LIVE from Antarctica on Seabourn Pursuit! - Jan 7-19, 2024

[cruiseej]

On 1/16/2024 at 8:03 PM, Katsings01 said:

Some of the "experts" suggest smaller ships because they supposedly make more landings than those with over 200 passengers

 

I think even the smaller ships generally aim for two landings/zodiac cruises per day. I've read of occasions where there is a third activity added in the early evening (it's still light out) when an opportunity presented itself, but I think that's rare. (All the cruise companies reserve the various landing spots via a central database, so there aren';t two ships at the same spot at the same time, and they basically have morning and afternoon time slots.) I don't think you're missing opportunities to see what's available on a ship in the 200-250 passenger range like Seabourn and Silversea sail there. 

 

On 1/17/2024 at 11:22 AM, bilbobill said:

Yes there are shops in Ushuaia and in walking distance from the ship.

 

Just bear in mind that timing for flights in/out of Ushuaia can vary from one cruise to another depending on weather conditions or flights running behind, so although this is a possibility, just understand that you may or may not have time to wander off on your own in Ushuaia.

 

1 hour ago, jmm said:

We just received the rental Waterproof HH pants in the mail, what do people typically wear under these?  I was thinking Sweats and long underwear (I don’t think long underwear would be enough)

 

Long underwear/base layer is definitely not enough, because the waterproof pants are light and their job is to keep you dry, not warm. I'd suggest a pair of hiking/trail pants. I had two pairs of these Eddie Bauer First Ascent pants and found them perfect — warm enough but not too warm, easy to maneuver in, fast drying if you sweat on a hike.

And they were ideal for wearing around the ship during the day as well. 

 

 

[bilbobill]

2 hours ago, jmm said:

So Much great information bilbobill!!  We just received the rental Waterproof HH pants in the mail, what do people typically wear under these?  I was thinking Sweats and long underwear (I don’t think long underwear would be enough).  Also jeans would be too bulky.  Thanks so much!!

We wore trail pants over the long underwear and that worked great.  Some people wore sweats  or stretchy jeans.  We never hand any issues with our legs getting cold or hot - the hands and face are what you have to watch out for particularly if you are on a zodiac tour.

[dmc719]

Do cell phone calls to the US work without using international roaming  (calling when airplane mode is on while on the ship)?

Edited January 18 by dmc719

[bilbobill]

We have ATT and enabled wifi calling.  This allowed us to call anywhere in the US without additional charge as long as we were connected to the ships wifi.  ATT also covers Latin America when off the ship so we were able to call the US from land as long as we were in LA

[VeemeetsTez]

Thank you so much for such a detailed report. We are looking at booking the Pursuit for a Kimberley cruise in June, love the luxury feel of the cruise but I can't find information about excursions other than the optional kayak/submarine/pearl farm visit. Hopefully there will be twice daily landings/Zodiac trips as per our reports.

Great info, I hope to reciprocate with reporting from the Kimberley.

 

[DubLady]

Not sure if this thread is closed but wanted to ask you how warm are the cabins? I’m used to cool as I keep my bedroom at 65. Just wondering if we need to bring warm pajamas if it’s cooler than that. 

[jjs217]

13 hours ago, DubDublady said:

Not sure if this thread is closed but wanted to ask you how warm are the cabins? I’m used to cool as I keep my bedroom at 65. Just wondering if we need to bring warm pajamas if it’s cooler than that. 

The thermostats worked fine.  It just make take some experimenting as to where to set it for your comfort.  So no, not cold, unless you want it to be.

[bilbobill]

Agree about the Thermostats.  I have found that many hotels now control limits on your thermostat and I end of being hot or cold.  I did not have any issues on the Pursuit - was able to keep it cold at night the way I like to sleep and it heated up quickly in the morning when I turned up the heat.  No issues whatsoever for me.

[bilbobill]

Just returned home after a wonderful trip.  My wife and I both agree that this trip was fantastic and strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to see and experience Antarctica.  We were also impressed with our first cruise on Seabourn and will likely cruise with them again.  A couple of additional notes on the trip home.

 

We had until 8am to be out of our cabins on disembarkation day.  We ordered room service at 7:15 and ate a little but packed the rest for the flight home - the food on the charter flight is standard but not too tasty so this worked well for us.  People were assigned to two groups - ours left at 8:30 for the airport and I think the other group left at 9:30.  It is a short ride to the airport and we were there before 9 for an 11:15 flight back on Jetsmart.  The airport was very crowded with multiple cruises doing the same thing so be prepared for some chaos at security.  There is plenty of time though so we just relaxed while  waiting the 20-30 minutes to get through.  Once in the secure area there are food options if you didn't get anything on the ship.  

 

Flight back was similar to the flight before although our row was full this time.  Legroom is pretty tight on these flights if you are on the taller side.  This flight returned to EZE as I think most passengers are taking international flights back home.  We landed around 3 so most people had a long layover as most flights to the US leave at night.  Keep this in mind as it makes for a long day - it was 29 hours for us counting leaving the ship at 8:30am and arriving the following morning in Austin after a connection in Dallas.  My wife was less than impressed with my trip planning on this one and suggested perhaps spending a night in BA before flying home. 

 

The US carriers in BA don't always open their check in desks until closer to the flight so in our case the American check in area did not open until almost 6.  This means that you are stuck in the airport with all your luggage and can't get to the lounges to wait either.  There are some restaurants there  so we found an Outback and ate a late lunch while we waited.  Another detail, there are many zones for check in - A, B, C etc.... which each airline being in one of these zones.  However they use big monitors to display the airline logo in each zone.  When the airline is not open, the monitor displays a blank screen so we were walking down the entire departure hall looking for American and couldn't find it.  There is an Information desk who can tell you which letter it will be so I recommend checking with them first as they will also tell you when it will be open.  Lastly, apparently Seabourn invites some of its customers to a lunch once they arrive in BA to pass the time waiting for their flights - I guess this requires some level of status as we did not get the invite but I heard several people talking about this.

 

Security line was very easy at EZE but remember that there is immigration right after that.  The line was super long.  Tip - there is an automated kiosk line that says Argentinians only.  We saw some some people go to that line, talk to the attendant there and then use that.  We did the same and it saved us at least 30 minutes.  We used the AA lounge once through security - very good food and drink options.  It was totally full and standing room only by 7:30 pm so keep that in mind.

 

That is it for me, I hope this was helpful.  I know I didn't provide a lot of detail on the expeditions as I like surprises - but for those of you who want to see more, Seabourn provides a more detail summary of what we did and pictures and a video of the voyage on their website.  Once you go to this page, go to the upper left corner menu (with the three lines) and select Seabourn Pursuit, 2024 and then the 12 day cruise and you will get much more detail.  Here is the link

 

https://www.seabourn.com/en/us/experience/voyagetracker/index.html

 

 

[toseaornottosea]

No special status for the meal on the return to EZE. We were surprised to be taken to a restaurant after return to EZE and learned it was due to the fact we booked our flights through Seabourn Flight Ease. 

[kbnovak]

3 hours ago, bilbobill said:

Agree about the Thermostats.  I have found that many hotels now control limits on your thermostat and I end of being hot or cold.  I did not have any issues on the Pursuit - was able to keep it cold at night the way I like to sleep and it heated up quickly in the morning when I turned up the heat.  No issues whatsoever for me.

When that happens, I Google how to override the limits.   😁

[KC Cruiser 54]

On 1/16/2024 at 7:45 PM, bilbobill said:

We had 7 expedition days on our cruise.  A typical day was a landing in the morning and a zodiac cruise in the afternoon. There were a couple of days where we deviated from this and just did a zodiac cruise and then another activity like whale watching from the ship but most days we did both.  I felt like this was plenty and the benefit of the “larger” ship was the level of luxury and amenities we enjoyed.  If you are the super adventurous type perhaps a smaller boat would provide more activities but I felt it was a great balance on the Pursuit.  We also had several lectures every day so I felt plenty busy with things to do. 

Thanks so much for your in depth report. Wife and I are currently planning an Antarctica cruise and have found your thoughts very helpful. A question though, and forgive me if I missed something. Are all excursions, Zodiac, Hike, Kayak included in the cruis price with the submarine being extra? Was the submarine added cost reasonable in your opinion? Thanks!

[bilbobill]

The Kayak is an extra $200 and the Submarine is $1000.  We found the Kayak well worth it and would do it again.  We did not do the submarine but heard mixed reviews from other guests.  Some said it was exciting and went very deep - up to 300 meters while others said there wasn’t much to see and it just dropped to the bottom and didn’t move around.  The zodiac tours and hikes/landings are all included.  

[Catlover54]

Thank you for your report.  Some odds and ends questions:

 

1.  Were you required to provide a letter from your doctor before SB agreed to allow you on this cruise (some lines that go to Antarctica require this)? If so, what requirements had to be met?

 

2.  I heard a rumor that during landings on some lines, if you have a pack with you , you are not allowed to rest your pack on the ground  due to some concern about "contaminating" the area.  Is it true you are not allowed to set your pack down at any time?

 

3.  I know it is quite clear that there are no outhouse or toilet or bush options of any kind during landings.  What is the longest period of time you had from ship to shore and back, i.e., the longest period of time one would be without toilet access of any kind?

 

4.  Were the people who had "colds" on board (and hopefully also sequentially tested for Covid) then restricted to their cabins until cleared by the doctor, or did they mingle with others?

 

5.  Was there a face mask requirement at any time on your trip (airline, airport, lounges, boarding, on board), and if so, when, and was there a requirement it be a certain type?

 

Thank you in advance!

[bilbobill]

1). No, nothing required to cruise or kayak

 

2) that is correct, you are not allowed to rest anything on the ground other than your boots which are cleaned and sanitized after each landing.  

 

3) Usually an hour or so on land and 20-30 minutes back and forth on the zodiac. They will take you back anytime if you want to so this was not a problem.  

4) I don’t know the policy here as I didn’t personally know anyone with a cold or Covid on board. I don’t remember them mentioning anything about this on board so I think they leave it up to the individual unless they see the ships doctor.  There were several people on board wearing masks however not sure if that was as a precaution or they were sick. There were people coughing without masks so I don’t think they have strict requirements here. 

 

5) No mask requirements at any time - on flights, buses or the ship

[bilbobill]

1 hour ago, bilbobill said:

2) that is correct, you are not allowed to rest anything on the ground other than your boots which are cleaned and sanitized after each landing.  

 

 

And walking Poles.....

[Katsings01]

Thank you again for all your great information and feedback!

[hoosier74]

I have a question about cold weather gear.  I've looked at the list and assessed what we have and what we might need.  When we were in Greenland/Iceland, the shop had a good stock of the Helly Hanson gear.  We have a good amount of OBC and I'm wondering if we might be able to use of it to get the some gear on the ship.  I know the shop is smaller on the expedition ships.  Does it still stock some of the gear?

[hoosier74]

Also, I think the post cruise lunch/day room or whatever it was might be dependant on you booking a flight through Seabourn.  I know they did this for us coming back from the Amazon.  Apparently most South American/US flights leave in the middle of the night.  

[bilbobill]

Yes the shop had a variety of HH gear so definitely a good place to use the credit.  Also you have to use the Seabourn credit but the credit from my travel agent came in the form of a gift do I was able to get that refunded on my credit card while I was onboard.  

[Woodrowst]

32 minutes ago, hoosier74 said:

I have a question about cold weather gear.  I've looked at the list and assessed what we have and what we might need.  When we were in Greenland/Iceland, the shop had a good stock of the Helly Hanson gear.  We have a good amount of OBC and I'm wondering if we might be able to use of it to get the some gear on the ship.  I know the shop is smaller on the expedition ships.  Does it still stock some of the gear?

A quick question:  Do you really want to take the chance that the onboard store might be out of stock with gear that you want?  It does happen.  You are spending a fortune (as my wife and I did) to have an incredible experience.  Do you want to try and save 1% or less of that amount by taking the risk of not bringing warm weather gear on board.  As Clint Eastwood once said:  Do you feel lucky?  Just a thought….

[hoosier74]

Also sizes and what exactly might be available.  I've thought about that...maybe just upgrading.  

[Covepointcruiser]

Bilbobill, you stated you state d that you save food from breakfast and packed it to eat ashore.   I thought Argentina has restrictions on bringing food, not commercially wrapped into the country.

Didn’t they have the sniffer dogs?

[bilbobill]

The food was from the ship the morning of departure from Ushuaia and we ate it on the flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires so we did not leave Argentina and there were no checks

[Covepointcruiser]

So much for Argentina’s rules about not taking food off of the ship.   Just like Seabourn, they don’t enforce their laws or rules.