Customer Reviews

• Kwan

  · September 2nd, 2024
  First of all, when we were dropped off at Longyearbyen, there were no instructions for us as to where and what we should see and do. We were just told to meet at 4 PM to go to the ship. The crew leader did not show us any slides for the anticipated hikes so it was difficult to make decisions as to which ones were suitable. The crew on land were not as informative about what we were seeing. It would have been nice to do the hikes in a leisurely manner so we could enjoy them. The supporting crew was excellent, they remembered our names. Paz was such a caring and excellent leader, a very valuable person on the ship and she worked tirelessly to make us feel at home. I was in the kayaking team. Although the kayak master is capable and stated that we should work as a team but he did not do so. There were 8 of us, all German-speaking except for me and my partner who is Italian. 90% of the time he spoke German and I reminded him many times to translate into English for us and he kept on forgetting. For safety reasons, he should speak English especially when he gave instructions on what to avoid, etc. For the amount of money I paid ($655), I felt like I was excluded from enjoying the kayaking experience. When he handed our certificates and toasted us with champagne, everyone then settled down and all the Germans chit-chatted in German leaving us feeling excluded. My Italian partner and thought they were very rude and left. That was a low point in the cruise. I was disappointed that we saw very few wildlife, one blue whale, a few muskoxen from a distance, polar bears from a very long distance. The crew leader announced that there was a group of berluga and all of us rushed off and none saw anything. There was no further announcement as to what happened to them. It felt like a joke. When we landed at Longyearbyen, many of us signed up for a city tour at $50 each for an hour and a half of tour. We only made two stops, one at the seed vault and one at a polar bear sign to take pictures. The tour guide said she could not stop at the church because of a lack of time. I don't think it was worth the money. Moreover, many of the people on the bus only understood Chinese and there was no translation for them, they were quite angry and upset. This needs to be changed and the price is steep for such a poor tour. All in all, it was an okay tour.
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