Svalbard vs Alaska

[Lilac Trees]

On 1/14/2024 at 10:49 PM, willma said:

Hi Lilac Trees. We are thinking about it, but already have holiday booked for June. Svalbard is a bucket list trip that was previously lost to covid! 

Silver Wind seems to have been removed completely from schedules for next year.

Willma, I hope you will make to Svalbard sometime! 

[Lilac Trees]

On 1/11/2024 at 2:44 AM, Port Power said:

I thoroughly enjoyed the expedition to Antarctica, and Silver Wind was a lovely ship. I am doing an Arctic cruise on her this June.  The expedition team was well run.  However, I have taken over 50 cruises, including seven expedition cruises.  Expedition cruises are a totally different experience to classic cruises, and you need to be sure you really want to get out and see nature rather than cruise for the “hotel resort” experience.

 

For Antarctica, I would have preferred a much smaller ship, about half the size.  In the Kimberley of Western Australia, all my expedition cruises were with 114 passengers or less.  (Mostly much fewer!)  I would not sail on Silver Wind there.  The Antarctic itinerary is completely different to either of those two places. I think the larger ship will be suitable there and I won’t miss out any experiences.

 

Life aboard Silver Wind was enjoyable and you will meet and mix with other passengers quite quickly.  There are lectures presented on sea days.  There are lounges where you can sit and observe, always with your binoculars beside you! The choice of bars and restaurants provides variety for life onboard.

 

As a contrast, I sailed on Silver Muse from Vancouver to Japan and thought it was one of the best cruises I have done.  The tours I went on at each port were all nature and wildlife based, including whale watching, just not via zodiacs. Just about a perfect cruise for first timers in my opinion.

 

I hope this helps. 🙂

Thank you very much for sharing it. That helps a lot! 

[willma]

@Lilac Trees

We have booked with another cruise line. We considered Endeavour but the timings didn’t work. Sad not to be going with Silversea but can’t be helped. 

[Lilac Trees]

23 hours ago, willma said:

@Lilac Trees

We have booked with another cruise line. We considered Endeavour but the timings didn’t work. Sad not to be going with Silversea but can’t be helped. 

I just looked for the Endeavour. The ship looks so beautiful! I nearly wanted to change from this year to next year for the ship. 
But after all, this is expedition cruise so destination is all important. Glad to hear that you booked for Svalbard. Hope you will enjoy. 

[AusMum]

We are on The Endeavour this September.  The itinerary keeps changing, but feel this might be normal? I'm hoping to see polar bears in Greenland...