How satisfied were you with the planning of your itinerary?
“I loved every second of my trip. Antarctica has been a life changer and it has been the best trip of my life so far. I would highly recommend to anyone to embark on this adventure! Thank you Chimu for this experience.”
“Jewels of Antarctica indeed! Amazing trip! We had a wonderful time in Antartica, beginning at the introduction meeting in Ushuaia to the spectacular wildlife in Antarctica. The trip: This trip was worth every penny and every second. You've seen pictures of Antarctica, you think you know what to expect, just to be blown away when you are there for yourself. The Drake Passage (ok, not my favourite, but part of the experience), massive icebergs, huge mountains (I somehow did not expect that), the wildlife... We were very lucky with the great amount of humpback whales and seals we have seen. And penguins are just amazing little creatures! The organisation: Nothing to complain, we felt very comfortable. First of all: compliments to the kitchen, we gained a few pounds, but the food was worth it. The Oceanwide expedition statt held very interesting lectures and cared for us during our landings. There was even one Chimu representative on board who was all around, checking with passengers, cared for organisational stuff and was available for questions during the whole day. All in all I can recommend this trip with Chimu!”
“The expedition part of the trip from boarding the Hondius on Sunday 26 January to disembarkation on Wednesday 5 February went flawlessly. On days when weather did not permit the shore or zodiac excursions to take place the expedition team always had a number of lectures up their sleeve in order to fill in time. The lectures were not just fillers but were interesting and relevant. For me, the most interesting lecture was towards the end of the trip when Eduardo presented a talk on surviving the Antropocene Era. This is an unofficial name for the current era since mankind started to walk the earth. Since my time as a student at university, I knew that the earth's climate moved in cycles and that there have been periods of global warming and global cooling. Since the current discussion on global warming began, I have been searching for scientific proof of how much man and his industrial legacy is contributing to the current problem. Eduardo's paper clearly presented the effect that man is having on the pattern of global warming. He presented a large number of graphs illustrating the effect. My request to Chimu is to request a copy of the graphs from Eduardo (probably through the operator Oceanwide Adventures). I would be very interested in obtaining a copy for myself. With respect to the Chimu side of the trip, I do have a couple of suggestions. On Saturday 25, there was a meeting of Chimu clients to discuss boarding procedures and, in the words of Chimu, for the participants to have a chance to meet one another. Sandra made a good job of explaining the process for the following day, but then that was it. I would have thought that to encourage participants to meet one another, Chimu could have provided a glass of wine or beer and a few nibbles to encourage participants to stay around for a little bit. Once on the ship, Sandra was basically missing in action. We did see her from time to time and she was around to promote the Mawson Foundation auction, but other than that - nothing. The Oceanwide Adventure guides made a point of sitting at tables with guests during all meals. Not once did we see Sandra doing the same. As the Chimu rep on board, I would have thought that it would have been part of her responsibility to talk to as many Chimu guests as it was possible during the 11 days that we had together. If you have any questions regarding my comments above, please do not hesitate to call me. Kind Regards Nick”
“Hard to be critical of anything concerning this fantastic trip but a few things deserve mentioning. First I would not recomend the hotel I stayed at in Ushuaia or the National Park tour there.”
“Chimu arranged everything from the Antartic cruise to our hotels, pickups and tours in Argentina. Everything went like clockwork. The small ship Hondius and its staff meet all of our expectations, they are a very professional team looking after all our needs.The meals were very good and the bar prices very resonable but they could use local beer not European!”
“Pick ups and drop offs at each airport in each country on time and professional - welcome Letters and some local contact information provided either by driver or was awaiting at hotel. We had call to ring representatives a couple of times and always easy to do, promptly answered and dealt with. We have two issues though - one in Atacama where the person picking us up insisted on us filling out all sorts of forms for liability for Tierra Atacama when we were travelling through the town to get to our accommodation- we totally missed seeing the town which was a mining town and would have been really interesting- more annoying that we then filled out similar liability forms at Tierra Atacama so there was no need to do those first forms. In respect of our wonderful Antarctica part of the trip - we are still wondering what the Chimu representative on board was there for. a personal holiday probably as she made zero effort to interact with anyone, never sat at our tables, never said hello or how are you going. Didn’t realise she was a Chimu rep until the night of the auction and even then when she had opportunity to interact with us as we were buying tickets she didn’t bother to do more than sell the tickets. Same at tend when organising luggage and transfers to airport. Perfunctory at best and not one “how are you enjoying the trip?” Etc - such a contrast to another group on board and to the Oceanwide staff themselves.”
