Le diamant is fantastique!

Just back after my amazing cruise Dec 21 to Jan 5 2010 Antartica, Falkland Islands and South Georgia on this lovely French run ship and sadly the last season she will be in Antarctica.

We we so lucky to have the very charming and friendly Captain Etienne Garcia his enthusiasm is infectious and equally we were lucky to have Florian Knik as our super cruise director. All the crew were superb and they worked so hard though rough and calm seas.

what a magic tme we had and Im so glad I bought the dvd of our trip superbly photographed and collated by the ships photographers . the 3d effect is emazing and anyone lucky enough to have purchased it can relive the cruise over and over.

The expedition team are bi lingual and include the delightful Englishman, Rick. We had a superb time and all zodiac rides were fantastic. there were many firsts like Fin Whales swimming right up close to the ship, a special New years eve landing in antarticas weddell Sea on an iceberg near pack ice complete with red carpet a table and champagne and orange juice and wildlife including an Emperor penguin.. The captain played a trick on us he gave a blast on the horn as if the ship was departing and going to strand us there!! we were all very excited to see Emporor penguins several times which are supposed to be far inland at this time of year . The first time they appeared the Captain bounced on the microphone like a little boy he was so excited "Dear passengers it cant be it is ...its amazing ..theres an Emperor penguin (something like 2.0oclock starboard) ...STOP the ship!! and we did we stayed and watched for ages. just when we thought the we had had our last zodiac excursion the Captain requested all passengers to be in the lounge at a certain time on the penultimate day. Disembarkation procedures we thought. Not so. the captain had a suprise for his "dear passenegers" not only would we sail around Cape Horn we would land on it how rare is that? Three hours there and they even took our passports ashore so that we could all have a lovely Cape Horn stamp in it complete with a sailing ship .It cost US $10,000.00 for le DIamant to give us that treat so very generous as always as they were with their free wine at lunch and dinners!!.How many ships do that?

falklands Islands wasmagical and we had the rare sight of a sea lion hunting Gentoo penguins at one landing sight, Grave Cove rther macabre but thats life..Christmas Eve and Christmas day saw rough seas in the Falklands area quite a crashing experience in the restaurant table manners gone we rescued what we could and the crew slaved to clean up the mess and cook our delicious Christmas Eve Dinner Christmas day lunch and dinner.. French and the 20 English speaking passengers of mixed nationaliteies joined togther the languages somehow geled ... became Franglish and with gesticulation we generally communicated well.

In beautiful and stunning South Georgia calm weather for our landings thanks to the talented Nico who scouted out good sites .. . we headed back to the old whaling staion and Shackeltons grave site at Grkviken for the night to shelter strong winds expected too dangerous to anchor we drifted and so did other sheltering ships and sure enugh catabatic winds caused by cold downward air from the glaciers and snow caused the ship to list 25 degrees we had been pre warned she would list to port and we were caught like other ships in 153 knot wind gusts i kid you not. 11.30 that night Captains annoucement "dear passengers this is your Captain do not panic its allright everything is in control all crew are in the alleyways to assist you. In my cabin as everywhere papers and loose items flew everywhere my circular heavy glass table crashed obver and the top came out of one of its heavy glass hinges chaos on the bridge Captain made taht annoucement on one leg standing astride the havoc ...in the restaurants chaos everywhere. did passengers panic ? No doubt it - slowly everything was righted blocked empty cabins were levered open the mess was cleaned up and i doubt anyone complained having far too good acruise for that we geled togther and did what we could. The crew worked so hard. If Shackeltons ghost was around he would have been savouring all the whisky poured on his grave as atribute earlier on, a very happy spirit!!.

Le Diamant is a smaller ship so we did things larger ships dont do and we saw so much and had some wonderful cruises enjoying the brilliant colours of the icbergs.

Clothing wise for zodiac landings I wore polyprop inner longjohns, mid thickness polar fleece trousers and waterproof obvr trousers. Wore one pair possum socks and thick sheepskin soles with foam rubber underneath in my gumboots (wellingtons) and a silk long sleeved shirt mixed spandax and ctoon short sleve t shirt once also a cotton t shirt over that and of course the polar Le Diamant fleecey jacket and thin lifejacket you wear in zodiacs. I was just right not cold and not hot ,not sweating. perfect . My hat was a Nepalese fleece lined wool one you know the type with braids. i had a lightweight pack for new zealanders the Sarh Ulmer one dries out ffast and put stuff inside in a new plastic bag to keep it waterproof. I had black thin nish Kathmandu polyprop gloves and over them sometimes if chilly thick fleecy Kathmandu velcro clip- back mittens for fingers and thumb release and also, very usefully in zodiacs, over them large size rubber gloves which kept my gloves underneath perfectly dry..I had wrap around effective sunglasses CE mark 400UV protection and costing just NZ $2.00 from the $2.00 shop.!! A thin person muight need more clothinmg I am not Twiggy slim but Im not overweight either!!.

On Le Diamant go for midship cabins bow is way to rocky dont know about stern might be allright. My cabin was 318 it was graet nice steward too dried out my aprka afetr I washed from slipping in pengu goo. I dipped my hands in icberg sea to intially clean myself was the water cold I dont now didnt notice too busy and my hads were warm all the ti,me.

le Diamant has very effecient brush cleaning devices to clean boots on shore before getting back into the zodiacs very easy and very effective. Aftyer much delibertaion yes I rook my gumboots with me an excellent decision and took them home too not smelly and very clean. MAf in NZ dipped them again in disenfectant and gave them back.A limited supply of gumboots is aboard but better to bring them on board. keep the lovely parkas they are a treasure and Im proud of mine complete with spectacuar badges.

if any of you woudl like to know something ask here and I will try and answer.

for fans of Florian reading this I told Florian about cruise critic and he was most interested he hadnt heard of the site. Isaid I had read lots of praise about him and the captain so he should be on site somewhere and Florian if you are looking I am Judith!!.

Now the ship is presently sailing with all American passengers for three weeks but I heard ( not saying how I found out) they wont be seeing any of the wonderful dance shows we saw as the American charterers feel it distarcts from the expedition viewpoint and have delegated them below deck so they wont resurface and there they will remain for that entire cruise. Real pity the Americans dont know what they are missing. All the French expedition crew are on holiday replaced by Americans? and with Rick remaning because he is English. Why let the French go they are bi lingual and amazing and Nico is so talented as the Zodiac landing leader.Perhaps he is still there , doubt it.

I do have one little niggle if you are travelling independantly getting luggage to and from the ship to terminal and even across to the taxi site at ushuaia is a hassle should have been organised and taken care of by the company for all passengers.The ship is always berthed well away from the terminal building. You can get luggage trolleys but if on your own getting one on return and what to do with your luggage coudd be tricky but maybe the ships crew would watch it on the wharf and maybe not. Rick very kindly helped me on return.

Just back after my amazing cruise Dec 21 to Jan 5 2010 Antartica, Falkland Islands and South Georgia on this lovely French run ship and sadly the last season she will be in Antarctica.

We we so lucky to have the very charming and friendly Captain Etienne Garcia his enthusiasm is infectious and equally we were lucky to have Florian Knik as our super cruise director. All the crew were superb and they worked so hard though rough and calm seas.

what a magic tme we had and Im so glad I bought the dvd of our trip superbly photographed and collated by the ships photographers . the 3d effect is emazing and anyone lucky enough to have purchased it can relive the cruise over and over.

The expedition team are bi lingual and include the delightful Englishman, Rick. We had a superb time and all zodiac rides were fantastic. there were many firsts like Fin Whales swimming right up close to the ship, a special New years eve landing in antarticas weddell Sea on an iceberg near pack ice complete with red carpet a table and champagne and orange juice and wildlife including an Emperor penguin.. The captain played a trick on us he gave a blast on the horn as if the ship was departing and going to strand us there!! we were all very excited to see Emporor penguins several times which are supposed to be far inland at this time of year . The first time they appeared the Captain bounced on the microphone like a little boy he was so excited "Dear passengers it cant be it is ...its amazing ..theres an Emperor penguin (something like 2.0oclock starboard) ...STOP the ship!! and we did we stayed and watched for ages. just when we thought the we had had our last zodiac excursion the Captain requested all passengers to be in the lounge at a certain time on the penultimate day. Disembarkation procedures we thought. Not so. the captain had a suprise for his "dear passenegers" not only would we sail around Cape Horn we would land on it how rare is that? Three hours there and they even took our passports ashore so that we could all have a lovely Cape Horn stamp in it complete with a sailing ship .It cost US $10,000.00 for le DIamant to give us that treat so very generous as always as they were with their free wine at lunch and dinners!!.How many ships do that?

falklands Islands wasmagical and we had the rare sight of a sea lion hunting Gentoo penguins at one landing sight, Grave Cove rther macabre but thats life..Christmas Eve and Christmas day saw rough seas in the Falklands area quite a crashing experience in the restaurant table manners gone we rescued what we could and the crew slaved to clean up the mess and cook our delicious Christmas Eve Dinner Christmas day lunch and dinner.. French and the 20 English speaking passengers of mixed nationaliteies joined togther the languages somehow geled ... became Franglish and with gesticulation we generally communicated well.

In beautiful and stunning South Georgia calm weather for our landings thanks to the talented Nico who scouted out good sites .. . we headed back to the old whaling staion and Shackeltons grave site at Grkviken for the night to shelter strong winds expected too dangerous to anchor we drifted and so did other sheltering ships and sure enugh catabatic winds caused by cold downward air from the glaciers and snow caused the ship to list 25 degrees we had been pre warned she would list to port and we were caught like other ships in 153 knot wind gusts i kid you not. 11.30 that night Captains annoucement "dear passengers this is your Captain do not panic its allright everything is in control all crew are in the alleyways to assist you. In my cabin as everywhere papers and loose items flew everywhere my circular heavy glass table crashed obver and the top came out of one of its heavy glass hinges chaos on the bridge Captain made taht annoucement on one leg standing astride the havoc ...in the restaurants chaos everywhere. did passengers panic ? No doubt it - slowly everything was righted blocked empty cabins were levered open the mess was cleaned up and i doubt anyone complained having far too good acruise for that we geled togther and did what we could. The crew worked so hard. If Shackeltons ghost was around he would have been savouring all the whisky poured on his grave as atribute earlier on, a very happy spirit!!.

Le Diamant is a smaller ship so we did things larger ships dont do and we saw so much and had some wonderful cruises enjoying the brilliant colours of the icbergs.

Clothing wise for zodiac landings I wore polyprop inner longjohns, mid thickness polar fleece trousers and waterproof obvr trousers. Wore one pair possum socks and thick sheepskin soles with foam rubber underneath in my gumboots (wellingtons) and a silk long sleeved shirt mixed spandax and ctoon short sleve t shirt once also a cotton t shirt over that and of course the polar Le Diamant fleecey jacket and thin lifejacket you wear in zodiacs. I was just right not cold and not hot ,not sweating. perfect . My hat was a Nepalese fleece lined wool one you know the type with braids. i had a lightweight pack for new zealanders the Sarh Ulmer one dries out ffast and put stuff inside in a new plastic bag to keep it waterproof. I had black thin nish Kathmandu polyprop gloves and over them sometimes if chilly thick fleecy Kathmandu velcro clip- back mittens for fingers and thumb release and also, very usefully in zodiacs, over them large size rubber gloves which kept my gloves underneath perfectly dry..I had wrap around effective sunglasses CE mark 400UV protection and costing just NZ $2.00 from the $2.00 shop.!! A thin person muight need more clothinmg I am not Twiggy slim but Im not overweight either!!.

On Le Diamant go for midship cabins bow is way to rocky dont know about stern might be allright. My cabin was 318 it was graet nice steward too dried out my aprka afetr I washed from slipping in pengu goo. I dipped my hands in icberg sea to intially clean myself was the water cold I dont now didnt notice too busy and my hads were warm all the ti,me.

le Diamant has very effecient brush cleaning devices to clean boots on shore before getting back into the zodiacs very easy and very effective. Aftyer much delibertaion yes I rook my gumboots with me an excellent decision and took them home too not smelly and very clean. MAf in NZ dipped them again in disenfectant and gave them back.A limited supply of gumboots is aboard but better to bring them on board. keep the lovely parkas they are a treasure and Im proud of mine complete with spectacuar badges.

if any of you woudl like to know something ask here and I will try and answer.

for fans of Florian reading this I told Florian about cruise critic and he was most interested he hadnt heard of the site. Isaid I had read lots of praise about him and the captain so he should be on site somewhere and Florian if you are looking I am Judith!!.

Now the ship is presently sailing with all American passengers for three weeks but I heard ( not saying how I found out) they wont be seeing any of the wonderful dance shows we saw as the American charterers feel it distarcts from the expedition viewpoint and have delegated them below deck so they wont resurface and there they will remain for that entire cruise. Real pity the Americans dont know what they are missing. All the French expedition crew are on holiday replaced by Americans? and with Rick remaning because he is English. Why let the French go they are bi lingual and amazing and Nico is so talented as the Zodiac landing leader.Perhaps he is still there , doubt it.

I do have one little niggle if you are travelling independantly getting luggage to and from the ship to terminal and even across to the taxi site at ushuaia is a hassle should have been organised and taken care of by the company for all passengers.The ship is always berthed well away from the terminal building. You can get luggage trolleys but if on your own getting one on return and what to do with your luggage coudd be tricky but maybe the ships crew would watch it on the wharf and maybe not. Rick very kindly helped me on return.

Didnt raalise that was going to post twice sorry. i still cant figure how to get the title in capitals keep trying. Mentoned clothing actually Ive just remembered on coldest landings I swapped the silk blouse for a merino long sleeved thermal top plus spandax/cotton shirt. Also i found walking on ice was quite tricky it would have been good to have had a walking pole but I think some passengers used the temprary marking track poles .

Camera wise I used an Olympus 1030W digital which has a great wide angle and zoom range very pleased with my pics and a Pentax zoom 70 camera -results unknown but not expecting photos will be as detailed closeup on wildlife.

I certainly needed to keep recharging batteries on the digital and was glad i had a spare battery. Really in truth i hardly need my photos the dvd is so superb it captures it all except the last full day at cape Horn.

 

Now the ship is presently sailing with all American passengers for three weeks but I heard ( not saying how I found out) they wont be seeing any of the wonderful dance shows we saw as the American charterers feel it distarcts from the expedition viewpoint and have delegated them below deck so they wont resurface and there they will remain for that entire cruise. Real pity the Americans dont know what they are missing. All the French expedition crew are on holiday replaced by Americans? and with Rick remaning because he is English. Why let the French go they are bi lingual and amazing and Nico is so talented as the Zodiac landing leader.Perhaps he is still there , doubt it.

It appears from another thread that the American charters are U.S. universities who use the ship for seminars. Hence, the lack of the usual amenities, such as entertainment and the use of English-speaking lecturers. Totally different type of cruise from the one that you enjoyed.

On another note, were you given any info as to the new new IAATO regs that are supposed to go into effect next year, which may limit the cruise ships traveling to Antarctica?

Thanks so much for your infectious review, Judith and all your good tips re clothing, etc.

What an unforgetable experience you've had! I'm not sure that I'm that brave, as I would have thought it was the end of my days when the small ship listed so much.

You must have been thrilled to finish your cruise with an unexpected three hours on Cape Horn. What a perfect end to your adventure!

How many passengers were on your ship?

Did you have any general discussions about the best time of year to visit the area?

Marrion and Barry,

Antarctica can only be visited in summer in the south hemisphere (winter in the north). ussually cruises are between November to March.

Great!.

I went to Cape Horn in Mare Australis 3 years ago and we succeded in landing. It is fantastic indeed!

Marrion and Barry,

 

Antarctica can only be visited in summer in the south hemisphere (winter in the north). ussually cruises are between November to March.

Sorry, I should clarify. I meant best month for wildlife and weather during the season.

We did have a lecture on the regulations but im very sorry I cant remember a word of it. Trouble was they did the lectures for along time in French first then would translate in English . Quite a number of us , the English speaking passengers, would lose concentration if it wasnt about zodiacs wildlife scenery, a recap or where we were going next and we would have a little snooze every so often!!:) or even if we had just been out in zodiacs pretty tired by the time we returned for awhile and the lunch and the wine etc etc!!.

There were I think 154 passengers on board not full and so good lovely and uncrowded.

I reckon Christmas New Year is a perfect time to go you see all the chicks and the King Penguin chicks are so funny fat round Kiwi like fur balls waddling behind their mums. Eggs of a number of the birds were sometimes hatching as we watched if we looked carefully. Absolutely delightful . Another favourite were the Albatross sitting on their mud pot nests in the Falklands on the clifftop where the Rockhopper penguins were .We could have spent a lot longer there but we were given very gernerous time anyway. Generally our landings were about 2 hours each. Only once when we were the last colour group at that time to land were we hustled away quickly but the weather got rough and thats how it is. I think it was less then 10 minutes but to be fair I think I accidently got caught up with another earlier colour code and was grouped in with them because my friend on the same landing as me stayed longer and saw Macaroni penguins hidden in tussock but it was high up and slippery and I might not have gone up anyway. Once i got super extra time went with my colour first landing and came back with the last landing of the last colour.Didnt generally seem to really matter which one we came back with. there were always passsengers to fill the zodiacs back.

Yes Cape Horn was a tremendous suprise.the crew who could go were just as excited as the passengers.

I intended also to thank you for the explanation on the type of cruise that is probably going on now. No doubt very intersting but I sure feel sorry for the dancers. They could at least let them on deck to get fresh air .They use the time to practise in their quarters and their shows are so amazing i have never seen shows as good as those.

we also had a Paraguayan group on board which i loved two playing guitar and one the harp. I asked them to play a certain tune on their cd whch they did and they autographed their cd which I purchased. We had an excellent Russian couple both could sing and had beautiful voices loved his and he also played the violin brilliantly.An excellent painist too for those that like piano. I am still totally gobsmacked at the quality of the entertainment . It is a very great pity if the present passnengers are missing on on all this but i feel their must surely be some musical enetertainment . Really all work and no play?

Minya - Unfortunately, seminars are tax deductible to the participants, so the amount of "play" is carefully prescribed. Having attended a number of "skiing seminars", I can truthfully say that it was more work than I thought was worth the trip. But given the cost of an Antarctica trip, I have no doubt that the passengers felt that it was well worth the absence of the usual entertainment, although I am sure that there was some. I also doubt if the French entertainers were never allowed to show their faces on deck. Perhaps they were just assuming? They probably meant that they simply were not being allowed to appear on stage. Hopefully. So glad you had such a wonderful trip. You mar making me have second thoughts about our forthcoming HAL drive-by cruise.

There were I think 154 passengers on board not full and so good lovely and uncrowded.

I reckon Christmas New Year is a perfect time to go you see all the chicks and the King Penguin chicks are so funny fat round Kiwi like fur balls waddling behind their mums. Eggs of a number of the birds were sometimes hatching as we watched if we looked carefully. Absolutely delightful . Another favourite were the Albatross sitting on their mud pot nests in the Falklands on the clifftop where the Rockhopper penguins were .We could have spent a lot longer there but we were given very gernerous time anyway. Generally our landings were about 2 hours each. Only once when we were the last colour group at that time to land were we hustled away quickly but the weather got rough and thats how it is. I think it was less then 10 minutes but to be fair I think I accidently got caught up with another earlier colour code and was grouped in with them because my friend on the same landing as me stayed longer and saw Macaroni penguins hidden in tussock but it was high up and slippery and I might not have gone up anyway. Once i got super extra time went with my colour first landing and came back with the last landing of the last colour.Didnt generally seem to really matter which one we came back with. there were always passsengers to fill the zodiacs back.

Yes Cape Horn was a tremendous suprise.the crew who could go were just as excited as the passengers.

Thanks so much for your detailed response, which is much appreciated. The pleasure you express from seeing the wildlife is infectious. :)

thankyou my pleasure to write about it:) I just wish you could see the beautiful dvd Ive got. The ships photograhers are so talented and we were very lucky to have the oppurtunity to buy a perfect record of our journey.

of course it was expensive but its worth every dollar and more. I have had ship dvd's before but this one could run rings round them all.Its the 3d effect that is so clever whoever watches sort of lands as we did on the beaches it zooms in for a full effect intially from an aerial overall aspect if you can imagine that.Ive seen nothing like it before. Set to music its absolutely beautiful my travel agent is going to love watching it.

i really hope its not true but I was told the dancers are not allowed on deck at all they have to stay in their quarters below Jade deck ..very low down in the ship. Still not much longer for them now then the dance captain Maree and her team will be free and dancing for joy.

Your enthusiasm over the French ship makes me wonder if DH and I should consider spending a little more and taking the new French ship, whose name I cannot recollect at the moment. Le Boreal? The pictures look absolutely wonderful. And the food . . . it can't be bad! The main reason we chose the HAL ship is the itinerary. I have found no other ship which goes around the southern perimeter of SA, from BA to Valparaiso, as well as to the Falklands and Antarctica. I'm really not that interested in landing on Antarctica. I'm more interested in seeing the scenery and whatever animals and birds are visible from the ship. However, your landing at Cape Hope - now that's an experience very few can ever hope to do.

Your enthusiasm over the French ship makes me wonder if DH and I should consider spending a little more and taking the new French ship, whose name I cannot recollect at the moment. Le Boreal? The pictures look absolutely wonderful. And the food . . . it can't be bad! The main reason we chose the HAL ship is the itinerary. I have found no other ship which goes around the southern perimeter of SA, from BA to Valparaiso, as well as to the Falklands and Antarctica. I'm really not that interested in landing on Antarctica. I'm more interested in seeing the scenery and whatever animals and birds are visible from the ship. However, your landing at Cape Hope - now that's an experience very few can ever hope to do.

Make that Cape Horn!

We were very lucky landing on Cape Horn depends on weather conditions, the captain and if the company allows the expense. Captain Garcia is one super man he made that cruise for us all and so did Nico the guy in charge of zodiacs without him would we have got our special iceberg landing and would we have scored two landings one day early on in the cruise when all other ships scored one or none due to rough seas. All our zodiac guys were awesome- the whole crew was.Sometimes its better to go a smaller ship that can creep in where bigger ships cant. Landings in Antarctica really are very special its so much better you can really see the animals and birds up close and you dont generally have to walk on slippery ice unless you wnat to get higher up , the beaches are mostly stoney or sandy. Even to do a zodiac cruise amongst the stunning shades of the icebergs is just amazing .I preferred staying on surfaces where i could get agood grip and saw plenty of wildlife. Fresh snow as on the special iceberg landing again as i said was another first for Le Diamant and was dead easy to walk on . I do think Captain Garcia could well allow a similar landing again if the weather is right and the zodiac master can find a suitable berg but we were after all celebrating a special day with the eve to a new decade.

We were lucky too on the first day of cruising when Fin whales swam very close to the ship they hadnt been that close before and the captain aways slows or stops the ship he is absolutely totally into wildlife

By the way I did a Norwegian Lines Xmas/new year cruise on Norwegian Dream in 2007/8 Valparaiso to Buenos Aires we visted Port Stanley , the other side of where we were this time. We did have chances to go on overland trips to see penguin rookeries. I hwever chose a brand new local small launch trip we were the guinea pigs. it was lovely but we saw seals etc from the boat , didnt land. I liked the Falkland Islands way better this time and was suprised hadnt been particularly fussed on visiting how wrong was I!!.who could forget "Darth Vadar" the Sea Lion and the beauty of the Gentoo penguins jumping in the sea there (Grave Cove) . The filming of it was a masterpiece.

Our ship will be stopping in the Falklands, weather permitting. What are the recommended excursions there? And what kind of penguins are in residence?

Minya, thanks for the info on your recent cruise! We sail on Le Diamant on Feb. 12 -- on of those American university sponsored expedition trips. I was disappointed to hear that the French dancers and possibly other entertainers won't be providing entertainment as we would have enjoyed the more international experience. And I had not heard of the tax deduction for our university sponsored trip that was mentioned by another poster -- I'll have to check into that! You have given us a lot of good info to help in our planning and reading about your trip has made me even more excited about ours than I already was! Thanks!

One question about laundry services. I understand that there are laundry services available on the ship. Was the service do-it-yourself or provided by the cabin steward and staff? Was it easy to do hand-wash and hang in the shower to dry? With a baggage limit of 33 pounds, we will definitely not be taking many clothes and washing a bit.

Thanks, again!

Minya' date=' thanks for the info on your recent cruise! We sail on Le Diamant on Feb. 12 -- on of those American university sponsored expedition trips. I was disappointed to hear that the French dancers and possibly other entertainers won't be providing entertainment as we would have enjoyed the more international experience. And I had not heard of the tax deduction for our university sponsored trip that was mentioned by another poster -- I'll have to check into that! You have given us a lot of good info to help in our planning and reading about your trip has made me even more excited about ours than I already was! Thanks!

 

One question about laundry services. I understand that there are laundry services available on the ship. Was the service do-it-yourself or provided by the cabin steward and staff? Was it easy to do hand-wash and hang in the shower to dry? With a baggage limit of 33 pounds, we will definitely not be taking many clothes and washing a bit.

 

Thanks, again![/quote']

 

Yes, you may be eligible for a tax deduction for part of the trip. I am a sole practitioner, so attendance at seminars are largely deductible - at least for my costs. Hope that you find that to be your case, as well!

Our ship will be stopping in the Falklands, weather permitting. What are the recommended excursions there? And what kind of penguins are in residence?

Bluff Cove is great. Mostly Gentoo with a few King penguins. Involves a rough half hour Land Rover ride. They are generally fully booked by cruise companies and not open for private tours.

Some ships also offer tours of Volunteer Point which has more King penguins but is further away.

oooh lucky you wish I was. Sorry cant comment on the tax deductable issue Im a New Zealander so have no idea.

There are pull out clothes lines in the shower or across the bath all right for one across the shower but any more passengers and youll probably need more line suggest twist elastic travellers clothes line with hooks on it get two tie togther and it will stretch where you want it. I put a towel underneath to catch drips.

yes laundry service is avaialble i mostly did my own but on my cruise becasue it was aimed at the French, costs were in euros. tto give you an idea one pair of jeans cost me 5 euros to get laundered and pressed - very nicely.

I dont know whether the cabin steward does it or whether its taken to laundry and someone specialised does it.

I slipped in penguin muck once and had scrubbed my artic coat in the sea then washed it back on board just a little whiffy and I dumped it soaking wet in the shower in despair and took off for dinner.Arrived back to deal with it ..gone then a knock on the door and there was Iwan my steward, with one dried and non smelly jacket for me. Nice touch !!:)

Sorry about the dancers which are ij some of the night shows I suspect they wont appear but I do hope you get the other entertainment during the day like the Paraguayos my favourites, and the Russian tenor with the magnificant voice who plays the violin beautifully and his talented Russian wife a singer. i just used to go to the lounge on 4 and spend a lot of time drinking free tea and listening when we werent attending or doing anything else.

also for the ladies there s avery good looking and charming barman there.That lounge is where you gather in your colour group to do final dressing- boots jacket and lifejacket before heading outside to enetr the zodiacs. Theya re really helpful I used to battle with my lifejacket sometimes and they watch to see who needs assisting.

you get nice things to warm upwhen you come back like hot chocolate or chicken broth or Irish cream to name afew. All the while enetrtainment of some sort will probably be going on in that lounge.

There will be avery charming Englishman, Rick who is on the expedition crew and drives one of the zodiacs. if you meet him say hi to him from Judith and Mike from NZ he'll know!! Hes also an expert BBC wildlife documentry cameraman but the ship photographers on board are awesome too.

Suggest you cross pack for the flight to Ushuaia make sure you ahve your most expensive polar gear with you in your cabin luggage just in case Argentine airlines doent load your main luggage. It happens sometimes.Cabin luggage max weight is 7 kilos.

Enjoy your cruise have fun and please do report back on the board!!

Suggest you cross pack for the flight to Ushuaia make sure you ahve your most expensive polar gear with you in your cabin luggage just in case Argentine airlines doent load your main luggage. It happens sometimes.Cabin luggage max weight is 7 kilos.

Enjoy your cruise have fun and please do report back on the board!!

We had no problem checking in two bags (20 kg each) on either of our flights. However, on the Ushuaia to BA flight they weighed our carry ons and one was 12 kg. They made us check it in because it was over the 5 kg limit. The allowed the other 8 kg carry on.