Expeditions to Antarctica - how does Silversea compare to Seabourn and Ponant?

[whirldcruzrs]

Has anybody cruised on Silversea and another line to Antarctica who can explain your opinion of differences?

[PaulMCO]

Chose the ship that has the fewest passengers because any landings are capacity restricted.  There are so many hours per day and the greater the number they will either do fewer or shorter excursions.  Avoid the 400 passenger Expedition ships. 
 

My opinion is that Endeavour, Venture, and Pursuit would preferred.  Also you could consider A&K who leases a Ponant ship yearly.  
 

Other lines you might consider are National Geo and Quark.  I would avoid the small players as some have recently gone bankrupt.  
 

Our favorite ship was Explorer where we did 3 expeditions.  

[Fletcher]

Silversea's ships, Cloud and Wind, are getting rather old these days. I was on the Cloud this year and wouldn't go back on it.  Silver Endeavour is the only one in the Silversea fleet worth looking at. Ponant's ships are fairly new but very French-biased if that matters to you.  Personally I would choose Seabourn's Pursuit or Venture as they are brand new and look state-of-the-art.   I think expediton teams will be equally good across the range.   If you have the time, choose an itinerary which includes South Georgia. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Fletcher

[Aussieflyer]

We went to Antarctica in 2018 on Ponant. Whilst we loved the trip there were a few (for us downsides) as below (we went to the Arctic on Silversea on PA2 back in 2010 and comparing to that so things may have changed):

1. Food (esp red meat) was pretty ordinary on Ponant and much better on SS but alcohol was good. 

2. Biggest issue was quality of expedition staff. On SS we had a range of professionals and educators/university lecturers - Ponant were not in the same class at all.

3. As a bilingual ship, lectures and announcements were in French followed by English. Lectures in English were woeful - they couldn't answer questions and the content was pared right down. Did go to a few French lectures and they were much better.

4. Size of cabin if that is important - Ponant cabins are around 18 sq m - only one chair and a pouffe stool.

5. As a short person with a bit of arthritis I missed the stool used by SS for getting out of and into the zodiacs on land - one appeared at the last landing but before that I sort of had to roll into the zodiac as I couldn't sit on the side and swing into it. On the other hand any one taller was fine.

6. Was particularly upset that the captain drove the ship onto the sea ice so people could 'get off for champagne' - left lots of paint on the ice and IMO ruined the beautiful area we were in at the time.

Would still sail Ponant but would be more aware of the differences and might aim for Seabourn instead.

Remember this is just my subjective view.

 

[taxatty]

Close friends of ours went on a Ponant cruise to Antarctica in 2022 and had similar comments to those of Aussieflyer, with the most negative ones being about the food.

[alithecat]

Disagree with @Fletcher. We were on the Cloud Holiday cruise this past winter and loved it. The ship did not feel either too old or too big. The food, service and suites were lovely. The expedition staff were great. All very knowledgeable, helpful and professional. Our expedition leader was outstanding. We are booked on the Wind next summer for Iceland and Greenland.

[TakingFlight]

3 hours ago, alithecat said:

Disagree with @Fletcher. We were on the Cloud Holiday cruise this past winter and loved it. The ship did not feel either too old or too big. The food, service and suites were lovely. The expedition staff were great. All very knowledgeable, helpful and professional. Our expedition leader was outstanding. We are booked on the Wind next summer for Iceland and Greenland.

I’m not sure when the last refurbishment was on the Cloud. We went to Antarctica in 2018 which was just after a recent refurbishment. There were a lot of indications that the ship was old then-gouges in our bathroom sink, drawers opening and closing all night during the Drake passage, etc. Although we thoroughly enjoyed our Antarctica adventure we have chosen the Seabourn Venture for our Arctic cruise in July. 

[Kauaijim]

We did the SB trip in 2017 and they did a great job. I guess they are using a newer ship now  The expedition staff was  also great. We are back on SS in January but out of Aqaba , hopefully 

[cruiseej]

23 hours ago, alithecat said:

Disagree with @Fletcher. We were on the Cloud Holiday cruise this past winter and loved it. The ship did not feel either too old or too big. The food, service and suites were lovely. The expedition staff were great. All very knowledgeable, helpful and professional. Our expedition leader was outstanding. We are booked on the Wind next summer for Iceland and Greenland.

 

I was just going to post when I saw @alithecat beat me to it! We were on the same Cloud trip to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica in December 2022-January 2023. And I agree it was a fabulous cruise. The Cloud may be older than all the new expedition ships, but it didn't feel old to my wife and I or our friends on the trip with us. Crew was excellent, expedition staff was outstanding, food was very good, wine was okay but good enough, and the captain and expedition leader did a great job at dodging storms and getting us into great places throughout the trip. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Antarctica on the Cloud.

 

And we're also headed to Greenland (and Canada) next summer, but we're trying one of the new Seabourn expedition ships. 

[alithecat]

@cruiseej I would like to try the new Silversea and Seabourn expedition ships too. But the prices were a lot higher than the Iceland/Greenland cruise on the Wind.

[cruiseej]

1 minute ago, alithecat said:

@cruiseej I would like to try the new Silversea and Seabourn expedition ships too. But the prices were a lot higher than the Iceland/Greenland cruise on the Wind.

 

@alithecat Absolutely! We originally wanted to do the new Seabourn expedition ship for Antartica, but the price was so much higher, plus no included air, that we "settled" for our trip on the Cloud. And the Seabourn ship scheduled for the same itinerary the same week was the one where their stabilizers broke and they couldn't go to South Georgia. 

 

We were on a Seabourn cruise this summer and they were offering an astounding 35% off bookings while onboard on expedition cruises. I don't think we would have booked the Greenland/Canada trip at their full regular prices, but the promotion made it much more affordable. I messaged our travel agent, and she just said, "wow, that's an amazing price."

 

Our first Silversea expedition trip was on the Cloud from Iceland to Greenland —it was great. It obviously hooked us enough that we immediately booked the Antartica cruise. (Which was canceled in 2020 due to Covid and in 2021 as Silversea juggled ships and itineraries; 2022 was our third try, and the third time was the charm!)

[alithecat]

@cruiseej 2022 was our 3rd try too. We booked the Seabourn Quest in 2020 -- Covid cancellation, then the Silver Wind in 2021 -- ship issues, and finally the Cloud in 2022. We're glad we waited. The first cruise we booked didn't go to South Georgia.

 

[and apologies for hijacking this thread]

[Fletcher]

New from the FB site - avian flu has reached South Georgia so the Explorer has had to cancel its planned landings on the north coast, so they are switchng to the rarely visited south coast.  While that is some sort of bonus, it's worrying news for the isolated island with its vast populations of sea birds. It also casts doubt over all cruises to the island this year and next.

[Gourmet Gal]

Any opinions about Quark? I’m considering booking another Four Seasons jet journey that includes a 5 day expedition on Quark from King George Island.  I was surprised they didn’t choose SS which is the cruise line they use on their trip that includes Galapagos.

[whirldcruzrs]

On 11/7/2023 at 8:16 PM, cruiseej said:

 

I was just going to post when I saw @alithecat beat me to it! We were on the same Cloud trip to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica in December 2022-January 2023. And I agree it was a fabulous cruise. The Cloud may be older than all the new expedition ships, but it didn't feel old to my wife and I or our friends on the trip with us. Crew was excellent, expedition staff was outstanding, food was very good, wine was okay but good enough, and the captain and expedition leader did a great job at dodging storms and getting us into great places throughout the trip. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Antarctica on the Cloud.

 

And we're also headed to Greenland (and Canada) next summer, but we're trying one of the new Seabourn expedition ships. 

Venture is wonderful so you will enjoy. I was just wondering about SS, Ponant, and other for Antarctica as compared to a SB Antarctica. 

[gogo65]

12 hours ago, whirldcruzrs said:

Venture is wonderful so you will enjoy. I was just wondering about SS, Ponant, and other for Antarctica as compared to a SB Antarctica. 

Ive done Ponant and Silversea, Ponant to Antartica, SS to Svalbard and Ponant North west passage.

We loved Ponant to Antartica and had booked another trip with Ponant that was subsequently cancelled, so we did the SS cruise as a last minute replacement. 

On comparison we felt Ponant was far superior for the lectures, naturalists etc, we also found silver cloud to be quite old and dark, we didnt really see much benefit from having a butler, and to a degree SS had more ‘snobbish’ people onboard, so we thought we would be Ponant people (more Australians onboard so generally a more relaxed feel), we don’t do jackets and gowns and Ponant is definitely more casual.

Fast Forward to 2022 when we did the NW passage with Ponant from Tromso to Nome, 30 days, we had a great group of people, some excellent naturalists (they all freelance and choose what expedition they go on) but it was an absolute mess of a cruise, it was meant to be a NE passage over Russia but was cancelled, it felt like they were making it up as they went (I’ve done a trip report if your interested).

So here i am looking at another expedition and will keep an open mind, it will be down to itinerary and dates, our son is getting married in Mexico in March 2025 so will be based on dates, at this point it will likely be SS (back on cloud), because the itinerary covers more of what we want(Patagonia and the Chilean fjords + Antarctica).

[whirldcruzrs]

10 hours ago, gogo65 said:

Ive done Ponant and Silversea, Ponant to Antartica, SS to Svalbard and Ponant North west passage.

We loved Ponant to Antartica and had booked another trip with Ponant that was subsequently cancelled, so we did the SS cruise as a last minute replacement. 

On comparison we felt Ponant was far superior for the lectures, naturalists etc, we also found silver cloud to be quite old and dark, we didnt really see much benefit from having a butler, and to a degree SS had more ‘snobbish’ people onboard, so we thought we would be Ponant people (more Australians onboard so generally a more relaxed feel), we don’t do jackets and gowns and Ponant is definitely more casual.

Fast Forward to 2022 when we did the NW passage with Ponant from Tromso to Nome, 30 days, we had a great group of people, some excellent naturalists (they all freelance and choose what expedition they go on) but it was an absolute mess of a cruise, it was meant to be a NE passage over Russia but was cancelled, it felt like they were making it up as they went (I’ve done a trip report if your interested).

So here i am looking at another expedition and will keep an open mind, it will be down to itinerary and dates, our son is getting married in Mexico in March 2025 so will be based on dates, at this point it will likely be SS (back on cloud), because the itinerary covers more of what we want(Patagonia and the Chilean fjords + Antarctica).

Thank you for taking the time to respond. If you have a link to the report, I would be interested in reading it. Congratulations on your son’s upcoming nuptials. 

[gogo65]

17 hours ago, whirldcruzrs said:

Thank you for taking the time to respond. If you have a link to the report, I would be interested in reading it. Congratulations on your son’s upcoming nuptials. 

Your’e welcome, here’s the link

 

[mnocket]

On 11/7/2023 at 11:10 PM, Fletcher said:

New from the FB site - avian flu has reached South Georgia so the Explorer has had to cancel its planned landings on the north coast, so they are switchng to the rarely visited south coast.  While that is some sort of bonus, it's worrying news for the isolated island with its vast populations of sea birds. It also casts doubt over all cruises to the island this year and next.

This is a real concern for me as I've just recently booked a cruise that includes South Georgia for Jan 2025.  Could this be the beginning of the end for exploration cruises to Antarctica? 

[whirldcruzrs]

2 hours ago, mnocket said:

This is a real concern for me as I've just recently booked a cruise that includes South Georgia for Jan 2025.  Could this be the beginning of the end for exploration cruises to Antarctica? 

Friends of ours are finishing their cruise in Antarctica now and there is no fly down there. It should remain clean given all the bio safety precautions which the Falkland and South Georgia do not have. 

[mnocket]

25 minutes ago, whirldcruzrs said:

Friends of ours are finishing their cruise in Antarctica now and there is no fly down there. It should remain clean given all the bio safety precautions which the Falkland and South Georgia do not have. 

The problem is that the avian flu outbreak in South Georgia is the result of birds migrating from South America.  Scientists expect that the same thing is likely to happen to Antarctica. 

[Jonesy333]

Hi Fellow Cruisers ,

Has anyone been on Silver Sea Wind recently for an Antarctic expedition cruise ? My partner and I are sailing Feb 22 2024 and have been looking forward to this cruise for two years so I was upset to read a really bad review of the condition of the ship on this site . We sailed on Explorer in July 22 to the Kimberley and although the ship was older we enjoyed the cruise immensely especially the expedition crew members . Our cabin was spacious and all the food we had was excellent so I'm hoping we are not going to be disappointed in our choice of ship this time . Can anyone comment on their recent experiences on this particular ship ??

TIA 

Jacqui

[scvgirl]

We sailed on the Wind for a 2023 Antarctica Expedition cruise - our first SS cruise out of 40+ cruises.  We had a wonderful time on the Wind - great staff, expeditions and due to it's small size, we met so many great passengers.  We would be first in line to sail to Antarctica again, but the prices have been skyrocketing since we booked our last voyage.  We did consider booking the Arctic Expedition while sailing on SS in Antarctica, but can we really top Antarctica (topic for those of you who have done both itineraries)?

[toseaornottosea]

2 hours ago, scvgirl said:

 We did consider booking the Arctic Expedition while sailing on SS in Antarctica, but can we really top Antarctica (topic for those of you who have done both itineraries)?

Have not done the Arctic but I suspect not.

[jpalbny]

On 11/20/2023 at 2:54 PM, scvgirl said:

We did consider booking the Arctic Expedition while sailing on SS in Antarctica, but can we really top Antarctica (topic for those of you who have done both itineraries)?

 

On 11/20/2023 at 5:11 PM, toseaornottosea said:

Have not done the Arctic but I suspect not.

 

The itineraries are different. Both are well worth doing. I'd do either again. We have done Antarctica x2, Svalbard x1, and are signed up for Greenland and Canadian Arctic 2025.

 

On 11/18/2023 at 7:07 PM, Jonesy333 said:

Can anyone comment on their recent experiences on this particular ship ??

 

Yes. We had a great cruise on board Silver Wind in June. Trip report in my signature. 

 

It may not be *your* preferred ship but we like Cloud and Wind very much. They are indeed old.