Before going on the expedition cruise to Antarctica I am just back from, I rather naively thought
that an expedition cruise was basically a regular cruise that went to more remote destinations.
I was wrong.
And here is why and what would have been good to have known.
By the way, if you're new here, welcome aboard.
I'm Gary Bembridge and my goal is to help make it easier and more fun to discover, plan,
and enjoy unforgettable cruise vacations.
Before I get into some of the unexpected aspects of expedition cruising, let me quickly address
some of the more obvious differences, even though I hadn't realised the significance
of them all.
First, an expedition cruise costs much more per day than a regular cruise.
An Antarctica cruise, for example, will set you back around $1,000 day per person based
on dual occupancy of an Oceanview cabin on one of the more affordable lines with flights
and the cruise.
Second, while they go to harder and more remote like the Arctic, Antarctica, Galapagos, Greenland,
and Canadian Northwest Passage, I see you can also go on an expedition cruise to places
regular cruises go, like Alaska, Iceland, and the Amazon.
Third, the key difference being that expedition cruises use a different kind of ship in all
these places.
They are smaller to navigate into more remote and harder to reach places and because some
places restrict the number of people that can visit or are permitted to do landings
at one time.
In Antarctica, for example, only 100 people are allowed on land at any one time, and so
most expedition ships like Ponant Le Lyrial I was on only carries a maximum of 200 guests
to be able to offer many landings and experiences each day.
Larger ships tend to only offer sail-by scenic cruising.
Secondly, there's practical things expedition ships have to have versus regular cruise ships.
They have strengthened hulls if they're going to the Arctic or Antarctica.
Shallow draughts so they can get into smaller, more remote places and facilities like a “mud
room” to clean off boots when coming back off land.
They have room for Zodiacs and cranes to lower and raise them into the water.
They have space to hold plenty of fuel and food, as they cruise for longer periods of
time in areas without any ability to restock.
Most have much more limited facilities than regular cruise ships.
Usually just a main dining room, buffet, a lounge, a lecture theatre, a photo centre
and small spa and gym.
No casinos and other facilities.
I also found as I planned this expedition cruise is that the most established cruise
lines are different to those in regular cruising.
These well-established expedition cruise lines include Lindblad, which also run National
Geographic, Quark, UnCruise, Abercrombie & Kent, Polar Quest, Atlas, Aurora, and Intrepid.
Though slowly but surely classic cruise lines are coming into this space, like Celebrity,
Hurtigruten, Hapag Lloyd, Ponant, Crystal, Seabourn, Silversea and Viking.
Most of those regular classic cruise lines have created a separate expedition division,
which is a clear signal, that things are incredibly different.
And here’s where it gets interesting, and I encountered the unexpected.
When I go on a regular cruise to the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Alaska and so on, I know day-by-day,
where am I going to be going, what time I’ll be getting there, what I can do when I’m
there, and what time I’ll be leaving.
Many ships run the same itinerary week after week, and they will all be the same.
There may some shorts delays or rare changes due to bad weather.
Our expedition leader, Rafael, who has been doing expedition cruising for 12 years, claimed
that no cruise he has done, even to the same destination in a season, is the same.
There's no fixed itinerary.
There's just a set of goals and a rough plan.
He had four goals for our trip
To get us to South Georgia, South Orkneys, the Antarctic Peninsula, and South Shetlands.
He had a rough plan of where we would be going in each of those, what we’d do when we got
there, but he didn't know and couldn’t promise.
On expedition cruises like this they can only properly plan the next day based on latest
weather and ice.
And even then, we had plans scrapped and changed on a number of mornings as once we arrived
it was not possible to do due to wind, swell or ice.
There are no ports of call with docks on expedition cruises like this one I was on.
There were bays, old whaling stations, research stations, nesting areas, penguin colonies,
or places of historic interest.
We literally just sailed up into a remote spot, got into the zodiacs and explored.
On a classic cruise, when I get my daily program, I can be fairly sure everything will run as
advertised and on time.
This is not the case on an expedition cruise.
The daily program is a guideline, it's not set in stone and can and will change often.
The other thing I found on an expedition cruise, which is different to classic cruising, is
to expect sudden interruptions and diversions.
For example, one lunchtime sailing between Grytviken and St. Andrew Bay for our afternoon
landing, we were interrupted by the Captain during lunch to say we were diverting to follow
some Orca whales.
This happened another evening during a briefing when Humpback Whales were spotted, and we
diverted to follow them.
Another unexpected diversion was just after dinner one evening when the Captain announced
he had seen an area in Wilhelmina Bay where he believed he could physically push into
the ice shelf and let us walk out on the ice, which we did around 11pm at night.
So, when you look at an advertised itinerary for an expedition cruise, list of wildlife
to see and the places that it says it will call on, understand it will be unpredictable
and changeable.
Another thing driven home to me is that expedition cruising unlike regular cruising, is the risks.
They are higher for travellers, the cruise line, the ship, and crew, and even the places
that you call on.
In our first briefing we were told repeatedly that safety is paramount because going into
a remote place, means that one person’s misfortune affects everyone dramatically.
If someone is injured or falls seriously ill the ship would have to leave the area and
go to find help.
We would turn around and head to Ushuaia in Argentina, or to the Falklands, many hundreds
of nautical miles away and at least 2 days away.
On a regular cruise, it's closer to civilization and a medivac or seeking attention at next
port a day or so away is possible and the entire trip is not thrown off.
The other difference related to this is to go on an expedition cruise like the one I
was one versus a regular cruise, is I had to have more pre-trip medical screening.
For the trip I did on Ponant, I had to have a medical with my GP to be signed off as fit
and healthy enough to go.
To do some optional activities like a polar plunge or a kayaking, required a heart scan.
The other thing that really drove home to me the risks is we had a series of mandatory
briefings.
Never on a classic cruise do you see anything other than the Muster Drill with the word
mandatory included.
For example, we had a mandatory briefing before we were allowed to get off the ship in Antarctica.
This is required by the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators, IAATO, founded
in 1991.
This includes how to behave and be safe on land, which animals to stay away from, how
far to stay away from them, what to do if they get aggressive.
We had another mandatory briefing where we had to go and learn how to get on and off
the Zodiacs.
We had another mandatory activity where all the clothes that we wear externally had to
be checked and screened.
There are strict rules to stop the introduction of foreign plants or seeds into Antarctica
and moving anything between sites.
So, we had our external clothes, rucksacks and so on screened and checked a couple of
times during a cruise, and when we came back from each landing, we had to rigorously clean
our boots.
There were strict rules on each landing with areas laid out and marked on where we could
go, with no divergence allowed because of the risks, whether it's slipping on the ice
or rocks or being attacked by an animal.
The risks are greater and much more intensely enforced compared to a classic cruise, as
was – as I found out – how the cruise operates and the priorities.
The ship becomes more of a floating expedition base than a floating resort, as it is on a
classic cruise.
It's basically a place to rest, relax, and be briefed between the different explorations.
This led to 7 big differences I discovered across my trip to the way regular cruises
runs.
First, there's no big entertainment team, which is fundamental to a classic cruise.
Instead, it's replaced by an expedition team.
On this cruise there were 14 in the Expedition Team.
These are naturalists, historians, bird experts, geologists, marine biologists, experts on
glaciers and so on.
They are the entertainment.
Entertainment is enrichment, not production shows, quizzes, bingo and so on.
Enrichment lectures on a classic cruise is one of the entertainment activities, on an
expedition cruise it is the star.
We did have some live music in the evenings in the lounge by a small group of musicians
and singers, but the focus was on the talks and recaps.
We had up to three lectures a day on sea days.
We had briefings and recaps every day based on what we’d seen that day seen.
Late nights and partying are not a thing unlike on classic cruises.
Second, the photographic team also plays a different role in expedition cruising.
Rather than taking pictures of me with the captain or whatever, they were always out
taking pictures of the wildlife and making a video of the cruise, which of course are
available to buy.
Third, in terms of excursions, that's a different thing as well.
On a classic cruise, I’m used to choosing from a whole range of different excursions
in a port.
That's not what happens on an expedition cruise.
There was no choice of things to do at a stop.
I could either take part in what was on offer or not.
There are three main things that happened on this expedition cruise: scenic cruising
on the ship, scenic cruising on Zodiacs, or wet landings where I got to hike or explore
in a specific area as I mentioned.
The only thing that was optional is I could have paid to go kayaking in a few spots.
The magical thing, for me anyway, were wet landings, as I could walk on amazing beaches,
see seals, penguins, and walk amongst them.
I also enjoyed the cruising on Zodiacs as I got to go and see some of the wildlife like
birds nesting and closer up to icebergs and glaciers.
Fourth, packing and clothes is also a very different experience to a classic cruise.
The thing that gets people worried on a classic cruise is the dress code.
Is it a smart dress code?
Is there a party night?
On expedition cruises it is different.
First, you have to pack specific gear for the region.
So, for the Antarctic or the Arctic, I had to bring a series of layers.
The base layer, so kind of long john type stuff, then an insulating layer, then I had
to have an outer layer which has to be waterproof.
Most of those, I had to provide myself.
Most expedition cruises give you the big warm parka, which is a bright colour, normally
red like the Ponant one.
The idea is that everybody wears those and so on land, they can see at a distance everybody
very easily.
I had brought my own boots because I bought them from a previous trip.
But Ponant did hire boots to save people having to carry them.
To ensure people were protected there was a list of mandatory things we had to bring.
This included a head covering, neck warmer, not a scarf as that could blow away, waterproof
trousers, thick socks, waterproof gloves and inner gloves and the high boots as we step
off into water off the zodiacs.
There is no mandatory list on a regular cruise, as even the dress code is optional largely.
Talking of dress code, I soon realised on an expedition cruise that no one pays attention
to the dress code.
On Ponant, the pre-cruise booklet spoke at length dress codes for gala nights and smart
casual, like no jeans, a suit and tie on formal nights.
But no one paid any attention.
People, including me, wore what we wanted to as it’s all about expedition, it's about
having the right clothes to go on the tour, it's not about the dress code.
Fifth, dining and food is also much less of a focus I found.
Of course, food is important, and the food is basically the same as on a regular cruise.
I found a real big shift in the role of dining.
People want to go in, have lunch, have dinner, get to bed, and ready for the next day.
It was a chance to socialise and share experiences from the day, but its role is more functional
I felt.
Sixth, unlike a regular cruise, I found that being active and mobile is key to manage and
get the most from these is also required.
I had to climb in and out of Zodiacs, often when there were swells and then leap out into
shallow ocean for the landing.
The landings usually include hiking, up steep and snow-covered hills.
I did find expedition versus regular cruising quite a tiring process as it's so active,
often with early starts.
Next, one of the most important things that I learnt that is different between a classic
cruise and an expedition cruise, as we were advised to do this by the Expedition leader,
is the importance of standing still and looking.
On a classic cruise we're all out wanting to do things, have fun and enjoy ourselves
and capture that.
However, what I realised on an expedition cruise is the ultimate thing to do is to put
my camera away, and just stand and look at view from the incredible hill I have hiked
up, stare at the glacier, watch the elephant seals, Antarctic fur seals, king penguins
and slowly take in what is going on.
Listen to the sounds.
Drink in the sights.
Stopping, standing still, and taking it all in is something that matters on an expedition
cruise.
I had a number of other incredible revelations based on my expedition cruise, which is in
this video starting with the biggest shock to me around what man has done and is doing.
See you over there.