Antarctica Small Ship Expedition: Ocean Nova

The expedition was beyond expectation, the best trip I ever had. The ship, crew, staff, and tour guides, very friendly, knowledgeable and made the trip so much fun and exciting. And or course Antarctica was beautiful

Everything about this trip to Antarctica on the M/V Ocean Nova was superb, except for one thing which I'll mention later. I can't imagine how another company or ship could have done the whole thing better.

The ship was just the right size, with 78 or 79 passengers and 40 crew, my single cabin was modern, clean and comfortable, with a comfortable bed, desk, wardrobe, bathroom with shower and toilet, and a window with a sea view. It was cleaned twice a day (often the second clean wasn't necessary) and as a little bonus the cleaner, a very friendly man named Winston, always left a little chocolate.

The restaurant and cleaning staff were friendly, courteous and very efficient and the expedition staff were simply brilliant - also very friendly, incredibly knowledgeable, very skilful with their Zodiac driving, had good senses of humour and went above and beyond in all ways. Every time we stopped at a place where we were to do a landing they always went out first on the Zodiacs to check that weather, ice and sea conditions were safe for us to do the landing.

On board we had many lectures and slide shows, which were always very interesting, educational and often light-hearted and there was no end of food and drink.

In that regard I've never eaten so much in a 10 day period in my life, with a buffet breakfast, buffet lunch, a la carte dinner but so much food you could stuff yourself till you were sick.

The desserts were absolutely delicious but if there's only one thing I wasn't crazy about it was some of the a la carte dinners. Most people thought they were also superb but when it comes to food I have simple tastes and these dinners were usually fancy schmancy 'gourmet' meals, with some pretty weird, and for me awful tasting, stuff. One night, though, we had a 'barbecue night', with lamb chops, pork chops and chicken drumsticks and the next night we had pizza and pasta. That's much more to my liking and I would've preferred if we'd had 'normal' food like that every night. Still, like I said, that's just my taste and although these 'gourmet' meals aren't exactly to my liking, there's no doubting it was always quality food.

The entire team on this ship was amazing! I couldn't imagine a better Antarctic experience even being so late in the season. Kayaking with several dozen humpback whales, hiking with 250,000 chinstrap penguins, drinking glacier water right from the glacier, selfies on the actual continent.

說明清楚，溝通過程感覺很好。提供優惠的價格很實在，超好的。

The crew was so flexible in planning what we would do each day according to the weather. We went places even the majority of the crew had not been before.

With only 68 passengers (from all over the world) we were able to land often, easily and quickly, and in locations not accessible to larger ships.

Although it was a smaller ship, I did not feel claustrophobic (which has been the case on a different cruise) because there are plenty of common areas - a wonderful library and lounge, along with deck access throughout.

They were truly motivated in *maximizing* our experience; blessed with good weather and currents, we were treated to the first visit by a tourist ship, of Smith Island - the combined thrill of both staff and passengers in genuine exploration was exhilirating!

Most have decades of knowledge and experience in the Antarctic region, and several are multilingual.

I only regretted I could not partake in all the activities, esp the optional kayaking and snow-shoeing. So much to do, so little time.

While not the newest and best, the ship was clean and had a well stocked library.
Being a small boat, it felt more intimate as one could readily meet and socialize with the staff and cruise passengers.
The food was varied and very good. There were theme nights that allowed a change in the regular routine. Those on special diets (i.e. vegan) said that they were served meals that were not just slapped together, but had some though in preparing them.
The staff were the best I have ever had on a trip. They are very outgoing and helpful.
There was an incident with one passenger who had a bum knee. She did not go on one of the outings and stayed on board in the lounge. The whole time that were were out on our trip, a staff member stayed with her and as she said, chatted with her so that she did not feel left out. She was amazed at their attention to details and the care of the passengers.

The cruise "hotel" staff delivered excellent service, from housekeeping to superb food and dining room service, to ship running and maintenance. The captain and his crew were flexible in coordinating with the expedition leader to expand the bounds of our excursions. The expedition staff provided excellent presentations in their various domains of expertise, and appeared to have unbounded enthusiasm in supporting our excursions.

Staff were amazing. The only issue is that I wish there was a way to convert our beds from two singles to a double so my wife and I didn't have to sleep on opposite ends of the room.

I already said my opinion

goed georganiseerd, goede hutten heerlijk eten en prima sfeer!

Good Tour. Good staff and very good Food

EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT

Everything was fantastic!

Because they were totally there for us. Happy, helpful etc

porque habia mas que yo he esperado

It is indeed a trip of a lifetime, worth the price and effort. We managed to see so many penguins and seals, even the extreme rare occurrence of both mama and baby seals. We also managed to hike mountains for the best views as well as came across frozen sea ice. It is so true that no Antarctica trip is the same against each other.

A truly outstanding expedtiion in every way .
It was everything I have dreamt of seeing and doing on this amazing continent.
One of my life’s dreams Fulfilled.

The trip was wonderful and the staff & crew were so helpful and kind. We did have to leave Antarctica 1 day earlier than planned, but it was because our captain and our expedition leader forecasted a massive storm coming through the Drake if we didn't leave early. Prior to experiencing the Drake Passage, I would have said it was unfair to cut the trip short like this, but after I had been through it once on the way there, I fully supported Antarctica 21's decision to beat the winds and head back early. The Drake was as rough as usual, but knowing it could have been 3 times worse makes me glad the staff/crew put our safety and comfort as top priority.

The experience is great,wish I can go again with flight and cruise with the same staff teams.