2nd Trip to Antarctica - Which line?

[bethtex]

We went to Antarctica in Dec 2019 on Silver Cloud.  It was the most amazing trip.  2 excursions a day (except one day when weather prevented and we sailed by ice bergs).  We only had about 200 passengers and were divided into groups of about 50 for each landing/excursion. 

We want to go again, but SSea prices have gone up quite a bit.  So looking at other lines.

 

Was looking at Hurtigurten, but it looks like the cabins are considerably smaller, and only guaranteed one landing a day.  Is this correct?  One post I read mentioned paying for excursions - do you have to pay extra for anything?  The dinner choices seem limited too.

 

Also considering Viking.  Some good deals now including air.  I think the only extras to pay for are gratuities and submarine (it costs extra).  But what can anyone tell me about excursions?  how many a day can we expect? 

 

What about Seabourne?   how would its expeditions compare?  What costs are not included in the basic fare?

 

Linblad and Nat Geo are more expensive than SSea so aren't under consideration.  Any others I should consider?

 

Finally for people who have been to Antarctica more than once - did you feel your later trips were less "special" than your first trip?  Our first trip was so perfectly spectacular, we wonder whether we should stick with that rather than risk being disappointed in another trip.  

[2552phxcrzr]

Check out Quark and Oceanwide.  We did first with Quark … including South Georgia and Falklands.  Second trip was Ushuaia to New Zealand … by way of the Ross Sea … an amazing 30-day experience with helicopters (on Ortelius).  We are booked with Oceanwide again for 2025 … this time to the Wendell Sea.  We were delighted with our experiences each time.

 

Most recently we dipped into the Antarctic Peninsula on an Oceania world cruise … not the same as an expedition, and in our case, I nice to have on the itinerary because of our previous expedition experiences.

 

We did not find that being return visitors to Antarctica dimmed our pleasure at all.  Admittedly, we were more relaxed on the peninsula part of the second cruise since we’d been there before.  But that didn’t stop us from enjoying every outing be it on a zodiac or on a landing.

[kaisatsu]

Since you’re asking about dinner choices, I’m guessing most of my choices would not cater to the trip you’re looking for! 🙂

 

While I can’t speak to luxury, cabin size, and culinary quality on the fancier lines, I can address the number of landings. A ship under 150 passengers will almost certainly try to have two activities per day. A 150-250 passenger ship will aim for two activities per day but has less flexibility in schedule and landing sites. A ship with more than 250 passengers will be extremely restricted and likely will have a single activity per day.

 

I have traveled with Hurtigruten on my second trip, and we managed two activities per day. However, we were on Fram, which is smaller than some of their other expedition ships. They obviously include landings with no extra cost. When we had a landing canceled due to ice conditions, they offered a scenic zodiac cruise, but this had to be a bit time restricted as they don’t have capacity for all passengers to be out at once. The paid zodiac excursions are supplementary to the normal landings, and we didn’t try it. We did join the kayaking once, and I liked being able to do it one time for the experience (my first trip required signing up for and paying for a program that lasted the entire trip). We entered the drawing for the camping but were not lucky. I think being able to pre-book camping is a better system for those who really want to do it.

 

As for return trips, if you travel at a different time of year, it will be a very different trip even when visiting the same landing sites. My second trip had a few repeated sites from my first trip, and the experience was quite different. My only caveat with the second trip was that there were small details of my first trip that I was missing and wouldn’t have even known about otherwise (a large mudroom with gear storage, having expedition staff driving zodiacs and adding expert commentary, different kinds of passenger-staff interactions, etc). And my third trip was completely different once again.

[bethtex]

Thanks - appreciate all the information and insight.

Good idea to go at a different time of year.

 

[2552phxcrzr]

15 hours ago, bethtex said:

Thanks - appreciate all the information and insight.

Good idea to go at a different time of year.

 

Determine what is important to you to see when you go in order to pick the right time of the year.  For example, if you want to see fluffy chicks, you can’t go too late in the season. On the other hand, whales seem to be more populous later in the season.  These are just some examples.  When we did our first expedition in 2017, I remember finding a calendar for wildlife in the Antarctic somewhere on the web that helped us determine that early January should be our target.  (I’m traveling for the next while, otherwise I’d find the calendar on my laptop and attach it.)

[bethtex]

Thanks - good idea 

There in early December before , penguin eggs, but no chicks.  Going later might be fun.

[roaming_kiwi58]

We went to the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica with Hurtigruten, on the Fram, in January 2019. Fantastic trip! South Georgia the absolute highlight, for the amazing wildlife. 

The cabins on the Fram were small, but it doesn't matter when you don't spend much time in them.

We had two landings each day, weather permitting. The only excursions that were extra charge was the camping overnight ashore, and maybe the kayaking - not sure, as we did not do it.

Lots of chicks to be seen. 

We had previously done a "sail by" to Antarctica with Holland America. We felt the lectures on HAL were actually better than those on Hurtigruten. The naturalists on HAL were excellent. But of course the landing experiences and the closeup with the wildlife on the Hurtigruten trip took the whole experience  to another level.

However, we enjoyed both trips very much and would do either again, given the opportunity. I would particularly love to return to South Georgia. Probably won't happen unfortunately, as we are collecting health issues as we get older and we still have other places on our bucket list!