Antartica Lunch MDR

We are on the upcoming Antartica Holiday Cruise. There are many sea days and expedition days where one is off the ship for about one hour, and we certainly hope the MDR will be open for lunch. Do any if you know if this is the case? On our last 21 day cruise it was only open twice and once was the market galley lunch.

Hopefully someone who has done this area will let us know. We are also sailing this route in February and it would be good to know if the MDR will be available for lunch.

Otherwise it will be a crush in the buffet area, as presumably outdoor eating is not an option.

Not the Antarctic, but just off 14 days Montreal to Fort Lauderdale and can confirm MDR was open for breakfast and lunch almist every day.

There was one day it was closed for lunch, unfortunately I can't remember which day/why.

This was a cool weather cruise for the first 10 days, so eating outdoors at The Colonnade wasn't possible, Patio Grill was also closed during that time. Obviously not as cold as Antarctica but some days it felt like it!

We were on the very first trip SB did to Antarctica and if I was clever enough to post photos, I would show one of us eating at the pool grill. It was open everyday. In fact there was a party of 4 who only ate there - they said it was the best food on board! We were dressed in our on shore gear and wrapped up in the rugs and with the heaters on we weren't cold. The white wine was beautifully chilled! I have to say it was a special experience and the scenery was spectacular. How many people can say they have had a BBQ in Antarctica?

If I remember correctly the DR was not open for lunch or breakfast and they used R2 when the Colonnade was overflowing.

The MDR was open for breakfast & lunch on our Dec 2015 Antarctic cruise. We also enjoyed eating lunch & dinner outside under the heat lamps at the Colonnade. The scenery and wildlife were spectacular [emoji4]

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We also preferred to eat there as well on our early Jan sailing

If you are quick there are a couple of photos here about the 0.40 min mark

http://www.seabourn.com/luxury-cruise-destinations/Antarctica-Patagonia

We were on the very first trip SB did to Antarctica and if I was clever enough to post photos, I would show one of us eating at the pool grill. It was open everyday. In fact there was a party of 4 who only ate there - they said it was the best food on board! We were dressed in our on shore gear and wrapped up in the rugs and with the heaters on we weren't cold. The white wine was beautifully chilled! I have to say it was a special experience and the scenery was spectacular. How many people can say they have had a BBQ in Antarctica?

 

If I remember correctly the DR was not open for lunch or breakfast and they used R2 when the Colonnade was overflowing.

Agreed Joc123, my wife hates the cold and surprised me when after our first landing in Antarctica she suggested eating at the Patio Grill. We ate there every lunchtime.

You need to download the app to post photos "Chairsin" posted this for me:-

"If you have the CC Forums app on your mobile device it is very easy. When you start to type a reply to a post you will see a grey circle with a plus sign inning to the left of that space. If you tap it it will put your reply in a box with a blue header. At the bottom are three icons -- tap the middle one and that will allow you to select a photo from your camera roll."

Below some of my shots (Dec 2014)

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Oh wow. I don't like cold weather either but hey an Antarctic alfresco lunch on our upcoming holiday cruise is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Mind you I don't think I will do it every day. Thanks for posting those terrific pictures.

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Oh wow. I don't like cold weather either but hey an Antarctic alfresco lunch on our upcoming holiday cruise is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Mind you I don't think I will do it every day. Thanks for posting those terrific pictures.

 

 

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Hi Chairsin, enjoy your cruise, I would go back to Antarctica on Quest tomorrow.

Don't you love the "bowl" they serve the soup in ( complete with lid)? Ask the Patio Chef to put your plate in the oven for your Pizza, it means that it stays nice and hot while you eat it ( although you need gloves to carry the plate. We took thin gloves that we kept specifically for when we were eating outside:) ) Cheers, Steven P

The most enjoyable lunches we had were on the patio when it was freeze your ... off

The food came hot and tasty because there were so few patrons. The deck was set with heaters and lots of snuggies

We ate in the MDR when the Patio was closed and the Drake was a heaving.... lots of entertainment from the flying glassware

My only disappoint was when the weather became tropical all and sundry reappeared at the Patio and seemed to expect to get premium service.....

The most enjoyable lunches we had were on the patio when it was freeze your ... off

 

The food came hot and tasty because there were so few patrons. The deck was set with heaters and lots of snuggies

 

We ate in the MDR when the Patio was closed and the Drake was a heaving.... lots of entertainment from the flying glassware

 

My only disappoint was when the weather became tropical all and sundry reappeared at the Patio and seemed to expect to get premium service.....

You calling me "sundry"? :D:D

We used the MDR a few times for lunch and breakfast. I never remember it being closed. Getting across the Drake was the best. One minute all you could see out of the windows was sky, the next minute it was ocean.

You calling me "sundry"? :D:D

 

:D:rolleyes: :D

Not in the least.....

Some people are premium to cruise with :)

We have done Antarctica twice on Crystal twice and we will be doing it again on Crystal in February from Valparaiso to Buenas Aires. This trip is truly magical. We are so looking forward to being Seabornized next year as we are looking at itineraries on the new Encore. The new Ovation should come out with them in the next year I hope.

Time for us to make the leap after cruising Crystal for twenty six years. Friends of ours have sailed both lines assured us we will be very happy. Crystal will not have a new modern ship for another four years or later. The Ovation I believe will sail in 2018.

I want to thank all the Seabourn peeps for answering my questions and concerns the last couple of years. I have one final question. What is the top suite called? Ok maybe two. What do you think of the Winter Garden suite? I know you do not have butlers would we miss that? That was three...sorry.

Thank you to everyone for the replies and pictures. I am certainly looking forward to lunch at the patio grill all wrapped up to keep warm.

We sailed the Norwegian Fjords and everyone else was inside as we sat on deck wrapped in blankets to enjoy the views. Brrrrrrr :):D

I have a related question. Since the wonderful Seabourn Square does not have the capacity to hold all 450 passengers where else do they hang out as most of our sea days will not be conducive to sitting around outside as per our past Med cruises?

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I have a related question. Since the wonderful Seabourn Square does not have the capacity to hold all 450 passengers where else do they hang out as most of our sea days will not be conducive to sitting around outside as per our past Med cruises?

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On rainy days, I enjoy going up to the Observation Bar to read. I've seen folks using the Game Room and The Club as their escape. Factor in spa time for some, naps, and lectures and I think the staff does a pretty good job of preventing traffic jams.

My understanding was that Seabourn was going to have many fewer passengers than the usual 450 in the Antarctic? Mainly so that everyone had the chance to go ashore each day when it mattered.

We are so glad we did the Antarctic some years ago when our limbs and joints were in really good condition - it was wonderful, and I would urge everyone who hopes to do this cruise to do so before they get a bit too old and creaky to climb in and out of Zodiacs.

We were on the Antarctica holiday cruise last year. The boat was full, so there were almost 450 passengers. They did a pretty good job of getting people to shore in zodiacs. However if you want to maximize your time on shore and that is your priority, Seabourn may not be the best choice as they have to rotate groups of 100 ashore which is almost an all day event. The way the crew rotate groups means limited time ashore and lots of time on the ship. Overall they did a good job and made it fairly easy on passengers. There were people onboard in their 80s and one lady in her 90s and they all did landings. There was also a disabled guy who the crew made a point of getting ashore. Overall great trip and crew. I'm ready to go again......

I am glad it worked, however, Seabourn definitely said before starting these cruises that there would not be a full complement of passengers on board in the Antarctic.

On a recent Mediterranean cruise Odyssey was full and it certainly felt like it. Being able to sit outside was what saved the day. No way will we be doing a cold weather cruise - it would be standing room only inside if the ship is fully booked!

I understand that 400 is the max in the Antarctic

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I just looked at the passenger list from last years holiday cruise. 406 passengers.

And yes the MDR was open for lunch although we didn't use it much. We were able to eat outside at the colonnade or patio grill several of the days.

So I tried a bit of googling and reviewing the Seabourn brochure but I am unable to correct me up with seating capacity in the Square, Obs Bar and Club. Doing a fought count of the seats in the Square I come up with 100-115. I would estimate the Obs Bar is about the same and the Club a bit bigger. Question is do three provide seating for 400-450 people?

As to the statement regarding the Seabourn Antarctica cruise being less intense than a true expedition cruise I fully appreciate that. While we have enjoyed some wonderful expedition cruises with Lindblad/National Geographic we balanced comfort with more expedition outings and felt on this particular voyage Seabourn was a better fit for us.

Do over -- please read " come up " rather than "connect" and "rough count" instead of "fought."

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They only booked 400 for our cruise (4x100 groups)

It was never really crowded inside. They also had a multitude of things on so people were spread around.

e.g. There might be 2 or 3 talks happening. One in the bar, one in the Theatre and something on deck.