Seeing Antarctica from a larger Cruise Ship

[jff50]

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!

I'm on the Star Princess in Feb 2013, and am considering the excursion that flys over to Antarctica. Did you get to take that excursion? Reaction?

[linda1927]

The fly over is a gamble for $3300. The cruise I was on in dec 2011, the weather was not good for the excursion so we went to the back up site El Calafate, Moreno glacier. This happens most of the time, The Moreno glacier is nice but no way is the price of $2500 worth it. We were served a frozen breakfast with cold coffee on the way there, a box lunch we had to eat walking, the lunch included a salad! When you sign up you take the chance of not going to Antarctica and cannot back out.

[digitl]

I'm on the Star Princess in Feb 2013, and am considering the excursion that flys over to Antarctica. Did you get to take that excursion? Reaction?

On HAL, it's the most-cancelled trip: they need a minimum number of takers and good weather. For that reason, and the possibility of being taken to an alternative location that was neither of interest nor good value, we decided not to take the excursion when we had the opportunity last year, but to book an 'expedition' cruise to Antarctica on Hurtigruten's Fram.

 

Look at the costs of a cruise+excursion compared with an expedition cruise, bear in mind the length of time you will be in Antarctica (plus, on our trip, South Georgia the Falkland Islands and Buenos Aires), and the extra cost may start to seem to be not quite such a problem?

[ibfishing2]

I'm on the Star Princess in Feb 2013, and am considering the excursion that flys over to Antarctica. Did you get to take that excursion? Reaction?

 

I was on the Veendam Jan 2012 and the Antarctic Landing was changed to another destination due to poor weather. Since they were unable to cancel, they were stuck with the change and quite disappointed.

[janmcn]

Definitely see plenty on a large cruise ship…see my photos from our Jan. trip on the Veendam. LOVED it!!! We were surprised that each day was totally different! I would have expected the days there to be similar. GO FOR IT! And a Verandah was terrific…allowed us to stand in the warmth somedays and then pop out for photos.

See my photos (in my signature)

[crabby apple]

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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.

!

 

Is it super hard to get in and out of a zodiac?

 

was it like this??

 

 

was it scary? I read that you can camp overnight !1

 

I did see that there are age limits for some of the excursions also and our son is 12.

[digitl]

The Polar Cirkle's that Hurtigruten use on the Fram are really quite easy and there's a lot of willing help from the crew. One of the passengers on our trip used a wheelchair and, on the gentler transfers, they got her ashore.

[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!

 

It would be like seeing the Grand Canyon from a helo. You won't set foot on Antarctica on a "drive-by" cruise ship.

 

Rc

[Bookish Angel]

Unless it is a case of extreme mobility problems, I'd suggest postponing a trip to Antarctica until enough money was saved for a landings trip. That's what we did. Antarctica is my fave place in the world and I intend to go back on an even smaller ship to have longer landings.