Choosing a Cruise Line for Antarctica

[cruznmore]

19 minutes ago, Heartfelttraveler said:

The Hurtigruten cruise is December 8, 2020 (EZE-USH).  We are actually planning on arriving in Buenos Aires on December 6 for two nights pre cruise.

What dates are you sailing?

Same dates.  Do you have the Travelzoo special?  Looking forward to this trip and meeting you!

 

Edited August 24, 2019 by cruznmore

[Heartfelttraveler]

Yes we did.  Fantastic price.

You can email me at heartfelttraveler@aol.com to discuss privately.

We are actually traveling with another couple that we take several trips a year with.

How about you guys?

[donaldsc]

One thing that nobody has mentioned is photo equipment.  Take 2 of everything as equipment can and will break or get wet - my primary camera got wet when I spent several hours taking pictures of penguins in the rain.   If you are taking extra lenses, it helps if your primary and your backup camera take the same lenses.  Take lots and lot and lots of batteries.  Also lots and lots of cards.

 

Take a good pair of binoculars for each of you.  Not the $29.95 binocs that some people take but good ones.  Don't buy binoculars on the internet.  You have to try them before you buy them.

 

Take something to back up your photos on a daily basis and remember to do it.  I took a laptop and backed everything up to the computer and to 2 different flash drives daily.

 

Don't buy a new camera just before the trip assuming that you will figure it all out when you get there.  You won't and you will loose pictures.  Don't check tour photo equipment.  If your clothes do not make it, you can manage.  If your photo equipment does not  make it, you are in deep do do.

 

DON

 

 

 

 

[Paul S]

Don’t re-use your camera cards during the cruise. Also, don’t pack your camera cards and backup equipment together, keep them separate when travelling.

[donaldsc]

7 hours ago, Paul S said:

Don’t re-use your camera cards during the cruise. Also, don’t pack your camera cards and backup equipment together, keep them separate when travelling.

 

Good points.

 

DON

[Bizmark'sMom]

On 8/24/2019 at 11:43 AM, Heartfelttraveler said:

The Hurtigruten cruise is December 8, 2020 (EZE-USH).  We are actually planning on arriving in Buenos Aires on December 6 for two nights pre cruise.

What dates are you sailing?

I'm on the Fram starting Dec 2.  I'll wave in your direction!

[cruznmore]

So there are at least three groups from this forum on the Hurtigruten 12/8/20 sailing.  How fun!  Heartfelttraveler, Bizmark'sMom, and Cruznmore. 

[cruznmore]

1 hour ago, cruznmore said:

So there are at least three groups from this forum on the Hurtigruten 12/8/20 sailing.  How fun!  Heartfelttraveler, Bizmark'sMom, and Cruznmore. 

Oops .  Made a mistake here.  Saw that Bizmark'sMom is on the Fram.  

 

[PerfectlyPerth]

>>Take something to back up your photos on a daily basis and remember to do it.  I took a laptop and backed everything up to the computer and to 2 different flash drives daily.<<

 

Agree with this wholeheartedly. I backed up to my iphotos ap on my Macbook every single night, plus a back up to 2 1TB portable harddrives. One lived in my carry on bag and one lived in my checked bag. Did this for every single trip.

[bethtex]

We are doing a Silverseas cruise on the Cloud in Dec 2019.  10 day cruise, plus one night before in Santiago, Chile.  Cruise price includes RT flight from Santiago to Ushuaia and one night in hotel in Santiago pre-cruise.  I believe they also offer from Buenas Aries .

By getting early booking price reduction, it was much cheaper than many others we looked at and would fit your budget.

It is pretty upscale compared to what we have done in the past (primarily Carnival) but we are excited about it.

There is a photo lab on the ship with classes on how to take better photography, how to edit and print, etc.  Really looking forward to that.

by booking with a good TA, also got some on board credit that we will use at the spa, and some of it we can get cash back if we don't use.

 

good luck!

 

[Pengawin3]

Is anyone familiar with Polar Latitudes?

We are looking at them for March 2022 Antarctic. 

They are no longer sailing Hebridean Sky. Probably due to new rules. 

We haven't booked yet. Still looking at Quark, also. 

Thoughts? It's for my 60th birthday. 

[ReturnCruiser]

We've traveled with Quark three times (Antarctica, Svalbard Circumnavigation, East Greenland) and Poseidon Expeditions (South Georgia and Falklands). Both of these companies have terrific expedition staff, ship/hotel crew, itineraries and well maintained ships. Due to COVID concerns, we recently moved our Quark 2021 Russian Arctic expedition to a return to Antarctica in 2023. Check out my blog below if you're interested in reading about our polar adventures.

 

Bob  

[kaisatsu]

On 2/6/2021 at 6:03 PM, Pengawin3 said:

Is anyone familiar with Polar Latitudes?

We are looking at them for March 2022 Antarctic. 

They are no longer sailing Hebridean Sky. Probably due to new rules. 

We haven't booked yet. Still looking at Quark, also. 

Thoughts? It's for my 60th birthday. 

My cabin mate on my last Antarctica trip did her first expedition with Polar Latitudes. She only had good things to say! But considering that she’s a wilderness medicine expert who had chosen to share a cabin on a fairly basic ship for a 30-day Amundsen Sea crossing, I would guess she based her opinions on the expedition operations and didn’t care much about how luxurious the ship was!

[donaldsc]

8 hours ago, kaisatsu said:

My cabin mate on my last Antarctica trip did her first expedition with Polar Latitudes. She only had good things to say! But considering that she’s a wilderness medicine expert who had chosen to share a cabin on a fairly basic ship for a 30-day Amundsen Sea crossing, I would guess she based her opinions on the expedition operations and didn’t care much about how luxurious the ship was!

 

For some cruises, you care about what is on the ship and on others you care about what is outside of the ship.  For Antarctica, you care about what is outside of the ship.  This was my cabin on my recent S. Georgia trip.  A bit of a mess because I tend to snore and my cabin mate couldn't take the noise so he switched to a single cabin.  That meant that I could use his unused bed to keep all the photo and outdoor stuff that I needed to get in a hurry.  The had a bed, a small desk, a head and was a few steps to get outside.  What else do you need?

 

 

Edited March 14, 2021 by donaldsc

[Thecat123]

Is that a partial partition between those two beds on the right?

[donaldsc]

1 hour ago, Thecat123 said:

Is that a partial partition between those two beds on the right?

 

No.  That is a reflection of the 2 beds in a mirror on the wall.  The 2 beds are the width of the room.  I guess it does look as if it is a partition.

 

What you have in the room is the 2 beds, a small desk and a small bathroom. 

 

DON

Edited March 29, 2021 by donaldsc

[Thecat123]

Thats okay then the cabin did kinda look like some we saw on other ships😀 When we started looking at Antarctica 2014, after well traveled friends were saying it was the best place they have visited we checked out different cruise lines which were going to Antarctica.  What we found was that the smaller ships prices didnt really add up due to the smaller number of passengers paying for the ship as compared to the likes of Seabourn who carried more passengers to "share" the cost also with what was included in the cruise price

We had one of the cheaper balcony cabins on the 5th deck on the Quest which the size really surprised us as compared to other cruise lines we have been on which was really good for storage of all our Seabourn supplied Antarctica gearQUEST VERANDA SUITE1.webp

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by Thecat123

[Thecat123]

Try again with the photo from the Encore which is similar to the Quest

[edhopper]

Posted this in another thread, but it is more appropriate here. Thanks.

We are thinking of a Antarctic Cruise in 2023 or 2024. We can't afford the $10,000 + cruises but could do something in the $4,000-$5,000 range. What would be companies to look at, and do you think the new Polar Code will allow less expensive cruises.

[Bella0714]

4 hours ago, edhopper said:

Posted this in another thread, but it is more appropriate here. Thanks.

We are thinking of a Antarctic Cruise in 2023 or 2024. We can't afford the $10,000 + cruises but could do something in the $4,000-$5,000 range. What would be companies to look at, and do you think the new Polar Code will allow less expensive cruises.

If you can stretch that a fair bit and don't mind a ship with 400-500 passengers that'll make one landing a day,  Vacations To Go has Hurtigruten cruises starting at about $6,000.

Edited June 19, 2021 by Bella0714

[edhopper]

Can't see anything with Hurtigruten under close to $9,000.

[Bella0714]

46 minutes ago, edhopper said:

Can't see anything with Hurtigruten under close to $9,000.

Did you go to the Vacations To Go website? I'm seeing a bunch starting at $6,009 on Hurtigruten.

[edhopper]

Thanks Bella, I only looked at Hurtigruten 

[Bella0714]

26 minutes ago, edhopper said:

Thanks Bella, I only looked at Hurtigruten 

BTW, Hurtigruten.no also has significantly lower prices than the U.S. site although not as low as Vacations To Go in this case.

[kaisatsu]

4 hours ago, Bella0714 said:

BTW, Hurtigruten.no also has significantly lower prices than the U.S. site although not as low as Vacations To Go in this case.

This depends on the exchange rate. I booked my Hurtigruten trip in the US when the NOK suddenly weakened and saved quite a bit.

 

But especially for the Norwegian coastal voyages, yes, the Norwegian prices are often lower.

Edited June 20, 2021 by kaisatsu