9-night versus 11-night Longyearbyen Roundtrip

[ridethetide]

Having just completed an 11-night Antarctica voyage on the World Traveller, I am thinking of booking the Arctic for July. AOV offers a 9-night and an 11-night cruise. Only the 11-night is a circumnavigation. The 9-night stays on the west side. I understand the advantages of having more days to explore since bad seas and/or weather can affect the ability to land and/or use the Zodiacs. I was just curious if the circumnavigation has more to offer other than two more days.  Thanks for your suggestions.

[Bigdogwon]

Yes it has a major advantage if you want to see Polar bears, we did just the partial circumnavigation last August and the wildlife was at a minimum.  The staff that had been around the island showed us pictures of bears, foxes and the polar ice cap.  We had wished we had booked the cruise before us it looked spectacular.  Our cruise was also wonderful, which included the Norwegian Fjords, Bear Island and partial Svalbard.

[Primus]

The 11-night Svalbard circumnavigation cruise was fantastic in August 2023.  Like you, we first went on an 11-night Antarctica cruise with Atlas before booking the Arctic one.  It's a hard call on which one we liked better.  I'm sure the extra days allowed us to see things I didn't even know existed like huge glacier waterfalls.  The wildlife, scenery, and even sounds were amazing.  Sailing through the ice and going above 81 degrees North is one of our favorite memories.  We'll likely book again for 2025. 

[Database]

The major factor for us deciding on the 11 night was to cross the N 80 ^ Moffen.  We cruised the Norwegian Fjords last summer on a different cruise line. After our Antarctic cruise with Atlas last month, we realized that we need to go back and really experience the Artic circle. Finalized our booking for the July 20, 2025 cruise this week. 

[maadimom]

We have booked the 11 night cruise for July 2025.  They haven't released where we fly to initially yet.  Where did you fly from the states to?