First cruise to Antarctica

[Vancouver Volleyballers]

http://amberpacificstudios.com/2014/01/12/antarctica-expedition/

[Thecat123]

We are currently on the Seabourn Quest and can't fault Seabourn in any way

5 days at Antarctica with 5 landings

One of our fellow passengers has been updating his postings each day with photos

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1966337

[MrsWaldo]

I am going to second The cats comments

 

We were on the same cruise and I thought we would be let down by the glaciers at Garibaldi and Amalia after being in Antarctica but we were up soooooo close that it was really spectacular.

 

I also thought that part of the coast of Chile would be so so and with the exception of chacabuco (tour hitch) we really enjoyed the whole experience. We wandered all around the small towns and visited the local markets (not just the tourist ones near the port), got out into the countryside, caught local buses etc

 

The lecturers and expedition staff (robin west) were top notch, the food excellent and the captain took time out to circle an iceberg (he slowed the trip to time it so everyone could see it) the same for the pods of killer whales.

 

We had an issue with too much guano at one landing so they brought out extra staff and did zodiac tender from both sides of the ship to ensure we all had maximum time on land

 

One of the advantages of being on the more luxurious ship was that many people chose not to go ashore so often we had only about 30 people with us, especially when it was colder such as brown bluff.

The set up of the ship allowed us to dine outside for breakfast and lunch (dinner was also an option if you wanted)

I doubt I could have coped with another landing each day, it is quite a process getting dressed and undressed!

 

The guys at the Chilean Antarctic base were very friendly, although that may have been because I had a teenage girl alongside. I wouldn't hesitate to go with seabourn again as I felt they got it right for what we wanted.

[HDS]

We had a wonderful experience with Silversea (120 passengers aboard Silver Explorer).

The time on land wasn't an issue as at many sites we were limited in how far we could venture by topography or by environment protection restrictions.

Fram offers a much less expensive option.