My friend and I ventured south of the Antarctic Circle aboard the Hebridean Sky with Polar Latitudes. We hiked Tierra del Fuego and explored the city of Ushuaia before we set off on the Drake Passage. While in Antarctica, we explored the continent via zodiac, history lessons on every landing and "kiss the fish ceremonies after we crossed the Drake Passage.
Antarctica, the big white continent at the end of the world. Likely, the majority of travelers final continent. Once you have found that perfect ship and perfect itinerary with dates that fall nicely in line with your travel window, everything starts falling into place. Until your travel adviser says, “Okay, we will want to plan at least two days before embarkation for your arrival in Ushuaia.” But wait! This cruise was perfect and the flights line up great… why do I need additional days? My trip to the deep South really reinforced for me these crucial days in ensuring that anyone heading to Antarctica actually makes it to embarkation day stress-free.
The morning of our departure flights out of Montana started off like any other unsuspecting travel day: print boarding passes, go through the tiny regional airport security line, locate your gate and wait for the mad rush of all passengers to line up at the boarding door before their groups are called. But this day was different. We made it to our gate and sat down as usual, giddy about the adventure ahead and ready to get moving. But as the hours went by and no gate attendant arrived, the whole terminal started getting antsy. Questions were being asked and frustrations were erupting. Bad news was looming, I could tell. We were finally updated that due to high winds in North Dakota our plane was delayed and we would be late out of town. When I say late, I mean 4 hours after our scheduled departure to fly to Dallas to connect with our overnight flight to Buenos Aires. There was nothing else we could do but wait and hope the plane arrived in time for us to connect.
I’ll fast forward here, we did not make it as scheduled. We arrived in Dallas five minutes after our connecting flight gate closed and we watched our plane depart out the terminal window without us on it. Not a pretty picture. We were told our next flight out would be 24 hours later and that due to delays from weather, we would need to find our own hotel for the night oh and also, we don’t get our luggage back. Now, I can roll with delays and changes and I had built in an extra day in Buenos Aires in the off chance this might happen, but spending a night in a Dallas airport hotel room with no change of clothes and my colleague was definitely not the night of tango dancing and eating empanadas in the most beautiful city in the world that I had planned.
The following day, we waited out our time in the airport combing through every corner. We tried new perfumes, found a yoga corner to stretch in and napped for hours in the few lounge chairs we could find that reclined. Our flight the next evening flew as scheduled and we arrived in Buenos Aires a day late - the same day we would be connecting to Ushuaia to get to our cruise. Our arrival time gave us the bare minimum amount of time needed to transfer from Ezeiza to Newbury (the domestic airport) and check-in for our next leg at a running pace. The rest of the flights went off without a hitch and still gave us one day in Ushuaia to relax and recover from jet lag before embarking on our trip aboard the Hebridean Sky.
My takeaway from this experience was the reality that any flight leg in this age of travel can be delayed, cancelled, rescheduled etc completely out of your control - regardless of where you are going or how important it is that you get there on time - it even happens to your travel planners. The last thing you want (and we want for you) is for you to miss your embarkation because there is no catching up to a ship that is mid-Drake Passage.
Jane was my AE agent for the 2 months of helping me decide that this will be the most amazing trip we will ever experience in our lifetime and a memorable way to celebrate our 40th!
I was also able to work with Mike from Quark who was also very helpful.
Once I had decided to go ahead with my booking Kevin took over to assist Jane while on vacation.
Kevin was able to tweak the quote even more
and truly sealed the deal! He was patient with receiving my full payment as it took time to “round up that much cash” Were booking a delux balcony and there’s no looking back
I feel confident and very satisfied that I have made the best decision choosing Quark Expeditions and look forward to a top notch experience aboard the Ultramarine.
Both Jane and Kevin are sincere, professional and courteous. They met all of our needs
to ensure my process was stress free.
I’m looking forward to all our daily excursions then enjoying a Sauna and my own cold plunge in the tub! My back up plan
to the “Antarctic Plunge”
I look forward to getting to know and dealing with Mary Rose for all the final details that will make our trip complete. Great company!
Sandy with a “y”
4 months ago
Erin was great to work with! Very quick with her replies and provided all the information I needed, no matter how many times I changed my request! This was my first time ever planning a trip like this and it couldn't have gone better.
Chris
5 months ago
Very well organiced.
Great communication
Easy to handle website for required docs to file .
Pleasant Experience
Nancy Kaierle
5 months ago
Very well ececuted. Hily recomended. Great experiance
Nancy Kaierle
6 months ago
The entire experience was great. Erin really knows her stuff and provided me with a lot of great insight and advice.