1st time Antarctica cruiser

[iverjym]

We are looking into departing from South America to cruise to Antarctica. A couple of questions we need help with.

1: Which South American departure port is best?

2:Which cruise line will let you land and walk on the continent?  We understand that weather and other things may factor into the decision but after spending so much to get there we'd like to increase our chances if possible. We don't need luxury just a ship that's functional and safe.

Thank you in advance!!

Edited May 22 by iverjym

[Nitemare]

10 hours ago, iverjym said:

We are looking into departing from South America to cruise to Antarctica. A couple of questions we need help with.

1: Which South American departure port is best?

2:Which cruise line will let you land and walk on the continent?  We understand that weather and other things may factor into the decision but after spending so much to get there we'd like to increase our chances if possible. We don't need luxury just a ship that's functional and safe.

Thank you in advance!!

1) Which one is best depends on if you have a personal preference, but it mostly depends on which ship/itinerary you are traveling.  I am not familiar with anyone who chose their Antarctica trip based on the departure port

 

2) Any of the smaller ships will let you land and walk on the continent.  It is extremely rare that all land excursions will be canceled.  So none of the majors like Princess, NCL, Royal, Celebrity, etc, will have landings scheduled.  Those cruises are much less expensive as they are just Sail Bys

[kaisatsu]

If you’re looking for landings in Antarctica, you’ll need to be on a smaller ship with less than 500 passengers. If you want to land more than once per day, that goes down to 250. And if you want as much time ashore as possible, the closer to 100 passengers the better. I’ve traveled with Hurtigruten, G Expeditions, and Oceanwide and would recommend any of them. Quark and Lindblad also have long histories and good reputations.

 

Expedition cruises (those with landings) usually depart from Ushuaia or Punta Arenas. Some companies include a charter flight from a larger city (typically Buenos Aires).

 

If you’re looking to combine Antarctica with more of South America, you would need to look at the first or last trip of the season or book them separately. Large-ship cruises that include Antarctica on a South America sailing will not include landings, and the only option (if any) would be an expensive and very weather-dependent flight excursion from Chile that carries people down to a short stop in the South Shetlands and back.

[OnTheJourney]

I will offer one thought, which is that if you've never traveled in South America before (we hadn't), a cruise departure out of Buenos Aires is really nice. We flew into there, and then cruised down to Antarctica and back again. The itinerary included Montevideo and Puerto Madryn. Many cruises fly down to and start from Ushuaia, as was previously mentioned. That said, we did a "drive by" but were happy enough with it.  For an expedition experience, I'd strongly consider Viking among whatever other choices you are looking at.

Edited September 12 by OnTheJourney

[kaisatsu]

On 9/12/2024 at 2:53 PM, OnTheJourney said:

a cruise departure out of Buenos Aires is really nice. We

Curious what you enjoyed about this?

 

My last Antarctic expedition wasn’t able to disembark in Ushuaia due to COVID, so we had to sail up to Montevideo instead. It was fascinating to see the huge fleet of Chinese squid fishing vessels with their insanely bright lights all lined up along the border into international waters, but other than that, I just found it to be a lot of quiet days at sea.

[OnTheJourney]

On 9/14/2024 at 7:40 AM, kaisatsu said:

Curious what you enjoyed about this?

We greatly enjoyed Buenos Aires for one thing and spent a few days there before the cruise. Then, it was just exciting knowing we were heading down to Antarctica and also, as I had mentioned, we had never done any traveling in South America. Plus, we had lovely weather and smooth sailing across the Drake - both ways.

 

I had forgotten about those squid fishing vessels! Just like you said, a huge fleet of them. Time was when we didn't like sea days at all. Now we love them. Just sitting out on the balcony relaxing, reading, and enjoying whatever there is to see is just fine with me.