Voyage to Antartica and beyond on Voyager Jan 29 - Feb 17, 2023

[1982CruzStart]

Some food porn.

Duck confit spring rolls

Smoked trout

Pork sliders

Salmon with artichokes and salsa

All was quite good.  This was lunch. 

[1982CruzStart]

Dinner tonight in CR. 

Crab summer roll. Full of delicious snow crab. 

Filet with truffle-madeira sauce

Chicken Parmigiano 

Almond-lemon tart.

Again everything was very tasty and cooked perfectly. 

We have ordered the lobster tempura from pacific rim for an appy tomorrow.  

[1982CruzStart]

A volcano that last erupted in the 1970's. 

[cruiseej]

23 hours ago, 1982CruzStart said:

I can unequivocally say that if you ever take this trip, to get the most out of the wildlife, you need to bring a very powerful telephoto lens for your camera or a pair of really strong binoculars.  We have the ones Regent provided in our suite and though good they are just not powerful enough to see animals on land. We don't sail by that close so everything is a fair distance away. 

 

I would say that if you plan to travel to Antarctica and want to see the wildlife up close, you should consider doing the trip on a smaller expedition ship which will get you on land as much as possible. This isn't Regent's forte, of course, but there are multiple luxury cruise lines which can give you to combination of expedition cruising and cursing luxury. Seabourn has two new expedition ships; Silversea has one new and two older ships; and at varying lesser luxury levels, lines like Viking, Lindblad/National Geographic, Ponant, Quark, Hurtigruten, Hapag-Lloyd, and Scenic (and probably a few others) all have modern ships carrying only about 200 people so that everyone can get to land twice a day (weather permitting). We just came back from an Antarctica cruise (Silversea), and I can't imagine doing this trip being anywhere near as mind-blowing without getting out on the water in zodiacs and getting ashore to get up close with the penguins and seals. (We carried our binoculars but never ended up using them; you'll see why in a second... 😉 ) 

 

Of course, the scenery in Antarctica is breathtaking, and you can absolutely enjoy it cruising by from the comfort of the ship... 

 

 

 

And you may see some penguins in the distance on land, or floating by on an  iceberg...

 

 

 

But...  you won't get the feeling of seeing the animals up close unless you're on an expedition cruise which gets you to land as often as possible...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And... if you can possibly swing the added time and expense to do a cruise which visits the Falklands (beyond Port Stanley) and South Georgia Island, you'll have an even more unbelievable experience...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will be forever grateful to the passengers we met on prior cruises elsewhere in the world who convinced us that if we were going to voyage to Antarctica, we ought to go on a smaller ship — and insisted that we should visit South Georgia Island! 

 

 

 

[DeepFreeze63]

Thanks (a bunch) for the photos!

[1982CruzStart]

Thanks for your comments but for those of us that an expedition cruise doesn't work this is the next best thing. Maybe not as good as landing but pretty darn good. 

Photos are beautiful.  

[1982CruzStart]

Some photos from today. 

This one not so clear but you get a glimpse of one of the many humpback whales we were luck enough to see. 

[1982CruzStart]

We have a spectacular expedition team onboard. A glacier expert, a climatologist,  a historian, a biologist and a photographer.  They have done 2.5 hours of very informative lectures per day. We didn't attend in person but have watched every one of them on TV. The expedition lead has given us detailed commentary during our cruising yesterday and today. It has been a wonderful experience.  

[cruiseej]

3 hours ago, 1982CruzStart said:

Thanks for your comments but for those of us that an expedition cruise doesn't work this is the next best thing. Maybe not as good as landing but pretty darn good. 

 

Let me apologize if my comments sounded like a was disparaging anyone who doesn't take an expedition cruise to Antarctica. If there's any way you can get to Antarctica,  to experience this unique and wonderful part of our planet, you should do it! It takes considerable time, it takes a lot of flying, it requires careful packing and preparation, it costs a lot of money, and it's a travel experience only some of us are so, so fortunate to be able to do — so however one can get there is worthwhile. I was only trying to share the added benefits of traveling on a ship which can get you ashore in Antarctica; of traveling on a smaller ship which can do more landings in Antarctica; and of traveling to the trifecta of the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Island and the Antarctic Peninsula — all of which requires the time, funds, and physical capabilities for such travel. Again, my apologies if my enthusiasm for visiting this region led me to express it in a way which came off negatively towards anyone. 

[1982CruzStart]

Cruiseej, I agree with you, anyway to get here is the best thing. We looked at expedition at one time but didn't work for us. I am so glad you were able to do the full experience.  It sounds wonderful.  

[WesW]

Eric; well said; having been through the Chilean Fjords on Regent and Antarctica and South Georgia Islands with Silversea, the expedition ships get you close and personal to the wildlife and stunning georgraphy as your photos depict.  Tho, as you know the night life on a Regent ship is much more entertaining than on a Silversea Expedition voyage (but on the Silver Cloud we're too tired to be up that late anyway :)) Can't wait to step back on Salisbury Plain in South Georgia in a month again on Silversea.

[briar14]

South Georgia Island, Shackleton and all those king penguins, was a highlight of our adventure. Antarctica is like no other place in the world, however you get there!

Edited February 7, 2023 by briar14

[slidebite]

On 2/5/2023 at 5:08 PM, 1982CruzStart said:

 

Filet with truffle-madeira sauce

 

 

That sauce is my favorite on beef. I absolutely love it and have tried, with mixed results, re-creating it at home.

 

That looks like a fantastic cruise! Thanks for sharing!

[1982CruzStart]

We were lucky enough to see 2 sets of orcas. A couple earlier in the cruise and then a pod on our last day. It was unreal to see them swimming by. The pod seemed mostly of juvenile orcas as they were smaller.  My DH got all the pictures as I was too busy just watching them. Just a couple final pictures from 3 glorious days in Antarctica.

 

As you may have guessed the internet has been very spotty so no real chance to post. 

We are in Ushuaia today so things are going well with the internet. 

 

[1982CruzStart]

The crossing back across the Drake Passage was once again very rocky with 15 to 18 foot waves. Managed to stay vertical and enjoy lunch and dinner. 

Dinner was in Chartreuse and we had some unwelcome excitement.   There were a couple crashes just after we sat down, the cheese trolley didn't like where it was or was on it as it dumped some of its contents sending the staff scrambling. Not long after a tray with a few dishes feel over.  Didn't hear the sound of breaking dishes.  Sorry no pictures as we were busy visiting with our table mates and hanging onto our seats. 

There were 3 passenger falls. A husband and wife went down. He got up mostly on his own and she seemed okay though they took her away in a wheelchair to visit the med center. A more serious tumble happened by an older woman and she seemed dazed for awhile. They final got her up and into a wheelchair but she seemed to be favoring her one foot. I hope all 3 are okay.  We decided to skip the show and get back to our suite as quickly as possible. 

 

We did a tour of Tierra del Fuego National Park.  Quite a bit of time on a bus but we had 4 stops to get off and take pictures and walk around. 

 

[1982CruzStart]

We were over an hour late getting into port which was a big improvement as at 1 point yesterday we were 2.5 hours behind but as the seas improved we were able to make up about an hour and a half. Our tour left 2 hours late. 

 

A few pictures from our bus tour. 

A lake shared by Argentina and Chile.

An inlet from Beagle Channel where the TransAmerica Highway starts or ends depending on your perspective.  Alaska being at the other end. 

 

 

A native bird. 

 

[1982CruzStart]

I tried to edit post 90 for clarification purposes but it told me I was too late. 

 

Chartreuse dinner was our first night heading out of Antarctica where we hit the beginning of the terrible seas. Dinner was very good inspite of the unfortunate incidents.  

 

The 2nd night dinner was in CR and the seas were still a bit wild but with no unwanted accidents.   Dinner was good though a little slow. For half of us, dinner was very good and  once a steak was sent back and returned the 3rd person was also very happy but the 4th person was unhappy with her food and with wine service.  

[1982CruzStart]

A couple of photos from our tour out of Punta Arenas. We took a boat out to the penguin sanctuary with a stop beside another island to check out the sea lions and birds. Great cruise. 

Momma penguin and very grown chick. 

 

A small snippet from a beach packed with sea lions and a few penguins. This was taken from a boat in rolling waves as I tried to hang on as we sat on the top of the boat. 

 

A large glacier with a beautiful waterfall pouring out of the bottom.  The picture doesn't do it justice but the best I could do thru a window in CR.  This was last night on our way to a couple days at sea in the Chilean fjords. 

[PSU]

We are on this cruise also. We were with our friends in Chartreuse when all the spills happened. 
We also went to the penguin sanctuary. That was amazing.

Ironically there was an article in Apple News that the US Coast Guard are investigating all the injuries and deaths in November and December involving Zodiac boats in the Antarctic.

I for one would rather go on Regent and see more of South America as well as Antarctica.

[1982CruzStart]

A sunset from last night and a rainbow tonight. It was too close to capture it all but so gorgeous and vibrant but photos can just not capture it. 

[1982CruzStart]

Love waterfalls so a couple of pictures as we  cruise over night to the next fjord. 

9pm and still pretty light out. 

Expecting some rocking and rolling from 3 am to 5. Hopefully will sleep through it. 

[1982CruzStart]

Found out tonight this was the first time Regent did 3 days in Antarctica and brought an expedition team on. They were fantastic  and I hope for the future cruises like this they have a team as good as we had. 

[asnaleah]

Thanks for your informative review and fabulous photos!

[puppyluv1]

Your photographs are spectacular. Thank you for sharing!  

[HotRoot]

A question - If you do a drive by Antartica, do you count that as having been to the Continent?  Does that let you say you have been to all 7 continents.  Or, do you actually have to set foot on the continent?