Antarctic Experience

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY3z0_j0Nkc

I had wanted to see Antarctica for a long time. Most of the time, people told me that sounds crazy. What is there to see? It sounds like it's just vast emptiness and miserably cold. The first time I mentioned it to Tim, he gave me a hard no. But I explained that there's a lot of cruises to Antarctica and they take tourists to see the wildlife and the beautiful tundra. Some people still thought it sounded insane.

I pondered doing a solo Antarctic adventure. I really wanted to see penguins in their natural habitat, but could not justify the high cost of the Antarctica tours. A couple of years ago, Tim found a great package deal that almost sounded too good to be true. It included:

• the cruise itself, Seabourn Venture - The Great White Continent

• taxes and fees

• round trip flights to Buenos Aires

• round trip flights from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia

• airport transfers to and from airports, hotel, and ship

• 1 night hotel in Buenos Aires prior to traveling to Ushuaia

• dining venues and room service

• expedition parka, beanie, dry pack, canvas tote bags

• other freebies - stainless steel water bottles, tote bags

• insulated, waterproof boots provided for use

• unlimited wi-fi

• unlimited caviar

• laundry facilities

This was the best and only cruise in our lives.

It was just under $8k per person. That is still a lot of money, so we still deliberated on it for a few days, before finally deciding to go for it. For one thing, we don't know how much longer Antarctica will be around. For another thing, after years of looking up Antarctica cruises on Quark Expeditions, National Geographic, and others, we were pretty sure that this was the best deal we would ever find. We also found out that these ships were very new, probably less than a year old at the time that we embarked, so we were pretty sure that the accommodations would be in good condition. I remember the night we booked it, we were in shock that we spent that much money on a single purchase. At times, I'm still in shock that we did it. Feels like a weird dream.

Day 1 - travel to Ushuaia, embark on Seabourn Venture - The Great White Continent

We were probably the first guests to board the ship. The staff were coordinating with the other guests to deliver their luggage to their rooms. We only travel with carry-on luggage, so we skipped that step, and were directed to the dining room called The Colonnade, where they prepared a welcome lunch for us. To be honest, we weren't too interested in eating at that point. After waking up at about 4am to ride on their 5:15am chartered bus to the Buenos Aires airport, to board a 7AM flight to Ushuaia, we just wanted to lie down.

Accommodations

After lunch, we rolled over to our veranda suite, which is the smallest space available. What we really like about Seabourn is that every room has an ocean view. With a smaller ship, everyone has a room that is window-facing. We were very glad to hear this, because we saw that other cruise lines have enormous ships that can really cram guests in. Their base rooms had very small portholes, or worse, no window at all, which would probably induce feelings of claustrophobia after a few days.

When we arrived, our room had a view directly facing a National Geographic ship.

The 355 square foot veranda suite opens into a walkway and on the left is a very nice white marble themed bathroom, a walk-in closet, a drying closet so you can store your wet clothes after returning from zodiac excursions, and life vests stored above. A lot of times, we left our wet clothes inside the drying closet and our snow pants would get very warm and toasty.

Past the closet is the bedroom. It was a comfortable bed with a headboard, lamps, nightstands, and charging ports on both sides.

Beneath the television was a set of Swarovski binoculars. When we tried those later, we could see why the glass was so high quality. Beyond this area is the living space with a couch, where they had our parkas, beanies, and dry packs waiting for us. There was also a note that said if we wanted to exchange the size, we could do so at a specified time. There was a bottle of Montaudon champagne on ice and glasses waiting for us. Opposite this was the mini bar, which was also all complimentary. Above the mini bar was a shelf that housed The Odyssey, which I noted is very appropriate reading material for this trip. Next to the mini bar is a small writing desk. Finally the veranda has a sliding glass door that gives you amazing views of the ocean, mountains, icebergs, wildlife, and access to fresh polar air. I didn't expect much from the veranda and expected it to be tiny, but it was enough space for two deck chairs and a table.

The ship itself was also very beautiful. We had a lot of fun exploring it from top to bottom.

There was a gym, spa, sauna, two restaurants, one of them aptly named The Restaurant, a cafe, sushi bar, multiple bars.

On deck, there was a pool, and a couple of hot tubs, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Here is their version of an infinity pool, with some other ship in the background.

Additionally there was a lounge and a studio where you could use their computer screens to learn about the region, the history, and look up information about wildlife.

There is also access to the bridge, where guests are welcome at designated times to chat with the captains.

Of course there is a gift shop. It mostly only had Helly Hansen, which was also the manufacturer of the parkas they provided us, and Rolexes. I suppose if you are in need of more winter gear, you know you can buy some. I have no idea who would be in need of a Rolex during this cruise, but they were there if such a desire is present on board. I wished they sold more affordable souvenirs, like a Antarctica postcards. I did notice that the cheapest stuffed penguins sold out pretty quickly.

What came as a pleasant surprise to us was the laundry facilities. It gave us access to free use of washers and dryers, and even detergent. This was very useful after multiple outings on snowy expeditions. Being able to wash away rocky material from our snow pants and go home with clean clothes made it easier to pack for the journey home.

Everything I packed for an 11 day Antarctica cruise

I pretty much only travel with carry-on luggage, and I have done so for many years. The only times I can remember traveling with checked luggage is 1) when I was moving across the country, so I needed more space to try to pack up everything I owned, and 2) when I was a kid and traveled with my parents, and they needed more luggage space. Being able to skip the baggage claim area is one less step in the travel process that allows me a little more time to get to the destination quicker.

Some people have mentioned to me that it is harder to travel light when you need to pack winter clothes, which are bulkier. However, I think we repeat usage of our winter clothes more than we do with summer clothes, because we don't sweat as much in the winter. For that reason, I don't think we need to pack as much clothing for cold weather as we do for hot weather. For example, I'll probably only pack one coat and wear it every single day. I'll still pack about the same amount of innerwear.

Prior to the trip, I did splurge on a Canada Goose parka, shown on the right side above. It did come in handy the day prior to getting our Seabourn distributed parkas, because it was super windy in Ushuaia that day. It was also useful on the days when I was washing the Seabourn parka. Beneath the CG parka on the right are four pairs of shoes. It might not look like there's any space left, but the parka can be flattened a lot because of how much air is in it.

Here are all of my clothes including socks, underwear, bras, shirts, sweaters, pants, tights, gloves.

I usually don't unpack in hotels, but since we'd be on the ship for 10 nights, I thought it'd be nice to hang up some things.

I knew I'd want to bring flip-flops to make it easier on myself to enjoy the pool. I anticipated wearing the heels to dinners, but I think I only wore them once. That is pretty much everything. That's how I travel, with a carry-on and a backpack, sometimes a handbag.

The staff were extremely warm, friendly, and professional. We first met some of them when they knocked and offered us some mid afternoon mimosas and hors d'oeuvres. At some point in the afternoon, I noticed that we were gently pulling away from the port. I was excited for us to reach Antarctica. Later on, when we ran into the staff again, Tim mentioned that he was feeling ill from the rocky waters. They seemed genuinely concerned and offered us nausea pills and said that we have to take them at least a few hours before setting sail. Over the next few days, the same guy kept asking 'Mr. Lee, how are you? Feeling better?' They really made the experience comfortable and enjoyable.

Day 2 - sailing over the Drake passage

We were in the orange group, so we were the last group to get our insulated rubber boots, and got a little extra sleep that morning. These are the best snow boots I have ever tried. Honestly I haven't tried many. I've lived most of my life in California, so heavy duty snow boots are not something I need. They were super warm with a thick fuzzy lining. Not once did my feet feel cold in them, and my feet get cold all the time. I even considered looking them up and purchasing a pair, but I am rarely in a place when I would need them. I still think about these boots sometimes though. We made some new friends in one of the lounges, where we enjoyed working on a large jigsaw puzzle together. I attempted to take pictures of the birds with up to 50x zoom on my Samsung.

I quickly learned that Seabourn's professional photographer, Daniel Fox, was sharing his amazing photos (watermarked of course) with the guests via airdrop. Needless to say, my photos of wildlife paled in comparison to his.

We didn't do a lot the rest of the day, because crossing the Drake Passage did make us nauseous. It wasn't so bad as long as we drank a lot of water and slept through the roughest parts. When we woke up, we had enough energy to power through meals. We couldn't have been feeling too bad, because I did end up ordering two mains at dinner - beef wellington, lobster, and Tim had the truffle pasta. When the food is all included, why not try it all?

Day 3 - Point Wild, Elephant Island, A23a iceberg, laundry

This was the first day we started to see signs of land. By this day, it was clear to us that the weather could change in an instant. You could wake up to fog and overcast skies, then have a sunny blue skies, and then it could look like a blizzard.

I was already happy to see penguins from our balcony. They appeared very small, but they were out there, splashing around taking baths in the ocean, or waddling around with their families.

In the morning, we went down to check out the submarine. We had no intentions of paying for the submarine excursion, since $1000 for a 45 minute ride to the ocean floor is too expensive for us. However, we were interested in learning about these brand new, very expensive pieces of machinery.

We witnessed the A23a, the world's largest iceberg, just casually floating around.

In the afternoon, we also saw an iceberg calving, which was pretty cool to see the face of the iceberg shed snowy pieces into the ocean. Feeling inspired by the splashing penguins, we also enjoyed the hot tub. Then we headed to the gym to try to get in some physical activity. We also found out that the laundry room facilities were entirely complimentary. Even the laundry detergent was free.

Day 4 - Brown Bluff, Hope Bay,1st zodiac expedition, Adelie & Gentoo penguins

For the next few days, there were two zodiac excursions per day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. This was my first time learning that zodiacs are those gas powered rafts that take us off the ship and around the land masses. Since we were one of the first morning groups, I opted to order room service for breakfast. I knew it would save us time and the food delivery would force us to wake up.

This was the first time we were completely dressed in all of our gear. I packed on several layers under the jacket. I quickly learned that this was unnecessary, and made me too warm, even in 40 Fahrenheit weather. Most days were high 30s, low 40s, so it was not as cold as most people would think. What made us even warmer was the room where people get ready, including retrieving our boots from the boot storage area. That room is very warm, and it seemed like a lot of people perspire, so by the time we get out, we are all eager to for some cool, fresh air.

This was our first time stepping foot on the Antarctic continent. This was the day I officially saw 7 continents. This was also our first day ever getting very close to the penguins. We were instructed to not get close to the penguins to protect their delicate ecosystem. Whenever the penguins start walking to us, we were told to keep walking and keep our distance. It was tempting to get closer, because they're quite adorable.

Unfortunately some of them don't make it.

To help us warm up, they served us Bailey's hot chocolate right as we re-entered the ship. We managed to squeeze in some treadmill time since we don't get a lot of physical activity on the ship.

Having seen the penguins, I was so happy I felt like all my wishes for this trip had already been fulfilled.

Day 5 - Spert Island, Mikkelsen Harbor, Chinstrap penguins, caviar

I enjoyed getting these schedules every evening. They informed us of what was coming up the next day. I must have lost the one for the day prior.

It was fun sailing around looking at the very chiseled looking rock formations. To be honest, I was a little surprised just how many rock formations there were. I somehow had it in my mind that Antarctica was mostly ice, and almost no solid land or rock.

This was our first sighting of a chinstrap penguin in the wild.

I thought it was nice that they bothered to give me a gift card on our door, but $50 was not enough for me to afford any of their spa services.

We were told by the travel agent from prestigecruises.com who booked us this tour that there would be complimentary unlimited caviar onboard, but there was no mention of caviar on any of the menus. It occurred to us that we were nearly halfway through the cruise and still no caviar, so I finally asked one of the bartenders at the bar. When asked how many servings, I initially thought we could share one, but then we figured why not get one each?

Then we ordered seconds for the both of us. A total of 4 servings of caviar in one sitting. Because, why not?

Day 6 - Telefon Bay, Deception Island, Neptune's Bellows, Baily Head

I'm glad we were the last morning group, because on this day we went hiking on Deception Island, in a volcanic caldera. It turned out to be more strenuous than I though it would be. But I knew finishing the hike was a must do, because we were one of the youngest people on the cruise. Of course most of the guests were older and retired. There were probably only 3 younger couples, us included. There were a couple other younger people were some of the older guests' children. Anyway, the hike was tough because of the wind. I believe we were told it was 30mph winds, and the terrain does make your feet sink every now and then. For the most part, it was the wind that made it hard to take proper breaths.

Too bad I didn't get a photo of the peak of the hike.

I believe these were Wedell seals. Apparently they were molting, so we made sure to keep our distance during this delicate time.

Of course we saw more penguins.

I believe there were a total of two special Chef's dinners. To be honest, the food onboard was good, but not amazingly satisfying. Given that we were on a ship so of course there were no fresh food shipments, I was still impressed with the execution and their rendition of fine dining experiences day after day.

Of course, we had our after dinner caviar session.

Day 7 - Neko Harbor, Andvord Bay, polar plunge

This was the day when there was no afternoon expedition on the schedule. Later on, we found out that they were surprising us with an polar plunge in place of an afternoon zodiac expedition!

It was beautiful waking up to this view.

Our expedition leader brought a chunk of an iceberg to show us and taught us about icebergs on this excursion.

Apparently, the reason why some icebergs are so blue is due to the density. Overtime, these ice blocks lose a lot of oxygen, so the density creates this pure icy blue color.

Of course, I had made caviar part of our daily routine by now. I think I was trying to make up for the first half of the cruise with no caviar.

I was excited when the polar plunge announcement came on the speakers in our rooms. I knew I wanted to do it, because when would I ever have the chance to dive in the Antarctic Ocean ever again? Tim's initial reaction was something along the lines of 'Nah I'll pass.' So I was getting myself ready to head down to plunge on my own. As I was about to head out, Tim changed his mind and decided to plunge too. Maybe it was fear of missing out.

One of the nice ladies I befriended noticed I was about to jump and got this photo of us from several floors above. I'm glad I did it. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I did feel anxious while waiting for our turn to jump and it was cold that the sensation feels like it stings the skin. Prior to jumping in, they set up a table full of hard liquor, for liquid courage.

While we were in line and after the jump, we befriended other couples. One of the couples we met had a 2 floor suite. It was amazing. Not only because of how much space they had, but they also got a cute Christmas tree, and their maintenance people folded a penguin shaped towel everyday, and their floor to ceiling windows provided the grandest ocean views and mountain views.

The reflection looks so amazing.

Day 8 - Port Charcot, Pleneau Bay, Iceberg Alley, Lemaire Channel, caviar party

This was our last day with zodiac expeditions. I had the feeling that we had seen everything we expected to see on these excursions and we probably wouldn't see anything new on this day's excursions, but I still had this wistful feeling that this would be our last day of ever stepping foot on Antarctica, and it would soon all be over.

last photos of Gentoo penguins

last photos of Chinstrap penguins

At this point, we had become pros at ordering caviar, and you can order it anywhere on the ship, and they'll bring it to you, whether it be if you're already dining in one of the restaurants, cafes, bars, lounges, or for in-room dining. So here we decided to incorporate it into lunch.

To wrap up our the end of our expeditions, they hosted a caviar and champagne deck party. Part of me considered this could be my opportunity to make our money back and attempt to eat $8k worth of caviar, but that's a crazy goal.

While we sipped champagne and munched on caviar, we sailed through the Lemaire Channel, which offered these beautiful mountain valley views.Bi

Day 9 - crossing the Drake again, birthday on board

It was my birthday, so to treat myself, I ordered more caviar of course. We were headed across the Drake again, so I decided that caviar for breakfast would be best before the waves start to cause any nausea.

Room service caviar on toast points. Caviar on a lox bagel. I enjoyed it all.

After a stroll around the ship, we returned to our decorated room. There was a banner on the window, a sign on the bed, birthday card, and bottle of wine. Later on, they came back after dinner and cleared most of it away, but I kind of wanted to keep the banner since I might never get this kind of treatment again.

No matter how simple it is, I always appreciate a birthday dessert. It's one day a year that we get to see those words piped just for us.

After dinner, Tim messaged our new friends on the ship to meet us at the Constellation Lounge to celebrate my birthday with some evening drinks. I appreciated Tim for organizing casual birthday drinks and appreciated our new friends for taking the time to show up. At this point, the ship was rocking pretty hard. We hung in there for a couple of drinks and retreated to our rooms to sleep through the rocky ride through the Drake Passage one last time.

Day 10 - back to the port

By the time we woke up, the shaky ride was already over. We were slowly sailing and headed back to the port. It was such a contrast to the previous night. In fact, I recall hearing that we sailed through 30 foot waves.

We decided to try the afternoon tea, since it was our last full day.

They have a timer to help you decide just how strong of a brew you would like.

This was a fun activity where they had guests drop teddy bears off of the 8th floor, aimed into a bowl. If your bear stays in the bowl, you get to keep a teddy bear. Each person gets 3 attempts. I will say that I came real close, but my bears didn't make it. Tim successfully earned the bear shown below!

Here we are back at Tierra del Fuego.

Day 11 - leaving Seabourn

After breakfast, we got our luggage ready to leave the ship one last time.

I should have ordered caviar one last time. 😁

It was all over so fast. Did I really go to Antarctica? Was it all a dream? I have the pictures and credit card statement to prove that the trip really happened. Because of the price tag and how remote the location is and how precarious the environment is, I feel quite certain that this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'll keep the memories forever.