CruiseDad-NYC Posted July 12 #1 Share Posted July 12 I am looking at the Antarctica air bridge cruises on the Endeavor for February 2025 mostly because I would like to avoid the Drake Shake on a small ship. I have read that weather can sometimes shorten the cruise because of delays flying to King George Island. I also generally like to cruise longer than 5 or 6 days and was thinking I might want to put two 6 night cruises together as a B2B. Before I reach out to Silversea to inquire further (and to confirm that they sell this as a B2B), has anyone here done a B2B on the air bridge cruise? I would like to maximize my time in Antarctica and think the 6 night cruise might not be long enough. Would be curious to hear if anyone has done this. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Port Power Posted July 12 #2 Share Posted July 12 Just do the whole Antarctica, Falklands and South Georgia expedition. Much more interesting and much more to see. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbulz Posted July 14 #3 Share Posted July 14 On 7/12/2024 at 7:52 AM, Port Power said: Just do the whole Antarctica, Falklands and South Georgia expedition. Much more interesting and much more to see. I agree completely. I had originally booked to ‘Fly the Drake’ and the more I read, the more I realized it would be a mistake for several reasons so I transferred my booking to the 18-day itinerary. The odds of having the entire trip cancelled is not minuscule with the flight option since weather can easily prevent the flights to King George. Also, South Georgia is not to be missed. I get seriously seasick and found that as long as I was prepared (and didn’t wait until I felt sick to take the meds) I handled it just fine. Logistically, I think you’d waste a lot of time just going back and forth on the charter flights (time that you’d be paying pretty top dollar for.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Fletcher Posted July 14 #4 Share Posted July 14 (edited) I would avoid the Cloud and the Wind nowadays - nice in some ways, cosy and homely apart from the chronic bathrooms, and outdated as expedition vessels. Take a look at Seabourn Pursuit and Venture or the Lindblad and Ponant ships. Silver Endeavour would be fine as well, of course. I agree about avoiding the 'chicken flight' across the Drake. Delays and cancellations are routine. Edited July 14 by Fletcher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Port Power Posted July 14 #5 Share Posted July 14 4 hours ago, Fletcher said: I would avoid the Cloud and the Wind nowadays - nice in some ways, cosy and homely apart from the chronic bathrooms, and outdated as expedition vessels. Take a look at Seabourn Pursuit and Venture or the Lindblad and Ponant ships. Silver Endeavour would be fine as well, of course. I agree about avoiding the 'chicken flight' across the Drake. Delays and cancellations are routine. I was on Silver Wind a couple of weeks ago and was entirely happy with the ship. Homely, yes, but enjoyably so. There were absolutely no bathroom problems at all. Zilch! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseDad-NYC Posted July 14 Author #6 Share Posted July 14 (edited) Thank you very much for the perspectives, greatly appreciated. I was thinking that if I did the cruise from King George as a B2B, I wouldn't have to do the flight twice (or be charged twice for the flight) and would just stay on board and therefore maximize the time in Antarctica. Edited July 14 by CruiseDad-NYC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbulz Posted July 14 #7 Share Posted July 14 (edited) 22 minutes ago, CruiseDad-NYC said: Thank you very much for the perspectives, greatly appreciated. I was thinking that if I did the cruise from King George as a B2B, I wouldn't have to do the flight twice (or be charged twice for the flight) and would just stay on board and therefore maximize the time in Antarctica. I think that is a question that only Silversea can answer for you. Either way, I still wouldn’t do it since she would miss some of the most outstanding portions of the trip and the flights are risky. Also, it’s not likely you’d likely be doing excursions while the ship is in King George waiting for others to arrive. I’d be curious what you hear back from Silversea. ETA: Thought of one other thing that would give me great pause before booking anything of this sort, even if Silversea would allow it: What if the second charter is completely cancelled or significantly delayed due to flight complications for the second set of passengers? Edited July 14 by bubbulz 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseDad-NYC Posted July 14 Author #8 Share Posted July 14 Good points. I hadn't been super interested in the Falklands, tbh. But, I will check out South Georgia. One of the reasons I am leaning to the Air Bridge is that my wife is not enthusiastic about the Drake, and this trip is more of a bucket list item for me than for her. I would be disappointed to fly down and miss 2 days on the ship of a journey already shorter than I would want (hence the interest in trying to spend more time down there). Thank you, and I will report back what I hear from Silversea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbulz Posted July 14 #9 Share Posted July 14 4 minutes ago, CruiseDad-NYC said: One of the reasons I am leaning to the Air Bridge is that my wife is not enthusiastic about the Drake, and this trip is more of a bucket list item for me than for her. Do what I did: Travel solo! 😉 (Seriously, this is not a trip you want to shortchange.) https://www.antarcticatravelgroup.com/our-blog/whats-the-big-deal-with-south-georgia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Port Power Posted July 14 #10 Share Posted July 14 15 minutes ago, CruiseDad-NYC said: Good points. I hadn't been super interested in the Falklands, tbh. But, I will check out South Georgia. One of the reasons I am leaning to the Air Bridge is that my wife is not enthusiastic about the Drake, and this trip is more of a bucket list item for me than for her. I would be disappointed to fly down and miss 2 days on the ship of a journey already shorter than I would want (hence the interest in trying to spend more time down there). Thank you, and I will report back what I hear from Silversea. I did the Falkland’s battlefield tour led by a now local resident who was a paratrooper during the initial invasion. The best tour ever! Having that first hand information of how they had to cross the land was incredible. He met the girl who would later become his wife when they released the locals from being held in the church. I cannot describe how fantastic the tour was! Take tablets in advance of the possible (or not) Drake Passage discomfort rather than miss out on the history and fauna of the Falklands and South Georgia. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare highplanesdrifters Posted July 14 #11 Share Posted July 14 Silversea Cloud and Wind are long in the tooth. Seabourns Venture and Pursuit are new and fabulous. BUT..... I'm beginning to have concerns about Seabourns ability to execute amazing expeditions. Our February Antarctica C2C trip on Cloud was nothing short of spectacular. Expedition team really pushed to the max. The food and drink were top notch. However our toilet did explode and flood the cabin. The Wind has serious problems with its HVAC. I would not board her on a warm weather itinary. Friends love Endeavour. On our May Norway trip with Seabourn Venture trip I felt the expedition team was short staffed and lacking even though it was headed by Luqui. He was dealt a short hand and did the best he could. There are similar reports on CC for other Seabourn Expedition trips. Food was good, but not as interesting as SS. Service excellent. Is this a trend or are they a few one offs, making them multiple offs? I'd take a better expedition with better food even with an exploding toilet and a lesser ship. In September we are headed on a 40 day South Pacific with Seabourn Pursuit. Let's see if they redeems themselves and learn from their previous mishaps in tropical waters. FYI, we consider ourselves to be insanely lucky to be on any of these trips. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labrasett Posted July 24 #12 Share Posted July 24 On 7/14/2024 at 12:25 PM, CruiseDad-NYC said: Thank you very much for the perspectives, greatly appreciated. I was thinking that if I did the cruise from King George as a B2B, I wouldn't have to do the flight twice (or be charged twice for the flight) and would just stay on board and therefore maximize the time in Antarctica. I am sure that would be the case, I cant imagine there would be any mileage for anyone in you flying backwards and forwards, cant think why anyone would think you might. I do wonder if you might tire of mainly the same routing doing B2B but of course weather and sea conditions do bring about changes so you might go elsewhere on the second leg. At least if the flights were delayed between the two trips you would still be comfortable ensconced on the ship enjoying all the good food, good wines and care that SSC offer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbulz Posted July 24 #13 Share Posted July 24 On 7/14/2024 at 10:46 AM, highplanesdrifters said: I'd take a better expedition with better food even with an exploding toilet and a lesser ship. Or take the best of both worlds: Do the 18 day itinerary on the Endeavour. It was nothing short of amazing all around. And we really only dealt with Drake on the way back to Chile. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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