It is impossible to single out one experience. Carola was with us in every step and her help was incredible - she made this experience perfect for us. Due to a late flight, we needed rebooking of flights and communication with drivers and hotel which she handled seamlessly and without any hiccup. Carola made everything happen like it was a walk in the park for her. Swoop does an excellent job and Oceanwide ship, facilities, staff, crew made the experience incredible. If there was any one thing that might be improved it would be the shipboard TV as there was constant buffering of the programs as well as erratic behavior. Granted, the trip is best without any TV but my mate had difficulty with sea sickness and reliable TV would have helped her. I realize it is satellite based and that is difficult in Antarctica but this is just a comment. If I ever do another booking through Swoop, I will definitely ask for Carola if she is available. Hold onto her in every way as if I had a professional need for her, I would offer her a executive position in an instant.

Life changing

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The Ortelius staff was extremely professional, capable and friendly in every Zodiac adventure.

Words cannot express how competent, friendly and fun everyone on the expedition team was. Every one of them did everything possible to make the experience very memorable and safe.

The perfect ship for this adventure. From size all the way thru accommodations, everything was perfect. The crew could not have been better from the Capitán all the way down thru the seamen. Laundry staff returned all laundry much quicker than expected and done very well. The dining and bar servers extremely efficient and personable. The kitchen prep folks did an awesome job. Nothing was less than perfect.

The hotel Swoop arranged for us was perfect. Clean, well located, spacious, great food and Angi was a wonderful host in every way.

Carola, Carola, Carola. She was very instrumental to us, making this adventure great in every way. She deserves the highest position available in Swoop. We were booked into the EZE Holiday Inn and we expected a ‘normal’ Holiday Inn. We were wrong as the hotel was unlike any Holiday Inn we have ever experienced anywhere in the world. Clean, comfortable, excellent bar and restaurant, terrific staff. We wish all Holiday Inns could be like this.

Use Swoop and Oceanwide and above all else, do everything you can to work with Carola!

It has added to our knowledge of our wonderful Blue Pearl while reinforcing how fragile Earth is and how important conservation and sensible use is.

Carola, Carola, Carola…..promote her…do all you can to keep her as she is an incredible asset to your team. Additionally, every experience we had with Swoop was very good. Only one thing went wrong - a late flight by United Airlines - causing us to miss connections and the Swoop team (Carola!) took care of everything much quicker than expected. Our sincere thanks to everyone for making this adventure very memorable.

We were prepared from an equipment/gear standpoint. We were not prepared for the intense beauty Antarctica presented to us. I have been fortunate to experience many parts of the globe, both traditional and primitive, but nothing compares to the memories of this adventure. As for sharing photos, I need to sort thru my images and that will take time…..perhaps later.

Yes

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