Region: Arctic

Destinations: Svalbard

Ship: m/v Hondius

Highlights: Kittiwake, Ivory Gull, Birding

Wij hebben een cruise gedaan afgelopen juli naar Spitsbergen. Er was ons verteld dat er een grote groep Chinezen op het schip zouden zijn en of we daar problemen mee hadden. Nee dat hadden wij niet. Er was ons helaas niet verteld dat er ook kinderen aan boord zouden zijn in de leeftijd van ongeveer 7 - 14 jaar. Dit was niet leuk. Deze kinderen renden rond en schreeuwden naar elkaar in hun spel. Dit is allemaal heel begrijpelijk als je als kind vastzit op een expeditie schip. We konden niet genieten van de lounge met een kopje koffie en dan van het uitzicht genieten. De ouders werd gevraagd om beter op hun kinderen te letten, maar ook dit gebeurde niet. Het was zelfs zo dat op een gegeven moment een kind over de reling ging hangen. Gelukkig was de crew er snel bij. We zaten veel op de boot vanwege slechte weersomstandigheden waardoor we niet altijd met de zodiac weg konden. Hier kan de maatschappij uiteraard niets aan doen. Maar dan moet je het wel van de rust en het genieten in de lounge hebben. Gelukkig hebben we wel ijsberen gezien.

Oceanwide Expeditions

Comment from Oceanwide Expeditions

Thank you for taking the time to leave a review and to offer feedback. Your opinion is important in helping us to continually improve our services and offering.

We are sorry to hear that your experience on board did not entirely match your expectations. We strive to inform guests ahead of time of the presence of large booked groups on board to ensure comfort and enjoyment for all guests. Often, we provide translation services and other specific services that can impact the onboard atmosphere for other guests, so we always share this information ahead of time.

As standard, we do not inform guests of the presence of children on our trips, and in this case, attempts were made to ensure their presence did not disrupt other guests' experience. This included making parents aware ahead of time of the importance of child safety on board and the need to keep children under control during the trip. However, we understand that the presence of a large number of children on board may have a negative impact on other guests. This is not the atmosphere or experience we aim to provide on any of our expedition cruises.

We take this feedback onboard and will discuss internally our best approach to move forward with these issues in mind. The guest experience is at the forefront of everything we do, so we once again apologize that your trip was impacted in this way.

We thank you for your valuable feedback and hope to welcome you aboard one of our vessels again in the future.

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