No Antarctica?

[digby]

I got an email from Oceania with a promotion for next winter's cruises around the tip of South America. I noticed that they are not going to Antarctica on any of these cruises. We took the 12/17 cruise in 2004 which did go to Antarctica, and it was the highlight of the entire cruise for us. Why, I wonder, did they drop that part of the itnerary? Our cruise was 17 days, and the upcoming ones will be 15 days.

[noel07]

Digby, I totally agree with you. The Antarctic was the highlight of that trip. However, there were a few murmurings of discontent from passengers (but not me) who thought there were too many sea days. Also, you will recall that the Insignia had trouble keeping to the schedule after the Antarctic portion. They were late getting to Puerto Madryn and all of the tours had to be canceled. Perhaps Oceania just want so to keep things simple.

[digby]

Yes, it was too bad we got into Puerto Madryn too late for the excursions to the penguin colony, but I would not have exchanged that experience with the one of visiting Antarctica. As for the number of sea days, we all knew in advance there would be 12 out of 17 days at sea. Many of those days were spent going through spectacular scenery. I thought the whole trip was one of the best I've ever taken.