn't open till 5 pm, so by the time we checked in our luggage, it was too late, so we didn't go.

 

I'll write a more detailed review at a later date (probably this weekend), but it was a FANTASTIC cruise, and the Venture was a great ship!

Same “old “ Aircraft:

flight history for JetSMART Argentina flight WJ1344 16 Jan 2023 Ushuaia (USH) Buenos Aires (EZE) A320 LV-IVN JetSMART Argentina Airbus A320-200

Manufacturer Serial Number (MSN  8730)

Aircraft Type Airbus A320-200 Age now 4 Years

[cruiseej]

It seems like Silversea may have struck a better deal with their charter flights between Santiago and Puerto Williams in Chile, on Antarctic Airways, than Seabourn has with JetSmart Argentina. Everything on the Antarctic Always flights are branded for Silversea, from the signage in the private airport terminal in Santiago to the meal service menus to the crew uniforms to the wireless entertainment offerings. We enjoyed our DAP charter flights, and most people seem to review them as somewhere between pretty good and excellent. 

[Woodrowst]

On 1/18/2023 at 12:37 AM, crunchii said:

I am home now. The flight home was brutal, so I pretty much slept the whole afternoon.

 

The Jet Smart flight to Buenos Aires was on another old Airbus A320 (this time I checked), but at least we had a window this time. I didn't see any broken seats, but the seats were filthy (crumbs all over.) Thank goodness I had some disinfecting wipes! I'll definitely give them a big thumbs down in the post-cruise survey.

 

Seabourn offered to take us out to dinner upon arrival in Buenos Aires, but American Airline check-in counter didn't open till 5 pm, so by the time we checked in our luggage, it was too late, so we didn't go.

 

I'll write a more detailed review at a later date (probably this weekend), but it was a FANTASTIC cruise, and the Venture was a great ship!

Thank you so much for your helpful posts.  Can I ask what time the flight from Ushuaia arrived in BA?  Was it early enough to fly home the same day or should those of us on future trips look to stay overnight in BA before returning the U.S.?

[crunchii]

There were two flights. Ours was the later one, and we arrived in Buenos Aires at 4 pm. Our flight was 9 pm, so we were able to leave BA on the same day.

[crunchii]

I will now conclude this thread with my final review of this trip.

 

Ship:

We LOVED the Venture. We normally cruise on Holland America, but didn't miss any of the big ship amenities!

 

We spent most of our time going back and forth between the Bow Lounge and Seabourn Square on Deck 6. I knew Bow Lounge would become the favorite hangout for my husband. It has the forward view, bow access (which was open most of the time except during extreme weather), neat little displays, and most importantly, coffee machine! It made pretty good coffee and was available 24/7. They had some snacks too (mostly sweets). A lot of the expedition staff and some officers hung around there, and they were always happy to chat with us.

 

Food:

The Restaurant was open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. We ate most of our breakfast in Colonnade and some room service. Lunch was also mostly in Colonnade, but when we couldn't find any table, we went to the Restaurant.

 

Food was mostly great. Very tasty and beautifully presented. A lot of the times, we got something totally different from what we imagined from the description on the menu, but it turned out good most of the times, so no complains. The servers were all friendly and efficient.

 

The attire in the Restaurants were all over the place. Many people dressed up in suits and evening dresses, but there were as many people casually dressed in jeans. There were even some dressed in sweats, probably just returned from the landing. I saw ZERO tuxes and evening gowns.

 

Room:

We were in Suite 626. It's right next to the lifeboats, and I wondered if we'd hear any noises from them, but I chose this room as I wanted to be as close to the midship as possible for this cruise.

 

It turned out great. There was no noise from the lifeboats (except when they were lowering one of the boats for tender service in Ushuaia.) We heard some creaking from the ceiling and walls in rough weather through the Drake Passage, but otherwise, it was very quiet.

 

Being the midship, we were able to see all kinds of action from our balcony. When they lower the Zodiacs, they go right past our room! LOL. And you can see the Zodiac launch area from the balcony, so we could watch the people getting on the Zodiacs.

We also watched the polar plunge from our room too! And as I mentioned, we were next to the lifeboats, so we watched them being lowered too.

 

Expedition:

Antarctica was AMAZING! Even when we couldn't land, the view from the ship was incredible.

 

We did 5 landings total. To be honest, the middle 3 were all very similar (snowy area with old huts and penguins) and wished they varied a little more, but maybe all Antarctica landing spots are similar?

 

We also did a few Zodiac tours. Zodiac tour through thin ice in Börgen Bay was spectacular!

 

A few disappointments:

1. We did not land on the actual Antarctic continent. All of our landings were on surrounding islands.

2. We did not go as far south as I had hoped. According to the map of the itinerary, we were supposed to go all the way to just north of the Antarctic Circle. I knew expedition cruises aren't guaranteed to go exactly as the itinerary map, but I was hoping we'd cross the Antarctic Circle just so we can say we did. In actuality, we only went as far south as Petermann Island.

3. We didn't stop at Port Lockroy, so I didn't get to send postcards from Antarctica or do some souvenir shopping.

 

I hope I can convince my husband to do another Antarctic cruise some day for another try at those... (and will include South Georgia next time!)

 

Entertainment:

They had a singer/guitarist, a pair of singers, and a pianist. We're not into lounge music, so we didn't attend any of those. Lupi, the CD, was an opera singer. Being a classical music fan, I watched his recorded performance on the in-suite TV.

 

They also had many lectures. I probably attended one or two and watched a few more on the in-suite TV. All of the lectures were recorded and available to watch on TV, which was great.

 

They also had a nice selection of movies on demand. My husband watched a lot of them.

 

A few negatives:

The cruise was pretty great and there aren't too many negatives, but I guess I'll list a few minor things.

 

1. Pastries were always available in Bow Lounge and Seabourn Square, but there were no salty snacks available there. Seabourn Square had some sandwiches and Bow Lounge some soup and salad in the afternoon, but I wanted something quick and easy like potato chips or crackers, but there were only sweet snacks.

 

2. The shop only had things like clothing, jewelry, and watches. I wanted more touristy things like penguin plush and mug cup with Seabourn logo. Since there are no souvenir shops in Antarctica, I couldn't buy any knick-knacks to take home as keepsake.

 

3. And the biggest negative, of course, is the charter flights to/from Ushuaia. I never imagined Seabourn would put us in such old, dirty, economy-basic class airplanes...

 

That's all I can think of for now. I'll add more if I think of something.

 

And if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

[Mr Luxury]

Good review.

What a shame that you did not ask for salty snacks wherever you wanted them as you would have been given some.

Just because you don't see something doesn't mean that they don't have them.

[Fletcher]

Many thanks @crunchii for all your impressive work and the photos.  As you say, Antarctica is a matter of luck where you land or do not land.  The landscape, in all weathers, is absolutely beautiful.  Our trip was on the Quest from Santiago to BA which we chose because of the Chilean fjords and also missing out on the flights from BA to Ushuaia - everyone seems to loathe that experience.  And lastly, you will just love the shop on South Georgia.  Thanks again.

[Fletcher]

From the shop at Grytviken . . . 

 

[cruiseej]

@Fletcher They did not have that mug in stock when we were there about a month ago, or I'm quite certain we'd have one in our kitchen right now!

 

Update: I just checked the South Georgia Heritage Trust's website, and they have an online shop -- and that mug is available! If the shipping from the UK to the US isn't outrageous, I'll be ordering. Thanks for posting that picture!

 

Update: ordered!

 

For others who didn't get a chance to purchase any souvenirs, you can check out the site as well: https://www.sghtonline.gs/  Some of the merchandise is specific to South Georgia Island, but some is "generic penguins". 😉 And for those who didn't visit South Georgia Island, the South Georgia Heritage Trust is a great non-profit organization to support with a purchase, to boot.

Edited January 24, 2023 by cruiseej

[crunchii]

On 1/22/2023 at 8:04 PM, crunchii said:

A few disappointments:

1. We did not land on the actual Antarctic continent. All of our landings were on surrounding islands.

2. We did not go as far south as I had hoped. According to the map of the itinerary, we were supposed to go all the way to just north of the Antarctic Circle. I knew expedition cruises aren't guaranteed to go exactly as the itinerary map, but I was hoping we'd cross the Antarctic Circle just so we can say we did. In actuality, we only went as far south as Petermann Island.

3. We didn't stop at Port Lockroy, so I didn't get to send postcards from Antarctica or do some souvenir shopping.

 

I've been following the route of the Venture's current cruise (which is the same 12-day Antarctica Exploration cruise as ours) on cruisemapper and Seabourn Voyage Tracker.

 

It looks like they landed on the actual continent (Brown Bluff), stopped at Port Lockroy, AND crossed the Antarctic Circle (to Detaille Island), covering all of the points I was disappointed about our cruise! 😲 They apparently saw some penguin chicks too, which we saw none! We should've taken this cruise instead of 1/4-1/16 one!! 😭

 

Oh well, I guess we'll just have to go on another Antarctica cruise! 🤣