Cruising Antarctica on Ocean Endeavour's Fearless Chimu About Best of Antarctica/ Adventures

Thinking about booking the Ocean Endeavour's Fearless Chimu Best of Antarctica tour? Here's some information I wish I'd known before the trip.

I'm generally very hesitant to post reviews, but as this tour is a relatively new product and there isn't much information on it, I hope this review will help someone. I also hope that fearless travel and Chimu adventures are keeping an eye on it.

All information is current as of mid-November 2022 unless otherwise noted, an d-NO- I was not provided with the opportunity to write this review.

Table of Contents

General Operations and Bookings

Which Antarctica trip did you book?

We booked Ocean Endeavour Adventures' "Best of Antarctica" cruise on the Chimu in early 2020. This tour goes by the same name when you book with intrepid travel. Fearless Travel bought a 50% stake in Chimu Adventures due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but they weren't able to officially launch the joint product until the 2022-23 cruise season. I was on the second voyage of this new product. I booked a triple but was "upgraded" to a double after boarding.

Did the newness of the product affect the overall quality?

In general, no. Intrepid and Chimu are both experienced tour operators and I never felt like they were out of my league. As far as I could tell, the majority of the crew had extensive Antarctic experience and were knowledgeable about it.

How did the joint operation affect the trip?

For the most part, it didn't. That is, Intrepid's sailors are the face of the voyage, their names are on the sides of the boat, their flags fly at the front of the boat, their signs are all over the boat, the crew wear Intrepid travelwear and wear Intrepid-branded jackets. At ChiMu Adventures, apart from the reservation agent, I rarely have any contact with employees (or people I recognise as employees). What was the booking process like?

Of course, the reservation at Chim Adventures was a series of trial and error. A reservation agent is assigned and tossed by the person's convenience and attention. Chim was headquartered in Australia, and my reservation agency was in the UK. Of course, if you use it again, you will be trading directly with a fearful travel agency. Although it has been used in other travels in the past, customer service is more rational, especially for customers in the United States, more easily and more directly supported by customer service agents. What I would recommend to Chim Adventures is to give the reservation staff to provide customer support.

How was the crew response?

To be short, the crew is wonderful, from tour leaders to hotel staff, weight staff and cafeteria cocks. It was clear that Fearless and Chim looked for an experienced staff for the ship. I want to pay tribute to them who provided the firs t-class experience!

Finally: Where do you want to improve this experience?

There is no perfect journey, but this trip was close to it, except for the myriad of difficulties encountered on this trip. I have a wonderful experience overall, and I would like to thank the crew who planned a wonderful trip. Intripid and Chim: If you are listening, let me list some of the rooms for improvement:

Chimu Adventures: Available for reservations to catch up each other's accounts to provide more timely and quick customer services, as argued. Not flexibly responding to customers is the shortest way to get a bad reputation as a vendor. < SPAN> Of course, the reservation at Chim Adventures was a series of trial and error. A reservation agent is assigned and tossed by the person's convenience and attention. Chim was headquartered in Australia, and my reservation agency was in the UK. Of course, if you use it again, you will be trading directly with a fearful travel agency. Although it has been used in other travels in the past, customer service is more rational, especially for customers in the United States, more easily and more directly supported by customer service agents. What I would recommend to Chim Adventures is to give the reservation staff to provide customer support.

• How was the crew response?
• To be short, the crew is wonderful, from tour leaders to hotel staff, weight staff and cafeteria cocks. It was clear that Fearless and Chim looked for an experienced staff for the ship. I want to pay tribute to them who provided the firs t-class experience!
• Finally: Where do you want to improve this experience?
• There is no perfect journey, but this trip was close to it, except for the myriad of difficulties encountered on this trip. I have a wonderful experience overall, and I would like to thank the crew who planned a wonderful trip. Intripid and Chim: If you are listening, let me list some of the rooms for improvement:
• Chimu Adventures: Available for reservations to catch up each other's accounts to provide more timely and quick customer services, as argued. Not flexibly responding to customers is the shortest way to get a bad reputation as a vendor. Of course, the reservation at Chim Adventures was a series of trial and error. A reservation agent is assigned and tossed by the person's convenience and attention. Chim was headquartered in Australia, and my reservation agency was in the UK. Of course, if you use it again, you will be trading directly with a fearful travel agency. Although it has been used in other travels in the past, customer service is more rational, especially for customers in the United States, more easily and more directly supported by customer service agents. What I would recommend to Chim Adventures is to give the reservation staff to provide customer support.
• How was the crew response?
• To be short, the crew is wonderful, from tour leaders to hotel staff, weight staff and cafeteria cocks. It was clear that Fearless and Chim looked for an experienced staff for the ship. I want to pay tribute to them who provided the firs t-class experience!
• Finally: Where do you want to improve this experience?

There is no perfect journey, but this trip was close to it, except for the myriad of difficulties encountered on this trip. I have a wonderful experience overall, and I would like to thank the crew who planned a wonderful trip. Intripid and Chim: If you are listening, let me list some of the rooms for improvement:

Chimu Adventures: Available for reservations to catch up each other's accounts to provide more timely and quick customer services, as argued. Not flexibly responding to customers is the shortest way to get a bad reputation as a vendor.

There was also a point that I wanted the communication between crew and guests to be a little more and more transparent. As in my trip report, we had to return to Ushuia early due to the terrible strong winds of the Strait. I believe that the captain's judgment was correct (and respect the crew who passed the decision), but the information about curation at the time of boarding was sparse. For example, it is possible that the crew did not hear the details from the captain of the port, but if so, it is easy to inform passengers as silent. We were not informed that we could sail early until a long time after we were anchored in the port. It wasn't a big deal for me, but the return flight was canceled and some had to make a reservation, so this information might have helped to make a decision earlier. Especially if you use the announcement system that conveys the latest information, especially when you are under ship, it would have been more effective.

The chec k-in and chec k-out procedures were a bit confusing. At the time of boarding, I was told to put my luggage in the hotel lobby at 7:00 in the morning, but for those who did not sleep until midnight, this was certainly a little boring. 。 A few hours later, I witnessed the fact that my luggage was still waiting for a ship and reconsidered if I really needed to get up early. The chec k-out was honestly a little rough. Credit card machines used to handle the buil t-in transactions took a long time and often expired. It would be very helpful to increase the number of staff behind the front desk and speed up such processing.

The room temperature of the lower deck was incredibly hot. The temperature of my cabin was definitely over 25 degrees (Hana 77 degrees). The room will be explained in a little more detail, but each cabin does not have an individual temperature control function, and the perceived temperature will be at room temperature. This unbearable heat not only makes sleep difficult, but also competed between the cold air of the Antarctica and the warmth of the desert. < SPAN> There was also a point that I wanted the communication between the crew and the guest to be a little more frequent and transparent. As in my trip report, we had to return to Ushuia early due to the terrible strong winds of the Strait. I believe that the captain's judgment was correct (and respect the crew who passed the decision), but the information about curation at the time of boarding was sparse. For example, it is possible that the crew did not hear the details from the captain of the port, but if so, it is easy to inform passengers as silent. We were not informed that we could sail early until a long time after we were anchored in the port. It wasn't a big deal for me, but the return flight was canceled and some had to make a reservation, so this information might have helped to make a decision earlier. Especially if you use the announcement system that conveys the latest information, especially when you are under ship, it would have been more effective.

The chec k-in and chec k-out procedures were a bit confusing. At the time of boarding, I was told to put my luggage in the hotel lobby at 7:00 in the morning, but for those who did not sleep until midnight, this was certainly a little boring. 。 A few hours later, I witnessed the fact that my luggage was still waiting for a ship and reconsidered if I really needed to get up early. The chec k-out was honestly a little rough. Credit card machines used to handle the buil t-in transactions took a long time and often expired. It would be very helpful to increase the number of staff behind the front desk and speed up such processing.

The room temperature of the lower deck was incredibly hot. The temperature of my cabin was definitely over 25 degrees (Hana 77 degrees). The room will be explained in a little more detail, but each cabin does not have an individual temperature control function, and the perceived temperature will be at room temperature. This unbearable heat not only makes sleep difficult, but also competed between the cold air of the Antarctica and the warmth of the desert. There was also a point that I wanted the communication between crew and guests to be a little more and more transparent. As in my trip report, we had to return to Ushuia early due to the terrible strong winds of the Strait. I believe that the captain's judgment was correct (and respect the crew who passed the decision), but the information about curation at the time of boarding was sparse. For example, it is possible that the crew did not hear the details from the captain of the port, but if so, it is easy to inform passengers as silent. We were not informed that we could sail early until a long time after we were anchored in the port. It wasn't a big deal for me, but the return flight was canceled and some had to make a reservation, so this information might have helped to make a decision earlier. Especially if you use the announcement system that conveys the latest information, especially when you are under ship, it would have been more effective.

The chec k-in and chec k-out procedures were a bit confusing. At the time of boarding, I was told to put my luggage in the hotel lobby at 7:00 in the morning, but for those who did not sleep until midnight, this was certainly a little boring. 。 A few hours later, I witnessed the fact that my luggage was still waiting for a ship and reconsidered if I really needed to get up early. The chec k-out was honestly a little rough. Credit card machines used to handle the buil t-in transactions took a long time and often expired. It would be very helpful to increase the number of staff behind the front desk and speed up such processing.

The room temperature of the lower deck was incredibly hot. The temperature of my cabin was definitely over 25 degrees (Hana 77 degrees). The room will be explained in a little more detail, but each cabin does not have an individual temperature control function, and the perceived temperature will be at room temperature. This unbearable heat not only makes sleep difficult, but also competed between the cold air of the Antarctica and the warmth of the desert.

A little more recreation for groups could have been nice. Although there are three lounges on board, excluding the Compass Club (the ship's library/quiet area), if you ask most passengers, I think they would say they only use the Nautilus Lounge (the large area where the daily briefings take place and the bar area) on a regular basis. This resulted in missing out on cruise-like activities such as karaoke, trivia, and organized board games. I understand that most of the comfort experiences do not compare to a traditional cruise, but such a small investment would have had a big payoff in customer service.

Vegetarian/vegan food options were limited and not helped by the deliberate inclusion of meat in the diet that could easily be removed or supplemented later. Additionally, the planned vegetarian-only days were not implemented.

The tour's supposedly "ethical" status was undermined in part by questionable food choices such as beef, and by the company's staff's planned use of drones for marketing purposes. This practice is openly discouraged by mission scientists and goes against Intrepid Travel's ethical guidelines.

Stop feeding and influencing Antarctica is beautiful and serene in its own right and doesn't need a multimedia campaign to promote it.

Pre-boarding activities

How was your flight to Ushuaia?

If you have had the same experience as me and many others, prepare for endless flight cancellations and rerouting. Most people who fly into Ushuaia have to go through Buenos Aires and one or both of its two airports (Ezeiza, the international airport, and Aeroparque, the domestic airport). Security at both Buenos Aires airports was excellent, but the distance between the airports means that transfers take at least three hours. Even that is stretched to its limits. Given that most flights to Ushuaia depart from Aeroparque, there is a very good chance of getting between the cities, but I would like to point out here that transfers are in jeopardy as Aerolinas Argentinas, Flybondi, and JetSmart change or cancel flights without notice. Arrive in Buenos Aires in the morning on an overnight flight to give yourself plenty of time for your transfer. Or, fly into Buenos Aires a day or two early, spend a day at the other airport, then take an early flight to Ushuaia to have time to do some sightseeing there. We chose the former option since we had limited time off, which meant we missed the evening icebreaker at the hotel. If we were to do it again, we would choose to arrive in Ushuaia a day early. Finally, Ushuaia airport is very small and incredibly efficient.

How was your accommodation the night before you left?

Again, I wish there had been a bit more communication. The group split into two, half stayed at the Wyndham Garden Ushuaia (as did I) and the other half stayed at the nearby (and nicer) Las Hayas resort. I don't know how they decided who stayed where, but I assume the higher booking class was assigned to Las Hayas and my roommate (as did I) was assigned to the Wyndham (I want to be clear that Wyndham is by no means a "bad" hotel and I had a fantastic stay!). Why I thought it was important to communicate this to the passengers a little earlier is because both Wyndham and Las Hayas are located outside of town and it's a very long walk uphill to any restaurant, shop, bar, etc. There is a bus to the city center, but it runs very infrequently and is almost certainly not running after 10pm when I checked in. I would be arriving in Ushuaia in the evening, so the location was an issue. Luckily, the hotel had a restaurant and the bar was open until 11pm. My room was clean, the staff was very polite, and the view is second to none! But the location is a bit...:

What activities were available before departure?

Well, as I said, I arrived late the night before boarding, which meant I missed the icebreaker that I had booked a few hours earlier (between 6-7pm, if I recall). Luckily, my best friend arrived earlier than me and I was able to find a great companion to spend the rest of the trip with)

Also, I took the chance to book an early departure trip to Tierra del Fuego National Park with Intrepid Travel (around $79, leaving around 7am) that guaranteed me arrival at the port for boarding. I decided to oversleep and explore the city before boarding the ship.

What happens to my luggage on the morning of departure?

The luggage deposited was instructed to leave it in the hotel lobby at 7:00 in the morning, and the travel agency received it and took it to the ship's cabin (this was done faithfully). As mentioned earlier, my stress was 1) for those who arrived late the night before, like me, that it was a morning call that was too early in 7 am, 2) luggage was there a few hours later. Take a carry bag to the town (or to Tiera del Fugo National Park).

When will you get on the boat? Where? Why Gamola?

The first is to go straight to the meeting place when participating in the Tiera del Fuego National Park tour. Second, when departing from the hotel, a shuttle bus will be arranged around 14:00 and will be taken to the rally venue. The other is to gather at a meeting place in the center of Ushuaia at 15:00. The rally point is a parking lot next to the end of the world. This is on the map above. I don't know why for safety, but I will move from the parking lot to the ship.

What should I do with Ushuaia before boarding?

For better or worse, my boat sailed on Sunday. Therefore, it was hardly open especially in the morning. I found some open souvenir shops, and there were grocery stores where you could buy snacks and drinks. Of course, you can also reserve Land of Fire's Excursion. I didn't make a reservation, but the impressions of the reservations varyed.

What is the boarding procedure after arriving at the rally point?

Well, I'm actually waiting. Then take a suitable bus and wait. Wait at home. Wait in the chec k-in line. Some people are waiting for a cruise ship. Give your passport at the chec k-in counter (yes, ridiculous.

Master-Is there a drill?

yes.

cabin

What is the cabin like? < SPAN> The luggage deposited was instructed to leave it in the hotel lobby at 7:00 in the morning, and the travel agency received it and took it to the ship's cabin (this was faithfully executed). As mentioned earlier, my stress was 1) for those who arrived late the night before, like me, that it was a morning call that was too early in 7 am, 2) luggage was there a few hours later. Take a carry bag to the town (or to Tiera del Fugo National Park).

When will you get on the boat? Where? Why Gamola?

The first is to go straight to the meeting place when participating in the Tiera del Fuego National Park tour. Second, when departing from the hotel, a shuttle bus will be arranged around 14:00 and will be taken to the rally venue. The other is to gather at a meeting place in the center of Ushuaia at 15:00. The rally point is a parking lot next to the end of the world. This is on the map above. I don't know why for safety, but I will move from the parking lot to the ship.

What should I do with Ushuaia before boarding?

For better or worse, my boat sailed on Sunday. Therefore, it was hardly open especially in the morning. I found some open souvenir shops, and there were grocery stores where you could buy snacks and drinks. Of course, you can also reserve Land of Fire's Excursion. I didn't make a reservation, but the impressions of the reservations varyed.

What is the boarding procedure after arriving at the rally point?

Well, I'm actually waiting. Then take a suitable bus and wait. Wait at home. Wait in the chec k-in line. Some people are waiting for a cruise ship. Give your passport at the chec k-in counter (yes, ridiculous.

Master-Is there a drill?

yes.

cabin

What is the cabin like? The luggage deposited was instructed to leave it in the hotel lobby at 7:00 in the morning, and the travel agency received it and took it to the ship's cabin (this was done faithfully). As mentioned earlier, my stress was 1) for those who arrived late the night before, like me, that it was a morning call that was too early in 7 am, 2) luggage was there a few hours later. Take a carry bag to the town (or to Tiera del Fugo National Park).

When will you get on the boat? Where? Why Gamola?

The first is to go straight to the meeting place when participating in the Tiera del Fuego National Park tour. Second, when departing from the hotel, a shuttle bus will be arranged around 14:00 and will be taken to the rally venue. The other is to gather at a meeting place in the center of Ushuaia at 15:00. The rally point is a parking lot next to the end of the world. This is on the map above. I don't know why for safety, but I will move from the parking lot to the ship.

What should I do with Ushuaia before boarding?

For better or worse, my boat sailed on Sunday. Therefore, it was hardly open especially in the morning. I found some open souvenir shops, and there were grocery stores where you could buy snacks and drinks. Of course, you can also reserve Land of Fire's Excursion. I didn't make a reservation, but the impressions of the reservations varyed.

What is the boarding procedure after arriving at the rally point?

Well, I'm actually waiting. Then take a suitable bus and wait. Wait at home. Wait in the chec k-in line. Some people are waiting for a cruise ship. Give your passport at the chec k-in counter (yes, ridiculous.

Master-Is there a drill?