What to see in Falkland Islands/South Georgia besides king penguins?

[Heartfelttraveler]

On 4/10/2021 at 12:16 PM, Bella0714 said:

There were just under 400 passengers when we went, although capacity is 500. I’m not sure there’s much of a difference between 500 and 378 in Antarctica. Both ships would be restricted to the same landing sites (neither can go to the sub-200 or sub-100 passenger sites) and neither is going to have time for more than one landing per day. My only question to Viking would be how much zodiac cruising they do; Roald Amundsen did very little (which is odd because Midnatsol last winter seemed to be doing a lot).

 

The giant screen did not have speakers when we went.

 

If you’re looking at Hurtigruten, prices are considerably cheaper on their Norway site. Just go to Hurtigruten.no and use a browser, like Google, that translates into English. Some people have also reported having success by calling the U.S. customer service number and asking them to price match the Norway site’s prices.

 

That RA Antarctic Circle trip with 11 days in Antarctica looks very nice. We’re booked for Fram in 2023 with three days in Falklands, five days in South Georgia and five days in Antarctica.

 

Dave

 

We did a lot of research prior to booking an Antarctica cruise.  We weighed size of ship, what the itinerary offered, what type of cabins were available and price.

 

We are booked on Hurtigruten Fidtjof Nansen (12 night) in January 2022.  I booked through USA (Seattle) but requested they match the Norway pricing.  It took about 36 hours to call me back, but they did match the price.  We have already done a South America cruise from Santiago to Buenos Aires with a day in Stanley.

 

This will be our second cruise with Hurtigruten.  We loved our first experience.

 

We have friends who did the Hurtigruten 12 night in December 2019 and loved it.  They were on Midnatsol.  They had at least one landing and one Zodiac cruise per day.  Sometimes more.  Some days they also had kayak a tour.

 

As with ALL the cruise lines, things may change after Covid, and we will not know until they are up and running again.

[simonpjd]

Only just seen this or I would have replied earlier. We have done the 23 day trip which includes Falklands and Sth Georgie twice. Itis stunning, well it must be as we went back for a second go!

Our first was on Bremen run by Hapag Lloyd. Mainly German passengers but around 25 Brits. They cut the number of pax to around 160 so we split into 2 groups. One lot ashore while other group did Zodiac cruising. Lots of daylight so either 2 or 3 landings daily. As you would expect from the Germans everything was run very well. The Hanseatic is newer but still very ice strengthened so  can crash through the ice when it has to. Very exciting.

second trip was on Island Sky run by Noble Caledonia. Same itinerary. Only 100 pax so everyone got ashore together.

So check number of pax. If over 200 think again. Check ice capability. Island Sky couldn’t crunch through the ice and we didn’t get to Port Lockroy. 
All trips ashore were using Zodiacs. These shipd don’t have tenders as such. That’s how you get ashore in Stanley.

Also think about what you want to see. Before Christmas it is yes to eggs but few chicks. Usually more whales. We preferred the Jan/Feb trip over the Nov trip.

Ask any questions, I will try and answer.