Tour to Antarctica

[cruisegypsies]

Is it worth it?

 

we are on the Coral Princess, South America & Antarctica cruise, and they offer a tour onto Antarctica.

it is many $$$$ so we wonder is it worth it.

 

We will have plenty of opportunities to see wildlife at the other ports of call.

 

we would like to hear from those that have been on a regular ( not expedition) ship, and taken the  tour.

 11 hours, a total hours of flying there and back, and the rest on land

 

[kaisatsu]

Haven’t done this, so I’ll defer to others who have, but I just wanted to alert you that there’s a very high cancellation rate for these trips. Some of the regular expeditions have options to fly down and/or back, and they’re often delayed by days due to suboptimal weather conditions. Be sure to check what the cancellation policy is. (I vaguely recall someone saying that they ended up subbed onto an expensive and disappointing bus tour when the plane couldn’t fly, but I don’t recall the details.)

 

If geography matters to you, the planes land on King George Island in the South Shetlands, so you’ll still be over 100km from the Antarctic mainland itself.

 

It’s also worth keeping in mind that Antarctic expeditions start at around $6k (most double-occupancy rates start around $8k), so depending on the actual cost of $$$$, it could be worth just setting those funds aside as part of a future trip.

[Bella0714]

9 hours ago, kaisatsu said:

Haven’t done this, so I’ll defer to others who have, but I just wanted to alert you that there’s a very high cancellation rate for these trips. Some of the regular expeditions have options to fly down and/or back, and they’re often delayed by days due to suboptimal weather conditions. Be sure to check what the cancellation policy is. (I vaguely recall someone saying that they ended up subbed onto an expensive and disappointing bus tour when the plane couldn’t fly, but I don’t recall the details.)

 

If geography matters to you, the planes land on King George Island in the South Shetlands, so you’ll still be over 100km from the Antarctic mainland itself.

 

It’s also worth keeping in mind that Antarctic expeditions start at around $6k (most double-occupancy rates start around $8k), so depending on the actual cost of $$$$, it could be worth just setting those funds aside as part of a future trip.

Wow, Kaisatsu, I just saw the price of that: $3,599.95. Add that to the price of the Princess cruise with tax and gratuities and one could easily go on a small ship that makes landings.

[scubacruiserx2]

11 hours ago, kaisatsu said:

Haven’t done this, so I’ll defer to others who have, but I just wanted to alert you that there’s a very high cancellation rate for these trips. Some of the regular expeditions have options to fly down and/or back, and they’re often delayed by days due to suboptimal weather conditions. Be sure to check what the cancellation policy is. (I vaguely recall someone saying that they ended up subbed onto an expensive and disappointing bus tour when the plane couldn’t fly, but I don’t recall the details.)

 

If geography matters to you, the planes land on King George Island in the South Shetlands, so you’ll still be over 100km from the Antarctic mainland itself.

 

It’s also worth keeping in mind that Antarctic expeditions start at around $6k (most double-occupancy rates start around $8k), so depending on the actual cost of $$$$, it could be worth just setting those funds aside as part of a future trip.

 

 

From Princess

 

In the event weather conditions do not permit a landing in Antarctica (historically a 30% chance), an alternate itinerary to Paine National Park (see below) will be substituted. A price adjustment will be made onboard to reflect the revised route and price, which will be the same as tour PUQ-155 (Paine National Park). The tour ticket is still non-refundable, even if the substitution of the alternate itinerary is made.
 

We have been to Paine National , the substitute itinerary , a couple of times and the tours were spectacular

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is where we had lunch

 

[celoplyr]

I've been to Antarctica and we flew back home from KGI.  In my (not so humble) opinion and seeing the price of $3600 I would NOT do it.  Save the money and go back to Antarctica on a different (expedition if you can) ship.  I paid 10k per person in a triple room (12k per person in a twin room) so yes, it was more expensive, but it was also 10 days long.  KGI was basically a giant pile of mud and dirt and was so different than the rest of Antarctica.  It almost felt like we were back in South America.  Let me see if I can find pictures....

 

KGI: 

 

Other places:

 

I'm guessing that "Antarctica" to you means the second set of pictures. If I'm being honest, I picked the best pics of KGI and some pretty boring ones of the rest of Antarctica.  I assume you would get off the island and go to a different island- or at least one with actual penguins- and all penguins are adorable.  But there wasn't a lot of ice around in January of last year at KGI.

Edited October 25, 2019 by celoplyr
added in cost of my trip