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Day 1 Ushuaia & Embarkation
Ushuaia is the gateway to the White Continent. Found at the southernmost tip of South America in Argentinian Patagonia, the city is often described as “the End of the World”. The city’s mountain backdrop rises above the harbour and entrance to the Beagle Channel. The town itself is walkable and has a few small museums as well as pubs, restaurants and cafes - a good place to try Patagonian lamb cooked over open fire pits.
Day 2 At Sea
Sea days are rarely dull. Take the time to sit back and let the world go by. The ship’s observation decks provide stunning views of the passing ocean. A day at sea gives you the opportunity to mingle with other passengers and share your experiences of this incredible trip or head to our library which is stocked full of reference books. Get an expert’s view in one of our on-board lectures or perhaps perfect your photography skills with invaluable advice from our onboard professional photographers.
Day 3 Elephant Island
Elephant Island, named for the elephant seals that call this place home, is a harsh, glacier-covered and volcanic island on the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands. It was here that legendary explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew from the Endurance were stranded for months in 1914. At Point Wild, his monument overlooks a colony of gentoo penguins. Chinstrap and macaroni penguins gather at Cape Lookout alongside the island’s main residents, elephant seals.
Day 4 Antarctic Sound
As you sail quietly past house-sized, free-floating tabular icebergs and pancake ice, you may be able to hear the sounds of creaking and popping as huge chunks break off and crash into the sea. While Gerlache Strait is filled with ice, the Antarctic Sound takes it up a notch with even more impressive bergs and ice cliffs. Possible landing points where you will meet thousands of breeding Adélie penguins include Brown Bluff and Paulet Island.
Day 5 Half Moon Island & Deception Island - Whaler Bay
Day 6 Portal Point & Enterprise Island
Day 7 Palmer Station
Day 8-11 Bellingshausen Sea
Take in the magnitude of translucent bergs silently floating on crystal-clear seas, often broken up by the tail of a fluking whale and leopard seals resting on an ice floe, as we sail via two of the largest islands in the Antarctic - Alexander and Thurston Islands - past Peter I Island. Rarely visited by ships, Peter I is claimed by Norway. This ice-covered volcanic island is home to elephant seals, cape pigeons and southern fulmars.
Day 12-15 Amundsen Sea
One of the most remote areas of Antarctica, covered mostly by glacial ice from the Thwaites ice tongue, and part of the Southern Ocean, Amundsen Sea is named for legendary Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen who led the first team to reach the South Pole in 1911. Marie Byrd Land on Antarctica’s western coast is the largest single unclaimed territory on earth where chinstrap penguins and skuas have set up home on the ice-capped Shepard Island.
Day 16-22 Ross Sea
One of the least-visited spots in Antarctica, our on-shore excursions will hopefully take us to Hut Point on Ross Island, site of the US McMurdo research station and New Zealand’s Scott Base. But the big draw is following in the footsteps of the great explorer, Robert Scott. Scott’s cabin is here on the slopes of Mount Erebus, where he set off for the South Pole reaching it on 17 January 1912 five weeks after Amundsen.
Day 23 At Sea
Sea days are rarely dull. Take the time to sit back and let the world go by. The ship’s observation decks provide stunning views of the passing ocean. A day at sea gives you the opportunity to mingle with other passengers and share your experiences of this incredible trip or head to our library which is stocked full of reference books. Get an expert’s view in one of our on-board lectures or perhaps perfect your photography skills with invaluable advice from our onboard professional photographers.
Day 24 Balleny Islands
Day 25-26 At Sea
Sea days are rarely dull. Take the time to sit back and let the world go by. The ship’s observation decks provide stunning views of the passing ocean. A day at sea gives you the opportunity to mingle with other passengers and share your experiences of this incredible trip or head to our library which is stocked full of reference books. Get an expert’s view in one of our on-board lectures or perhaps perfect your photography skills with invaluable advice from our onboard professional photographers.
Day 27 Macquarie Island
Sealers discovered the tiny windswept Macquarie Island (or Macca) in 1810. The southernmost territory of Australia, it is the site for Macquarie Island Station, an Australian Antarctic base, and a Tasmanian natural reserve and world heritage site protecting a pesty tundra ecosystem. Colonies of loudly barking southern elephant seals breed here and you might spot giant petrels and albatross. Four species of penguin make the island home including royal penguins, king, gentoo and southern rockhoppers.
Day 28 At Sea
Sea days are rarely dull. Take the time to sit back and let the world go by. The ship’s observation decks provide stunning views of the passing ocean. A day at sea gives you the opportunity to mingle with other passengers and share your experiences of this incredible trip or head to our library which is stocked full of reference books. Get an expert’s view in one of our on-board lectures or perhaps perfect your photography skills with invaluable advice from our onboard professional photographers.
Day 29 Auckland Island & Enderby Island
Renowned for their seafaring and whaling traditions, the principal Māori iwi, Ngāi Tahu considers Auckland Islands (Maungahuka) a place of great spiritual significance. Port Ross at the north end of the main Auckland Island - the largest of New Zealand’s subantarctic islands - is a breeding site for southern right whales. You might also get to spot New Zealand sea lions alongside some of the world’s rarest birds including yellow-eyed penguins, white-capped mollymawk and Gibson’s wandering albatross. The smaller Enderby Island is a treat for birders including the Auckland Island snipe and teal, southern royal and light-mantled sooty albatrosses. The pocket-sized Auckland Island tomtit is a regular visitor and Hooker's sea lion haul out here. Growing on this remote archipelago 465 km south of South Island is an exceptionally rich flora of 200 native species such as pink gentiana, red rata blossoms, white tree daisies and megaherbs including the Campbell Island carrot.
Day 30 Snares Islands
Day 31 Oban, Stewart Island
Day 32 Dunedin
Your luxury expedition cruise sadly comes to an end in Dunedin, on the South Island, the principal city of the Otago region. Set in a pretty bay that serves as a port and surrounded by bush-covered hills, the town has quirky historic appeal. One of the best-preserved Victorian and Edwardian cities in the Southern Hemisphere, Dunedin is known as the Edinburgh of New Zealand, and it’s proud of its Celtic connections. Small and eminently walkable, see elaborate civic buildings, New Zealand’s only castles, funky alleyways filled with street art, and picturesque parks. The Toitu Otago Early Settlers Museum and Otago Museum come highly recommended, as well as a visit to the Dunedin Chinese Garden.
