Antarctica Guide

NICE ICE

Icebergs, penguins, seals, islands and icy passages. Extraordinary stories of exploration. Antarctica.

For many, it is the trip of a lifetime.

And there is no doubt in my mind the Antarctic Peninsula is the best of Antarctica.

There are good reasons for this. This is the bit that “sticks up” from Antarctica, pointing towards the southern tip of South America.

The peninsula is the most northerly part of Antarctica, so it gets summer first. That means birds and animals are drawn here to breed.

And it is rock — and most penguins need stones to make a nest. Geologically, the peninsula is sort of an extension of the Andes mountains of South America.

Sailing from Ushuaia, at the bottom of Argentina, is the quickest way to voyage to Antarctica. From Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego, it usually takes about 40 hours to cross the Drake Passage, but new, better designed and faster ships are making that even quicker. Where we left at tea-time, and then it was two full days to cross the Drake, now we could be landing on the second afternoon of a passage.

Voyages also leave from Punta Arenas in Chile, and there’s the option of flying two hours over the Drake to join a ship on King Edward Island.

While the Antarctic Peninsula is our focus, up around the top of it, to the east, the Weddell Sea is often visited, too. The Falkland Islands and South Georgia, which have different landscapes and wildlife, are also visited on extended itineraries, bringing even more variety to a voyage. This increases the time and cost of an Antarctic trip, of course.

When to go

The Antarctic season is from November-March.

Early in the season, we should expect snow. This can affect landings. And, in my most recent experience, warming oceans mean more snow (transpiration with cold wind blowing through it creates this).

As the snow melts, penguins start to gather stones and make nests.

Each season will be different, of course, but eggs usually hatch in late November and early December. (I like to be there then).

After that, chicks are fed krill, the peninsula becomes messier, and then the chicks fledge.

At the end of the season, in March, fauna is busy feeding up for the migrations and winter ahead. It’s a very animated time of year, and a good time to be in a Zodiac among whales. (I like this sailing, too).

There are places on voyages for the 2025-2026 season, but many companies have also released their November 2027 to March 2028 season.

The most popular Antarctic Peninsula itineraries vary from about 10 to 14 days.

They will hope to visit places like Deception Island, Paradise Bay, the spectacular Neko Harbour, and maybe a base (Argentina’s Almirante Brown Station or Chile’s Gonzalez Videla Antarctic Base) — and, for the lucky, the Port Lockroy Museum (the first continuously occupied British base in Antarctica, it was established in 1944 and is now a historic site and a super museum).

Most go as far south as the Lemaire Channel, or just a bit beyond.

Keep in mind that ships are members of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, which has a dynamic list of approved landing sites (and guidelines for each). Ships “book” a time to visit popular spots, aiming to be the only ones there. But there are well over 100 sites, and ships with a higher ice rating (for example, PC5), will be able to visit more remote spots — that will feel (and be) more like a remote expedition.

DECISION-MAKING

There are lots of ships and packages to choose from, and that presents all sorts of challenges.

I suggest speaking first with an experienced travel agent who also understands the difference between ships and packages.

But…

Arc to help

In my mind, there’s a pendulum, swinging through an arc, between “cruise” and “expedition”.

For the purposes of this little exercise, let’s say “cruise” is on the left and “expedition” is on the right.

So, my suggestion is that first you decide where you want to be on that arc.

Arc of experience

+ Do you want to “tick Antarctica off”, but don’t really want to layer up your clothing and sit in a Zodiac twice a day? Do you, by day three in Antarctica, think you will be happy being there, looking at it from the onboard indoor and outdoor viewing areas, or your stateroom or its balcony? If this is the case, I’d suggest you are more towards the left of the arc.

+ Do you have a real interest in the bird and mammal life of Antarctica, and in photography, and want to be out as much as possible, eager to be stomping around in snow and braced in a Zodiac? Well, you will be more to the right of the arc.

Arc of price

It isn’t a big stretch to (roughly) put price on the same arc. The left endpoint of the arc will generally be less costly than the right point — often because the voyages on the left have more people on board (reducing the cost per person). But keep in mind IAATO regulations control the frequency, duration and number of guests visiting any site in Antarctica — and no more than 100 guests can land at one site at the same time. On small ships, everyone can land all the time. On bigger ships, this has to be staggered and managed, and it may be that guests get less time on the peninsula and islands.

Arc of ships

I think ice rating can also be roughly placed on this arc, as a level of understanding what you want, and what to buy. Polar ice ratings are explained separately in this guide, but the lower the number, the higher the ice rating. The top rating is one (PC1 is an ice breaker) and the bottom rating is PC7 (for summer and autumn operation in thin first-year ice). Lots of expedition ships are PC6. But (very loosely), we might have them on the arc, with the biggest number on the left and the smallest on the right.

That already gives us three good, somewhat interactive, measurements to apply. Nice.

PICKING SHIPS

Twenty years ago, there was virtually no choice for those wishing to voyage to Antarctica.

We sailed on Russian research ships and repurposed ferries which had been built for polar conditions.

Then, in the 2010s, exploration cruise companies started purpose-designing and building polar expedition ships.

Some turned to other sectors of the shipping industry — for instance, for the wave-piercing Ulstein X-Bows. Instead of floating “up and forwards”, the bow slopes the other way, giving it a wave-piercing point which splits the swell as it pushes through it. The first X-Bow ship was launched in 2005, with orders coming from the oil and gas industry for use in rugged North Sea waters.

A major step in efficiencies is the separation of engine and propeller. Traditionally, the engine is connected to the propellers with a shaft. But ships like Viking Polaris have diesel generators and Azipods. An Azipod is an electric gearless system of propellers under the ship which can turn through 360 degrees. Azipods are self-contained units.

Azipods might still feel fairly new for the cruise industry, but were developed in the 1980s for ships sailing Finland’s coast.

Azipods receive power from diesel generators — so we have separated the power source from the propeller.

A ship might have, for instance, two big and two small generators. Diesel generators are at peak efficiency when running at 80 per cent load — so by having a mix of generators, captains can always seek best performance. Cruising in flat waters, they might just need one generator (running at 80 per cent). In big seas, they might need to run them all.

Added to this, there are also hybrid expedition cruise ships, such as Hurtigruten’s Roald Amundsen. These use a combination of battery power and low-emission engines, reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

Also look for ships’ active fin stabilisers. They are like aeroplane wings, extending below the hull to counteract rolling. Computerised gyroscopic controls adjust the angle of the fins, giving them an “opposing force” that helps to keep the ship upright. They work better at high speeds, and I last crossed the Drake Passage at 16 knots in a 7m beam swell (on the side of the ship), with the ship hardly rolling.

Increasingly, ships also have larger “zero-speed” stabilisers, which a computer system adjusts to counteract swell when the ship is stationary.

Companies are committed to reducing their impact and CO2 footprints, and dynamic positioning uses satellite technology interacting with the ship’s propellers (or, better still, Azipods) to stay in place, rather than dropping an anchor into a sensitive seafloor habitat.

CHOICES, CHOICES

There are a lot of operators to choose from — from Seabourn and Silversea to Scenic and Ponant, APT and Viking Cruises, Lindblad, HX Expeditions, Aurora, Quark Expeditions and Chimu Adventures.

They vary from “cruise style” to expedition-feel voyages — but on the more cruise-style options, with the likes of Seabourn, sailing on Seabourn Pursuit or Seabourn Venture, there are Zodiac adventures with guides, and kayaking. Ponant offers good expedition experiences.

And expect to visit the likes of Paradise Bay, Cuverville Island, Antarctic Sound, and Gerlache Strait.

Most will gather their guests in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a night in a hotel there is often included in packages. But it’s worth staying a couple of nights more, of course.

It does present packing challenges, as the end of the year can be hot in Buenos Aires. Then, on the group flight south to Ushuaia, you need to be prepared with warm clothes, as I have so often landed there in a biting wind, with snow falling.

We could, of course, fill pages and pages with prices and packages, but we have handpicked a few strong options, that we know fit our readership.

Viking’s Antarctic Explorer voyage is a 13-day package from $19,495 per person.

It has two sister ships that sail Antarctic waters — Viking Polaris and Viking Octantis.

A Viking spokesperson says: “First, we invented modern river cruising. Then, we redefined ocean cruising. Now, experience all the comfort and elegance of our award-winning fleet with an expedition ship built specifically to explore the world’s most remote destinations and allow you to immerse yourself in these regions.”

The ship takes up to 378 guests and has a crew of up to 256. Built in 2022, it is rated at polar class 6. Its Nordic Balcony staterooms are excellent.

Its 13-day Antarctic Explorer from Ushuaia to the Antarctic Peninsula is from $19,495 per person.

Viking Polaris is bright, with lots of light-filled spaces, and many indoor and outdoor viewing areas.

But, for me, its key feature is The Hangar. Through this innovative, enclosed, in-ship marina, excursion craft can be launched through the ship’s many shell doors. But, most importantly, The Hangar has a 26m slipway. Guests can board “special operations boats” inside the ship from a flat, stable surface, away from wind and waves. The ops boat is then launched down the slipway, out into the ocean. This is a very comfortable approach.

The special operations boats aren’t the usual “sit on the sides” Zodiacs. They are 12m long, rigid inflatable boats. They have individual suspension seats, twin water jet propulsion, and they are stable.

APT (Australian Pacific Touring) has a good 15-day package called Antarctic Voyage, from $23,995 per person (it is discounted from $26,395 at the moment for February 2027 voyages).

That includes four nights in luxury accommodation in Buenos Aires’ cosmopolitan Puerto Madero neighbourhood (two before flying south to Ushuaia, and two upon return).

It includes an exclusive APT return flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, 10 nights on the Seabourn Venture, and an APT tour director in addition to the expedition team.

I have also sailed to Antarctica twice with Collette.

The Great White Continent is an 11-day voyage from $12,649 per person, sailing on the ship World Traveller. The ship takes up to 200 guests and has 12 Zodiacs. It is ice class 1B.

With Intrepid Travel, for the 2025-2026 season, the Antarctic Explorer is an 11-day voyage from Ushuaia to the South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula, from $24,476 per person.

Extend that sort of trip to 14 days on the Crossing the Circle voyage, and it is from $35,695. Add in the Falklands and South Georgia on a 20-day voyage, and the price is from $39,372 each.

Scenic sails its Eclipse-class ships south from Ushuaia.

Its 13-day Antarctica in Depth is from $28,225 and its voyage to the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands is from $41,770.

BACKWARDS, FORWARDS

The Drake Passage is the “elephant in the room” for lots of travellers contemplating Antarctica.

(Though I really feel it should be the “blue whale in the room”. But, moving on…)

I think I have had more conversations with individual readers about the Drake Passage than almost any other subject. “Will it be rough? Will I be seasick? Will I be able to handle it?”

The Drake Passage is the 1000km north-to-south “pinch point” between the bottom of South America and the Antarctica Peninsula and its islands.

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is an ocean current that flows clockwise from west to east around Antarctica — unencumbered apart from the Drake Passage, which it has to squeeze through.

But, having said that, I like the Drake Passage. It is its own environment of albatrosses and other oceanic seabirds. I like spotting the first iceberg as we head south.

For me, it is the entry ticket for the Antarctic Peninsula.

According to an old notebook from 2016, I sailed across the Drake on the Akademik Sergey Vavilov at about eight knots. Today, we sail at 16km in rougher seas, barely feeling the swell.

So my conversations about the Drake Passage have changed a lot in the last decade.

It isn’t the barrier (or test) it once was.

But, yes, some will still get seasick. Just two quick tips are to find a medication that suits you (I use Phenergan), and take it as you board the ship. From Ushuaia, you sail first down the calm Beagle Channel before coming out into the Drake, so it has time to work.

The second tip is to see the doctor on board and follow their suggestions. For example, you can still get Scopolamine patches in Argentina — a powerful anti-sickness medication.

Taken as an average over a long time, the Drake Passage usually has a mean wave height of 4m-5m. I’ve quite often experienced 4.5m-7m — and with modern, fast, ships (especially with a wave-piercing bow and stabilisers), have hardly felt it.

The physics are simple:

+ Roll is the rotation around the bow-to-stern, lengthways axis of a ship.

+ Pitch is the side-to-side motion around that same axis.

+ Yaw is rotation around the vertical axis. In other words, the force tries to spin the ship around an invisible middle line, like swivelling on a chair.

ICE RATINGS

I have already mentioned ship ice ratings, and do suggest the rating can interact with the experience. Basically, the stronger the rating, the further into the ice a ship can go. That might mean it can get away from other ships which are clustered together in thin, single-year ice.

So, anyone considering an Antarctic cruise might consider ships’ polar ratings.

Polar class goes from PC1 to PC7 — with PC1 at the top.

Most expedition cruise ships sailing in the Antarctic and Arctic are rated PC5, PC6 or PC7.

PC1 There are currently no full ice-breaker tourist cruise ships (with Quark Expeditions no longer sailing on the Soviet-built 50 Years of Victory).

PC2 Ponant’s PC2 Le Commandant Charcot was launched in 2021. It is a luxurious icebreaker, designed to reach the North Pole, usually carrying around 200 guests. It has two massive Azipods, each weighing 300 tonnes. And it has a nice trick. The ship has a bridge at the stern, too. It can be driven forwards through 3m of ice, and backwards through 15m of ice. This is because the Azipods are under the ice, in clear water, and the wash from the Azipods’ five-blade propellers flushes and lubricates the hull. It has hybrid-electric power, using liquid natural gas.

PC5 Lindblad National Geographic Resolution and its slightly earlier sister ship Endurance are rated PC5. This means they can sail all year in medium first-year ice, including past inclusions of multi-year ice. For us passengers, it means they can go further south (or north, in the Arctic), both earlier and later in the season than a PC6 vessel.

PC6 Viking’s Octantis and Polaris, Aurora Expeditions’ Greg Mortimer and Sylvia Earle, Hurtigruten’s Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen, Scenic Eclipse I and II, Seabourn’s Venture and Pursuit, and a number of Ponant ships are all rated PC6. They can sail main polar destinations in the main parts of the season. In Antarctica, for example, they can sail south of the Antarctic Circle in the middle of the southern summer.

ROSS SEA QUESTION

The “other side” of Antarctica, of course, is “our side”.

There are voyages through the sub-Antarctic islands to the Ross Ice Shelf, mainly from New Zealand, and some travellers might be tempted by this — by the shorter and easier flights to get there and back.

But voyages through the sub-Antarctic islands to the Ross Ice Shelf are usually around 30 days. They leave from New Zealand, visit the likes of Macquarie Island, and there is then a lot of sailing across the Ross Sea to get to the biggest ice shelf on Earth.

There’s a limited season, and it is usually best in January and February.