mlgb

One thing to keep in mind is that getting to Buenos Aires from Los Angeles is a giant PITA! If you can find something that starts in Santiago it is a lot easier (even if they then fly you by charter to Ushuaia). I believe the Viking Polaris 19-day cruise does include Antarctic landings. Hurtigruten Expeditions has two large new ships that sail Antarctica and the Falklands (from Buenos Aires) with landings and zodiac cruising. I went over Christmas and the ship was only half full. Cabins are very nice, as is the ship (all cabins have at least a window). I'd say service and dinner meals are okay, but beer and wine are included. Breakfast and lunch were fine. Larger ship limits the places where they are are permitted to land but we did get a continental landing one day, and landed three times in the Falklands, including New Island. I think to include S Georgia you have to go to on their less-nice ship, MS Fram. https://www.hurtigruten.com/en-us/expeditions/cruises/in-depth-antarctica-falklands-south-georgia-expedition/

These are my go-to binoculars, 10x is good for distant viewing which is what you will want on cruises. You don't need a larger objective lens on cruises (such as 10x42) as there will be plenty of light and they just add weight. https://www.optics4birding.com/zeiss-conquest-hd-10x32-binoculars.html

Have a look specifically at the newest Lindblad/Nat Geo ship, Endurance.

How does that "zero percent" opinion meet with the facts that we went, and I know of at least two other HX ships that went, and both of my friends on Nat Geo/Lindblad went (one in Dec/January and one that has just left)? All three of us saw Emperors, too. The friend that went in Late Dec/Jan also saw chicks. But you do you.

That's because any Hurtigruten Expedition Antarctic itinerary is subject to the discretion of the captain and the sea and ice conditions. No guarantees on Weddell Sea. Even the Roald Amundsen went to the Weddelll Sea on my cruise in late December, due to favorable conditions we did a short 15-minute ice floe landing and saw an Emperor Penguin.

It may or may not be over by then. Another itinerary that covers S Georgia and Antarctica is the MS Fram.

Check to see whether you need to bring poles. There may be some provided by the ship.

Friends are presently on the longer Nat Geo cruise that covers S Georgia, Falklands and Antarctica, they did visit Weddell Sea for a few days. It's all weather dependent though and can't be guaranteed as far as Weddell Sea. And you probably know that most landings on S Georgia are closed due to the avian flu.

You don't have to spend a lot of time in the departure cities where most cruises begin. Most cruises will give you one night at a hotel there and the next day fly you down to the departure port such as Ushuaia. Then you have 2 days on the Drake each way. Booking late into the season (February) might get you more stable weather but there are no guarantees. Agree that there is plenty to do on the sea days. Package typically ends when they fly you back by charter to your departure city (usually Buenos Aires or Santiago ChilE. You can leave the same night.

In addition to Fredheim, which is open from lunch through dinner and has a veg burger on offer, there is always chicken/salmon/steak on the dinner menu and you can always have a green salad. There were allergen symbols shown on the menus. I think Fredheim has a veggie burger.

No reason to buy the package. You can always buy an individual bottle if you don't like the included wine offered at lunch and dinner (one red and one white).

Not an option on our cruise. It was first come first serve. I was standing by the host stand once, and it seemed like they were directing some of the Chinese guests to another dining room (I could only understand a little of what was said, obviously).

Thank you again for your thoughtful reply. It had much less to do with the window seat than the fact that the choice was to either miss the evening briefing, and hope that it was recorded which it was not at least 3x, to go down before 6 and then gobble it down (and yes, some of us took to lining up 10 minutes ahead of the seating time), or to go after 7 when again you did not have even an hour as you waited for a seat to be vacated and then to be served. What was most unfair was that one group had the full two hours to enjoy dinner (which is only from 6 to 8). I did speak to many of the Expeditions staff about the recordings not posting. The second and third time that the recordings did not post one of their staff gave me an individual briefing. One of them replied that there had been some discussion in the back offices about the timings of the briefings. From one of my conversations with a bilingual guest from Los Angeles, I understood that the Chinese were part of a tour group. It appeared that nearly half the dining room was reserved (the entire back and port sections), but that didn't mean that some did not also occupy about half of the window seats on the starboard side. Very few European heritage passengers ever had a window seat at early dinner. Some took to abandoning the Aune dining room completely and having a burger at the casual place. There was really no one to complain to about the timings. The two places I tried early on I got brushed off onto the Expedition staff about the recording issue. The cruise was still a wonderful experience, thanks to the Expedition team (and my room steward). The breakfasts and lunches were good, it was dinner that was the big miss.

In theory but it doesn't always happen.Second time only the Chinese uploaded (the night before the Weddell Sea). Again last night before our first planned Falklands landing. Which had critical information such as rain forecast, no food off ship, need to wear muck boots. Not all of this is available from another source. Mostly we have to find another passenger who went, or one of the Expedition Staff who are often busy. I watched most of it streaming and then went down to a disappointing a la carte dinner (skip the porchetta entree!)

Internet is spotty so couldn't edit in time. It's a 6:30 talk, with dinner hours are 6 to 8 pm only. Chinese presentation version is at 8:15pm. So they have time for a leisurely 90 minute dinner and freshen up. Rest of us gobble it down in less than 30 minutes or line up at 7:15 and wait for a table to open for the food that's been sitting for an hour. If they would just shift our talk to 7 and give us a 6pm seating we would have a flying start even without a window seat Breakfast is fun to watch also.