Antarctica cut - allowed 15 min. on 100 ft. of mainland
Please be aware: Passengers were offered a discount on their next voyage, if they leave a review here. Our boat was stuck for multiple days near S. Shetlands airport and missed Antarctica bookings. 105,000 people cruise to Antarctica but no true contingency plan for someone needing to be evacuated other than holding the entire ship for days around the airport. As a result, we missed our Antarctica bookings and cut out main Antarctica landings and venturing around sea ice. Horrible contingency planning. Poseidon blamed IAATO. Poseidon receives million and the only plan is to wait around. Posiedon takes your money. Poseidon should have a plan besides losing bookings and cutting out parts of Antarctica. In addition, lack of coordination with buses on Stanly, Falkland Islands resulted in passengers being left behind for 40 minutes while most of the expedition team were a half mile away sitting at a bar. Update: Still no word from Poseidon, even though expedition crew gathered at 10 a.m. on Friday to recap and report out to headquarters. I've since run into several passengers in Ushuaia who have been in multiple communications with their booking companies. This was a botched trip that lost our Antarctica bookings along with other issues. Reply: The survey results are not surprising, since we were informed to provide positive feedback several times with incentives offered. What you aren't explaining is that Poseidon skirted its responsibility to ensure passengers were fit enough to take an expedition trip. You had passengers sign a paper before boarding to release liability but did little else. The person who required evacuation brought covid onboard. That passenger was our #1 covid case. There was no covid test in order to board, no temperature check, no nothing. Covid then spread. Sometimes announced and sometimes not. This weakened person who had other pre-existing conditions went on a landing only to not surprisingly fall. This is part of what is meant by botched the trip along with missing Antarctica bookings. The leader had to beg other ships to let us land in Antartica and none agreed. Our Antartica bookings were lost. We found a tiny patch of mainland Antartica soil to land on in order to hold a sign that said we landed. We were given 15 minutes on the small patch of land. I guess that was counted in all the activities done. When the weakened person with a pre-existing condition fell, we were told she did not need medivac but just a regular plane. In fact the passenger was walking all about the ship inside and out in rough seas and participating in all onboard activities unapologetically. While we were missing our Antarctica bookings, this is what the other 100+ messengers had to watch. I and others believe all of this could have been avoided with a more responsible expedition company. Something else also not mentioned was the special meeting that had to be called to try to address all the disgruntled passengers. Lots of different issues were raised from handling of Covid to fitness for expedition landings to no plan other than waiting days near an airstrip and losing Antarctica bookings. One even stated she no longer knew what to tell others about selecting an expedition ship, implying how disappointing this one was. Personally, I believe Poseidon is hiding behind legal documents, tainted surveys, incentivized reviews, and attempts to not take responsibility for foreseable issues. Update: Looks like Poseidon decided to edit its reply today by removing the tainted statistics. Poseidon has been receiving emails from passengers on the expedition disputing how pleased everyone was and all the activities we did. We lost all our Antarctica reservations and couldn't move to calmer seas where about 40 other ships were around Antarctica. I and others believe Poseidon did not follow through with the terms of the contract. The passenger that brought Covid onboard and then fell on landing let everyone know onboard that she broke her wrist 6 months prior, had other medical issues, and was taking medication. This is not someone fit for an expedition with zodiac landings to this region. Poseidon had the obligation to other passengers to deny entry. This is what was mishandled along with no contingency plan other than waiting around a relatively unsheltered area for multiple days. 100+ people lost a once in a lifetime experience in Antarctica on this Poseidon Expedition.