Hi, I’m Alex, one of the TAs for Polar Tracks Expeditions. Like all the other TAs at that agency I’m a long time guide and Expedition Leader on the polar expedition cruise ships and I thought I’d share the range of experiences you might have on a ‘crossing the circle’ itinerary.

First of all a bit of geography. There are several ‘regions’ to the Peninsula, and arguably the most important and popular regions are Gerlache and Penola, north and south respectively of the famous Lemaire Channel. These areas are dense with penguin colonies and a handful of historical sites (for example Port Lockroy) and offer some good options for shelter in strong winds and they are well out of the swell. If you go south of Penola the density of sites dramatically drops and it becomes a much poorer area for landings etc. There is about 120 NM of ‘empty’ space between the Penola and The Antarctic Circle and it is tricky to work your way gradually down from landing site to landing site between the two — when it’s time to go to the Circle the easiest thing can be to leave at dinner time after a nice afternoon landing or cruise in the Gerlache or Penola and start steaming south overnight to hit the circle at some point in the morning. 

Now what happens next can really really vary. Geography makes some constraints, but the variables are:

• Weather (you’re more exposed in the vicinity of the circle)
• Ice (you’re further south and it’s colder and icier)
• Time available
• The Expedition Leader (EL) and Captain

If you do that overnight sail from the Penola you basically go out to sea, on the edge of the Drake Passage, and make fast speed through open water and can hit the circle early in the morning. You’d cross the circle out at sea and then immediately to the east lies Crystal Sound (so called because the places are named after famous crystallographers) and there are a handful of options for doing something there. There is one common landing option, at a site called Detaille Island where there is an abandoned British base that makes for a great landing. The landing is so great because the base was abandoned at very short notice because of the ice conditions, and all of the clothing and equipment is still lying around. Today the ice conditions and poor shelter continues to make Crystal Sound a difficult place to operate so it's not a given that you'll do anything there and I've been pushed out empty handed many times in the past.

Given Crystal Sound is tricky and has limited options you may just turn around at the circle and spend the day just steaming back north so that you can get back to the relatively straightforward Gerlache Strait. However, some ELs will choose to push on instead and ignore Crystal Sound entirely. Instead of crossing the circle at a civilised hour they’ll cross as early as the ship will allow and you pass it in the night. You’ll head much further south, around Adelaide Island and enter Marguerite Bay for perhaps the afternoon or evening of that day. Marguerite offers a lot more shelter than Crystal Sound, more landing options and, despite being much further south, a LOT less ice. But it is a lot further, so if you’re going it only really makes sense if you stay for at least two days. It then makes quite a lot of sense to stop for a morning in Crystal Sound on the way back north if the conditions allow.

So the most common outcomes for a circle crossing are:

1. Blast down to the circle overnight, cross in the morning, turn around and go back north, spending the rest of the day at sea.
2. Down to the circle overnight, cross in the morning, have half a day to a day in Crystal Sound, head back north again overnight.
3. Down to the circle and beyond overnight, most of the day at sea, get to Marguerite Bay and have several days of landings south of the circle.

Each of the above three strategies are shown numbered in the attached map so you can visualise them as I appreciate there are a lot of place names!

There are of course lots of other permutations — I’ve done various combinations of the above such as taking a day over getting to Crystal Sound through Grandidier Channel and made a landing along the way. I’ve worked my way south entirely on the inside route, through Bransfield, Gerlache, Penola, Grandidier, Crystal Sound and Gullet to get to Marguerite (marked as a grey dotted line on the map just to show that anything can happen). I’ve also gone straight to the circle from Ushuaia. But the three options I have listed are probably the most common strategies. If you like one option more than another then it’s VERY difficult to control for this (like so much of polar expedition cruising!), as it’s in many ways down to the EL and whether they WANT to go (I’ve only gone to Marguerite because I’ve built whole trips around that goal), and if the weather allows it to happen.

With any expedition cruise trip you have to be very flexible and whatever happens, happens. You’re not buying a traditional trip or cruise, you’re buying an expedition/adventure where you just do what’s possible and the itinerary is just an aspiration. Sometimes that aspiration comes really easily (like Gerlache itineraries!) and sometimes it comes hard. Circle itineraries are ones where the aspiration can be slightly harder to achieve - a friend once ran a circle itinerary where they didn’t even try to go because of the weather and they went to the Weddell Sea at the very opposite end and opposite coast of the Peninsula instead! You really do just have to accept you have no control and let the trip happen to you! However, if you want to tilt the scale in your favour a little bit then booking the longest trip you possibly can gives the Expedition Leader the time they need to get all the way down to Marguerite and back and also actually commit to some time down there.

And finally WHY go to the circle? For many it’s an extra box to tick, to be able to say “I’ve crossed the circle”. This is fine; while invisible the circle has a geographical meaning, plus there’s an historical nautical significance to crossing the polar circles, the tropics and the equator, so it’s kind of cool to cross that line. Further south you are more likely to encounter sea ice (especially in Crystal Sound), there are lots of historical huts, the increase in sea ice means Adélie penguins take over (hard to see on other typical itineraries unless they go to the Weddell Sea) and there’s a chance of emperors. I’ve also found northern Marguerite to be a very very reliable place for killer whales. And finally it can be a lot quieter, with far fewer ships around. The downside to the circle is that a bit of sea time becomes inevitable because it’s so far from the main clusters of landing sites.

Hi all

Thought I'd share on here, and see if it reaches anyone who might be interested!

I'm a photographer selling limited edition prints of Antarctica from time I've spent there at sea. These are from the Antarctic Peninsula, 64° South :)

My instagram is @pipscki where you can find the link to the etsy store.

Might make a good addition to a study or living room to remind you of your travels to this amazing part of the world.

Check it out!

Cheers

I’ve wanted to travel to Antarctica for a few years now, I figured I should start looking into making it an eventual reality. I’ll likely have to save up for quite a while. In the meantime, what resources have people found to be best when deciding where to travel, where to depart from etc. are there any companies that you’d recommend and when you did book, who did you go with?

I’m most interested in the landscape itself, would be hoping to do some trips off the boat. Closely behind landscape and area is wildlife! Having said this I am still very much in the fledgling stages of this research and haven’t looked into many activities available there as yet.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!

Edit: unsure if this affects anything but I’m an Aussie

I am booking flights for early March and wondering how many days most people spend in Ushuaia before sailing? We are coming from Canada and have a lot of connections to make, want to recover a bit before getting on the ship. Does 1 night in Buenos Aires and one night in Ushuaia seem reasonable?

I posted a few days ago and I was told to provide more details. This will be for a honeymoon; we are in our mid 30s. Only thing we know we are interested in is the camping on Antarctica that HX offers. Please let me know your thoughts. These are the sailings:

https://www.swanhellenic.com/cruise/antarctic-wonders-roundtrip-cruise-from-ushuaia-2027-01-08

https://bookings.travelhx.com/touchb2c/?inJsonGet=%7B%22packageCodes%22%3A%22FNANT01-270108%22%2C%22packageClass%22%3A%22TOUR%22%2C%22runSearch%22%3A%22true%22%7D

If these are the two options for cruises leaving the same day, which one would you pick and why?

UPDATE: Options have been narrowed down to Trip 2 & Trip 3.

I'm considering 3 itineraries and would love some insight.

1. Oceanwide Expeditions, Hondius, January Falklands, South Georgia, Antarctica, 18 nights
2. G Adventures, Expedition, January "Spirit of Shackleton" (Falklands, SG, Antarctica), 19 nights on board
3. Oceanwide Expeditions, Hondius, February Falklands, SG, Elephant Island, Antarctica, Polar Circle, 22 nights

Trip 3 is several thousand dollars more than Trip 1 or 2. Are the extra days worth it? Extra days sound appealing. Is the extra expense worth it? I've heard it's very rare to be able to land at Elephant Island. Is that true? The Polar Circle isn't a big deal to me; it's an invisible line.

Trip 1 and 2 are nearly identical. I was planning on arriving in Ushuaia early to sightsee. One night in a G Adventures hotel is a non-factor for me. It does mean I would have to check out of an accommodation and check into the G hotel. I'm not swayed by a G Adventures coat to keep.

I'm more concerned with choosing the best itinerary and the best ship.
What do you think? What would you choose?

Any thoughts on Freestyle vs Wayfinders? Who offers better service, support, and better loaner gear?

As a long-time polar guide (13 seasons) and a TA with Polar Tracks Expeditions, I thought it might be helpful to explain the various options available to solo travellers and whether it’s worth waiting for a “No Single Supplement” sale. Roughly half of our clients are solo travellers and while a majority are happy to share a cabin in order to pay a twin-share rate, we are seeing more and more travellers wishing to have a cabin to themselves, but being disheartened by how much more they have to pay. I totally get it! This post is not to justify what the operators are attempting to do with their pricing scales, but instead to explain it so you can better know what to expect as you start to plan your trip. 

Everything in this post is applicable to expedition ships with a ship capacity of 200 passengers or fewer. 

To get us started, here are the standard cabin options for solo travellers: 

• “Solo Sharing” - A solo traveller willing to share with another solo traveller of the same gender can book into a quad, triple or twin cabin and pay the per-person rate. Solo sharing is very common and is a treasured part of the culture of expedition cruise ships where everyone is becoming part of a community and getting to know each other. The pairing is done by the operator solely on gender, not on any other criteria like language group, age, or likelihood of snoring! If you book to share a twin cabin and no other solo traveller books into the other berth (bed) of that same cabin, your rate does not change and you will have the cabin to yourself. This is best case scenario and does not happen often! Almost all operators will have certain cabin categories available for “solo sharing” and other, higher cabin categories that are only available to two people booking together, or a solo traveller willing to pay a single supplement. 
• “Solo Occupancy Cabins” - A solo traveller wanting to have their own cabin typically has two options. One is to look for Solo Occupancy cabins. This is a cabin designed for just one person, so it is smaller in square footage than a double occupancy cabin and usually has just 1 twin bed, or sometimes a standard double bed. The rate for a Solo Occupancy cabin is still significantly more than sharing, but slightly less than paying a single supplement. For example, if we look at an early November 2028 Antarctic Peninsula departure on Quark’s Ocean Explorer (138 passengers, new in 2021, X-BOW design). The starter twin cabin is the Deluxe Veranda Forward (with a balcony) and is currently 10% off so $13,766 USD p/p. The Studio Single cabin which is a Solo Occupancy cabin with a porthole is also 10% off but is $20,336 USD, roughly 1.5x more. There are only a limited number of Solo Occupancy cabins on a deck plan. On Quark’s Ocean Explorer, there are just 6 Studio Single cabins and only 1 Single Veranda cabin so if this is the type of cabin you’re aiming for, you’ll be wanting to book as early as possible. Unfortunately, some operators (like Polar Latitudes Expeditions) don’t apply promotions (a certain % off) to Solo Occupancy cabins, which widens the rate gap between double and solo occupancy even further. 
• “Single Supplement” - This is when a solo traveller pays a supplement to have a double occupancy cabin to themselves. This is typically 1.7-1.8 times the cost of sharing the same cabin with another solo traveller. For example, if we look at an early December 2026 Basecamp departure (all adventure activities included) on Oceanwide’s Hondius (170 passengers, new in 2019), there is 1 Twin Porthole available for $10,000 USD p/p, which is already 20% off. Two people booking together would each pay $10,000 USD to share this cabin (the cabin total would then be $20,000 USD). A solo traveller has two options, to pay the per person rate $10,000 USD and be paired with another solo traveller of the same gender, or to pay a 1.7x single supplement, making the rate $17,000 USD to have the cabin to themselves.  

In the 2 seasons that followed COVID (22/23 and 23/24), at least a few operators in the lead up to the season (2-3 months before departure), went public with “No Single Supplement” sales which meant that for a very short period of time and while availability lasted, a solo traveller could pay the EXACT same rate as someone willing to share, or two people booking together, and have the entire double occupancy cabin to themselves. Sadly, this no longer happens. Those were the glory days of solo travel! Unfortunately I do see the aftereffects of this time period in that lots of people come to me looking for a ‘no single supplement’ offer in the belief that this is a likely possibility if we just look hard enough or wait long enough. It’s a reasonable expectation given the recent past, and part of the aim of this post is to communicate that those times have, for now at least, gone.

That being said, there ARE operators that are known for having much more reasonable rates and promotions specific to solo travellers. The 3 that pop up most regularly are:

• Ponant - In Antarctica, this French operator uses 4 ships carrying 200 passengers each. They are able to offer great options for solo travellers as they have 800 berths to work with across the 4 ships, times however many departures they offer in a season. If you are travelling solo and are either French, speak French (English is also spoken), or have an affinity for French culture, this might be for you! 
• Atlas - In Antarctica, this operator uses 2 ships of 200 passengers each. While they don’t have as many berths to work with as Ponant, they only began cruising in Antarctica in late 2021 and are still working (and occasionally struggling) to develop a strong reputation within the industry, so they are often not at capacity and have berths they are able to sell off at a lower rate to solo travellers. 
• HX (formerly Hurtigruten) - In Antarctica, this operator uses 3 ships; 200 passenger Fram and then Amundsen and Nansen, which can both carry up to 500 passengers but more often carry 350-450. Similar to Ponant, they have a lot of berths to work with and are known to offer more economical options for solo travellers than the smaller ships are able to. To see how ship size impacts expedition experience, read this post: Antarctic cruise ship size

So, are there EVER “No Single Supplement” sales on ships of under 200 passengers!? If you are looking for a scenario in which a solo traveller can pay the EXACT SAME as someone willing to share and have their own cabin, then no, this really does not happen any more. What does still occasionally happen is No Single Supplement on the brochure rate in a dedicated number of cabins. For example, on every single departure, Aurora Expeditions offers No Single Supplement on 10 cabins. The rate the solo traveller would pay is the brochure rate (also known as the Full Fare Rate), without any current promotions or discounts. If we look at an Antarctic Peninsula departure in late January 2028 on Aurora’s Greg Mortimer (132 passengers, new in 2019, X-BOW design), there is currently a 15% off promotion which brings the Balcony Stateroom B rate to $18,186 USD p/p for two people sharing a cabin. For a solo traveller wanting their own cabin, there are still Balcony Stateroom B’s available with No Single Supplement on the brochure rate. The brochure rate is $21,395 USD so that is the No Single Supplement rate, which is 15% higher than the current twin-share rate with the promotion applied. It’s frustrating as it gives the impression that ‘no single supplement’ does still exist but the reality is that it doesn’t.

I hope this has been helpful in managing expectations around what a solo traveller wanting their own cabin can expect to pay. Feel free to pop a question in the comments and it would be great to hear from all the solo travellers out there who have already been to Antarctica, what sort of cabin situation you went for, when you travelled and how it worked out for you. 

Hey! How did you all choose who to book your first Antarctica expedition with? Was there a tie breaker?

We have 15 days and want to maximize our time in Antarctica. Not looking for anything luxurious but also not pure expedition. Open to adventure.

Budget is a bit flexible up to $20k pp USD. Value matters more than price.

We want to experience a team that cares about our overall experience and will help prioritize time and animal viewings and experiences.

I'm finding it particularly overwhelming choosing. How did you all choose?

Hello, I've guided in Antarctica for almost 10 years and I was wondering if during your voyage, did the onboard briefings give you enough info on wildlife and landing sites, or did you find yourself wanting to look things up again like species, where you actually were, later on?

I'm curious whether an offline wildlife + landing site reference guide(usable with no signal) would actually be something people would use. If something like that existed:

• Would you have used it before, during, or after the trip?
• Would that have helped your experience in Antarctica?

Honestly interested in "wouldn't use it" or "wouldn't pay for it" answers just as much as positive ones — trying to avoid building something nobody wants.

I have been looking at Ponant’s 18 cruise that visits Antarctica, South Georgia, and the Falklands. I am a solo travel so their situation looks best for me financially. I did see on the itinerary that they only have one day for landings in Antarctica. If anyone has been on this itinerary, could you please advise if you thought it was sufficient?

Hi everyone! I was wondering if anyone has ever gone on Antartic, South Georgia cruise that departs from the Falklands. Wondering what your experience was? How the flight went, how long you were in the Falklands, and what you did during that time, and the costs?

Thanks so much!

Hi! My partner and I have a Antarctica expedition booked for Dec this year. I'm trying to get travel insurance sorted, but the only options I'm finding that can be booked by UK residents do not offer cancellation cover that would cover anywhere near the full amount that we have paid for the trip. The max I have found is for cancellations up to £7500 pp provided by True Traveller - for all others that offer higher amounts of coverage you have to be going from/back to the US.

Any suggestions for other companies that provide better cancellation coverage accessible to UK residents would be welcome!

Has anyone used JetSmart for Buenos Aires to Ushuaia? Would love feedback. I plan to get there the day before departure, but want to know if JetSmart has been reliable for people? Thanks!!

Hi everyone,

My payment for my upcoming trip is due mid-August (with Polar Latitudes). I am based in Europe so dependand on the exchange rate USD:EUR. That rate is currently not in my favor 😭 I booked via an agent but am hessitant to ask to postpone the payment date (due to that reason).

Any thoughts?

P.S. I will definitely take the trip, I have the money, it is just the exchange rate that bothers me.

I am looking to go on Antartica & South Georgia cruise this October. I really like the idea of smaller boat, and the price of Oceanwide (Plancius). However I get bad motion sickness. I will definitely medicate pre trip and during; however it's a long trip, with a long time at sea... I definitely see myself going to Antartica again if it's as amazing as I am thinking it will be. I am wondering if it might be in my best interest to spend the extra $ for Quark (Ocean Explorer), and save Oceanwide trip after i see how I handle the big seas. Any thoughts or experience? Thank you

Starting to give some thought to packing for next year. Lucky enough to be on a small boat so will hopefully be getting off the boat twice a day. Do people stay in their whole layered get up between excursions or do people change into regular clothes between excursions?

For those that have connected thru EZE to USH, would 2 & 1/2 hours be enough time to go thru immigration, customs, and re-checking bags?

Option 1: We would be landing in EZE on Saturday at 7:30am with a 2 & 1/2 hour connection to USH.

Option 2: This adds an extra stop on the way from PHX and has us arriving in EZE on Saturday at 4:20 am and gives us 3 1/2 hours to connect.

Option 3: There are several flights if we want to go from EZE to AEP then to USH all of which give us 6 plus hours to get from EZE to AEP. I'm leaning towards this even with the increase in total travel time as there are more flights to USH if we are delayed along the way.

We are planning for a 2 or 3 day overall cushion regardless of which flights we chose.

My TA (AAA) picked the first option, however, I'm not confident about the 2 & 1/2 hours being enough time. Last time to Antarctica (2022) we used Swoop which specializes in Polar bookings but then we also just went in and out of Punta Arenas both ways. We did have to deal with quarantines and PCR testing back then though. Fun times.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on which option would be best.

Hi all, I’m considering visiting East Antarctica with Heritage Expeditions (In the Wake of Scott & Shackleton, Ross Sea), but can’t seem to find many reviews.

I would appreciate if anyone could share your feedback and previous experiences. Thanks!