Reviews

We hardly had left the harbour of Longyearbyen as we met a group of 100 Belugas in the fjord, what a start of our journey! And we had more luck: a polar fox in Ny Alesund, reindeer, 2 groups of walrus lazy on their beach, bearded seals and black guillemots all over the place. And if you think that this was all: in one day we saw 5 different polarbears! This was also the first time the Hondius could go all around Spitsbergen. So greatfull to Hondius and the crew!

Unvergessliche Expeditionsreise , hier hat alles gestimmt, sehr kompetentes Expeditionsteam, sehr zu empfehlen.

Our ten day trip around Svalbard with the Hondius was excellent. There was absolutely nothing to complain about, it was perfect. The boat was beautiful, we had a lovely cabin and the food was delicious. The guids were absolutely great, they had so much knowledge and they were very friendly. This trip has defenitely showed us the beauty of Svalbard and her stunning nature. The activities were fantastic and they had nice difficulty levels to make it possible for everybody to have a lovely trip. We have seen so many animals (six polar bears, one swimming around the ship twice, walruses, wales, reindeer, etc) due to an amazing team of expierenced staff. I can truly invent nothing negative about the whole experience, and I would recommend it to everybody. It was an experience to never forget.

I have visited 92 countries, so I thought that I had seen most of our Earth! Not true, the Arctic trip brought me to a new marvelous place that I did not think that existed. The beauty of the scenery, the amazement in front of the arctic animals, the silence of the nature are unforgettable! On top of that we had a wonderful team of expedition guides and a beautiful ship at its first travel. Everything was super and I believe that I will do more of these trips!

Fantastic experience seeing Arctic wildlife. We were blessed with good weather and the ice floe passage was magnificent. The Guiding was very good and lectures interesting. The only disappointment was not being able to go to the nesting cliffs because of too much wind and swell in the afternoon. The Hotel facilities were good and the staff excellent, helpful and courteous. All in all a trip of a life time.

Wir hatten spannende Tage an Bord der Hondius, alle außergewöhnlich, viel gesehen, wir wurden gut versorgt, das Team gab sich alle erdenkliche Mühe, dass sich jeder wohlfühlt. Das Programm wurde den Umständen angepasst, es war einfach super! Vielen Dank für das Upgrade in die tolle Kabine, und vielen Dank für den meist freien Zugang zur Brücke.

Our 10 day cruise experience included splendid views of nature (arctic sea, pack ice, drift ice, floating icebergs, huge mountain icebergs ending into sea, frequently changing weather within minutes, arctic cold wind, fjords), arctic flora living, flowering and dying within 3 months, fauna (different varieties of seals, walrus, whales, arctic fox, reindeer, polar bear and birds like guillemots, auks, ptermigans, gull, sandpiper) along with delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner. The additional touch of expedition (regular lectures on the flora, fauna, history of arctic expedition) along with guided tours of fjords after jodiac cruising added flavour to the splendour.

UN excelente viaje. Gracias por todo a Oceanwide

Super Expeditionsteam, super Organisation, super Schiff, super Besatzung, super Service & Essen, super ... in einmaliger Natur, die es zu erhalten gilt!

Amazing experience, friendly and insightful staff and a wonderful ship.

As we have been (so we're told) very lucky with the weather, the amount of wildlife spotted we simply háve to rate 5 out of 5. The new ship is very comfortable, with lots of windows everywhere. We will be talking about this trip still, 30 years from now. Just being one with nature, far away from civilization, cell-phone reach ;-) or people even (even though you're on a ship with 140 other passengers) is a once in a lifetime experience which I wouldn't have wanted to miss in a thousand years... Thank you Oceanwide Expeditions! Tim & Shanne

Our 9-night expedition was a series of high points, from polar bears (single males, mothers with cubs) to blue whale, tundra and arctic fox. The expedition team and ship's crew did their utmost to provide an exceptional experience, going out of their way to spot and allow us to approach the wildlife, yet always keeping as a priority the wellbeing of the animals. The ship itself is purpose-built for wildlife expeditions and it shows in all details, from the wide and accessible bridge to the large deck spaces and huge windows in all common areas. Overall a wonderful experience! Thank you very much indeed :-)

Wir waren 10 Tage Anfang Juli unterwegs und haben zwar "nur" den Plan D erfahren, aber wir waren begeistert von der Reise mit sehr freundlichen und erfahrenen Crewmitgliedern, auch die Mannschaft der Plancius war sehr gut ausgebildet. Insgesamt eine Reise, die uns sehr viel zeigte und schwer in Worte zu fassen ist. Auch der Umgang mit der Natur von Spitzbergen war super - Danke.

The trip on the Hondius met all my expectations.. the ship, brand new, was perfect..common areas were ample and the cabin was beyond my expectations... staff was great and the guides very knowledgeable....the trip itself was very interesting,.. the ice did not allow us to complete the foreseen route and some bad weather conditions imposed some last minutes changes tho the programme, but it was part of the experience to be at such high latitudes. for me, the highlight was the face to face meeting with a fat polar bear perfectly happy in her solitude on the ice pack... in particular, it will always remain in my memory the sight of the bear slowly going away from the ship, which she probably did not find so interesting after all, to rejoin the empty whiteness of her kingdom. some suggestions for improvements, some of the excursions were relatively "weak". In particular the one performed in Ny Alesund (the village itself was interesting!) which seemed to have been planned without a real focus and, in fact, the highlight was the landing of an aircraft :-) It was a beautiful trip and I am happy to have been part of it! Thanks to all the Hondius Team! Tullio

We enjoyed very much all the trip. The ship and the staff were great. The cabins were beyond our expectations. The quality of the lectures was amazing. The third officer Mr. Igor Nazarov was always ready to explain all the rather complicated information on the screens and to answer all our questions at the bridge. Maybe, in Ny Alesund the division in groups according to the interests would make the stay on land even more efficient. The walk on an ice pack will be unforgettable. The face to face encounter with a nice and well fed bear was definitely the highlight of the trip. Thank you all for the wonderful time.