A luxury Antarctica cruise had been at the top of our travel bucket list for a long time. When it finally happened, Alan and I chose to cruise to Antarctica with Seabourn.
We traveled on the 450-passenger Seabourn Quest through South American fjords to the tip of the continent and then across the Drake Passage to Antarctica and South Georgia before disembarking in Buenos Aires.
In This Article, You'll Discover
- Antarctica Cruise itinerary
- Tips for booking an Antarctica Cruise
- Advice for coming and going
- Packing tips for an Antarctica Cruise
Boomer Travel Tip
I’m still writing articles about this trip. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you’ll be the first to know!
Take a look at our luxury Antarctica Cruise itinerary
Rather than the typical 7 to 14-day Antarctica cruise, Alan and I chose a 21-day itinerary that included the Chilean Fjords, Antarctica Peninsula and South Georgia. The true adventure began when Quest reached Antarctica to explore for seven days before continuing to South Georgia. With zodiac rides and hiking adventures, this was an active trip that we’ll never forget! Excursions were included during the Antarctica and South Georgia portions of the itinerary. We purchased excursions through Seabourn for the South American ports.
- Pre-cruise night in Santiago, Chile at the Ritz-Carlton Santiago
- Seabourn Quest departs from Valparaiso, Chile
- Cruise Reloncavi Sound
- Puerto Montt, Chile
- Castro, Isla Chile
- Cruise the Gulf of Corcovado
- Chilean Fjords
- Scenic cruising to El Brujo Glacier
- Cruise Canal Sarmiento
- Strait of Magellan
- Punta Arenas, Chile
- Cruise the Beagle Channel
- Ushuaia, Argentina
- Explore the Antarctica Peninsula for 6 days
- Grytviken, South Georgia for 2 days
- Montevideo, Uruguay
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
6 Questions About Cruising to Antarctica
After Alan and I returned from cruising to Antarctica, we kept asking each other, “Did we really go there?” And, now, the trip seems so distant. Perhaps it’s that our senses were overloaded so it was hard to process all that we experienced on this trip of a lifetime that’s long been at the top […]
Cruising to El Brujo Glacier
We cruised to El Brujo Glacier as part of an extended cruise to Antarctica. This beautiful site certainly whet our appetites for what was to come. Want to make your holiday cruise a white one (or blue in this case)? Choose an itinerary that visits a glacier. When Alan and I sailed in South America […]
Seeing the Light in Antarctica’s Neumayer Channel
We hadn’t head of Neumayer Channel until the day we cruised through it on an Antarctica cruise. What a beautiful surprise this travel experience turned out to be. When Alan and I cruised in Antarctica on Seabourn Quest, we expected to see mammoth icebergs, stunning scenery, and cute penguins waddling around. But the other worldliness […]
Half Moon Island, Our Introduction to Antarctica
Some travel moments forever change who we are—listening to the sighs of dreaming lions as they sleep in the South African bush, feeling the gentle bump of a stingray against my leg in Moorea’s tropical waters, watching the sun’s first warm rays as it turns Mesa Arch into a fiery, orange glow of sandstone. Stepping […]
Cooper Island: A First Look at South Georgia
A fur seal lazily lifts his head to look at me as the zodiac approaches Cooper Island in South Georgia. More of his friends are scattered along the beach and into the mounds of tussock grass. King penguins waddle along the shore or trudge up the hillside to rookeries. Sea birds fly overhead, darting into […]
Tips for Booking an Antarctica Cruise
Cruising in Antarctica is a serious investment so you want to start planning early and do your due diligence. We chose a classic Seabourn cruise on the Quest that included an expedition when we reached Antarctica and South Georgia. We traveled over Christmas and New Years, which made it even more special.
For the best cabin choices, book an Antarctica trip as early as possible. Be sure to confirm the cruise line’s cancellation policies, just in case your plans change, this includes purchasing travel insurance beginning with your deposit so that pre-existing condition coverage applies. I also highly recommend joining a medical evacuation program, especially for this kind of cruise.
Because I’m prone to sea sickness, the journey across Drake Passage worried me. We lucked into a Drake Lake. However there were some bouncy days on the way to South Georgia and also heading back to Buenos Aries but I managed well.
Advice for Coming and Going
One reason we chose this itinerary is that it was more convenient to fly to Lima and depart from Buenos Aires than to fly into Ushuaia, which requires a charter flight with the cruise line that has limited luggage allowances. We packed without worrying about luggage weight, which is important on a cruise that includes Christmas, New Years and expedition days.
We booked flight arrangements through LAN from Los Angeles to Santiago and Buenos Aires to Los Angeles. Alan was thrilled to be flying again on the Dreamliner. And we traveled a day early domestically, spending the night in LA, to ensure that our travel went smoothly.
Packing Tips for an Antarctica Cruise
Packing was a challenge. It required warm weather clothing for the early part of cruise and the end in Montevideo and Buenos Aires as well as something fancy (our choice) for Christmas and New Years. Of course the time in Antarctica required lots of cold weather gear. And then there was all the camera paraphernalia. Let’s just say that it took two tries to make it all fit in our luggage.