We have taken approximately 50 ocean voyages on several different cruise lines, trying each of those lines multiple times in our attempt to develop rounded and fair assessments. We're in our 70s, so some cruise lines - while perfect for families or the younger partying set - don't appeal to us. We have developed a short list of our favorites and longer list of our "never agains". Prior to this ...
This is a journal of our February 27-March 12, 2024, “Exploring the Chilean Fjords” land/expedition package on the Ponant L’Austral. The package includes one night at a 5-star hotel in Buenos Aires, flights and transfers to/from Ushuaia, and 13 nights aboard the L’Austral.
We had cruised from Valparaiso to Rio de Janeiro around Cape Horn in 2011 aboard the Star Princess ...
We've talked about an Antarctic cruise for years...we like Ponant, and we are Smithsonian fans, so when the combination came up this seemed a good omen.
We were extremely pleased to find superb support, assistance and communications from the Ponant-Smithsonian Journeys representative. She was in touch early and often. We had a couple of glitches and in each case were helped through the ...
My recent cruise to Antarctica Feb 2024 with Silvercloud left a lot to be desired, firstly I chose Silversea because I wanted a safer bigger cruise that had more experience with Antarctica instead of their smaller newer competitors and also how they pride themselves of having 5 dining outlets. (Both to be very wrong of me, seasoned expedition guides basically switch from different companies all ...
We had been told it was for adults only and that you didnt have to Dress for dinner! Also it was an expedition boat so that we could go onto the land and I also wanted to kayak so I thought we would get some exercise. I also enjoyed the spa and the staff there were spectacular however I only discovered the hairdresser on the last day! I looked at the cabin and it seemed spacious as did the ...
We always were interest in a trip to Antarctica. This one fit our schedule and the price was good when the sale opened up. We really lucked out having good weather for our expeditions and the drake passage was smooth both going down and coming back. It was nice to having all the expeditions so well planned and organized. The science discussions and work on the ship was a very nice touch and ...
Loved seeing antarctica. we booked as former fans of regent after 5 previous trips. The voyager is a nice boat with fun circular pool bar where we have enjoyed meeting many friends on past trips. however, the boat is looking somewhat shabby and needs a rehab to put it back to 5 star status. while the staff people are great, they seemed stressed/training mode now, from what we observed (lack of ...
We booked this cruise while we were on an Azamara Journey sailing in October. Antarctica had long been on our bucket list and the deal that was offered was too good to pass up. We had debated doing an expedition cruise, but had done one in the Arctic and ended up being totally disappointed. While we didn't step foot on Antarctica during the cruise, we were able to see an amazing array of ...
I signed up for the pre-cruise hotel in Santiago. The Oceania staff at the Intercontinental were very helpful and the bus ride to the port of San Antonio was informative. Check-in went fairly smoothly. The Marina is well maintained and my Deluxe Oceanview Cabin was great. The staff on-board was very friendly, happy and helpful. I ate often at the Grand Dining Room and enjoyed all of my meals ...
We chose this cruise due to the itinerary, which included 3 days of sailing in Antarctica. This was our first time on Oceania, having cruised many times on Celebrity in the past. We thought that Oceania would be a bit of an upgrade from Celebrity due to the price-point and the smaller ship design. We arrived in Santiago 3 days before the cruise but planned our own time there and did not ...