Antarctic Cruises

Antarctic cruises are highly underrated, while Antarctica is one of the great unexplored areas of the world. No mentionable exploration of this vast continent has taken place before the last 50 years and now anyone willing to pay the price can experience this frozen land.

Understandably, the tourist season for Antarctica is during the months of December through February, when it is the peak of summer in the southern part of the world and needless to say only vessels equipped for the icy waters cruise to one of the coldest areas of this planet.

There are three major cruise lines offering Antarctic cruises: Celebrity Cruises, Orient Lines, and Radisson Seven Seas. Celebrity Cruises travels to Antarctica with the polar icebreaker "Kapitan Khlebnikov", a refitted 1980’s Russian polar research vessel. This ship takes a fortunate 106 passengers to the polar region with the amenities expected from Celebrity Cruises such as pool, sauna, and gym, but accommodations are small by comparison to a cruise ship

Orient Lines provides several Antarctic cruises each year aboard its world traveler ship Marco Polo. This ship was originally built in Germany in 1965 and was rebuilt in the early 1990’s. It boasts with twelve decks and carries more than 800 passengers. Orient Lines has a respected reputation for quality and the Marco Polo is a full service ship with many restaurants and amenities.

Orient offers a variety of Antarctic cruises throughout the season from December to February with the option of 11 to 33 day cruises (just imagine a whole month on the open sea), depending upon point of departure. The longest trip begins in the Caribbean, passes through the Panama Canal and tours the west coast of South America before touring Antarctica.

Once the ship reaches the Cape Horn area, regular 11 day Antarctic cruises depart from Ushuaia Tierra Del Fuego. Other cruises are 15 or 18 day cruises that start in Santiago, Chile or Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Radisson Seven Seas provides cruises to Antarctica aboard the ship Explorer II, which  is designed to cruise safely in the polar region. While this vessel carries 300 passengers elsewhere, less than 200 people can take the Antarctic cruise. This is a small cruise ship with all the amenities expected from a luxury and award-winning cruise line such as Radisson Seven Seas.

Radisson Seven Seas provides only two cruises per year in the Antarctic region, both in the month of January (during the summer time in the southern parts of the world). Both cruises are round trip from Ushuaia Tierra Del Fuego and are 12 day trips. If you are looking for something completely different than the everyday holiday and have some extra money in the bank, then this is definitely an option. Remember to take some warm clothes, even though it is summertime!

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