Question for anyone who was on the MS Fram

After searching long and hard it looks like the MS Fram is the only ship that fits our budget, itinerary and time we can go. So I am looking at the 17 day trip in December 2010. The trip goes to South Georgia as well as the Antarctic. My question is with a capacity of 300 people how did you handle landings (since only 100 off at one time) did you feel rushed and did you miss landings because of the number of people? I really was hoping for a smaller ship but nothing else seems to fit the our budget going mid December.

We have just returned from an 8 day voyage on the Fram to Antarctica, and were very happy with the ship and crew. I would put aside any worries you might have about the ship and how they handle landings. You are split up into group for the landings and the order rotates every day, they try to do 2 landings per day depending on the wind conditions. The food was fine and most meals are buffet due to various times that landings are happening. The weather dictates when you will go and where you will go ashore. We missed one landing Peterman Island due to ice conditions.

The sights you will see will be amazing, by all means go. If you google the MV Fram Blog you can follow the ship and what the are seeing. I'm ready to go again.

Bill

Beth I concur with what tiegs has said. My trip on Nordkapp in dec 06 was in a ship virtually the same lay out to Fram & review is in members reviews on this board. Landing groups are rotated & additionally the landing boats used are called polarCirkel boats & in many peoples opinion are superior for landings than the zodiacs other ships use. We were quite happy to have only 1 hour ashore at each landing, you can do a lot in an hour if you are well prepared. I would go in an instant if I could on any ship the would take me back to South Georgia.

We are leaving for the exact same cruise as you on the Fram, in February. We have had to reschedule twice, but this last time Hurtigruten upgraded us from an inside to an MG suite. We plan on posting a review that covers all aspects of the cruise. We intend to try to post a "live from" once we get started, but will see how that works out depending on the availability of the internet. The Fram blog is very interesting, we follow every day. The pictures posted have been excellent, the ones from John Chardine are especially awesome. The thread, if we are able to do it, will be in the "Other Cruise Lines" thread on CC.

Rc

beth555, I was a member of the Expedition Staff on the MS Fram for two voyages in November 2009, (BA - Falklands - South Georgia - Antarctica - Ushuiaia & Ushuaia - Antarctica - Ushuaia) and can only compliment the Hurtugruten procedures that land 100 passengers per IAATO Antarctica rules yet make it work for the passengers. I see that you are doing the reverse of the Shackleton experience that I traveled. There are no restrictions for Falklands and there is plenty of time to walk each of the areas to include Stanley, which is the only docking after departing Argentina. However, for the other sites, the crew has mastered the concept of a "rolling 100" with carefully orchestrated landings and Expedition Staff make certain that everyone understands what they are likely to see on the landings. I don't recall on the various landings that anyone felt rushed and I was on land for all of them. Of course, the landings vary with the weather conditions and the crew and staff are very mindful about the safety of passengers.

dpro, I see that you posted while I was typing ... you are correct about John Chardine's posts at the MS Fram Blog during November and to mid-December 2009 ... I shared two voyages with him (he as biologist, I as ship photographer) and he used some of my images. His bird images are exceptional! Always eye level!

beth555, I was a member of the Expedition Staff on the MS Fram for two voyages in November 2009, (BA - Falklands - South Georgia - Antarctica - Ushuiaia & Ushuaia - Antarctica - Ushuaia) and can only compliment the Hurtugruten procedures that land 100 passengers per IAATO Antarctica rules yet make it work for the passengers. I see that you are doing the reverse of the Shackleton experience that I traveled. There are no restrictions for Falklands and there is plenty of time to walk each of the areas to include Stanley, which is the only docking after departing Argentina. However, for the other sites, the crew has mastered the concept of a "rolling 100" with carefully orchestrated landings and Expedition Staff make certain that everyone understands what they are likely to see on the landings. I don't recall on the various landings that anyone felt rushed and I was on land for all of them. Of course, the landings vary with the weather conditions and the crew and staff are very mindful about the safety of passengers.

All sounds great, I need to see what they have lined up for 2011. I feel I must see S. Georgia if I am going to pay all that money so if anyone knows or hears of expeditions that cover that please let me know.

dpro, I see that you posted while I was typing ... you are correct about John Chardine's posts at the MS Fram Blog during November and to mid-December 2009 ... I shared two voyages with him (he as biologist, I as ship photographer) and he used some of my images. His bird images are exceptional! Always eye level!

Yes, his bird photos is what really caught my eye. His/yours, not sure which, are fantastic. I knew he was a biologist but as I am sure you know he has some awesome photos on his photo page as well. I was really hoping he would still be onboard for our February sailing, but I guess that won't be the case. At any rate, there have been some mighty fine photos posted on the Fram blog and I thank you for that.

Regards,

Rc

Thank you all for the information. I will probably make a decision in the next week. My husband was really looking forward to the Clelia II until they changed the whole itinerary on us. He is still concerned with a ship that carries that many people but the only other ship that meets the itinerary and dates is at least $10,000 more for the 3 of us which I can't do. It is good to hear from those that were on the Fram. I just have a couple of other questions. Did you have problems with getting your boots before landings. I heard that sometimes if you were the last landing the boots were few and you may not get your size. What would you say was the average age on the ship? We are in our late 40's early 50's.

I was on the Nordnorge, Fram's sister ship, and everything described is also how it was handled on our ship.

Want to add that nobody rushed us to be back to board in an hour. Yes, I realized that the longer we stayed meant someone else couldn't come ashore. So my husband and I kept an eye on the line getting ready to go back to the ship. More often than not, the line was long and easily filled up the shuttles running back and forth.

Once our hour was up, and the line was short or non existent, we then headed back to the ship

We are leaving for the exact same cruise as you on the Fram, in February. We have had to reschedule twice, but this last time Hurtigruten upgraded us from an inside to an MG suite. We plan on posting a review that covers all aspects of the cruise. We intend to try to post a "live from" once we get started, but will see how that works out depending on the availability of the internet. The Fram blog is very interesting, we follow every day. The pictures posted have been excellent, the ones from John Chardine are especially awesome. The thread, if we are able to do it, will be in the "Other Cruise Lines" thread on CC.

 

Rc

Hi dpro,

I have a question for you concerning that rescheduling you mentioned. We are planning to go to Antarctica on board the Fram next year. But now we are a bit worried about being rescheduled, should we be, can you tell us why you were?

Thanks in advance for helping us out.

LadyNIB

We were also rescheduled

http://www.travelsnippetsandmore.com/2008/04/pre-trip-experience-from-hell.html

All I can say is, be forewarned

Thank you for the information. We will ask our travel agent if and how we can avoid it.

LadyNIB

Hi dpro,

I have a question for you concerning that rescheduling you mentioned. We are planning to go to Antarctica on board the Fram next year. But now we are a bit worried about being rescheduled, should we be, can you tell us why you were?

Thanks in advance for helping us out.

LadyNIB

Our TA only told us the ship had been "overbooked". After a bit of research we believe it was due to a group booking that increased and as we booked solo, we were singled out. On the flip side though, for us, it worked out since we got a much longer cruise, upgrade to a suite, and all of the monies back from air changes. Actually, we were bumped twice, once when our original cruise on the Nordnorge was canceled due to the ship being sold, and then on the "overbooking". Both times we had air changes and Hurtigruten stepped up and paid for both of those.

I don't know if booking directly with Hurtigruten is possible. That may help. We used a TA unknown to us from New York. Our preferred TA was not able to book us with Hurtigruten. I have heard that Vantage Travel and Vacations to Go are large booking agents with Hurtigruten, but have no first-hand knowledge of that.

We will post a review of the ship on our return, our travel papers show the internet to be very expensive so unfortunately our hope to do a "live from" thread is probably going to be a no-go.

Regards,

RonC

Hi dpro,

Thank you very much for your explanation. We have already booked, so all we can do is hope all goes well. I am a bit relieved to hear that in the event of a rescheduling Hurtigruten is prepared to make it as painless as possible. But I'd still prefer it not to happen.

Have a superspecial nice trip and I'm looking forward to the story when you return.

Greetings,

LadyNIB

If you are going on the Dec. 17 Shackleton Christmas Cruise we will be onboard. Hope to see you then.

We are also signed up for the Dec. 17 cruise. We have started a Roll-Call for this cruise, if you want to join us there for chats as we all prepare for a great trip. :)

We have been to Buenos Aires, Ushiaia and The Falklands on a South American cruise several years ago. Will try to answer any questions on those ports.

We just booked this trip on the Fram Nov. 1, and we certainly would be upset if we got bumped at this point. How far out from the previous cruises were you when you got bumped dpro?

Take Care,

TXTraveler