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GlobalQuest

MV Kapitan Khlebnikov

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: James Greenebaum
# previous cruises:10+
Date of Trip: July 9, 2001
Itinerary: Siberia & Beyond

This was an expedition, not a cruise! Viewed natural things such as animals, birds geological features and ice. Excellent staff of lecturers and expedition leaders. Zodiac and helicopter landings one to three per days with much hiking through tundra and permafrost areas. Not for the bingo-broadway show-ballroom dance crowd.

Very adequate and comfortable for the 54 passengers. Good lecture hall. Possible to walk around the deck, small gymnasium. Pool was really not for swimming but as a plunge pool for the sauna people it was fine

Food and service was very good. Buffet breakfast and salad buffet for lunch and supper, three entree choices at there meals. Fruit always available as dessert along with the pastriesor cakes. They didn't even have a deep fryer! Only one dining room for passengers another for crew.

Cabin was like a standard outside cruise ship cabin for size. Storage was quite adequate and the shower worked just fine and fitted a large person quite well. PLENTY of water, no talk about conserving. Laundry charges reasonable and service good and quick. Cabin very quiet since the superstructure is mounted on vibration isolators. Ice breaking did make some noise. Window opens for ventilation in addition to the forced air system

Expedition staff were top-notch professional in their fields. PhD's and higher, professors and department heads. Movies on tape shown in the lecture hall after supper.

Boarded in Petropevlovsk, Chamkatka (Siberia), went south around two of the Kurile Islands then back north to the Zhupanova River Nature Reserve and to the Valley of the Geysers, the n to the Kronotskiy Nature Reserve. After that to the Kommandor Islands, all along we visited native villages, then north to the Chuktosk Peninsula and the port city of Provideniya. From there we headed east across the Bering Strait and through the Amundsen Northwest Passage visiting many historic islands and some Inuit Towns along the way and ended up in Resolute in the Canadian Arctic.

Shore visits usually involved zodiac wet landings requiring knee-high rubber boots and waterproof pants. No small children should go. One lad of eleven was along and being obviously very bright enjoyed the lectures and participated in all the adult activities.

People interested in nature go. They need to be reasonably fit, although one or two who were not up to it didn't go on all the shore landings and enjoyed the trip fully anyhow...They were repeat passengers, as were at least half on board.