We arrived back early this morning.
I will try to encapsulate my thoughts about A&K as best as I can. I am not sure if it's fair to judge them based on a cruise as opposed to a land excursion, but here goes...
A few months before the trip I called A&K to get an idea of the ages of the teens on the trip. Apparently sometime during the past 12 months they decided they would no longer release this information (no ages or division of the sexes, not even a tally of how many kids / teens were on the trip). When we got to the ship, we discovered that the majority of the kids on the trip were with a large family group. There were 2 large groups on our ship -- a family group (26) and a group of friends (31). Both groups pretty much stuck to themselves.
We had been told that there would be an A&K photography "expert" on the ship, which I was thrilled to hear since my new Sony mirrorless camera has been giving me some problems. However I am unsure what he was supposed to be doing with our group. He gave 2 lectures (one was on our unplanned sea day), was on deck a few times to "help" (with what I'm not sure because when I was on deck with him he was pointing out birds) and had 2 one-on-one sessions, each an hour in length (first come, first to be seen -- with long lines both times). He was never on shore to give suggestions / insight with pictures, nor did he take any pictures with families. Twice I asked him questions about my camera and he said he'd look up the Sony manual online and get back to me, but he never did!
The Ponant photographer was quite good, but she only took 3 pictures of myself and my daughter. I believe the primary issue is that she primarily went ashore with the "red" group and we were in the "green" group. This was a huge disappointment.
The naturalists were amazing and very well informed. On sea days there were at least 3 lectures of an hour in length, which you could either watch in the theater or in your room on the television. I enjoyed all of the lectures and really learned a lot.
The "Young Explorers" activities were nice. Usually there were 2 per day (including most sea days) and most managed to capture the interest of my 16 year old dd. She and a friend she made on the trip were asked by one of the marine biologists to help give a lecture on marine life below the surface on our second to last day on the ship. Her and her new bff did an excellent job (I may be biased!).
With respect to the demographics, aside from the 2 groups already mentioned, there were 3 single ladies traveling (2 around mid 50s and 1 mid 60s), well more than a dozen "mature couples" (in the mid 60-70 age range) and a few families (most with either 10-12 year olds or kids in their early to mid 20s). There was just one other 16 year old on the ship and my dd and him became fast friends.
Itinerary: I felt this was good. We enjoyed the Falkland Islands and South Georgia was just stunning. I am glad that we got to visit these special places. However if I ever have the opportunity to do the trip again (and I hope that I will), I would go on a cruise that heads directly to Antarctica so that I could spend the maximum amount of time on the continent as possible. The medical evacuation cut our time on the continent short by 1 day and I have no words to express my disappointment. We have learned the reason for the evacuation and it turns out that it wasn't necessary to turn the ship around as quickly as we did. So this really stings. I won't post details, but pm me if you'd like and I will elaborate a bit more.
I don't feel that we had the equivalent of
ABD guides on the trip. Landings had the naturalists posted at various points along our route to help us stay on the path, but no information was offered on what we were seeing (outside of what we were told the evening before at our "briefing").
Le Lyrial is a stunning ship. She was first put in the water in 2015 and her facilities were excellent. There were 2 restaurants (one buffet-style and one sit down) open for all 3 meals and 24 hour room service (no additional cost). There were 2 lounges / bars -- a large one with a dance floor and a smaller and a more intimate one (with a well-equipped games room / library). There was nightly entertainment in both lounges (a piano player and a singer). On New Years Eve there was a beautiful piano concert by a classically trained pianist in the theater followed by a DJ in the large lounge -- it was a lot of fun, with most people singing and dancing well past midnight! The gym had 3 treadmills, 3 "spinning"-style bikes and a recumbent bike. There was also room for stretching and some kind of resistance machine (no free weights due to the Drake Passage / safety issues). There was a photo area as well as a lounge-type area for the Young Explorers with couches, a video game system and some activities. Even though our room was only 200 square feet (we booked the lowest fare class), it was VERY well laid out with plenty of storage (enough for all of our clothing / gear). I would definitely recommend the rooms on the 300 deck of this ship without hesitation.
A&K had a sales representative on board to promote future trips. They offered a discount if you booked a trip on board (it varied, but started at $500.00 per person going up to a few thousand dollars on some trips). She was lovely and had hours on sea days.
Food was an area that I found to be lacking. The only memorable meal was the Christmas Eve gala dinner (there were 3 Gala dinners in total). The vegetarian options were either pasta, rice or a plate full of vegetables. I asked if they had a veggie burger and we received ground up carrots and broccoli in a fried potato pattie in a bun -- it was pretty awful. The cheese selection was amazing and as I mentioned before the freshly baked breads and rolls were delicious.
On Christmas Eve Santa Claus came for a visit and there were gifts for all of the Young Explorers (all from the Falkland Islands: a penguin t-shirt, a Christmas ornament and a stuffed penguin that says "Falkland Islands" on the chest). Each stateroom was left a wrapped present on Christmas Eve, which was
1 A&K ski hat -- I guess this is meant to be shared? Not sure why everyone didn't get one lol.
I am not sure if I would travel with A&K again. I expected to be blown away with their service, but I found them to be okay. Nothing horrible, but nothing outstanding either. I am not sure if it is fair to compare them to ABD since the trip was on a ship, but I would put ABD a bit ahead on overall service if I were to be asked. One notable point: A&K has a maximum of 24 guests on their family trips, while ABD is somewhere in the area of 40-44. This is a significant difference and would certainly give me pause.
Luggage: I realized pretty quickly that there was no way I would be able to pack everything that I wanted to and come in at the weight limit of 44lbs per person. I called A&K a few times and asked what would happen if I went over and had a few different responses, from "paying a surcharge" to being told to "reduce my luggage weight and ship the overage home from the airport" (this seemed a strange response), so I did what any modern person does, which is turn to the internet! I found a few blogs that mentioned families on A&K trips that were over the max luggage and had no issues. We ended up going with 3 large suitcases, 2 carry-ons and an x-large rolling duffle bag. Not one word was said to me and I did not have to pay a surcharge of any kind. I did feel badly for a few people that I met that stuck to the weight limit because they didn't feel that they had enough clothes for the trip (and had no special clothes for the 3 gala dinners). Even though an A&K rep explicitly told me that the luggage would not fit in our room (she said the beds were platforms and I couldn't store luggage under them), she was incorrect. All of our luggage fit comfortably in the room.
A&K price included the charter flight from BA to Ushuaia and rental of goretex pants (we took our own and I'm glad that we did!) and boots. We also received parkas, A&K Antarctica water bottles and A&K backpacks, which are ours to keep.
We docked in Ushuaia the night before dismebarkation and we all got to enjoy a few hours walking around the town.
Once I upload my pics to my computer I can post a few. I am happy to answer any questions!
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