Antartica booking advice

[YC]

One for the bucket list – Any recommendations for Antartica journeys and tips to getting the best price?

• This topic was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[JenT]

We went with Oceanwide Expeditions – absolutely excellent and I recommend them to everyone.

There is a great Antarctica forum on Tripadvisor with fantastic advice and experienced travellers as well as a few guides.

Prices are generally cheapest with the operator directly, although we sometimes found travel agents with better prices. I have used Chimu – there aren’t many TAs that do Antarctica so a Google search will be short.

Each of the operators offers something slightly different as far as experiences go, and also price point. There are strict limits on the number of people that can ‘land’ at any landing site at a time – 100. The ‘best’ (read most expensive) are viewed as those ships who have 100 passengers or fewer on board as everyone can do everything at the same time. However, Oceanwide Expeditions (and others) make this work by having 200 passengers or fewer and each session (morning or afternoon) is split into some time on the land and some time in zodiac boats (a bit like RIBs). This is not a bad thing – you can’t see everything on land and the boats get you close to glaciers, whales, other wildlife and general beautiful scenery. Less expensive again are the ‘big’ cruise ships which go to Antarctica but passengers can’t set foot on the continent because of their size, but you can still look at the scenery.

I was originally tempted to go for a trip that crossed the Antarctic Circle as another ‘bucket list’ type thing. However, most of these trips mean lots of sailing time and less time exploring in order to get far enough south. After good advice, I went for one that went less far south down the Antarctic Peninsula but we got to do a lot more.

Expedition ships (those with <200 passengers) are extremely comfortable but not specifically luxurious unless you spend £££££. When you are not out exploring, there are talks to attend if you want to learn more – all of the guides are extremely highly qualified and always have information to share.

Voyage choice – as above, Antarctic Peninsula and Antarctic Circle are most common, but you can also go to the Weddell Sea to see more penguins (more expensive and normally ships are equipped with helicopter) or the Ross Sea from New Zealand/Australia.

Company choice – this will probably be dictated by price, style and trips on your dates. Some include outdoor wear and all equipment in the price or you can pay extra to hire if you don’t own your own.

Dates – different times mean you see different things. Definitely worth researching.

Happy to answer any questions you have – we do not regret going one bit, and are probably headed back there again soon!

[YC]

Thanks Jen – super helpful! Do you recommend doing a fly in/out with cruise? You get more time on the continent but I heard the drake passage is an experience in itself

[JenT]

We couldn’t see the value of the fly in or fly out trips, but we get plenty of annual leave so time was not short for us. I’d have happily (and probably will) gone on one of the 22 day trips that include South Georgia.

The Drake was kind to us but you never know. Those days are not wasted as they are used for briefings, talks on what you are seeing and will see, meeting and getting to know your guides and fellow travellers.

[YC]

Any recommendation for travel insurance for things like antartica? I think main thing is that cost are high so looking for cancellation coverage of £10k+ (flights/cruise/hotels, etc) in case of non-covid medical issues pre-trip.