Up next in 10
Live Cruise Q&A From Antarctica Sound: Sunday 10 November (Noon ET/ 9am PT/ 5pm UK/ 2pm Antarctica)
17K views
Jan 28, 2025
Live Cruise Q&A From Antarctica Sound: Sunday 10 November (Noon ET/ 9am PT/ 5pm UK) NB: check final times on Sunday as time subject to change based on the expedition program that day which I will only know Saturday evening, and then may change on the day based on conditions I will be going live from the Silver Endeavour while we are in the Antarctic Sound, at the top of the Antarctica Peninsula to update you on my expedition cruise and answer and questions you have about Silversea, the ship, route or anything else on cruising.
View Video Transcript
0:06
[Music]
0:16
[Music] [Applause]
0:23
[Music]
0:29
he [Music]
0:44
well hello everybody and welcome to the live stream here in Antarctica so um as
0:51
I put a little note up there uh the video may get a little bit funny at times but certainly all the tests I've
0:56
done the audio has been pretty good so well spotted those of you who noticed that this was a slight different time to
1:02
I originally published it um one of the things that happens is you only find out the night before what you doing the next
1:08
day because the program of course keeps changing based on the ice the weather and so on so I only found out last night
1:14
that actually the original plan I had um doesn't make any sense because actually I'm going out at five o'clock my time
1:20
which would be I guess 7 o'clock UK time so anyway we're kind of normal um normal
1:27
uh live stream time so I'm in my cabin here we're currently sailing uh around
1:32
the South shetlands so we were at one stop this morning which is very early start we the first group went out at
1:38
6:30 I went out at 7 uh we then had some time there and now we're sailing to the
1:45
next stop which is near Deception Island although we're actually landing at a different spot to I being in Deception Island but it takes about four hours
1:52
even though it's only 40 nor Miles because in this area you can only go two knots uh of speed because of all the
1:59
whales around I actually saw a whole bunch of whales this morning uh which was very exciting so anyway we're here
2:04
um I'm here to ask questions about the screws Expedition cruising or anything
2:10
uh cruising related I I'll start I certain we focus initially on the more
2:15
Expedition related questions so um just reminder if you do have a question write
2:20
the word question it does make it so much easier uh the weather today I'm just looking at the weather now it's
2:26
about 1° C that's about 32 30° fah so uh
2:32
it's not as chilly as it was yesterday so uh uh yes so you yes you work right
2:39
that was the original time and it has now changed now I can see the Wi-Fi fluting a bit but certainly the audio
2:45
should keep going um Sherry hope the Wi-Fi and the weather holds up well certainly hopefully the Wi-Fi will hold
2:51
up during the course of this and the weather has been really good today we've had blue skies although if you follow
2:57
any of my updates you know the weather does change incredibly quickly so let's come on to midy uh
3:03
crafts with friends who ask what's the temperature and do the Penguins smell I'm going next year in November well
3:10
let's see let's talk about the temperature the temperature varies a lot so for example tomorrow it's going to beus 2 and minus1 degrees CSUS when
3:18
you're out there it can feel a lot colder because of course the wind comes sort of sweeping down uh particularly
3:24
like off the glaciers for example so it can be a little bit on the chilly side but today you know with all the
3:30
different layers you don't really feel it so much so it's around about you know zero sort of freezing kind of
3:36
temperatures overall so in terms of the penguin smelling so we're early in the season so you know the penguins are just
3:43
kind of really arriving back on land so it's not especially smelly um we were at
3:50
a we couldn't actually land at one of the places uh the other day um and the
3:56
wind was sort of sweeping across and you could really smell the Penguins once you're there on the ground you don't really smell it as much now I have been
4:03
also at the end of the season and it probably was a bit more smelly because it's more buildup of kind of penguin poo
4:08
but at the moment there's not as much it's a little bit smelly but not messy like you don't I don't really think
4:13
about it I don't really kind of notice it so so much um but you know with the layers you don't really feel it I mean
4:20
yesterday afternoon we were out on Zodiacs and it was really chilly then that was the first time I really was cold not my body wasn't cold because of
4:27
all the layers but my sort of your face gets kind of a little bit on the cold side uh so Cherry has a question I think
4:33
Cherry was origin du to be on this particular Cruise um of the three and Arctica cruises you've how would you
4:39
rate to experience silen SE Endeavor so far um so for those who don't know I've
4:45
did my first one in 2019 on Silver Cloud so it was obviously also silver sea I
4:50
did one in 2021 which was um on Pont uh which was a similar iten to this
4:57
although we didn't go to the Forkland clean to South Georgia this one includes I probably should put up the the actual
5:03
itinerary that's probably going to cover up so we went to the Forkland First South Georgia where we're now down uh in
5:09
the South Shetland Island bit we're down here we're heading down to Antarctica Peninsula we didn't go to Antarctica
5:14
sound um because there's just too much ice this year the good news is there's lots and lots of ice all around here and
5:21
actually once we get down there there's probably going to be an issue more with with ice as well um so I would rate
5:28
this good as I would for me Pont and the saten or better just because it includes
5:35
South Georgia which is absolutely mindboggling you know just in terms of the scale of the wildlife that you see
5:41
so for example later this afternoon although we actually you now down south shetlands we're going to see the biggest
5:47
um genu penguin Colony but certainly when you're South Georgia you have these massive massive uh you know um king
5:55
penguin colonies because that's where they are so um in terms of South Georgia I would say
6:00
uh the Expedition team was a little bit at beginning I was like not sure they certainly kind of got in their stride
6:06
now because remember this beginning of the season so they kind of getting their stride they've been very strong the food is good service is good it's amazing how
6:14
much the crew remember everybody's names is just quite incredible so one thing of course that you realize in Antarctica so
6:21
close my NE curtain anyy things a bit um is it's incredibly bright because these
6:27
huge amounts of snow and Glaciers um so I would say it's it's at least as good as the Pont the Pont Expedition team was
6:33
good you Expedition team make or break it um and also you know everyday changes
6:38
so no trip is the same so uh we've had incredible um sites so far we've had
6:44
Fairly choppy weather and South so we got to fewer Landings than I did last time you just got to remember you've got to go with the flow the good news is
6:51
they would normally uh make sure that you see something so those who follow me um on patreon or channel members I'm
6:58
posting a daily update there and you'll know that one day we couldn't land in two of The Landings where there's colonies but they took us to another f
7:05
with Incredible F sit so they're always kind of finding something so I would say it's definitely as good um the ship is
7:11
probably the nicest of the three ships I've been on if I compare this ship to
7:16
uh the Seaborn ships the new Seaborn ships I'm probably leaning a little bit towards the new Seaborn ships in terms
7:23
of the actual ship layout this ship is a very beautiful ship there's a couple of areas uh a couple of things that don't
7:29
quador one of the bizarre things they have in the cabin is they have um it's designed so
7:36
rather than to connecting doors but every cabin uh you have doors facing each other have a little um hallway and
7:44
then you have an outer door so if you were share you know tring together you'd use that out door but the problem with
7:49
that is if you've got people who slam their doors like my dear neighbors do um you know you've got two sets of slamming
7:55
doors which is quite annoying U and not massive bit annoying so that little
8:01
design things like that um but overall the ship is beautiful um I've mentioned
8:06
before that the one only venue that I think doesn't work as well for me anyway is the grill which is at the rear of the
8:13
ship which is it's a it's a pck SL Buffet SL Steakhouse at night um uh it's
8:21
just sort of this glass Conservatory thing but the rest ship is pretty good um so I think I think I answered that so
8:28
let's let's make sure I'm not missing any questions oh here we go so Sarah's asking the question um so I'm just
8:33
keeping a little track and I can see that every now and again I am freezing but certain the tests I did the audio
8:39
kept going so you may not get to see as much me but hopefully the audio keeps working so Sarah asking the question how
8:46
many pairs of waterproof trousers gloves would you advise how wet does it get in the zodiacs so Sarah in terms of I'll
8:52
ask the last question for us it varies obviously depending on the weather so uh there was one day we got pretty wet uh
9:00
which was when we were in um uh in salery plane it was very windy there was
9:05
lots of spray and ELC covered in water last people got covered in water that was the wetest I got although of course
9:11
with your waterproof stuff you personally get only my face got wet in reality but it's just reminded to make sure that you got waterproof bag now the
9:18
good thing about um silic sees they give you a really really good waterproof bag to put cameras and things in U so it it
9:25
varies a lot I haven't got that wet on the Zodiac overall in terms of waterprof trousers I only have one pair of
9:31
waterprof trousers because they dry incredibly quickly um but gloves definitely I have uh fact I've just
9:37
packed all my stuff away I didn't want to make cabin untiy because all my different layers and stuff but I have uh
9:42
inner gloves which are quite good for keeping you warm but also then for using your camera then I have waterproof
9:48
gloves on the outside I definitely bought two pairs of waterproof gloves because if you are going to get wet if
9:54
you're holding on the Zodiac they get wet and they do take longer to dry now on some Expedition ships like Seaborn
10:00
for example they have a drying cupboard so actually that stuff can dry quicker but know the waterproof triers dried
10:07
really really quickly um I guess that's the nature of what they are but I have two sets of most things um so two sets
10:14
of kind of the undergarments socks and stuff partly because if you're wearing them particularly if you're doing lots
10:19
of Landings you can get a little bit sweat in them so just to have them kind of cleaned and so on but only worry
10:25
about one pair of waterproof trousers but definitely have two sets of water proof gloves um so here we have hve or um I'm
10:36
not sure if I'm pronouncing that correctly um is asking the question which of the premium SL mainstream lines
10:41
like princess H America celebrity would you say is best for anartica for those looking to experience adoa at a
10:47
relatively affordable cost so first of all just to talk about that you need of course what's really really important to
10:52
understand and I suspect you know this anyway is that those bigger ships only do sale buys so that's very important
11:00
you do at no Landings because you only allowed um a maximum of 200 people um uh
11:05
at any one site 100 people at a time so the big ships do no Landings at all so you're literally doing sale buys they
11:12
also will basically like we had unfortunately because we're coming into the place now the beautiful scenery
11:17
that's gone so you do see incredible scenery you're not going to see um Penguins uh up close at all you might
11:25
just see them through your binoculus you may see some whales in the distance uh a little bit so you just understand it's a
11:30
sale by so you get a feel for an you're never not going to step um on land
11:35
personally I would encourage you to look at something like Holland America and the reason I say that is they run a
11:41
season every year and I've done part of it before not coming out to Antarctica and I'm actually doing it uh from bosur
11:48
all the way around back to Fort Lauderdale um but they use they place at
11:54
ardam uh during the sort of season here and they basically go backwards and forwards back forwards between San Diego and bu Aries then I'm doing the one at
12:00
the end of the season when they head back and I think every alternate one or they come down to Antarctica as a sale
12:06
bu and they therefore uh because they do it a lot they know it really well so I
12:12
would tent a little bit towards H America probably because I've added into the Antarctic leg of it I have seen the
12:18
quality of the talks on board and I know that the crew does know Antarctica uh
12:23
you know pretty well so that would my my sense um there are some other lines you
12:30
know like asamara smaller ships which may you there are quite key restrictions
12:36
around where you can and can't go but obviously you're going to be able to go to antic you're not be able to step on land and you're not going to be able to
12:42
do in Landings you're not going to do zodiac tours and so on but you will get obviously you know a chance to see it
12:48
Andrew is here which is great um so Andrew is talking about the updates so let me talk a little bit about that so I'm doing a daily updates here for
12:56
channel members and patrons uh with lots of AOG graphs lots of in-depth stuff um
13:01
some work in progress on the various Vlogs that I'm doing as well so if you're interested in that um patreon.com
13:09
tipsfor Travelers and the reason I talk about patreon more is on patreon I can post more photographs a lot of people
13:15
who are channel members that I'm also posting to I can only post five photographs where I can post unlimited to patreon so that's that's the
13:23
only one thought of you're thinking about doing that and I know it's not for everybody so um GRE Gregory asking the
13:29
question did you research any other lines such as quark and Atlas Gregory I did I looked at all the different
13:36
options um I'm particularly interested in Quark I would like to try Quark I would also like to try Lind blat those
13:42
two are very long established uh Expedition companies uh Atlas obviously
13:48
kind of a new Option and they are uh much more affordable than some of these other options so I did look at those but
13:55
you know when you're spending so much money um you know you're talking about
14:00
multiple tens of thousands of dollars to come on these chps you know you I wanted to be absolutely sure and I've done a
14:07
number of expeditions now with silver sea I've done the Arctic I've done galapagus:
14:29
there's a whole bunch of penguins going past pping the great thing about penguins is they they ppose like this
14:35
because they have to come up to breathe and they shoot out the water down back down shoot out in the water and they come they go incredibly fast they
14:41
basically keep up the ship in fact because we're going so slow they're going fast in the ship anyway um so I
14:46
did look at those certainly I know some people have been on Atlas it ask about that a lot and certainly um Atlas a lot
14:53
of people um feel they're really really good a really good kind of option
14:59
um Ronda hi there good to see you Ronda uh when going to Asia or South America where there's so many different
15:05
countries and currencies what do you do for local cash interesting point so certainly when I go to Asia uh or South
15:12
America I try and have as little cash as possible because so many places these
15:18
days will take cards so I tend to take very little so if I'm going to say Japan
15:24
i' take Yen again I took too many when I went to South America for example last time and when I go next year no in 26 I
15:32
probably won't take any local currency um and you know I found a lot of the markets you know um we'll take um you
15:40
know cards debit cards and stuff and what I Su do is might take a little bit of money out of the cash machines if I
15:46
feel I need kind of local money I found certainly um uh you know in many places uh or
15:55
particular those who work with the cruising industry if you're going on a Crews they used to getting dollars if
16:01
you want to give a little tip to the um you know the guides or whatever certainly in Japan I did have some Yen I
16:07
took way too many Yen and I didn't take that much I maybe took like uh $100
16:12
worth of Yen and I didn't spend that much because I was using cards uh much more so I don't the first time I went to
16:19
Asia I took every single currency every country and we ended up having so much cash slopping around that uh that I
16:26
didn't do it one of the things to run which I which I have only done once but I only did it with US dollars is there
16:32
are some um cards where you can preload them and you can use them on local cash
16:38
machines without um without charges so it'll give you local currency and it takes I'm sure there's it's probably not
16:45
wildly efficient but it's slightly better um sometimes I believe than using your bank card just because you get a
16:51
slightly better rate um and of course I don't know if they operate in all countries but that's something that I
16:56
have toyed with as well uh Laura or Lara um can you help me
17:03
recommend a travel agent who's well vered in that Arctic cruises can help me plan this trip I'm based in Northeast us
17:08
thanks so Lara um I would certainly um on on my website I have two US agents
17:16
that are recommend Gary pluck um is uh I don't know how well vered he is in Antarctica but that's probably who I
17:23
would talk to of the two but um what I do know in the UK for example that polar
17:29
Roots is very well versed and that's what they specialize in but they obviously only for the UK obviously my
17:34
own travel agent Sarah knows region pretty well but I would uh check out Gary pluck if you go to my website tips
17:40
travelers.com um you'll see actually the most read things is a thing around travel agents s to search travel agents
17:46
there uh and that would uh that would certainly um uh be a good place to start
17:53
and Gary will be quite good if he doesn't know it he will uh point in the direction of someone who can Gregory if you're a slightly larger person can you
17:59
get larger boots if you need them so Gregory um what happens is you you know depending on the The Cruise Line some
18:05
will rent them some will loan them to you and certainly on here they did have a huge you know when I rented them I
18:11
have my own boots um which I bought originally in the Arctic and I've used them uh in the Arctic and Arctica and
18:18
Arctica and I didn't bring them M because they are quite big and because you have a chartered flight and they're quite strict on uh weight I decided not
18:25
to bring them I actually do wish I brought my own boots because they're way more comtable um because of the right size and whatever but anyway a long way
18:32
of let me ask you question more properly um so certainly the lines
18:38
will let you normally like so on Silver you can rent the boots so was $98 us plus a $100 um deposit I think on
18:46
Seaborn for example you don't have to rent them out I can't remember on quar and certainly on Pont don't think you
18:52
had to hire them either um but you'll find they have a wide range um but if they rent them you you can pretty much
18:59
any size so I know some people have large feet or they're very I don't know what that would be called thick feet you
19:05
high arches or whatever um the problem is I had always get a and also when you get boots always get them a much bigger
19:11
size and basically bring thick socks the mistake I made when I ordered boots when I hide them is I ordered my actual size
19:19
and they're too small for me so then I asked for a bigger size and they've got a slightly bigger size but they're not
19:24
as big um so actually order maybe up to two sizes bigger and just wear big make
19:30
sure you bought you a couple of pairs of those thick socks and actually what the Expedition leader said is slightly bigger boots are going to keep your feet
19:36
War because air circulates and I guess the air heats up or something but make sure that even if you're a big size a
19:41
size 15 or whatever size you are um actually go even bigger um when when you
19:47
when you when you request them Jeff is here which is great I know Jeff been following the updates that have been
19:53
going out um which is great Jour with Josh as well um Gregory asking the
19:58
question question is it possible to do last minute cruises with any of the Expedition lines you know many of the
20:03
Expedition cruises sell out so actually planning way ahead is a very good idea
20:09
because a lot of them sell out now a lot of these longer ones are come on an 18 night one so about a week or two before
20:16
there were uh a couple of cabins available guaranteed cabins we have 183
20:21
people they can take 200 on here but there's quite a lot of solos on here and I do know there's a couple of people um
20:28
who work for silver sea that were able to come on I guess at a silver sea rate quite close they they knew two three
20:35
months ago so towards once the final balance payment that they could actually get a cabin on here so um it is
20:42
potentially possible uh it depends what you mean by last minute certainly you know if you're looking three months
20:47
before that's the point when they're they will know how they've got they may do deals or whatever so I think they did
20:54
some solo deals on this one I I actually didn't get a solo deal I discovered to to solos that they they managed to get
20:59
you get a solo deal on here so it is possible but in the peak Seasons particularly November December you will
21:05
find it way more challing uh to to get but I have seen you know the odd little
21:10
thing here what I would strongly recommend you do like I do with all of them sign up for all of those um you
21:17
know emails your quarks your Lin blats your Atlas uh obviously your silver SE
21:22
your Seaborn uh and see if they do any kind of activities um let me just see if
21:27
there's any more um there was a question here about Japan I will come back to that I want to keep going on questions
21:37
that um let's Sarah did the clocks change uh they changed once so South
21:42
Georgia is on a slightly different time zone so the Antarctica itself is on the same time zone as Santiago which is
21:48
three hours behind the UK uh two hours ahead of Eastern time but South Georgia
21:54
is actually only two hours from the UK and slightly uh you know that say longer
22:00
from Eastern time so we changed the clocks when we went into South Georgia and we changed the clocks when we left South Georgia uh so if you're actually
22:07
going on a cruise which doesn't go to South Georgia you will change your time
22:12
to you know kind of Aire uh Porter Williams depending on where you're selling out of time and you won't change
22:19
um Gregor is writing this question capitals analogus don't I did answer it um and the other question then you don't
22:26
have to don't don't panic about rting it twice I will hopefully go in in time but
22:32
hopefully we got those I got those questions let me just check if there's any more uh yes so Kathy the point was
22:39
it was originally um as I mentioned at the beginning um unfortunately I only know you only know what you're doing the
22:46
night before uh so I only knew at six o'clock my time which is sort of uh 8 o'
22:52
UK time what the schedule was for today so I only changed I did send out some notices but I know that um that doesn't
22:59
always get uh always get uh caught up I do know this a Japan question so I will
23:05
uh I will make sure that I uh come back to that Jes Josh do you need dress clothes or smart casual okay so what's
23:12
very interesting and let me get the daily program out what is very Slightly bizarre is um in the daily program every
23:20
day they have the dress code an article on the dress code uh bazali today doesn't have it
23:29
anyway so um they have the dress code the smart casual dress code but absolutely nobody pays any attention
23:36
whatsoever to the dress code uh and any Expedition uh trip that I've ever been
23:41
on no one does it so um I literally I've got blue jeans on today I've also got some black jeans I wear jeans I've worn
23:48
the sweatshirt uh you know I have washed this or to dinner um I literally on the
23:54
one night um I did bring some sort of slacks and a a lounge shirt you know a long sleeve
24:01
shirt which I wore on the second night which was Captain's welcome night Co up
24:06
night and since then I've literally worn jeans um I blue jeans or black jeans um
24:13
a Jumper whatever so no one pays attention now they do have ladam on board which it does say that you require
24:19
jackob but I haven't been to check out ladam so for those who don't know is um Sil SE their sort of speci restaurants
24:24
are sort of included in the fair but they do have ladam which is sort of fantasy French um often with wine
24:32
pairing it and it's quite expensive um and they do say in that you need to wear a jacket I I haven't actually seen
24:38
anybody on the ship ever wearing anything smart so I I need to actually poke my eye that doesn't make any sense
24:45
have a look into ladam and see if they're even enforcing that in in ladam
24:51
Ken go cruising hope you're having a good time yes I'm having a great great time um Greg did I go to the Post Office
24:57
no I didn't actually post office there it was very busy uh so so sorry the one in uh in south Georgia was very busy we
25:04
haven't been to any of the the stations that have and we unlikely all of the the
25:11
stations down here are closed to visitors so even they're closed obviously after covid and so any none of
25:18
the research stations allow any visitors anymore so we will not be going to any of the research stations which means we
25:23
won't go to any of the post offices um uh down um down in anartica which when I
25:29
did in 2019 did actually go there um so let's have a look um I've heard
25:39
that Saudi Arabia has a new Cruise Company yes they they do they do I can't remember the name of it there is a a
25:44
couple there was lots of speculation by the way at one time when silver sea sorry when um Carnival Corporation split
25:51
H American Seaborn because they used to be run by the same team they split them there lots of speculation that they were
25:57
selling Seaborn to that South AF Saudi Cru but they do have some ships I can't
26:02
remember the name of it I can't remember which ships they are um so let's have a look um Facebook users just reminder I
26:11
do also live stream this on Facebook and Linkedin hello Gary your post here you join your silvery Cruise yes in private
26:18
you mentioned that Arctic is your top choice and expense how much is your current cruise with the balcony cabin so
26:23
on this um on this uh ship I don't think there are there you can only get a
26:30
balcony cabin uh certainly on um Silver Cloud I went with a they they Silver
26:35
Cloud had uh Ocean View Cabins which is what I had booked when I went there um
26:42
so this so if you were going then there's a range so I'm going to the
26:47
balcony cabins start with sort of the layout that I've got and it differs a little bit based on um uh location a
26:55
little bit but uh what I always say to people is if you want to go on one of these trips you need to assume that
27:01
you're spending uh around about between 1,000 and 2,000 pound that's about 1,500
27:08
$2,500 us per day per cabin so obviously if you can get a solo deal that will be
27:14
a little bit less um if you're turn a couple that's what you need to uh you know spend so you times that by 10 days
27:21
if you on 10 days time that for eight 18 days um and it's you can get if you go with Atlas stuff you can get a little
27:28
bit cheaper but you're still probably spending at least uh ,000 a day at least um so I will when I
27:37
do the video specifically I will break down the cost because I also need so I keep there loads of penguins and things
27:43
purposing past here the window um so um I will in the videos that I do I will break down because you need to strip out
27:50
things like flights and prestay hotels and stuff like that because that's you know often the fairs will also include a
27:56
chter flight because the the cruises normally start in buenus Aries if you're selling out of V normally um and if you
28:03
go on Silver SE because they do out of Porto Williams and Chile you're flying to San Santiago uh so they always
28:11
normally in a charter flight as as well so it's a little bit more complicated
28:18
um let's have look I am there's a couple of the questions on
28:24
um uh and I will come back in a in a sec second uh Stein mention good to see you
28:30
again are you any Antartica Cru with more scientific focused visiting research stations more in land strong
28:36
Expedition talks so uh I hope you mentioned there no ships currently are
28:41
allowed to visit research stations they're out of bounds uh so uh you know you can actually sign up for proper
28:47
research uh trips but they're not you know you know two weeks three weeks they're much longer um you know full-on
28:54
research things so you will find there are some smaller companies uh like we
29:00
saw in yesterday sorry I knew they were going to do this CU we just arrived the place so let's just let them do that do the
29:07
good afternoon ladies and gentlemen a very good afternoon we have arrived at Deception
29:15
Island we've made very very good speed the conditions are absolutely amazing it
29:21
is flat calm outside and we have the volcanic rocks
29:26
very dramatic in front of the vessel at the moment and we are looking at the
29:32
Landing Beach here of baby head we are going to drop Zodiacs in the
29:39
next five minutes and we are going to scout The Landing but honestly ladies and
29:44
gentlemen this site is very difficult most of the time I mentioned that to you
29:49
already maybe once a season maybe once a couple of Seasons that we manag to land
29:56
here but I'm sure when you look at outside it is completely flat to see and
30:02
that means that this is one of those lucky opportunities that we have to
30:08
attempt this Landing for you to look at this incredible huge chinstrap colony of
30:13
about 100,000 individuals so I'm very hopeful looking
30:18
from The Landing from the bridge at the moment and as we are already so early I
30:24
would like to bring your disembarkation also early earlier to maximize our time
30:29
this afternoon sorry I'll talk about this will be as follows yellow half an
30:36
hour earlier we'll bring everything half an hour forward so yellow you will be
30:41
invited to come ashore at quarter past 3 and then Group Green at 3:30 so group
30:49
yellow at quarter past 3 and group Green at
30:54
3:30 and then we leave it a small Gap of course we cannot have more than 100
31:00
guests here at the time so group red you are invited at 4:30 and group blue at
31:06
4:45 so quarter past 3 and 3:30 for yellow and green and then group red and
31:13
blue 430 and 4:45 so we will make announcements of
31:19
course accordingly and we will call you once we are ready for you but these will be the timings so all the timings for
31:25
all of you will be just moved 30 minutes forward so I really look forward to
31:31
seeing you on Shore as you can see goes on and on on is still so the beach is
31:37
the sandy beach but once you are up the beach all I see is snowy mountains and I
31:44
see a whole lot of penguins so I look forward to seeing you on Shore uh at
31:49
quarter past 3 and 3:30 for the first two groups so one of the things you you
31:55
heard the announcement one of the things you get on Expedition cruises is the the announcements to get come into your
32:00
cabin there's no way of switching the announcements off and you'll find announcements being made uh sort of if
32:07
some if they spot something at night like they spot a whal or something will'll make an announcement but we haven't actually had that on on this
32:13
trip um but you then like from the reason I was also trying to do this slot here before we arrived is they will
32:19
start making announcement after announcement after announcement for groups um so you literally have announc off it be impossible to do this anyway
32:26
um so um in terms of the scientific so there are you know most there are a little bit more Rough and Ready ones in
32:32
reality Expedition talks are phenomenal even on the more luxury ones you can go a little bit more Rough and Ready um
32:39
there are some smaller companies uh overall now someone did ask me I think it might have been Jeff ask me about
32:46
Viking I haven't really I didn't really consider Viking one of the risks with Viking I mean the ships look beautiful
32:52
I've seen their ships from the outside is they are slightly bigger they car bring more people down here which I need
32:57
to double check which means fewer Landings because you're only allowed uh you know 200 people on land in total in
33:05
in the morning or the afternoon so I don't know quite how they do The Landings um and certainly I then knew an
33:12
knew an expedition and when you spend that amount of money I just want to make sure that the Expedition team is absolutely top topnotch time uh Stein
33:20
volin had a follow-up question uh Arctic or Antarctic people asked me this last
33:25
week for me an nothing beats antartic so I it's almost not even linked to global
33:31
warming nothing beats Antarctica in the world so I would always always always do
33:36
Anar say antartic is number one by a mile um the Arctic is fantastic you I
33:43
went I've done the sart which course is very restricted now because they have smaller ships I've done the Canadian Arctic which is which is fantastic
33:50
obviously you want to see polar bears that's when you need to go um but certainly I would say the effect of you
33:56
know the Arctic seems to have a much more devastating effect uh in terms of the withdrawal of you know the retreat
34:02
of glaciers and stuff so if you want to make sure you see the Arctic while it's still whatever you know maybe that would
34:10
be a priority but nothing beats Antarctica so I would still say irres of that anarctica is is just um
34:18
amazing Bri I'm not sure if your question related to uh to Expedition or
34:24
not but crew members are I mean one of the things things if you're talking about Expedition is you know to get the
34:31
most out of expedition you need to be pretty uh mobile um because you have to
34:37
climb in and out of zodiac which can be bouncing up down you got to climb out of zodiac onto Pebble beaches um so there
34:42
are a few people here that I think are probably a little bit borderline in terms of uh nimbleness and they will
34:48
certainly try and get people on and on and off but it is quite stressful for everybody because you know it's the only
34:53
way on and off is you need to be quite kind of active but certainly on General cruising absolutely they are um angel I
35:01
think I've answered your question um they are kind of similar the Pont Expedition team was very good obviously
35:09
uh I would say the food is actually better on Silver sea than it was on Pont um and obviously it's 100% English
35:16
language although there's a very large Chinese group on here there's 19 people here so they have some Chinese um uh
35:23
interpreters and some Chinese guides as well that that that that kind of come out so um so I I I I I probably prefer
35:34
silver SE I think I prefer this ship um of course I haven't been on the new pan ships like Lam shako which of course
35:42
looks pretty pretty uh phenomenal can the food here is extremely good um so
35:48
certainly on Seaborn it wasn't fantastic versus the classic but here the food is
35:54
fantastic uh really really really good it was you ask the question on on Viking
35:59
remman 547 from Seattle are here um Sally asking about um Hut grutin so Hut
36:09
Gren have a very good reputation for Expedition they are slightly bigger ships so um you know although northe
36:18
passage maybe doesn't affect so much I'm not sure what the rules are up there I know the rules in the Arctic are still about number of people can be on land so
36:24
coming down to Antarctica you get fewer Landings coming down on Hood gr and sitting on some of their ships because
36:29
they are maybe 3 400 people so it depends what ship you're on but certainly they are extremely good um
36:36
have very good reputation in terms of uh the Expedition side Desiree absolutely
36:41
would you consider selling Antartica from Australia to visit the western part of Antarctica there is I I I said this
36:47
would be my last time to Antarctica because it's so incredibly expensive as you mentioned earlier um but there I
36:53
would love to do that part so obviously what you do in this as I showed you is most of these you're doing the peninsula
36:58
so you're only seeing the very top part of Antarctica there is an itinery which is actually done by ponant but it's just
37:05
crazy expensive so I would I just could never justify it I didn't think which goes all the way from mire all the way
37:11
down Antarctica all the way around Antarctica so does does some of the southern part then actually ends up in
37:17
hobot there's another one I saw which goes from Cape Town and does it so I would love to see that part particular
37:22
also because you get to see emperor penguins which you don't see in this sort of more nor northern part of of the
37:29
world so let's have a quick look um I
37:35
will come back and answer the non- Expedition questions as as as much as I can what's the best way to save money
37:42
from an Antarctica Cruise which is just buying last minute time of year the cruise best budget line Etc uh it's
37:48
extremely difficult to do Antica um inexpensively I'm actually going to work
37:55
on uh in conjunction with um some specialists in the area to in my video
38:02
which I will do around how the most costeffective ways of doing an so I don't know all the ins and outs at the
38:08
moment so I will in the video have the answer to that um obviously the cheapest way of doing it is the sale buy as if
38:15
you were here earlier where I spoke about it so some of the classic lines come down here but there's no Landings but you just get to see a bit of it um
38:22
but to really do antic you want to do Landing as you possibly can that is the most budget way of doing it but
38:28
you you're not going to get The Landings um then um but I will spend some time working with uh you know some of the
38:35
Polar experts to kind of get a sense of how you can do a true Expedition Cruise
38:41
uh in anarctica and what's the cheapest way of doing that in terms of timing the most expensive time is November December
38:48
and the budget the more the less expensive in relative terms times the very beginning and the very end of the
38:55
season um so I will answer that more in in in in the in in the video um I have
39:02
never done the polar plunge and I never intend to do the Polar Plunge I don't see any any reason to jump into freezing
39:10
cold water um so maybe that was just the lack of venturous adventurousness of me
39:16
um I believe they're going to do the Polar Plunge on this I'll be interested to see what percentage of people do when
39:21
I was on um Pont didn't do it at all actually uh when I was on Haag Lloyd in
39:27
Greenland Canadian Arctic at least half the ship did it when I did the first silver sea Antarctica maybe 60 70% of
39:34
the ship did it I just don't see any reason Mark who came with me on the
39:39
first one he was up for it he did it he was absolutely uh absolutely um doing
39:45
that um as someone did comment that we are landing as you heard uh in Deception
39:51
Island but we're actually Landing uh on the outside of deception so Deception Island is uh it's a Caldera it's a vol
39:59
volcano and inside might a picture of it here sort of a picture of it here we'll
40:05
see it um but in there is where they they used to have all whing Factory
40:12
ships in here because you basically hid you could hide from all the wind and the weather um and I've been through here
40:18
before it's a very narrow thing and gone inside Deception Island both with Pont and with silver sea last time but on the
40:26
outside here it's normally to exposed and the weather's too rough so if you were here you there's this massive
40:31
Colony 100,000 plus penguin Colony here um and because the weather's so calm
40:37
we're doing on the outside um a lot of the expedition to beside themselves with excitement because they've never landed
40:43
here Captain what what the Expedition leader to us this the captain is definitely coming out because he's so
40:49
excited to do so that's quite unusual that's the important thing like you on Expedition you have no idea what you're
40:54
going to do and not do that wasn't quite later to the to the um to the uh to the
41:01
question on uh po plunge um let's have a quick look and then I will I will Zoom
41:09
back um and see if there's any
41:14
non uh okay so I think I've asked the so Kathy asked the question about the most
41:19
reasonable way Expedition cruises um as solo is um both with Pont my first
41:26
obviously I did solo uh um low solar supplements so you'll find pretty much all them pant silver
41:32
sea even Seaborn does them if you sign up for the email newsletters watch out for the solo deals um silver has a
41:40
specific solo tab um they tend to be the beginning and the end of the season um
41:46
where you get those get those solo deals um so for example I went to the Kimberly
41:52
on Seaborn and I think it was a 15% maybe 20% solar supplements that is that
41:57
is definitely definitely kind of the way the way to the way to go so let's let me
42:05
um uh so don don ask the question so you need to really look so what luxury
42:10
cruise lines have land ex so you basically need to look for specifically Expedition so Seaborn has them silvery
42:18
has them pant uh has them um then so
42:23
those are kind of the the known kind of names as it were that you you you will probably and then Viking as well but um
42:31
those are land excursions so uh you know celebrity do not have Landings region do
42:36
not have Landings Oceana do not have Landings princess do not have uh Landings so um th you know so those
42:44
that's where you need to kind of really really focus if you want to do The Landings so let me go back and and do a
42:51
pick up some of the other questions so I do answer some of the other questions before we need to wrap up there was a
42:59
question around Japan right at the beginning so I just want to make sure that I haven't lost the Japan question
43:07
and I will answer the other question so let's have a look temperatures out of white Asia of Miss Japan question I
43:13
think the question was around is it better a cruise or or um a landbased so
43:20
someone who knows Japan really well I was actually messaging them back they argue the best way to do it is landbased
43:26
uh and to use the the the bullet train the shinen train I really liked as a first time to Japan doing the cruise
43:33
because although Japan's become much better and easier to do as a as a
43:38
tourist um but I love I I think it's a really good way of getting a sense of Japan doing a cruise so I'm probably a
43:44
little bit biased there although she who knows Japan really well spends a lot of time in Japan She would argue that
43:49
you're going much more in-depth by kind of doing a landbased um so it's really if you're a very confident traveler um
43:56
you know landbased is probably uh you you know probably um way to go I just
44:03
found the cruise for a first time induction uh getting was definitely
44:09
definitely the way to go uh let's have a look was a whole bunch of questions
44:15
coming here um so let's have a look Navy Mia
44:23
going on nor Norwegian Cruise line through the pan Canal 26 days for cards have you ever a problem with Ford or lo
44:29
I have never had a problem um know touchwood with credit cards no um uh and
44:35
I think so I I haven't had I haven't had the problem I mean the good news is if you do have a problem most credit cards
44:42
will cover you so um you know if it's fraud with a credit card U so so that's
44:50
that's the plus but I I haven't answering your specific question Megan ask the question how do you find the best reposition cruises do you go
44:56
through your travel AG Sarah will go direct I book everything that I do through Sarah uh through my travel
45:01
agents um I I found um you know if you want to find a reposition cruises you
45:07
know I would often look at a site like vacations to go it's quite good you can search see what's available bear in mind the reposition cruises are really
45:14
happening March April uh October November time so if you if you search
45:19
that's when they go basically um because they're shifting between the Caribbean and Alaska Caribbean and Europe Europe
45:27
Caribbean Europe Asia what whatever so that's but I would actually book it through through through the tra through
45:33
SB but if you're kind of just looking for reposition cruises as side like Vacations To Go they will have a
45:39
repositioning uh section for example uh so you can see your kind of options
45:44
because you know otherwise you're plowing through uh you know sign by sign by sign uh rain life is do you party on
45:52
the ship know so in reality you know Exposition cruising is very TI I mean
45:57
I'm actually really really tired and we still have like seven days to go because um you know you we're up this morning at
46:04
6 you know the first announcement was at 600 the first group out at 6:30 um you know and you're often hiking uh out and
46:11
about you're climbing in and out on Zodiacs so you're going to talk so there in terms of uh there is some evening
46:19
stuff they have an entertainment person and every night she will do a quiz like
46:24
a uh you know some sort of game show like think Bingo she also some will sing
46:29
there's a Pianist perform music they did have a DJ night which I think talking to
46:34
someone who went there was maybe 20 people out of the 183 went and they they for like 15 minutes so there's not a lot
46:40
of parting going on there is a couple of younger people sound like in their 20s I
46:46
guess early 30s I believe they're up a bit later and about because they can when you're that age as I remember you
46:52
could s night and still carry on but it is pretty tiring um you know because you're lots of exercise uh you talks
47:01
there's lots to absorb stuff going on you don't want to miss out on anything um so there's not a lot of kind of
47:08
activity uh Teresa how do you stay healthy not only doing with sea synness with other viruses such nor ofus in such
47:15
close contact with so many others uh I guess the Reason by following kind of
47:20
all the the the rules so um I'm obsessed with washing my hands and thing in and
47:28
particularly anarctica you know the Antarctica is the driest continent Believe It or Not uh it's the windiest
47:34
but it's also the driest continent and you get incredibly dry skin so that combined with washing my hands um I get
47:40
almost like sore hands from washing so I'm slightly obsessed with washing hands uh you know more important than than the
47:47
gel um you know I I don't NE hang out in big crowd so I'm not a big party person
47:54
as as such but so I'm just kind of very d because the thing that I try obviously want toid is norovirus catching cold and
48:01
stuff but I'm mostly obsessed with the handwashing thing um then I I do eat
48:08
healthily when I'm on a ship um and exercise a lot and that's really what I
48:13
do but it's the handwashing thing the Norovirus thing most obsessed with because obviously if it's co it's more
48:20
challenging I I guess to to know uh car car Carlo question we love your channel
48:27
thank you very much will you be on queenan's first world Cruise in J no I I will not be on queenan's first world
48:33
cruise I don't have any world Cruise planned I I sort of I I do want to do a world cruise but I've sort of shifted a
48:39
little bit more into the concept of pacing things together so for example
48:45
Mark's talking if Mark does stop working in 26 we're sort of looking at pacing sections of the world together so
48:50
effectively we're combining things so you know doing a trip which goes from Sydney to Papa which you've booked then
48:56
then actually heading up to the US then we're doing the Pano Canal thing then heading across to Australia and S down
49:03
to South America and stuff like that so probably piecing around so no not uh it's quite nice itinerary that they're
49:09
that they're doing um gregory no don't worry about asking don't ask don't worry about asking uh don't worry asking about
49:17
I love getting questions it's really helpful in terms of that so I was I was telling off for asking loads of questions ask as many questions as you
49:23
want um but don't worry about having to repeat them because normally I do see them as long as word question I don't I
49:30
tend not to miss it uh franois Crossing from New York on the
49:36
Queen Mary 2 in December how do people dress during the daytime given us December are especially restaurants
49:42
worth extra so people will dress in jeans you know a jumper if they're heading outside you know so it's pretty
49:48
casual and you can wear shorts if you want to although most people won't in December so you'll find a lot of genes
49:55
kind of that kind of stuff on t-shirts and Zippy tops and uh jumpers kind of
50:00
thing um obviously codes and stuff to head outside but very casual during the
50:06
day there's no formal dress code during the day um I don't know so on Queen mury
50:11
2 they only have The Veranda oh no they don't they have up in
50:17
the Leo or King's Court they do those um different themed evenings Indian Etc
50:23
personally I don't think they're worth it because I think the food is pretty good um but if you want something different um but uh I've never gone I've
50:31
gone to The Veranda partly because with status we get um you get a free lunch in the veranda and I always think well I
50:38
could have just in the main Diner room The Veranda you're gonna get steaks and burgers and stuff personally I don't I know some people really do do like them
50:45
uh yes so is just adding uh the Seaborn uh yes
50:51
so it's very interesting that you're right Carnival carnal it's very interesting though to your point Carnival Corporation have a very small
50:58
order book They're basically ordering ships for Carnival uh
51:04
and was it Costa they but for they don't have any more H America ships lined up
51:09
they don't have any more Seaborn ships lined up um so they have very small order book compared to some of the some
51:14
of the other lines and you're right certainly for Seaborn they don't I lots of rumors about what's going to happen with their expedition ship so so very
51:21
interesting you did ask question as well which I might have missed or maybe I'm coming to You' asked about 20 six
51:26
itineries and I think you're right you since I saw your question um you
51:32
asking about have I found 26 itineries not that inspiring so I haven't spent a
51:37
lot of time there's a few I've got a few chips sorted in 26 which I quite like this in South America I'm doing a uh New
51:44
York all the way through Canada Greenland ending up in Iceland so I'm
51:50
finding some of those kind of interesting ones but I think you're right the problem they've got as their plan is I think they've got to assume
51:55
that uh you know the Ukraine situation is going to be dragging on the whole Red
52:01
Sea thing so moving ships around also there's a huge demand in the Caribbean
52:06
and a lot of ships have been pushed back into the Caribbean a lot of demand in Alaska a lot of demand in the Mediterranean and so they're pushing a
52:13
lot of that stuff there because there's a lot of focus on new to cruise so I think that's what's happening is there's
52:18
a lot of new for a lot of people those are new interesting tinies and they're selling incredibly well so I suspect
52:24
that that is that is that is why um uh how do you get a solo deal so I
52:30
think I've answered the solo deal oh okay so could you elaborate on the uh
52:37
antartic season early mid and late so basically the antartic season is very short it starts uh basically in November
52:46
you know end of October and it really ends end of February now some of them push it into March but um so that's the
52:53
season so the the beginning the shoulder season is sort of November is is uh
52:59
coming in November is is high risk in some degrees because ships won't really
53:04
know until they've got toar what the Ice is like um so there's a lot of ice this year last year was less ice so they have
53:11
to work around the ice and and adapt to that so it's more risky certainly the great thing about coming in early in the
53:18
season is it's the end of winter so people haven't been you know no one else has been here so a lot of the sites and
53:24
you might have heard if you here for the announcement there's a lot of snow for example here um you know um so the
53:29
midseason which is the peak season which is also the warmest season which is the middle of summer down here which is November December also because it's the
53:35
holiday period so a lot of people want to come down then once you H late a little bit later it's quite good for
53:41
Wales it's actually becoming less good for wildlife because what happens is um
53:46
the wildlife basically come on now it's s the breeding season so for example the Penguins a lot of them are nesting the
53:54
eggs so we don't see any chicks once you get a little bit later towards that November December time you're going to see the little chicks coming out the
54:00
whales are down here much more it's very good feeding time so I came late late in the season in February we we saw some
54:06
penguins not huge amount of penguins we saw a lot of whales so it sort of also varies there's actually a really good um
54:12
diagram which and I'll incorporate this more into the video I make around this which um polar roots in the UK did which
54:19
did a really good little tabulation showing uh you know based on Wildlife uh
54:24
how it's spread out around that but one of the risks you have going late in the season is after the breeding season a
54:30
lot of the you know the the elephant seals and all the stuff they basically heading back into the water and they're
54:36
leaving land as well so you need to play around a a little bit a little bit with that um Mitsy good so you're getting a
54:44
good sense of that um if you want to know even more I'll do a little plug here on on my Patron I'm doing daily
54:50
updates with everything and then I'm also doing a vlog which I'm working on uh which I will be releasing quite soon
54:55
after the trip which I'm focusing only on the the actual um Expedition part of
55:01
it so the outings so so that will um that will be there so lots of people
55:07
saying oh good I'm glad around the um the people are enjoying the announcement I thought it was a little bit long so um
55:13
oh okay so scenic um don't know the Boer boys have a very strong view on Scenic
55:18
Haven been on it recently who you might have seen they might have answered a little bit later I'm guessing um so uh I
55:25
did look at originally at Scenic they get very very very mixed reviews so I Shi away from it because you know you're
55:31
spending so much money I don't want to spend any money on uh you know something that not so good um and certainly recent
55:37
experience of people being on seen including the boa boys was not uh not positive at all um so Anthony have you
55:46
ever done an exposition on Lim no I haven't it is one I would like to try because obviously they have the partnership with national uh
55:53
Geographic um Steve asking me uh how how I how I say
55:59
so slim so basically um a lot of exercise and I do control what I'm eating I one of advantages that I have
56:06
or disadvantages I know the right word is because I cruise a lot um I found that I I i' I less feel I need to try
56:14
everything and I kind of pace myself a I can Pace myself a bit more if when I was cruising less I felt less that because I
56:21
wanted to kind of experience everything so so I but I do tend to eat quite healthy I do a lot of exercise when I'm
56:26
board so I will do like even on this even though we've got very active excursions lot of hiking and stuff um
56:32
you know I will do you know I'm obsessed with palatin you don't have palatin bikes in here but I do through the app I
56:38
do a palatin class two days on one days off so I'll will do exercise I will always use stairs as I said I eat fairly
56:44
healthy I don't drink alcohol so that probably helps so not drinking cocktails and adding all those kind of carries on but I will have things like salad for
56:50
lunch and stuff and so dinner I will tend to probably maybe have more and I only have desserts if it's something
56:56
that very like so um if it's chocolate I will have it so I don't tend to have a
57:01
lot of desserts for example so it's probably that's kind of managing that and certainly being very active so when
57:06
I'm on a classic cruise I will tend to choose more active excursions if I possibly can waren asking have I done
57:12
the Northwest Passage I haven't I did look at it once I ended up doing Greenland and the Canadian Arctic but
57:19
certainly um you know I would I would look at a lot of people asking about Scenic hopefully I've answered that um
57:26
the best the best time for uh Focus for taking pictures of penguins I've got
57:31
some amazing pictures of penguins um because penguins are just adorable but you're right so the the chicks are much
57:37
later uh in in the season um so it depends what you want to do the great thing at the moment you've got um I've
57:43
got great pictures of fledging so the the slightly older teenage penguins are
57:48
now fledging they're tur from that brown feathers into their their stuff underneath so I've got some incredible pictures particularly from sorc plane of
57:54
the King Penguins so I think you can get great pictures any any of any of the time uh rarely uh simple answer
58:03
absolutely 100% if you possibly can afford it budget-wise and TimeWise sth
58:09
South Georgia is an absolute must the scale of wildlife you see the diversity of wildlife you see absolutely
58:16
absolutely must so don't I probably didn't say that I'm on Silver Endeavor people have answered that uh so let's
58:24
have a look
58:30
um why am I not upside down I think I've answered the silver SE versus other lines already I've answered the food
58:36
question which is good uh okay Warren saying he's asked to move away so that's
58:43
relation question that's that's an Point actually I hadn't really thought of hadn't really thought of that one um
58:48
which is interesting here we are I knew Boer boys would uh come in very uh
58:53
clearly on the views on Scenic so thanks very much for that um they had a really really terrible line and interesting enough um I
58:59
obviously follow the Boer boy experience um but actually other people have contacted me um following up um from
59:06
that experience saying the saying the basic saying exactly the same thing as well so we have churn through an hour
59:12
and go and start thinking about getting ready for my next um Excursion Expedition um which I'm very excited
59:18
about as you heard it's going to be the 100,000 Penguins Colony uh of uh was a
59:24
tomb strap Penguins I need to my notes again I'm going so uh um things happening you have to keep up to speed
59:31
on it so thanks very much um I've managed to answer I think all of the questions I hope I've answered all the questions next week uh there will
59:38
probably not be a live stream but keep an eye out for it because um I'm actually fly I get off this trip on the
59:44
Saturday and I'm flying back on Sunday uh overnight to the UK so um I probably
59:51
won't be able to schedule one on the Saturday because we're flying with the charter flight I don't know what time the flights are and Sunday I will be on
59:57
the plane so there'll probably be you know it will be a week and a bit so two weeks time so thanks so much for joining
1:00:03
um uh really appreciate it um there's going to be a little Montage at the end of some shots so far so if you want to
1:00:09
stay and see a couple of shots of penguins and things but thanks so much for joining me um and have a great rest
1:00:14
of the weekend and I'm going to go and have a great time looking at
1:00:23
[Music]
1:00:33
[Music] [Applause]
1:00:40
[Music]
1:00:49
[Music]
1:00:56
he
#Events & Listings
#Specialty Travel
#Tourist Destinations