Just seen the conversation on the Nome to Nome disappointment cruise. Never posted on Cruise Critic before - first time here. Like many of us on this ill-fated "expedition" we were massively disappointed in this cruise which we had booked some 2 years ago. We understood that the ice was further south than had been originally predicted. We had an ice expert on board . We had 2 Russian agents on board. We saw the charts of the ice changing and moving. We cruised up and down the Chutki sea, we performed "holding patterns "(a triangle) south of Wrangell Island. We cruised back down the Chutki sea to the US waters to allow a critically crew member off the ship by the US coastguard. We cruised back to Wrangell Island. We were delighted to see that the ice had dissipated after a recent storm. We were on a zodiac with the expedition leader (Brad) as we cruised the ice around Wrangell Island. We were all delighted that we were within sight of landing.. He was sure we would go in.. but no - during lunch without any announcement at the time - the Captain made the decision to cruise away from Wrangell Island. The ice was still too thick for the Explorer. We didn't attempt to go in on Zodiacs to pick ups the rangers. We couldn't even stop to ice cruise due to the stringent Russian rules of needing to be 30 nautical miles away from Wrangell Island (if there is no intention to land. We were never shown the ice charts again despite being requested - for some reason there was a delay in them being received by the ship?? For us the cruise was over a week before it actually finished... I think we spent 8 full days at sea with no stops in the entire voyage. We ended up cruising to Anadyr .. miles off our original or even revised itinerary to refuel for the next cruise. We finished the cruise a day early. We wondered why we had spent tens of thousands of $$ and 18 days of our time on this voyage. We couldn't wait to get off. The offer of compensation whilst on board of 20% of monies spent on this cruise off a future Silversea cruise was absolutely insulting and derisory. We have spent days and time communicating with Silversea and received a further money off a future cruise offer. No one has had the courtesy to call us. Silversea Head office need to engage with their passengers and customers on a more personal level. I would agree with the other comments that the expedition staff were excellent and without fault and did their utmost for us.. Cory, Susan, Peter, Robin, HP, Danny to name a few. It was all such a pity and a disappointment that the expedition turned out to be a voyage to nowhere very much! I'm pretty sure that none of us would have ever booked the voyage that we actually undertook!! It was an expedition - not a cruise.. we were prepared for some changes to the itinerary but felt pretty short changed by the end of it. I think there are some serious questions to be answered by Silversea about the fuel supply issue in Nome and the reason for having to divert to Anadyr to refuel for the next voyage and whether these factors meant that we couldn't attempt Wrangell Island as the ice was melting? We have had pretty amazing expeditions with Silversea before - Antarctica and the Arctic but this was completely different in the worst possible way!
Silver Explorer 7816, Nome to Nome disappointment
in Silversea
Posted
Just seen the conversation on the Nome to Nome disappointment cruise. Never posted on Cruise Critic before - first time here. Like many of us on this ill-fated "expedition" we were massively disappointed in this cruise which we had booked some 2 years ago. We understood that the ice was further south than had been originally predicted. We had an ice expert on board . We had 2 Russian agents on board. We saw the charts of the ice changing and moving. We cruised up and down the Chutki sea, we performed "holding patterns "(a triangle) south of Wrangell Island. We cruised back down the Chutki sea to the US waters to allow a critically crew member off the ship by the US coastguard. We cruised back to Wrangell Island. We were delighted to see that the ice had dissipated after a recent storm. We were on a zodiac with the expedition leader (Brad) as we cruised the ice around Wrangell Island. We were all delighted that we were within sight of landing.. He was sure we would go in.. but no - during lunch without any announcement at the time - the Captain made the decision to cruise away from Wrangell Island. The ice was still too thick for the Explorer. We didn't attempt to go in on Zodiacs to pick ups the rangers. We couldn't even stop to ice cruise due to the stringent Russian rules of needing to be 30 nautical miles away from Wrangell Island (if there is no intention to land. We were never shown the ice charts again despite being requested - for some reason there was a delay in them being received by the ship?? For us the cruise was over a week before it actually finished... I think we spent 8 full days at sea with no stops in the entire voyage. We ended up cruising to Anadyr .. miles off our original or even revised itinerary to refuel for the next cruise. We finished the cruise a day early. We wondered why we had spent tens of thousands of $$ and 18 days of our time on this voyage. We couldn't wait to get off. The offer of compensation whilst on board of 20% of monies spent on this cruise off a future Silversea cruise was absolutely insulting and derisory. We have spent days and time communicating with Silversea and received a further money off a future cruise offer. No one has had the courtesy to call us. Silversea Head office need to engage with their passengers and customers on a more personal level. I would agree with the other comments that the expedition staff were excellent and without fault and did their utmost for us.. Cory, Susan, Peter, Robin, HP, Danny to name a few. It was all such a pity and a disappointment that the expedition turned out to be a voyage to nowhere very much! I'm pretty sure that none of us would have ever booked the voyage that we actually undertook!! It was an expedition - not a cruise.. we were prepared for some changes to the itinerary but felt pretty short changed by the end of it. I think there are some serious questions to be answered by Silversea about the fuel supply issue in Nome and the reason for having to divert to Anadyr to refuel for the next voyage and whether these factors meant that we couldn't attempt Wrangell Island as the ice was melting? We have had pretty amazing expeditions with Silversea before - Antarctica and the Arctic but this was completely different in the worst possible way!