Hi Diane

When we went on Explorer II, it was the A&K ship. Regent sent a representative for passengers & a chef. They also only rented the outside cabins on the ship. We had our own expedition leader. Otherwise, it was the A&K experience. The group after us were mostly German clientele. They had rented the inside as well as outside cabins. We understood from those who were repeaters the time on land was far more limited per person when more folks were on the ship.

We loved the ship and the crew was great. Do, though, find out about how many pax will be on board. That may affect your experience (positively or negatively). On a two week cruise, we spent perhaps 23 hours cumulatively off the ship - and 10 of those hours were in the Falkland Islands. The ship was comfortable with roughly 270 people. It would have been cramped with nearly double that number IMHO.

As for rough seas, we ran into them near S. Georgia and Elephant Island. The Drake passage was pretty calm. We went the first two weeks of February. S. Georgia was the highlight of the trip. We also had a few missed stops for weather, but a couple of new landings on the continent itself to somewhat make up for the missed landings on S. Georgia.

Cheers, Anne