Society Central

I posted last week about the issue of planes being delayed out of King George island for those doing sail/fly Additional notes:

They were told on board by Lindblad personnel that the flight back only goes out on time 50 or 60 pct of the time. Not the 98pct Lindblad quoted.

Lindblad stacks the ships/flights. So if the ship comes in late from Antarctica , the next group leaves late. My clients were delayed in Ushuaia waiting for the ship to return, so left a day later. And on the back end left 2 days later due to fog. Clients better be very flexible.

Flights-we had the flights set up for a 1 day delay, not 2, so had to scramble and change the backend at the last minute. Was pretty expensive. Hoping insurance covers most of it. Lindblad offered to change the flights for the passengers, but I told the client it's better if I change it because there aren't a lot of seats left out of Punta Arenas, the flight that nearly every passenger wanted. Luckily I did them, because as Lindblad went through the passengers, they ran out of space and some were stuck in Punta Arenas another 2 days. Some of the passengers had Galapagos cruises or other plans afterward that all got messed up. Have clients do other countries on the front end only.

It was the Drake Quake for them. Pretty rough. Glasses were flying off tables. My clients, and the friends they made who had patches were not seasick at all. Those require a prescription. Those that got over the counter pills were all sick. Dining rooms were empty.

Lindblad-the passengers rated their experts a "B". They were nice and helpful, but they weren't blown away by the seminars. Nothing really amazing to remember and pass on. Food was fine, fish great, beef awful. Plenty of choices.

I have another client just finishing a Lindblad in Egypt. She said the boat was old and kind of crummy. Food was awful. They won't sail Lindblad again.