The highlight of the trip was being able to camp on the continent. The landscape and wildlife was great. We hoped to see orcas and didn't. But we did see several seals, penguins species, and a few humpbacks. The travel experience on the boat was mind boggling, so many great stories and interesting people and backgrounds. A few surprises we had were the bottle of champagne in the room, (THANKS LOLI!!) one day with no wind, and the BBQ dinner and dance on the stern of the boat.

Overwhelming, definitely lived up to expectations.

Maybe

The service from Swoop was great. You were open with us and explained how this particular cruise would work. After talking to others on the cruise, we felt we were better informed about cruise details. The only comment we have is that it would have been nice to get a confirmation email a month out as well as two weeks out.

Service: We had to ask for towels twice. Other than that the trip lived up to expectations, we have already recommended to others. And with our active lifestyle, the basecamp experience was a great match.

The Alto Andino was nice, with a great view of the port and was located close to downtown(shopping and restaurants). They helped us print our boarding passes free of charge, open a bottle of wine, and were fluent in English.

Expedition staff were friendly and knowledgeable. We were sad we didn't get to go kayaking due to weather, but it is Antarctica... Highlights were mountaineering, we got to see some great views with a more intimate team of ~12 people. It was fun to have the opportunity to have a more challenging hike. The landings were great because even if you weren't mountaineering or kayaking, you were able to hike some and take more time to view wildlife/scenery and practice photography - we were able to get some amazing photos!

It was such a fun experience - I think the Swoop staff and doing general research helped us show up to Antarctica prepared.