You're about to discover eight really big watch outs if you're dreaming of,
considering or planning going on an Antarctica cruise. I'm Gary Bembridge, and
this is another of my tips for travellers. I'm going to give you eight big watch
outs that I really wish I had known a lot about before I went on this amazing
experience. The first thing you need to know is that a trip to Antarctica is
going to cost you a lot of money. Expect to spend $10,000 and
upwards to go to Antarctica, and you could be spending $20,000 or $30,000
if you really want to go in luxury and at peak times.
There's a number of key costs to that. The first is the cruise itself and even
the cheapest that you're likely to find is around about $6,500.
Secondly, you're going to have to get to Ushuaia in the southern
tip of Argentina. 90% of people who go to Antarctica will leave
from Ushuaia. So, most of the cruises will depart from here.
People can either go to Buenos Aires then come down to Ushuaia, or what a lot of
the cruise companies do, is you fly to Santiago and they have a charter
flight from Santiago Chile to a Ushuaia, because that's one of the closest hub
airports to there. Thirdly, you're going to have to buy or rent
specific equipment. You're going to need various layers, boots,
gloves and hats. A whole bunch of equipment that you're going to
need to go to Antarctica. There could be some other costs so, for example, on
Silversea they include kayaking as part of your fare, however, most other
expedition cruises if you want to do things like kayaking there's an
additional charge. And, of course, then you have other expenses on board like the
laundry and Wi-Fi. But assume as a starting point that it's going to cost you at
least $10,000 to go to the Antarctic per person. The second key
thing is there is a limited amount of time of the year that you can
actually visit Antarctica. The core season really is December,
January and February. Some cruises will start going towards the end of
October and really start up during November, but there is a lot of ice till then. The
season really ends for most companies at the first week of March. Some will go
a little bit later. December / January is the peak time when it's that's warmest,
between five to minus five degrees Celsius, with long days of 20 hours of daylight.
This is when prices are the highest and you need to book way in advance if you
want to go at this time. The third thing you need to understand is when people
talk about cruising Antarctica, it is very specific part that you go to.
There's a number of different itineraries. The classic Antarctica
cruise goes from Ushuaia across Drake Passage, spends some time in the South
Shetland islands and then moves across to the Peninsula. That's where most of those
cruises go to. You'll have two days crossing Drake Passage, five or so days
on the South Shetland Islands and the Peninsula and then two days
back. So, it's normally around about ten days. The second most popular trip is the
one which includes South Georgia and the Falklands. These tend to be up to two
weeks or longer and it's a much broader and more diverse itinerary.
It's longer and will cost you much more money. My next big watch-out is be
extremely cautious and careful about what size ship and cruise line you
go with. There's basically three key ways that you can see Antarctica: one is
on research ships (which are very small and pretty rough and ready kind of
experience), you then have expedition ships and these tend to be a wide
range of ships but they will be quite small, around 200 passengers or less, and then
the third way of doing it is on much bigger ships, which could have 500 or
more passengers. They tend to be more classic cruise ships.
The expedition ships and
research ships will be ice-class ships, designed to deal with
the sea ice. Very importantly in my view, you have not visited Antarctica
unless you go on an expedition ship or a research ship. If you go on a bigger ship
you will not do any landings. The regulations in Antarctica say that only
ships of around 200 guests can do landings and only 100 people can be on a
landing site at any one time. The big ships will come down to Antarctica and
they will do some scenic cruising, but if you really want to experience it
you need to go on a smaller ship. They also have the capacity to go much
deeper down into the Peninsula where there are more icebergs, ice and sea ice
and you can, importantly, do the landings. Don't just come down to Antarctica,
in my view, on a big ship so you can tick the box saying you've seen it,
because seeing Antarctica and stepping on land and going and moving amongst the
wildlife is very different to just sailing by and having a look at the
incredible scenery. Also, very importantly not only because of the cost but also
because some of the restrictions, it's really an adult activity. Most
companies will not let kids under the age of 8 or 6 onto the zodiacs, which
means that they will then spend the whole time on the ship with no kids
facilities. It is very much an adult experience and if you do have kids that
you want to take to Antarctica, I recommend you wait until they're
in their teens or even older before you go with them to Antarctica.
Probably the biggest watch out about going to Antarctica is the getting there
and the getting back. You have to spend up to two days on Drake Passage crossing
from Ushuaia to the South Shetland Islands to start exploring. Drake
Passage has some of the roughest, if not the roughest, seas in the world. It
doesn't matter what time of the year you go. There's not a time of the year where
it's better or worse, and it can be very very rough. You need to
assume that for two days there's a strong chance that you're going to have
rough seas. You could be lucky and have what's known as "Drake Lake", but most
of the times you're likely to have "Drake Shake". We were very lucky and our
crossing both there and coming back had pretty good seas. We had swells
of 4 to 5 metres, but it can be much higher than that. They do build in at
least two full days to cross. If you have good weather you'll may find your time
in Antarctica will be slightly longer, because they can get there little bit
quicker. For getting there, assume that the sea is going to be rough.
Make sure that you've taken all the precautions and make sure that you're well
prepared. Another key watch out is you need to have very specific gear. First of all,
you're going to need layers. Layering is absolutely key to dealing with the cold
in Antarctica. Also you can layer up and layer down if things get warmer,
like you're hiking a big mountain. First of all, you have a
base layer which is long johns and equivalent top. You then
have an insulation layer which could be as simple as a pair of jeans and
some sort of sweatshirt. Then on top of that you then need a waterproof layer, so you
need waterproof trousers and you need a waterproof parka jacket. Many of the
cruise companies will provide a parka because they want it to be a
bright red colour, so when you go on landings they're able to spot you very
easily on land. You're also going to need very thick socks. You're going to need
very specific boots and these need to be high boots which come up to almost
knee level, because a lot of the landings that you do will be into water. You're
also going to need some thin inner gloves and
then a couple of sets of waterproof big chunky gloves. Also some sort of neck
gaiter, not a scarf it's better have a neck gaiter because also you can pull it
up. You need a good hat which covers your ears. Your ears get really cold! A good pair
of sunglasses as it's bright. Bear in mind you do need to bring this gear
yourself because the ship will not have it for you. You won't be able to get it
on board. Another really important watch out is nothing is guaranteed and you
need to be very flexible and open. Antarctica weather and conditions change
very rapidly. The ice moves rapidly and weather chops and changes like
crazy. Nothing is guaranteed. There is a rough plan of what you're going to do
and goal of places you're going to go and see, but it could constantly change.
There is always a risk that you're going to spend a lot of money
to head down to Antarctica and it may not work out. You
cannot get upset and they will do whatever they can to get you to
places. But, it's a wild part of the world and be prepared to be flexible
and prepared that things may just not go at all to plan. Antarctica is one of
the most incredible places in the world. I would strongly recommend that you put
it on your list and start saving to go. I'd love it if you watch many more of my
Tips For Travellers videos as they're designed to help you make the most of
your very precious travel time and money on land, at sea or on
the rivers of the world.