Antarctica Cruise … Any Experiences ?

[cccole]

Thank you so much.  Because of comments similar to Northern Aurora I have decided to look at smaller ships for Antarctica.  We are seriously looking at dates for Viking.  It really seems like a smaller ship is important if wanting a true Antarctica experience.  Thank you for all of the very informative posts.  We'll save the Eclipse for another cruise!!  Cherie

[Northern Aurora]

And I should have been more clear in my post.  We were not on the Eclipse when we "did" Antarctica in 2015, but we were on a B2B2B series in South America in 2019.  The Eclipse just swamps communities like Ushuaia.  

[Tom47]

Antarctica rules for expedition landings on Antarctica specify pax count under 250, + crew, or  max 500 combined.  Our ship had 234 pax.   Rules may have changed since then

Edited January 22, 2023 by Tom47

[the penguins]

16 hours ago, Tom47 said:

Antarctica rules for expedition landings on Antarctica specify pax count under 250, + crew, or  max 500 combined.  Our ship had 234 pax.   Rules may have changed since then

More importantly the Antarctic Convention, which all responsible cruise operators should adhere to, requires:

1) no more than 100 passengers/crew combined to be on land at any one time 

2) no one person to be on land for more than 60 minutes.

These necessitate in passenger groups being continuously rotated. 

3) Whilst on land nothing should be picked up, dropped or moved.

4) You should not go closer than 20 feet to any of the wild life. Fortunately, if you stand perfectly still, a lot of the wildlife especially the seals will come to you.

Hurtigruten enforce all these and more and any passenger who does not cooperate is simply banned from subsequent landings.

The Convention does not apply to the Falkland Islands nor South Georgia.

[sherylc]

Each of the different Antarctica expedition lines vary in their offerings and experiences. For the cost of the cruise, I recommend spending the time and effort to do a lot of research. Things to focus on include: itinerary (does it include Falklands/South Georgia or just Antarctica), number of passengers (affects the overall experience, landings, etc), additional experiences (most offer Kayaks -- some with fee, others offer additional experiences but make sure you understand how difficult it is to book some of those), past performance (a good place is to check here and that "other place" that also has roll calls, etc -- I learned a ton following the comments from various people as they were on their expeditions). Lastly, be aware that an Expedition cruise does carry risk. As you do your research, you will probably see that this Antarctica season, at least 3 passengers have died do to "accidents" and a few have been seriously hurt. This is rare, but you need to be aware of all aspects of these absolutely amazing experiences. My recent trip was probably the best of my lifetime, and I have traveled quite extensively. 

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, sherylc said:

Each of the different Antarctica expedition lines vary in their offerings and experiences. For the cost of the cruise, I recommend spending the time and effort to do a lot of research. Things to focus on include: itinerary (does it include Falklands/South Georgia or just Antarctica), number of passengers (affects the overall experience, landings, etc), additional experiences (most offer Kayaks -- some with fee, others offer additional experiences but make sure you understand how difficult it is to book some of those), past performance (a good place is to check here and that "other place" that also has roll calls, etc -- I learned a ton following the comments from various people as they were on their expeditions). Lastly, be aware that an Expedition cruise does carry risk. As you do your research, you will probably see that this Antarctica season, at least 3 passengers have died do to "accidents" and a few have been seriously hurt. This is rare, but you need to be aware of all aspects of these absolutely amazing experiences. My recent trip was probably the best of my lifetime, and I have traveled quite extensively. 

All good advice. To add another is the season.

Cruises run from Novemberish to March.

The early season has: more snow making landings harder, lots of "baby" animals and whales.

Late season, end Feb/March: less snow but more exposed rocks, no babies mainly juveniles, most likely no whales.

The exception re babies are King Penguins as they breed all year.

[mdknigge6]

On 11/23/2021 at 8:17 PM, Dave Judy said:

we are going on Celebrity Infinity in a couple of weeks for the Antarctica itinerary.

I have been trying to find out if they give you any information during the cruise regarding The Arctic Circle, or The Red Nose Society -

I have seen some certificates that are issued for this type of sailing to commemorate the "Realm of Antarctica" visit but can't find anything specific to this Celebrity cruise.

Has anyone heard of this???  does Celebrity give any literature or certificates to those on board??

 

 

Edited February 6, 2023 by mdknigge6

[NutsAboutGolf]

8 hours ago, mdknigge6 said:

 

 

Not everyone believes the earth is round but if you do...

Arctic Circle = Northern Hemisphere / North Pole

Antarctic Circle = Southern Hemisphere / South Pole

 

[the penguins]

18 hours ago, mdknigge6 said:

 

I believe the furthest south Celebrity goes is Paradise Bay which is still north of the Antarctic circle.

There will almost certainly be a naturalist to explain things during "scenic cruising", the broadcasts can  typically only be heard on the open decks and not inside the ship. There will also probably be presentations in the theater during the voyage down and back. 

I have used "probably" as post Covid Guest Lecturers have not been available on all cruises.

[radarcruiser]

1 hour ago, the penguins said:

I believe the furthest south Celebrity goes is Paradise Bay which is still north of the Antarctic circle.

There will almost certainly be a naturalist to explain things during "scenic cruising", the broadcasts can  typically only be heard on the open decks and not inside the ship. There will also probably be presentations in the theater during the voyage down and back. 

I have used "probably" as post Covid Guest Lecturers have not been available on all cruises.

We just did Antarctica on Infinity. Paradise Bay is as far south as we got.  It was an amazing experience even though it was only a drive by.  Still saw lots of icebergs, glaciers, whales, penguins, seals and sea lions.  There was a very informative naturalist, Celia Garland, on board. She gave talks most days on the cruise and narration while in Antarctica at least once per hour. Rules prohibit them from blasting the narration on open decks down there.  You would have to duck back inside to listen to the narration. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

They should put those silent disco headphones to good use