Antartica
Oct 17, 2006, 3:06 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 2
Antartica
Has anyone had any experience with the Vantage Tours trip to Antartica? If so what time of year did you go? How was the weather? How rough was the ocean and did you actually get to step on the land in Antartica? Did you enjoy the toour?
Oct 17, 2006, 4:16 pm
#2
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Berkeley, California
Programs: Starwood Gold, Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 560
I haven't gone with Vantage Tours, but I took a look at the itinerary. It looks like an o.k. trip. I'd be concerned that there are 350 passengers on the ship. Antarctic regulations only allow 100 visitors at a time at a landing site. So, your ability to do landings will be rather limited since you'll only be able to visit in shifts. I would prefer a smaller ship - no more than 100 passengers to make landings easier and for more time at each site. Definitely ask your tour operator how they handle the logistics of various excursions and landings, what sort of excursions you'll be doing, how often you'll go out, what kind and how many boats (zodiacs) do they have, etc...
I went in January, and the weather was o.k. We had mainly overcast days, and it was cold, but not too bad. Wind chill was a greater factor than ambient temperature. Zipping around in zodiac boats could get chilly. We got lucky on the Drake inbound to the peninsula, so the seas weren't too rough. On the way back, we hit a storm which made for really rough seas. Eating was an adventure because anything left on the table would go flying. You had to brace yourself at the table to keep from falling off, and use hand railings with both hands getting to and from your cabin. I think about 70 percent of the passengers confined themselves to their cabins with seasickness. However, I was on a small, 48-passenger boat, so the seas had a greater effect on us. A big ship like you're looking at would be less affected.
We did about 2 excursions a day at various islands, and had 2 landings on the Antarctic continent itself. Bear in mind that most of your visits will be to islands in the Antarctic peninsula and not on the continent itself. Some excursions were zodiac cruises without landing, but those were pretty cool as you would cruise around icebergs and go whale watching.
I have to say that this one of the best trips of my life.
I went in January, and the weather was o.k. We had mainly overcast days, and it was cold, but not too bad. Wind chill was a greater factor than ambient temperature. Zipping around in zodiac boats could get chilly. We got lucky on the Drake inbound to the peninsula, so the seas weren't too rough. On the way back, we hit a storm which made for really rough seas. Eating was an adventure because anything left on the table would go flying. You had to brace yourself at the table to keep from falling off, and use hand railings with both hands getting to and from your cabin. I think about 70 percent of the passengers confined themselves to their cabins with seasickness. However, I was on a small, 48-passenger boat, so the seas had a greater effect on us. A big ship like you're looking at would be less affected.
We did about 2 excursions a day at various islands, and had 2 landings on the Antarctic continent itself. Bear in mind that most of your visits will be to islands in the Antarctic peninsula and not on the continent itself. Some excursions were zodiac cruises without landing, but those were pretty cool as you would cruise around icebergs and go whale watching.
I have to say that this one of the best trips of my life.
Oct 17, 2006, 4:41 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 2
Originally Posted by escog
I haven't gone with Vantage Tours, but I took a look at the itinerary. It looks like an o.k. trip. I'd be concerned that there are 350 passengers on the ship. Antarctic regulations only allow 100 visitors at a time at a landing site. So, your ability to do landings will be rather limited since you'll only be able to visit in shifts. I would prefer a smaller ship - no more than 100 passengers to make landings easier and for more time at each site. Definitely ask your tour operator how they handle the logistics of various excursions and landings, what sort of excursions you'll be doing, how often you'll go out, what kind and how many boats (zodiacs) do they have, etc...
I went in January, and the weather was o.k. We had mainly overcast days, and it was cold, but not too bad. Wind chill was a greater factor than ambient temperature. Zipping around in zodiac boats could get chilly. We got lucky on the Drake inbound to the peninsula, so the seas weren't too rough. On the way back, we hit a storm which made for really rough seas. Eating was an adventure because anything left on the table would go flying. You had to brace yourself at the table to keep from falling off, and use hand railings with both hands getting to and from your cabin. I think about 70 percent of the passengers confined themselves to their cabins with seasickness. However, I was on a small, 48-passenger boat, so the seas had a greater effect on us. A big ship like you're looking at would be less affected.
We did about 2 excursions a day at various islands, and had 2 landings on the Antarctic continent itself. Bear in mind that most of your visits will be to islands in the Antarctic peninsula and not on the continent itself. Some excursions were zodiac cruises without landing, but those were pretty cool as you would cruise around icebergs and go whale watching.
I have to say that this one of the best trips of my life.
I went in January, and the weather was o.k. We had mainly overcast days, and it was cold, but not too bad. Wind chill was a greater factor than ambient temperature. Zipping around in zodiac boats could get chilly. We got lucky on the Drake inbound to the peninsula, so the seas weren't too rough. On the way back, we hit a storm which made for really rough seas. Eating was an adventure because anything left on the table would go flying. You had to brace yourself at the table to keep from falling off, and use hand railings with both hands getting to and from your cabin. I think about 70 percent of the passengers confined themselves to their cabins with seasickness. However, I was on a small, 48-passenger boat, so the seas had a greater effect on us. A big ship like you're looking at would be less affected.
We did about 2 excursions a day at various islands, and had 2 landings on the Antarctic continent itself. Bear in mind that most of your visits will be to islands in the Antarctic peninsula and not on the continent itself. Some excursions were zodiac cruises without landing, but those were pretty cool as you would cruise around icebergs and go whale watching.
I have to say that this one of the best trips of my life.
Oct 19, 2006, 5:31 pm
#4
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Berkeley, California
Programs: Starwood Gold, Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 560
I went with Quark Expeditions on the Akademik Shokalskiy. I did their 11-day trip to the Peninsula out of Ushuaia. I booked my trip through an agency, Expeditiontrips.com. Other people on the ship booked through other agencies, like Expedition Cruises and REI.
The very best operators are Cheeseman's Ecology Safaris and Lindblad, but they tend to be very expensive. Lindblad partners with National Geographic for some of their trips. I ran into a number of other people on my flight out of Ushuaia who had gone with Peregrine Adventures, and they seemed to enjoy their trip very much. For a budget trip, you could try G.A.P. Adventures - they managed to buy one of Lindblad's old ships and do shorter trips to the Peninsula. I saw them selling last minute trips out of travel agencies in Ushuaia.
If you visit the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators website, http://www.iaato.org/ you can find a listing of all the companies that run ships into Antarctica.
In case you're interested, here are some photos from my trip:
http://www.pbase.com/escog/antarctica
The very best operators are Cheeseman's Ecology Safaris and Lindblad, but they tend to be very expensive. Lindblad partners with National Geographic for some of their trips. I ran into a number of other people on my flight out of Ushuaia who had gone with Peregrine Adventures, and they seemed to enjoy their trip very much. For a budget trip, you could try G.A.P. Adventures - they managed to buy one of Lindblad's old ships and do shorter trips to the Peninsula. I saw them selling last minute trips out of travel agencies in Ushuaia.
If you visit the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators website, http://www.iaato.org/ you can find a listing of all the companies that run ships into Antarctica.
In case you're interested, here are some photos from my trip:
http://www.pbase.com/escog/antarctica
Oct 25, 2006, 8:00 pm
#5
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
I will agree with escog - I would not consider nor recommend, a trip to Antarctica with more than 100 people. Anything with 350 people must be cruise-ship-like its approach, with minimal landings per person on the continent itself.
We were on a 21 day cruise on the Akademik Ioffe, which iirc holds 86 - this to me is large, in context of Antarctica, but OTOH they were prepared, and had enough Zodiacs to land us all a number of times, allow scruising in the Zodes, and even cruising on different tangents. The wildlife, the ice, getting covered with whale snot (ewwww!) observing the snake-neck and incredibly predacious leopard seals, even cruising in a bay watching / listening to ice calving from glaciers and riding the waves, exploring ancient whaling stations and penguin rookeries, dodging testosterone-laden fur seals, walking among huge elephant seals, making wet or dry landings and experiencing the weather, from sunny days to the wiliwaws, breathing the knife-edged sharpness of the cleanest air on earth, smelling the evidence of hundreds of thousands of penguins as well as hearing the cacophony and observing the marches to and from the water, or just sitting listening to the crystalline sounds of thousands of years old bubbles being liberated from the bergy bits and sea ice - magical!
Observing from a high deck clotted with hundreds of people - not so magical.
Weather - unpredicatble, entirely. We cruised from Ushuaia to South Georgia and had moderate wave action, a few got sea sick. From there to Antarcitca, it was pretty mild - but the ship after ours got hammered by 10 meter / 33+ foot waves (not even considered extreme for these southern climes.) On our return to Argentina, the captain announced we would run on one engine alone, as the seas were so calm we would arrive at the entrance to the Beagle Channel too early to take on our pilot. Next morning we awoke on "Drake's Lake," flat calm, and cruised the Cape Horn that day.
Quark, Cheeseman's and a few other reputable long-time providers exist. Go back in this Forum to check what resources are here - one member posted a multiple post treasure on her experiences in the Antarcitc area, well worth reading. (Merely set the date back for the eearliest visible posts...)
The Russian (Finnish-built) research vessels and those that have been there annually are top notch and have top notch, experienced crews and hold ~40 - 90 passengers. IMO, avoid the recycled Scandinavian fjord cruisers (M/V Disko, etc.) and definitely avoid the larger vessels. Google the vessel you are thinking about - the providers often "sheep dip" the ships they are using with a fancy name that obscures the true origin of the ship.
We were on a 21 day cruise on the Akademik Ioffe, which iirc holds 86 - this to me is large, in context of Antarctica, but OTOH they were prepared, and had enough Zodiacs to land us all a number of times, allow scruising in the Zodes, and even cruising on different tangents. The wildlife, the ice, getting covered with whale snot (ewwww!) observing the snake-neck and incredibly predacious leopard seals, even cruising in a bay watching / listening to ice calving from glaciers and riding the waves, exploring ancient whaling stations and penguin rookeries, dodging testosterone-laden fur seals, walking among huge elephant seals, making wet or dry landings and experiencing the weather, from sunny days to the wiliwaws, breathing the knife-edged sharpness of the cleanest air on earth, smelling the evidence of hundreds of thousands of penguins as well as hearing the cacophony and observing the marches to and from the water, or just sitting listening to the crystalline sounds of thousands of years old bubbles being liberated from the bergy bits and sea ice - magical!
Observing from a high deck clotted with hundreds of people - not so magical.
Weather - unpredicatble, entirely. We cruised from Ushuaia to South Georgia and had moderate wave action, a few got sea sick. From there to Antarcitca, it was pretty mild - but the ship after ours got hammered by 10 meter / 33+ foot waves (not even considered extreme for these southern climes.) On our return to Argentina, the captain announced we would run on one engine alone, as the seas were so calm we would arrive at the entrance to the Beagle Channel too early to take on our pilot. Next morning we awoke on "Drake's Lake," flat calm, and cruised the Cape Horn that day.
Quark, Cheeseman's and a few other reputable long-time providers exist. Go back in this Forum to check what resources are here - one member posted a multiple post treasure on her experiences in the Antarcitc area, well worth reading. (Merely set the date back for the eearliest visible posts...)
The Russian (Finnish-built) research vessels and those that have been there annually are top notch and have top notch, experienced crews and hold ~40 - 90 passengers. IMO, avoid the recycled Scandinavian fjord cruisers (M/V Disko, etc.) and definitely avoid the larger vessels. Google the vessel you are thinking about - the providers often "sheep dip" the ships they are using with a fancy name that obscures the true origin of the ship.