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Trip cancellation insurance is optional but also highly recommended. Our partners at Travelex Insurance offer a variety of plans and policies to fit every trip and budget. Coverage for a pre-existing medical condition is also available if you purchase the Travel Select plan within 15 days of the initial trip payment; refer to plan details. In addition to listed Solo cabin rates, select double-occupancy cabins may be available for single occupancy with a single supplement fee. Third person rates are available in designated triple occupancy cabins on National Geographic Explorer at 1.5x the per-person listed rate in select cabins based upon availability. If you would like to share accommodations with another guest of the same gender, we will be happy to try to accommodate you in select cabin categories.
What to Expect on Your First Trip to Antarctica
Expect seasoned travelers onboard, particularly those who’ve sailed Holland America before. Aurora Expeditions is a small-ship expedition company that offers more adventure activities in Antarctica than any other. While some are available to all passengers, others are optional, with limited group sizes.
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While exploring the Antarctic Peninsula, full of glaciers and icebergs, look for Chinstrap, Adélie, and Gentoo penguins in, and out of the water. For many, including myself, touching foot on land is something that's worth every penny, making the trip through the Drake Passage to get to Antarctica well worth it. Lindblad Expeditions on the National Geographic Explorer will give travelers an incredible experience on land, in addition to keeping their guests comfortable on board in between adventures.
Additional Travel Options Before or After Your Cruise
This is something that can be a real advantage on an expedition trip to a place like Antarctica. But in a place like Antarctica, it's all about the views, and you want a ship that is open as much as possible to the outdoors. Sadly, not every modern expedition ship has been built with this in mind.
9 new cruise itineraries for 2024 - National Geographic
9 new cruise itineraries for 2024.
Posted: Wed, 20 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Unlike drift (or pack) ice, fast ice doesn't move with currents and wind, and it is relatively stable. From an observation deck overlooking National Geographic Resolution's bow, I watched, mesmerized, as the 126-passenger vessel pushed aside giant slabs of ice with ease. Learn about things to do in Antarctica, and how our experts can help you achieve your bucket list activities.
She is a fully stabilized, ice-class vessel, with an ice-reinforced hull, enabling her to navigate polar passages while providing comfort, elegance and a deep connection to the environment. Most routes run 13 to 19 days from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, Argentina. The cruise includes time to explore Buenos Aires, a visit to Tierra del Fuego National Park and up to nine full days exploring the Antarctic Peninsula.
The result is that passengers on smaller ships in Antarctica get to see far more wildlife and scenery up close than passengers on bigger ships. In expedition cruising, sometimes the ultimate luxury is being in a small group. While National Geographic Resolution isn't marketed as a luxury vessel, it does offer a rare and luxurious touch — the intimacy that comes with a vessel designed for just 126 people.
A stylish and comfortable ship
All members — regardless of status — will enjoy a $250 onboard credit to use on incidentals. For a vessel designed to carry just 126 passengers, National Geographic Resolution offers a generous array of eateries and lounges, all with a soothing, Scandinavian-influenced design. Plus, it features a small but inviting spa and a fitness center that is large for a ship of this size.
Much to my delight, National Geographic Resolution also is designed with lots of interior and exterior observation areas where passengers can get up-close views of passing scenery and wildlife. Such efficiency plays right into the Lindblad style of expedition cruising, where it's all about maximizing the experience in any given destination, even if that means changing plans on the fly. At nearby Brown Bluff and Devil Island, we gaped at large numbers of Adelie penguins as well as gentoo penguins.
The shortest (and most economical) are the Fly the Drake cruises that let you skip sailing across the Drake Passage, thus allowing you to spend the entire cruise actually in the waters of Antarctica. Families are welcome, too, with many activities designed for multigenerational cruisers to enjoy together throughout the Antarctic cruise season, not just during the December holidays. The casually elegant 148-passenger National Geographic Explorer, and more luxurious, newer vessels 126-passenger National Geographic Endurance and twin National Geographic Resolution sail Antarctica.
Holland America offers a wide range of stateroom choices, from lower-cost interior cabins (which have advantages in Antarctic-length days) to large suites, and all come with fare options to make them more all-inclusive. How nature dictates everything there and human influence is so minor. The miles and miles of ice; on my first visit, I didn’t sleep for two days, I was so mesmerized as we crashed through sea ice. At first it’s overwhelming, but as days progress, the nuances come into play; the shapes and colors of icebergs, the antics of penguins, the pods of whales. The bow of the vessel, in particular, is awash in outdoor viewing platforms that stretch over three decks. An indoor observation lounge at the bow offers views in three directions, and the ship's forward-facing bridge also is open to passengers.
Among the amenities are fine dining, hot tubs, yoga classes, spa services and fitness center. Roald Amundsen (2019) and Fridtjof Nansen (2020) are the world's first cruise ships to run on hybrid battery technology, making them both more environmentally sensitive as they're designed to cut CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. They even move quietly, allowing passengers to revel in nature with reduced ship noise. The itineraries are generally 17 nights round-trip from Buenos Aires, simplifying airfare. There’s also an extended cruise option, departing from Fort Lauderdale and returning to Buenos Aires. Time spent cruising the waters surrounding the Antarctic Peninsula totals three and a half days.
The more passengers an expedition ship has on board in Antarctica, the more its expedition guides have to break them up into separate groups for landings, greatly slowing down the process of exploring at any single landing site. It doesn't offer butlers with every cabin, as one luxury vessel sailing to Antarctica does. Yet it's still a stylish and comfortable ship — more so than many expedition vessels. Normally, an expedition cruise vessel heading to Antarctica might not reach the Lemaire Channel and Petermann Island until three or four days into the trip. But with an ability to travel at nearly 17 knots, National Geographic Resolution had reached them far faster.
Traveler tracked down Sven-Olof Lindblad, the founder’s son, to learn why the world’s coldest continent is our hottest ultimate destination. When you choose to apply (and are approved) for a new credit card through our site, we may receive compensation from our partners, and this may impact how or where these products appear. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information. Later in the week, after rounding the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula to James Ross Island, some of us kayaked in a tranquil bay fed by waterfalls descending from a glacier, while others explored by Zodiac. Lined with glaciers and towering cliffs, the 8-mile-long Lemaire Channel and its environs is one of the great sights of Antarctica, and we used the extra time we had gained from our speedy crossing of the Drake to soak it in.
At Neko Harbor, a picture-perfect, mountain-lined bay flanked by a glacier calving into the sea, we landed by Zodiac late one evening to marvel at large numbers of gentoo penguins. As is typical for Antarctica trips, the seven days of exploring mostly took place along the Antarctic Peninsula, a staggeringly beautiful, 800-mile-long stretch of soaring mountains, glaciers, fjords and icebergs. A few hours later, we landed at nearby Petermann Island, famous for a colony of thousands of gentoo penguins. National Geographic Resolution is an expedition cruise ship — a type of cruise ship that is specifically designed for adventurous travel to remote, hard-to-reach places such as Antarctica. We were plowing through one of the thickest ice fields that I have ever experienced during a polar sailing.
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