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Antarctica Expedition Lines Don’t Tell You This, Until You’re On Board!
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Jan 19, 2025
On all three Antarctic trips I've been on, I’ve seen so many passengers thrown by the same things each time. All because expedition lines are not totally transparent until passengers get on board. Then the truth comes out. It often comes as a big shock to many. So, here are the six things I see most passengers are surprised about Antarctic cruising once they get on board. Links mentioned in the video: The Cruise Maps, to get 10% off any order use this link: https://www.TheCruiseMaps.com/TFT For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
View Video Transcript
0:00
on all three Antarctic trips I've been
0:02
on I've seen so many passengers thrown
0:04
by the same things each time all because
0:07
Expedition lines are not totally
0:09
transparent until you get on board then
0:12
the truth all comes out it often comes
0:14
as a big shock to many I'm Gary benridge
0:17
and here are the six things I see most
0:19
passengers are surprised about and a
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cruising once they actually get on board
0:24
the first thing lines don't tell you
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until you're on board is that you will
0:28
not do the itinery that you have booked
0:31
this is crucially important and there
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are three things I think you need to
0:34
note first of all the advertise it
0:37
tenery is just a suggestion until the
0:39
ship embarks on your specific trip they
0:42
won't know where they can go because
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it's totally driven by the day-to-day
0:46
weather and the fast changing ice
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conditions all three Antarctic trips
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I've been on did not follow the promised
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itinerary nor get to all the places that
0:56
were listed on it to illustrate let me
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give you some examples from our most
1:00
recent Cruise which was an 18 night
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Forkland South Georgia and an Arctica
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Peninsula cruise on Silver Seas silver
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Endeavor first of all we didn't even
1:11
start from the scheduled Port we had to
1:14
Embark in PTO renes not PTO Williams
1:16
Because high winds had closed that Port
1:19
we only found that out the day before
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Antarctic sound was cut because it was
1:24
too icy to get there and we missed the
1:26
north Antarctic Peninsula and had to
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sell much further south again due to
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Impossible ice next even if you do get
1:34
your location poor visibility ice Wind
1:37
and Sea swells often prevent planned
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Landings or zodiac cruising from
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happening though the fast changing
1:44
weather can also open surprising
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unplanned opportunities as you will hear
1:48
again a couple of examples from my
1:50
recent trip while we did get to South
1:53
Georgia once we arrived at the planned
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Landing site at ssy plane high winds and
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swell made it too dangerous to land land
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so we sheltered in possession Bay
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further south which actually allowed a
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stunning unscheduled Landing there
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instead when we left South Georgia for
2:09
the South Shetland Islands the weather
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abruptly improved which meant instead of
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calling into the advertise protected Bay
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inside Deception Island we landed at a
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more exposed site called Bailey head
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which has the largest chinstrap penguin
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colony and anarctica and is hardly ever
2:26
possible to visit on all three cruises
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I've been on the return crossing of the
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sometimes rough Drake Passage has not
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happened on schedule either on this
2:36
recent trip our time in the Antarctic
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Peninsula was cut by a full day to avoid
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high waves that were projected even if
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you think you're going with a safe
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option like the silver sea airbridge
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cruises instead of Crossing Drake
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Passage they fly you from PTO Williams
2:52
to King George Island in the South
2:53
chatlands the weather and ice can impact
2:57
that supposedly safe option too my
3:00
friend Wendy last season lost 2 days of
3:02
a relatively short Six-Day trip because
3:04
the landing strip was too icy for the
3:07
plane to land there to drop them off it
3:09
is really important to know that any
3:11
advertised route will not happen due to
3:13
weather and Ice movements and the lines
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I think don't make this clear until you
3:18
bored that your book titiner is at best
3:21
a Rough Guide the upside of that though
3:23
is that every single Antarctica trip is
3:26
unique and none is the same and even
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though I've been there three times with
3:30
roughly the same itinerary I've gone to
3:32
different places had different Landings
3:34
and seen different things and Wildlife
3:36
each time but this is also where the
3:39
cruise lines do not make what you will
3:41
see fully clear until you Bor either I
3:45
had dinner one evening with the
3:46
Expedition leaders on that recent cruise
3:49
and they spoke about a cruise last
3:50
season when they'd been summoned to meet
3:53
a group of angry Travelers The Travelers
3:56
brandished a cruise line brochure from
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the travel agent they book with filled
4:00
with pictures of Antarctica that they'
4:02
expected to see like cute little penguin
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chicks snow covered Landing sites
4:07
everywhere and they were demanding to
4:09
know why they hadn't seen them and
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saying that they absolutely should be
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shown all of this now the reason they
4:15
were not seeing all of this was pretty
4:17
simple the time of the year that they
4:19
had booked while cruisine broches and
4:21
sites are filled with promising Blue Sky
4:24
ice covered Landscapes and a wide range
4:26
of wildlife what and which of those you
4:29
see is extremely dependent on the month
4:32
that you go this I feel is not really
4:35
made clear the season is short it runs
4:39
from the end of October to the beginning
4:41
of March in the early months like
4:43
November that I love going you get to
4:46
see lots of snow lots of ice breeding
4:48
Penguins breeding elephant seals
4:50
breeding seals on the shoreline the
4:53
penguin colonies have relatively little
4:55
amount of penguin poo because they've
4:56
just returned from a winter out at Sea
4:58
you're less likely to see whales at this
5:00
time of the year because they're just
5:01
returning though I always have if you go
5:04
in December there are many more whales
5:06
because they really do start to arrive
5:08
there's more sealed pups there's cting
5:11
season for seabirds once you head into
5:13
January and February you get to see
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loads of penguin chicks you see lots of
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seals you see loads of whales and you're
5:19
also likely to cruise further south
5:21
because the sea ice is broken up making
5:23
it easy to head further south once you
5:25
get to February there's way less
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Wildlife on the beaches because the
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breeding season is over they've started
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to leave and head back to Sea of course
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there's loads of whales now of many
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types there's much less snow and ice on
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the landing sites for example I've been
5:38
to Deception Island in November with
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loads of snow lots of wildlife on the
5:42
beach but I've also been in February
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when there was no Wildlife on the beach
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and very little snow but I've also
5:48
discovered the remoteness of Antarctica
5:50
has one big risk that the lines did not
5:52
make clear before going but stress
5:54
really hard once you're on board in
5:57
Antarctica if a crew member or passenger
5:59
sustains an injury like broken bones or
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has a serious illness the cruise line
6:04
pretty much must end the trip because
6:06
there are no hospitals or medical
6:08
facilities in Antarctica in most cases
6:11
the Ship Sails the two days back to usay
6:13
in Argentina or PTO Williams in Chile
6:17
these days if conditions allow planes
6:19
could land on King George Island in the
6:21
South shetlands so ships could sail
6:23
there to Med back the patient cutting
6:25
just a few days off the trip this
6:28
happened by the way to Cru last season
6:30
on the ship I was on Silver Endeavor
6:32
when a crew member fell seriously ill we
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warned on boarding that if there was an
6:37
injury or illness needing hospital care
6:39
as plane landings on the island were
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impossible due to the IC over Landing
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Strip we would have to sell all the way
6:45
back to Porter Williams and that would
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pretty much be the end of the trip
6:48
another thing that Lions don't make
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clear to passengers before going is a
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number of regulations and mandatory
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briefings that passengers have to attend
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and comply with lines also do not warn
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that the regulations and rules can and
7:01
do change at short notice with possibly
7:04
significant impacts on the trip for
7:07
example during the season before I went
7:09
Aven flu was detected in south Georgia
7:12
and quickly most of the iconic and musty
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Landing sites with hundreds of thousands
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of penguins were abruptly closed leading
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to some lines Bor in cuse to South
7:21
Georgia or only offering zodiac cruising
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offshore now this trip while they were
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open they had many more regulations than
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on my past visits and we're not allowed
7:31
to sit kneel lie on the ground to take
7:33
better photos or put anything on the
7:35
ground like our Rock sacks the line did
7:38
not tell me before the trip about this
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only once I was on board another example
7:43
is on a preco shutdown trip Cruisers
7:46
used to visit some research stations but
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as I only discovered on boarding this
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time they are still not allowing
7:52
visitors to these research stations
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postco I don't feel the lines make it
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clear either that there are many rules
7:58
around it ARA and passengers must attend
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mandatory briefings and take part in
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some activities before even being
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allowed to step on land these are driven
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by AATA the International Association of
8:11
Antarctic tour operators they require
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mandatory and rooll call taken briefings
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of the agreed rules and regulations as
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well as an additional one specific to
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South Georgia if you're going there the
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rules include things like how far you
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need to stay away from Wildlife not
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taking anything from Landing such as
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feathers bones or even Pebbles not
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taking any food out and so on there are
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many rules there are also mandatory
8:37
zodiac safety briefings as all the OIP
8:40
trips use Zodiacs and then there's also
8:43
one for people if they're doing kaying
8:46
if the Line offices there are also
8:49
compulsory biocurity checks there's a
8:51
massive risk in Antarctica and South
8:53
Georgia are bringing bugs or seeds that
8:56
could take root and overtake or disrupt
8:58
the sensitive ecosystem system and these
9:00
checks are done on all items of outter
9:02
wear or equipment that you're taking on
9:04
Landings so this includes boots
9:06
waterproof trousers gloves hats net
9:09
Gators Ruck sacks tripods walking poles
9:12
and so on to make sure they have no dirt
9:14
no seeds or anything organic on or in
9:17
them on my latest trip we did three
9:20
biocurity checks one before the Forkland
9:23
South Georgia and another before
9:24
Antarctica Peninsula each time I had to
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sign a document saying that I'd done the
9:28
bio checks and understood and would
9:31
follow all the rules there is also one
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huge thing you are not told until on
9:36
board that can make or break the trip
9:39
every Antarctic trip relies on the
9:41
experience of the Expedition leader and
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their team the leader Works closely with
9:45
the ship captain to decide Day by Day
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based on the ice and the weather where
9:49
to call and what to do once there they
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need deep understanding of the region to
9:55
know the various options as well as
9:56
actually pretty good relationships with
9:58
the leaders on the other ship to
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negotiate and agree who will call where
10:02
and when because how many people can go
10:04
to a site per day is restricted but
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usually until you get on board you're
10:09
unlikely to know who that expedition
10:10
leader will be nor who is in the team
10:13
and if they're any good the team members
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are fundamental because they do the
10:17
Recaps the talks they drive Zodiacs and
10:19
they provide information and guidance
10:22
when you're actually out on The Landings
10:24
and sometimes there are unwelcome
10:27
surprises about the team reval field
10:29
once you're on board for example when I
10:32
boarded silver Endeavor I discovered
10:34
there was no photographer and no
10:36
videographer within the Expedition team
10:38
because silvery had scrapped the program
10:41
of giving high quality photos and a
10:43
video of the trip just before the trip
10:46
and used to get that free as part of
10:48
your fair I only found that out once I
10:50
was on board another thing that I think
10:52
is not made clear until you get on board
10:54
is that what you're going to do is
10:56
dependent on the ship size and the
10:58
passenger
11:00
numbers but first before I get into that
11:02
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maps.com TFT now back to the impact of
11:58
the ship on where you go and you only
12:00
find out on boarding all Expedition
12:03
Antarctic Cruise Lines do not offer the
12:05
same off ship experience even though
12:07
when booking it seems they do from the
12:09
publicity materials I have always chosen
12:12
lines and ships that take a maximum of
12:14
200 passengers there I've been on Silver
12:16
sea Silver Cloud and silver Endeavor and
12:19
Pon laal ships with this number have a
12:23
wide choice of Landing sites and many
12:26
sites cap the numbers visit each site at
12:30
200 per day so if you choose to go on
12:32
the 370 passenger Viking ships or the
12:34
490 passenger htin ships the number of
12:37
sites is way more restricted and some of
12:40
the more famous are actually excluded
12:42
from that list in addition as only 100
12:45
people are allowed on land at any one
12:46
time on the 200 passenger ships you wait
12:49
less long for your turn to get off the
12:50
ship to explore and usually get more
12:53
time on land while on the larger ships
12:55
the wait is longer often having fewer
12:57
Landings with more downtime of of course
12:59
cuz you're rotating 100 people at a time
13:02
if you go on a classic Cruise Line and
13:04
ship carrying over 500 passengers you
13:06
know H American Norwegian Oceania region
13:09
7even seas and so on then no Landings
13:11
are allowed you only have Scenic
13:13
cruising on the ship usually around the
13:15
South Shetland Islands through the
13:17
galash strait perhaps into Paradise Bay
13:19
you will not see wildlife up close
13:21
though of course you may see whales from
13:23
the ship now as anare is so costly to go
13:27
to the larger Expedition ships and the
13:29
classic Cruise Lance may be the only way
13:31
to visit within most people's budgets so
13:33
I've worked with polar Roots a
13:35
specialist Arctic and Antarctica travel
13:36
agency to work out how you can visit
13:38
this incredible place without breaking
13:40
the bank or within your budget so join
13:42
me over in this video to find out your
13:44
options to cruise and Artica on your
13:47
budget see you over there
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