“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.”
“Loved our cruise to Antarctica. The cruise ship was clean and comfortable. The food was great. The tour guides were extremely knowledgeable. We were lucky on this trip to have a very calm Drake Passage. The weather was good, and we only missed one landing due to the weather.”
“Every thing went well, except for a driver in Uschia who did not turn up to take me to the ship. The ship was fabulous and the excursions were memorable and well planned. I was able to get to and see all that I had wanted from this trip.”
“On many occasions we wondered if the staff had ever done this before, as things did not go well. Staff lectures contained misspelled words on their slides. Monika's lectures were terrific! She kept us informed about changes in the itinerary, and weather updates. We were disappointed in the biologists who only spotted one group of whales despite a promise that they were continually watching from the bridge. Most of the whale sightings were by passengers. On sea days the staff were seldom visible to we passengers, perhaps because they were putting together lectures, as they admitted that they had "run out of" halfway through the trip. On one occasion in rough seas, 4 travelers were swept out of the zodiacs. Upon returning from our last island visit, we were waiting outside on the lower deck, standing and chilled, for over an hour to get our boots cleaned before being allowed to go into the ship. There was the explanation that one of the power hoses was broken, but during this time, the staff members were seen to walk right past us from the zodiacs into the ship. Also for most of the time that we were waiting, there was only one staff member cleaning boots. Some creative problem solving would have been appreciated. The dining rooms are small with barely enough chairs the ceiling is low and metal, so the noise level is very problematic. Lunch and dinner meals take well over an hour, apparently because the kitchen is too small to produce enough meals in a timely fashion. Vegetarian meals were monotonous serving textured soy protein most days. The breakfast buffet space is a small u-shaped area that is consistently backed up. Thankfully there is a linear breakfast buffet in a side room which works well. The stairways are located from starboard to port and vice versa, so that they are dangerous as the ship rolls from side to side in the seas. There are insufficient handrails to grasp, so that getting from place to place during moderate seas is challenging. There were several falls and tumbles among the passengers. There are insufficient handrails in the bathrooms and the guest rooms as well. One passenger got his finger smashed by a door as he was getting out of the shower. A handrail near the shower in the bathroom would have prevented that. There is only 23 inches of space between the top bunk and the ceiling. I banged my head on a daily basis. Thankfully there is a side rail or I surely would have fallen out as the ship rolled in moderate and high seas which were frequent on our trip. The stairs to the top bunk were challenging, especially in moderate and high seas, see photo. The woodwork shows wear and storage space is insufficient. The ship provides waterproof boots, but unlike others, we were not given a parka, hat etc. Waterproof pants, parka and gloves are a must, and I recommend a waterproof camera.”
“Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica by Hurtigruten is perfect. Great comfort and amenity, amazing expedition team, awesome destinations, 2 landings a day.”
