Hanseatic to Antarctica?

[Mike2131]

Our plans might allow a longer cruise in 2012 than originally thought and we are considering the Hanseatic. It is the highest rated expedition ship by Berlitz and (based on the catalog) looks fantastic. The 1/29/12 sailing is one of their "International Cruises" meaning it is bilingual - German and English. The PA II Arctic cruise we took this year was conducted in the same manner and we thoroughly enjoyed the expedition experience and our fellow passengers.

 

Has anyone sailed on the Hanseatic (to Antarctica or elsewhere) and would recommend it vs. other expedition ships? There are no member reviews of the vessel to look over and a search turned up almost nothing.

 

Thanks.

[freddie]

Mike - We took the long cruise on the Hanseatic three years ago - South Georgia and the Antarctic - an itinerary very similar to that you are considering. It was, without a close second, the best trip we've taken in 35 years of varied and well-enjoyed travel.

 

The "bilingual" approach works, pretty much of the time. However, one must recognize that the ship is German and that the vast majority of the passengers are German-speaking. Therefore, if you are not comfortable being in an environment where you are in the minority with regard to language, the Hanseatic is not the ship for you.

 

We loved the ship, the crew, the expeditions, and the excellent cuisine. There is not likely any other captain and senior navigation crew who are more experienced in that region than those on the Hanseatic. We had the good fortune to have had the best weather the captain had experienced in his 12 years in the region. Thus, we were able to make every scheduled landing, including three fantastic landings on South Georgia, where we were surrounded by hundreds of thousands of King Penguins at each colony.

 

Here is a sample of the reviews I posted upon our return:

 

WHERE HAVE ALL THE PENGUINS GONE??!!

 

Yikes, we’ve been home a few days and are getting over our jet lag, finishing laundry (it only took five runs of our waterproof pants through the washer to get rid of the last fragrant traces of Eau de Penguin No. 5), and trying to convince our two skeptical doggies that we are indeed staying here for a while. But we miss our penguins…

 

As part of my therapy for penguin withdrawal, I have noted a few random comments about the cruise, as follows (the rest of my therapy involves copious quantities of schnapps and liverwurst):

 

Overriding observation: fantastic experience on a terrific ship.

 

Itinerary: Superb, magnifico, wunderbar. We are sure that we would have enjoyed the cruise even without the visits to South Georgia (and the Kings); but the cruise would have been greatly diminished without those remarkable landings.

 

My photos only hint at the enchantment of our time among the Kings, our astonishment at the gigantic icebergs which were many times larger than our ship, and our delight at sitting in a Zodiac surrounded by thousands of fur seals and porpoising adelie penguins. Those are experiences which must be experienced to be experienced (hmm, that sounds either quite Zen or quite bad-60’s-flashback).

 

The grub: Pat & I found the food on board to be very good to excellent, both in selection and in quality of execution. We were particularly pleased with the many interesting choices and the bold flavor profiles of the dishes. I cannot imagine Regent (or any other American line) offering such things as grilled sweetbreads or veal kidneys in spicy mustard sauce. Now, many people would likely consider that a good thing, as those items are more than a bit creepy to a lot of people. (I liked the sweetbreads but could not bring myself to order the kidneys, preferring not to eat any body part used in transplants.) But the inclusion of such dishes which are so atypical of most cruise menus demonstrates that the chefs are not timid.

 

Fortunately, many less scary but marvelously tasty dishes were offered as well. We were quite fond of the excellent cheese selection offered at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Oddly, the galley could not produce an edible warm dessert soufflé, despite offering them on numerous occasions. The Hanseatic version of a soufflé Grand Marnier always turned out to be a peculiar creation bearing a glumly close resemblance to silly putty. Thus, we simply indulged in the rich ice cream available (ahh, fond memories of the espresso croquant – until our little group gobbled up every scoop of it on board).

 

The boot room: First, please understand that this issue did not at all reduce our absolute enjoyment of the cruise and has, in fact, given us endless amusing anecdotes to use at cocktail parties for years to come. The Battle of the Boot-Room was a to-the-death battle that occurred just before and after each Zodiac landing, as everyone went to his or her designated boot-room (small rooms where we stored and washed our wellies) to put on the boots or to rinse them off after stomping about in penguin guano.

 

There was a limited amount of space in the two rooms, requiring the prospective bootees to be quite considerate and cooperative. Sadly, a large number of passengers on board had only the most passing acquaintance with either of those concepts and committed such random acts of unkindness as demanding that others move off of “their” bench (when, of course, the benches were entirely at everyone’s disposal), demanding that everyone within a radius of six feet clear a space while the demander flailed about trying to put on the little life vest, or trying to grab a boot-washing hose out of one’s hands (oops, I am so sorry, Frau Schmidt, that you got sprayed in the face when you grabbed the hose from me).

 

As I sat in the clinic one evening, waiting to see the ship’s sawbones about my dislocated shoulder, cracked ribs, and bruised fingers, I reflected that, in retrospect, I should have just let Frau Schmidt have the damned hose…

 

The Zodiacs: When Neptune decided that mortals needed some fun toys to use on his seas, he clearly had Zodiacs in mind. Our 18 Zodiac landings/tours were all super. It was also fascinating to see each day who would be our drivers, as they varied from the gorgeous Esther (the head driver) to delightful Doris (the hotel director) to eccentric Christian (the boutique manager, who was a driver-in-training and not entirely confidence-inspiring with his spiked white hair and oh-so-trendo space-man eyeglasses).

 

The staff and service: From the first day in Buenos Aires, when Hapag-Lloyd provided a whole bus for a tour of the city for only four of us in the English group, the service was cheerful and quite good. Herr Kapitan opened the Bridge a surprising amount of time during the cruise, even when we were in heavy water or among icebergs. The senior staff was uniformly (even when not in uniform) friendly and helpful.

 

Mike, I would without hesitation recommend the Hanseatic. Nonetheless, that wonderful ship has some heavy-duty competition now, in my opinion, from Prince Albert II and Le Boreal (and maybe also from the new Nat'l Geo ship). When we took our trip, the Hanseatic was without a peer in the region. That may have changed now with the introduction of these several new ships. I would suggest that you have a look at all of them. That being said, whichever ship you choose, the inclusion of South Georgia in the itinerary is terrifically terrific.

 

Have fun looking at your options. Cheers, Fred

[Mike2131]

Mike - We took the long cruise on the Hanseatic three years ago - South Georgia and the Antarctic - an itinerary very similar to that you are considering. It was, without a close second, the best trip we've taken in 35 years of varied and well-enjoyed travel.

 

The "bilingual" approach works, pretty much of the time. However, one must recognize that the ship is German and that the vast majority of the passengers are German-speaking. Therefore, if you are not comfortable being in an environment where you are in the minority with regard to language, the Hanseatic is not the ship for you.

 

We loved the ship, the crew, the expeditions, and the excellent cuisine. There is not likely any other captain and senior navigation crew who are more experienced in that region than those on the Hanseatic. We had the good fortune to have had the best weather the captain had experienced in his 12 years in the region. Thus, we were able to make every scheduled landing, including three fantastic landings on South Georgia, where we were surrounded by hundreds of thousands of King Penguins at each colony.

 

Here is a sample of the reviews I posted upon our return:

 

WHERE HAVE ALL THE PENGUINS GONE??!!

 

Yikes, we’ve been home a few days and are getting over our jet lag, finishing laundry (it only took five runs of our waterproof pants through the washer to get rid of the last fragrant traces of Eau de Penguin No. 5), and trying to convince our two skeptical doggies that we are indeed staying here for a while. But we miss our penguins…

 

As part of my therapy for penguin withdrawal, I have noted a few random comments about the cruise, as follows (the rest of my therapy involves copious quantities of schnapps and liverwurst):

 

Overriding observation: fantastic experience on a terrific ship.

 

Itinerary: Superb, magnifico, wunderbar. We are sure that we would have enjoyed the cruise even without the visits to South Georgia (and the Kings); but the cruise would have been greatly diminished without those remarkable landings.

 

My photos only hint at the enchantment of our time among the Kings, our astonishment at the gigantic icebergs which were many times larger than our ship, and our delight at sitting in a Zodiac surrounded by thousands of fur seals and porpoising adelie penguins. Those are experiences which must be experienced to be experienced (hmm, that sounds either quite Zen or quite bad-60’s-flashback).

 

The grub: Pat & I found the food on board to be very good to excellent, both in selection and in quality of execution. We were particularly pleased with the many interesting choices and the bold flavor profiles of the dishes. I cannot imagine Regent (or any other American line) offering such things as grilled sweetbreads or veal kidneys in spicy mustard sauce. Now, many people would likely consider that a good thing, as those items are more than a bit creepy to a lot of people. (I liked the sweetbreads but could not bring myself to order the kidneys, preferring not to eat any body part used in transplants.) But the inclusion of such dishes which are so atypical of most cruise menus demonstrates that the chefs are not timid.

 

Fortunately, many less scary but marvelously tasty dishes were offered as well. We were quite fond of the excellent cheese selection offered at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Oddly, the galley could not produce an edible warm dessert soufflé, despite offering them on numerous occasions. The Hanseatic version of a soufflé Grand Marnier always turned out to be a peculiar creation bearing a glumly close resemblance to silly putty. Thus, we simply indulged in the rich ice cream available (ahh, fond memories of the espresso croquant – until our little group gobbled up every scoop of it on board).

 

The boot room: First, please understand that this issue did not at all reduce our absolute enjoyment of the cruise and has, in fact, given us endless amusing anecdotes to use at cocktail parties for years to come. The Battle of the Boot-Room was a to-the-death battle that occurred just before and after each Zodiac landing, as everyone went to his or her designated boot-room (small rooms where we stored and washed our wellies) to put on the boots or to rinse them off after stomping about in penguin guano.

 

There was a limited amount of space in the two rooms, requiring the prospective bootees to be quite considerate and cooperative. Sadly, a large number of passengers on board had only the most passing acquaintance with either of those concepts and committed such random acts of unkindness as demanding that others move off of “their” bench (when, of course, the benches were entirely at everyone’s disposal), demanding that everyone within a radius of six feet clear a space while the demander flailed about trying to put on the little life vest, or trying to grab a boot-washing hose out of one’s hands (oops, I am so sorry, Frau Schmidt, that you got sprayed in the face when you grabbed the hose from me).

 

As I sat in the clinic one evening, waiting to see the ship’s sawbones about my dislocated shoulder, cracked ribs, and bruised fingers, I reflected that, in retrospect, I should have just let Frau Schmidt have the damned hose…

 

The Zodiacs: When Neptune decided that mortals needed some fun toys to use on his seas, he clearly had Zodiacs in mind. Our 18 Zodiac landings/tours were all super. It was also fascinating to see each day who would be our drivers, as they varied from the gorgeous Esther (the head driver) to delightful Doris (the hotel director) to eccentric Christian (the boutique manager, who was a driver-in-training and not entirely confidence-inspiring with his spiked white hair and oh-so-trendo space-man eyeglasses).

 

The staff and service: From the first day in Buenos Aires, when Hapag-Lloyd provided a whole bus for a tour of the city for only four of us in the English group, the service was cheerful and quite good. Herr Kapitan opened the Bridge a surprising amount of time during the cruise, even when we were in heavy water or among icebergs. The senior staff was uniformly (even when not in uniform) friendly and helpful.

 

Mike, I would without hesitation recommend the Hanseatic. Nonetheless, that wonderful ship has some heavy-duty competition now, in my opinion, from Prince Albert II and Le Boreal (and maybe also from the new Nat'l Geo ship). When we took our trip, the Hanseatic was without a peer in the region. That may have changed now with the introduction of these several new ships. I would suggest that you have a look at all of them. That being said, whichever ship you choose, the inclusion of South Georgia in the itinerary is terrifically terrific.

 

Have fun looking at your options. Cheers, Fred

I had to laugh at (and can relate to) some of your stories (like the boot washing station and dessert "challenges") - as well as understand the awe at your surroundings - from our Arctic cruise on the Prince Albert II a couple of months ago. The passengers were pretty evenly split between English-speaking and German-speaking so everything from the daily "Guten Morgen" during morning announcements to the briefings were bi-lingual. We had a marvelous time from start to finish. I speak a tiny bit of German and, if we select the Hanseatic, will make it a mission to take a crash refresher course.

 

We were lookkng at a shorter cruise (no Falklands/South Georgia), but I think we might be able to take the longer cruise. I think we are down to choosing between the Hanseatic, PA II, and L'Boreal (and her new sister, L'Austral) The only one of those with a 2012 schedule and pricing available is the Hanseatic. We will probably deposit it and then see if any of the other options look more enticing. I have heard that the PA II might not offer the longer cruise in 2012 even though it is offered in November/December of 2011.

 

Thank you again for your insights.

[MJC]

We took the longer trip on Hanseatic when it was leased by Radisson in 2002 (all English). My suggestion is to take the longer trip if at all possible. South Georgia is an amazing place with a truly stunning amount of wildlife and some breathtaking scenery.

 

Also be sure to book a cabin in the middle of the middle of the ship. The seas are brutal and people in forward cabins barely got any sleep crossing the Drake Passage.

[freddie]

Mike - Our TA just today received confirmation that Silversea's Prince Albert ll will be doing a 17 night South Georgia/Antarctica cruise from January 13 - January 30th, 2012. Perfect timing for peak penguin activity.

 

Bookings are supposed to open in October or early November.

 

Cheers, Fred

[Mike2131]

Mike - Our TA just today received confirmation that Silversea's Prince Albert ll will be doing a 17 night South Georgia/Antarctica cruise from January 13 - January 30th, 2012. Perfect timing for peak penguin activity.

 

Bookings are supposed to open in October or early November.

 

Cheers, Fred

Thank you so much for the information, Freddie. The earlier time frame actually works for our schedule. Now, of course, comes the all important question - what's the fare going to be? The Hanseatic 2012 fare appears less vs. the late 2011 PA II fare for a similar cruise and the Hanseatic is a larger ship with a more spacious cabin. I think we will probably stick to our original plan to deposit the Hanseatic and then see the other fares and schedules.

 

We will discuss with our TA when she and her husband return from a RCI NE/Canada cruise sailing tomorrow out of NJ. That's assuming, of course, Earl let's them out of port. Oh well, better them than us on that sailing!

[Moeve]

The Hanseatic is selling out fast for 2012!!! Bridge deck is allready completely sold off.