We had amazingly good luck with weather and were able to make about 10 excursions from the ship. The encounters with the whales were just incredibly wonderful. The icebergs and bergy bits were artistic, majestic, noisy, imaginative and splendid. I think we met people from nearly 20 different countries aboard ship. The crew were all friendly, competent, attentive and knowledgeable. I learned a great deal about history, geography, birds and penguins. Drake's passage is long even in good weather.

Every day it was 24/7 WOW!

Maybe

Swoop service was friendly and fairly attentive. I think we definitely chose the right trip for us. I don't know if some other cabin would have been better or worse since I didn't see any other cabins. Nice touch to send a buff for use. Not sure how much difference it made to book with Swoop since we didn't check with anyone else.

We were so lucky with the weather that I can't imagine how anything could be better. Maybe one suggestion is to announce when we were at our southernmost point so it could be noted, but it was great to get the certificate with the long. & lat. noted! The length of the trip was perfect because we felt we got to spend a really good amount of time in Antarctica for the amount of time it took to get there. We chose the trip both for the length of the trip and for crossing the polar circle since we have now crossed both circles and stood at the equator.

The arrangements made by Swoop all worked out ok. We most appreciated being met upon arrival at airports with the airport transportation. That was super helpful. The Buenos Aires tour was very good and informative. Left us longing for more time at some of the attractions, but our hotel was located WAY too far away. The hotel in BA was a nice hotel, and well located for eating dinner, but nothing else was close to it and it too well over an hour to get to the airport. Wish I had done more research on hotel location before booking. We received our documentation in a timely manner and it was adequate. We were not aware that the rental car agencies would not have an office at the airport so the first time we weren't looking for the host with the sign. It worked out ok once we figured it out. The reservations person did ask questions about what we wanted to see and do, but did not seem to consider our budget. Making our own accommodation reservations saved a good deal of money. We very much appreciated the suggestions for different areas of the country to visit and enjoyed every location. The last minute changes due to airline cancellations were maddening, but the reservations team was very helpful and efficient with adapting to our unforeseen delays.

I didn't know what to expect but was really delighted with the amount of time we were able to spend on shore and how far we were able to walk at some of the landings. I was also surprised at how much I enjoyed the zodiac excursions. It made me wish we had maybe signed up for the kayaking. Being right at water level floating by the ice and seals and whales was really something magical. The day we saw nearly 50 whales was a real highlight. We saw a LOT of Gentoo penguins which was fun but would have liked more variety. That was a factor of our late season trip and couldn't really be helped. The ice was beautiful, majestic, loud, dramatic, elegant and powerful all at once: natural art in the making.

Plan ahead. Consider what you really want to see and what time of year might work best to see it. Don't be surprised by terrible wind and weather and ice impeding the ability of the ship to get to different places. Take advantage of the lectures and library and you will learn a lot. The expedition crew we had were a wealth of knowledge and really fascinating, competent and enthusiastic. Get to know them! No kidding about bringing lots of layers. Having a ship that loaned out rubber boots was great!

We already visited Patagonia.