East Antarctica vs South Antarctica

[teamflames]

Hi we are in process of researching a potential Antarctic cruise at the end of the year. We are based in Australia. There are the various options of travelling from South America to the Peninsula and islands but we are also looking at a cruise from NZ that visits “east Antarctica” Mawsons etc

Just curious if anyone has done both and can tell us the pros and cons?

thanks

[kaisatsu]

I think @PerfectlyPerth may have been to East Antarctica, but it’s not very often visited, so I don’t know of any other regulars who’ve been to that side of the continent.

 

I’ve been to the area around Cape Adare and Robertson Bay, but no farther into East Antarctica.

[PerfectlyPerth]

On 3/1/2024 at 4:22 PM, teamflames said:

Hi we are in process of researching a potential Antarctic cruise at the end of the year. We are based in Australia. There are the various options of travelling from South America to the Peninsula and islands but we are also looking at a cruise from NZ that visits “east Antarctica” Mawsons etc

Just curious if anyone has done both and can tell us the pros and cons?

thanks

Hi

 

You will note that we are pretty much all the same folks already replying over on your Trip Advisor thread. Polar travel is a small group of people!!

 

You can post links on TA but not here so it's easier if you post the ones to the trips you are looking at on your TA thread. Saves us having to scroll thru every operators website. 
 

Since Commonwealth Bay became unblocked by the iceberg that had been blocking passage for many years - a couple of vessels have been successful in reaching Mawson's Hut. We did it in 2011 thanks to the Khlebnikov icebreaker and helicopters. 
That was part of my full East Antarctica voyage that went all the way along to Davis Station then up to Heard Island. 
There are no itineraries of this nature since those days. 
 

If you choose a Ross Sea or Mawson's Hut type loop - as I said on Trip Advisor - a very different mind set is needed. Best discovered by reading those specific trip reports I linked to. 
Unlike peninsula trips where you are seeing icebergs by day 2 and gearing up for zodiacing by day 3, crossing the Southern Ocean from Hobart or NZ can be ferociously rough (some of the best seas I've ever experienced - for me the rougher the better) so you need to be a good sailor. It can be day 6 or 7 before the first icebergs are sighted. So a lot more "at sea" days than peninsula trips. 
The itinerary might have 4 named "hopeful" landing spots and weather conditions may mean you miss all of them. Or you may be lucky and reach them all. 
Again there is a big difference between what can be accessed with or without helicopters. 
 

That is a big difference with peninsula trips. While the operators have prebooked their landing spots several seasons in advance - they will usually have an option B or C when weather prevents option A. Sometimes it's merely cruising into the next bay where the sea conditions are less choppy. 

 

It's very much dependant on what you want to experience. I've done 3 big month long expansive trips (2 itineraries that will likely never be repeated due to lack of full icebreakers anymore) where it's all about the experience as a whole. And I've done one 23 or 24 day (I've lost track) that was the more traditional "FI, SGI, Peninsula, Crossing Circle". As much as I loved it I was exhausted by the 3, sometimes 4, excursions each day. Sometimes I missed the downtime of the big trips with their "at sea" days. 
 

But one thing you will see from the trip reports is that it's very much a mindset thing. Some people hate the sea days, others love them. Some hate rough seas, others like me seek out the rougher the better. 
 

PS - the planning is the fun bit so don't stress too much over it. And watch out near Easter for the annual Aldi ski gear sale as their gear is super cheap!
 

Edited March 2 by PerfectlyPerth
Typo

[teamflames]

Awesome response PP.

ok will focus more on TA forum.

Not sure I am searching for rough seas, I can suffer seasickness but it is rather difficult to predict - sometimes fine in rough seas but bad in minor swells!

The scenic ship has helicopters but at added charge so could add up. 
Great feedback 

[PerfectlyPerth]

9 hours ago, teamflames said:

Awesome response PP.

ok will focus more on TA forum.

Not sure I am searching for rough seas, I can suffer seasickness but it is rather difficult to predict - sometimes fine in rough seas but bad in minor swells!

The scenic ship has helicopters but at added charge so could add up. 
Great feedback 

This forum has several regular posters who don't post on TA so there is still also good advice here. It's predominantly more folks who have done the big drive by scenic cruises on cruise ships, rather than the expedition ships. 
 

Do they say how much the added charge for heli's is ? I'm being nosey as I've often wondered. 3 out of 4 of my trips had heli's - included in price of trip. Many flights on each trip including landing on an iceberg on Xmas morning before breakfast, and landing up on top of a plateau on Peter First Is volcano. Also flying way inland to spend the entire day or night on emperor colonies. Big highlights personally. Oh and the Dry Valleys. 
 

I'm good in all seas so I'm not great with advice for seasickness. My friend who is a polar ship chef & studied food medical science experimented with passengers with things like potato chips or pretzels dipped in dark chocolate & left to set. Something about the salty sweet ingredients changing the blood pressure. And it ended up being the only thing folks could keep down. 
 

Either way - pack whatever remedy you already know works for you. And every ship has a Dr on board usually doling out fenergan or similar generic name. And the galley is generally happy to make bland smoothies or plain omelettes etc that people can keep down during the rough days. 

[teamflames]

1 hour ago, PerfectlyPerth said:

This forum has several regular posters who don't post on TA so there is still also good advice here. It's predominantly more folks who have done the big drive by scenic cruises on cruise ships, rather than the expedition ships. 
 

Do they say how much the added charge for heli's is ? I'm being nosey as I've often wondered. 3 out of 4 of my trips had heli's - included in price of trip. Many flights on each trip including landing on an iceberg on Xmas morning before breakfast, and landing up on top of a plateau on Peter First Is volcano. Also flying way inland to spend the entire day or night on emperor colonies. Big highlights personally. Oh and the Dry Valleys. 
 

I'm good in all seas so I'm not great with advice for seasickness. My friend who is a polar ship chef & studied food medical science experimented with passengers with things like potato chips or pretzels dipped in dark chocolate & left to set. Something about the salty sweet ingredients changing the blood pressure. And it ended up being the only thing folks could keep down. 
 

Either way - pack whatever remedy you already know works for you. And every ship has a Dr on board usually doling out fenergan or similar generic name. And the galley is generally happy to make bland smoothies or plain omelettes etc that people can keep down during the rough days. 

I haven’t had it clarified yet - but it looks like $700-800 which could add up a lot if they are required on multiple days. Also based on your feedback on Ross itineraries I wonder what you would do if you chose not to pay for the helicopter at each site, am moving away from that itinerary as just too costly and too unknown.

[PerfectlyPerth]

21 hours ago, teamflames said:

I haven’t had it clarified yet - but it looks like $700-800 which could add up a lot if they are required on multiple days. Also based on your feedback on Ross itineraries I wonder what you would do if you chose not to pay for the helicopter at each site, am moving away from that itinerary as just too costly and too unknown.

That would definitely add up across a total itinerary. 
I would imagine those not doing the chopper flight would be doing exactly nothing - as in those locations it's not like there is an option of say a zodiac cruise or a shore line to head to as an alternative. 
In my Ross Sea case the heli's were used to access regions completely inaccessible like the Dry Valleys and the top of a Volcano. But importantly also used on days where some places like Cape Adare & Shackleton's Hut - which are generally accessible to zodiacs were badly iced in along the shore. So if we didn't have the choppers we would have totally missed those two historical huts which were a massive highlight. So having the accessibility option there was vital in my opinion. 
But you can always save that destination for trip 2. Have we all warned you yet that polar travel becomes very addictive lol. Only a few days into my first trip I stopped referring to it being a "once in a lifetime trip" and was already asking fellow passengers (most of who had been 15-20 times) where I should focus for trip 2 !!!! ❄️🐧❄️🐧