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[Doris_Jacob]

My wife and I are planning an Antarctic tour as part of our RTW trip and were wondering if anyone had any experiences with tour operators you'd like to share.
Thanks.

[krepitch]

Hi. I just got back from Antarctica on the MV Lyubov Orlova. I booked my trip through Geographic Expeditions and the ship is leased by Quark Expeditions. From what I could tell, it was one of the better tours available.

Please let me know if you have more questions...I'm sure you do! I'd be happy to help.

[whereshegoes]

Are you going from Argentina? I have heard of some great deals to be had from Ushuaia.

Here are some links I found:

http://www.antarcticatours.com/index.shtml
http://www.peregrineadventures.com/antarctica/index.asp
http://www.antarcticacruises.com.ar/
http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/

Good luck!

[krepitch]

Sorry...I didn't write my original post very clearly. I have actually returned from the trip! I have just uploaded my videos to my computer and will try to get my pics and some clips on to this site soon.

I definitely recommend going to anyone interested, though. It was amazing! There were even two people who just showed up to Ushuaia in case there were any open spots on any of the ships...and got on!

[Doris_Jacob]

Thanks. I look forward to seeing the pics. We are trying to settle on our desired dates and then see what's available. When I looked at the Geographic Expeditions tours they seemed quite a bit more than others. Do you think it was worth the extra cost?

[hdh]

We went with Quark on the Shokalskiy, and I'd thoroughly recommend them. It actually wound up a bit cheaper to book through Adventure Associates in Australia than with Quark direct.

Unless you're a particularly bad sailor, its worth going on a smaller boat (~50 pax), as you'll get more shore time and get to know the experts better. Also the larger boats (eg the Orlova as above, and anything bigger) tend not to have icebreaking bows, even though they're ice-strengthened, so they can't be as adventurous in where they go as the small boats.

Look carefully at your timing, too. Start of season gets you better ice but less wildlife, through the middle you get more whales at some times and more penguins at others, and different activities too, and the last cruse in March is known in the industry as the "dead penguin trip", so probably to be avoided.

Potentially you can save a lot of money by just turning up in Ushuaia and hoping there's a berth, but not all the operators will discount last-minute berths, and there's a good possibility of missing out - we met several people in Chile and Argentina who'd tried and been disappointed.

However you do it, you'll love it: we blew a large chunk of our total budget for 2 years on 5 days on the ice, and if it had cost twice as much it'd have been worth it.

Check out www.punshon.ca/antarctica and http://www.pbase.com/escog/antarctica for some photos (by other people) from our trip

[jcmaguire]

Hey there. I actually went through a Canadian organization called Students on Ice. It´s a neat trip because you are accompanied by a massive team of experts with free lectures and excursions ashore all the time. Also, there are about 30 students from around the world. I think there´s a discounted rate because you´d enlist as "chaperones" which literally means nothing and you´d get to participate in any activities you wanted. The students are carefully selected from tons of applications, so they´re very mature and motivated...it´s not a bunch of crazy loud kids or anything...Also, the trip is particularly great because of the vessel. The MV Polar Star was a Swedish navy boat before they converted to a class A icebreaker. There´s no better ship, you can rest assured. I had a great time, learned a TON, and caught some great photos. Check it out at http://www.StudentsOnIce.com

[Guest]

I know if you are a writer or artist the British Antarctic Survey actually have some jobs going! British Antarctic Survey You get to spend a summer season there and get paid for it!

[world_traveler]

Dave,

Thank you so much for your pictures! I will be traveling to Antarctica in just three short weeks!

We will be traveling with Gap Adventures. Hopefully they will be as knowledgeable and give us as many experiences as you and your travel companions had.

I have a travelogue set up and plan to post pictures when I return.

Thanks again,

WT

[andrea]

wow... that looks like an incredible trip! I hope to get there one day!

Andrea

[petercasier]

(even though it is a bit after the facts as you just returned...)

We also used Quark, as a means of transport to get to Peter I, on our first expedition, on the Kapitan Khlebnikov. They were very professional to deal with, even though our demands were complicated (we had 12 tons of cargo to be offloaded on a remote island, etc...) Highly recommended (Quark that is, not the 12 tons of cargo).

We returned on the Akademik Fedorov, from AARI... They also take paying passengers, but their schedule (as probably many ships in the Antarctic) has a lot of variations...

The second expedition, leaving from Reunion, we used the Marion Dufresne from IFRTP (the french antarctic research vessel). There our demands were even more complicated (our destination, Howland island) was WAY out of their route, and that time, we had 20 people and 30 tons of cargo. They were also very professional..

Some stories of those trips, I posted on http://theroadtothehorizon.blogspot.com... The full story of the Peter I trip (even though in Dutch, but with loads of pictures), is on http://verslaafdaandehorizon.blogspot.com with links to my flickr picture library..

Overall, both trips were adventures of a lifetime, and even though both expeditions cost me an arm and a leg, I would not hesitate for a second to do them again.

Peter

[Jessica_CDN]

WOw - what a great endorsement! Thanks so much for sharing!

[sydneyash]

Take a look at this site if you are thinking of going to Antarctica. There are pages of information of you are thinking of getting creative while South of 60º.
http://www.theme.com.au/

[liufengkvov]

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good luck!