RandolphLady Posted July 11 #1 Share Posted July 11 Greetings. We are trying to choose between two Oceania Cruises on Marina that are each 18 days and that go from Chile to Argentina or vice versa. One of these itineraries includes 4 days cruising the Drake Passage and Antarctic Peninsula (in February) and the other does not (in March). Since we don't leave the ship on those 4 days, I'm not sure what the added value would be. Is it just 4 more at-sea days in rough waters? What does one actually experience? I would love to hear from those who took either of these cruises so I can decide soon. Thank you in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising Maryland Posted July 11 #2 Share Posted July 11 Can't answer that question yet. Will be doind the Miami to Rio cruise in December/January. I'm doing the Drake Passage/Antarctic peninsula. Not really looking forward to the Drake passage, heard it can be very rough, but looking forward to going to the Antarctic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goletans Posted July 11 #3 Share Posted July 11 I read this yesterday. Posted Monday at 09:56 AM We did this same cruise (but in the other direction) in Feb/Mar 2024. It was, by far, the best scenic cruising we have ever seen on any prior cruise. Antarctica is amazing. According to international regulations, even drive-by cruises are required to make it an educational experience. There were 4 lecturers on our Marina cruise covering interesting topics: Antarctica history (our's was the grandson of a member of Shakleton's original expedition), marine life, photography, and geology. We went to almost all of their lectures. When not giving talks, they had an area set up in the reception area you could stop by and ask questions. A couple tips. Bring a pair of excellent binoculars; we had a suite which included binoculars, but ours was better and often both of us were using them at the same time. Make sure you have a good camera with a long telephoto lens; we got amazing photos of penguins and whales from our balcony. A camera phone would just not cut it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandolphLady Posted July 11 Author #4 Share Posted July 11 Thanks for this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davencl Posted July 11 #5 Share Posted July 11 4 hours ago, RandolphLady said: Greetings. We are trying to choose between two Oceania Cruises on Marina that are each 18 days and that go from Chile to Argentina or vice versa. One of these itineraries includes 4 days cruising the Drake Passage and Antarctic Peninsula (in February) and the other does not (in March). Since we don't leave the ship on those 4 days, I'm not sure what the added value would be. Is it just 4 more at-sea days in rough waters? What does one actually experience? I would love to hear from those who took either of these cruises so I can decide soon. Thank you in advance. We did the Antartic cruise this January. The Antarctic peninsula was the highlight of the entire cruise. Amazing scenery and great commentary from the 4 on board lecturers/experts. Would do this again even if it only included the peninsula. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuAnn Posted July 11 #6 Share Posted July 11 3 hours ago, goletans said: I read this yesterday. Posted Monday at 09:56 AM We did this same cruise (but in the other direction) in Feb/Mar 2024. It was, by far, the best scenic cruising we have ever seen on any prior cruise. Antarctica is amazing. According to international regulations, even drive-by cruises are required to make it an educational experience. There were 4 lecturers on our Marina cruise covering interesting topics: Antarctica history (our's was the grandson of a member of Shakleton's original expedition), marine life, photography, and geology. We went to almost all of their lectures. When not giving talks, they had an area set up in the reception area you could stop by and ask questions. A couple tips. Bring a pair of excellent binoculars; we had a suite which included binoculars, but ours was better and often both of us were using them at the same time. Make sure you have a good camera with a long telephoto lens; we got amazing photos of penguins and whales from our balcony. A camera phone would just not cut it. Another tip...it can be cold on board when you are cruising in those waters...even inside!!! 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewSalty Posted July 11 #7 Share Posted July 11 I will second (or third) the comments above - we did the Antarctic sail-by on Marina in Feb 23. It was fantastic - scenery, wildlife, educational, beautiful. Of course, we were very lucky to have 2 "Drake Lake" passages - our memories might be colored otherwise if we hadn't. We had booked the cruise as an alternative to the expedition-style ones, which are like 4 times more expensive. We figured that if we really liked it, but felt like we just HAD to get on land with the penguins, we could always book an expedition cruise later. Well, when we got done, I'm happy to say that we had such a great time that we didn't feel that need to get onshore! (Got to visit with penguins galore in the Falklands!) But that Drake Shake thing is a big deal. We were actually on the second trip Marina made to the Antarctic, from Chile to Buenos Aires - the mirror image of the prior cruise. It was shortly after the return from COVID, most of the crew was new, and almost none had ever done the Drake before. Apparently, on the first cruise, they had a horrible passage (30 ft seas?). All the crew was worried about our passage on the way down the coast, and it appears that the officers started a rumor with the crew that the Captain knew a different way and that they wouldn't be traversing the Drake this trip! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mauibabes Posted July 11 #8 Share Posted July 11 We were on that January to February 7, 2023, BA to Santiago Chile cruise and it was fantastic. Yes we did experience the Drake Shake but IMHO, while we rocked and rolled, it was NOT bad at all and we have been on worse “Shakes” many places in the world on O. I would definitely include the Antarctica Peninsula itinerary, awesome. 👍🤞🛳️🤙 We had friends who did the trip in both directions and their opinion was that the return from Chile was MUCH smoother than the 20-30’ rock and roll that we/they experienced. They even made it into the Falkland’s that we had missed on our segment and that is a port call we are really sorry to have missed. Don’t get caught up in the anxiety and wringing of hands, as Nike says “JUST DO IT”. We had a friend who was on the Viking Expedition trip several weeks before we sailed, remember the 50’ rogue wave incident, that was bad. We also say the ship in port getting repairs done in Ushuaia. He was just 4 cabins down from the lady who was killed when the wave crashed through her window. It was BAD, but after they were hit by that wave they still had a couple of days sailing in Drakes Passage in the 20’ waves so he said that was no big deal. Just go and ENJOY. Mauibabes 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rialannah Posted July 11 #9 Share Posted July 11 This YouTube video might help. My Antarctica experience aboard the Oceania Marina. (youtube.com) If you search youtube you can find videos from similar trips with other companies. This helped us make the decision to book for December 2024. Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising Maryland Posted July 12 #10 Share Posted July 12 Very cool rialannah. Will think of you in January Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clo Posted July 12 #11 Share Posted July 12 10 hours ago, Cruising Maryland said: Can't answer that question yet. Will be doind the Miami to Rio cruise in December/January. I'm doing the Drake Passage/Antarctic peninsula. Not really looking forward to the Drake passage, heard it can be very rough, but looking forward to going to the Antarctic. Drake Lake or Drake Shake. Ours was a total LAKE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clo Posted July 12 #12 Share Posted July 12 6 hours ago, LuAnn said: Another tip...it can be cold on board when you are cruising in those waters...even inside!!! 🙂 We did an expedition cruise to Antarctic in January some years ago. It was so warm that many of us wore shorts on the ship. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising Maryland Posted July 12 #13 Share Posted July 12 (edited) 16 minutes ago, clo said: Drake Lake or Drake Shake. Ours was a total LAKE. Won't know until January. Really hoping for the Drake Lake but with my luck, you never know. I'm not booking a specialty restaurant the night we go through the Drake Passage. Figure it will be a room service night. Edited July 12 by Cruising Maryland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clo Posted July 12 #14 Share Posted July 12 3 minutes ago, Cruising Maryland said: Won't know until January. Really hoping for the Drake Lake but with my luck, you never know. I'm not booking a specialty restaurant the night we go through the Drake Passage. Figure it will be a room service night. Knock wood, I've never had the seasickness problem. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising Maryland Posted July 12 #15 Share Posted July 12 Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare HaveDogWillTravel Posted July 12 #16 Share Posted July 12 (edited) 21 hours ago, RandolphLady said: Greetings. We are trying to choose between two Oceania Cruises on Marina that are each 18 days and that go from Chile to Argentina or vice versa. One of these itineraries includes 4 days cruising the Drake Passage and Antarctic Peninsula (in February) and the other does not (in March). Since we don't leave the ship on those 4 days, I'm not sure what the added value would be. Is it just 4 more at-sea days in rough waters? What does one actually experience? I would love to hear from those who took either of these cruises so I can decide soon. Thank you in advance. We sailed to Antarctica this past December. It was on a different cruise line, so take this for what you will. It was by far the most spectacular, beautiful, amazing experience I’ve had at sea. For us, Drakes passage was calm and smooth both ways. We missed Ushuaia due to high winds but made all our other ports including Port Stanley. Bluff Cove was really special. Only a half hour or so drive from the port with large penguin colonies (even King penguins). The included coffee/tea and snack at the small restaurant was wonderful. The weather outside on board was below freezing with a wind chill that required parkas, lightweight wool legging under layer, heavy mittens, hats, scarves and socks if you were to be outside. There was snow and ice on the decks multiple days. But outside was the best side and I am so glad we came prepared. We spent almost all our time outside with the birders who had powerful scopes set up all day every day. They were the friendliest group who shared their equipment and their expertise. We saw people who weren’t dressed appropriately dashing in and out and thought why bother? They missed it all. Good binoculars are a must. IMG_0198.heic IMG_0185.heic IMG_0141.heic Edited July 12 by HaveDogWillTravel 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandolphLady Posted July 12 Author #17 Share Posted July 12 Wow. All very very helpful. Thanks so much! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlcruise Posted July 12 #18 Share Posted July 12 We also did it on January 23. Worth it Antic Artica is a must see. We might just do it again. The sites and the local food. Fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clo Posted July 12 #19 Share Posted July 12 2 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said: We sailed to Antarctica this past December. It was on a different cruise line, so take this for what you will. It was by far the most spectacular, beautiful, amazing experience I’ve had at sea. For us, Drakes passage was calm and smooth both ways. We missed Ushuaia due to high winds but made all our other ports including Port Stanley. Bluff Cove was really special. Only a half hour or so drive from the port with large penguin colonies (even King penguins). The included coffee/tea and snack at the small restaurant was wonderful. The weather outside on board was below freezing with a wind chill that required parkas, lightweight wool legging under layer, heavy mittens, hats, scarves and socks if you were to be outside. There was snow and ice on the decks multiple days. But outside was the best side and I am so glad we came prepared. We spent almost all our time outside with the birders who had powerful scopes set up all day every day. They were the friendliest group who shared their equipment and their expertise. We saw people who weren’t dressed appropriately dashing in and out and thought why bother? They missed it all. Good binoculars are a must. IMG_0198.heic 1.27 MB · 11 downloads IMG_0185.heic 672.46 kB · 8 downloads IMG_0141.heic 603.72 kB · 6 downloads Here's my husband after breakfast one morning. We had the deck to ourselves 🙂 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ORV Posted July 12 #20 Share Posted July 12 2 hours ago, clo said: Here's my husband after breakfast one morning. We had the deck to ourselves 🙂 Which deck is this on Oceania? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising Maryland Posted July 12 #21 Share Posted July 12 3 minutes ago, ORV said: Which deck is this on Oceania? I think she said it was on another cruise line Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ORV Posted July 12 #22 Share Posted July 12 3 minutes ago, Cruising Maryland said: I think she said it was on another cruise line Exactly, and perhaps this post should be on that Cruise Line's Forum. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clo Posted July 12 #23 Share Posted July 12 (edited) 49 minutes ago, ORV said: Exactly, and perhaps this post should be on that Cruise Line's Forum. 5 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said: We sailed to Antarctica this past December. It was on a different cruise line, so take this for what you will. So perhaps you should scold this person. It's talking about conditions. And I said it was an expedition cruise it OBVIOUSLY wasn't Oceania. And never will be. Edited July 12 by clo typo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrammieK Posted July 12 #24 Share Posted July 12 I don’t know…..you two have such cute banter😂😂🚢 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhD-iva Posted July 12 #25 Share Posted July 12 I wholeheartedly recommend that you select the four days cruising Antarctica. I had a ressy this past February on a different cruise line w 4 days cruising Antartica. I was very skeptical that we would be able to get close enough to be able to see anything other than a white blob on the horizon. Boy was I mistaken. Later I told folks we were close enough to shore that I could have reached it swimming, except that I would’ve died of hypothermia. 😂 I was quite the skeptic, but it was great! Incredible! Here is an iceberg we passed, estimated 51 million tons (the iceberg, not me!). (Sorry 1 pic posted upset down - a southern hemisphere thing? LOL!) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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