Patagonia/Antarctica Christmas 2022

[choomTOP]

Thanks so much for sharing all this info! We’re going on the February Antarctica trip and I’m starting to think about packing/etc, so I’ll definitely be curious about your thoughts on what you brought and felt was most useful. Also any other general tips — I feel like there’s hardly anything out there specific to this AbD.

I’m also just so excited to read about what you saw each day! I’ve wanted to go to Antarctica since I was a young child, so this is a dream-come true trip for us. And, similar to your family, it’s a major part of experiencing all the continents — it will be our 6th or 7th continent, depending on one’s view as the 7th continent being Australia or Oceania. (But we will visit Sydney next year so, either way, all continents will be experienced and I’ll have to find a new life goal!)

 

[starwarsdad]

Since from reading this, you seem like an active family, I’d recommend New Zealand. It is an amazing AbD in a beautiful country with lots of outdoor time and nothing super strenuous. @Grifdog22 and I are in midst of a trip report from our NZ adventure last month, if you’d like to check it out.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/new-zealand-2022.3901397

I’ve also done Japan and it is more culture, less outdoor time. Still a great trip & I’d recommend even with the new itinerary but they are different experiences.

Thanks for your input. We know several of the guides doing the NZ ABD and they have provided a lot of good info for us. I was thinking maybe flying into Sydney for a few days then do the NZ adventure

 

[starwarsdad]

Thanks so much for sharing all this info! We’re going on the February Antarctica trip and I’m starting to think about packing/etc, so I’ll definitely be curious about your thoughts on what you brought and felt was most useful. Also any other general tips — I feel like there’s hardly anything out there specific to this AbD.

I’m also just so excited to read about what you saw each day! I’ve wanted to go to Antarctica since I was a young child, so this is a dream-come true trip for us. And, similar to your family, it’s a major part of experiencing all the continents — it will be our 6th or 7th continent, depending on one’s view as the 7th continent being Australia or Oceania. (But we will visit Sydney next year so, either way, all continents will be experienced and I’ll have to find a new life goal!)

So your itinerary could be totally different. We have been very lucky thus far. We saw the maps of the previous two Ponant cruises and we only overlapped a few places.

As far as packing, definitely pack everything ABD designated like waterproof pants, neck gator, sunglasses, several base layers. If you experience typical Antarctica days you will want three layers. One thing I wished I packed more of are thick socks. Maybe four pair. I found my socks got damp not because of Antarctica but because once we get back you get hosed down then you scub your boots and walk through a 6 foot shallow decontamination pool. As a result after I took off my boots my socks got wet from the drip.

Believe it or not, on the ship a lot of people wear shorts because the ship is warm and dry. I wish we brought nasal mist spray because there were multiple nose bleeds.

My ship outfit was mainly jeans or shorts and a tee shirt. We packed minimally and did some sink laundry.

I will work on more general tips as I digest the trip. We still have 2.5 days left.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Silly question here, but how does the ship refuel? Or do they carry on any extra that is needed?

 

[starwarsdad]

Silly question here, but how does the ship refuel? Or do they carry on any extra that is needed?

I’m pretty sure the boat has to carry all the fuel it needs at the original port.

 

[starwarsdad]

Well the Drake is almost over. We got what the captain called a stereotypical Drake Shake. We had peak waves of 25 feet last night. My wife and I wore patches and didn’t not have much sea sickness but we both felt sleepy. Two of my kids got some sea sickness. Three of our five guides were out yesterday. We estimated over 50% of the ship stayed horizontal as the briefing and dinner attendees were sparse. Last night the shake was so rough most things on our counter fell off. The captain closed off all deck spaces for the past 24 hours.

I would make sure you get the patch to have just in case. We saw a few people throw up on the trip.

It’s all part of the adventure!

 

[starwarsdad]

Regarding the Viking tragedy, our expedition team shared the Viking ship had someone with a broken leg and had to rush back to Ushuaia. The reality is if anyone got seriously hurt or ill while in Antarctica the ship would have to turn around and go back. Fortunately no one on our sailing got sick or had an accident.

The team said they were going 10-12 knots on the way back from Ushuaia on the day of the tragedy. The Viking ship had passed them and seemed to be going quite a bit faster. The combination of the speed and sea conditions likely contributed to the tragedy.

The Drake Shake is no joke and ours was moderate.

 

[starwarsdad]

We are so thankful the Drake was calm on the way down to Antarctica. I can’t believe the crew felt this was a mild Drake Shake. We were sharing our stories and someone had the shake impact them enough that their bed flipped. Most people had their items on their counter fall off.

We had the farewell slideshow tonight. Half a day in Patagonia then an afternoon flight to Buenos Aires tomorrow.

It was an amazing trip but my family has mixed feelings about this ABD. We are super glad we did it but it certainly seemed less ABD and Disney over all than a majority of our Disney trips. None of us could put on finger on it for sure.

Would I recommend this trip? Absolutely and I am glad we did this through ABD even for the atypical Antarctica demographics ABD attracts. Would I personally want to do this trip again? Probably not. For nature lovers, I personally would take Alaska over Antarctica although penguins are pretty cute.

Perhaps one of the things missing is experiencing culture, regional cuisine, and an overarching story that is woven together through the variety of experiences you have. Antarctica was more of a super cool nature experience with DCL like activities to kill down time with a few sprinkled educational lectures given by the Ponant naturalists. Those by the way were awesome.

I will say the rareness of man visiting Antarctica is pretty neat and having my kids and wife experience this altogether will forever be a bonding memory for my family. Perhaps the fortune of starting Day 1 of the adventure being in the capital city of a World Cup winning celebration/national holiday was foreshadowing of the 12 days to come.

 

[starwarsdad]

Few more general tips for those doing this trip in the future.

Bring some hard candies or something to relieve dry mouth/throat. A lot of us noted scratchy dry throats due to the motion sickness treatments.

Consider packing an empty USB. You will have great photographers as guests and several of them may be willing to share their photos.

Double gloves are helpful. One pair that is waterproof for the zodiac rides and then some sort of etip gloves so you can still take photos even if it is cold or windy.

I absolutely would bring scopolamine patches. If you end up getting them from the doctor on board, it is expensive compared to getting them in the US.

Bring a sleeping mask if you wake up easily to light. Despite the blinds overlapping, the room does still get a bit brighter super early in the day.

Bring a good pair of sunglasses. Even a small amount of bright light reflecting off the snow can damage your eyes. Many people wore ski goggles.

I brought three pairs of shoes. A waterproof version of my running shoe for Buenos Aires walking, Patagonia hikes and treadmill. Crocs to easily slip in and out and Uggs to quickly slip on for sightings and wear casually around the ship.

I learned to start wearing jeans, wrapping my fleece around my waist and having binoculars (or camera) with me when we sailed through straits. It seemed the captain called out several times a day a neat sighting like whales or orcas and you don’t want to have to run back, get dressed and grab binoculars. Those moments of a neat sighting could end in minutes.

Absolutely get plenty of sleep nights before expeditions. I know several families skipped 1-2 expeditions due to fatigue. This whole trip revolves around with 8-12 expeditions you get to disembark the Ponant ship. Those expeditions are the highlights of the trip.

 

[aggiedog]

Great tips! This has been an excellent trip report. Dh and I are looking at doing Antarctica in the next few years, so your details are super helpful. Thank you!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Thanks so much for the great trip report. Antarctica is definitely on my list for a few years down the road. Sounds like a great trip, but I totally understand about wonderful places to have gone to although you don't necessarily need to go back. I've had a few of those myself.

 

[starwarsdad]

Back in the USA. Will start to load pictures slowly over the next few weeks. It will be intensive!

 

[starwarsdad]

So glad we got to see more of Patagonia. We woke up early on our last day of the adventure and went to Tierra Del Fuego National Park and took the train ride the prisoners took. Then we took a coach to see scenic sites like the post office at the end of the world, the end of the American highway from Alaska to Argentina and just awesome scenes of nature.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Regarding the Viking tragedy, our expedition team shared the Viking ship had someone with a broken leg and had to rush back to Ushuaia. The reality is if anyone got seriously hurt or ill while in Antarctica the ship would have to turn around and go back. Fortunately no one on our sailing got sick or had an accident.

The team said they were going 10-12 knots on the way back from Ushuaia on the day of the tragedy. The Viking ship had passed them and seemed to be going quite a bit faster. The combination of the speed and sea conditions likely contributed to the tragedy.

The Drake Shake is no joke and ours was moderate.

What an absolute shame it would be if the speed of the Viking ship contributed to the tragedy aboard.

I read that the broken leg was caused by a small explosion on one of the zodiacs. The injured passenger was thrown in the air and landed badly on her leg; another guest in the zodiac was tossed into the water (quickly retrieved by fellow travelers).

My cruise to Antarctica had an illness aboard that necessitated turning around a day early. On our way back we picked up a seriously ill passenger (his wife had to stay on the other ship) -- very interesting to watch the crew retrieve the ill passenger in the treacherous waters. From what the crew told us, any of the ships in the area could transport an ill passenger back to Ushuaia; the decision is based on the speed the ship is capable of, the degree of illness of the passenger (we were led to believe that the passenger we picked up was gravely ill) and the position of the ship in the area. So while no one on board a particular vessel could be ill, their ship could be designated to return to Ushuaia / Puenta Arenas to transport sick passengers. We ended up taking the ill passengers to a Chilean airbase in a blizzard (the sea was rough and the ill passengers were taken to shore by zodiacs) to be picked up by a medical plane. I cannot underscore enough the importance of purchasing adequate medical / evacuation insurance -- I cannot fathom the cost of the medical bills those passengers incurred.

After the ill passengers were offloaded, we did get a small tour of a Russian research base and visit the smallest Russian cathedral in the world (max 2 people), so that was kind of cool. Also neat was the Russian research station had a tiny gift shop (why I do not know) where we were able to purchase very cool t-shirts and a ball cap.

 

[starwarsdad]

What an absolute shame it would be if the speed of the Viking ship contributed to the tragedy aboard.

I read that the broken leg was caused by a small explosion on one of the zodiacs. The injured passenger was thrown in the air and landed badly on her leg; another guest in the zodiac was tossed into the water (quickly retrieved by fellow travelers).

My cruise to Antarctica had an illness aboard that necessitated turning around a day early. On our way back we picked up a seriously ill passenger (his wife had to stay on the other ship) -- very interesting to watch the crew retrieve the ill passenger in the treacherous waters. From what the crew told us, any of the ships in the area could transport an ill passenger back to Ushuaia; the decision is based on the speed the ship is capable of, the degree of illness of the passenger (we were led to believe that the passenger we picked up was gravely ill) and the position of the ship in the area. So while no one on board a particular vessel could be ill, their ship could be designated to return to Ushuaia / Puenta Arenas to transport sick passengers. We ended up taking the ill passengers to a Chilean airbase in a blizzard (the sea was rough and the ill passengers were taken to shore by zodiacs) to be picked up by a medical plane. I cannot underscore enough the importance of purchasing adequate medical / evacuation insurance -- I cannot fathom the cost of the medical bills those passengers incurred.

After the ill passengers were offloaded, we did get a small tour of a Russian research base and visit the smallest Russian cathedral in the world (max 2 people), so that was kind of cool. Also neat was the Russian research station had a tiny gift shop (why I do not know) where we were able to purchase very cool t-shirts and a ball cap.

Yeah. I cannot confirm any reports. I was just sharing the information given to me by the crew of the ship I was on. We were told as well it was a zodiac explosion that contributed to the injury. Really underscores some of the danger of an expedition that far away. Also falling in the water is a serious danger as well. I know the L’Austral always had an emergency zodiac off to the side and ready to go.

 

[starwarsdad]

On our last full day, we were scheduled to have a pilot take us through the Beagle channel around 3pm which would have given us time to get off the ship and explore Ushuaia a bit if we wished. Closer to the time our captain told us he released our spot to another ship who had a medical emergency and thus we would not dock in Ushuaia until after midnight. Not sure on the details but another reminder of the seriousness of expedition cruising.

 

[starwarsdad]

Starting to get some pictures back from ABd and downloaded some from Ponant onto my computer now that we are starting to settle back into regular life. Got two more adventures coming up within the next seven months I have to make a few arrangements for as well, Back Stage Magic in March and Grand Europe in July. I’ll try to post several pictures every day or every other day.

 

[starwarsdad]

I think the thing we all love about ABD is not just the destination but it is the guides who truly make the trip special. Antarctica is pretty amazing itself but the guides are still the cherry on top. As usual, amazing people! I tried to find a picture of them together but they are always busy taking pictures of us so here are a few of our amazing guides.

We found this trip to be a little less Disney. Partially Antarctica is the main attraction and this trip is really a partnership between ABD and Ponant. The guides have to be respectful to the Ponant experts and they were as much beloved as our guides by the end of this trip.



Captain Fab, Cruise Director Latiesia (spelling?) and Byron



And as you can see in this last photo, the expedition team from Ponant became part of the Disney family. Given this was the first cruise of the season between Ponant and Disney, I’m sure there was a lot of feeling the two sides out. While this is the second year between Ponant and Disney, I don’t think any of the expedition team had cruised with ABD guests prior. What was even more cool was the last event held by the ABD guides was nearly 100% attended by the Ponant staff, Disney Karaoke night. They even participated!

 

[starwarsdad]

Here are some teasers of the Ponant photos!








Sadly some of them are so high quality the file size may limit me posting them unless someone has suggestions of sharing through a source like photo bucket.

 

[sayhello]

Sadly some of them are so high quality the file size may limit me posting them unless someone has suggestions of sharing through a source like photo bucket.

Wonderful photos! I recommend getting FastStone Photo Resizer. It works wonderfully for making smaller copies of photos. It's Freeware, and pretty easy to use! I use it all the time.

https://www.faststone.org/

Sayhello