Viking Expeditions Thread

[FLORIDA FLOUNDER]

On 9/16/2023 at 9:17 AM, WAVTAM said:

Me again.

Have flights booked with Viking Air. Arrive in BA morning, check in and rest. Assume morning breakfast is included before charter flight next day.?? Is dinner the night before??

Any particular piece of clothing that you feel is mandatory. 

Heated gloves/ heated Socks/balaclava

From what I remember...we had breakfast in the hotel restaurant the morning we left for Ushuaia rather than a breakfast box that Viking sometimes hands out. Also, dinner was on your own in Buenos Aires. We ate at Cabanas Las Lilas. It was okay, nothing special. 

We didn't bring anything extra or out of the ordinary such as heated gloves or heated socks. We did bring wool hats and gloves but didn't need them. The weather was beautiful!

[FLORIDA FLOUNDER]

On 9/15/2023 at 3:33 PM, Frenchberet said:

We did Viking’s Antarctic Expedition cruise on Octantis in February 2023 and sailed below the Antarctic Circle (we have the certificates to prove it!).  Luckily, we also had good weather and made 4 landings in Antarctica.  A wonderful “hard to top” cruise.

That's awesome! But that means our Captain lied to us! 😜

We were on the Octantis. How about you? 

[Frenchberet]

24 minutes ago, FLORIDA FLOUNDER said:

That's awesome! But that means our Captain lied to us! 😜

We were on the Octantis. How about you? 

We sailed on Octantis too.  Beautiful ship!  Our February 2023 cruise was after yours (your post says December 2022-January 2023) so I think the captain was probably correct.  Our weather was good (sunny, 30 degrees F).  I wore gloves and a stocking cap on the zodiacs but didn’t need any special warm weather clothing.  Great trip!

[FLORIDA FLOUNDER]

11 hours ago, Frenchberet said:

We sailed on Octantis too.  Beautiful ship!  Our February 2023 cruise was after yours (your post says December 2022-January 2023) so I think the captain was probably correct.  Our weather was good (sunny, 30 degrees F).  I wore gloves and a stocking cap on the zodiacs but didn’t need any special warm weather clothing.  Great trip!

ohhhhh! okay! I was thinking you went Feb 2022. 🤪

[WAVTAM]

Me again..

I'm assuming like other ships, that Viking offers a Polar Plunge one day.

[Mike07]

25 minutes ago, WAVTAM said:

Me again..

I'm assuming like other ships, that Viking offers a Polar Plunge one day.

 

 

It better otherwise I'll jump off and that'll be the last Viking cruise they ever let me on!

[WAVTAM]

me again....do the pants they provide give waterproof protection.

[Frenchberet]

On our Viking expedition cruise to Antarctica they held a "blue nose" ceremony to celebrate crossing the Antarctic Circle.  There are a series of plunge pools on Octantis that are varying degrees of cold (caldarium, tepidarium, and frigidarium).  Passengers wishing to participate jumped into each of the pools in succession and were rewarded with a dab of blue frosting on their nose and a shot of Aquivat.  The ship's doctor was standing by with a defibrillator...  I've seen videos of other cruise lines where people actually jump off the ship but Viking didn't do that.  

 

Viking provides pants, boots, a jacket and liner.  You get to keep the jacket and liner (very nice!).  The pants really are waterproof.

[FLORIDA FLOUNDER]

7 hours ago, WAVTAM said:

Me again..

I'm assuming like other ships, that Viking offers a Polar Plunge one day.

It's not a "true" polar plunge in the ocean but they do have a fun quirky polar plunge ceremony in the viking pools that involves everyone.

Edited September 22, 2023 by FLORIDA FLOUNDER

[FLORIDA FLOUNDER]

4 hours ago, WAVTAM said:

me again....do the pants they provide give waterproof protection.

I think they're water repellant. We wore leggings under them and were very warm.

[zelker]

By any chance has anyone stayed in 3066?  Curious if we will hear noise from the two restrooms below or smell fumes from the beauty salon.  And finally, we’re considering a Longitudinal from Ushuaia to Milwaukee and wonder if being that far back we’ll likely feel more motion or vibration.  Thx.

[Insanityx4]

We were in 4015 and we didn't hear anything from the World cafe, Mamsen's, the Explorers lounge, the track, the hallway or anything else so I would say no. We were on a different deck but don't think it makes any difference. We were probably in a nosier part of the ship and we really didn't ever hear anything 

[mgatc]

This was posted on one of my Facebook groups. 
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/bird-flu-penguin-antarctica-virus-pandemic-argentina/

[HHI Cruiser1]

If you want to see your Antarctica cruise passage (route in Antarctica), all ships are required to file post cruise reports with Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty.  You can review all cruise routes (stops, activities, etc.) on this site:  https://www.ats.aq/index_e.html.  Every Antarctica cruise is listed as reported by cruise line, down to kayaks and landings.  I think that behind a controlled login wall, every landing or stop location is also controlled (like ports) in order to comply with limitations at each location (like normal port berth assignments).  I also think that's why landing/stops change closer to actual cruise dates, as each cruise line tries to register their locations 'desires' and have to adjust if another ships is already 'assign' that location on that day.  Can't have too many ships or passengers violating Antarctica Treaty Limitations (no one wants to be told they can land only to find out there's another ship already there and you can't stop).  Great info.  
Plus you can clearly see if your cross Antarctica Circle on any cruise.

[emileg]

On 9/25/2023 at 2:16 PM, mgatc said:

This was posted on one of my Facebook groups. 
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/bird-flu-penguin-antarctica-virus-pandemic-argentina/

Yes, thanks for sharing this information here. I have been thinking about it. Even if we are not permitted to go on land, I figure the most we would be losing is four hours, assuming an hour a day on shore for four days. We are on the South Georgia Island expedition that spends four days instead of seven in Antarctica. Thus, most of our activities would be on the ship anyway. Time will tell. But what is most important is protecting wildlife.

[HHI Cruiser1]

7 hours ago, emileg said:

Yes, thanks for sharing this information here. I have been thinking about it. Even if we are not permitted to go on land, I figure the most we would be losing is four hours, assuming an hour a day on shore for four days. We are on the South Georgia Island expedition that spends four days instead of seven in Antarctica. Thus, most of our activities would be on the ship anyway. Time will tell. But what is most important is protecting wildlife.

We'll see how it goes, but if we don't 'land' on Antarctica, there's many other luxury cruise lines that do 'Antarctica cruise only' for a lot less.   I would expect an option to reschedule any Antarctica cruise which isn't allowed to 'land'.  The landing are what Viking really markets and upcharges for.

[TeamBAlways]

We just booked our trip, Antarctic Explorer 12/4/24 

[Mike07]

On 9/27/2023 at 11:05 PM, HHI Cruiser1 said:

We'll see how it goes, but if we don't 'land' on Antarctica, there's many other luxury cruise lines that do 'Antarctica cruise only' for a lot less.   I would expect an option to reschedule any Antarctica cruise which isn't allowed to 'land'.  The landing are what Viking really markets and upcharges for.

 

 

For one, nothing has been confirmed by Viking or other expedition lines within the IAATO. Second, wouldn't this be outside the control of said operators?

[WAVTAM]

Do the Polaris and Octantis purposely cross paths in the archipelago.

[OneSixtyToOne]

20 minutes ago, WAVTAM said:

Do the Polaris and Octantis purposely cross paths in the archipelago.

I’ve seen passenger videos of this, but it was on the trip that Torstein was on. Not sure if it’s a regular occurrence or just a photo op.

[Frenchberet]

2 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

I’ve seen passenger videos of this, but it was on the trip that Torstein was on. Not sure if it’s a regular occurrence or just a photo op.

We sailed to Antarctica on Viking Octantis in Feb 2023.  Polaris was docked in Ushuaia when we arrived.  We only saw one small research vessel the entire 7 days in Antarctica.  No other ships.  Not a traffic jam by any means!

[Brad1185]

Have they finished the final repairs to the Polaris yet. Tried googling it and not much came up. Were booked Jan 2025. 

[Doc who loves to travel]

21 hours ago, Brad1185 said:

Have they finished the final repairs to the Polaris yet. Tried googling it and not much came up. Were booked Jan 2025. 

It was temporarily repaired 9 months ago (video) but I’ve seen photos of it from this summer (attached photo from May) and it looks like the windows were replaced. We had friends in one of the four affected cabins during the drake passage incident. So between the video and photo there is a clear difference. 
 

Viking Polaris Temporarily Repaired and Sailing to Antarctica Again after Deadly Rogue Wave Incident
https://youtu.be/ZIVXffan5HM

[Insanityx4]

We were supposed to sail on the Polaris in March but she went to the Bahamas for several weeks of repairs. We were transferred to the Octantis, same itinerary but a week later. She's fully repaired now.

[Brad1185]

44 minutes ago, Insanityx4 said:

We were supposed to sail on the Polaris in March but she went to the Bahamas for several weeks of repairs. We were transferred to the Octantis, same itinerary but a week later. She's fully repaired now.

Thanks Doc who loves to travel and Insanityx4 for the info