Seabourn, pax limits, etc.??

Yes I could take this to the Seabourn forum but a quick scan yielded nothing over there so I thought I'd start here as I wouldn't need to write a book to explain my question. May end up posting there too.

Seabourn has very competitively priced itineraries aboard the Quest for Antarctica/S. Georgia. Ship is 450 pax which implies the cruising might be smoother than typical expedition ships

...but...

does anybody know for sure (not speculating) how they handle the 100-ashore-for-landings limit? 450 guests is a lot of people.

I called the office, and the rep did not seem to grasp the question.

Thanks.

Yes I could take this to the Seabourn forum but a quick scan yielded nothing over there so I thought I'd start here as I wouldn't need to write a book to explain my question. May end up posting there too.

 

Seabourn has very competitively priced itineraries aboard the Quest for Antarctica/S. Georgia. Ship is 450 pax which implies the cruising might be smoother than typical expedition ships

...but...

does anybody know for sure (not speculating) how they handle the 100-ashore-for-landings limit? 450 guests is a lot of people.

 

I called the office, and the rep did not seem to grasp the question.

 

Thanks.

You might be disappointed with this Shawnino, but the itineraries I was able to see indicated that Sth Georgia would be mostly cruise rather than landings, with the exception of Grytviken. Getting 450 pax on and off the ship means that any landing will be an 'all-day' operation. Can you imagine doing that in Elsehul? Or a tough landing on St Andrew's Bay? I remember seeing the Marco Polo in Antarctica with a similar passenger load - it took them all day to land at Port Lockroy, which isn't a tough location!

Thanks.

Yech.

Pass.

Seabourn has very competitively priced itineraries aboard the Quest for Antarctica/S. Georgia. Ship is 450 pax which implies the cruising might be smoother than typical expedition ships

...but...

does anybody know for sure (not speculating) how they handle the 100-ashore-for-landings limit? 450 guests is a lot of people.

I would give it a miss if they've got 450 to rotate on landings. That must surely impact badly on time ashore.

As for stability, we were on Hurtigruten's Fram and didn't experience much rough weather other than a couple or three hours in Antarctic Sound which actually turned out to be quite enjoyable as it gave a 'flavour' of what things could really be like! Quest may be bigger but I don't think it's a trade-off that I would go for.

If you're looking to visit South Georgia then Grytviken is interesting and pretty, but you also need to be landing at places like Fortuna Bay (16,000 King Penguins at your feet!).

Posted in the Seabourn forum. One person replied claiming the max pax numbers were cut to 350 for these trips but even 350 seems very big.

Unlucky, as the price seems right (compared to, say, Lindblad), my wife would enjoy the luxury touches, and I would enjoy the extra stability on board. We had what was termed average and helpful (at our back) seas most of the time on Lindblad; I sequestered myself in the cabin on sea days as I don't walk well and didn't want to chance matters. I would be more adventurous next time I think, but we'll see.

Have been informed by SB that the maximum number of passengers will be

350.

Kind regards

Tony