Lindblad's New Explorer?

Hi all. I think this will be the first season that Lindblad is sailing its new National Geographic Explorer (previously Lyngen, I believe) in Antarctica. Thus no reviews to consult.

But I'm wondering how any of you Lindblad Endeavor fans feel about a similar voyage on this new ship, as it holds 148 pax. Would you hesitate to travel to Antarctica with the larger crowd? (I'm wondering about the scheduling of zodiac landings.) Or is the Lindblad experience so wonderful that it shouldn't matter? Any opinions appreciated, thanks!

My two cents - if I were paying what Lindblad charges to go to Antarctica (granted, it might be a little less on this ship since it is larger than their other ship), I would want to do so on a ship carrying no more than 100 pax. I would not want to have wait to take turns to make zodiac landings considering the restriction re: no more than 100 per landing. (We went on the 48 pax Prof Molchanov in January 2007 - considered Lindblad, but they were not offering the itinerary we wanted in January that year.)

I tend to agree, the taking turns is not for me. In this situation anyway, I'm otherwise very nice and sharing :)

BTW the price quoted for the Explorer is the same as for the Endeavor. But apparently Lindblad has made a change from their published 2009-10 schedule and will not be sailing the Endeavor on the "15 day" trip (per the Lindblad sales agent on the phone, when inquiring about a Dec 09 booking).

An interesting question. I'm glad I didn't have a choice. I didn't spend much time researching the difference in the ships. Based on a quick look at Lindblad's website, I couldn't see much difference between the Explorer & the Endeavour except the number of passengers, the availability of "multiple dining venues," and a luxury wellness spa. I thought the single dining room on the Endeavour was just fine. I never went in Endeavour's spa but it might not be luxury. I thought all the other high tech features they described on the Explorer were also present on the Endeavour. Both were designed as an expedition ship and both have a feature that was important to me - stabilizers. Compared to the only other expedition ship I have been on (Polar Star) I thought the lounge on the Endeavour was terrific for the many presentations. They make it sound like the Explorer's lounge is even better for educational presentations. There may be differences in the cabins and the choices for cabin sizes but I didn't get that far.

The only difference I would be concerned about is the one you identified -the number of passengers. Even on the Endeavour, there is a phased process to get people ashore. There were usually 3 groups with maybe a 20 minute period between each group so you might wait as long as 40 minutes to get into the zodiacs. They rotated the groups so sometimes you were first and sometimes you were last. Once ashore, you could return to the ship in whatever sequence you wanted. This was never a problem and we never felt rushed on shore. I suspect there were some passengers in the first wave to shore who were in the last wave to return and some who were in the last wave ashore and the first to return. Obviously, they will need to manage that more carefully with 148 pax and perhaps some will not get as much shore time as they would have chosen. They could mitigate this potential problem by offering optional activities like kayaking. I would guess that the people who are in kayaks don't count as people ashore so on a particular stop, they could alternate between kayaking & shore excursions. On the Endeavour, we were offered kayaking on two of the stops in addition to the shore landing. (Sea conditions need to be right for kayaks.) We also took a zodiac cruise to check out ice up close & personal while others were on land. One time, the ship "parked" in sea ice and all the passengers and crew got out & walked around. I suppose walking on sea ice doesn't count as a "landing" but it was great fun. Finally, the ship may not have a full complement of passengers depending on the number of singles and on some stops, not all passengers will elect to go ashore.

If the Explorer offered the best dates & itinerary for an Antarctic trip and I could afford to pay for the Lindblad experience, I would not hesitate to take it.

We were on the Endeavor in January 2005. Friends of ours had gone on the Marco Polo, which sailed with 300 passengers the year before. They could only go on every third landing, as there were only about 100 people allowed off the ship at one time. They were very disappointed. The ship was nicer and the accomodations and entertainment better, but that was not why they went to Antarctica.

When we were on the Endeavor, people lined up when the zodiacs were announced and one was filled right after the other, so everybody was off the ship within 20-30 minutes - same with returning. This maximized the time we spent on each landing. I would hesitate to go with a company where you would have to shorten the landings or rotate them to allow everybody their turn.

The trip is expensive and the crossing of Drakes's Passage can be horrendous, but it was worth it for the landings. I would not want that compromised.

By the way, my husband put some of his best Antarctica photos on http://www.pbase.com/michaelblum/galleries if anybody is interested.

Thanks for the additional responses.

And nice photos Benita, thanks for sharing them!