dpro

We crossed the Drake in February of 2010 and the captain said it was the "second worse crossing for that season". We had 50' plus seas and hurricane force wind. Wife was thrown out of her reading chair, I was tossed out of the bunk. At dinner, we all had to use the napkins to tie our chairs to the legs of the table to keep from being tossed out of them. One lady was thrown into a column and had to have stitches in her head. It was exactly what I wanted to experience, and even though we had sailed over 30 times when that occurred, I did get very sick. This went on for almost two days. IT WAS AWESOME (& very scary at times). However, for what we saw and experienced over 22 days, it was the trip of a lifetime. We leave in 6 weeks for a second trip. By all means go, you won't regret it and have at least a 50/50 chance you will have a "Drake Lake" and not the "Drake Shake". :eek:

opatravels dot blogspot dot com for pics and details

We have been to both, Alaska 3 times and going back to AA next year. Antarctica is by leaps and bounds ahead of Alaska for sheer beauty. The excursions is the icing on the cake.

I have just found this thread about the Hurtigruten. We went to Antarctica and the Chilean Fiords in 2007 on the Nordnorge with the Hurtigruten company. We were told then they only take a max of 300 but there were only just over 200 on our cruise.I do not think a full ship would have been an issue. We could not fault the trip, we were numbered into groups of 8 for shore landings with 1 going to the end for the 2nd landing. We did not seem to wait long for our turn and were never rushed to return to the ship. We were given a really good warm parka and they also supplied gumboots. The expedition leaders on board were all doctors in their field and we had excellent talks on the flora, fauna and geology of the area.Our cruise left from Ushuaia and finished at Punta Arenas. I would love to do another cruise and go below the Antarctic circle and would not travel with any other company.

I agree, we went on the Fram in 2010 for the "Shackleton Route", AA, S. Georgia, Falklands, etc. The ship only had 268 on board. We never had any problems with excursions. Once we got ashore, we basically had all the time we wanted, there was no one telling us we had to return after just an hour or so. We are going back on the Midnatsol in November of 2016, plus it leaves from Punta Arenas so there is so much to see there before we sail. Far South Expeditions has some absolutely great trips from Punta Arenas, and we are going to go two weeks early and do an 8 day tour of Patgagonia.

I've read all the reasons for bringing duct tape but here is my question to all those that bring it - would you bring it on another type of vacation or is there something about a cruise that makes it more necessary? I have traveled many places and never had my suitcase burst open or felt the need to duct tape my surroundings.

Being a hiker, on those port intensive cruises, duct tape is absolutely the best thing to cover a blister on your foot. We always bring a small roll everywhere we go.

RC

My travel buckwheat pillow

small electric fan

extension cord

Boy, I just need 3 :)

RonC