If the ship would have been evacuated, it would take hours to save 530 passengers and the staff. Sign up for Ambassador programme to get a 5% discount and other perks? The company has a museum at its place of origin. Unusual for a expedition cruise was the two class restaurant system. Med moderne komfort i historiske omgivelser tilbyr Funken Lodge en særegen Svalbardopplevelse. Six weeks on, the promised refund is yet to arrive. Read more about Central America here: Wild and beautiful, remote and rich in history - an adventure to the east coast of America and Canada is bound to unleash your inner explorer.
It is a very awkward space. Overall we thought this trip was well worth the cost as it gives an opportunity to reach out of the way places, though not as active as we would have liked. You meet largely an older crowd of mostly Europeans. Winter departures necessitate thermal layers. So we had a lot of time to stay on board.
Gjoa Haven — The Expedition Team stated that they had a cell phone that could call anywhere. Picture also a land with a surprisingly verdant southern tip that still has most of its landmass buried underneath an ice-sheet that is milennia old and so large that the icebergs it calves can be islands of their own. The Roald Amundsen cannot accommodate 500 people in their public spaces. Hammerfest is the most northerly town in the world. The ship was amazingly timely. One sometimes felt intrusive and reluctant to disturb them with a question and we generally did not feel the same connection with team members as we did on the Fram. Contrary to our documentation, there were no assigned seats only 1st or 2nd seating.
It was a chaotic buffet with no menus, huge queues with people pushing in. Other cruises include touring: , the coasts and ports, and the 'Trans-Atlantic Voyage' from in the to , Argentina. The Strusted prints in the forward stair well are equally abstract, bland in color, and without much appeal. The Doctor said I needed antibiotics but the clinic only stocked erythromycin and I am allergic to erythromycin. Why then only 3 stars? Best way to see the Norwegian coast. The general sentiment was that the price of this voyage was too high for what was delivered.
The newly embarking passengers did not arrive until about midnight. The coffee was undrinkable and the quality coffee, which you pay for, was not available until 10 am. Which is basically every time there is a briefing. I would never travel on Hurtigruten again, based on my experience. There were problems with the ship in many ways.
There were 3 x 90 minute walks on land - two hikes in beautiful countryside and guided by red flags not the explorer staff and one landing in the beautiful, isolated settlement of Ittoqqortoormiit. The store on the Roald Amundson is selling impractical items — leather handbags, several different brands of designer watches i. It was clearly a cobbled together itinerary to get passengers to pay for the repositioning of the ship from the end of the north west passage Voyage to Vancouver where it was to pick up journalists and travel writers. The forward view should have been designed to give a view as close as possible to what the officers see from the bridge which our visit showed has an impressive view to the front. The list of excursions was taped to a wall near the Science Center. A great journey ,and a sense of adventure being a pioneer on the first complete transit of The Northwest Passage by a hybrid ship. Some of the expedition team were very new and inexperienced, some of the more senior ones had rather poor presentation skills.
Several passengers asked Reception when the forms were going to be collected and were told that the Doctor did not want them. Frankly, we are quite fond of the Fram. Obtaining expedition jackets and muck boots the next day was without delay and similarly there was no problem in identifying our landing groups. We were strongly discouraged from joining. The order of food did not resemble standard eating.
In retrospect, this would seem to be in contradiction to the energy conservation aspects of the ship, but perhaps a bit of hubris would be expected on a maiden voyage. The staff were kind, helpful and informative; the excursions were well-planned and every one that we participated in went smoothly and without a single hiccup. We specifically wanted an expedition cruise. You cannot hear announcements if watching a movie. This can be a problem in that as there only a finite number of seats on the viewing deck seats fill up quickly. Throughout the day, the staff repeatedly said they worked very hard to get passengers to Bergen — I have no reason to doubt that — but it was the amateurish way the whole matter was dealt with by Hurtigruten and their staff that made a bad situation worse.
Exploration Lounge: The Exploration Lounge was not designed for all 500 passengers to attend any kind of event. The highlights - late night sail into the Trollfjord, the breathtaking North Cape and a glimpse of the northern lights. The multiple video screens do portray what the presenters are showing, but the speaker is still not readily visible to most of those present. However, tours are quite costly. We had a balcony cabin on deck 7 and it was comfortable. The table tops are now leaning in some direction and anything set on them slides off. We were assigned a table in Aune for the 6pm sitting for those 5 nights and went the first night.
We understood that all guides, events, activities, etc. The main courses were cold but the food was good quality. Our Swedish friends, who we travel with, suggested we take this trip and we jumped at the chance. Some of what we have noted above we are certain will be rectified as the ship routines become more practiced — but, quite frankly, it would appear that the ship was rushed into use before adequate planning of routines had been done and before crew and staff were trained in those routines. In addition to making drinks and espresso drinks the bartender was responsible to clean the tables in the bar as well.