Exploring the vast and varied landscapes of Antarctica is an increasingly popular bucket-list adventure, especially as more people are turning their attention to remote destinations for their travels.
Now, travellers from all over the planet are taking the plunge to learn how they can make their dreams of visiting the White Continent a reality. Antarctic cruise ships are their ticket to this frozen paradise.
Gliding through the Southern Ocean, these state-of-the-art vessels are expertly designed for travellers to cruise to the Antarctic and effortlessly explore its spectacular sights. But much like any cruise to far-flung destinations, you want to ensure you choose the best vessel to suit your preferences, and Antarctic cruise ships are no exception.
With over 150 Antarctica voyages and more than 100 years of collective Antarctic knowledge under our belts, at Swoop Antarctica we’ve got unrivalled polar experience to put at your service. We visit Antarctica every year and undertake regular ship inspections, giving us the edge when helping you choose the right ship and cabins.
In this article we share some of our trips to choose the best Antarctica ship for your adventure. Whatever type of traveller you are, there’s an Antarctica cruise ship out there for you.
Our Top Tips to Choose Your Perfect Antarctic Cruise Ship
To choose the ideal Antarctic cruise ship for you, you’ll need to ask yourself the pivotal questions: What do you prioritise the most on your adventures to make your trip to Antarctica as enjoyable as possible?
Are you travelling alone and will want an Antarctic cruise with the option of a solo cabin or sharing with a new friend? Perhaps you love the finer things in life and want to opt for a luxury Antarctica ship. Or, if it’s adventure you crave the most, you’ll prioritise a vessel with the best choice of optional adventure activities.
There are several other factors you’ll need to consider before you select your Antarctic cruise ship.
Vessel Size
The size of the Antarctica ship can have a big effect on the way you’ll experience the White Continent. Most ships carry between 100 to 150 passengers, though a few are even smaller. As a rule of thumb, the fewer passengers, the more intimate your experience will be. It’s a balancing act though – larger vessels can take longer to get everyone on and off the ship for excursions but offer more facilities. Note that the largest Antarctic cruise ships that carry more than 500 passengers are forbidden from offering any landings at all, so can’t offer that true expedition experience.
Comfort, service and facilities
Early generations of Antarctic cruise ships were pretty basic, made up of old research ships and Russian icebreakers, but today’s polar fleet offers far more choice in comfort and facilities. Cabins with balconies are commonplace, and the higher up the scale you go, the more choice you’ll have for dining options: some luxury vessels even go as far as offering 24/7 butler service.
Optional adventure activities
Every Antarctica cruise ship offers different adventure activities during their time in the south. These are paid extras, but if you want to kayak amid the penguins, camp in a snow hole or even go mountaineering, we can help guide you towards the ship that has the best options for you.
Vessel Stability
It’s a two day sail each way across the Drake Passage from South America to Antarctica, so it’s important to be as comfortable as possible on the open ocean. Most Antarctic cruise ships have underwater stabilisers, but the laws of physics means that larger vessels have a lot less movement than smaller ships. Many of the newest generation of cruise ships all have an innovative X-Bow design that reduces a ship’s pitch to give a smoother voyage, but if you’re a poor or anxious sailor, you can also avoid the crossing altogether and fly direct to join your ship in the Antarctic Peninsula.
The different types of Antarctic cruise ships
There are a host of Antarctic cruise ships for you to call home during your once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Now you’ve narrowed down your priorities, we’ve set out some Antarctic cruise ship recommendations to help you decide which one might be the best for you.
Luxury Antarctic Ships
Most people will only ever sail south once, so spending a little more on your Antarctic cruise ship to experience the best the money can buy makes sense for many travellers – and today’s luxury polar vessels certainly make for a flawless cruising experience.
Luxury vessels are typically larger, with more space to spend your time in when you’re not out with the ice and penguins. With luxurious facilities, gourmet restaurants, superb service and cutting-edge technology, these ships are like floating boutique hotels – perfect for sitting back and relaxing as you explore Antarctica in optimal luxury.
Two Luxury Antarctic ships we love: Silver Endeavour & Seabourn Pursuit
The Silver Endeavour and Seabourn Pursuit are two of our favourite luxury polar vessels. Together they offer some of the most exceptional and comfortable experiences to cruise Antarctica – including pre-cruise a luxury hotel stay and flights to the departure port of Ushuaia for a complete stress-free travel experience.
On board, you’ll find a wide choice of large cabin and suite types with private verandas, all with 24 hour room service for a personalised and intimate experience. Both Silver Endeavour have a great choice of dining options, plus well-equipped gyms and saunas. Not to forget that the staff-to-guest ratios are the highest in the polar fleet, with expert guides ensuring you have the perfect polar experience.
Expedition-style Antarctic Ships
Placing less emphasis on glamour and instead prioritising in-depth exploration during a trip to Antarctica, expedition-stye cruise ships allow you to fully immerse yourself in the glacial landscapes, wildlife, and scenery as you explore the White Continent.
Expedition Antarctica cruise ships have itineraries that maximise your time off the ship. Optional adventure activities are often at the forefront, with plenty of opportunities to kayak among the ice, camp out overnight on the continent and snowshoe to epic viewpoints.
Two Antarctic expedition-style Antarctic ships we love: Hondius & Ortelius
The Hondius and Ortelius are two Antarctic cruise ships that marry cosy interiors with an informal atmosphere for activity-packed voyages through Antarctica’s waters.
Hondius carries up to 150 passengers and Ortelius 180, but both offer our Antarctic Basecamp Adventure that include a wide variety of activities in the price for like-minded adventures: kayaking, camping, snowshoeing and mountaineering, as well as classic landings and zodiac cruises.
Large observation deck acts as gateways to the outdoors while staying comfortable onboard these cruise ships in Antarctica. Both have lecture theatres for educational talks and presentations to learn more about Antarctica’s environment, history, and wildlife.
Comfortable adventure Antarctic ships
When considering a trip to Antarctica, many want their cruise experience to not only have as many adventure experiences as possible but to also have all the creature comforts to enjoy after a long day when you’ve been out exploring in a zodiac or watching a penguin rookery.
There are many excellent Antarctica cruise ships that seamlessly blend comfort and adventure. Likened to a floating hotel, you can be sure that you have ample space as well as quality facilities and amenities that mean you don’t have to sacrifice comfort while you explore Antarctica.
Two Antarctic comfortable adventure Antarctic ships we love: Greg Mortimer & Ultramarine
The Greg Mortimer and Ultramarine are two of our favourite ‘comfort and adventure’ vessels. The former, which carries just over 130 passengers, was the first expedition ship in Antarctica to employ X-bow technology for steadier and smoother experience on big seas. The Ultramarine is larger at just under 200 passengers but comes equipped with two helicopters to extend the range of your explorations.
Both come with large panoramic lounges with floor to ceiling windows, allowing you to take in the best of the polar landscapes in true comfort, while also offering quick access to the outer decks when whales are spotted or for birdwatching when crossing the Drake Passage.
Small Antarctic Cruise ships
If you prioritise an intimate experience during your travels, small ship cruises in Antarctica can be a great option for you. These smaller vessels accommodate fewer passengers, meaning that embarking for an excursion is incredibly fast, so that you can maximise your time off the ship.
Although you’ll find a narrower choice of facilities on board compared to some of the larger Antarctic cruise ships, these small vessels offer some of the highest staff-to-passenger ratios in the Southern Ocean, so there is plenty of opportunity to learn from the expert naturalists, geologists, historians and other guides during the voyage.
Two small Antarctic cruise ships we love: Magellan Explorer & Ocean Nova
The Magellan Explorer and Ocean Explorer both accommodate fewer than 80 passengers giving a personal and intimate experience. They operate fly & cruise departures, so the entire guest complement arrives in Antarctica on a single charter flight from Punta Arenas.
The two ships have slightly different styles. Magellan Explorer is a more boutique experience and offers camping and snowshoeing, while Ocean Nova has more of an expeditionary-style.
Citizen Science Antarctic Cruise Ships
One of the most exciting trends in polar cruising in recent years is the advent of citizen science. This allows passengers to take part in real scientific projects, collecting data or samples for world-class research institutions, from NASA to the Natural History Museum in London.
Sailing on an Antarctic cruise vessel offering citizen science programmes is a great way of connecting to the bigger environmental issues around Antarctica – as well as actively contributing yourself, whether that’s taking part in seabird surveys, collecting phytoplankton or recording cloud data as satellites pass overhead.
Two citizen science Antarctic cruise ships we love: Seaventure & Sylvia Earle
Seaventure and Sylvia Earle are the two best citizen science ships in the polar fleet by some margin. Both have on board laboratories and dedicated citizen science coordinators among the expedition team.
Seaventure is the ship that pioneered Antarctic citizen science and has the broadest range of projects. Sylvia Earle, a newer X-Bow style ship, remains equally inspired by its namesake, the marine biologist Sylvia Earle.
It’s not all lab work however: citizen science is only one part of these ship’s offerings, which include the full range of landings, zodiac cruises and adventure activities.
For the Solo Travellers: Solo-Suited Antarctic Cruise Ships
Antarctica is becoming one of the go-to bucket list destinations amongst solo travellers who have an appetite for adventure and see the White Continent as their next target.
We fully believe that all Antarctic ships are great for solo travellers. Shared cabins are a great way of keeping the cost of a cruise down as well as meeting like-minded travellers to share the adventure with.
That said, more and more Antarctica cruise ships are catering to solo travellers’ needs by removing single supplements and having higher proportions of single cabins, to offer more choice than ever for those solo travellers looking to explore Antarctica.
Two Antarctic cruise ships for solo travellers we love: NG Endurance & Ocean Albatros
Both the NG Endurance and Ocean Albatros offer a higher than average number of single cabins for those travelling solo. Both carry the distinctive X-Bow style ship design for a smoother passage through rough waters, and when the sea is calm, both have outdoor Jacuzzis for the ultimate treat against a backdrop of glaciers and mountains.
These two Antarctic cruise ships have optional adventure activities like kayaking – a great way to make new friends as well as experiencing Antarctica from a unique perspective.
Summary
Today’s Antarctic cruise ships offer a wide variety of ways to explore the White Continent, whatever type of traveller you are. At Swoop Antarctica, we know the entire polar fleet inside and out – get in touch with us and we can help find the right cabin on the right ship for you, with the best price to suit your pocket.
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