Trip Report - Svalbard Longyearbyen Roundtrip

[earth117]

Just got back from the World Voyager July 7-16 roundtrip from Longyearbyen. Very good adventure cruise, second only to Antarctica. Details below, feel free to ask me questions: 

Route - Despite being shown in the brochure as an up and back, we circumnavigated much of Svalbard! Unexpected and a great bonus. We saw lots of great areas and animals we wouldn't have seen only on the west coast. (Note that since the west has the Gulf Stream, the east is a bit colder.) 

Charter flights - The charter airlines (Amelia - a French company - going from Oslo, and SAS returning to Oslo) were good, no problems. At Oslo airport it's not clear where to find Amelia as the Atlas sign only went up ~1.5 hours before departure, but just ask at various counters. Note that seats were assigned randomly and couples won't sit together! Just negotiate with your fellow passengers when on board. Note: Svalbard is outside the Schengen area and you have to go through immigration at Oslo airport going and returning! 

Land operations - Atlas falls way short yet again. They had been a disaster in Ushuaia, and close to that in Longyearbyen. There are no Atlas representatives or signage anywhere in sight when you arrive on the charter flight. The buses have no signs saying Atlas. You just have to ask the driver, but even then they weren't clear on whether they were supposed to take you on a tour of Longyearbyen (as Atlas said) or go straight to the ship. We were taken to the ship, and then had to go out again later for the bus tour (to the interesting Global Seed Vault, and then into town). Disembarking, we had to tender from the ship to a pier about 5km from Longyearbyen, and there was no one from Atlas there to tell us when the bus would show up to take us to the airport (after we stood outside on the pier for about 45 minutes the buses showed up). At the Longyearbyen airport there were no Atlas representatives and no signage indicating where to check in. The only counter was labeled Ponant, and the agents said we needed to use the machines along the wall and enter our airline record numbers - we told them we were on a charter and had no record numbers! After about 45 minutes they finally agreed to check us in on our SAS charter. Atlas - please up your game on land, way up. 

Sights - As mentioned we actually circumnavigated on the 9 day cruise - fantastic! Incredibly dramatic landscapes of cliffs, mountains, glaciers, ice filled bays, and more. We reached the pack ice at 80.9 degrees north. Animal sightings included 3 instances of polar bears (mother+2 cubs, mother+1 cub, solo), many walrus, seals, many reindeer, 1 minke whale (and 1 blue whale, but not by me), arctic fox (not by me). Many birds, including the impressive Alkefjellet bird cliffs with 120,000 guillemots, and tundra flowers. 

Food - Overall, quite good. There was a selection of ~4 dinner entrees that changed each night plus a standard one of potato pillows (lighter than gnocchi) and ravioli. Plus a plant based daily menu (with 1 entree) right on the main menu, and an unchanging menu (including plant based steak). The fruit was excellent for the whole trip! Also noteworthy was the hummus. The Atlas tragedy was the non-European dishes. The head chef, Made, is from Bali but the Indonesian, Thai, etc. dishes were completely bland. It was explained that he was not allowed to change the recipes from the German head food office. Atlas - give your excellent onboard chefs a freer hand! 

Cruise and ship - The voyage was smooth, with remarkably good weather for the Arctic - rain just the first day, overcast most days but dry. World Voyager is quite similar to Navigator and Traveler, though I prefer those ships' color schemes (blue and brown seem more nautical than gold and chrome). Definitely take advantage of the open bridge to go up and chat with the captain and officers, get info on animal sightings, etc. And great compliments to the zodiac drivers! 

[earth117]

A few more details. Paula's Pantry is a gem. They have a different "boost" juice shot every day, as well as ~4 juice blends, with my favorites being the Turmeric-Ginger one and the Celery Detox. Lots of good snacks also. My favorite dinner wine was the Comte Alexander, a blend of 5 grapes including grenache. Internet was ok throughout (except for being shut off near the Ny Alesund research stations) if all you want is text based; turning off app updates and turning off wifi after each session is essential. The dining staff are very helpful - just ask if you want something a particular way. Any feedback you give to the maitre d' or yacht general manager is swiftly acted on. There's a really good atmosphere onboard. 

[HeartCruise]

We have done an Antarctica cruise twice (different comapnies) and both times had different experiences of dining expectations, what people would wear and meals and in particular on one occasion feeling very casual compared with others which took us by suprise.

 

 

 

We are heading to Greenland in a few weeks on Atlas on World Voyager in a B1/B2 cabin. Does anyone know what plug socket is needed?

 

 

 

With it being a polar cruise is it realistic for meals, evening etc people will still dress casually, with jeans etc? Also, does anyone know what time the evening meal is? 

 

 

 

Finally, is there options to sit just two together. We hate being put with others (I know, I know but we just don't like the forced social interaction)!

 

 

 

Is it more likely to be more US passengers than Europe? We are in the UK but I get the impression it's more aimed at the US market.

 

Sorry I would have posted it as a new post but CC won't send me the reactivation email the link just sends me in circles.

[earth117]

World Voyager cabins have both US and Euro plug sockets, but not both everywhere (I think the desk has only Euro, while the bedsides have both?). So you might want to bring adapters to use the extra sockets. Evening meal dress is whatever you like - some people even wear the Atlas vest that zips out of the parka! Meal times on the July 7 sailing were one seating at 7pm, one at 7:30pm, based on 5th floor or 6th floor cabins, alternating days. Sometimes this changed depending on late excursions. There are tables for 2, 4, up to ~10. On the July 7 sailing there were 28 nationalities, but US was the largest part, and there were 47 people from China - apparently this is a rapidly growing customer base for Arctic cruises. [Note there are other topic threads on meal times and dining experience you might look at as well.] [Note you shouldn't wear jeans in the zodiac excursions; the guides insisted on waterproof pants for safety.] Attached is a picture of a B1 cabin on the World Voyager (with Longyearbyen out the window). 

 

[HeartCruise]

Thanks so much that's really helpful.  

 

I'm hoping for the.earlier sitting at meals, we are used to eating earlier but hopefully we can request this if needed.

 

Is there hair conditioner (I'm wondering if I need to bring my own or if this is supplied)? 

 

A question from my other half is what larger/beer options there are (neither of us are wine drinkers, I'm happy with an occasional g&t).

[HeartCruise]

I found the beer menu 😀 is there a cocktail menu I can't find that. 

 

Thank you!

[earth117]

The shower had three L'Occitane bottles: body wash, shampoo, conditioner. The drinks menus differ somewhat between the Atlas Lounge and the Dome but you're sure to find something you'll like. After getting off the Zodiac excursions I liked to warm up with either Irish coffee or hot chocolate with Bailey's! (Speaking of hot chocolate, there is almond milk and soy milk available at all venues.) 

Edited July 24 by earth117
added info

[ScottnZelda]

We also had a bumpy experience with ground services on our Longyearbyen round trip sailing.   One factor is that the Longyearbyen airport can only check in and take luggage for ONE flight at a time, due to its computer system.    As much as they try to steer you to self-check in machines, these are useless without an actual boarding pass or booking number, which we didn’t have.  It’s chaos and was nerve wracking with no Atlas representative to explain/assist.  My best advice if your flight isn’t being processed yet is to just take one of the few seats and wait.  Getting in the long line does little to help unless it’s for YOUR flight.  Take a picture of the stuffed polar bear, keep a sense of humor.  In our case, the Amelia charter left first.  We were on a SAS flight leaving an hour later.  
 

There were not dinner “seatings” as such.   However, the daily review by the Expedition Team sometimes occurred just before dinner, and passengers were asked to not all go at once, but they staggered us between 7:00 and 7:30.    This only influenced arrival times, but dinner was served to all passengers as a single group. 

[JanR]

Loved your review.  We are surprised by the lack of assistance on this cruise and Ushuaia while in port.  Fortunately for us, we didn't have that experience at all.  But as we have always said, each cruise is an experiment where N=1.

 

We have our third Atlas cruise booked for later this year and can not wait.  Atlas is quickly becoming our favorite cruise experience.

[HeartCruise]

Can anyone advise on what time you have to be off the ship on the day of departure. We are looking at flights fro Reykjavik back to the UK and we can either fly at 8:55am or take a later flight which would mean being at the airport at 10pm but if we have to be off the ship early with our luggage ir makes little sense booking a later flight....

[Bigdogwon]

I personally dont think you would be able to make the 8:55am flight, if the ship docks at 6:00am it must be cleared by port authority.  The ship will be 30-45 min drive to the airport and then check in security procedures etc. I wish you luck and let us know, I would hate to have to wait until 10pm.

[HeartCruise]

7 minutes ago, Bigdogwon said:

I personally dont think you would be able to make the 8:55am flight, if the ship docks at 6:00am it must be cleared by port authority.  The ship will be 30-45 min drive to the airport and then check in security procedures etc. I wish you luck and let us know, I would hate to have to wait until 10pm.

 

No it docks at 4pm the day before but we have been told not to book our flights til the following day so it's whether I go for the 855am flight or the later one.

[skiingj]

Nice review!  A couple points, Voyager was built before Navigator and Traveler for the German market.  It was transferred to Atlas last year.  Atlas is based in FLL and Mystic (parent and ship builder) who runs the ships operations is based Portugal.

[Primus]

Just returned from a cruise ending in Reykjavik.  We docked at 4 pm the day before the cruise ended.  A number of passengers had flights departing between 7 am and noon on the day of disembarkation.  There were no issues leaving the ship early, just don't put out your luggage in the hall the night before and reserve a taxi in advance.  We used Hreyfell taxi for 20,000 ISK to KEF.

[HeartCruise]

5 minutes ago, Primus said:

Just returned from a cruise ending in Reykjavik.  We docked at 4 pm the day before the cruise ended.  A number of passengers had flights departing between 7 am and noon on the day of disembarkation.  There were no issues leaving the ship early, just don't put out your luggage in the hall the night before and reserve a taxi in advance.  We used Hreyfell taxi for 20,000 ISK to KEF.

 

I suspect we were on the same cruise. Our flight was at 855am the following day and we needed to be at the airport at 6:55am. We caught the flybus shuttle bus (£52 for us both) from the cruise terminal at 6am no need for an expensive taxi if you are looking for a cheaper alternative.

 

We have polar cruised with Ponant and Albatros before (Antarctica) and were disappointed with Atlas (not the destination but rather the company and in particular expedition staff).

 

We have never experienced an expedition cruise where staff made no effort for wildlife sightings. It wasn't that they didn't exist (lots of whale sightings on board by passengers) but no effort by expedition staff or the ship to slow down, spot wildlife etc. I asked numerous questions to expedition staff when on landings and they didn't know answers to questions such as if an island was inhabited (Hvalsey) and where the nearest inhabited settlement was. When we mentioned wildlife sightings to some of the expedition team we were told "it's not whale season" and "wildlife not as good as Antarctica". Disappointing..... I know it's not a zoo but the wildlife was there they just didnt make any effort. I spotted whales myself from our balcony which was next to the bridge and clearly saw staff in the bridge looking at them too but they just couldn't be bothered obviously!

 

On sea days we saw members of the expedition team browsing their social media in guest areas and it just felt like no effort was made.

 

Ship, food, generally other staff OK but we wouldn't cruise with them again on an expedition cruise.

 

[HeartCruise]

I should say we carried our luggage off the ship round 5:45am and all the other luggage was stacked up inside the ship and hadn't been unloaded so if you have an early departure just opt to carry it off yourself providing you are able to....

 

I should add we did enjoy Greenland immensely but Atlas need to up their game a bit. As wonderful as we found South Georgia and Antarctica, Greenland is also beautiful too and as experienced polar travellers we felt a bit let down.