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Antarctica Near Miss Celebrity Infinity

5 of 5 people found this review informative
 
Reviewed By: Caruso, London on 22nd Feb 2010
Cruise Line: Celebrity Cruises Times cruised before: 3-5
Cruise Ship: Celebrity Xpedition Sailed: January, 2010
Destination: Antarctica Age: 46-55
Cabin: Outside Occasion: Family holiday
Antarctica (near miss)

For a start, to call "Antarctic" a 14-night cruise with only 2 days in Antarctica (or, more correctly, only one day, because Elephant Island is in fact in the South Shetlands) was a little bit questionable - however the magic of the word "Antarctica" was such that 2,000 people from all over the World bought this cruise just to have a glimpse of it.
As the Captain said during his speech at first formal night this particular cruise to Antarctica was the first for Celebrity and Infinity - so, "no promises could be made".

I quite agree - the weather in Antarctic region is unpredictable so nobody can guarantee that any ship would made it to Antarctica, even in the middle of summer (February). Having said that, presumably if somebody sending a Caribbean cruiser to Antarctica it would have significantly lower chance to make it rather than an "ice-class" ship.

The bottom line: both the Falklands (which caused a mutiny of 300 Argentinean parrengers on board) and the Elephant islands have been cancelled, the ship had to go to Ushuaia instead, then it turned South again and eventually made it to Antarctica - just for 6 hours... (out of 14 days)... As a comedian said... "it was an 8-days cruise to Ushuaya..." - do not know how many people found that joke funny...

An explanation was given that the weather was "unusually" bad - something is difficult to believe. I am not criticizing the captain's decision to turn back - I am very grateful indeed - safety is paramount, etc. - however, in my humble opinion, that was exactly the kind of weather one would expect in Antarctica - the weather a Carribean cruiser like Infinity was not designed for. That is a problem. I would like to thank the captain for his prudence - but I cannot say the same about Celebrity - sending such Carribean vessel to the Antarctic waters was not only unwise - it was totally irresponsible.

A couple of other points, relatively minor in comparison. Check-in was a bit chaotic, it took 1,5 hours with people queuing while raining outside a temporary tent set by Celebrity. The tent was in the middle of nowhere in the Commercial port - as a result the taxis could charge just about whatever they liked - a double for a trip to the airport in comparison with from there. Celebrity seemed to turn a blind eye on that and did not arrange any transportation between the airport and place of embarkation (even exact address of embarkation was not provided - as a result many people ended up in a wrong pier 2 km away.

Shore excursions were overpriced, unsurprisingly, sometimes as much as twice in comparison to what you could easily get locally.

There was certain lack of information about few ports we visited. For example, nobody told us that there was a low season in Peninsula Valdes - so instead of whales and orcas all you could possibly see (after a 250 km journey on dust road) was a sea lions colony.

An entertainment on-board was below expectations - Argentinian tango dancers who were invited to perform last night of the cruise looked by far more interesting than the ship's "local" American dance group.

For such cold weather condition there were not enough sitting areas available inside the ship. Those areas that were available were often "smoking allowed" so unsuitable for children and people with health problems.

On a positive side: a good cabin (although with very old TV) with good bed (but bad pillow). Excellent room service.

Food: I would rate it between adequate and good for breakfast and lunch to between good and excellent for dinner. Nice sushi available every evening and very tasty ice cream. Very good waiters' service.

Interesting (although a bit odd) selection of books in the library.

There is an another cruise heading for Antarctica right now - please let me know whether you have made it...

Quality of Food4
Entertainment1
Shore Excursions1
Staff4
Children's Facilitiesn/a
Onboard Activities1
Cabins4
Overall Rating2
5 of 5 people found this review informative
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Comment by Sweeney, Caerphilly (06 May 12 08:03) about this REVIEW
A trip i would have seriously considered. I would be extremely dissapointed if i missed out on any of the destinations stated. ie: falklands (I place I have a huge desire to visit this place so I would go mad if I didnt get to go for whatever the reason....their fault for not supplying a ship capable of delivering the goods). Would prefer to see less in the region and more of what I would really be going to see therefore i would be willing to pay more and go with an expedition on a more suitable ship for the region.
Comment by Langerak, Delft (30 Dec 11 12:18) about this REVIEW
We will do the same cruise in februari 2013 but we doubt to cancell te cruise. We don't trust Celebrity. Frits Langerak Delft The Netherlands
Comment by Parfitt, Australia (15 Mar 11 09:13) about this REVIEW
We were on the next cruise and he sailed around for three days and then were told weather too bad unable to go to antractic, we got as far a Elephant Island one ice berg we saw, but there were three other boats that got down there and the weather saw good. we felt it was a ploy for passengers to spend up big as we were bored on ship. We spent a lot of money just to see parts of S America when the main focus in the brochures was Antarctica. We did not know that the ship was a Carribean cruiser, we would not have booked if we had known, it was there last trip down there, i wonder why we heard that they only ever got down there 1 in 5 times, very upset about the whole trip crew food cabin were great
Comment by HAMPSHIRE THORN, FAREHAM (23 Feb 10 14:54) about this REVIEW
I have also read two other reviews of this cruise - I assume that you were on Infinity not Xpedition as stated at the start. You obviously suffered really bad weather and that is a massive disappointment. It is interesting to see the different views and ratings but you are unanimous about the chaotic check-in and the high cost of excursions. You should all complain about these points. Incidentally, you keep referring to Infinity as a Caribbean Cruiser but for some years Infinity has been cruising Alaska between May and September and is quite versatile in it's programme.

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