Prince Albert Arctic cruise advice

[NC&KY]

I would like to know something about the Prince Albert cruises north of the Arctic Circle, the ones that remain at Svalbard for most of their duration. My wife and I will be 60 next summer and are very active and fit, but we're not 30 any more. What are the activities like? Are the excursions all day or could you do the morning and then take the afternoon off? Do most people do excursions all day every day (we just got off a Baltic cruise on Regent, and we felt like we needed to do an excursion every day or we would miss something)? And what is the average age of the people taking those cruises?

[Aussieflyer]

I cannot really answer your question (yet) but we are booked on the 22 Aug cruise from Tromso to Reykjavik which spends several days cruising around Svalbard. We will be just on 60 (well DH will be, I am a couple of years younger). He is fit and active, I am a little less so. From what I can gather, there are no full day excursions as such - the zodiacs go in two different groups a day, and it seems that in most cases there is one zodiac landing a day for several hours if the conditions are OK. The passengers are divided into 4 groups with 2 on excursion at any one time, rotating through the cruise as to whether it is the first or second landing. If you are really tired you still should get a wonderful view from the ship if you pass on a landing or trip.

Please someone correct me if I am wrong on this.

We can't wait!

[lkbside]

We were on The PAII last June - all in Svalbard. Most passengers were in their mid 50's to high 60's. Aussiflyer is correct - there are morning and afternoon excursions - the passengers are split into 4 groups and rotate, staying on land or on a zodiac tour for 1 to 1 1/2 hours on average. There were some "hikes", but not of any real length or difficulty. You can stay onboard and skip an excursion any time you want - the scenery is magnificient. I would say most people chose to do most of the excursions, but if the weather is inclement the number going out decreases.

 

You can read my daily account on my blog, including photos and expedition reports at http://expect-to-fly.blogspot.com/search/label/Silversea

 

Leslie

[Mike2131]

I would like to know something about the Prince Albert cruises north of the Arctic Circle, the ones that remain at Svalbard for most of their duration. My wife and I will be 60 next summer and are very active and fit, but we're not 30 any more. What are the activities like? Are the excursions all day or could you do the morning and then take the afternoon off? Do most people do excursions all day every day (we just got off a Baltic cruise on Regent, and we felt like we needed to do an excursion every day or we would miss something)? And what is the average age of the people taking those cruises?

I am not quite sure what it means since we have not sailed on the PA II or with Silversea before, but the focus on the Arctic itineraries seems a little changed. When we booked for the 6/22/2010 7-night RT out of Longyearbyen some months ago, it was the first sailing of the season. We were considering a change to a slightly longer (and later) sailing when the price increase came along and made our decision for us. Our cabin on our sailing would have been $700 + pp higher (and the other dates were proportionately raised) so we stayed put -and we are very glad we did. With charters and itinerary changes (all other RTs disappeared or became one-way sailings between Tromoso and Longyearbyen), our cruise became the only RT of the season. Looking at 2011, there are no Longyearbyen RT sailings. I don't know if that is due to permit restrictions, increased operating costs, lack of 2010 bookings, or some combination of these or other factors.

 

We feel very fortunate to be on the cruise we booked and are really looking forward to it!

[rojaan19]

We were on The PAII last June - all in Svalbard. Most passengers were in their mid 50's to high 60's. Aussiflyer is correct - there are morning and afternoon excursions - the passengers are split into 4 groups and rotate, staying on land or on a zodiac tour for 1 to 1 1/2 hours on average. There were some "hikes", but not of any real length or difficulty. You can stay onboard and skip an excursion any time you want - the scenery is magnificient. I would say most people chose to do most of the excursions, but if the weather is inclement the number going out decreases.

 

You can read my daily account on my blog, including photos and expedition reports at http://expect-to-fly.blogspot.com/search/label/Silversea

 

Leslie

 

Hi Leslie, that trip report and photos on your blog is very good and helpful ! We are booked on the 12 August trip on the PAII and in a silver class cabin so that was all good news for me :) Thanks for posting the link.

 

ANN

[Jade13]

I would like to know something about the Prince Albert cruises north of the Arctic Circle, the ones that remain at Svalbard for most of their duration. My wife and I will be 60 next summer and are very active and fit, but we're not 30 any more. What are the activities like? Are the excursions all day or could you do the morning and then take the afternoon off? Do most people do excursions all day every day (we just got off a Baltic cruise on Regent, and we felt like we needed to do an excursion every day or we would miss something)? And what is the average age of the people taking those cruises?

 

Very low key compared to our Antarctic cruise with Swan Hellenic 5 months earlier.

[NC&KY]

Excellent. Thanks for all the help.