![]() It was clearly obvious by the cruise mid-point the expedition staff were inexperienced and well out of their depth when it came to customer service and remote expedition cruising. This resulted in my being berated by the guide for making a complaint. The expedition leader was approached on numerous occasions by myself regarding the behaviour of this guide and his homophobic comments. One older expedition guide regularly yelled and berated passengers for no apparent reason. I and fellow passengers were made to feel like we were an inconvenience to the expedition staff. The expedition staff were condescending to the point of often being outrightly rude. The decks were often closed during the voyage.Īs for these so called lectures, they were essentially Wikipedia-sourced and when those were completed we were subjected to “lectures” of photos and expedition staff stories of “this is what I did last summer.” Essentially if you did not wish to participate in the many lectures you had nowhere else but your cabin to go to. Therefore lectures were held in the bar area, the only other public space on the ship. ![]() It was rarely used as the equipment for lectures were not of a good standard and passengers generally became nauseated in the room. The lecture room onboard was on one of the lower levels of the ship at the bow. The new small purpose built cruise ships do this with luxury, comfort, and much better accessibility. It is no longer the leader in its field of polar expeditions. The Ortelius is an outdated supply ship from Russia. This is however where the positives of this trip and company end. As were the seamen who handled our zodiacs for shore excursions. ![]() The Hotel and food and beverage staff were incredible, all hailed from the Philippine’s, they were forever smiling and attentive to all our needs in some very trying weather conditions. So I was fortunate enough to tick off my final continent. I was able to set foot on the Antarctic continent on one occasion on this trip. Unfortunately you cannot do anything about several severe weather fronts and the repercussions this has on an expedition cruise. ![]() Our cruise to the Falklands, South Georgia and the Antarctic was plagued by extreme weather. Review of Oceanwide Expeditions and Antarctic cruise on the Ortelius October 2022. * Photo: © Monica Salmang for Oceanwide Expeditions Ortelius Antarctica Review An Ortelius twin porthole cabin on deck 4. ![]()
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