Antarctic Peninsula: An Immersive Odyssey (Ocean Nova)

Traveler Reviews

• R

  Raphael

  January 5th, 2023
  2
  I would like to start off by saying that I have no ulterior motive here and I’m leaving my honest review based on my...
  I would like to start off by saying that I have no ulterior motive here and I’m leaving my honest review based on my personal experience. My review is slowly based on Intrepid Travel Antarctica trip as that is the one that I took and therefore it doesn’t apply to Intrepid Travel as a whole (which I read many great reviews about in regards to their land based trips) rather specifically to my experience with Intrepid Travel Antarctica expedition on November 12, 2022. As those of you who may be reading this review know Antarctica is for most myself included a once in a life time experience as it’s really expensive (over $10,000 when you take the flight to Ushuaia Argentina to get to the cruise) I am just an average person who spent years saving up for this once on a life time trip and unfortunately and sadly it was far from that and here is why, but before I get it to the details I would like to start with the positive things. The ship the Ocean Endeavor which Intrepid Travel is chartering and does not own, with my sailing being just the 2nd sailing since they started offering the Antarctica expedition, the ship staff (not the Intrepid staff) was as friendly and kindhearted as one can ever hope for. I have been on many cruises around the world (spent over 100 days at sea between Holland America, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruise lines) and the staff of the Ocean Endeavor was as professional and caring as I’ve ever experienced on any cruise. The food was delicious and the ship was well equipped with everything one can imagine including a gym, sauna and hot tub and lectures that we had onboard and provided by Intrepid Travel was top notch and informative. With that being said, unfortunately, the Intrepid staff did not seem to understand the concept of basic hospitality. I was traveling solo (I’ve traveled to 80 countries by myself and I’m comfortable with doing) and every time I passed by one of the ocean endeavor staff in the hallway none of them of cared to introduce themselves or smile when they passed me in the hallways, they would look at me and just walk by like I didn’t even exist. There was one member of the Intrepid staff her name was Stephi that was the only one from the entire staff that would smile and chat with me when I would see her on the ship. I didn’t feel welcomed and that was really disappointing. They also had to cancel our camping, which is understandable as the weather is unpredictable, and there’s really no way to guarantee it. With that said, I was promised a refund within 2 to 4 weeks and it’s been over five weeks and I still have not received $399. I will end up by saying with what I mentioned prior that this was supposed to be at once in a lifetime opportunity. This was not at least for me and my humble opinion and recommendation is if you are planning a once in a lifetime trip to the seventh continent do as much of research as you can and I suggest do it with a company that owns the ship or at least have spent many seasons in Antarctica, and that breathes and lives Antarctica, not one that is chartering a ship and have no skin in the game. I started to save up again and plan to go back to Antarctica in the years to come, unfortunately, that won’t be in the near future. I hope that your experience would be one to remember and once in a life time as it should be.Show more
  Traveled in November 2022
  

  Reply from: Intrepid Travel

  Dear Raphael, thank you for leaving candid feedback on our Best of Antarctica trip. We are grateful for the level of detail you have provided, as it highlights key areas where we can improve, notably, our hospitality. It is disappointing to hear that you didn't feel welcomed, this is certainly not how we want our customers to be feeling onboard with us. We apologise that you felt his way and we will certainly work towards improvements with our team. We have located your booking details and our Customer Care team will be getting in touch with you to address your feedback further. In addition to this, I can see that your refund for the cancelled camping activity was processed last month. There may be some delays given the busy Christmas/New Years period, however, if you don't receive this soon our Customer Care team will assist. Whilst, we are happy to hear that the meals were delicious and the ship was well equipped, we are discouraged that the trip did not meet your expectations. Our team will be in touch with you soon, Raphael. Take care.

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