Fram: time zone(s)

We're on the Fram in February/March.

Could someone enlighten me, please, on the time zone(s) she uses on her transit from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires? We're hoping to be able to give our granddaughter a wave from the ship's webcam!

-3 GMT difference. As an example, in the Central Standard Time Zone it would be 5 pm, and it would be 8 pm in Buenos Aires. In Ushuaia it is in the same Time Zone as Buenos Aires. Hope this makes sense. I am not an expert in these matters, but I looked it up to try and help you. :) TXTraveler

We just got back from the Fram last week. The ship used the same time as BA/Ushuaia which was 2 hrs ahead of EST.

We had a great time and LOVED everything about it (it was the Antarctic Discovery itinerary). The trip was wonderful in every way. I'm hoping to get my act together to do a short trip report or review but if you have any other questions in the meantime let me know.

A few quick things off the top of my head -

We were glad we brought insoles to put in the rubber boots. Their boots were very comfortable and kept our feet warm but I think the extra layer of insole helped.

We brought toe and hand warmers and did not need/use them. What a waste of money and weight in our luggage! We were actually warm a lot of the time - I kept having to unzip my jacket, take off my scarf, etc.

We felt like we brought too much clothing - too many layers of fleece, long underwear, etc. Things you wash in the sink will dry overnight - the air is so dry. The cost of having laundry done was not bad (maybe $5 for a pair of pants) so I didn't need to bring so many pairs.

The dress on the ship is very casual. We wore jeans or cargo pants with fleece tops or flannel shirts every day. And they do keep the public areas very warm.

The shop on the Fram had a better selection than I expected -- if you forget anything you can buy it there from waterproof pants to down jackets, gloves, hats, etc. Although no one should count on that (especially waterproof pants which are mandatory on landings) it was nice to see a selection just in case.

We took Bonine as a precaution against seasickness. It doesn't seem to make me as drowsy the next day as Dramamine. Our Drake crossing was considered "medium" we were told (8 meter waves). We didn't have any problems with getting sick but some did. I think a lot of people quit taking the meds once across the passage as it was calm until we headed back north but we kept taking it the whole time just to be on the safe side. I didn't want to take any chance having a day ruined by seasickness!

The food was good. I was picturing more of a Norwegian leaning but although they did offer a section of fish on every buffet the majority was not too different from any other cruise. I had read a lot of complaints here about the food but we didn't have any. And the desserts were pretty great, I thought.

Maybe something I've written will be helpful but if you have any questions I'll check back. I hope you have as amazing a time as we did. I thought this was certainly a once in a lifetime trip but now I'm trying to figure out when we can go back! We really loved every minute.

Have fun! I'm jealous ;)

A few quick things off the top of my head -

Brilliant! Just what we wanted to know, and timed just right too with packing now under way and my wife starting to be concerned that she gets it right...

Possibly some questions later!

A quick question now: is there any regular time of day when we could be sure, weather permitting, to be able to get on deck in front of the Fram's webcam? Granddaughter would like a wave from us when we're in Antarctica!

A quick question now: is there any regular time of day when we could be sure, weather permitting, to be able to get on deck in front of the Fram's webcam? Granddaughter would like a wave from us when we're in Antarctica!

It's pretty difficult to say, the schedule changes from day to day, depending a lot on weather conditions that will allow for landings (or not).

Maybe sometimes in the evening would be the most convenient (9 or 10pm ship's time), and say that you are going to try for 2 or 3 nights in a row so that if it's not possible one day you can try again the next day.

Have a great trip (I'm sure you will).

digitl - I saw the view from the camera -- it's shown on one of the tv channels in your cabin. But i'm not sure exactly where it's mounted or how clearly it shows individuals -- i don't really recall seeing passengers walking by when that station was on our TV. But it sounds like from the Fram blog you know more about it than I do! All I can add is that other than in really rough weather I don't think there's any reason you couldn't go out any time you wanted. And there was sunlight pretty much all the time - i think it was dark (not sure exactly how dark since we had an inside cabin) maybe from midnight until four am. But every night when we went to bed at 10:30 or so it was still very light!

SarniaLo - I just was trying to figure this out from your blog but my French is very shabby. Could you tell me if you have done both Spitsbergen and Antarctica with Hurtigruten?

I'm really wanted to also do the Arctic now but when I look at the Hurtigruten website it's hard to get a real feel for what those northern trips are like. I'm hoping to find someone who has done both regions and can compare -- will have to start a new thread I guess and ask that.

SarniaLo - I just was trying to figure this out from your blog but my French is very shabby. Could you tell me if you have done both Spitsbergen and Antarctica with Hurtigruten?

 

I'm really wanted to also do the Arctic now but when I look at the Hurtigruten website it's hard to get a real feel for what those northern trips are like. I'm hoping to find someone who has done both regions and can compare -- will have to start a new thread I guess and ask that.

I apologize for my blog in French only. I have plans to translate it but for now you can try Google Translate. It's rough but will give you an idea.

Yes I have done both Antarctica and Spitsbergen with Hurtigruten's Fram. Since you have been on the Fram you know what to expect organisation wise, it's the same in Spitsbergen (landings wherever possible, conferences, and so on). I am ashamed to say I was a bit disappointed by my Spitsbergen trip, but it's mainly because we had a really bad weather, not because of Hurtigruten, they really worked as hard as possible to give us a good time. The landscape and history of the place are very different, it is difficult to compare, but I think when you have tasted the greatness of Antarctica (great in so many ways), you are somewhat "spoiled"... But I think it is worth it nevertheless, what you see is really different. A friend of mine has done both Antarctica and Greenland with Hurtigruten and has enjoyed both tremendously.

As for the MS Fram webcam, you can be seen on it if you go to the front of the ship on deck 7 and step on the "pedestal" that has been set up to allow you to see above the glass.

digitl - I saw the view from the camera -- it's shown on one of the tv channels in your cabin. But i'm not sure exactly where it's mounted or how clearly it shows individuals -- i don't really recall seeing passengers walking by when that station was on our TV. But it sounds like from the Fram blog you know more about it than I do! All I can add is that other than in really rough weather I don't think there's any reason you couldn't go out any time you wanted. And there was sunlight pretty much all the time - i think it was dark (not sure exactly how dark since we had an inside cabin) maybe from midnight until four am. But every night when we went to bed at 10:30 or so it was still very light!

Thanks for your help!

http://www.bt.no/kamera/article438406.ece?webcamService=largeImage&cameraName=fram&articleID=438406&lang=#.Tym4x_mWYlH shows the view from the camera and, having had a look at odd times over the past few days, a number of passengers have been in view as they stood in front of it.

My question was really about any regular (guaranteed?) 'free time' on the ship during daylight hours when we might have the opportunity to present ourselves for inspection by our granddaughter. Is everyone always onboard at, say, 20:00 ship's time for a meal? Or are meals quite literally a moveable feast?

Meal time can change from day to day depending on the landing schedule (which will itself depend on the weather, in part).

digitl -- i would think you'd be on board at 8:00 pm on any given night and free to run outside. The dinners while you're in the peninsula are buffet with open seating and maybe run from 6:30 - 9:00 (not positive of the times). Only during the Drake passage were we seated at a specific table (with same tablemates each time) and served by waiters. And for that there were 2 seatings, early and late. If you prefer one or the other maybe you could request that before you leave home. We had no idea and were fine with the early seating but if you have a strong preference you should check on that.

SarniaLo -- thanks. It's great to be able to hear from someone who's done both. Hmmm...so the basic set-up is the same as the Antarctic with a couple of landings per day & lectures during free time. I guess there's not the same snow/ice element -- do you still get all geared up in waterproof pants & rubber boots?

I see what you mean about being 'spoiled' by Antarctica. I think to have that type of experience again we'll have to go back & maybe do a different itinerary. But if the Spitsbergen trip has the same feeling of adventure and exciting landings...even though different...I would like to visit that area also.

That stinks that you had bad weather - did it rain?

Lastly - I think Hurtigruten's website is confusing because the ferry type trips around Norway are totally NOT what I have in mind and the expedition type trips are so short -only 8 days- and they don't give a great description online so it's hard for me to really get a feel for what it would be like.

Is 8 days enough? The 'Realm of the Polar Bear' trip starts & ends at Longyearbyen - is that what you did? Sorry to ask so many questions, but if it is did you fly in a few days early and spend time in Oslo or anywhere else? It seems like they would include optional extensions -- 8 days is pretty short for people who are traveling a long way to get there.

Thanks in advance for any further input you can give.

(I don't know what the policy is here regarding discussions that are going off-topic, so I'm going to answer anyway, but maybe this part of the discussion should be moved elsewhere?).

SarniaLo -- thanks. It's great to be able to hear from someone who's done both. Hmmm...so the basic set-up is the same as the Antarctic with a couple of landings per day & lectures during free time. I guess there's not the same snow/ice element -- do you still get all geared up in waterproof pants & rubber boots?

Yes, the "daily routine" is basically the same. Landings are in similar fashion as well, with Polarcirkel boats, waterproof pants and rubber boots (except in Barentsburg and Ny Alesund where the ship can actually dock). We brought the pants, and hired the boots from the ships (their hiking rubber boots are great!).

The landscape in Spitsbergen is very different. We were at the end of summer so a lot of the snow/ice had melted, so "ice wise" it is not as impressive as Antarctica, but you get a true feeling of the Arctic landscape. The landings are still considered "wet" because you land from the sea so you get your feet wet no matter what, and also there is a lot of water on land (from the snow melting) so rubber boots are necessary. It's muddy in some places as well.

We were really unlucky to have a week of clouds and dense fog, not too much rain, but it prevented us to see a lot of the landscape (we were described alpine mountains and dramatic peeks and could actually see only the foot of the mountains a lot of time!). The fog is also a problem because it can prevent landings altogether, since there is a real polar bear danger and when you can't see if there are polar bears, you don't land. But the crew did their best to give is the best experience possible and we had some beautiful landings and a wonderful polarcirkel boat ride at the foot of a glacier. We saw bears (from afar!), reindeers (from very close) and a lot of walruses. I'm really glad I went, but would like to go back with a better weather!

Lastly - I think Hurtigruten's website is confusing because the ferry type trips around Norway are totally NOT what I have in mind and the expedition type trips are so short -only 8 days- and they don't give a great description online so it's hard for me to really get a feel for what it would be like.

Is 8 days enough? The 'Realm of the Polar Bear' trip starts & ends at Longyearbyen - is that what you did? Sorry to ask so many questions, but if it is did you fly in a few days early and spend time in Oslo or anywhere else? It seems like they would include optional extensions -- 8 days is pretty short for people who are traveling a long way to get there.

Yes this is the trip I have done, and I also thought at first it was short, but I think it is the longest trip they offer. In the end, it was a good length, and we went to a lot of different places (Spitsbergen is small, and we were able to go all the way around; on the trip before us, they were able to go quite far to the North and they reached the Polar Ice Pack, which must have been incredible). We didn't include anything before/after the trip but we come from a closer location, so it's not so much of an issue. Maybe you could ask Hurtigruten directly if they can offer pre/post trip program. Oslo can be a good idea (we will be spending a couple of days in Oslo in a month, on our way to do Hurtigruten's coastal voyage that you are not keen on doing! :p).

If I could, I would be very excited to do this trip, which lasts longer :

http://www.hurtigruten.com/Spitsbergen/Spitsbergen-Voyages/Spitsbergen-voyages-with-MS-Nordstjernen/Polar-Bears-Islands-and-Fjords--Spitsbergen---Bergen/

which could be the last one of the MS Nordstjernen with Hurtigruten (but then, a different ship, and only 6 days in Spitsbergen, so that might not interest you).

Hi -- thanks again for more helpful advice! I know, this thread has gone quite off-topic but I guess no one will mind or maybe a moderator will move it.

At any rate - I have a good sense of what we could expect from your description. I would really have to lower my expectations I think to not be disappointed after the Antarctica since they are so different. The better choice for me might be to do a longer itinerary in the south in a few years - maybe with S. Georgia and the Falklands.

Just looking at the current prices on Hurt. (which only shows Aug. 2012 for the one I'd be interested in) and the trip itself is not bad but the airfare is killer - over $3000 pp if you have them book flights for you from NYC to Longyearbyen. That does also include 1 nt hotel on both ends of the trip and a Longyearbyen tour but still - it's almost as much as the cruise! A quick look at booking air myself for this August is even higher than that! Ouch.

So flying to Buenos Aires sounds like a bargain and since I was so in love with Antarctica I think it really makes more sense to go back there again.

It will require further research (half the fun of traveling is the planning!). Thanks again and maybe we will see you on your Falklands/SG/Antarctica cruise!

Just looking at the current prices on Hurt. (which only shows Aug. 2012 for the one I'd be interested in) and the trip itself is not bad but the airfare is killer - over $3000 pp if you have them book flights for you from NYC to Longyearbyen. That does also include 1 nt hotel on both ends of the trip and a Longyearbyen tour but still - it's almost as much as the cruise! A quick look at booking air myself for this August is even higher than that! Ouch.

 

So flying to Buenos Aires sounds like a bargain and since I was so in love with Antarctica I think it really makes more sense to go back there again

Of course from my end of the world the situation is reversed! ;) Flying to BA from France is quite a dent in the budget.

And what about Greenland? Fram also offers nice Greenland cruises and I think the scenery is also spectacular.

For the record, if anyone else consider this trip, the Longyearbyen tour is not that great and I would actually suggest to try and avoid it altogether if possible (and either explore on your own or spend more time in the Arctic museum, which we had to visit in a rush and deserves much more attention - great introduction to everything Svalbard-related). But this shouldn't be a deciding factor anyway.

Another difference in Spitsbergen is the presence of men (both in history and today). It has a rich human history as well as geographical/biological and it gives another layer of interest to the place, I thought. Maybe the landing sites were chosen accordingly but we saw almost every time either strong presence of men (in town like Barentsburg or Ny Alesund, where people still live today, and are both surprising, even if drastically different) or historical traces (hunter huts in various state, bones from walrus hunting, traces of whaling activities, graveyard...).

Point taken about flying from different areas!

And also, duly noted that the we should give the Longyearbyen tour a miss if we do end up there.

I'll have to look at the Greenland & Iceland trips -I guess they do those on the Fram also (which I loved).

You're right, the human history would add a layer to that trip vs. mainly learning about Amundsen, Shackelton, Scott, et al.

Sparky 333, so glad you had a fabulous trip with Hurtigruten. They may not be for everybody but it sure was the perfect trip for us last year, we are big fans of the company, value for money is hard to beat. Did you have penguin man Manuel on board, what a hoot he is!! For sure, think about the trip with Falklands & South Georgia, those 2 place were very different from the peninsula and both fantastic for the bird life. Also, you can add rockhoppers & kings to your checklist.

Carmelita, agreed it was great value for the price & the company made a very good impression on me. We did have Manuel & yes he was very funny & sweet.

The Falklands/SG itinerary is a tad on the long side for what I can take off work at one time. I think it 's 17 or 19 days or thereabouts. Maybe the Polar Circle Quest would be a good next choice for us.

Thanks for your advice pre-trip it was helpful!

Back to the webcam! Does anyone know how often it refreshes? I've Googled to no avail...

I think it refreshes about every 5-8 seconds or so.

Also, Going Ushuaia -> Antarctica ->Falklands -> BA, last year, we passed through a number of time zones, possibly around South Georgia. It was fairly meaningless at the time.

I think the simplest thing would be to send you family a message once on board and arrange a time the following day. Sea days would be easiest, as landings often took place early and several times during the day.

Now that I'm back from our trip I can answer my own question. The webcam provides a continuous live feed into the cabin TVs but updates the website view every 30 or so minutes. The update time can vary by a few minutes each time.

Fram used GMT -3 throughout our trip except for South Georgia when we went to GMT -2. The captain said this was to match 'local' time and daylight but was completely unnecessary as we were starting 'events' at vastly differing times (anywhere between 05:30 and 09:30) each day.

So were you able to wave to your grandaughter?

And how was your trip - will you be writing about it? Hope it was wonderful!

We weren't able to time a wave but our daughter caught me, back to webcam, on a couple of occasions and saved the images for our granddaughter and ourselves. We were also able to send a message via Fram's blog on 6 March.

As for the trip? Something more than awesome and nicely finished off with Iguazu Falls!

With 6500+ photographs to sort through, it will be a while before I get round to putting together a sensible account. In the meantime, anyone considering the trip, just do it! If there's a choice between a drive-by and a landing trip such as the ones offered on Fram, go for the landing trip. The experience is much more intense and you get to see much, much more. Penguins, seals and birds at 100+ metres don't compare with the view/sound/smell(!) at less than a metre.

Glad to hear you had an awesome time. I'll look forward to anything you post about it after you sort through your photos - that sounds like a daunting project....good luck!

One question: were you bitten with the polar bug? Would you go back or was once enough? I'm definitely planning a return to Antarctica at some point but also want to see the Arctic and most likely will do that first.

One other thing: There's a great series on the Discovery channel, Frozen Planet. The first episdode aired Sunday 3/18. I'm betting they repeat or you might find it on their webiste. Really well done and so cool to see (no pun intended) after having been there!

We had already done the Norwegian Fjords trip and had enjoyed getting beyond the Arctic Circle (and the consequent hefty discount that Hurtigruten gave us on the Antarctic trip!). We may well return to Antarctica and/or do the Greenland or Spitsbergen trips. We certainly enjoy the cold parts of the planet!

Frozen Planet has already been shown in the UK (it's a BBC production) and we watched all of the episodes before we left. I note that for the US market they've replaced David Attenborough as narrator with an actor, which would seem an odd decision given his standing in the natural history field.