Originally Posted by ojala

We did One Ocean Expeditions' trip a year ago on Multanovsky, that seems to be about the same size and type of vessel as Ioffe.

Drake Passage can be a pain but it's just a few days (;-). I'd feel more safe on a ship made for Artic voyages than on a cruise ship made for comfort. The quality of accommodation, food and everything else was fine. The best cabins are usually at the top but the ship actually rolls less in the lower cabins. Window isn't such a big deal either. We still talk about the "Exorcist night" in the Drake Passage..

There was no internet although there was an option for telephone calls (and e-mail?) if required. Pretty expensive. Forget working with internet access.

The ship crew was russian and most didn't speak much english, friendly and very professional. They knew the ship, they've probably been in much worse place than a typical tourist Antarctic trip and I'd rather have them steering the ship than anyone from the Caribbean.

Overall I would put emphasis on the company doing the expedition, we found most of the One Ocean staff very good, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. It's fun when the staff is as enthusiastic about the trip as you are. The bartender and chef were also part of their staff and most of the food was amazing considering the environment.

It was a small ship so it was never a question if there's room to make a landing or a zodiac cruise, on a bigger ship you may have to take shifts. A small ship can change route much more easily as the conditions change for every trip. Our trip was in mid January and it was pretty good timing; the previous trip didn't see sun and some of the places were still blocked by ice, we had great weather, plenty of blue sky and the place was as Antarctic as one can image. We later heard that a trip in late January had already a lot less snow and ice.

The worst part of our trip was that we booked the expedition through a 3rd party, their service level dropped quite a bit after they got the money and we didn't learn who was actually doing our cruise until at the very end. Also there were plenty of information that we never received, like where to meet in Ushuaia ;-) I would highly recommend you figure out the actual company doing the cruise and book direct.