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Tag: Antarctica

  • Three Amazing Antarctica Expedition Itineraries in 2021

    Three Amazing Antarctica Expedition Itineraries in 2021

    Being able to visit far-off and unusual locations is one of the most unique things a cruise can offer. After all, it’s not so easy to just book a flight to the North or South Pole. Cruises, on the other hand, can not only get you there, but they can also guide you through the whole experience, showing you wildlife and locations that will blow your mind. With that said, you should definitely be considering an Antarctic cruise in your future. 2020 may be a bit too early to head there, but 2021 should be perfect. Oh, and you can book now, by the way.

    Antarctica and the Ross Sea Expedition from Crystal Cruises

    Crystal should be one of the first names that comes to mind when you think of cruises to Antarctica. The luxury cruise line definitely does more than polar expeditions (including both ocean and river cruises), but they have some pretty amazing polar itineraries. Case in point: the Antarctica and the Ross Sea Expedition. This is a 22-day voyage in February 2021 that takes you past glaciers, icebergs, and what Crystal refers to as “the largest penguin colony on Earth.” Uh, sign us up! It embarks from New Zealand on Jan 28, and you’ll cross the Antarctic Circle and visit a number of locations and different islands over 22 days. It’s aboard the Crystal Endeavor, a beautiful luxury ship that only fits 200 people, so start looking into booking now if you’re interested.

    Argentina and Antarctica Cruise from Celebrity Cruises

    If you’re gonna go see Antarctica, why not see Argentina as well? This one departs from Buenos Aires and visits Ushuaia in Argentina, Cape Horn in Chile, Paradise Bay in Antarctica (expect some penguins here), Elephant Island and more. Show up a few days early and hang around Buenos Aires if you’ve got the time. It’s a pretty action packed itinerary that lasts 14 days. It’s also not too expensive, so you’ll definitely get your money’s worth. We also love how many different options for suites and other customizations Celebrity offers, so if that matters to you, definitely lock this one in. It has three different departure dates, all in January.

    Antarctica from Buenos Aires from Norwegian

    You don’t need to book with a luxury line to get an Antarctic experience, and Norwegian Cruise Lines proves that with this itinerary. It’s the cheapest on this list, but you’ll get the same mind-blowing polar experience that you’re looking for. It hits some of the same spots as the Celebrity trip, which includes the Falkland Islands. It lasts 13 days and departs on January 16.

    If you’ve dreamed of visiting Antarctica and watching some penguins play on the ice, consider making that a reality in 2021!

  • Costco Cruises to Antarctica

    Costco Cruises to Antarctica

    To be informed that there are Costco cruises to Antarctica could be doubly surprising – you may not be aware that Costco offers cruises, and you also might not know that there are cruises to Antarctica. In fact, there are cruises to Antarctica, and Costco would be happy to sell you one, at least if they could (more on this in moment). Below we outline Costco’s Antarctic cruise offerings, as it were, explaining what a cruise to Antarctica is and how you can go about finding one.

    (See update below.)

    The first thing you should know about Costco’s cruises to Antarctica is that they don’t exist, at least if you understand a “cruise to Antarctica” as, well, a cruise to Antarctica. Cruises to Antarctica must obviously sail to (or at least near) the continent of Antarctica, and while such cruises exist, they don’t seem to be offered by Costco. Rather, Costco seems to offer something more like cruises to the Arctic, even though you list “Antarctica” as your cruise destination when searching for your cruise on the Costco Travel website. And in truth Costco doesn’t really offer cruises to the Arctic either, as it doesn’t appear that any of the cruises they offer actually go this far north. (For the record, the Arctic is polar region at the northernmost point on earth, and Antarctica is the polar region at the southern end of the globe that is also a continent. The two are occasionally confused.) So, basically, there are not Costco cruises to Antarctica, or so our fairly exhaustive searching suggests, even though Costco Travel clearly implies otherwise. Perhaps Costco used to partner with one of the cruise ships that sails to Antarctica, but no longer does. And it is also possible that Costco will offer cruises to Antarctica in the future. For now, though, there appear to be no Costco cruises to Antarctica.

    Although there is no need to dwell on fictional cruises, it is worth mentioning as we conclude that what are termed “cruises to Antarctica” by Costco are actually just Costco’s cruises to Alaska, a subject we have already covered. They generally start in Vancouver or Seattle and stop at a few destinations in between (Glacier Bay, College Fjord, and so on). These are northern, cold destinations, but they aren’t technically in the Arctic, and they certainly aren’t in Antarctica. So, once again, Costco does not offer cruises to Antarctica. They offer something kind of similar with their Alaskan cruises, which for whatever reason are labeled as “cruises to Antarctica,” but these don’t involve Antarctica in anyway. Again, however, there are cruises to Antarctica, just not through Costco.

    (Update: Having now written about virtually every destination to which a Costco cruise sails, we have stumbled across one cruise from Buenos Aires to the Antarctic Peninsula. You can find it by searching the cruises to South America. So, there technically is a Costco cruise to Antarctica, it is just listed as a cruise to South America.)

  • Antarctic Cruises: Which Cruise Ships Sail to Antarctica?

    Antarctica is a distant land to sail to, and it certainly isn’t a routine destination for a cruise vacation (in contrast to places like the Caribbean or Alaska, for example). Yet people do take cruises to Antarctica, which means there must be cruise ships that take Antarctic Cruises, and indeed there are. These Antarctic cruise ships vary in style and the accommodations they offer, but they all tend to be rather small, holding only around 50 to 200 people. There probably isn’t enough demand for cruises to Antarctica to fill a huge cruise ship, and moreover a large cruise ship could be hard to maneuver in some of the more remote areas of the Antarctic region. In this article, we’ll look at a few different cruise ships that travel to Antarctica to get a sense of what they are like.

    You might not expect to travel to Antarctica in perfect comfort (maybe you think a trip to the southernmost continent is an expedition to be endured, not a vacation to enjoy), but essentially you can, as several ships offer luxurious accommodations. On the National Geographic Explorer, there are 81 cabins, and everyone of them has views of the ocean and private facilities. Each room also has its own climate controls, which travelers probably appreciate on their journey to a region as cold as Antarctica. As far as public spaces are concerned, the Explorer has a library, an observation gallery, a fitness center, and a spa, among other things. Basically, the ship, which can accommodate 148 passengers, has many of the features that make cruise ships enjoyable.

    The Le Boreal (which has to be a redundant way to write the name, but that is nevertheless how it is referred to on the sites we researched) offers even more to passengers than the Explorer. In addition to a spa and fitness center, there is a heated outdoor pool and a “modern lecture facility and theater.” Moreover, the ship has been designed to accommodate more passengers than it allows on board, so it has a spacious feel. There are several ships that have features comparable to the Explorer and Le Boreal, so, again, it is possible to travel to Antarctica while enjoying the amenities that modern cruise ships offer.

    Not all cruise ships offer as much as the Le Boreal, but none of the ships that carry passengers to Antarctica that we were able to find are particularly unaccommodating. Even a ship like the Ushuaia, which is a small ice-strengthened vessel originally built for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is plenty comfortable. This ship is specifically designed for Antarctic excursions, which explains why it doesn’t have a spa or anything like that on board, but it still has other public spaces like a library and a well-stocked bar to keep passengers happy on their voyage south. You don’t need to stoically endure harsh weather in sketchy ships to see Antarctica.

    So, although cruise ships that sail to Antarctica tend to be small, and even though many of them weren’t originally designed with tourist trips to Antarctica in mind, they are nice and comfortable. There aren’t fine restaurants or elaborate casinos on board, but they offer all the amenities you need.

  • Antarctic Cruises: What Can You See?

    Antarctic cruises are one of the more radical cruise vacations that an individual can take. Given Antarctica’s placement on the globe (it’s the southernmost continent), a cruise to Antarctica will be a fairly lengthy undertaking, although this of course depends on where you will begin your trip. More likely than not, you’ll have to book a flight to a port that is far south of the equator – a port like the one in Ushuaia, Argentina, to which two British cruise ships were recently denied entry – and once you arrive to port, your journey to Antarctica is only beginning. However, when you do finally arrive to the Antarctic region of the world, you’ll be rewarded with views that are rarely seen by human eyes.

    What precisely can you see in Antarctica? Since Antarctica is so far removed from civilization, you will not see many traces of human activity. Antarctica has no permanent residents, so the only people who live there are government researchers from countries all over the world. However, there are only a few thousand researchers at most on the continent at any given time (there are fewer in the winter for obvious reasons), so it’s not like Antarctica is a thriving community of researchers akin to a university town. What you can see in Antarctica is nature in its purest form.

    First, there is the landscape itself, which is completely covered in snow and ice. Actually, this understates the situation: Antarctica is blanketed by a layer of ice that is on average one mile thick. To look at Antarctica is to look at a vast expanse of white land that stretches as far as the eye can see. However, Antarctica is not a mere ice field. Mountains are scattered about the land, and although they are by no means the tallest mountains on earth, they tower above you because their base is near or at sea level, but their peaks can be as high as 10,000 feet. In Antarctica, you will also find glaciers of all sizes and configurations. Some are huge blocks of ice, with sides that look like smooth cliffs, whereas others are far more craggy and intricately patterned. The landscape is extreme, but beautiful. It is a “Winter Wonderland,” just like the song, but in order for the song to match Antarctica, it would need to be covered by Metallica.

    There is also plenty of wildlife to see in Antarctica, both on land and at sea. Many travelers seem particularly enthusiastic about seeing penguins, which can often be observed in enormous groups. (Penguin colonies in Antarctica can have thousands of members. You can also find large colonies of seals on and around the continent.) Bird enthusiasts will also find much to observe in Antarctica, as there are a number of different seabirds that live in this part of the world, including the Wandering Albatross, which has the largest wingspan of any living bird. In the ocean, you will find the largest animal on earth, the blue whale, and there are several other species as well (like fin, humpback, and killer whales). The whales share the ocean not only with the aforementioned penguins and seals, but also tons of fish, which play an important role in the Antarctic food chain. Despite the climate, Antarctica is filled with wildlife.

    So, if you make it all the way to Antarctica, you’ll be richly compensated by all that you will see.

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