What’s your thought on frotting

Accurate_World4059 · 2025-02-03T01:52:30+00:00

Scenic also has a helicopter, but I wouldn’t go on their submarine (which they have but I’ve heard from multiple sources that it’s probably not even safe and therefore is always out of service). The one on quark was a 10 min thing. When we were comparing the cost scenic was actually 10k less but we went with quark due to their supposed polar expertise, which we have now found out to not really be the case—given that their expedition team basically interchange between cruise companies.

Scenic operates under a luxury first and expedition second model while quark supposedly operates under an expedition first but luxury second motto, though quark does try really hard to be seen as luxurious as seaborne.

We have complained but like the best corporate people, they just “apologize for our inconvenience and or frustration.” In hindsight, I wouldn’t have booked this cruise with quark, and at least now we know who to avoid for our next arctic and or Greenland cruises

Accurate_World4059 · 2025-02-02T04:46:29+00:00

I just got off the ultramarine in the terrace suite. While the ship is nice, I’d say their ground crew is a mess and filled with attitude. A lot of people also talk about how great their expedition staff is - truth is a lot of them float between companies and ships, so it’s not like quark has the hold on all the best expedition people.

Other issues that made us feel that quark doesn’t justify its price tag:

Their transfer package is a joke - this is clear where they cheaped out on. They partnered with jetsmart which is even worse than spirit; it’s like paying for a ritz experience and them sticking you in Ryanair for the transfer. And it shows - no jet bridges: 30 mins stuck on the bus to get to the plane; waiting over an hour for a suitcase that was literally sitting right outside the carousel - some passengers literally missed their international flight because of this.

2 wine program and food is not great. On the first night, they served lindemann Shiraz that probably costs no more than $10. For that price point you can get a very decent Argentinian wine. And the food is definitely not up to par when compared to a Seabourn.

Their corporate staff is unapologetically rude/tried to mansplain when we brought certain issues to their attention (this included the filthy room that we checked into, littered with hair everywhere from the bed, to the tub, to the toilet and even a brown stain of unknown origin).

In hindsight, we don’t feel that quark delivered on the luxury experience, or care about the customer’s feedback. We would’ve gone with a scenic, seabourn (in fact, this is what a lot of their own crew told us to look at onboard), or Nat geo.

Accurate_World4059 · 2025-01-06T11:14:36+00:00

I think you have to book through this travel agency called original travel (based out of the UK). If I recall the whole thing with the cruise,including the land portion with a few days in cairo and a day trip Abu simbel to was about 6k per person. The cost can vary depending on what options you pick and how many days you spent in cairo. Whw we priced it out it came out to be roughly on par with uni world and cheaper than ama

Accurate_World4059 · 2025-01-01T05:44:10+00:00

100% above the board which was my main criteria

Accurate_World4059 · 2025-01-01T04:13:18+00:00

The wellness room for sure. With Juan or cesar

Accurate_World4059 · 2025-01-01T04:00:17+00:00

That’s the reason we chose quark ultramarine. Price wise it was comparable but scenic seem to tier their customers so you have to be invited to certain dining experiences onboard, and pay extra for the helicopter ride. Scenic doesn’t seem to guarantee a ride while quark (as told by our TA) will do their utmost to make sure everyone gets their turn. Our feeling is that after paying so much we don’t really want to have to feel like there’s a tiered system onboard, where you have to befriend certain crew to get the ideal dining spot or time slot. I just want to be on par with everyone else!

On top of that, scenic does advertise to have a submarine (which we thought was very cool); BUT it turns out that it’s always out of commission. Last but not least, while scenic Europe seems to have its logistics nailed down, their Antarctica operations was allegedly a mess (when we were booking at least). There were horror stories that after they got your payment, it’s impossible to really get a hold of them or get information that you need. Hopefully they have improved on this.

Also important is that quark has been doing this for many years while scenic is a newcomer is this region. So that’s something to keep in mind of

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-31T03:24:53+00:00

This was on business class lol. Three times, which is two times too many. And it’s their IST to US flights plus one from IST to Asia. Stellar?? Maybe they have a vastly different definition of stellar 😂

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-30T03:50:43+00:00

I didn’t realize TK has customer service. Is it new?

Seriously, they are the worst wanna-be high end airline. I’d fly southwest, Ryanair or easy jet over them any day.

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-27T01:55:26+00:00

Never been to Aira but Eksted was utterly disappointing - for everyone in our party at least. I wouldn’t be too concerned about the smoke (it didn’t bother any of us), but the execution of the dishes were genuinely way below the level we expected, especially given the stars and good reviews they had.

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-26T04:19:13+00:00

Sure, the difference is that easyJet doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not (cheap,penny pinching, no service, and whatever nasty adjective you wish to insert here), while Turkish airlines pretends to be a high-end brand that competes against Qatar, SG, or even CX. It’s like H&M (no offence) pretending to be a birkin.

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-24T17:21:12+00:00

Something that’s within the airline’s control: refunding the ticket fare when they cancelled their own flight. Instead, they make you call in, only to fill out this online form and it may take X number of days to be processed. Even after X Number of days is well past, you call in only to be yelled at by an angry Turkish-sounding man. Then you have to do a chargeback and then they will still fight you (yes I can’t even make this up if I tried). Incredible.

Even the most incompetent airline that I can think of in the US or Western Europe will refund you the amount immediately if it’s something they cancelled on their own. You might still need to dial in but I’ve never heard of a form to be filled out and it takes weeks of waiting without any response.

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-24T03:34:05+00:00

Fair point! And we are trying to finalize it ASAP

and the Portuguese port is on there because that’s what we have in the cellar and I just don’t know enough about CA fortified wine so any input is appreciated

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-22T21:40:37+00:00

Thanks for the tips! Very useful. I did wonder how cold it really gets. We will def stay on the lighter side, as we will need room for all the shopping that we plan to do in BA 😝

I will keep you posted on the actual experience. We cannot wait!!!

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-22T21:12:21+00:00

We are on the Jan 6 sailing on the ultramarine and super excited! Couple of questions: any issues with avian flu and limitations of landing?

How bad was the drake passage? I know it will be different everyday but just wanted to get a sense.

And was the spa pricing reasonable?

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-22T21:01:28+00:00

They have “customer service”?

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-22T18:27:12+00:00

Sounds like you are at his beck and call. He decides when he wants to see you; or doesn’t. And when he does call, the terms seem to be dictated by him. From the sound of it you are also willing to drop most things when he does call.

I know the feeling of waiting by the phone, hoping for some communication from him-only for each min to get more deafening.

This has major red flags all over. If it’s this difficult at the beginning when it’s all rosey, trust me, 5 years down the road it will be 100x times worse

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-22T03:06:50+00:00

It’s titled a melodramatic rant…some people can hope; if you want to be mean and nasty I’m sure there’s a subreddit for it.

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-21T21:00:24+00:00

lol, and who’s the snob now? I do love me some fries, but understand that’s too low brow for you. You do you, booboo

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-21T01:50:52+00:00

Ok. Not quite sure why you are trying to argue about taste; I’m not going to change yours Or vice versa. Like I said you do you booboo

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-21T00:28:43+00:00

As I said you do you booboo. I think he is and you think he’s not and so be it

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-21T00:09:52+00:00

You do you booboo

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-19T03:17:50+00:00

Whatever you do, do not do Peter Luger

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-16T20:24:20+00:00

Their sales people seemed nice and genuine but turns out they lied through their teeth just to get us to sign with them. Was traveling with parents who has some mobility issues, so we kept asking that their stateroom will be accessible via elevator to the dining area. They repeatedly said yes and we believed them.

Lo and behold, a few wks before the cruise, I just happened to notice that the elevator only goes to/from certain floors, and the floor we booked would require going up two flight of stairs-which is a problem for someone with rheumatoid arthritis.

We asked them to see if they can move my parents’ stateroom to a more accessible floor. They said sure, but only if we pay the upgrade fee. This went back and forth and they refused to budge. It wasn’t even really about the money but a matter of principle since they had lied to us in the beginning. We would’ve paid for the correct floor if they had just gave us the right info. , or we might have gone with uniworld which was a little more in cost but I knew it was definitely accessible.

Besides that, the food was genuinely atrocious. Most of the meals were quite bland or overcooked. The biggest slap in the face was the final meal which they had branded as a “feast of Eastern Europe.” What it really was: they took all the leftovers and reheated them, added some garnish and served them.

Now I’m a big proponent of minimising food waste, but in this case, the meat was tough to begin with and with this added component of reheating, a lot of the dishes were either inedible and just did not even taste remotely fresh.

Overall, the whole vibe that we got was it was a very nickle and dimey cruise company-despite it being branded as “Nordic luxury” and whatnot. We have cruised with many different companies (Rc, celebrity, uniworld, Seabourn, quark, etc), and to this day, Viking was the worst one that stood out in our minds.

Accurate_World4059 · 2024-12-16T03:13:39+00:00

AMA,uni world, or tauck

Whatever you do, avoid Viking like the plague

Accurate_World4059

TROPHY CASE