Antarctica/ South America winter 2021

[PaulMCO]

Wonder if it applies to the Wind departures too??

[WesW]

Learned from SVP in charge of Destinations at Silversea this weekend, that this season Antarctica voyages will operate out of Punta Arenas, and in 2022/2023 seasons,  Antarctica voyages operating out of Chile will make a permanent move to Puerto Williams. Tho, my Feb 2022,  Wind voyage, Ushuaia to Buenos aires on mysilversea shows embark in Ushuaia--believe mysilversea--has not caught up with this new decision yet.

Edited September 8, 2021 by WesW

[cruiseej]

1 hour ago, PaulMCO said:

Wonder if it applies to the Wind departures too??

 

Yes! We got the same email, and we're on the Wind Dec 22 cruise.

 

Yay! Our cruise is seemingly going to go!! 😀🎉🤞

[cruiseej]

47 minutes ago, WesW said:

my Feb 2022,  Wind voyage, Ushuaia to Buenos aires on mysilversea shows embark in Ushuaia--believe mysilversea--has not caught up with this new decision yet.

 

Yes, our Dec 2021 trip still shows Ushuaia currently. I imagine they have a lot of updating to do to reflect the new point of embarkation and disembarkation. Along with all the other trip cancellations, port changes, and the two-week system outage, I'm guessing this is somewhat low on the priority list! (And I don't care; I'm just elated it seems there's now a clear path for us to go.)

[OceanPatter]

Seabourn’s 2021/22 Antarctica season (on the Quest) has just been canceled … so good luck to all of you on the similar Silverseas itinerary.

[WesW]

Kudos go to the Silversea team that worked hard with Chilean government to get permission to operate 2021/2022 Antarctica season cruises out of Chile.  Yes, there are restrictions for those of us going to Antarctica in 2021/2022, but is there a place in the world where a little hassle is not worth it.  Here is the link for what Chile requires for Antarctica voyages:

 

https://polarjournal.ch/en/2021/09/01/chile-allows-entry-for-antarctic-cruise-tourists/

[Catlover54]

On 9/4/2021 at 10:01 AM, kimanjo said:

 

Thank you!!  I suspected this  (bubble) is what would happen in order for this upcoming season to take place. I don't think this sounds too bad at all.  Fly in, they'll maybe? bus pax directly to a singular,  dedicated hotel.  Have the pax in their rooms. Shuttle them to the airport next am for charter flight to PA, overnight in dedicated hotel there, then shuttle to ship for boarding next day.  Sounds like a plan.

 

So, in our case, fly into Santiago, overnight in SCL, then onto PA, overnight in PA, then next day board ship.  On the way back, disembark in USH, bubble bus, charter flight to Santiago, day room for "bubble" room, then bubble bus to Santiago airport.  

 

ALL pax going from bubble to bubble.

 

 

Other than the brief bubble hotel stays, what does the local tourism industry get out of a bubble arrangement! Pax cannot explore the cities, eat in restaurants, shop, do pre or post embarkation tours, etc.  Is it that locals will be employed fueling the ships and selling provisions to the ships?

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Here is Cruise Critic's article about the Silversea Antarctica restart:

Silversea Confirms Antarctica Cruise Restart, Moves Operations to Chile

[Fletcher]

4 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Here is Cruise Critic's article about the Silversea Antarctica restart:

Silversea Confirms Antarctica Cruise Restart, Moves Operations to Chile

NobleCal seems to have cancelled their Antarctic programme for 2021/22.

[etual324]

With the difference in ports will there be Itinerary changes  punta arenas is farther north than ushaia

[Fletcher]

3 hours ago, etual324 said:

With the difference in ports will there be Itinerary changes  punta arenas is farther north than ushaia

Punta Arenas has a far less spectacular setting than Ushuaia but is a more interesting town to visit if you get the chance.  As it's only a day's sailing from Ushuaia, past some good scenery and glaciers, I doubt if the switch will have any significant effect on itineraries. Leaving from Punta Arenas might also bring you close to Cape Horn which you don't see if leaving from Ushuaia.

[cruiseej]

9 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

Other than the brief bubble hotel stays, what does the local tourism industry get out of a bubble arrangement! Pax cannot explore the cities, eat in restaurants, shop, do pre or post embarkation tours, etc.  Is it that locals will be employed fueling the ships and selling provisions to the ships?

 

I agree it's not huge, but...  Silversea's Antartica trips probably account for more than 6,000 hotel room nights and 12,000 meals, even if it's just one night per passenger. Fuel. Local produce, fish and game. Handling supplies shipped in from elsewhere in the world. Air crews. Local airport and dock workers who load and unload. Yes, the local tourism industry would get more if people could fly in early and spend time in Santiago or Punta Arenas on their own, but I'd guess it all adds up to a fairly significant economic impact. And much of that is money which would have been spent in Argentina had Chile not worked with SS to allow this to happen, or would have disappeared entirely had they missed another winter season.

[cruiseej]

41 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

Punta Arenas has a far less spectacular setting than Ushuaia but is a more interesting town to visit if you get the chance.

 

It sounds like we probably won't, if we're quarantined to the hotel. I'm hoping perhaps SS will organize a bubble bus tour of the city so we can at least see it, if not fully experience it.

 

41 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

It's only a day's sailing from Ushuaia... I doubt if the switch will have any significant effect on itineraries. 

 

Well, an extra day's sailing could still be rather significant, especially for the shorter 10-day cruises. I'm wondering how they'll make up that added sailing time. Those shorter trips spend two days going south, 6 days in Antarctica, and two days returning north. Hopefully they won't need to lop two days off Antartica; that would be a very significant change for some very expensive cruises: 6 sea days and four in Antarctica would be a major change from 4 sea days and 6 in Antarctica. If the weather in Drake's Passage isn't terrible, can they push the ships faster to make up some of the time? I think this is an important detail people will want to understand before affirming their travel plans. 

 

We're on an 18-day trip which starts in the Falklands before South Georgia and then the Antarctic peninsula. Since the Falklands are actually closer to Punta Arenas than Ushuaia, we should have no adverse impact on the beginning of the trip. But there is still the question of the added time needed to return to Punta Arenas at the end. We have only 5 days in Antarctica on this trip, and I would not be happy to lose one of them.

 

41 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

Leaving from Punta Arenas might also bring you close to Cape Horn which you don't see if leaving from Ushuaia.

 

@Fletcher  Our departure from Punta Arenas will be to the east into the Atlantic Ocean enroute to the Falklands. Returning to Punta Arenas from the Antarctic Peninsula, is it correct to assume they will return the same way, from the Atlantic side of the Strait of Magellan? I'm guessing that returning to Punta Arenas via the Pacific entrance to the Straight would be quite scenic but a longer trip -- but it's hard for me to judge looking at a map. I'd appreciate any insight you have from your knowledge of this geography.

 

 

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by cruiseej

[Fletcher]

2 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

@Fletcher  Our departure from Punta Arenas will be to the east into the Atlantic Ocean enroute to the Falklands. Returning to Punta Arenas from the Antarctic Peninsula, is it correct to assume they will return the same way, from the Atlantic side of the Strait of Magellan? I'm guessing that returning to Punta Arenas via the Pacific entrance to the Straight would be quite scenic but a longer trip -- but it's hard for me to judge looking at a map. I'd appreciate any insight you have from your knowledge of this geography.

 

 

 

I have sailed from the Falklands to Punta Arenas because Argentina at that time banned UK cruise ships which went to the Falklands.  That route, while quick, was scenically devoid of interest.  I mainly remember a long narrow channel between flat marshlands.   Antarctica to PA, without calling at Ushuaia, should be spectacular after the Drake.

[kimanjo]

35 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

I have sailed from the Falklands to Punta Arenas because Argentina at that time banned UK cruise ships which went to the Falklands.  That route, while quick, was scenically devoid of interest.  I mainly remember a long narrow channel between flat marshlands.   Antarctica to PA, without calling at Ushuaia, should be spectacular after the Drake.

Wasn't that long narrow channel  straight of Magellan??

[WesW]

Fletcher, value you judgement with regards Antarctica.  What do you think of

this first Silversea voyage that is SS's first ever Deep South Expedition:

 

https://www.silversea.com/destinations/antarctica-cruise/puerto-williams-to-puerto-williams-e1220127020.html

[cruiseej]

1 hour ago, Fletcher said:

Antarctica to PA, without calling at Ushuaia, should be spectacular after the Drake.

 

That's what I was trying to get a sense of: which way does a ship go as it comes north from the Antarctic peninsula? If it's to the east, up the Atlantic coast of Argentina, then turning west into the Straight of Magellan (the way we'll come out to go to the Falklands), the maps I've looked out don't seem to show any spectacular scenery. But if the route is to the west, up the Pacific side of Chile and turning northeast into the Straight of Magellan , it seems there could be some great scenery coming in from the coast.

 

Unfortunately, they will presumably be trying to do this at the fastest reasonable speed, because of the extra sailing distance beyond Ushuaia -- so the navigation of the Straight of Magellan might well occur during the overnight in order to arrive in Punta Arenas by early morning for disembarkation.

[cruiseej]

40 minutes ago, WesW said:

What do you think of this first Silversea voyage that is SS's first ever Deep South Expedition

 

@WesW I was intrigued by that voyage, too. Having never been to Antarctica yet, too many people told us we had to go to South Georgia Island, so that's the trip we chose -- but all the extra days in Antarctica on this trip seems it could be pretty spectacular. (But I'd guess the claim of exploring "previously uncharted" parts of Antarctica is marketing hyperbole rather than fact.)

 

It's funny to me how the impressive-sounding "Deep South" actually means you get to travel perhaps halfway down the small Antarctic peninsula towards the main body of Antarctica, as opposed to the normal cruise which hits less than 20% of the peninsula. It's amazing how little of Antarctica we get to see on a cruise to Antarctica!

 

[WesW]

Actually, having done South Georgia on the Cloud last March, was going back on the Wind in February from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires, but Argentina is still closed and didn't want chance having yet another voyage canceled.  So, Conrad, SVP of destinations recommends this voyage.  We have the Cloud booked in March 2023 from Ushuaia to Mahe and will revisit South Georgia (spectacular).  Recommend, you read a good book on Earnest Shackelton before your visit to South Georgia.  I enjoyed this book:

 

Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic  

[cruiseej]

Thanks, Wes. We're so excited that it seems like this cruise, three years in the making, may actually go! 

 

If you go, I'll be most interested in reports from the "Deep South" trip. (Is it too early for me to be thinking about returning to Antarctica before I've been there for the first time? 😉 ) 

[WesW]

Really, Conrad SVP and his destinations team deserve mega kudos for getting permission for us to enjoy Antarctica from Chile.  You see on FB how responsive

he is.  

[Fletcher]

The 'Deep South' trip strikes me as being a game of my-longitude-is-longer-than-yours through much the same sort of landscape and wildlife that you get on regular trips.  Maybe I'm wrong here. I would be more interested in a trip that gave you guaranteed sightings of emperor penguins - ie, down the eastern side of the peninsula.  I've also been attracted to a cruise that visits the seldom seen South Sandwich Islands.   I remember once sailing around the Solomons aboard the wonderful expedition ship Orion when the Aussies dismissed the Antarctic Peninsula as being only for softies and that the real Antarctica was the Ross Sea, Mawson Bay and Macquarie Island, the Antipodean answer to South Georgia.  Last time I looked, the Silversea Explorer was supposedly doing this run this winter season. 

Edited September 10, 2021 by Fletcher

[kimanjo]

Well, I see Explorer has left Souda (Crete) and looks like she is heading to Marseilles.  The Cloud has been in  Marseilles.  Wonder if this is where they are assembling the crew(s)  for both ships?? and then heading to Chile.  I'm continuing to watch their movements.

  

 

[cruiseej]

@kimanjo Assembling crew and loading bulk provisions makes sense to do in Marseilles. I'd expect them to set sail for South America by roughly the second week in October.

 

There have been posts on Facebook in the past day claiming that an executive with Silversea told someone that the Wind trips were going to be canceled, and someone else's travel agent said they thought that might be happening. Since we're booked on a Wind cruise, carried over from last year's canceled Wind cruise, I am fervently hoping this isn't true. I guess we'll know fairly soon...

[kimanjo]

14 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

@kimanjo Assembling crew and loading bulk provisions makes sense to do in Marseilles. I'd expect them to set sail for South America by roughly the second week in October.

 

There have been posts on Facebook in the past day claiming that an executive with Silversea told someone that the Wind trips were going to be canceled, and someone else's travel agent said they thought that might be happening. Since we're booked on a Wind cruise, carried over from last year's canceled Wind cruise, I am fervently hoping this isn't true. I guess we'll know fairly soon...

 

Interesting... Wonder if the demand for these sailings in Nov/Dec are empty or full?  Maybe its a demand thing? Is there room on the Cloud for more pax ( assuming they're not sailing full) for Wind pax if the Wind trip are CX? I really hope the Wind sailings are a go for everyone.  I know how dissapointed we would be if our Cloud sailing would be cancelled.

 

Side note, we are arriving in Santiago, a day before, the day before. I don't even mind 2 full days of hotel quarantine, just to be able to go. How many days pre are you scheduled to arrive?