Atlas Antarctic Feb 2023 Expedition Cruise - Experience

[Michael_A]

Hi VACruiser123!

 

Thanks for taking the time to post up your experiences. I find them quite informative. Booked on an Antarctica cruise Jan 4, 2024. Can you share the pre-departure experience? I'm booked for a pre-departure night at their hotel in BA, I am ASSUMING that the cruise passengers assemble at the hotel to be bused to the charter flight? How were those details shared? Atlas is a bit light on communication, but whatever they are doing seems to be working.

 

Mostly curious and trying to plan for contingencies, such as if they assemble at the airport rather than hotel, and getting there, etc. Also, when did Atlas' actually start coming through with details? Seems like they really don't until a few weeks before departure, but again I am curious. Would be nice if they did a page on their site with an overview of this stuff.

 

Like your avatar. Was a spook on Barbel class boats in (seemingly) another lifetime...

 

Cheers,

MJA

[VACruiser123]

4 hours ago, Michael_A said:

Hi VACruiser123!

 

Thanks for taking the time to post up your experiences. I find them quite informative. Booked on an Antarctica cruise Jan 4, 2024. Can you share the pre-departure experience? I'm booked for a pre-departure night at their hotel in BA, I am ASSUMING that the cruise passengers assemble at the hotel to be bused to the charter flight? How were those details shared? Atlas is a bit light on communication, but whatever they are doing seems to be working.

 

Mostly curious and trying to plan for contingencies, such as if they assemble at the airport rather than hotel, and getting there, etc. Also, when did Atlas' actually start coming through with details? Seems like they really don't until a few weeks before departure, but again I am curious. Would be nice if they did a page on their site with an overview of this stuff.

 

Like your avatar. Was a spook on Barbel class boats in (seemingly) another lifetime...

 

Cheers,

MJA

Our cruise did not include a hotel pre or post cruise...just the charter flight itself and we had an email from our TA with the flight times and the time to be at the airport. We did not receive ANY communication direct from Atlas...not even a welcome aboard email. So far there comm style is...minimalist. Also our charter flight did not arrive in Ushuaia until about 6:30pm on departure day and left at 10:00am on arrival day so we saw very little of the town which is a shame. It looks like a place worth at least a day and maybe even worth bagging one end of the charter in order to arrive a day early. The main thing to know about Argentina is the the peso is junk and the ACTUAL exchange rate is ~350 to 1. Right now things like meals are VERY cheap in Buenos Aires. We had a dinner for four at a restaurant in San Telmo with some soft drinks/beer that ran under $50 and I had rib eye steak!

PS we had a few CT's ride us here and there.

Edited March 5, 2023 by VACruiser123

[binky&jane]

On 2/20/2023 at 12:58 PM, AweighToSea said:

$13,500 CLP peso for a wee (pun intended) break; CAD$23 for two down the drain. I wonder if a US$10 would have interested the attendant to put the $1000 CLP in the hat on your behalf.

 

Thanks for confirming the broad acceptance of credit cards as I have been coming across conflicting info on that. How did you deal with small purchases such as a bottle of water, paying a taxi or avoiding the problem of your now famous Chilean pee break in Buenos Aries?

We actually exchanged US dollars for Argentine Pesos on Florida street. They’re NUMEROUS people announcing “cambio cambio cambio”… They are not aggressive and will tel you the rates up front. We ALWAYS went together but never felt unsafe. We did hear pickpocket stories, so we were concerned. If you are aware of your surroundings and behave just as you would in ANY large city, you’ll be fine. For $100 US increments, we received and exchange rate of $376 Argentinian pesos to $1 US. We chose this route as we were unsure of which credit cards used the official (red) rate ~$245 to $1 U.S. versus the “blue” rate we received at the cambio. 

 

We bought a few higher end leather items and having pesos proved beneficial. Other than that, we used the pesos primarily to pay for taxis…

[binky&jane]

On 3/5/2023 at 12:39 PM, Michael_A said:

Hi VACruiser123!

 

Thanks for taking the time to post up your experiences. I find them quite informative. Booked on an Antarctica cruise Jan 4, 2024. Can you share the pre-departure experience? I'm booked for a pre-departure night at their hotel in BA, I am ASSUMING that the cruise passengers assemble at the hotel to be bused to the charter flight? How were those details shared? Atlas is a bit light on communication, but whatever they are doing seems to be working.

 

Mostly curious and trying to plan for contingencies, such as if they assemble at the airport rather than hotel, and getting there, etc. Also, when did Atlas' actually start coming through with details? Seems like they really don't until a few weeks before departure, but again I am curious. Would be nice if they did a page on their site with an overview of this stuff.

 

Like your avatar. Was a spook on Barbel class boats in (seemingly) another lifetime...

 

Cheers,

MJA

ALL of our communications and information came from our travel agent. Please reach out to your TA. We meet fellow travelers prior to the cruise with limited comms from their TA until they reached out. We did not stay in their pre-hotel, so I can’t comment on that. We made it to the airport on our own, and since the flight is a charter, we met the fellow travelers at the airport gate. Airport is small but I’d get there 2 hours beforehand. Additionally, as a charter, our seats were not assigned until we checked in at the airport. 

 

Hope this helps, If you have any specific questions, please ask. 

 

Corey & Karen

[binky&jane]

On 3/5/2023 at 10:11 AM, VACruiser123 said:

Well we are home. The trip was excellent! I will say that Atlas delivered as advertised pretty much across the board. We had a rough passage across the Drake and an even worse return (worst of the season by far according to crew)...even had a gust of 92 knots! and some swells above 20ft. That said the ship handled it well...it was not seriously uncomfortable believe it or not...a little hard to get a deep sleep but otherwise well worth the discomfort to see the great white continent.

The ship is easily the most beautiful and well appointed we have ever been on...well surpassing the Seabourn Odyssey which had been our previous bar to beat. The expedition team is excellent and we did make two continental landings in addition to South Shetland and peninsula island landings.

The food itself is really good with a few hiccups...the proteins,  especially the beef is generally way under seasoned...trying to salt it after being cooked  is the WRONG answer...it results in a higher sodium load without creating the flavor that properly seasoned meat will develop while cooking. Having said that, Atlas is NOT cutting corners on the food budget and we had loads of fresh fruit AND actual fresh squeezed OJ the entire trip and if you are a coffee nut, there are at least three proper commercial espresso machines on the ship...so points there for sure in the food budget category. The dinner menus were not all to my liking but it is purely due to taste ( I can't stand lamb or fish...and when oh when will this dark chocolate craze finally die). The breakfast and lunch buffets actually flow better and are generally more pleasant than the dinner sittings are at this point. IMO, the biggest current improvement is for Atlas to figure out the dinner service flow...it is not quite there yet. BUT the staff were wonderful and friendly so I would say it adds up as a minor quibble as it is offset by their good attitudes.

The housekeeping was excellent with two services a day and the rooms were outstanding. We came with two 28" suitcases and carryons and were easily able to put all our stuff away in the closet. I have no idea what people would possibly be bringing on a ship where they do not have enough space. There is MORE space in this closet than main line balcony staterooms.

 

The entertainment consists of lectures/presentations by the expedition team, a pianist, and a couple of singing renditions by the cruise director. The crew talent show and auction/raffle was a fun event as well. You don't show up on a 400' ship and expect to have a lot of entertainment...if you do...well

 

I would say that the antarctic is a MUST do if you have the financial means and your health. Atlas at the current pricing to me is as much a no brainer as it gets. It is an excellent experience...is it a "luxury" line like Seabourn, Silversea, or the like? Well, maybe not today, not overall, but they are really close...and they may well get there since they have the ships...they are over the top beauties and where they fall short is imminently fixable with more time to figure out what works best on these ships. If Atlas makes it, and I think they will, they will be commanding much higher fares in the future...and getting them.

Excellent observations! We agree 100%

 

Thanks for you review. We were on the sailing immediately after yours, I’m pretty sure. We heard stories from the crew about your Drake Shake experience!

 

Corey & Karen

[Primus]

10 hours ago, binky&jane said:

We actually exchanged US dollars for Argentine Pesos on Florida street. They’re NUMEROUS people announcing “cambio cambio cambio”… They are not aggressive and will tel you the rates up front. We ALWAYS went together but never felt unsafe. We did hear pickpocket stories, so we were concerned. If you are aware of your surroundings and behave just as you would in ANY large city, you’ll be fine. For $100 US increments, we received and exchange rate of $376 Argentinian pesos to $1 US. We chose this route as we were unsure of which credit cards used the official (red) rate ~$245 to $1 U.S. versus the “blue” rate we received at the cambio.

Exchanging US dollars for Argentine Pesos worked well for us too.  We were leery of exchanging on the street and exchanged our US dollars at a nearby Western Union instead.  In early February that rate was 365 to 1.  We ended up paying for our hotel using pesos and credit card because we did not bring enough cash.  The credit card rate was 333 to 1 which was much better than the expected official rate.

[Host Jazzbeau]

7 hours ago, Primus said:

Exchanging US dollars for Argentine Pesos worked well for us too.  We were leery of exchanging on the street and exchanged our US dollars at a nearby Western Union instead.  In early February that rate was 365 to 1.  We ended up paying for our hotel using pesos and credit card because we did not bring enough cash.  The credit card rate was 333 to 1 which was much better than the expected official rate.

We spent a week in Argentina in January and never exchanged for any pesos.  Our Visa card was accepted everywhere and gave that great 333 to 1 rate.  Our Uber account bills to American Express, where we also got that great rate.  [And despite some warning posts on Cruise Critic, none of our credit card use resulted in any overcharges or scams.]