747FC

LadyNOLA

A&K charters the Le Lyrial from Ponant. It's an elegant expedition vessel that's in high demand for charters. The vessel has a 260 passenger capacity, but A&K caps their sailings at 199 passengers.

Woofbite

And I really like them because A&K puts their own staff of really educated and Antarctic expeieced naturalists on board.

FlyingHighlander

Does these ships with 199 (or similar) passengers make any excursions to land on Antarctica? If so, how is that managed to comply with regulations of max 100 on shore at any one time? Do you have to wait, or somehow rotate?

Pausanias

Passengers on larger ships like Scenic Eclipse (250 pax) Silver Cloud (200 pax) and Seabourn Quest (400 pax) are divided into groups. You remain in your group for the duration of the Antarctic and/or South Georgia section of the cruise and the groups are rotated every day. For instance, Red Group might land first on one day, third the next day, last the following days and so on. Ships with 200 pax have the potential to give everyone two landings per day as the ship relocates during lunch. Seabourn Quest stays put the entire day. Another factor is the weather - things change rapidly so while one group might go ashore the rest might not. It's all a matter of luck down there.

A smaller expedition vessel with 100 pax will give you a richer, more immersive experience while a bigger ship will give you more space, more luxury and a smoother ride in the high seas. It's all a matter of choice and compromise. Get great weather I'd choose a small ship; hit bad weather I'd go on a bigger ship. However, when you are ashore it makes no difference what ship you are on.

FlyingHighlander

Thanks for the insight. On my trip (which I commented on earlier in this thread) was the opposite of luxury. 54 passengers. 3 landings a day for everyone. I was a sub group of drysuit wearing snorkelers. We had a very smooth drake passage sailing. Now I say it wasn't luxury, but it was very comfortable. Certainly didnt feel like we were roughing it.

Pausanias

Anyone wondering what a luxury cruise to Antarctica looks like should see this brilliant video shot by a passenger on board the Silversea ship Silver Explorer . . .

747FC

And, here is another view of what to expect in Antarctica, this time on the Seabourn Quest:

Pausanias

Of the two videos I much prefer the first one, taken by a regular passenger on the Silver Explorer. His highly personalised video really show us what it's like to ride in a zodiac and generally what it's like be on the ship. There are all sorts of details about the cabins, the outdoor decks, the food etc. The Seabourn Quest video is far more corporate and while it does have some stunning drone footage it's far too lofty to show anything of life on the ship.

Hoyaheel

The nice thing on Seabourn is that you get a flash drive with videos like that from your cruise as a departing gift ;-) We love ours from Alaska (I'm sure not ALL the footage is from our cruise, but most of it is our cruise as we recognized people)

I follow Seabourn & Azamara on social media and both have ships in Antarctica now. They've been posting beautiful photos!!!

gcashin

I did a trip on Hurtigruten recently and was very impressed. I'd taken a trip on them in Norway ~10 years ago, and the Norway trip was a bit more basic. The MS Roald Amundsen and MS Frijtof Nansen are new ships and are really great. The food and service was outstanding, and it seems like they've made a step change in the luxury aspect with these new ships. There is a Suite category onboard which includes more perks like access to the more upscale restaurant (Lindstrom) without a fee, turndown service, etc. I was pleasantly surprised.