Poseidon ExpeditionsReviews of poseidonexpeditions.com

Das wichtigste vorweg: die Reise, die Expeditionen/Anlandungen und die Crew waren super, sehr gute Organisation. Bei den Expeditionen /Anlandungen sehr wertvolle Informationen in der deutschsprachigen Gruppe. Die Küche war auch sehr gut und abwechslungsreich. Einen Wermutstropfen gab es: die Reise war uns als ausschliesslich Deutschsprachige Reise verkauft, auch noch nach der Verschiebung wegen Covid. In der Realität waren über die Hälfte der Passagiere englischsprachig. Deswegen wurden die Recaps und Vorträge in Englisch gehalten und eine Simultan Übersetzung versucht. Das war nur bedingt erfolgreich, einerseits konnten die Übersetzer manchmal nicht folgen, andererseits wegen der Technik mit dem kleinen Gerät fürs Deutsche und gleichzeitig das Englische aus den Lautsprechern. Ergab im Resultat ein unverständliches Durcheinander. Andere Passagiere hatte die gleichen Probleme. Vorschlag: Recaps und Vorträge jeweils abwechselnd auf Deutsch/Englisch halten, so jeder abwechselnd die Infos in der Muttersprache.

Really great from the second we got onto the boat. Had an absolutely unforgettable experience, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them. However, very bad pre boat experience.

Expedition staff and crew are excellent. Thye work hard to provide each passenger a good experience.

The ship was very comfortable, the food excellent, the staff excellent and professional, the itinerary interesting. The pre departure information said that the pre cruise hotel would be the Funken Lodge. I reserved two pre cruise nights at the Funken L. and was told to move to the Radisson Blu after those 2 nights. That was very inconvenient. Furthermore, we stayed on the 3rd floor in the second building at the Radisson B. which does not have an elevator. Needless to say, it was difficult to bring our luggage up to the 3rd floor. We had to wait for our transfers pre and post cruise at the Radisson B. which does NOT have the space or enough seats to accommodate both the departing group as well as the arriving group. You need to find a better waiting place. We were dropped at the airport at the end of the cruise with no help about check in. It would have helped just to let us know that if you want to check in yourself at a machine, you need to first get a luggage tag from the tag machine. No one knew what to do and the Poseidon E. guide did not know either. Poseidon E. has been running this itinerary for years at this same airport; Poseidon E. guides should know the procedures at the airport by now!!!

This was a good cruise and I wish there was a good rating as the only choices are great and average. I do think it was above average, but in some respects it was less than great. The booking process was a breeze and Shulie Klein was incredibly helpful. Our original cruise was cancelled which would have been later in June and we were offered this cruise in its place. Unfortunately friends who had booked with us were not able to take this cruise because of the date change. Our cabin on the 6th deck was terrific - quite large with a great balcony which due to some warm weather and calm seas we were actually able to use. Our cabin steward, Ronald, was always available when needed and did an excellent job of keeping our cabin ship shape. The food on the ship was good and there were always sufficient choices at all 3 meals. We were lucky to go ashore at some sights that are sometimes difficult to approach. Jan Mayan was almost mystical with its lunar type landscape. When we went ashore in pretty foggy conditions we never imagined that the fog would lift and we would be able to see the volcano on our sail out. Our stop at Fair Isle was also our opportunity to see Puffins up close. Other landings proved to be less than ideal and when we agreed to hike on one such stop we were told it was a 2 km hike when in actuality it was a 5 km hike in less than ideal conditions. While hiking that distance wasn't a problem, slogging through areas of thigh deep snow was not expected. We were grateful that Michael Blencowe was on the cruise as he is such a dynamic speaker and is able to share information in an exciting way. It only made most of the other lectures seem uninspired. It appeared to us that some of the topics were just assigned to a speaker rather than the speaker having an in-depth knowledge of the topic. Other speakers may have had some interesting information to impart, but did so in a very uninspired way or couldn't seem to position the microphone correctly so that every word was heard. The order of topics was also a bit odd. For example, the lecture on the Mysteries of the Orkney's was presented after the visit. It seems to me that lecture should have been before our stop. We would have liked more emphasis on the wildlife aspects of the trip rather than botany and geology. We really wish Poseidon would have been clearer about the testing requirement prior to boarding the ship. Even when we learned what the requirement was, it was still a bit unclear. Was it 72 hours before checking into the hotel or was it 72 hours before walking onto the ship. If we had known well in advance about the requirements, we would have made our travel arrangements differently. We started off in London for a few days rather than flying directly to Edinburgh which we would have done if the requirements had been more evident. As a result, we paid $200 once in Edinburgh for our 2 PCR tests rather than being able to have a free one before we left home. When we arrived in Longyearbyen at the end of the cruise, we saw the next group of cruisers being tested a their hotel (assume for free) and it looked to be a antigen test which are much less expensive.

I had a good time on this trip on the Sea Spirit. The sales staff were AMAZING to work with prior to the trip and answered numerous questions. The food was excellent, and the crew on the ship was friendly and extremely knowledgeable. So why not a perfect score? The hotel that was included the night prior to departure had so-so service with limited dinner options and the check-in process for the lodging and the separate table for cruise information/COVID testing info was a hot mess. I was also extremely disappointed that we were denied the polar plunge because they were afraid of what it might do to our temperatures with COVID protocols (I think this was simply an excuse as we only had our temps taken once a day in the morning and the plunge could've been scheduled as to not impact our temps the next morning). I was also disappointed that the camping didn't happen, but this may have been because we had to leave the peninsula early in anticipation of some huge waves on the return trip (and I'm thankful that the decision was made to miss those as much as I'm thankful for seasickness patches!). We still had some great landings and the experience is one that most will never have. I appreciate the efforts taken to preserve the environment (including not disturbing the wildlife) while allowing the travelers to still have these experiences.

It was a very nice experience! Gladly again!

Antarctic Wildlife Adventure, Sea Spirit - Departed Ushuaia 26 Feb 2020 This was a wonderful experience with many, many positives, but there were some negatives also. Positives included - Comfort of cabin, great food in range and quality, generally high quality expedition staff, great hospitality staff, the scope and content of lectures. The landings on islands of the Antarctic Peninsular and the single landing on the Antarctic Continent, The cruising around & landings on Sth Georgia Island and the amazing wildlife & scenery, there. The visit to Stanley, Falkland Islands. Negatives included - The time spent at Falkland Islands was unfortunately cut short by at least 1/2 day and we missed out on a landing. The reason given by the crew - strong wind prevented ship leaving the harbour till it eased. I do not believe this was the true reason for one moment. I suspect the crew were starting to appreciate gravity of the Covid19 situation and wanted to reach the original disembarkation port (Montevideo) without delay. At sea after leaving the Falkland Islands, we were finally informed about the consequences of Covid19 - resulting in Montevideo closing its port to the ship. We were regularly updated on what was being done by Poseidon & the authorities in both Uruguay & Argentina. We spent over 2 days at anchor off the coast of Uruguay - this was not Poseidon's fault, but the highly restricted access passengers had (via a single shared laptop) to the internet to communicate with travel agents, family, to check alternative flights was frustrating and disappointing. For our final day aboard, we were given (text only) access to WhatApp on smart devices which was a great improvement, but albeit very belated. Thankfully the initial refusal to disembark Montevideo was reversed & we were able to disembark (1 day later than scheduled). On leaving the ship passengers were told almost nothing of what would happen next. We were taken by bus to a hotel and there quite abandoned by Poseidon. The staff at the hotel knew little and no officials came to brief passengers about the next steps. All passengers were left to their own devices. I accept everyone was facing an unprecedented situation, but I feel Poseidon should have done a lot, lot more to assist passengers, or at least ensure they were put in touch with appropriate resources that would help the passengers to their home country. As a final comment, coming from a country where tipping for good service is not universal and is normally passed directly between the giver & receiver. I dislike the method of tipping adopted by Poseidon, whereby there is a suggested daily rate for Expedition Staff and another quite different daily rate (much higher) for Hospitality Staff, shared among each group. At the suggested rates for a 22 day cruise, the total amount is substantial for many passengers. I would much prefer Poseidon includes in the fares, ALL gratuities. Poseidon could elect to pay all their staff properly so they do not need tips to receive appropriate income. It also begs to the question what happens to the ship operational crew - they are just as important - do they get any gratuities? Perhaps not, based on the literature we got. Presumably the ship crew get paid properly.