I'm about to share with you the five worst things about going on a cruise to
Antarctica. I'm Gary Bembridge and this is another of my tips for travellers.
What possibly could be the worst parts of Antarctica cruise? Here you go:
First of all. the cost. It is an incredibly expensive experience. You're
likely to spend between US $10,000 and US $15,000,
and that's not even on a luxury kind of experience. The cheapest you're probably
going to find something is around about, just for the cruise alone ,around about
US$ 6,5000. It is a very expensive experience,
and there are a number of key costs. You have the cruise only cost and then you have
to get to Ushuaia. You're going to have to either fly to
Ushuaia or, what a lot of cruisers do, is your fly to Santiago and then across to
Ushuaia. Then you also have to have specific gear. You can hire the gear
and some cruise lines will have relationships with suppliers where you
hire the equipment. But you are going to have to invest or rent
equipment. There's specific boots you need, there's different layers you
need, hats, sunglasses. There's a lot of gear that you need and so there's a
whole lot of cost involved with that. For many people, the worst part of an
Antarctica cruise is not even the cost, it's the getting there! To get to the
Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands, which is where most of the
cruises go to, you have to cross Drake Passage. Drake Passage has the roughest
seas that you can imagine in the world. It doesn't matter what time of
year you go, it's very unpredictable. Some people experience what's
known as the "Drake Lake", which is a very calm flat sea, but most people will actually
experience "Drake Shake", which can be pretty rough. We had a great crossing
and had around about 4 to 5 meters swells, but it's very
unpredictable. For example, the cruise before us couldn't even leave on
the first day because there were 10 to 12 meter swells. It then calmed down the
next day and was almost completely flat. So, make sure that you've got seasick
remedies and whatever works for you and be prepared for rough seas. You may be
lucky and not have it, but getting there for many people is the worst. I know
people who've been turned Antarctica and spent two days in bed seasick there and two
days in bed seasick going back. The other thing, which could be the worst part of
an Antarctic, is the unpredictable nature of the weather. It can constantly
change and you can't predict it - no matter what time of the year you go, and
it can change very fast. I experienced as some days we'd have
really lousy weather in the morning until 10 o'clock and then suddenly it
would clear up and we'd have blue skies. Or the fog would come in and then as quickly the fog would disappear.
It is unpredictable weather. Also what's very important is the trip
depends on the ice and how the ice moves. There is no set schedule and they have a
rough plan of where they want to try and go, to but they have to reassess it based
on how much ice and how the ice has moved. You can't assume anything. The landings
may or may not happen as they may be cancelled because of too much swell or
the weather's too lousy. It's very unpredictable and you may spend all that
money and go all the way to Antarctica and have a so-so experience because the
weather is unpredictable. Of course, the cruise companies go to huge
trouble to make sure that they find a way of making sure that you do see
amazing thing, but bear in mind the worst part of it is it's just completely
unpredictable. The other thing is it's a very short season and there's only very
few months of the year that they can actually cruise to Antarctica. The
season starts towards the end of October, however most ships only really start
going during November because the ice by then is starting to
break up and they can get through. The season ends for most
companies towards the end of February, though so go into March. The real peak
of the season is December / January as that's also when it's warmest. It is a very
short season and you don't have a lot of flexibility about when you can go. The
fact that the season is so short is also what drives the cost and
availability. One of the things that you'll find with Antarctica is that
people book way way in advance to make sure that they can get the cabin they
want at the price they want at the time they want. Planning really early is
really important. In my view one of the worst things that you could do is
to go to Antarctica on a big ship. This is really important because the
rules Antarctic are strict about being able
to land. Only ships with a about 200 passengers actually can do landings in
Antarctica as you're only allowed to have a hundred people at any one landing
site at one time. They also limit the number of ships that can go to landing site over period
of time. It is very regulated and those bigger ships going down
to Antarctica are going to only be cruising by with no landings, and they tend to stay
much more up north so you're not going to get many of the experiences that I
spoke. You're not going to get in amongst the Penguins, you're not going
to get really close to whales and you're not going to get it up amongst the seals.
You are not going to get to climb up and look at rookeries. You're basically going
to do only the sail by experiences. Of course, you're going to be able to tick the
box that you one to Antarctica, but for me it's going to be really frustrating because
you're going to be so close but not really there. One of the worst things, in my
view, you could do is go to Antarctica on a big ship. Make sure that you go on one
of the smaller expedition ships, so for example the ship that I was on which is
Silversea Silver Cloud. That was great because the ship was small enough. It also fell
within all the regulations and we could do all of the landings because we'd go
out in groups of around about a hundred at a time on the landings. Overall, the
experience of Antarctica is phenomenal, and I have to say that it beat every
expectation I had. The worst things are never ever going to get in the way of
making an amazing experience. It is incredibly expensive to go, but really it
is a magical place and I would strongly recommend do whatever you can to save to
one day go to Antarctica. I hope you found this helpful,
interesting or inspiring. I would love it if you watched many more of my Tips For
Travellers videos as they are designed to help you make the most of your precious travel
time and money whether it's on land, on sea or on the rivers of the world