Luxury Antarctica

[Lookingtocruise42]

Hi!

 

my husband and I (both m37) are looking at doing an Antarctica cruise in 25 or 26 and trying to determine the line to go with.

We typically travel with luxury and stay at Luxury properties (Four Seasons, Rosewood, Aman, etc) and have done Disney cruises and booked a trip on the Silversea Nova for a couple of months for now.

 

My gut reaction would be to go straight to the highest luxury lines I can find for Antarctica, however, my research has been showing that may not be the best option typically.

So we are trying to find a nice balance of line and wanted opinions:

 

What we want to do:

 

- Go on land

- Do some sort of “camping”

- Hiking

- Kayaking maybe

- See animals

- Sail the drake passage (I really love bumpy rides 😁)

 

Quark. - I’m seeing a decent number of reviews stating that the Ultramarine is a nice balance of luxury and Expedition experience. I’m also seeing some feedback that they have a bunch of upcharges. Price seems to be pretty good when they run their 50 off sales. I think this is in the lead(Do they have exclusions in those sales? Or are literally all cruises in the region of sale on sale?)

 

Lindblad - I’m seeing a ton of reviews talking about the quality of their expeditions, but not really much about the boat or food. I’m also unable to tell if their primary focus is on photos given the natgeo connection.

 

Silversea - This would have been one of our first inclination. However: I’m not really seeing much talking about their expedition quality?

 

Seabourn - The expedition ships seem to be quite nice, but when I looked they were 300+ passengers? So that seems to not be great for Antarctica, no?

 

Pontant - The boats looked quite a bit older? Not sure if I was looking correctly, however.

 

What other lines am I missing? Should I look at?

 

Budget is going to be 30-40k. Probably somewhere between 7-12 days. 

[ilovhywd]

If you go to the Silversea board on this website and click on the thread started by Twangster called “Live from the Wind in Antarctica”, you can read a wonderful hour-by-hour journal of this man's experience on the Silver Wind.  It really gives you an excellent idea what to expect.  His photos are magnificent!

[Nitemare]

You might want to reach out to a luxury travel agency who has a cruise specialist to get the best fit for you

[kaisatsu]

Lindblad has an excellent reputation, but if you're after 5-star dining and accommodations, you may be disappointed.

 

Ponant has a long history in the luxury polar expedition market, but they don't offer camping.

 

Regarding the Ultramarine, if you're in it for the luxury, maybe you can just factor the extra charges into the overall price.

 

While Silversea doesn't have the long history of some of the others, the world of polar expedition staff is small, and most of them rotate between companies based on schedules and availability. I've seen several excellent staffers doing rotations on Silversea recently.

 

The two main passenger thresholds are generally <150 and <250. Most ships that can carry under 150 passengers reduce that number far enough to have a single landing rotation. In the 150-250 range, you usually get the same number of landings but less time ashore. Traveling on a ship >250 passengers is pretty limiting and not something I would do unless it was enough of a bargain to just pick up an go for the hell of it.

 

One thing to be aware of is that most Antarctica trips start at around 11 days (usually including one night pre-embarkation), so you may need to be a bit upwardly flexible on the timing.

 

The suggestion to seek out a specialist travel agent is a good one. There's a lot of information within the polar travel community, but luxury is not the strong suit for most of us!

[grandma*knows*best]

Seabourn Antarctica ships do not carry 300+ passengers. The Pursuit and Venture hold 264 passengers.

 

You will not do any camping in Antarctica, but the other activities you mentioned are available.

Edited March 20 by grandma*knows*best

[mlgb]

Have a look specifically at the newest Lindblad/Nat Geo ship, Endurance.

[3canucks]

You may also want to take a look at Atlas Ocean Voyages.  They are at the smaller end of ships, all newer and they do offer a camping experience.