Sue Rogers

United Kingdom

Customer
Rating

8

Customer Rating On return from their adventure we ask customers: “On a scale of 0-10, with 10 being the highest, how likely is it that you would recommend Swoop to a friend or colleague?”

Sue Rogers' Trip Date:

29th Nov - 29th Dec 2018

Sue Rogers' Ship:

Akademik Sergey Vavilov

Overall, how was your trip?

See above

In one sentence, what did you think of Antarctica? Did it live up to your expectations?

Great scenery and wildflife, but not enough landings, too long on boat. Felt itinerary was misleading on this- clear on possible changes to itinerary not clear that there may not be many landings at all. We got 2 and 2 zodiac rides. It says 'everyday you will be.....' Was also badly seasick. Boats are not for me..

Would you visit again?

No

How was the service that Swoop provided?

Service by swoop very good in all, but wonder if you could ahev pointed out unreliability of arctic weather a little more- as the ship's operator certainly don't

How likely is it that you would recommend Swoop to a friend?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

8 out of 10

You chose a/an Antarctica & South Georgia Express experience. How was that experience?

MIsleading on number of landings and possible amount of time at sea. Very few landings in Antarctica. Great when we did. More on South Georgia, again really great what we did on shore, but again curtailed due to weather. Took 4 days, to everyone's surprise to sail to the Falklands. It was interminable. Ship was fine. Food ok but very variable -some very odd offerings, some very bland ones and some good meals. Crew and expedition staff great Leadership and overallc ommunciation from the ship's operator poor. Not told about baggage limits on outgoing flight till too late. Communication on board regualr but not well handled, especially when explaining about lack of landings, sea time etc. Really poor on dealing with flight cancellation. Poor people skills by leader at these times- delivering news badly and not expecting folk to get upset. When i was sea sick and missed meals i also missed teh brefings and nobody told me what had been said. for exmaple, the clocks went back and no-one told me -it wasn't on the info posted round the ship either. So i got up much too early and went to breakfast that wasn't for another hour...

If Swoop arranged some of your travel before/after your voyage. How did we do?

N/A Though big problems with final flight arranged by the ship's operator. from Stanley. This was cancelled and the ship's operator were really unhelpful in dealing with all the necessary rearrangement, saying it was not their responsibility. Especially considering we had no wifi unless we went into town and paid and phone calls £2.40 per minute on a mobile. They also gave misleading information about what LATAM would do. It cost me an additional £1500 to rebook all my ongoing flights, much of which will not be recoverable on insurance. i will take legal advice when i return home but my understanding is that it is the legal responsibility is with the contractor, not the supplier. My contractor is Swoop, who, in their turn, have a contract with the ship's operator. The operator's contract was with LATAM.

How were your experiences on the zodiac excursions and shore landings?

Excllent when they happened. just not enough of them! Expedition staff were great.

Do you have any tips or advice for other people planning a trip to Antarctica?

The weather rules - ok. You may not get off the boat that often!

9 people found this review helpful

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