Antarctica sailings December 2025

[Mell76]

I see Princess has many sailings already available for December 2025 but Antarctica isn't listed.  Does anyone know if they open these up later or if they are just not going there next December?

[Ken the cruiser]

I believe the answer to your question might be found in post 1 of the following thread.
 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2993880-20252026-cruises-itineraries/
 

[Mell76]

3 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I believe the answer to your question might be found in post 1 of the following thread.
 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2993880-20252026-cruises-itineraries/
 

Thank you!

[cjpj]

They came out in July or August last year for late 2024/early 2025 South America/Antarctica. They had great early booking promotions last year, don't know if that is normal.

[Mell76]

4 minutes ago, cjpj said:

They came out in July or August last year for late 2024/early 2025 South America/Antarctica. They had great early booking promotions last year, don't know if that is normal.

Thank you!

[Hlitner]

For folks interested in Antarctica, there are a few facts that might enter into your thinking.  Cruise lines like Princess and HAL do sometimes have what folks call "drive by" cruises in that part of the world.  New international restrictions really limit how close a normal cruise ship can even get to Antartica (often it is not very close).  

 

New agreements favor cruising on smaller "expedition" ships that meet Polar 6 (or better) standards.  These ships are constructed to high standards to withstand some ice, and not risk damaging the fragile environment.  Expedition ships can be somewhat spartan or they can be luxurious (like the expedition ships of Seabourn, Silversea, Atlas, Ponent, etc).  The big difference is that unlike the "drive by" cruises, these expedition vessels can actually get to places in Antartica and land their passengers ashore (using Zodiacs).   And places like South Georgia Island are also accessible to those ships.

 

The downside to the expedition ships is the cost!  But many would argue it is a situation where you get what you pay for :).

 

Hank

[Ken the cruiser]

48 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

For folks interested in Antarctica, there are a few facts that might enter into your thinking.  Cruise lines like Princess and HAL do sometimes have what folks call "drive by" cruises in that part of the world.  New international restrictions really limit how close a normal cruise ship can even get to Antartica (often it is not very close).  

 

New agreements favor cruising on smaller "expedition" ships that meet Polar 6 (or better) standards.  These ships are constructed to high standards to withstand some ice, and not risk damaging the fragile environment.  Expedition ships can be somewhat spartan or they can be luxurious (like the expedition ships of Seabourn, Silversea, Atlas, Ponent, etc).  The big difference is that unlike the "drive by" cruises, these expedition vessels can actually get to places in Antartica and land their passengers ashore (using Zodiacs).   And places like South Georgia Island are also accessible to those ships.

 

The downside to the expedition ships is the cost!  But many would argue it is a situation where you get what you pay for :).

 

Hank

I don’t know, we saw quite a bit on our recent 30-day B2B cruise on the Sapphire Princess in January, which included 4 days cruising around the Antarctica Peninsula, seeing Iceberg A23a, and going to a variety of SA ports where we saw 5 different types of penguins, sea lions, and Elephant seals up close as well as other local wildlife. (See Live From thread below, although I suggest starting around page 6 just looking at the photos as there are a bunch). 
 

In our case we paid a little over $300 pp/day (net) for an aft-facing vista suite, whereas an expedition cruise can easily run $800+ pp/day for an Oceanview cabin. But if your goal is to put foot on Antarctica, the expedition cruise is definitely your best bet.

Edited March 10 by Ken the cruiser