We were also on the Nome to Nome cruise and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. it was an expedition that could not do what it planned for a number of good reasons, the main one being a totally unpredicted and unusual amount of sea ice off the north east Siberian coast due to Siberian forest fires. This meant we were unable to land on Wrangel island, nor reach the planned refuelling port of Plevek which was closed due to sea ice.

But we went on this cruise to see whales, birds, polar bears and walrus and had wonderful sightings of grey whales, humpbacks, walrus both on ice and in a massive haul out and some amazing bird cliffs. The closure of Plevek meant a diversion to Anadyr where we had the fantastic bonus of the ship being surrounded by beluga whales while in port. The only disappointment was that we did not have better or closer sightings of polar bears but, with the amount of sea ice around allowing them to disperse, that was unlikely anyway.

We have now done seven cruises on Silver Explorer and continue to love the ship and the expedition experience. There were a few people aboard whose unreasonable displeasure was a poison and helped to create a sense of dissatisfaction in a number of other passengers. But a generous credit has been given by Silversea to all the passengers and we look forward to travelling with them again Read more