Antarctica - is Elephant Island worth giving up 4 days of cruising the peninsula?

[the penguins]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Unfortunately not. However, I did create a video using some of the pictures we took if that would help.

 

 

 

Love the pics especially the dinosaur - this is a full size model of the world's largest dinosaur found to date. The museum is being enlarged to hold the skeleton and researchers have now found that this one was not fully grown and they are hoping to find an adult. To give you an idea of size if you look closely at the pic below I am standing between it's front legs and I am 6 feet tall. 

[the penguins]

1 minute ago, the penguins said:

Love the pics especially the dinosaur - this is a full size model of the world's largest dinosaur found to date. The museum is being enlarged to hold the skeleton and researchers have now found that this one was not fully grown and they are hoping to find an adult. To give you an idea of size if you look closely at the pic below I am standing between it's front legs and I am 6 feet tall. 

[Ken the cruiser]

On 1/23/2022 at 3:53 AM, the penguins said:

I wasn't implying we didn't see wildlife but most of your pics and indeed the ones used by Celebrity are from Chile and Argentina on an extra cost excursion. The King's are presumably from the Falklands on an excursion from Stanley. We enjoyed both trips and if health issues didn't prevent us doing the Fram itinerary again we would book tomorrow.

OK, my DW just sent me this Silversea link. So we just might be doing an Antarctica Expedition cruise yet! 😂😂

 

https://www.silversea.com/destinations/antarctica-cruise/puerto-williams-to-puerto-williams-wi240106015.html

[Poconolady]

Concerning the  photos from the sail by cruise-how close to land does the ship get? Can you actually see wildlife with binoculars from the deck? How much zoom was used for the photos?

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, Poconolady said:

Concerning the  photos from the sail by cruise-how close to land does the ship get? Can you actually see wildlife with binoculars from the deck? How much zoom was used for the photos?

Pretty close, maybe 200-300 yards from shore at times. You can see plenty of wildlife without binoculars, both on land as well as on floating icebergs.

[Coates55]

Have done both Celebrity and Princess trips to Antarctica. Princess wins by a mile. Much more time cruising in the Antarctic waters and an excellent team of naturalists and other specialists onboard giving indepth talks. Elephant Island is ok but the cruising in and around the Gerlache Straights was indeed the highlight.

[Ken the cruiser]

24 minutes ago, Coates55 said:

Have done both Celebrity and Princess trips to Antarctica. Princess wins by a mile. Much more time cruising in the Antarctic waters and an excellent team of naturalists and other specialists onboard giving indepth talks. Elephant Island is ok but the cruising in and around the Gerlache Straights was indeed the highlight.

Thanks for your insight! We are definitely leaning towards the 2024 Princess Antarctica cruise whenever they finally decide to post them. However, at least Celebrity has one that will satisfy our Antarctica drive-by craving.
 

As far as the 2024 Silversea expedition cruise I listed above, we’ve now decided (again) to pass on an expedition cruise for 2 reasons, any potential early 70s health issues that may pop up between now and then, and the $40K price tag for a 15 day cruise. We can do a lot of Antarctica drive by cruises in a very nice cabin for $40K. 😁

Edited February 9, 2022 by Ken the cruiser