Excellent cruise from Rio to Lisbon. Very friendly staff. Atmosphere is upscale-casual: Few men wore sport jackets at any time. Ship was about 3/4 full, with almost all passengers being in their fifties and up. There were no children. Large mix of nationalities (US, UK, Canada, Australia, etc.). It got a bit rocky towards the end of the cruise and the captain chose to skip the Madeira port of ...
We had not been to South America prior to this sailing. Cruise was lovely and relaxing. We went in three days earlier to visit Buenos Aires. Beautiful city and lots of cultural things to do. Some of the smaller ports were very interesting we liked Buzios.
I would be nice if the simply more excursion money could be used for additional items like the beverage package. One of our tours was ...
Chose this cruise for the experience of up close viewing of the glaciers. Riding on the zodiacs and the Special Operations Boat was great fun. The science staff was informative on the area and explained what is happening to the world glaciers. The staff was great and helpful in making this expedition cruise enjoyable.
All the glaciers were different. The foul weather boots and pants were great ...
This expedition cruise aboard the Viking Polaris fulfilled a dream to visit Patagonia. We flew into Buenos Aires and were housed at the Intercontinental Hotel by Viking. My traveling companion and I had booked a spot on a free walking tour of the city to pass the afternoon before check-in. The next morning we were flown by Viking charter to Ushuaia, Argentina, where we boarded the Polaris. It ...
I had never been to South America and this cruise covered a big number of interesting places -- without being too long or having too many "days at sea". We saw a great deal in Chile, Cape Horn, Uraguay and Argentina in 18 days. The food, service, friendliness, quality, entertainment, cleanliness, activities, and facilities were all great! We had to pass on the Falklands due to safety issues, so be ...
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 voyage of discovery to Antarctica, South Georgia, and Falkland Islands on Eclipse 1 with my husband (John) is nothing but praise. We were welcomed on board by the Captain. Followed through into the lounge area where we met the Restaurant Manager who remembered us from a previous cruise. We were introduced to many crew. After a welcoming drink and made to feel special, it was time to ...
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 ...