Spitsbergen Reviews
Spitsbergen Explorer Polar Bear Cruise
Jennifer Kazmierczak & Paul Cotter June 2009
Yes we had a truly wonderful trip thank you.
We saw gorgeous scenery, rolling mountains, enormous glaciers and icebergs, polar bears - 14 including some babies, arctic foxes, seals, walruses, reindeers and a whole host of birdlife. We even managed to get a glimpse of minki and beluga whales.
We loved the whole atmosphere of living onboard and were both very disappointed when the trip had finished and we had to come home.
We were very impressed by the hard working and approachable Russian crew as well as the fantastic expedition staff.
Finally we were thankful for the days that we could land and get some exercise through the hikes because the quality of the food that we were eating was so good that our waistlines must have grown by a good few inches. We don't know how they managed to produce such variety and quality in the middle of the Arctic circle.
Steppes Travel's personal and informal touch made you stand out from the other agencies that our fellow passengers booked. Your enthusiasm for the trip certainly came across in all of our correspondence with you.
Our experiences with Steppes Travel have greatly surpassed our expectations and we will not hesitate to recommend you to our family and friends and also use you again for our journeys in the future.
Many thanks.
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Spitsbergen Explorer Polar Bear Cruise
Mandy Ledster July 2009
Before I start I would like to say that I had a "FANTASTIC" time, it is probably the best thing that I have ever done. As you know I get to travel a lot with work and do a lot of things but this is definitely up there!
All in all the trip was brilliant. We had some amazing people on board, including one of the original members of the party that climbed Everest in 1953.
The weather was great and we hardly encountered any fog, we managed to circumnavigate the whole archipelago. We also collectively saw 21 Polar Bear, of which I managed to see 19. The whole crew on the ship were fantastic and I loved the way they constantly utilised all of our time, there was never a dull moment and there was always something to do.
We saw 2 mother bears with 2 adult cubs which is not seen so often and at one point when going through the ice we could see 6 bears all at once. We also caught a bear on a kill and we experienced a bear which came right up to the side of the boat. We also got to see 3 fin whales, Walrus, seals, and of course lots of birds. I personally was blessed with luck on the trip as we saw plenty of carvings, one of which was huge, maybe 6/7 houses big. We bobbed around watching a seal as it floated towards us, it then proceeded to roll over. We managed to get up close and we could see all the bubbles rising to the top. Just as we were ceased to be amazed we saw a bear wandering around on the brash ice behind the carving! Gosh what a day!
I thoroughly enjoyed the kayaking and the instructor was great. Again I was blessed, or maybe not! As we were kayaking there was a group of Walrus swimming across from us about 20 ft away so we just stopped paddling and bobbed about a bit, then suddenly one showed us some interest and turned and headed towards us. It raised its head revealing its huge tusks and then bobbed back down again only 5 ft from the front of my kayak. It was looking me straight in the eyes! Awesome! Something I'm sure will never happen again.
This for me this was truly a holiday of a life time!