Seeing Antarctica from a larger Cruise Ship

[sansterre]

We are booked for Jan. 2013 and I'm wondering what we can expect to see from the larger cruise ship in Antarctica. We had planned to take a smaller ship last year, but couldn't go due to illness. Now I wonder if we will see enough of Antarctica just cruising on a large ship. I don't think we stop, but then I'm not sure I mind that so much, except to say I stepped foot on another continent. Thoughts please!

[2552phxcrzr]

For us making landings, doing zodiac cruises was important and not because we wanted to be able to say that we stepped foot on the continent. There's something special about this part of the world and to be able to experience it up close and personal was important to us. Those who've done it on a big ship with no landings seem happy enough with their decision when they post after the fact; it would have been most dissatisfying for us and I'm glad we waited, saved, and did our cruise on a small ship.

[falcon10156]

We are booked for Jan. 2013 and I'm wondering what we can expect to see from the larger cruise ship in Antarctica. We had planned to take a smaller ship last year, but couldn't go due to illness. Now I wonder if we will see enough of Antarctica just cruising on a large ship. I don't think we stop, but then I'm not sure I mind that so much, except to say I stepped foot on another continent. Thoughts please!

 

 

Depends on the ship. They do have day trips to Antarctica from Punta Arenas (on HAL and Princess at this time) although a bit expensive. I would do it for the bragging rights LOL

 

Im doing the landing on HAL in January 2012 (fingers crossed that weather is good). Looking forward to it!

[KirkNC]

A bit expensive is an understatement. I think it is more than $2,500 /pp :eek:

 

Kirk

[cands]

I would definitely go ahead with the big ship cruise. You do see an incredible amount and it is a very special experience.

 

Please see our photos taken from Royal Princess (old) in 2004/2005.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/c-j-b/collections/72157600045002733/

 

Since our cruise, we have always wanted to go back. That dream has finally come true and we are taking an expedition cruise on Orion this coming January.

 

Enjoy!

 

Steve and Chris.

[digitl]

Im doing the landing on HAL in January 2012 (fingers crossed that weather is good). Looking forward to it!

If landing really is important to you, you should remember that this is HAL's most cancelled trip.

[Keith1010]

We sailed off Antarctica on a larger ship in 2007 for a couple of days and it was spectacular. It was one of our most incredible cruising experiences.

 

Here are a few photos.

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RSUsL5Z7tXQ/TrjnDEczPxI/AAAAAAAAKdI/XGWXz5O3c2o/s1600/DSCN2362.jpg

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bw-KXq0Xkgg/TrjnT7PFKhI/AAAAAAAAKdo/DLjT8rU0kA0/s1600/RSCN2392.jpg

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IEf2EUHW9SQ/TrjnUmNJ7jI/AAAAAAAAKdw/tIDRrcMRo3o/s640/RSCN2397.jpg

 

Keith

[cnbfrank]

Here's a wonderful blog with photos created by a fellow passenger on our Veendam january 2011 trip.

 

http://bescotti.blogspot.com/2011/01/saturday-1-january-2011.html

 

There were a couple of earlier blogs of Prinsendam 66-day SA trips, perhaps in 2009 or 2010, which really inspired us to take this shorter Veendam trip. Can't find them right now, though. :(

[sansterre]

Thanks for the good and thoughtful comments.

[donaldsc]

Let me slightly rephrase the thread topic - "Seeing Europe from a Larger Ship" where you cruise by places in Europe but stop at none of them. IMHO, the large ship Antarctica cruises are the equivalent.

 

DON

[iantowns]

I disagree.

 

Europe is all about culture, food, people, architecture...

 

Seeing Antarctica from a big ship is the equivalent of seeing something like the Grand Canyon from a helicopter. Fine if it's all you can do...

[BORDER REIVER]

I might be wrong here but, I would think that how much you can see depends on weather conditions and ice.

We had an amazing visit to Greenland last year on P&O Aurora. The weather was perfect for the approaches and the views of towering mountains, glaciers and huge icebergs were beautiful. The only problem was that we had to organise our own excursion as P&O had stopped offering excursions in Greenland because of unreliability of the weather. Some previous attempts at visiting Greenland with big ships had been unsuccessful, with either storms or icebergs preventing the large ships from even getting near land. The previous year, the passengers had to be content with very distant views, whereas we were able to cruise among the icebergs in very settled weather

It may be that the same might apply to Antarctica, with weather and particulary ice conditions dictating how close a large ship can approach the continent, whereas smaller ships can almost always reach places that the large ones can't, especially ones with ice strengthened hulls.

This is something we thought long and hard about before deciding to visit Antarctica on an expedition type ship. We had spoken to others who had done a large ship sail-by and they had seen a bit, but wished they could have gone much closer and even gone ashore.

[pke-atlanta]

We did this trip on the Silver Explorer and absolutely loved it. Because the ship was only sailing with 99 passengers (international treaty limits landings to 100 passengers at a time), we were able to maximize the amount of time we were actually on the continent. I probably spent 4-5 hours on land every day that we were down there, and never got tired of it in the least. Hiking up mountains to see the views or walking just a few feet away from 1000's of penguins was just amazing, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

In my opinion, there are really only 2 possible reasons for doing a large, "drive by" ship: one is if you have mobility challenges and can't maneuver in/out of a zodiac, or have difficultly walking. The other is if an expedition trip is just impossible for you financially (they are significantly more expensive than the drive by trips). If neither of those is the case for you, do the expedition trip. But if the drive by trip is the only option, and the choice is to either do that or not see Antarctica at all, I would do the large ship.

 

Personally, I can't wait to get back to Antarctica on another expedition!

[dileep]

For us making landings, doing zodiac cruises was important and not because we wanted to be able to say that we stepped foot on the continent. There's something special about this part of the world and to be able to experience it up close and personal was important to us. Those who've done it on a big ship with no landings seem happy enough with their decision when they post after the fact; it would have been most dissatisfying for us and I'm glad we waited, saved, and did our cruise on a small ship.

 

Agree. If you can afford it, and are physically capable, the small ship experience with multiple landings and zodiac rides is the way to go! We did it in 2010 when there were good sales and had a great time.

 

I would consider the big ship experience as the "consolation prize". Seeing from a distance is not the same, but certainly better than nothing!

[dileep]

A bit expensive is an understatement. I think it is more than $2,500 /pp :eek:

 

That gives you 4 hours at Frei Base. Compare that to 16 days on a small ship in Falkland, South Georgia, and Antarctica for $7000.

[tupper10]

We had the same decision to make - we had booked on a drive by large cruise ship and ended up on a small expedition ship - Silver Seas. We added up our costs - airfare was identical and then the cost of the cruise plus adding in the cost of the excursions. When we added everything up the difference was not as great as we had originally thought especially because we took the cheapest room on Silversea. We also thought about why we were going on this cruise and what we wished to see- our original cruise did Antarctica plus ports in S.A. We really wanted to see Antarctica so we were paying lots of $$ for places we did not want to go to at that time. We bit the bullet said we will do this one time in our lives and went with the expedition ship. We just told our kids we would be leaving them our travel photos in our will. In my opinion a drive by cannot be compared to an expedition cruise. We had people in their 80's on our cruise who did just fine. If you are healthy and can do the zodiacs go for it. It is a once in a life time experience though we would go back in an instant if we could.

[dileep]

We had the same decision to make - we had booked on a drive by large cruise ship and ended up on a small expedition ship - Silver Seas. We added up our costs - airfare was identical and then the cost of the cruise plus adding in the cost of the excursions. When we added everything up the difference was not as great as we had originally thought especially because we took the cheapest room on Silversea. We also thought about why we were going on this cruise and what we wished to see- our original cruise did Antarctica plus ports in S.A. We really wanted to see Antarctica so we were paying lots of $$ for places we did not want to go to at that time. We bit the bullet said we will do this one time in our lives and went with the expedition ship. We just told our kids we would be leaving them our travel photos in our will. In my opinion a drive by cannot be compared to an expedition cruise. We had people in their 80's on our cruise who did just fine. If you are healthy and can do the zodiacs go for it. It is a once in a life time experience though we would go back in an instant if we could.

 

 

Well said. We also picked a low deck picture window room to reduce our costs. Best cruise ever!

[kaisatsu]

That gives you 4 hours at Frei Base. Compare that to 16 days on a small ship in Falkland, South Georgia, and Antarctica for $7000.

Or if $7000 is out of your budget, consider a basic ship doing the Antarctica Peninsula (no Falklands or South Georgia) at the beginning of the season. I paid $5500 for 11 nights in a double, and many of the people on the ship had booked into a triple paid around $4500. There was at least one couple who decided to book separately into triple-shares, so they could save another $2000, and another who invited their daughter along to fill a triple occupancy.

 

The big draw of going later in the season is the increase in wildlife opportunities (penguin chicks hatching, seal calves, more whales, etc), and the downside of early November is that many of the landing sites are still iced in. But if you're considering a drive-by anyway, this shouldn't matter as much. We still managed 7 landings and a handful of zodiac cruises in addition to the ship cruising you're doing anyway!

[dileep]

Or if $7000 is out of your budget, consider a basic ship doing the Antarctica Peninsula (no Falklands or South Georgia) at the beginning of the season. I paid $5500 for 11 nights in a double, and many of the people on the ship had booked into a triple paid around $4500. There was at least one couple who decided to book separately into triple-shares, so they could save another $2000, and another who invited their daughter along to fill a triple occupancy.

 

 

What ship did you go on? 11 days in just Antarctica sounds great. With 2 days travel each way, you probably had 7 days in the peninsula.

[DougH]

I did a "drive by" on the Star Princess a couple of years ago and loved it. Yes I would have liked to do one of the smaller ships but they were way out of my budget traveling as a single. We saw lots of fantastic scenery and it was very impressive.

 

I had always thought I'd do this trip on the Marco Polo as a compromise between the big and small ships and get the bonus of the actual landings but waited too long and they sold her before I could take the cruise.

 

FYI I'd do another large ship if I had the chance

[HDS]

"We did this trip on the Silver Explorer and absolutely loved it. Because the ship was only sailing with 99 passengers (international treaty limits landings to 100 passengers at a time), we were able to maximize the amount of time we were actually on the continent."

 

PKE-Alanta, We chose Silver Explorer for 2012 largely because of its previously publicised 99 passenger limit for Antarctic cruises. This summer they are sailing with a full complement of passengers, 100+ so we will have to queue for landings. Very disappointed in Silversea so far for this and another reason.

[dpro]

We are booked for Jan. 2013 and I'm wondering what we can expect to see from the larger cruise ship in Antarctica. We had planned to take a smaller ship last year, but couldn't go due to illness. Now I wonder if we will see enough of Antarctica just cruising on a large ship. I don't think we stop, but then I'm not sure I mind that so much, except to say I stepped foot on another continent. Thoughts please!

 

We did Antarctica on the Fram in Feb. of 2010, 22 days on the Shackleton Route. It is hard to compare just watching huge icebergs sail by and sailing into places like Wilhemina Bay, or the Lemaire Channel, along with many zodiac landings to get the full experience of AA. If all you can afford is the drive-by, then it is worth it, on the flip side if you want a true experience of a lifetime, there is nothing like an "expedition" type cruise with landings to AA.

 

We are going back for another AA cruise, probably on the Fram again, when they post the itinerary and date we need.

 

In the meantime, if you want to see a little of what you will miss on a drive by, check out the link below. I can promise if you take the expedition cruise you will not be disappointed.

 

opatravels(dot)blogspot(dot)com/2010/02/goin-south.html

 

[joygal123]

I would definitely go ahead with the big ship cruise. You do see an incredible amount and it is a very special experience.

 

Please see our photos taken from Royal Princess (old) in 2004/2005.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/c-j-b/collections/72157600045002733/

 

Since our cruise, we have always wanted to go back. That dream has finally come true and we are taking an expedition cruise on Orion this coming January.

 

Enjoy!

 

Steve and Chris.

 

Husband and I are contemplating this cruise with a larger ship. The small ships would be nice but its a bit pricey for us at this time. We will be getting a cabin with balcony...which side of ship should we be on to get the best view...the one facing land or sea? or does it matter.

[joygal123]

We sailed off Antarctica on a larger ship in 2007 for a couple of days and it was spectacular. It was one of our most incredible cruising experiences.

 

Here are a few photos.

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RSUsL5Z7tXQ/TrjnDEczPxI/AAAAAAAAKdI/XGWXz5O3c2o/s1600/DSCN2362.jpg

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bw-KXq0Xkgg/TrjnT7PFKhI/AAAAAAAAKdo/DLjT8rU0kA0/s1600/RSCN2392.jpg

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IEf2EUHW9SQ/TrjnUmNJ7jI/AAAAAAAAKdw/tIDRrcMRo3o/s640/RSCN2397.jpg

 

Keith

 

Which ship did you sail on. We are trying to decide on that cruise coming up.

[cnbfrank]

On our Veendam trip, we had an oceanview, so spent most of our time on the open bow or the back of the promenade deck where we could move easily from port to starboard as sightings were announced from the bridge. A friend upgraded to a balcony said she still spent most of her time on the open decks to appreciate the 360 views and to comprehend the scale of the mountains and icebergs surrounding us. The ship also rotated a few times and repeated a couple of routes in reverse.