Ship size: A&K Le Boreal vs Silver Explorer vs Quark

We are planning a trip to Antarctica incl S Georgia + Falklands around Dec 2013 and have looked at a few different options, thanks to CC forums and resources :)

Due to the dates offered, National Geographic's trip will not work for us. It seems like Quark and A&K both have a Christmas/New Year cruise that could work. Silver Explorer has one for Dec 2014, a year later but if this is the best option, we will wait an extra year - after all, it's a trip of a lifetime.

Size of ship - both AK Le Boreal and Silver Explorer will be >100 passengers. I understand that only 100 people are allowed ashore at a time, so does it matter whether it's 140ppl or 199ppl? I mean, once it's over 100, is it correct that there's no difference between the number of people as long as its not more than 200?

Cost - Le Boreal is all balcony. And it seems like that if I compare balcony to balcony, it's actually cheapest to go with Le Boreal with A&K. I had thought that Quark would be cheaper as it's not a luxurious line, but it doesn't seem to be the case. Would it still be worth going with Quark then? I mean, A&K is well known for the top level they provide, and if they are comparatively cheaper, why would we consider the other options?

Is there anything else we should consider? So excited already :)

We are planning a trip to Antarctica incl S Georgia + Falklands around Dec 2013 and have looked at a few different options, thanks to CC forums and resources :)

 

Due to the dates offered, National Geographic's trip will not work for us. It seems like Quark and A&K both have a Christmas/New Year cruise that could work. Silver Explorer has one for Dec 2014, a year later but if this is the best option, we will wait an extra year - after all, it's a trip of a lifetime.

 

Size of ship - both AK Le Boreal and Silver Explorer will be >100 passengers. I understand that only 100 people are allowed ashore at a time, so does it matter whether it's 140ppl or 199ppl? I mean, once it's over 100, is it correct that there's no difference between the number of people as long as its not more than 200?

 

Cost - Le Boreal is all balcony. And it seems like that if I compare balcony to balcony, it's actually cheapest to go with Le Boreal with A&K. I had thought that Quark would be cheaper as it's not a luxurious line, but it doesn't seem to be the case. Would it still be worth going with Quark then? I mean, A&K is well known for the top level they provide, and if they are comparatively cheaper, why would we consider the other options?

 

Is there anything else we should consider? So excited already :)

Checkout L'Austral - 30-35% less than A&K for the exact same boat and route.

I had thought that Quark would be cheaper as it's not a luxurious line, but it doesn't seem to be the case. Would it still be worth going with Quark then? I mean, A&K is well known for the top level they provide, and if they are comparatively cheaper, why would we consider the other options?

 

With Quark you are not paying for "luxury" - you are paying for 2 decades of polar experience in their captains and expedition teams. They have been operating in polar tourism longer than the rest.

Irrespective of the passenger numbers the expedition teams operate a rotational system. Even with less than 100 passengers you dont all bombard the shore line at the same time. Its back and forth on the zodiacs for the whole time and usually by the time the later groups are coming ashore the earlier groups have had their allocated time on shore and are returning on the empty zodiacs.

The groups are rotated for each landing so its never "group 1" whose goes first each time. This ensures the higher number groups also get a turn at being the first zodiac of the day.

There are plenty of other companies you can check itinerarys for to see if they suit your needs.

Aurora has a couple of smaller ships with less passenger numbers.

http://www.auroraexpeditions.com.au/expeditions/category/antarctica-cruises

Checkout L'Austral - 30-35% less than A&K for the exact same boat and route.

Many thanks - I am aware of this and have checked it out, but all the reviews I've read suggest that it's not best for non-French speakers. Given the high cost and the once-in-a-lifetime nature of the trip, we definitely want to stick to a ship with English as the primary language :rolleyes:

With Quark you are not paying for "luxury" - you are paying for 2 decades of polar experience in their captains and expedition teams. They have been operating in polar tourism longer than the rest.

 

Irrespective of the passenger numbers the expedition teams operate a rotational system. Even with less than 100 passengers you dont all bombard the shore line at the same time. Its back and forth on the zodiacs for the whole time and usually by the time the later groups are coming ashore the earlier groups have had their allocated time on shore and are returning on the empty zodiacs.

 

The groups are rotated for each landing so its never "group 1" whose goes first each time. This ensures the higher number groups also get a turn at being the first zodiac of the day.

 

There are plenty of other companies you can check itinerarys for to see if they suit your needs.

Aurora has a couple of smaller ships with less passenger numbers.

http://www.auroraexpeditions.com.au/expeditions/category/antarctica-cruises

Good to know! useful information. This seems to suggest that 199 passengers aren't a number then as it'll take time to get the zodiac to land ;) Though I can definitely see that having fewer passengers may very well mean more flexibility with landing time choices and hence better weather conditions. I'll check out Aurora.

It would be interesting to get some direct comparison of A&K vs Quark. :D

I saw in your original post you spoke about a balcony - on our ship, we went with Silver Seas, you were not allowed to open the doors due to the winds so unless you want the large view you can't sit out on your balcony for most of this trip. Everyone goes to the decks. You really only use your room for sleeping. We had a room with a window which was fine. You really want to be center ship and low down in the ship if you tend to get sea sick at all. We can't compare the other ships but we loved our trip with Silver Seas - the service was great and the guides were terrific.

We were on Le Boreal in February. It was an English-speaking charter which I would advise if you are an English speaker. The zodiac expeditions worked onboard Le Boreal exactly as Perfectly Perth describes them on Quark.

We spent a lot of time on our balcony and there was never any restriction on our use of the balconies. We were in the center of the bottom deck, so it was wet out there sometimes while crossing the Drake. It was great to be able to step right out there when you could hear whales blow through the glass!

We did not go to S. Georgia and the Falklands. We had already visited the Falklands and did not want to spend the extra time sailing to S. Georgia. We were happy with that decision. It was an amazing trip, but it was not a relaxing vacation. There is all the clothing changes twice a day to suit up for your turn in the zodiacs and then back to the lighter clothes for the ship, then all the layers and boots and lifevests to go ashore again. We found it exhausting after a while. Also, we had rough seas going down and I was not looking forward to the open seas again and would especially have dreaded sailing even further to S. Georgia. I understand that the wildlife there is amazing, but we found that we had had enough when we sailed back across the Drake Passage to Ushuaia.

I kept a blog, if you're interested in our experience with photos.

http://antarcticaonleboreal2012.blogspot.com/

<<<<<<<<Though I can definitely see that having fewer passengers may very well mean more flexibility with landing time choices and hence better weather conditions. I'll check out Aurora.>>>>>>>>>>

The landing times are quite restrictive. The expedition companies select and block out slots several years in advance.

That's more about the size and budget of the operator than the amount of passengers.

The smaller operators may block out the Tuesday morning slot for a specific landing zone. If weather prevents a landing that morning the operator has to sail on as another ship may have booked the afternoon.

I was lucky on my voyages as they had booked multiple days in a row so we could make extra attempts knowing that no other ships could be in that region at the same time.

Our first cruise in 2010 had 200 passengers and we had to take turns in groups of 100 for landings. That limited the amount of time on shore and also sometimes one group had better weather.

This week we just returned from an Antarctica XXI expedition with 53 passengers and we had plenty of time at each landing. We never felt rushed and often went back to the ship befor the last zodiac!

We flew the Drake, so we only had mild rough seas in the Gerlack Straits for a few hours.

We are planning a trip to Antarctica incl S Georgia + Falklands around Dec 2013 and have looked at a few different options, thanks to CC forums and resources :)

 

Due to the dates offered, National Geographic's trip will not work for us. It seems like Quark and A&K both have a Christmas/New Year cruise that could work. Silver Explorer has one for Dec 2014, a year later but if this is the best option, we will wait an extra year - after all, it's a trip of a lifetime.

 

Size of ship - both AK Le Boreal and Silver Explorer will be >100 passengers. I understand that only 100 people are allowed ashore at a time, so does it matter whether it's 140ppl or 199ppl? I mean, once it's over 100, is it correct that there's no difference between the number of people as long as its not more than 200?

 

Cost - Le Boreal is all balcony. And it seems like that if I compare balcony to balcony, it's actually cheapest to go with Le Boreal with A&K. I had thought that Quark would be cheaper as it's not a luxurious line, but it doesn't seem to be the case. Would it still be worth going with Quark then? I mean, A&K is well known for the top level they provide, and if they are comparatively cheaper, why would we consider the other options?

 

Is there anything else we should consider? So excited already :)

Have you looked at Hurtigruten's offerings?

We went with them on Fram to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands earlier this year and had a wonderful time: great ship, crew and itinerary.

We'll be on the Fram again next year to Spitsbergen and then back to Antarctica in January 2014.

We have been to Antarctica with Ponant. They do a wonderful job and LeBoreal is a very nice ship. If you book through A&K most everyone will be English speaking. If you book through Ponant directly most passengers will most likely be French speaking. However, all the crew speaks English also. Even with 200 passengers you get plenty of time on the ice or in the Zodiacs.

We returned 2 weeks ago from Antarctica on Silver Explorer. LOVED IT. EVERYTHING. The crew is very experienced about landings and ensure that everything is orderly, never seems rushed, but also never feels like you're waiting around to go ashore.

We are 70 days with Silversea. Turns out we had the most days of anyone on the ship. This is very unusual since most cruises have many people with over 100 days. We were upgraded to a full suite. Very nice. Good to consider if you've previously traveled with Silversea, even if you don't have a lot of days.

I was on the Le Boreal for the December 2010 voyage. I had a balcony which I used any number of times. Mostly for picture taking and just revelling in the scenery. We were never told to not use it.

That being said, we were very fortunate in the weather during this trip and had very few days of any kind of winds or rain/snow. We even lucked out to have Drake lake on the way back. :D

I saw in your original post you spoke about a balcony - on our ship, we went with Silver Seas, you were not allowed to open the doors due to the winds so unless you want the large view you can't sit out on your balcony for most of this trip. Everyone goes to the decks. You really only use your room for sleeping. We had a room with a window which was fine. You really want to be center ship and low down in the ship if you tend to get sea sick at all. We can't compare the other ships but we loved our trip with Silver Seas - the service was great and the guides were terrific.

We returned 2 weeks ago from Antarctica on Silver Explorer. LOVED IT. EVERYTHING. The crew is very experienced about landings and ensure that everything is orderly, never seems rushed, but also never feels like you're waiting around to go ashore.

 

We are 70 days with Silversea. Turns out we had the most days of anyone on the ship. This is very unusual since most cruises have many people with over 100 days. We were upgraded to a full suite. Very nice. Good to consider if you've previously traveled with Silversea, even if you don't have a lot of days.

Glad to hear that you had a great trip on Silver Explorer! We're still deciding between the 2013 trip on Le Boreal with A&K vs the 2014 trip on Silver Explorer. I've read some very mixed reports about Silver Explorer and how she seems to be rather tired and may be needing an overhaul to fix the various maintenance issues. I'd be interesting to hear about your thoughts since you were on her so recently :) How did you find the ship?

hmmmm. I always view "tired" and "maintenance issues" as two different types of problems. That said, I didn't think Silver Explorer suffered from either of these issues. Didn't hear any "talk" on board of any complaints from other passengers either. I could address concerns more directly if I knew what the specific complaints were.

Just returned from an AMAZING journey onboard Le Boreal with A&K to the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica. SUPERB in every way. In my opinion - balcony is critical - you never know when a pod pf 50 humpback whales or a 7 billion ton iceberg or orca whales will be spotted and luckily seen from your balcony! The naturalists that A&K bring to this expedition are what made the trip - they have worked together for many years, are internationally recognized experts, and above that- are wonderfully fun and accessible. We found the ship to be safe and steady - guided by an exceptional captain who took us around a HUGE Beaufort 10 storm that damaged the Silver Explorer to the point it had to return to Ushuaia and cancel its trip and the next one. If you want to reach out to me personally - feel free to...

Just returned from an AMAZING journey onboard Le Boreal with A&K to the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica. SUPERB in every way. In my opinion - balcony is critical - you never know when a pod pf 50 humpback whales or a 7 billion ton iceberg or orca whales will be spotted and luckily seen from your balcony! The naturalists that A&K bring to this expedition are what made the trip - they have worked together for many years, are internationally recognized experts, and above that- are wonderfully fun and accessible. We found the ship to be safe and steady - guided by an exceptional captain who took us around a HUGE Beaufort 10 storm that damaged the Silver Explorer to the point it had to return to Ushuaia and cancel its trip and the next one. If you want to reach out to me personally - feel free to...

I was on the same voyage and agree totally with DadainTN ( Hi Dottie!). We had one nice couple who are Silver Seas aficionados and I asked him why he wasn't on the Silver Explorer if he loved the ship and line so much. Told me his T.A. Said A&K expedition team was the difference.

I was on the same voyage and agree totally with DadainTN ( Hi Dottie!). We had one nice couple who are Silver Seas aficionados and I asked him why he wasn't on the Silver Explorer if he loved the ship and line so much. Told me his T.A. Said A&K expedition team was the difference.

We were on the Austral (Ponant) in December 2012. It was the trip of a life time. Everything was in French AND English. We spent 2 hours for each excursion ( one group of 100 after the first 100) which is enough. There is 2 excursions every day. Very good food, even the lettuce looks fresh after 10 days at sea. I have mobility issues and they help me a lot. We did use our balcony a lot for pictures when the first group was on land or for photos of pingouins, birds, etc. My only regret is to not have seen South Georgia and the King pingouins.

I was on the same voyage and agree totally with DadainTN ( Hi Dottie!). We had one nice couple who are Silver Seas aficionados and I asked him why he wasn't on the Silver Explorer if he loved the ship and line so much. Told me his T.A. Said A&K expedition team was the difference.

Missing everyone aboard le Boreal...

We were on the Austral (Ponant) in December 2012. It was the trip of a life time. Everything was in French AND English. We spent 2 hours for each excursion ( one group of 100 after the first 100) which is enough. There is 2 excursions every day. Very good food, even the lettuce looks fresh after 10 days at sea. I have mobility issues and they help me a lot. We did use our balcony a lot for pictures when the first group was on land or for photos of pingouins, birds, etc. My only regret is to not have seen South Georgia and the King pingouins.

We were on Le Boreal in December 2012 - ditto to everything above! We love love loved it!

Irrespective of the passenger numbers the expedition teams operate a rotational system. Even with less than 100 passengers you dont all bombard the shore line at the same time. Its back and forth on the zodiacs for the whole time and usually by the time the later groups are coming ashore the earlier groups have had their allocated time on shore and are returning on the empty zodiacs.

Not true. We had about 55 passengers with Ocean Nova and we all went ashore at the same time. We always had plenty of time and did not have to rush back to allow the second group to take their turn.

We enjoyed this experience much better than the 200 person A&K cruise where the weather changed and one group or the other got shortchanged!