Seeing a polar bear on sea ice!

Great holiday

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We were allowed to do two zodiac cruises on this very long trip. I felt so safe and comfortable that I always brought along two cameras to optimise each outing! Since this was a three week trip though, I would have included more zodiac trips to at least balance out so many town visits as most of us were dying to spend more time in nature looking for animals. Zodiaks allow us to get closer and have lower (better) angles for photography than from the boat so whether you are a photographer or not everyone always comes back to the boat much happier when they see something! If more zodiac stops aren't possible due to scheduling lots of passengers did agree that the outings should not be cut short. We encountered a playful sea lion at the very end of one of our outings (we were told we would be out for an hour and a half) and we were all devastated when they told us we had to get back. We had been out for an hour and a half enjoying the views and the stories our guide shared but when we saw that sea lion we got so excited and everyone in the zodiac wanted to to stay for a while longer...

Michael George was my favourite as a person and a professional! Very professional, warm, open to share and teach, funny and just a wonderful person to have met. The rest of the team was also great and very knowledgeable of course. David had a wonderful combination of knowledge of photography and the land and made his talks extremely engaging. Dan was an excellent teacher and always took the time to explain further and answer questions even after his talks. His sensitivity towards other cultures and his love and admiration towards them was a trait that many passengers took notice of, appreciated and we actually got infected by it in the best way posible. It was lovely to learn from him. Peter and the teams were just wonderful overall!

Our group actually did choose this ship for the second time and very on purpose!! We love the ship and its crew when we went to Antarctica and were very pleased to see familiar faces on this trip starting from Captain Heidi who is absolutely incredible, all the way to the filipino staff who, for personal reasons, made us feel like we were home!! The cabins were great and the food is absolutely a star of the trip!! Chef Gerardo and all the others made the culinary experience such a treat!! It was way too much food but everything was so delicious it was imposible to fight the temptation of trying everything!! We kept trying to convince ourselves to maybe skip a meal every now and then but that never happened!! Even the GF options were just amazing!!

Bring cash and change to Canadian dollars asap as many times you can't pay with a credit card and they will not take US dollars. And careful with what you buy from the locals as some products such as seal skin cannot be brought back home legally and its really sad because its lovely to help locals with their economy but they are not cheap items and its a shame if they're taken away in customs.

I would just ask the team to remind the passengers sooner about all the visas needed for this trip. One person got left behind due to requirements for filipino passport holders and it was so sad that his trip got cancelled because of paperwork... it wasn't Swoops fault of course but insisting on getting the visas from the start and being able to forget about it just before the trip would be very much appreciated.

The feeling of being in such a remote place so few have visited is truly special. As for change, getting to know the Inuit culture so closely has absolutely changed what I thought I knew.

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