From: rhn@nicholson.com (Ron Nicholson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.dance,rec.travel.cruises
Subject: Dancing in Antarctica - a trip report
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 12:08:20 -0800
Orient Lines - MV Marco Polo Antarctica Peninsula Cruise - '00-Jan
There have been other reviews of the MV Marco Polo and the Antarctic
itinerary posted before in rec.travel.cruises; so I'll try to be short
and point out items that I found to be of particular noteworthiness.
Summary: Incredible vistas of pristine ice covered mountains, the
chance to cruise down channels between sheer cliffs of ice and snow,
fields of whimsical iceberg sculptures floating by, many sightings of
whales and seabirds, the chance to walk by colonies of comedic penguins
and their fuzzy baby chicks, and the opportunity to get a rare souvenir
passport stamp (7th continent). The weather was excellent for 3 out of
4 of our Antarctic shore excursions, where the skies were brilliant blue
(and we were even warned several times about the need for sunscreen).
This kind of trip definitely assists Kodak revenues.
I've been on several larger (70,000 ton +) and smaller cruise ships
before. I tend to prefer the smaller ships, as the whole feeling of the
cruise seems a bit more friendly and personal. The Marco Polo carried
less than 500 passengers on this particular voyage; and there was
definitely a very friendly feel to this cruise.
At the Southernmost extent of this voyage, dancing until dawn only
required staying up till 2:30 AM or so. I noted that no suction cups
were required to stay on the dance floor, even though standing on the
underside of our planet, thus sustaining evidence of the laws of
gravitation.
I'm a social ballroom dancer and was traveling with my dance partner
this trip. We stayed in Buenos Aires for 2 days en-route to the cruise
embarkation as part of a pre-cruise package. The hotel given us as part
of the package was only 3 blocks from Cafeteria Ideal where scenes from
one (or two?) recent Tango movies were shot. Instead of going on the
various tours offered, we went to Argentine Tango classes (and
Practicas) two afternoons. I also found a music shop with Bandonions in
the window in a nearby pedestrian mall; but it was closed both times I
went by (siesta hours?).
One spot where Orient Lines fumbled was on the Lapa charter flight from
Buenos Aires to Ushuia (the southernmost city in the world). A large
group left the hotel early in the morning for a 9-hour trip; no one
warned us that there was no food service on the flight. (Rumor was that
Orient Lines was fixing the situation for subsequent charter
connections, but I would check ahead next time.) On the other hand,
embarkation was smoother and faster than I have experienced on any other
cruise.
The Marco Polo carried 2 dance bands and 3 gentleman hosts. There were
2 dance floors, including a large (for a cruise ship of this size)
rectangular wood floor in the Charleston Club near the stern, where
there was dancing from dinner time till around 2 am, and a wide "C"
shaped wood floor on the show stage where there was dancing during the
receptions and before the shows. The deck of the Marco Polo is sloped
(high in the middle, low towards the rails), and so were the dance
floors. Dancing downhill during ocean swells was challenging but
manageable. The Staff Captain came up to me and hinted that the trick
was to stay near amidships on the dance floor during the swells.
This was an adventure cruise, which must have been why the dance floors
were not crowded at all, except for one evening; my partner and I nearly
had the floors to ourselves most other evenings. The bands played music
suitable for West Coast Swing, Foxtrot, Cha Cha, and Rumba with an
occasional Waltz, Tango or Quickstep thrown in. Oddly for a cruise
ship, I never heard any music suitable for dancing Salsa/Mambo or
Merengue. Late at night, a DJ played music suitable for WCS and (New
York) Hustle in the Charleston Club. The Romantic Swing Trio was
particularly friendly and accommodating in playing enjoyable dance
music. There was smoking allowed near both dance floors (one side
only); except for a few instances I found the ventilation adequate; but
when they turned on the smoke machine in rolling seas during disco
hours, that drove us from the room. At the Southernmost extent of the
trip, it never got completely dark, which gave the feeling of dancing at
sunset even after midnight.
Most ships carry a theatre arts or cabaret performance couple as part of
the entertainment team. To our pleasant surprise, this ship carried an
International Standard 10-dance competition couple (from Poland) as part
of the show staff (For those in the US, this is the type of dancing seen
in the PBS Championship Ballroom Dancing TV specials). Since I much
prefer watching ballroom dance to theatre arts dance performances, this
was a much-appreciated feature of this cruise. There were two dance
classes offered, neither of which we attended.
The dance host staff included one British gent and two Americans. One
of the Americans got the job by being a friend of the Cruise Director.
He only learned ballroom dancing a few years back in order to get a
dance host position. During the Captains receptions and before the
shows the dance hosts were busy working around the room, making sure
that as many ladies as possible got a chance to dance. One of the dance
hosts taught an afternoon line dance class. Very few of the older
single ladies stayed out late, so most evenings the hosts just waited at
a table by the dance floor till their shift was up, around midnight.
There were a fair number of single women aboard (as well as two very
well behaved school aged children.) The age range was mostly
middle-aged through active retired, with a smaller number of passengers
younger and older.
There were a couple times when dancing was nearly impossible. During
the crossings of the Drake Passage, we encountered seas of 14 to 20 feet
going South, and up to 26 feet on the Northern return journey, with
occasional whitecaps throwing buckets of spray as high as the windows on
the bridge (6 or 7 decks up?) It was almost like being on an E-ticket
amusement park ride. We passed a much smaller 3-masted schooner on the
trip North, which must have been an even more exciting rollercoaster.
My partner was fine, and up and about during both passages; but I spent
most of the Drake crossing South and part of the crossing North knocked
out from seasickness. I tried Dramamine, ginger candy, and the
Aeromedix electro-stim wrist band, but they didn't help at all.
We had shore landings at Deception Island, Port Lockroy, Paradise beach
on the Antarctic Pensinsula, and at Half Moon Island. I wore rain pants
for the zodiak boat landings as a precaution, but didn't get a bit wet.
I even took my camera out of its waterproof bag for photos during some
of the boat landings. We did have to step into maybe 6 inches of water
when exiting the zodiaks; the mud was at most an inch or two deep at
worst; and the guano smell was no more overpowering than that of
lip-balm. I wore three layers of clothing under my parka at Deception
Island, but only two at the other landings. I saw only one penguin at
Deception Island; it quickly jumped back in the water when it saw the
crowd of red parkas. But, at the other three shore landings, there were
hundreds (maybe thousands) of penguins walking about and nesting in
large rookeries. The fuzzy Gento baby chicks were only a few inches
tall, the Chinstraps chicks were half the size of the adults or larger.
The penguins were very interesting to watch as they waddled and hopped
about on shore. We were not to approach the wildlife any closer than 5
meters; but a couple times I watched as my dance partner was kneeling
the required distance from a nest focusing her camera in one direction;
and a penguin would waddle right behind her, stand there for a moment
trying to figure the best was around this bright red object (we were all
wearing the provided bright orange/red parkas), and then waddle right by
her, hopping over an occasional rock, looking like he belonged in a
Charlie Chaplin movie. None of the penguins were at all interested in
discussing the merits of the Linux operating system, as far as I could
tell.
We had one day of light snow. But another day, the weather was so clear
and warm that 3 passengers went ashore wearing their tuxedos (probably
with thermals underneath) to pose with some of the Gento penguins.
The food for the most part was abundant and well above par. Of
particular note were the fresh fruit, the salad bar and the vegetarian
dinner entrees; they were far better than I had expected. The wine list
did not seem as extensive as on larger ships. The ice cream bar and the
coffee dispenser were adjacent on the aft deck, which made making a
coffee float very convenient. Bouillon soup available on the aft deck
was a nice touch. The health club had two treadmills, two stair
machines and several stationary bicycles, plus the usual complement of
weight machines.
We met three teddy-bears on this trip, one going on shore in Antarctica
in order to report back to a school classroom about his adventurous
travels, and the other two getting their passports stamped to prove they
were indeed well traveled bears. I didn't see any of the teddy bears
out dancing though.
The staff and crew onboard were excellent. I would certainly jump at
the opportunity to go on this ship and on this itinerary again. Seeing
Antarctica is an experience not to be missed in ones lifetime.
IMHO. YMMV.
--
Ron Nicholson
#include // only my own opinions. etc.