Antarctica Cruise … Any Experiences ?

[the penguins]

3 hours ago, foodsvcmgr said:

Undoubtedly a true expedition cruise with landings ashore is superior to a drive by.

However for those with a more limited travel budget being able to at least get an overview of Antarctica on Celebrity for $3,000 pp vs not going at all for $15,000 plus IMO is far better option.

VtoGo have Hurtigruten frome $8000 and there are often deals (often the best are as soon as the itineraries go on sale). Also all the landings are included. Still more expensive than X but not outrageous for a trip of a lifetime. 

[cccole]

Bringing this back to life but...we are considering an Eclipse January or February 2024 Antarctica cruise with the current Celebrity special.  I know that up close and personal cruises are wonderful but would Celebrity cruisers recommend the Eclipse and an Antarctic cruise?  I like the itinerary and the price is nice.  We have been on Celebrity to Alaska and loved it but not on the Eclipse.  Thank you,  Cherie  

[the penguins]

7 hours ago, cccole said:

Bringing this back to life but...we are considering an Eclipse January or February 2024 Antarctica cruise with the current Celebrity special.  I know that up close and personal cruises are wonderful but would Celebrity cruisers recommend the Eclipse and an Antarctic cruise?  I like the itinerary and the price is nice.  We have been on Celebrity to Alaska and loved it but not on the Eclipse.  Thank you,  Cherie  

We love Eclipse and chose it to celebrate our Golden Wedding.

Would we do it to the Antarctic - no.

The ship is not designed for this type of adventure.

Look at the itinerary and see how much time you spend anywhere near the peninsular.

What we would do? Put the money in the bank, add to it next year and do an expedition cruise on an expedition type ship. Other opinions will vary. No right or wrong just personal choice.

[cccole]

the penguins, Thank you so much for this response.  Definitely need to do more research.  Also happy to hear how much you enjoy the Eclipse.  Cherie

[Coates55]

Have done Antarctica with both Celebrity and Princess. The latter cruise was by a long way far better with more days in Antarctica and at least 3 or 4 specialist lecturers onboard. I would seriously look at Princess which offers at least more than 100% cruising time in Antarctica itself. 

[the penguins]

2 hours ago, Coates55 said:

Have done Antarctica with both Celebrity and Princess. The latter cruise was by a long way far better with more days in Antarctica and at least 3 or 4 specialist lecturers onboard. I would seriously look at Princess which offers at least more than 100% cruising time in Antarctica itself. 

more than 100% cruising time in Antarctica? - that's an interesting concept 😂

[sherylc]

Just got off an Expedition cruise with Silversea (also owned by RCCL). If you can do an expedition cruise, especially adding in South Georgia -- it truly is a trip of a lifetime!!

[the penguins]

3 hours ago, cccole said:

the penguins, Thank you so much for this response.  Definitely need to do more research.  Also happy to hear how much you enjoy the Eclipse.  Cherie

Curiosity got the better of me.

Celebrity and Princess both have cruises in Jan 24

Celebrity - 14 nights  - 2 days scenic cruising  Antarctica Peninsula.

Princess - 16 nights - 4 days scenic cruising Antarctic Peninsula.

Both include Port Stanley which is your one opportunity to do a real excursion to see King Penguins in the wild.

However Port Stanley is only accessible by a very long tender ride (25 minutes each way) so actually getting in is problematical ( in some years less than 50% of scheduled cruises are successful). As this figure includes the small expedition ships which actually dock the % of larger ships failing must be higher.

[the penguins]

10 minutes ago, sherylc said:

Just got off an Expedition cruise with Silversea (also owned by RCCL). If you can do an expedition cruise, especially adding in South Georgia -- it truly is a trip of a lifetime!!

Totally agree if it's at all possible South Georgia for the Kings and the smaller Falkland Islands (Albatross and Rock Hopper Penguins etc) are a must. You pinched our SG King pictures ( see post 19).😂 and below.

[sherylc]

I had forgotten about the Rockhoppers and Albatross in the Falklands!

[Ken the cruiser]

3 hours ago, Coates55 said:

Have done Antarctica with both Celebrity and Princess. The latter cruise was by a long way far better with more days in Antarctica and at least 3 or 4 specialist lecturers onboard. I would seriously look at Princess which offers at least more than 100% cruising time in Antarctica itself. 

We recently booked the 16-day Sapphire Princess cruise starting Jan 20, 2024. The expedition cruises sound great, but we just didn't feel like spending around $1,000+ per person per day for an 11 day cruise out of Ushuaia, especially after flying all that way to get there.

 

 

The 16-day Princess "drive by" cruise was such a much better deal, financially, than the Celebrity 14-day cruise at the same time, we booked the follow-on 14-day cruise back to Santiago (from BA) that goes through the fjords along the southern tip of South America.

 

 

BTW if you take the Princess Antarctica "drive by" cruise, you will probably see up to 5 different types of penguins like we did back in 2018, many quite close to you when you're on excursions at the Falkland Islands, Argentina and Chilean ports.

 

Edited January 19, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We recently booked the 16-day Sapphire Princess cruise starting Jan 20, 2024. The expedition cruises sound great, but we just didn't feel like spending around $1,000+ per person per day for an 11 day cruise out of Ushuaia, especially after flying all that way to get there.

 

 

The 16-day Princess "drive by" cruise was such a much better deal, financially, than the Celebrity 14-day cruise at the same time, we booked the follow-on 14-day cruise back to Santiago (from BA) that goes through the fjords along the southern tip of South America.

 

 

BTW if you take the Princess Antarctica "drive by" cruise, you will probably see up to 5 different types of penguins like we did back in 2018, many quite close to you when you're on excursions at the Falkland Islands, Argentina and Chilean ports.

 

Costs depend on how you calculate. If your objective is the Antarctic the cost per day there on an expedition cruise is probably lower than either Celebrity or Princess. True you can see penguins in Argentina and Chile (although it involves extra cost excursions) but then you might as well do the round South America cruise which is the one we chose for our Golden Wedding. We also turned it into a B2B ending in San Diego - the saving on the airfare paid for a lot of the second cruise. 

As I said before, no right or wrong just choice. We have done both the Scenic on Celebrity and expedition on Hurtigruten.

[cccole]

Great posts.  the penguins...are you saying that the cost per day on an expedition cruise is probably lower than Celebrity or Princess because it would be less days?  I'm looking at all options now including an expedition cruise.  It seems like it would be perfect to combine an expedition cruise with a main line cruise back to the U.S.  Thank you to everyone who is contributing!!!  Cherie 

[Ken the cruiser]

5 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Costs depend on how you calculate. If your objective is the Antarctic the cost per day there on an expedition cruise is probably lower than either Celebrity or Princess. True you can see penguins in Argentina and Chile (although it involves extra cost excursions) but then you might as well do the round South America cruise which is the one we chose for our Golden Wedding. We also turned it into a B2B ending in San Diego - the saving on the airfare paid for a lot of the second cruise. 

As I said before, no right or wrong just choice. We have done both the Scenic on Celebrity and expedition on Hurtigruten.

Understand. If possible, could you possibly provide a link to a quality expedition cruise that would be cheaper per day than either a Princess or Celebrity "drive by" cruise. I would definitely be interested in seeing that as the ones we've looked at are around $1,000+ a day that includes a balcony. FWIW we're in a Princess Vista Suite with all included (gratuities, drinks and unlimited internet) for $544 pp/day, not counting all of the OBC we get from Princess as well as from our TA.

[AnnaNicole]

Great thread.  I was just looking at Antarctic cruises for Dec 2023 or January 2024.    Has any one done one on Azamara?   

 

 

[AnnaNicole]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Understand. If possible, could you possibly provide a link to a quality expedition cruise that would be cheaper per day than either a Princess or Celebrity "drive by" cruise. I would definitely be interested in seeing that as the ones we've looked at are around $1,000+ a day that includes a balcony. FWIW we're in a Princess Vista Suite with all included (gratuities, drinks and unlimited internet) for $544 pp/day, not counting all of the OBC we get from Princess as well as from our TA.

$544 per day, per person? 

[Ken the cruiser]

4 minutes ago, AnnaNicole said:

$544 per day, per person? 

Yes. 

 

Cruise Details - 16-Day Antarctica & Cape Horn - Princess Cruises

 

Updated the link as the original one didn't work.

 

Also, those aft-facing VS cabins book fast. That category had been sold out for a few months until one just became available, which allowed us to refare to the cheaper rate it is now being advertised for.

 

Edited January 19, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[rmalbers]

Be sure and price out the Viking expedition ships also if you're researching this.  I think this is only their second year so they don't get the press but they are really nice ships.  They do have a ice 'rating' and aren't a drive by.

[the penguins]

1 minute ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Understand. If possible, could you possibly provide a link to a quality expedition cruise that would be cheaper per day than either a Princess or Celebrity "drive by" cruise. I would definitely be interested in seeing that as the ones we've looked at are around $1,000+ a day that includes a balcony. FWIW we're in a Princess Vista Suite with all included (gratuities, drinks and unlimited internet) for $544 pp/day, not counting all of the OBC we get from Princess as well as from our TA.

Ok, I was just, sort of tongue in cheek, pointing  out that for example to use your figures to cruise Princess costs 💲544 a day X 16 = 💲8700 for which you get 4 days cruising the Peninsula so 💲2175 a day.

As to quality that's very subjective. We chose  Hurtigruten and had an inside cabin as it was the only we we could afford to experience this unique environment in the way it deserved. We had already done the scenic version on Celebrity and frankly for us it just wasn't the way to do the Peninsular.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

27 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Ok, I was just, sort of tongue in cheek, pointing  out that for example to use your figures to cruise Princess costs 💲544 a day X 16 = 💲8700 for which you get 4 days cruising the Peninsula so 💲2175 a day.

As to quality that's very subjective. We chose  Hurtigruten and had an inside cabin as it was the only we we could afford to experience this unique environment in the way it deserved. We had already done the scenic version on Celebrity and frankly for us it just wasn't the way to do the Peninsular.

 

Thanks for providing those additional details. I will note though, we did have a Nov 2022 24-day Antarctica expedition cruise, to include 6 expedition days around the Peninsula plus going to South Georgia Island, booked on the Seabourn Quest for about $900 pp/day with all of the normal perks that would have been an awesome itinerary that later got cancelled. It also started in Santiago and ended up in BA.

 

But on the bright side that cancellation freed us up to go on the below NCL 38-day B2B from Athens to Cape Town by way of Dubai I documented in a Live From thread! 😁

Edited January 19, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[AnnaNicole]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Yes. 

 

Cruise Details - 16-Day Antarctica & Cape Horn - Princess Cruises

 

Updated the link as the original one didn't work.

 

Also, those aft-facing VS cabins book fast. That category had been sold out for a few months until one just became available, which allowed us to refare to the cheaper rate it is now being advertised for.

 

Thanks.  I will look into it.  🙂

[AnnaNicole]

1 hour ago, rmalbers said:

Be sure and price out the Viking expedition ships also if you're researching this.  I think this is only their second year so they don't get the press but they are really nice ships.  They do have a ice 'rating' and aren't a drive by.

Thanks for the info.   I will look into Viking expedition ships too.

[sherylc]

The pictures I posted above were taken on our Silversea Silver Cloud Expedition cruise 12/17/22 through 1/4/23

(Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica). Absolutely amazing trip. Food and service top notch (pretty much anything you want any time). Best cruise ever, but also most expensive cruise we have ever taken  -- worth every penny though!!

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by sherylc
fix date

[Tom47]

We are Elite+.  We did an Antarctica expedition cruise with Hurtigruten.  It was 21 days on the ship, + 3 days ashore in Argentina(package deal from TA).  It cost about 24k for 2 of us in 2016.  It included S. Georgia and the ship was small enough to dock in Port Stanley.  Expedition landings were by zodiac boats.   We recommend it..

[Northern Aurora]

@cccole:  I am rather late to this discussion but just wanted to comment that we have been to Antarctica and have been on the Eclipse several times (we will be boarding her again in March for B2B2B2B series).  So many of the South American ports are small and rather industrial.  The Eclipse is, in my opinion, too large for these ports and towns.  The Eclipse just overwhelms them.