On the Explorer now

We are mid way through the classic Antarctica itinerary and couldn't be more pleased. We are not big SS fans, primarily because of a sub-par Shadow outing a few years ago, therefore, we booked this cruise with some apprehension. It has exceeded our expectations in every way.

First of all, the crew is fantastic...cheerful, professional and competent. The food has been impressive, particularly given the supply limitations. We have particularly enjoyed the lavish spreads at lunch. As well, the expedition staff works very hard to provide interesting learning and viewing opportunities. Today's agenda included a penguin colony, Port Lockroy and a bonus sighting of a pod of Orcas. That's quite the trifecta.

Although the ship is relatively old, it feels clean and seems to function well. The demographic is a bit different than usual, with 45 of the approx. 100 guests hailing from China.

I will provide a more detailed review upon return and am happy to answer questions. In the meantime, I wanted to provide interim feedback for anyone interested.

Hope the rest of your cruise is just as great! Antarctica is amazing... Can't wait to return. Our first SS cruise was on Explorer, then named Prince Albert II, and it got us pretty much hooked on Silversea ever since.

We too loved the explorer, we took her to the Arctic. The expedition cruises are such fun, just ask Dr.Ron!

We hope to get to the Antarctic soon...so we look forward to your review.

My husband does have trepidation about the Drake passage, aka, the washing machine, and the four days one needs to traverse it going and coming.

Thanks for posting.

Looking forward to hearing more. We really want to do Antarctica in the future. Problem is that the cruises which include South Georgia island are all too long for us. And everyone is telling me not to go if you can't include South Georgia. What do you think?

We are also considering doing Antarctica but will probably wait until we earn a free one week cruise (in 2016 we hope) to do it. That will help soften the blow of the high price on explorer ships. We would probably opt for the longest cruise they offer figuring that it is a once in a lifetime trip and we would want to maximize the experience.

Rachel, we had the same dilemma, unable to take one of the longer cruises. I have heard that the other stops are glorious, but isn't that always true...that there is something wonderful that could be added to any trip? Of course I don't know what we are missing, but Antarctica does stand alone in being spectacular. So this has to be better than nothing. The other side

of the proverbial coin is that two weeks seems like a plenty long trip. The nature of this one-lots of gear and getting in and out of zodiacs every day -can be tiring, so I'm pretty sure I'll have had enough at the end of this week.

As for the Drake, our voyage down was termed "average" by the crew. Some people had a difficult time, but we were fine with over the counter meds. The cruise before ours had very rough passages both ways, so it is luck of the draw.

Thanks Otis.

Additionally I have been told by the Discoverer crew that South Georgia and the Falklands are not to be missed.

For us, this will likely be a once in a lifetime trip, since there are so many other places to go that we have not been. So we will try and maximize it.

I looked at all other cruise lines offering similar trips and did a cost analysis as well as a " most bang for the buck"...believe it or not SS came out on top. The biggest issue is the four days out of the trip for the drake, some of the cruise lines include time flying to BA and sleeping there before and after as part of the total experience. To me that is not part of the experience.

True the expedition trips are exhausting, all of the zodiac trips may be tiring too, but having done the Arctic, and the Alaska expedition, we know to pace ourselves. I had trouble sleeping in the Arctic as I didn't want to miss anything. Often I was the only one out on deck very early in the morning.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip Otis! I do have a question about the flight from BA to Usu

Sorry hit send before finished typing. When did you arrive in BA to get the flight to Ushuaia ?i know one has to take the silversea charter flight and that is added into the cost of the trip on top of the quoted price. Thanks

Before I respond to Spinnaker's question, we just learned that the weather forecast for the Drake passage is causing us to cut our stay in Antarctica by one day, which happened with the last cruise, as well. The Captain wants to beat a very strong storm that is predicted. We will end up in Ushuaia a day early and just do some trips off the ship. It is clearly a safety issue and people seem absolutely fine and understanding of the situation.

As to the BA to Ushuaia flight, we spent two nights in BA on our own prior to the charter. Silversea requests passengers to arrive in BA one day in advance. I do think one or two people did miss the charter, so I wouldn't cut it too close. The charter day was rather tedious:

We had to be at the airport two hours before our 9:05 AM flight. We landed at around 1 PM and were taken to a local restaurant for a two hour lunch followed by a few "scenic" stops on our bus. All of this was time killing to allow the ship to be prepared.

We're almost set to book the longer Antarctic cruise Jan 2016. As been mentioned, "once in a lifetime". One plus: only one Drake Passage transit. Only 1 prior Silversea cruise: Spirit a few years back.

Wife not keen on Antarctica, so figured only way to get her to go was on luxury expedition ship! Would not consider Lindblad for her.

Looking forward to hearing more. We really want to do Antarctica in the future. Problem is that the cruises which include South Georgia island are all too long for us. And everyone is telling me not to go if you can't include South Georgia. What do you think?

We didn't do South Georgia, but had a ball in Antarctica on Explorer...go for it!

Before I respond to Spinnaker's question, we just learned that the weather forecast for the Drake passage is causing us to cut our stay in Antarctica by one day, which happened with the last cruise, as well. The Captain wants to beat a very strong storm that is predicted. We will end up in Ushuaia a day early and just do some trips off the ship. It is clearly a safety issue and people seem absolutely fine and understanding of the situation.

 

As to the BA to Ushuaia flight, we spent two nights in BA on our own prior to the charter. Silversea requests passengers to arrive in BA one day in advance. I do think one or two people did miss the charter, so I wouldn't cut it too close. The charter day was rather tedious:

We had to be at the airport two hours before our 9:05 AM flight. We landed at around 1 PM and were taken to a local restaurant for a two hour lunch followed by a few "scenic" stops on our bus. All of this was time killing to allow the ship to be prepared.

We were on that previous cruise, and as stated, capt said there was a storm coming and cut short the itinerary by a day- as sailors we studied the same forecasting sites and couldn't see where the storm was coming from, beginning to wonder if SS do it to cut the trip short for a longer turnround in USH!

It is not compulsory to take the charter flight, BTW.

QM2 we had the same thought about the impending 'Storm' as we too rushed back a day early in January 2014. I have yet to hear of anyone who hasn't rushed back.

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We have been twice to Antarctica on the Silver Explorer and on both occasions we arrived in the afternoon before the day of disembarkation apparently because of an incoming storm. The first time there was actually a storm but we still arrived so early that we were crawling along once we got to Cape Horn. The second time, the sea remained calm throughout the return journey. A member of the expedition team actually told us the first time that they always arrive in Ushuaia on the previous day to that advertised, so the crew can go ashore that evening. Needless to say, we weren't too surprised when this happened the second time!

We were on that previous cruise, and as stated, capt said there was a storm coming and cut short the itinerary by a day- as sailors we studied the same forecasting sites and couldn't see where the storm was coming from, beginning to wonder if SS do it to cut the trip short for a longer turnround in USH!

It is not compulsory to take the charter flight, BTW.

-Interesting that so many people have had to turn back early from this itinerary. We are not sailors, so we just accepted it as presented.

-While taking the charter flight isn't compulsory, paying for it is. Here, from SS:

Purchase of Silver Explorer Air Charter Packages is required regardless of utilisation. Additional restrictions may apply.