Opinions on best ship to Antarctica

[Tarheelbelle]

Interesting. Did you enjoy anything?

From my research, it would seem that this ship and cruiseline are under different management since 2003. Also, there has apparently been refurbishment. Certainly the blog by Peter Knego on MaritimeMatters.com about his trip this year [http://www.maritimematters.com/discovery-blog1.html ] , gives a very different picture of things, as does the review by a CC member of her 2007 sailing. [http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=25926 ]

I would be very upset too if a dish advertised as vegetarian contained any meat or seafood.

Thanks for posting your opinions!

[donaldsc]

We have cruised with Norwegian Coastal Voyages in Norway and like their product. I've read some reviews about the 2 ships they use in Antarctica and was curious if anyone has cruised with them along with any other line in Antarctica.

 

Are there any ships/lines that cross the Antarctic Circle. Looks like everybody gets close, but don't cross it.

 

We're looking at the 2008/2009 season.

 

I did the 18 day Antarctica and Chilean Fjord trip last year. In fact, we were the last trip before she ran aground in Antarctica. BTW, I believe that they are now using their new ship, the Fram, for that route.

 

I would have prefered more Antarctica and less Fjords (although they were great) but that not withstanding, the ship in very nice, cabins are comfortable, food is OK, staff is great, and the trip was fantastic.

 

Highly recommended if you want to get on land and don't want to pay the price of a <100 passenger ice breaker.

 

DON

[Kelownabccan]

I am thinking about this one for 16 days....goes cruising Antarctica for four days??????? I do not think that means any shore trips...prob would be like Alaska in the glacial areas....what are any thoughts about this one....looks fairly interesting and air to BAires and back from Santiago to Seattle is pretty reasonable at $950 return.....Ken

[Kelownabccan]

how about this one.....Azamara Jan 23 2009....owned by Celebrity called the Axamara Journey....a smaller ship....looks good too but prob no getting off the ship....?????more expensive than the Princess on Jan 17th....for a first taste of the area the Princess one looks quite interesting.....anyone...Ken

[Tarheelbelle]

KelownaNCL,

When I was researching, I considered the Journey. I called Celebrity and they confirmed that the Antarctic part of the trip was just sailing by. Ditto Princess and HAL. No Zodiac landings. They do stop in the Falklands.

[Kelownabccan]

KelownaNCL,

When I was researching, I considered the Journey. I called Celebrity and they confirmed that the Antarctic part of the trip was just sailing by. Ditto Princess and HAL. No Zodiac landings. They do stop in the Falklands.

 

Figured as much....prob nice views from the ship if cruising by for four days anyways.....hope you like the discovery one...atleast you go ashore with the penguins..ha ha...Ken

[Shorex]

Are there any ships/lines that cross the Antarctic Circle. Looks like everybody gets close, but don't cross it.

 

Yes, if you have deep pockets, and I don't mean in your parka.;)

 

First, take a look at this MAP.

 

See how the Antarctic Peninsula juts north towards South America? Between the natural formation of the peninsula and the ice (even in "summer"), it's not practical to cross the circle from that side.

 

However, take a look at the approach from the New Zealand side. Expedition ships from Australia/New Zealand cross the circle to the Ross Sea and McMurdo Sound.

 

Aurora Expeditions, based in Australia, has expeditions to this "Deep Antarctic." Departure is from either Hobart, Tasmania, or Bluff, New Zealand. And you'll even see the emperor penguins.

[Shorex]

Between the natural formation of the peninsula and the ice (even in "summer"), it's not practical to cross the circle from that side.

 

However, a little further search found the Gregoriy Mikheev and the Aleksey Maryshev, ships that do cross over the circle from Ushuaia. These are basic Russian research vessels that reach south to Detaille Island and Crystal Sound. For the adventurous. I'd love to get a review of the food.:eek:

[slotl]

Kelowna NCL,

 

As I posted a few pages earlier (or in roll call), we did our research and most of the ships do "only" the sail-by. Very few actually "land" in Antartica.

 

We are very skeptical about the safety of the Russian ships and the "other boats" that cruise the Antartica.

 

We finally decided on the Star Princess sailing r/t Buenos Aires. I believe it is the same itinerary in 2008 and 2009. We chose the "safety" and ambience of the Princess ship which matches more with our "comfort level" of cruising.

 

I guess we are "adventureous" but still want our level of "luxury". We booked this cruise approximately 18 months in advance.

[Shorex]

The Crystal Symphony will be cruising Antarctica in early January of 2009. (No landings.) We were on the Symphony in 2005 for the Antarctic segment (Valparaiso to Buenos Aires).

 

While the guests did not land on the continent, the ship paused by Palmer Station. The scientists from the station came aboard via Zodiak to lecture and mingle (and enjoy the food). I highly recommend the Symphony to anyone who wants to combine luxury cruising with the scenery of the Antarctic.

[Fairsky]

I went to Antarctica in January of 1996 for my DH and my 10th wedding anniversary...

 

We cruised on Abercrombie and Kent's Explorer....If you want an expedition type cruise I would recommend them, if you want a real cruise, then some of the normal cruise lines...when we booked it started as a cruise and everything was in color, then when we paid the cruise became an expedition....we had several nobel laureates on board and several people that had climbed Mt. Everest!! The food was very mediocare, so do not take this cruise if you are a food guru

 

We did two landings a day once we got to Antarctica one in the AM and one in the PM

 

The ship did not have stabilizers so the trip down and back was very rough, so if you are prone to seasickness, stay in bed if it is bad out

[CruisenOne]

Well,

 

My hubby and I want to go to Antartica that way we will have set foot on all the Continents.......;) (such a goal).

 

Anyway, we did some EXTENSIVE research on what ship to take. Ultimately, we choose the BIG one.....the Star Princess in January, 2008. Our second choice would have been the Marco Polo (Orient LInes).

 

The Star Princess is a "Cruise By".

There aren't any landing.

 

We sailed on the Marco Polo in January, 06.

Passengers were limited to 450.

 

We made three Zodiac landing; which lasted about a hour and a half.

Zodiacs carried fourteen passengers.

Landings were rotated on a color tag basis.

[Lee77]

I have been looking at the Star Princess cruise as well. Are you buying your own air? Air sure adds quite a bit to the price. Yikes! We would like to spend some time in BA..maybe a week or so coming or going.

 

The expedition type cruises are quite expensive and I think we would enjoy spending the extra $$ on BA extension. Besides, I'm worried I can't get in and out of those zodiacs!

[Kelownabccan]

I think for us in Canada it if far cheaper to do your own air as we want to stay ahead of the cruise and after for perhaps a week either side as prob will never go back to that area again.....American has a flight to Dallas and a direct flight each day to BA and back from Sant....and price for next year goes at $950 return....I thought that was good....

[slotl]

Delta started service to Buenos Aires DIRECT from Atlanta. We were lucky enough to get frequent flyer miles for this cruise. :D We live in a surburb of Atlanta.

[Kelownabccan]

Delta started service to Buenos Aires DIRECT from Atlanta. We were lucky enough to get frequent flyer miles for this cruise. :D We live in a surburb of Atlanta.

 

When are you going????we are booked for Feb 2009 in a balcony now....was a cheap $100 each to hold the cabin for each of us....sort of like the future cruise credit you do on the ship....

[slotl]

We are booked on the Jan 10, 2008 sailing of the Star Princess.

 

We also booked over a year ago. We got a GREAT deal on a mini-suite (not that we will be "outside" very often ;) )

 

We just couldn't resist, although I am not a big fan of the mega-size ships.

 

Someone, a few posts above, mentioned Azamara will be going to the Antartica.....now THAT will be an excellent cruise. Nice small Rx ship, 790 maximum passengers. Too bad it wasn't available when we booked on the Star.

[annski]

www.maritimematters.com/discovery-blog1.html is an excellent five part trip report of February 2007 trip which included landings comes with collection of pictures and heaps of info

 

We will be doing the Antartica and Chilean Fijords cruise in Feb 2008 so this Blog was exceptionally helpful. Definitely didnt want larger than this they do not take a full ship to antartica and given the size of waves and storms that often hit Cape Horn wasnt interested in something small Hope this is helpful Ann

[Tarheelbelle]

www.maritimematters.com/discovery-blog1.html is an excellent five part trip report of February 2007 trip which included landings comes with collection of pictures and heaps of info

 

We will be doing the Antartica and Chilean Fijords cruise in Feb 2008 so this Blog was exceptionally helpful. Definitely didnt want larger than this they do not take a full ship to antartica and given the size of waves and storms that often hit Cape Horn wasnt interested in something small Hope this is helpful Ann

That is Peter Knego's blog. Agree, very informative and along with my research on Cruise Critic, it helped me to decide on the Discovery. I am sure that I would have been just as satisfied if I had chosen the NCV Fram, but one does have to choose just one!

[Bollinger_Babe]

My husband and I did an Antarctic expedition in January 2006 on board Orient Lines "Marco Polo". It was our seventh and final continent :)

 

You can view my PowerPoint slide show by clicking on the following link to my web site:

 

http://www.ocean-waves.net/arctic_antarctic.htm

 

We spent three nights in Buenos Aires before flying down to Ushuaia to join the ship. It was an absolutely amazing experience as I'm sure you'll agree my photos will testify.

 

We had marine biologists, bird and whale experts and geological experts with us, giving a series of excellent lectures and answering all our questions.

 

We saw different species of penguin, seal, whales and many different birds including albatross and Antarctic skuas.

 

It really is the most awesome trip of a lifetime and a real eye-opener in more ways than one.

 

The Marco Polo is, at 20,080 tons, the largest of the ships that can go down to Antarctica. She normally holds 800 passengers but for this trip only takes half that. The reason is that, once she leaves South America, there's no-where else to stock up on supplies!

 

On returning to Ushuaia the ship docks overnight to allow passengers to experience the "End of the World" and the Tierra del Fuego region.

 

Just do it! :)

[Mercury]

Hi Bollinger Babe

 

The Marco Polo is being sold effective March 2008 - not sure who is the new purchaser.

 

I agree with you that a trip to Antarctica is an absolutely amazing experience!

[Bollinger_Babe]

Hi Bollinger Babe

 

The Marco Polo is being sold effective March 2008 - not sure who is the new purchaser.

 

 

Bummer! I've just been on the Orient Lines web site and it's true!! :mad:

What a shame, I love the Marco Polo. Been on her twice, once to Antarctica and once in the Med.

 

Oh well.

[diebroke]

I am planning a trip to Antarctica and these boards have been very useful.

I am interested in the smaller, expedition style ships and have received material on the National Geographic Endeavour operated by Lindblad; however, I have not found any reviews posted on these message boards.

Perhaps this is a testimony to my lack of internet search skills or the previous passengers' lack of interest in internet posting.

Can anyone help with real experiences with this ship?

[Tarheelbelle]

I too searched the Ecocruising and Other Cruise Lines boards and found nothing on the NG Endeavour. Here is a link to the ship review; you probably already found that, though.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=161

 

I found one thread in the South America board with posts from someone who sailed Endeavour. Here is the link for that thread. Good luck!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=110498&highlight=endeavour

[2552phxcrzr]

...but - returning from our Quark expedition (20 days to include the Falklands, S Georgia, and Antarctica) we met a couple who had traveled with Lindblad on their 10 day trip to the Peninsula. When I asked them about the highlight of their experience, they responded "post-cruise land vacation in Patagonia." I was taken aback. I realize Patagonia is beautiful, but having just spent time in Antarctica, I could not imagine anything taking a back seat to that breathtaking place. I didn't get a chance to ask them "why" they felt that way, although I did get the sense that it might have been because they prefer "active" vacations -- 3-4 days of a 10-day trip to the Peninsula would have been spent just crossing the Drake, with not much to do ... especially if the Drake was being its notorious self.

 

Another couple we met, at the zoo of all places, had made one of their three trips to Antarctica on Lindblad, and they had nothing but praise for them.

 

We seriously considered Lindblad, but in the end it came down to the fact that they were not offering the longer itinerary when we wanted to go, which was in January. We did not want to do the short itinerary, so we went with Quark and were very pleased with our journey.

 

If you have not seen it, I did post our trip report on the Antarctica board here. Although we did not travel with Lindblad, you might get some helpful ideas from that posting.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=531528

 

Here are a couple other reports I found (like you, I found it difficult to track down first hand accounts):

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~ctheworldnow/antarcticaajourneybeyond/

http://www.fathomexpeditions.com/explorer/tripjournal/reports.asp

http://www.natureimages.org/

http://community.iexplore.com/planning/JournalDestination.asp?LocationID=1392&Mode=0

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Antarctica/TravelGuide-Antarctica.html