VACruiser123

Are you going to create an actual precruise experience for your booked guests? We went with Atlas to Antarctica and it was a great trip once is started; however, the lack of even so much as a "Welcome to Atlas" email was unnerving to some degree. No customer portal, no direct communication...that needs to change if you want to compete at this price point. I also think the food can step up a bit. The meats on our trip was terribly under-seasoned across the board and the desserts were underwhelming. The ships ARE gorgeous and the crew was really friendly, if under trained in the dining room. Best of luck - I DO want you to be wildly successful in the market.

We loved our Antarctica trip on Atlas...BUT the precruise comm from Atlas is ZERO...nada...makes you a bit nervous I admit but the actual charter flights and cruise were no drama affairs. Now to each their own but I have been on Seabourn and Celebrity suites. For the same price and itinerary. For ME it is 1. Seabourn 2. Atlas 3. Celebrity in a suite And I would NEVER switch that order if they are the same(ish) price and location. Atlas is NOT a luxury line like Seabourn but the ships ARE drop dead gorgeous and the all inclusive nature of the cruise and the very small ship really is more like a "yacht" than a cruise ship...and it is a much more pleasantly relaxed and "upscale" than a Celebrity ship. There are some letdowns in the food area...but I do think overall it is "very good" and has the chance to get much better. We actually thought the sit down dinners were weaker than the lunch buffet...and we are normally not buffet eaters on main line ships...shrugs...like I said to each their own. Edit - Oh, I can't speak to the quality or lack of in the wine...I would not touch spoiled grape juice on a bet...I grew up in the 60's in the south and never saw a bottle of the stuff...strictly beer or liquor in every house I was ever in...and that is what I drink today...beer or liquor. And the coffee was excellent.

We loved our expedition! Having said that, the dinner service is probably the weak point at this time. It is not near sublime like a Seabourn etc. luxury line...nor is it mechanically efficient like HAL or Celebrity; it is...different. The attitude of the staff is excellent...full stop..they are happy and they are trying. I think they are still figuring out how to run the dining room operation for a full sit down service where everybody just literally wanders in willy nilly. They do NOT cut corners on the quality...fresh squeezed OJ even on the last day and a couple of days with plate sized giant prawns and a lobster night as well. The menu items may not all be to your liking and some of their takes on classics could/will? improve. I did not care for the soups since they were essentially all weak broths unless it said "cream". I think their riff on the French Onion soup is a bad one. I think the proteins are very under seasoned but the chef added seasoning before cooking when asked. I actually thought the breakfast and lunch buffets were excellent...and that is from a person that frowns on main line buffets. There is a regional themed menu every night and the everyday menu has steak, salmon, chicken and mushroom pasta. I think that the ship is so beautiful that your expectations naturally move into the "luxury cruise" thoughts even though that is NOT what is advertised. The "yacht style" to me now means "upscale casual"...I would sail them again in a heartbeat...price depending of course. EDIT - I was on The World Navigator...also be warned, they put ketchup on the burgers...what sort of barbarian does that??? What is this...Mickie D's on the seas ;=)

Atlas did not include a hotel in our trip. We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference center. It was a nice hotel with and exceptional breakfast that was included.

Our cruise did not include a hotel pre or post cruise...just the charter flight itself and we had an email from our TA with the flight times and the time to be at the airport. We did not receive ANY communication direct from Atlas...not even a welcome aboard email. So far there comm style is...minimalist. Also our charter flight did not arrive in Ushuaia until about 6:30pm on departure day and left at 10:00am on arrival day so we saw very little of the town which is a shame. It looks like a place worth at least a day and maybe even worth bagging one end of the charter in order to arrive a day early. The main thing to know about Argentina is the the peso is junk and the ACTUAL exchange rate is ~350 to 1. Right now things like meals are VERY cheap in Buenos Aires. We had a dinner for four at a restaurant in San Telmo with some soft drinks/beer that ran under $50 and I had rib eye steak! PS we had a few CT's ride us here and there.

I can confirm others here...just back and it is AWFUL! Half the trip it is just not available and when it is...it is painfully slow and the data allowance is eaten up in a flash - one strategy is to have one of the two go dark if possible for the trip and just use one device for the two provided packages. That is what we did. EDIT - Do NOT think that you can "buy your way" into an acceptable internet environment...you can't because even when you do have availability it is way to slow and uneven to even attempt anything serious...do NOT go on this trip thinking you can carry on with essential business...it is very likely that you will not be able too...maybe, but maybe not. It is best to assume that this is a 9 day communication blackout trip with only the most basic of check ins.

Well we are home. The trip was excellent! I will say that Atlas delivered as advertised pretty much across the board. We had a rough passage across the Drake and an even worse return (worst of the season by far according to crew)...even had a gust of 92 knots! and some swells above 20ft. That said the ship handled it well...it was not seriously uncomfortable believe it or not...a little hard to get a deep sleep but otherwise well worth the discomfort to see the great white continent. The ship is easily the most beautiful and well appointed we have ever been on...well surpassing the Seabourn Odyssey which had been our previous bar to beat. The expedition team is excellent and we did make two continental landings in addition to South Shetland and peninsula island landings. The food itself is really good with a few hiccups...the proteins, especially the beef is generally way under seasoned...trying to salt it after being cooked is the WRONG answer...it results in a higher sodium load without creating the flavor that properly seasoned meat will develop while cooking. Having said that, Atlas is NOT cutting corners on the food budget and we had loads of fresh fruit AND actual fresh squeezed OJ the entire trip and if you are a coffee nut, there are at least three proper commercial espresso machines on the ship...so points there for sure in the food budget category. The dinner menus were not all to my liking but it is purely due to taste ( I can't stand lamb or fish...and when oh when will this dark chocolate craze finally die). The breakfast and lunch buffets actually flow better and are generally more pleasant than the dinner sittings are at this point. IMO, the biggest current improvement is for Atlas to figure out the dinner service flow...it is not quite there yet. BUT the staff were wonderful and friendly so I would say it adds up as a minor quibble as it is offset by their good attitudes. The housekeeping was excellent with two services a day and the rooms were outstanding. We came with two 28" suitcases and carryons and were easily able to put all our stuff away in the closet. I have no idea what people would possibly be bringing on a ship where they do not have enough space. There is MORE space in this closet than main line balcony staterooms. The entertainment consists of lectures/presentations by the expedition team, a pianist, and a couple of singing renditions by the cruise director. The crew talent show and auction/raffle was a fun event as well. You don't show up on a 400' ship and expect to have a lot of entertainment...if you do...well I would say that the antarctic is a MUST do if you have the financial means and your health. Atlas at the current pricing to me is as much a no brainer as it gets. It is an excellent experience...is it a "luxury" line like Seabourn, Silversea, or the like? Well, maybe not today, not overall, but they are really close...and they may well get there since they have the ships...they are over the top beauties and where they fall short is imminently fixable with more time to figure out what works best on these ships. If Atlas makes it, and I think they will, they will be commanding much higher fares in the future...and getting them.

Well, We fly to SA in less than a week and since I have not gotten anything from Atlas I called my TA...The TA called Atlas and they said that "nope we will not be sending anything"...because I booked inside the 60 day window or... something. The TA assured me that I am on the manifest booking that they have access too and Atlas assured the TA that all we do is show up to the check in counter for the charter flight from EZE on the 21st. I am not a needy traveler by any means...but to me this is unsat. Is it really so hard to print off some official looking stuff on their letterhead and throw it in the mail??? How about a "we are really excited that you will be on our expedition" email??? Instead...bupkis...nada. This to me is the first misstep in this process. Our group is actually going all the way to SA with nothing more than a Travel Agency confirmation email that we are on this cruise and zero ways to pull up any information on the Atlas website to "prove" that we are on the trip...WOW And yes we are using a well known and reputable OTA...the TA has been all I expect.

OK now THAT is pretty classy by a cruise line...I don't care who you are, you have to be impressed with that!

Update. 21 days out (20 depending on how you count it). So far no more communication after getting our charter flight information by email from our TA. No communication directly from Atlas on the trip at this point. This is not necessarily a bad thing. But reading between the lines across many boards on this site...I think more than a few folks will be unsettled with this level of communication. I don't think that Atlas is going to be a "handholding" type of communication experience. If you are the type of customer that needs regular "countdown" communication from a company as validation of your trip...I don't think you will be in love with this precruise experience. I think Atlas is going to be more of a skinny "what you need when you need it" type of approach to communication with you. I would keep that in mind and not be upset if you book with them and you are not getting all kinds of status and reminder communications from them. In addition the Atlas website has zero information about your booking. The My Atlas link just reopens the forms you already filled out (it does have a status bar showing completion of the steps)...again they are not big in delivering a customer epxerience of giving you visual validation of your booking. More to follow

What can you share about your Atlas experience? Ship, food, itinerary, procedures etc.

Congratulations on (shortly) having stood on the seven continents of the world...a rare feat and one I am anticipating next month. We think we will try for the camping as well and I have high hopes for this expedition but am trying to stay realistic. This is easily the most we have ever spent on a cruise but it is also the best value Antarctic cruise we have come across as well. I intend to try to focus on the latter vs the former. Safe travels.

We are on the Feb 21st 9 day sailing on World Navigator.

This is a dead board so I figured I would put some content here. The Antarctic is a bucket list item for me as it is the last of the seven continents for me to visit. During the world gone mad days of 2020/21 we had a "steal deal" on Silversea that was about $5500 pp that ended up being cancelled due to the insanity. We took our refund and never looked back. I survey cruise deals on a regular basis and came across the Atlas "two for one" deal that came out to just over $4400 PP including taxes and fees. For an all inclusive expedition with continent landings and RT charter flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, it does not get cheaper than that from what I have seen. The fact that is on a new ship that is "lux" (near luxury?) and looks beautiful in pictures and has had people confirm that the World Navigator is as advertised in the case of the ship itself...that was all we needed to book. We booked with an OTA and there were no issues at all with that process. I had a minor concern when I found out that Atlas was not open on the day (Sunday) that I called the OTA to get detailed quotes for differing cabin/occupancy options. My thinking was that hopefully this was not a "teaser" rate that would not hold up but there was no issue at all with the quotes. There is no 3rd person occupancy availability and the single rate is double...so the same cost as two people less the taxes/fees for the missing person. Anyway we pulled the trigger and made the booking. So far the process had been pretty much in line with every other cruise line we have dealt with baring a small exception. You have to create a "My Atlas" account and you need your "My Atlas" number in order to create the account...which we did not have since we are new to Atlas. This required a call to Atlas and they gave me the number...like I said MINOR hiccup and purely process related quibble that took a handful of minutes. Anyway the process. 1. Inquired with OTA on Sunday and asked for options 2. Got the details on Tuesday - booked a 24 hr courtesy hold and confirmed the next day. 3. Received Charter flight details about 4 days later - they are direct and the BA to USH leg arrives at 6:10PM...so the cruise is not departing at 6:00PM like the brochure says...but since everyone is on the charter and then taken to the ship...it is a distinction without a difference in my book. The return flight to BA is a ~10:00am arriving at EZE around 1:30pm. 4. Register for your "My Atlas" account - using a number that is supposed to on your confirmation but was not in my case. 5. Put in all your personal details - this includes a scanned copy of your Passport and C19 idiot card as, for some reason, this is still a "vax required cruise"...Why? I have no idea. 6. It is in this "My Atlas" account where you will do your mini bar setup - each person gets a bottle of liquor in your room along with setups (no juice options online though). You also give them your Parka and mud boot sizing in this registration. The Parka is yours and the mud boots are loaned. (As an aside on mud boots - I wear/worn a couple of different brands and they are consistent in that they fit to size on the side of being slightly roomy - IMO if you are 1/2 size ALWAYS go UP to next full size with these boots - worst case they are a little large and you can wear thicker socks. 7. No information on a complimentary hotel night in BA so I am proceeding as if there is not one - we are flying in several days early anyway. ( I think this is another one of the changes from their original launch concept) 8. Charter flights from the USA are NOT part of the cruise for Atlas any longer - fine with me since I am an award mile user and piece together flights so that we are in lie flat business and not paying thousands and thousands of dollars. I will try -no promises 😉 to give updates on how things progress for this trip. So far so good. Atlas, if they are trying to ID future improvements, can look to the website...it is not bad but it is a bit basic - though not unattractive (no sample menus for example) and the My Atlas chicken or the egg situation with using a My Atlas number that you don't have was a bit strange. I will emphasize that this is EARLY in the process but so far Atlas is squarely in line with other cruise lines I have dealt with...zero nightmares or large concerns. EDIT - forgot to mention that the Charter flight bad limitation is ONE checked bad per passenger limited to 50lbs and ONE carry on. This information is, of course, worth what you paid for it so take it all in and weight it as you desire.

Atlas Ocean Voyages has an ACTUAL two for one sale going on right now (not based on inflated fares that folks won't actually pay IMO). They are a "luxury" "all inclusive" line that has availability for as low as ~4K per person for OV sailings this year. It includes the round trip charter flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia. The ships are brand new and they are also a new line. We have one booked.