Starting to look at going on a cruise to Antarctica. Anyone been? Any suggestions?

The cruise industry has taken off in Antarctica. 90% do the Peninsula which is fine. If you go you should try to connect to the Sub Antarctic islands like S. Georgia or S Shetlands or the Falklands. I have done Ponant and Silver Seas. The last trip was on Oceanwide Expedition. A Dutch organization that goes from Ushuaia to Ross sea, Dry Valley, Scotts, Shackleton and one other. The voyage end up doing the New Zealand sub Antarctica islands ending up there. This organization has helicopter support but there are other trips.

As Spore mentioned, quite a few cruise lines are doing Antarctica now. Linblad, Atlas, Aurora Expeditions, Hurtigruten, Silversea, Viking.

If I can be of any assistance, my email is in my profile.

I'm trying to make the same decision myself. It depends on your budget, length of trip, and where you want to go. There are a lot of choices between adventurous and luxury or a combination of both. I think I've narrowed my choices to Seabourn or Hurtigruten. Seabourn seems to offer a good combination of luxury and adventure at a good price point. I like Hurtigruten b/c it's a Norwegian line and the historical links to Amundsen and the South Pole. Seabourn mostly has itineraries that visit the peninsula but the one I like also visits the Falklands and South Georgia. I figure I might as well see as much as I can while I'm down there.

I've found a couple on Youtube who has posted some great videos about the experience. I highly recommend watching them. There are many other's who've posted similar reviews.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmCdKjjN4xKaBDfL1EwtWL8FvqPIrLSZ0

Hurtingrutin would be an interesting trip however the ship was bigger than I thought when I saw it last year. Swan Hellenic is a small expedition ship that was supposed to go down to the Ross Ice shelf. Ponant goes that far and does have a helicopter on board.

Oceanwide does some tough expedition trips like camping on the continent and I believe diving. They also do a trip to the Weddle Sea where the Endeavor was trapped. This trip also did a helicopter landing on Peter 1 island for all you island collectors.

There's no trip i want to take more. Its the last continent I need to visit.

Some ships are too large to allow passengers to get off. Be sure you understand that. We went in January on a Natgeo trip. Absolutely amazing except for the thirty foot seas on the way down. Like glass coming back. There are daily flights now that are available for each way to the continent. Highs of 40 and lows of 25. Polar plunge was 29 degree water. Whales were in town and penguins everywhere. Shamu is not black and white. He is more grey than black - Orca type B. Watched an iceberg capsize one morning.

Thanks for the replies. Hurtingrutin Looks good but I wonder if the size of it (530 passengers) is too big, considering the limit of 100 on land at a time.

530 passengers would be to big for me. After the fall of the Soviet Union one could pick up reinforced hulls, ice pushers, semi breakers etc for a song.
My ship was built in 1986 in Poland and holds little over 100 passengers. We had 84 with 36 being German and only 4 Americans. Some berths had 4 to a room which was not pretty the first day with all 4 suffering from sea sickness. Landings can be a problem if ice floes block the landing sites. We were able to see Emperor penguin and an extremely rare Arneaux beaked whales.

Bumping this. Atlas ocean voyages interests us, but it is a brand new company. Any thoughts - good or bad - about them?

Here is from a fellow travel agent. This was a Rome itinerary. I searched a few groups and didn't find many agents who have sailed with them.


Well, I've been on Atlas, but not Oceania or RSSC to make a proper comparison. There is a themed dinner each night. There is also a restaurant on the pool deck as well. Entertainment … well, you're basically cheering on your new friends from the staff. BTW, you are called by name from staff the moment you board - they must study passport photos or something.

The demographic is mixed with ages (one child of 16 on the voyage I was on), and all pax were well travelled, friendly, not pretentious at all. Bobby and I would go to the bar or lounge for a pre dinner drink and all but one night, we joined tables with others we had met. We had a great time

a thread from a few years ago

https://texags.com/forums/54/topics/3192058/1