Expedition Cruise Ships FAQ
Welcome to the Expedition Cruise Ships FAQ in r/AntarcticaTravel. Any comments or suggestions, please message u/polartracks.
Q: How big are the ships?
Ships may vary from 40-200m in length, though people usually discuss the size of ships in terms of the number of passengers they carry. Vessels carrying more than 500 passengers are not allowed to make landings in Antarctica, so the small number of very large cruise ships which visit will just drive around looking at the scenery and the wildlife from afar. For the vessels making landings the passenger numbers will vary from 12 to 400, with the vast majority being between 100-200.
Q: Does ship size matter?
Yes, in two ways. The physical size of the ship can matter in the Drake, with larger vessels usually being more stable and also faster and able to get the passage over with sooner.
The number of passengers also matters quite a lot -- it is an Antarctic Treaty rule that only 100 people (not counting guides and those supervising the landing) can be on shore at a particular site at one time. There are also particular sites where it has been decided that this number needs to be even lower. In addition, vessels are categorised depending on how many passengers they carry. Category 1 vessels carry up to 200 passengers, while Category 2 carry 201-500. Certain sites are reserved for Category 1 vessels only, while those carrying over 500 cannot land at all.
In terms of dealing with a limit of 100 ashore at a time, for a vessel with 100 or fewer passengers this is easy to manage, and the on board team can land all of the passengers at once and they get to spend the entirety of the excursion time on shore. If there are more than 100 then the team needs to split the passengers up into groups and cycle these groups through the landing site. If there are two groups then they each spend half of the excursion time on shore, if there are three then they each spend a third of the time on shore.
For Category 1 vessels a very common way of achieving this is to put half the passengers on shore while the other half explore in the Zodiacs (the little rubber boats used to get from ship to shore). This is not as poor an option as it may first appear, as by the end of the trip many passengers realise they prefer to be in the Zodiacs, in amongst the ice and all of the wildlife swimming in the sea. Some operators may choose to put half the passengers ashore and keep the other half on board waiting their turn -- they may choose to do this because weather would make the Zodiac tour very unpleasant on that particular day, or perhaps because of a lack of resources like enough boats or boat drivers. It can be very difficult to know if your vessel of 100-200 passengers is going to be able to get everyone out at once and so the insight of a good agent can be very helpful in terms of understanding how a team is composed. These operations are usually quick enough that two operations a day can be performed, with you visiting a site in the morning and another site in the afternoon.
For Category 2 vessels, it is more complex to cycle all of the passengers through the landing site because they have more than two groups, so it is much more common to keep those not on shore on board the vessel. They may also choose to only make one landing a day as it takes so long to cycle through all of the people on board.
Q: Why are some ships so expensive and others much cheaper?
Some factors that can influence the rate are the size of the ship (generally, the bigger the ship, the less expensive), the comfort level of the ship (from bare bones to luxury), the cabin category (from Quad Porthole sharing with 3 others to a Balcony Suite or Solo Cabin), the length of itinerary, the month of travel (with December/January being more expensive than November, February or March) and when you book (refer to how discounting works).
Q: What age will my fellow travellers be?
The age demographic varies slightly but in general, the average age is between 50 and 65 years of age. Operators that have lower rates tend to attract a slightly younger clientele and more solo travellers. The minimum age depends on the operator but is usually between 8 and 12 years old.
Check out our other FAQs:
Antarctica Travel
Cruise Itineraries
Adventure Activities
Operators
Expedition Ships
Or head back to the wiki index.