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 ...
Pros
We enjoyed the ship and the atmosphere. The furnishing were tasteful and quite comfortable.
Surprisingly we enjoyed the entertainment. It was fun and not over the top. I was not expecting it to be as good as it was.
The service and attitudes were really great.
The Chef's table was very good.
The cabin design especially the bathroom was exceptional.
Room service breakfasts ...
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 ...
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 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 ...
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 ...