Seeing the giant king penguin colony in Fortuna Bay, South Georgia.

Great holiday

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The entire expedition team was outstanding and truly made the trip memorable. Every single member of the expedition team was knowledgeable and friendly, most had advanced degrees in a scientific field relevant to our experiences on the trip, and many had previously done research or worked in non-tourism jobs in Antarctica or in the Arctic. They were all way more than zodiac drivers with safety training. I love that they mingled on the ship and sat with the passengers during meals. Over the course of the trip, we had a casual conversation with just about every expedition member.

The ship is very new, and the cabin and the public spaces were clean and comfortable. The ship lived up to my expectations in every way. I wish that the two beds in our cabin were movable so that they could be combined into a king/queen. The food was very good, with a reasonable variety, but not as much as what one would get on a large cruise ship or at a restaurant--not unreasonable for such a ship of this size. Drinks at the bar were reasonably priced, but the price of soft drinks were high, almost as much as the drinks. For the cost of the trip, I think soft drinks (if not most alcoholic drinks) ought to be included. Not surprisingly, there was quite a bit of rolling while crossing the Drake Passage and Southern Ocean; but I'm told that that Hondius it is much more stable than the other ships in the Oceanwide fleet, Plancius an Ortelius. I would probably choose this ship again over the other two. My one complaint about the ship is that neither the observation lounge nor the lecture room are well-suited for lectures. The observation lounge wasn't really designed for lectures, with the room split into two, with two large screens and several smaller screens that requires the presenter to move about to point out things on the the screens. But both rooms have columns obstructing the view. And with low ceilings, the projection screens extend almost down to the floor, preventing all but people in the front rows from being able to see the lower half of a screen without standing up and moving side-to-side to see past poeple in rows in front of them.

All the Zodiac excursions were enjoyable, and I always felt safe. There were generally 11 passengers (plus the driver) on each Zodiac, which is as much as can reasonably fit. It would have been nice to have had fewer passengers onboard while we were cruising to make it easier to see past other passengers and to be able to turn around more easily. The most memorable Zodiac cruise was the one when I had my own private cruise after I was the only one who wasn't cold and didn't want to go back to the ship!

The talks from expedition staff members and their discussions of their experiences really opened my eyes to the worldwide connectedness of global systems, including climate, ocean currents, the food chain, and humans' interaction with them. We learned and saw firsthand how important Antarctica is to the stability of these systems. Most of the lectures did an excellent job of describing the state of these systems and how they are changing, without getting political or assigning blame. They allowed the audience members to come to their own conclusions. However, one lecture from an expedition staff member (Jakob, a glaciologist) and a lecture from a passenger who was the chief scientist for the recent Climate Task force, really drove home how severe the consequences of global warming are and have been, and how critical it is to address it within the next decade.

I felt very prepared in terms of having the proper clothing and equipment. I was not prepared or sufficiently excited for the wonder and beuty that we would be experiencing.

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