Back from M/V Discovery - Voyages of Discovery

[motordavid]

Apology for the tardy post. We did the Antarctic Peninsula cruise from Jan 4 through Jan 17, 2008. Miami overnight to Buenos Aires, 3 days in BA, (I had been there a dozen times on biz), then 4 hr flight south to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Board the ship, sail the dreaded Drake Passage, and chug around the Antarctic penisula and the South Shetland Islands.

 

Trip was nearly indescribable: scale of scenery is amazing. Ship is old, but good, cabin was tiny, food ok. Lucky weather including a full sunny day. Made 4 Zodiac landings and one Zodiac drive around the bergs trip. Only 380+/- passengers; on board lectures were excellent. Time on board was mostly spent outside, bundled up in supplied parkas, leaning on the rail, looking and taking pics.

 

The travel to and fro, is time consuming and tiring; the BA/Ushuaia section is clearly to "collect" everyone and their luggage from flying-in points all around the globe. A full 14+ days, door to door. Interestingly, it appears the MV Discovery will not be doing this Antarctica only itinerary in '08 and on. We got as far south as 64+ degs. latitude. Long crossing on the Drake was good going over and a lil' rolly polly on the return, but we dodged the dreaded usual weather.

 

It is a once in a lifetime trip...hard to describe the beauty and scenery.

A few pics attached and also our Yahoo Flickr Link which has 5 sections of very rigorously edited photos from the trip.

 

Thanks for looking.

Best Regards,

motordavid

 

Yahoo Flickr Link for Antarctica trip pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45275375@N00/collections/72157603779297169/

[MMDown Under]

Thanks so much for sharing your photographs.

 

As they say a picture speaks a thousand words.

[Mel]

Hi Ramona and any other Antarctic cruisers,

 

I can't see where you have posted anything about your Antarctic cruise on the Discovery after your return. How was it? We travelled with the Discovery on May 31st to Iceland and we loved the ship, service and food, however because of a bearing failure which occurred at least 5 weeks before our cruise they had to cut out the ports of Flam in Norway and we also weren't able to make it into Torshavn in the Faroe Islands which was VERY disappointing. We're still fighting about compensation and they still haven't refunded us the amount we paid for the shore excursions in ports that we didn't end up getting to!

 

We had planned on taking either the Discovery or Nordnorge to the Antarctic in December or January of 2008/09 but I see that the Nordnorge is being sold and the Fram will be the only Hurtigruten ship doing the Antarctic. Can't decide about the Discovery.

 

If anyone has any comments about either of these ships and their itineraries, I would love to hear them. We would prefer to do the Falklands and South Georgia on the same cruise since it isn't likely that we will ever get back there!

 

Also, has anyone used Vantage Travel for Antarctic cruises? We gave them a $1,000. deposit a few months ago so we would be the first to know about Antarctic cruises when they had arranged them, but haven't heard anything since.

 

I look forward to hearing comments from previous cruisers. Mel

[Enjoyin' Life]

Mel, I'm not sure what to say but if I had a choice, I'd go with Hurtigruten and not Discovery. I'm not sure if it was the itinerary that we selected or just the atmosphere but the Antarctica portion of our trip, which is why we went, was almost a total bust. The ship leaked in the hallways constantly. Due to circimstances beyond their control we had a medical emergency that had our first stop diverted to a different port. The plane taking us from BA to Ushuaia was late so no one got to spend any time at that port. The weather was such that we had one nice day in Antarctica and then started up the Chilean fjords. Nice, but I'd rather had done more in Antarctica. I think if I were to spend that kind of money I'd rather take an itinerary that focused only on Antarctica and not do what we did and include the fjords.

Did that help?

[Mel]

Hi 'Enjoyin Life',

Thanks for your reply. Did you really only have one day in the Antarctic, or only one NICE day? How many days were originally planned for there? As you probably saw on my earlier message, our Discovery cruise itinerary to Norway and Iceland was completely messed up because of a bearing problem with the ship so I'm starting to wonder if itinerary changes are par for the course with Discovery. It's too bad, because we really quite liked the ship, food and crew. As you say, the Antarctic is the main focus of this trip so we wouldn't want to mess with that. We really would like to include the Falklands and South Georgia on this trip and Hurtigruten is not doing that any more, but the Discovery does have one cruise that includes them. It's a tough decision to make... Mel

[CruiseIsGood]

Weather and injuries can always mess up a trip that far from any ports. I loved my Discovery trip. I don't know how I could exceed it. Smaller ships with more stops carry much higher risks on the Drake passage. My passage was fine but I've heard of smaller ships arriving in Ushuaia in need of many ambulances.

 

Don't expect perfection, just expect an adventure. :)

[Jade13]

 

We had booked our own flights on Aerolineas Argentinas. I would NEVER use that airline again!!!

 

Can you elaborate? We may be using them to the falls and A&K may use them to get us to the port.

[Jade13]

Hi Ramona and any other Antarctic cruisers,

 

I can't see where you have posted anything about your Antarctic cruise on the Discovery after your return. How was it? We travelled with the Discovery on May 31st to Iceland and we loved the ship, service and food, however because of a bearing failure which occurred at least 5 weeks before our cruise they had to cut out the ports of Flam in Norway and we also weren't able to make it into Torshavn in the Faroe Islands which was VERY disappointing. We're still fighting about compensation and they still haven't refunded us the amount we paid for the shore excursions in ports that we didn't end up getting to!

 

We had planned on taking either the Discovery or Nordnorge to the Antarctic in December or January of 2008/09 but I see that the Nordnorge is being sold and the Fram will be the only Hurtigruten ship doing the Antarctic. Can't decide about the Discovery.

 

If anyone has any comments about either of these ships and their itineraries, I would love to hear them. We would prefer to do the Falklands and South Georgia on the same cruise since it isn't likely that we will ever get back there!

 

Also, has anyone used Vantage Travel for Antarctic cruises? We gave them a $1,000. deposit a few months ago so we would be the first to know about Antarctic cruises when they had arranged them, but haven't heard anything since.

 

I look forward to hearing comments from previous cruisers. Mel

 

We chose the Minerva for Antarctica. We have not been yet but the fact that A&K takes credit cards was a deciding factor. We are not comfortable with the ships that require wired money...

[pacmom]

Mel,

 

We are also interested in Vantage to the antartic. Please let us know about their 2009 sailings when you hear. Thanks, Pat

[Mel]

The Nordnorge has been sold by Hurtigruten, and the Fram is the only ship that will be doing the Antarctic by them this winter. The Fram's itinerary does not appeal to us (doesn't include either the Falklands or South Georgia). I called Vantage since I hadn't heard from them, and they confirmed this. Apparently they haven't firmed up their Antarctic sailings yet, probably because of the changes in ships.

[Tarheelbelle]

Sorry for your experience, Enjoyin'Life. We had no leaks and I loved the ship and crew. I had a fantastic cruise, but as the Captain said every time a landing was planned, "As always, everything is weather and ice dependent." I hardly think the weather was the fault of the Discovery officers and crew. Would you have had them risk lives to try a landing in bad conditions? We too had several disappointments, but the overall experience was wonderful.

[Mel]

Hi, this is a message for Tarheelbelle or anyone else who sailed on the Discovery to Antarctica in 2007/2008. We are booked on the December 26th/08 sailing to the Falklands, S. Georgia and Antarctica. We are really looking forward to it, however have heard a lot about the engines on the Discovery not being fixed and that this has been going on for a long time. Did any of you have any problems with speed or other problems with the engines that they told you about when you were on it? I would really appreciate any feedback as I do not want to make our final payment until we are sure that the ship is safe and can do the cruise.

[Louise22]

You might want to read the running commentary that has been on going at "Cruise Lines A-O" and then the last entry "Other Cruise Lines". I don't think I would be happy cruising with them reading about how they have been treating their passengers.

[Tarheelbelle]

Hi, this is a message for Tarheelbelle or anyone else who sailed on the Discovery to Antarctica in 2007/2008. We are booked on the December 26th/08 sailing to the Falklands, S. Georgia and Antarctica. We are really looking forward to it, however have heard a lot about the engines on the Discovery not being fixed and that this has been going on for a long time. Did any of you have any problems with speed or other problems with the engines that they told you about when you were on it? I would really appreciate any feedback as I do not want to make our final payment until we are sure that the ship is safe and can do the cruise.

 

Mel,

The engine problem had not occurred during my cruise in January of this year.

I hope that you have a great cruise and adventure. Please post when you return.

[Mel]

Hi Tarheelbelle,

I see that you went to the La Ventana Tango show in Buenos Aires and booked it through the Discovery tour desk. Do you remember approximately how much it cost for the dinner/show? La Ventana has a website where you can prebook at a price of $90. US p/p which includes the dinner and show and pick up and drop off at your hotel - and also includes a bottle of wine for every two people and a bottle of champagne if you book it online - I can't decide what to do!

[podnposie]

Hi, this is a message for Tarheelbelle or anyone else who sailed on the Discovery to Antarctica in 2007/2008. We are booked on the December 26th/08 sailing to the Falklands, S. Georgia and Antarctica. We are really looking forward to it, however have heard a lot about the engines on the Discovery not being fixed and that this has been going on for a long time. Did any of you have any problems with speed or other problems with the engines that they told you about when you were on it? I would really appreciate any feedback as I do not want to make our final payment until we are sure that the ship is safe and can do the cruise.

 

I'm also sailing on the Discovery 12/26/08 trip. Mel, did you find out anything else about the La Ventana show. It looks good. The Shore Excursion booklet says it costs $65 us but it looks as if that doesn't include dinner.

 

Trina

[Mel]

Hi Trina,

Here is the website for La Ventana: http://www.laventanaweb.com/shop/productos.php?idioma=en

If you click on 'Buy Now' under the dinner/show picture, it looks like the price for dinner and the show, including pickup and drop off at your hotel, a bottle of wine per two people and a bottle of champagne (I have been told that you should print out the part about the champagne and take it with you, since the waiters don't always seem to know about it!). The show only (with a bottle of wine and a bottle of champagne and coffee and petit fours is $60.00 US p/p. I think we will prebook online for the dinner and show. We haven't received our documents yet (but we live in Canada so not surprising....). Can't wait!

Mel

[podnposie]

Mel,

 

Thanks for the info. I think I'll also make reservations for the dinner and show on-line. I don't know how they handle solo travelers but from what I read, there are plenty on Discovery. So, for any other single travelers who are considering the show, there will be others going.

 

It won't be long now...

 

Trina