Antarctica Travel Forum

Hi I'm seeking peoples views on the quality/value of their trip to antartica and the standard of the ship its self,I'm trying to compare whats on offer and workout which suits me best. It seems the general size of the ships accomodate either 56 or 122 passengers, am interested in your views on the pros & cons of ship size and the facilities they offer.
Thanks 4 your response

There are also ships that take larger numbers - the number of passengers on the ship controls where the ship is actually able to land you. Below 200 is anywhere, 200-350 offers less landing sites, 350-500 less still and over 500 the ships shouldn't be landing in Antarctica at all.

We travelled in January this year on the Nordnorge, which is in the up to 350 capacity, but there were only 174 people on board, which gave the trip organisers more scope on landing places - there are also restrictions in certain locations as to how many people can be on land at once. I've been told the trips immediately post Christmas tend to be the most undersubscribed due to the holiday period.

If you are prone to sea-sickness, then smaller ships may be a bit more troublesome for you - especially the converted ice-breakers which tend to bob around abit. On the other hand, a smaller ship is going to give you more and longer opportunities on land - our landings generally lasted around 1.5hrs, and I found that was generally long enough.

In terms of value, I live in the UK and booked the trip via a US agent, paying in dollars at nearly half the UK price. It may be worth comparing whether you are better paying US or AUS dollars for your trip.

Shim

I agree with Shimrod. Although i have no experience at Antartida but reading all the forum and i believe in Shimrod. Concerning the prices i did the same of Shimrod, I bought the thickets to a US agency and i guess that the price was good. I would like to know if at landings we time for taking videos or we haven't time and i have time for only pictures.
HRod

HI Shimrod , did you have to supply your own waterproof boots and outer clothing for the on-land part of the trip or was it available for use from onboard the ship. Mind telling me the name of agency you used for "the Nordnorge" & how long was your trip, what places did you visit. Did the crew have a good understanding of english.

Water/windproof jackets and boots were provided - we took gortex overtrousers to protect our legs as well. It is worth taking several layers that you can open up - on one day, with a strong sun and no wind, it was almost T-shirt weather! On other days, with the wind-chill factor it was down below -10c. When you leave ship, wear everything that you need for -10 even if it is warm, as the weather can change very quickly.

We managed two landings a day (except for once) during the Antarctica leg of the trip - from memory, we landed at Arctowski bay (Polish station), Esperanza (Argentian base), Astrolabe, Neko Harbour, Port Lockroy (British base). This cruise also went up the Chilean fjords stopping at several places along the way - but they have changed this part of the itinery.

The agency we booked with was www.cruisenorway.com. You can also go direct the cruise company itself www.norwegiancoastalvoyage.us but cruisenorway will most probably give you a better discount.

There will be time on land for both photo and video shooting - we brought back nearly 8 hours of video footage, 1300 still photos from the video camera, and about 1000 photos on film (that includes 6 extra days in Santiago, and a trip to Iguazu falls, but most photos taken while on the cruise!)

Shim

Sorry, missed a bit!

The crew on board were fluent in English and German

Thank you for all information. I looking for the best price and cruise norway seems affordable. I think that we gave to Oldfosil a good path.Thank again for your nice information about Northnorge/Northkapp crew.
Hrod

I travelled to Antarctica in January 2005. My advice is to travel on a smaller (100 person) capacity ship. The smaller boats tend to not have some of the frills of the bigger ships, and the crossing of the Drake will be more challenging, but the smaller boats will be able to get further into the continent - to sites that larger boats can't reach (because of draft, or number of passengers).

One side 'bonus' is that with a smaller number of passengers, you'll end up meeting and getting to know most of the other passengers and the crew.

Hi, I travelled on the same ship as google guru last november and agree that smaller ship sizes are better , mostly due to the fact that there is a limit of 100 passengers that are able to land on shore at any time, therefore if your ship carries more than that some one has to miss out. some of the really big crusing ship do not land at all. smaller ships like the GAP explorer are more manoeverable and can go places others cant. Good luck

I think it is worth pointing out that the Hurtigruten ships Nordkapp and Nordnorge are really in a category all their own, as they differ from other ships of similar size/passenger capacity. Whilst appreciating the comfortable and attractive public areas, you will not find the irrelevant frills,formality or entertainment associated with cruise ships. Crew and the lecturing staff/guides are friendly and helpful.

The ships were designed for the extremes of coastal geography and year-round weather conditions in Norway, and, as well as being stabilised, are exceptionally manoeuvrable. The number of landing craft and efficient organisation ensures no one misses out on two landings a day - if this is not possible due to weather conditions, a smaller vessel couldn't have landed people either.

There is not the open-bridge policy possible in some very small ships, but a new ship, the Fram, to be introduced in Antarctica in the 2007/2008 season, and looks to be a different design with extra observation areas.

Re "Nord Norge" (= North Norway) - it is one of the ships whithin Hurtigruta that is the postal voyage from Bergen in south (at wast coast of Norway) and up to Kirkenes, last city in Norway before ussia.

As some said, all those new Hurtigrute ships are "huge" and can stand horrible costal weather.
Next year there will come a new Hurtigrute ship that is more constructed to do the antartica trips in middle of winter. New ship will take abouth half of what the bigger sisters (ca 175).

www.hurtigruten.com is Hurtigruta's home page.
You can even view some of them via web cam.
AND there are links to national sites for UK, France, Germany, Sweden and USA also (hm, see now that they have gotten a newer design on their homepage).

The newest Hurtigrute ships (from mid 1980s) are buildt with comfort for the tourists that like to view the coast, and they are far more stable at sea than those very old and much tinyer ships (I have taken them since I was borned, but only for one leg a 4 hours over a fjord up in North Norway).

mooselet, aha now I see that you mention the brand new Hurtigrute ship

Fram is the name and will be baptised in Oslo 19th of May nest year and the godmother will be our crownprincess Mette-Marit.


And as other have pointed out, Hurtigrute ship are NOT a cruice ship compared to those in Carribbean etc, it is a working ship who carries mail, cargo etc to places that don't have that good road connection here in Norway..... When they buildt the newer ships in -80s they removed the fist class sitting area (I'v only been in it once since we always travelled on normal tickets) and now they have placed sitting areas up front with comfortable StressLess chairs next to the windows.
Last time I took it I drove my car into the side of the ship and was lifted down in an elevator :)

For those that want to see the other pole, they also do cruices to Svalbard and nortern area during summertime.

Services and Facilities that I valued during my `Antarctic Dream` trip :
1. Computer with card reader and CD burning facilities (free usage). CD's available for purchase onboard $2. ...no matter how much photo memory you take, you will probably run out - so being able to download is great. Also, you can share pics & burn CD's from other passengers pics.
2. During 2 day Beagle Channel etc crossings there and back, GREAT lectures from on board ornithologist; historian / naturalist / glaciologist experts - their knowledge, enthusiasm and passion for their respective topics greatly enhanced my trip
3. Ships TV dedicated 1 channel to excellent educational DVD's on Antarctica land and sea birds and beasties, Amundson, Scott, Shackleton etc stories
4. An excellent selection of books in ships reference library on above and other appropriate topics. Also lots of maps in passage with daily time / progress marked.
5. Fun competitions to pass those 2 days in bucking Beagle Channel : 1st big iceberg siting; first whale siting; closest correct guess of crossing the Antarctic Convergence.
6. A gym - running machine etc and a Sauna (booking in advance needed)
7. Above jolly necessary after the fabulous meals and Death-By-Dulce-de-Leche type desserts to die for!
8. A lovely hot drink each time we boarded from onshore excursions.
9. An excellent written daily log of the trip and a CD of photos taken by the crew / guides at on shore excursions. - I really value this! Also a log of all birds and beasties seen. (This in addition to each daily program we received that invariably had interesting pics and snippets added).
10. Any time you want to arrange a visit to engine rooms and Captains Bridge
11. A little shop with reasonably priced fleeces etc souvinirs
12. Zodiac drivers really concerned with our safety - AND FEWER PASSENGERS = QUICKER TO GET ONSHORE
13. One fella there to take a video of the trip - but I personally didn't value the production . But a nice option to have.
14. Crew very environmentally concerned :e.g. Boot cleaning each time we got back on boat (so not to transport anything to next stop); nothing allowed overboard etc)
15. A doctor on board - and sea sick 'potions' available for anyone wanting (I did not need this service - but good to know it was there)

Hi
Doesn't have the Hurtigruten ships the same?
HRod

Hrod,

You will get by and large the same services on the Nordnorge as described above. Many of the items described (such as boot cleaning) are mandatory on all ships as part of the IAATO guidelines http://www.iaato.org/ This is an organisation set up by Antarctica tourist operators, and operates to protect Antarctica from damage caused by human visitors. Above all, you should choose an operator that is a member of this organisation as you know they will be following the guidelines to protect the environment.

On the Nordnorge trip, a cd was provided at the end of the voyage with logbook, some photos taken by the crew etc. but no video. There's no one waiting with a hot drink when you return from a trip, but hot drinks and cakes/biscuits are available free 24hrs a day.

At each landing point you won't miss out on a landing unless the weather turns too bad during the landing to continue ferrying passengers - that didn't happen for us, and we only missed one landing (Cape Horn) due to rough seas. However, there is always the risk (regardless of ship size) that you happen to be there during a storm and you will be unable to leave ship - that happened to the NordKapp just before we got to Antarctica - they were unable to make a landing for 3 days due to storms.

I don't have any regrets about choosing a larger ship for my cruise, although with hindsight I was glad it was only at half capacity for passengers - it would probably have felt too crowded with 350 on board.

When(!) we go back to Antarctica I would choose a smaller ship, but that is primarily because I want to go see some different areas.

Shim

Hi Shimrod
Thanks a lot for telling us your experience, so it's good to take a video camera with us.
HRod

Do I have to take with my sailling waterproof boots with me?

You don't have to take your own boots - most (but not all) ships provide boots for you to use. The Nordnorge/Nordkapp provide wellington boots. If you are taking your own, they should come up to around/just below knee height - when leaving the boats on a landing, it is probably that on at some landings you will be stepping into water rather than directly onto land.

The boots provided on Nordnorge had quite thin soles, so walking on the rocks/large pebbles could be a bit uncomfortable. Wear a couple of extra pairs of socks, or take your own boots if you find them more comfortable.

We took a camera and a camcorder on our trip. Hrod, having seen your earlier comments in another thread about tripods, do you have an over the shoulder bag or holdall for it? When leaving the ship to board the polar cirkel boats, you have to have both hands free for safety reasons - you won't be able to board while holding a tripod in one hand.

Shim

Hi Shimrod

Thank you for your advice. In fact i have some experience taking pictures and movies when i sail alone or fly. So i know what is sailing in a zodiac and filming in a zodiac when the the sea is rough. My doute is if we have time to take some video and pictures with just one hour for landing.How are the landings organize?
Thanks for your help

Those on board are organised into groups of around 30. At each landing, each group takes it's turn at being first on land. This allows for the fact that some groups may get to go on shore, but later landings have to be cancelled due to bad weather (didn't happen to us though).
Landing times varied - I'm pretty certain we never got less than 1 1/2 hours except for Port Lockroy, where due to the warm weather the previous & current day, the penguins were very distressed. The staff at Port Lockroy asked the ship to limit visitors to 1/2 hour, and also we could not leave the immediate vicinity of the base.

Whether you will get enough time to take your photos and videos in that period is something only you can decide. There are many photos I would like to have taken, but at the same time you have to spend sometime looking around and just taking in the experience. You will also get many good photos from the deck of the ship - whales (if you are lucky), seals, penguins, icebergs and general landscape.

Hi Simrod

Did you have problems with your video camera or still batteries?
Thanks

The first orange-jacketed staff to land spread out to define the limits of the area where it is safe to wander. The lecture staff also land and make themselves available to help, chat, advise and answer questions, but as long as you are behaving appropriately you are entirely free to use your time ashore in your own way. If you are not the first to land you can often observe what people are doing from the ship and can to some extent usefully plan your photography activities in advance.

Perhaps surprisingly, not everyone will stay ashore for the maximum time (especially the more elderly and if there is a cold wind) and there are enough zodiacs for continuous coming and going. A bar-coded badge computer system checks you on and off the ship, so immediately the number ashore drops to below the statutory 100, more people can land. So the allocation into groups of around 30 is actually for announcing when you should proceed to the lower deck to put on boots and life-jackets in readiness to land. All very efficient (even when there are more total passengers than the trip Shimrod was on). By the way, their polar-cirkel boats are better than the standard zodiacs to get in and out of and sit in.

I always put a fully charged battery in my camera when landing, and carried a spare in a warm pocket, but I don’t think I actually needed to change it while ashore. A good tip is to practice using your photographic equipment wearing the gloves you intend to take, so no time is wasted fumbling!

Just out of curisosity

How cold is it, or have it been, when you who have been at antartica?

I haven't planned any trip far down, but frequent visit areas above the artic circle.

As Mooselet says, keep a spare battery somewhere warm about your body. No problems with the battery on the camcorder, but one day I did have to keep alternating batteries for my Canon EOS 30 (film). The cold affects standard batteries more than rechargables. You can buy batteries that work well down to -20c - I have some for my GPS but can't find the details at the moment.

As regards temperatures and distance south, here's an extract from the log book

Date Latitude Longitude temp windspeed
28.01.2006 57º37'7'' S 064º04'0'' W 12º C W 4m/s Drake Passge
29.01.2006 62º16'1'' S 058º23'9'' W 4º C SW 2m/s South Shetlands
30.01.2006 63º23'8'' S 056º59'1'' W 1º C S 9m/s Esperanza station
31.01.2006 64º35'0'' S 062º28'9'' W 4º C SW 4m/s Paradise Harbour
01.02.2006 64º48'5'' S 063º30'7'' W 4º C ENE 10m/s Port Lockroy
02.02.2006 61º54'0'' S 060º24'5'' W 2º C E 15m/s South Shetlands
03.02.2006 57º06'9'' S 067º07'3'' W 6º C S 4m/s Drake Passage

"Warm" degrees :)

I use to have my digi camera (mju) in the pocket of my 'outer'jacet or in my handbag almost daily during winter here up north. Even in -10 and less degrees(also in windy and humid) it works like a clock.
(think I'm going to get a 'warmer coat' for both camera and spare battery now)

As Mooselet says, keep a spare battery somewhere warm about your body. No problems with the battery on the camcorder, but one day I did have to keep alternating batteries for my Canon EOS 30 (film). The cold affects standard batteries more than rechargables. You can buy batteries that work well down to -20c - I have some for my GPS but can't find the details at the moment.

As regards temperatures and distance south, here's an extract from the log book

Date Latitude Longitude temp windspeed
28.01.2006 57º37'7'' S 064º04'0'' W 12º C W 4m/s Drake Passge
29.01.2006 62º16'1'' S 058º23'9'' W 4º C SW 2m/s South Shetlands
30.01.2006 63º23'8'' S 056º59'1'' W 1º C S 9m/s Esperanza station
31.01.2006 64º35'0'' S 062º28'9'' W 4º C SW 4m/s Paradise Harbour
01.02.2006 64º48'5'' S 063º30'7'' W 4º C ENE 10m/s Port Lockroy
02.02.2006 61º54'0'' S 060º24'5'' W 2º C E 15m/s South Shetlands
03.02.2006 57º06'9'' S 067º07'3'' W 6º C S 4m/s Drake Passage

Hi Simrod

If we had a cold do we have health care on board?
Thanks. ( I'm a cold now)

There's a doctor and nurse on board the ship. I think the consultation fee was 40 us dollars, so I'm not sure I'd go see them for a cold! We always take a small medical kit when we travel with plasters, painkiller etc. I'd suggest just taking some of your preferred cold remedy with you.

Shim

There's a doctor and nurse on board the ship. I think the consultation fee was 40 us dollars, so I'm not sure I'd go see them for a cold! We always take a small medical kit when we travel with plasters, painkiller etc. I'd suggest just taking some of your preferred cold remedy with you.

Shim