Luxury Cruise Bible

Expedition Spitsbergen on the Prince Albert II

Submitted by: Leslie from New Mexico

Cruise Details

• Cruise line: Silversea
• Ship: Prince Albert II
• Date of sailing: 6/17/2009
• Number of nights: 7
• Embarkation point: Longyearabyen, Norway
• Debarkation point: Longyearabyen, Norway
• Ports of call: Cruising the Svalbard archipelago
• Stateroom category: Silver Suite
• Stateroom number: 504
• How did you book your cruise? Traditional travel agent
• Travel agent: Brown & Keene
• How many times have you sailed with this line? 1
• What other cruise lines have you sailed? Regent, Seabourn, Hapag-Lloyd
• What is your favorite cruise line? Regent

Ratings

• Overall Rating 5
• Ship Condition 5
• Public Rooms 4
• Stateroom 4
• Food & Wine 4
• Spa, Gym, and Salon 3
• Entertainment 3
• Enrichment Program 5
• Internet & Phone Service n/r
• Excursions 5
• Service 5
• Value 5

Planning

We decided to take this cruise in April, only six weeks before departure. At the time only a few of the larger suites were available, but our TA was able to get us “Vista” guarantee, locking in a reasonable rate. While she held space we searched for flights to Oslo and then on to Longyearbyen. The good news was that there were bargain business fares available to Oslo on a number of airlines, but the bad news was that the flights into/out of Longyearbyen on the day of embarkation and disembarkation were sold out, necessitating a pre and a post overnight in Longyearbyen. We initially couldn’t find space at either of the two hotels the night before the cruise. Fortunately a fax to the Spitsbergen Hotel resulted in a reservation. My advice to anyone planning to take a cruise to or from Longyearbyen is to get your air early; there are not many flights per week and there is not a lot to do there.

Pre Cruise

We opted to spend two nights in Oslo on the way in; we had been there several years ago for part of the day during a cruise and enjoyed the city. Logistics are remarkably easy upon arrival. The train from the airport terminal departs every 10 minutes; after 20 minutes you are in central Oslo. You simply swipe your credit card at the station entrance and you are on your way. We stayed at the Thon Opera Hotel, a stone’s throw away from the station. Our room overlooked the stunning contemporary opera house and the Oslo fjord. We had beautiful, sunny weather and enjoyed walking around the waterfront and taking the ferry over to Bygdøy to visit the Viking Ship and Norwegian Folk Museums.

The day before the cruise began we flew from Oslo to Longyearbyen. A large bus meets the flight and transports everyone to their hotels for 50 NOK, about $7.50 pp. We enjoyed our stay at the Spitsbergen Hotel; it was comfortable, albeit not fancy, with a welcoming staff, good food (including afternoon waffle snacks), and had plenty of common rooms to lounge or play cards in, plus free Internet. In Spitsbergen tradition, everyone takes off their shoes at the door and walks around in socks or slippers. We met several of our fellow travelers who were also staying there. The walk into town took about 10 minutes. We enjoyed a pizza dinner at Kroa, which all the locals recommend as the best restaurant in town.

Embarkation

We finally received our cabin assignment ten days before embarkation and were thrilled to have been upgraded to a Silver Suite with twice the space of a Vista suite, two French balconies, a butler, and free laundry. Check-in began with a swine flu questionnaire and temperature check, followed by a quick passport surrender, a welcome Campari, and photo in the Panorama Lounge and then we were escorted to our cabin for a briefing by our butler. The ship was almost full with 114 passengers. It was a bi-lingual sailing; 65 percent German speaking (including a large group of Austrians) vs. 35 percent English-speaking passengers.

After unpacking we had a bi-lingual lifeboat drill with introduction to the expedition staff plus a full VERBAL roll call of passengers and then the English speakers were sent to the Observation lounge for the zodiac safety briefing and a bit of an overview on what to expect in the next few days, followed by a trip to deck 3 to try on our rubber boots.

Silversea was a bit cryptic on the matter of the rubber boots, listing them as items that you need to pack while at the same time saying that a selection of standard sizes would be available on board. Well, they had LOTS of boots; even after distributing boots to those who needed them they still had a large supply. They provide an expedition parka you can keep plus a pair of 10×50 field binoculars for your personal use. Walking sticks were available to borrow for landings.

Ship and Cabins

The PAII is an expedition ship with an ice-strengthened hull. Silversea gutted the ship, increased the cabin size, and rebuilt the ship to fit in with its fleet of small luxury ships. We really enjoyed the ship—it is well laid out and nicely decorated. Reception, boot room, expedition leader’s office, and gangway are on deck 3.The light, airy restaurant is light is on deck 4 along with a small exercise room, small beauty salon, and a self-service laundry. There is a unisex sauna and steam shower room on deck 6 with one massage room across the hall. There are two hot tubs on deck; no pool. There are two lounges—the Panorama Lounge on deck 5 aft, where the main bar is located, and the Observation Lounge on deck 6 forward. There is a large theater on deck 6 for lectures, briefings etc. The library/Internet room, stocked with plenty of nature books, is on deck 5. (Given our position there was only rare Internet connection.)

There are 66 suites ranging from 185 to 675 sq ft. All the suites have marble bathrooms, flat screen TV’s, Wi-Fi access, safes, and stocked mini-bars. Our Silver Suite was lovely. At 460 sq. ft. it was the size of two regular cabins with a sitting room, spacious bath, and enormous closet (not just a walk-in, but a walk-through closet.) The bedroom and living area were divided by a sliding door, which I thought diminished the feeling of openness and size, but which we appreciated if one of us got up earlier than the other. The brown marble bathroom had a tub and separate shower, complete with a rain showerhead, a large elevated counter vessel sink, and pale green accent pieces. The bed was very comfortable and the curtains adequately screened out the 24-hour daylight.

We toured all the cabins before we disembarked; the porthole cabins, located in the front of the ship on deck 3, were “cozy” as expected at 185 sq ft. Until you get into the larger suites the bathrooms are all the same with combo bathtub and shower. The Vista, View, and Veranda suites are virtually the same, with window size being the only difference; some have two chairs, some have a loveseat couch, which converts into a bed. The French balcony cuts a bit off the width of the Veranda suites but they looked the same size as View and Vista. The Owners, Grand, and Medallion Suites are on Deck 7. I liked the layout of the Medallion Suite (350 sq ft.), but felt that the Owners (626 sq. ft.) and Grand (675 sq. ft.) suites were too compartmentalized and did not feel at all spacious.

Food

The food was very good with lots of variety. Breakfast and lunch were buffets, although they had an extensive menu you could order from for breakfast. They served tea at 4 pm and served tapas in the Panorama lounge over cocktails. At dinner the menu featured three appetizers, three “intermezzos”, and three or four mains followed by a few desserts, including a lower fat option, plus cheese cart and ice cream. They liked to offer “trilogies” of things as one of the appetizers; one night it was duck done three ways, one night it was artichokes. Wines were so-so; a mix of South African (Footprint), California (Beringer chardonnay, Kendall Jackson sauvignon blanc), Australian, and French whites; nothing terribly interesting offered for the daily pours, but you could always get a chardonnay (can’t report on the reds.).

Staff and Service

Overall I would give high ratings to all of the ship’s staff; the dining room and bar staff were friendly, efficient, and remembered your preferences. They could have used a few more housekeepers as frequently our room was not made up until well after the morning’s excursion. Our Indian butler was quite charming although a bit forgetful at times.

Likewise, kudos to the expedition staff. Our main lecturers/interpreters were Robin (marine biologist) from the United States and Juan Carlos (geologist) from Columbia. Both were excellent with a high level of both enthusiasm and interpersonal skills. Conrad, the expedition leader (S. African) and Daniel, the assistant expedition leader (Latvia) were organized and good at communicating what was going to happen and when. The other expedition staff included Stefan, a geologist for the German speakers, who also briefed us a bit and translated the captain’s announcements into German, who had a great dry sense of humor (as did the captain); Christian, an anthropologist/historian, currently living in Easter Island; Kristine the staff assistant and left-handed zodiac driver from Belgium who would zip up your pockets as you left the side gate; Monika, botanist, mainly for the Germans, two gun-toting “bear guys”; and a few more zodiac drivers. Camille, the photographer, made a DVD of stills and video of the expedition, available for $150. She also did some camera consulting and photo walks on shore with passengers. The expedition staff was accessible for the duration—they conducted the briefings and popped into the bar during cocktail time and had meals with the passengers as well as talked during the excursions and landings.

Itinerary and Excursions Overview

Our cruise spent the week off the coast of Spitsbergen, north of the Arctic Circle, and venturing into a number of fjords. We reached 80°11.5’N, 011°59.5’E while crunching through pack ice. Excursions were all included and consisted of zodiac cruises and wet landings ashore. The passengers were divided into four groups that rotated into the zodiacs. Since our cruise was bi-lingual, two of the groups were German speaking, two English. Every evening we gathered in the Observation Lounge for a recap of what we’d seen, a daily overview of marine animals, birds, geology, and other pertinent topics and an overview of what was planned for the following day.

We were really fortunate with the weather—we had many sunny days and mostly calm seas. The temperature range was between 28° and 32°. We had only one windy/choppy day and no rain. The scenery was spectacular—there are beautiful fjords, glaciers, icebergs, mountains, and just gorgeous views all the time. The history is also quite interesting. It is unimaginable how the whalers survived in some of the areas they set up their camps.

We were not that fortunate in the wildlife viewing department, seeing a polar bear on only one day, walruses on another, plus a few seals, whales, and reindeer along with a wide variety of seabirds. To put the likelihood of seeing polar bears in perspective, the islands of the Svalbard archipelago cover almost 24,000 square miles of which 60 percent is covered by glaciation. The coastline of the main islands is around 4,000 miles long; with the Spitsbergen coastline covering around 2,500 miles. Feedback from staff was that as the summer progresses and the ice melts, the ship can gain access to more areas and fjords the wildlife sightings increase; this has proven to be the case for the two cruises following ours.

View expedition journals for our Silversea Prince Albert Arctic cruise.

Disembarkation

We arrived back in Longyearbyen after dinner the night before we departed; all the paperwork was done then so the morning’s disembarkation was smooth. We shared a cab upon disembarking back to the Spitsbergen Hotel for another overnight. Members of the expedition staff personally escorted us to the cab and hugged us goodbye. Those who were flying out that afternoon had the option to spend time in town and then be transferred to the airport. While Spitsbergen is managed by Norway, the mainland is considered your point of international entry, so upon departure you must clear customs and immigration in Tromso, re-check your luggage, and then re-board the flight onwards to Oslo.

For More Information…

…talk with your travel, call Silversea at (800) 722-9955, or visit the Silversea website.