is 20,000 realistic to budget for antarctica?

[bethaniesmom]

I am thinking 7000.00 per person cruise, 1500.00 per person air, 3000.00 incidentals.....plus of course clothes....but there shouldn't be much in the way of on board expenses, right? and shore excursions?

I want this to be a once in a life time experience, but I don't want to worry about pennies while I am there, so I am trying to figure what the real cost will be!

looking at December or January....

 

Beverly

[diebroke]

First, I think you should be able to do it for $20,000.

 

We spent considerably more than $7,000 per person for the cruise but we selected one of the more expensive ships. The only incidentals were our bar tab (the Chilean & Argentinean wines are a good value but I still spent a lot) and gratuities. They tell you the gratuities are optional but I think everybody wants to pay at least the recommended amount that they will put on your bill. I don't seem to be able to find the recommended gratuity amount. We didn't use the spa but did buy the requisite t-shirts on the ship.

 

We paid $1,600 per person for airfare & I'm sure it's more expensive now. We could have done it cheaper through the cruise line but we wanted to buy upgradeable fares on a different airline than the cruise line uses and we wanted to layover in Buenos Aires on the way to Santiago where our cruise fare started. If the cruise line you select requires you to fly to Ushuaia, it could be more expensive. Our cruise fare included charter flights between Santiago & Ushuaia.

 

Regarding incidentals, your $3,000 estimate seems generous. We had two landings where it was possible to spend money (a U.S. research station & a former British research station.) Most people bought stamps, postcards, t-shirts & hats The hotel & meals pre-cruise were included in the price of the cruise and it was possible to fly home the day the ship disembarked. We had several hours in Ushuaia to shop but we didn't find anything of interest. Unless you extend, we found it difficult to spend much money before, during, or after the cruise. We did extend on the front end in Buenos Aires and on the back end in Santiago. Both nice but compared to the Antarctica experience, they paled. It's possible to stay & eat in both cities for less than comparable cities in Europe. We wish we had not extended after the cruise because it was somewhat anti-climatic. The only "clothing" we bought were rubber boots ("wellies.") You'll find lots of discussion of those on these boards. We could have paid $125 for a nice pair but we wound up paying $15 for my wife's pair (at Wal-mart) at $50 for my pair. Even coming from Birmingham, I suspect you will have adequate clothing for temperatures in the 20s & 30s. Most ships provide parkas as a part of the cruise price. The only expensive incidental I had was that I used the trip as an excuse to purchase an additional SLR camera & additional lenses. I spent a lot of money but justified it by amortizing it over the number of pictures I took (thousands)

 

It was a lifetime experience for us & I hope won't be a "once."

[bethaniesmom]

wow...thanks for the quick response...and you covered just about everything! We may be in trouble with that bar bill....I do like good wine.

 

my husband has already done the added camera expense for our alaska trip a few years ago, so we are all set there.

 

we are thinking maybe flying down a day or two early and coming home directly after the cruise....work is going to have a fit when they hear about this. actually they have heard about it, they just have no concept that i will need to be off more than five days!

now we just need to pick the cruise we want...we are thinking the Orlova, but still have some research to do on ships.

 

Again, thanks for your help...

 

Beverly

[diebroke]

btw, Lindblad has a great Mark Twain quote on their website:

"Twenty years from now, you'll be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do."

I doubt that even 2 years from now you or your bosses will regret or even remember what you missed at work during the time you were off. (Easy for me to say, I took my boss with me to Antarctica!)

I expect to still vividly remember our Antarctic experience in 20 years assuming I can still remember my name.

 

I thought Buenos Aires was worth an extra couple of days on the front end and you will read positive reviews on this board of Iguazu Falls as a pre-cruise option, but if time were really critical, I would focus just on the cruise.

[diebroke]

Speaking of financing a trip, I failed to point out that our cruise to Antarctica contributed more to my life's goal - as described by my user name - than anything else I have done with the possible exception of getting married.

[Jade13]

wow...thanks for the quick response...and you covered just about everything! We may be in trouble with that bar bill....I do like good wine.

 

my husband has already done the added camera expense for our alaska trip a few years ago, so we are all set there.

 

we are thinking maybe flying down a day or two early and coming home directly after the cruise....work is going to have a fit when they hear about this. actually they have heard about it, they just have no concept that i will need to be off more than five days!

now we just need to pick the cruise we want...we are thinking the Orlova, but still have some research to do on ships.

 

Again, thanks for your help...

 

Beverly

 

It depends who you go with. A&K uses the Minerva (199 pax) and prices start at $7,000pp (or a little under if they have anything left at the end of this year). Their prices include hotel in BA (advertised as 1 night but two nights if you do not check in until 3:00pm the first night), drinks including wine on-board (premium spirits not included) and all gratuities, parka, back pack, and the ship supplies boots to use. Internal airfare is currently $600.00pp for their charter to meet the ship but it also includes transfers.

[2552phxcrzr]

We looked at the Orlova as well, but opted for Prof Molchanov in January 2007. Assuming you’re doing just the Peninsula itinerary in a standard cabin, $7K/person seems reasonable for the cabin fare. Smaller ships like the Molchanov would be more expensive. And of course, so would the voyages that are on more luxurious vessels. You mention going in December or January - assume you are basing your cabin price on rates for that time frame.

 

The Orlova carries 110 pax – don’t know if they restrict it to 100 to meet the landing guidelines – you’d want to ask that question – would hate to pay that kind of many and then have to wait around for my turn.

 

Not sure what you included in the $3000 for incidentals since you listed the air separately. Even with what we spent for our 3 extra days in Ushuaia and our overnight stay in Buenos Aires, we were nowhere close to the $3,000 mark. There are no additional charges for the landings – if kayaking or camping are offered there may be … not sure … we did not have those options. Our bar tab on the voyage was minimal - we rarely drink, and in our case, the glass of wine/beer included with dinner was sufficient. Souvenirs (in Ushuaia, on the ship, and at Port Lockroy) were minimal for us as well.

 

If you have not included a potential fuel surcharge in your incidentals, you'll want to build dollars in for that as it can be hefty ... many of the 2006 season voyages had to pay; we lucked out as oil prices started dropping before our voyage and we did not have to pay ... not sure what will happen in the 2008-2009 season - maybe someone can chime in if they have heard one way or the other.

 

Re: airfare – we used an agency in BsAs to book our internal flights … got the R/T tickets to Ushuaia for around $200/person rather than the $600/person Aerolineas was showing for foreign residents. Our non-stop flight from IAD to EZE was around $900 with taxes and fees – got them through a consolidator – same seats were going for around $1800 a month or so before departure date.

 

I would encourage you to arrive at least a day before your cruise departure. Airlines are often delayed, and there could be strikes that cause problems along the way – we were caught in a work slow-down by the tower in BsAs and did not make it to Ushuaia until 2:00a the day after our originally scheduled arrival date. There were lots of people waiting at the BsAs airport with us who were stressed to the hilt. We also had delayed luggage problems (non-stop flight from IAD to EZE; go figure) and it took two days for our luggage to reach us in Ushuaia. Many of the people who left on Antarctic cruises the day we finally arrived in Ushuaia did so without their luggage.

 

I wrote an extensive review of our expedition voyage, including clothes we took, what worked, what didn’t, etc. If you have not seen it, you can find it at: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=531528. Photos from the trip are at:

 

Antarctica is a terrific place … and the voyage is a life altering one IMHO.

[bethaniesmom]

just got time to read your review.....thanks for all the great hints, advice, etc...will definitely read this again before we go...still researching!

 

Beverly

[Louise22]

Check out www.expeditiontrips.com. They quite often have good prices on various ships - I have booked with them several times. Select "Just Released Offers" in the yellow bar and fill out the required information. They won't bother you with advertisements.

[bethaniesmom]

thanks for the advice Louise....I have talked to expeditiontrips a couple of times...we regularly email back and forth....most likely i will go with them. the only thing that is holding us back from booking is arranging that dreaded trip to the ship.....do most people go with "cruise air"? I am so afraid I will book the wrong days or miss one of those local flights!

 

Beverly

[2552phxcrzr]

Can't speak to most people, but we always book our own air arrangements - mostly because we always build in at least a day or two to explore the embarkation port and its environs. In the case of Antarctica, we booked our international tickets ourselves, and as mentioned in my previous post, used an agent in BsAs to book our domestic tickets.

 

I suppose if I had no choice but to fly the same day as embarkation, I might consider cruise-air, but only if it is a chartered flight for the whole group. Despite popular belief, I understand cruise-air does not necessarily guarantee that they will hold the ship for you if you're not traveling with a large group destined for the same sailing.

[greatam]

Is $20,000 realistic???

 

Depends on the ship, itinerary and length of cruise. What do you really want to do???

 

DH would have none of Antarctica, so I went for the gusto and spent 31 days on a semi circumnavigation trip. I REALLY wanted to see McMurdo and the Ross Ice Shelf. The only way to get there was fly or on a very costly ice breaker. $20,000 wouldn't have come close for two of us. But I was able to book a triple cabin (cruise line provided room mates) and keep the cost to about $25,000.

 

Would I do it again???? You betcha. The price is now $20,000 per person for 2008, NOT counting air and incidentals. Almost $23,00pp for 2009. This is a VERY popular trip. I am going to have sell another rental property if I decide to go again. But DieBroke has the right idea-what am I keeping it for???

 

PS-I read the book, too!!!

[Louise22]

I think you may find that some cruises include internal air in the price. I flew to Santiago with Alaska air miles and home from Buenos Aires. The rest was taken care of by the tour company. American Air was 60,000 miles or less coach depending on the time of year.

[daffodil_11]

Hi all! First post, I'm about to decide on an Antarctic trip too :)

 

Not sure I saw mentioned above the cost of trip cancellation/med evacuation insurance. I know it's well worth it for a financial outlay like this, and the evacuation part is required, but I'm being quoted over 8% of the cost of the trip.

[greatam]

Hi all! First post, I'm about to decide on an Antarctic trip too :)

 

Not sure I saw mentioned above the cost of trip cancellation/med evacuation insurance. I know it's well worth it for a financial outlay like this, and the evacuation part is required, but I'm being quoted over 8% of the cost of the trip.

 

8% is about right.

 

You MAY be able to save money by buying a separate evacuation and/or medical policy and lowering the medical/evac limits on the package policy (which covers cancellation, lost luggage, etc). I already have an annual MedJet Assist policy (evacuation only) with unlimited benefits. So when I went, I could reduce the evac on the package policy to much below the REQUIRED 100,000 evac policy. I purchased a Travelex Lite package policy, without the additional medical, which gave me $50,000 medical/evac + my separate evacuation policy. It still cost about 5% of the trip price.

[Tia Serena]

thanks for the advice Louise....I have talked to expeditiontrips a couple of times...we regularly email back and forth....most likely i will go with them. the only thing that is holding us back from booking is arranging that dreaded trip to the ship.....do most people go with "cruise air"? I am so afraid I will book the wrong days or miss one of those local flights!

 

Beverly

 

Why would you be afraid to book the wrong days?:confused:

In any case, your idea of going ahead a couple of days to explore the port city (probably Ushuaia) is absolutely excellent.

Aerolineas Argentinas is certainly overloaded to provide service for the growing number of Antarctic ships. To plan to arrive a couple of days before the cruise will give a buffer time in case there is any delay or lost luggage, that are more and more common.

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

I am paying $4600 pp for the cruise- including flight from UK to Argentina.... A further $866pp for the flight from Bahrain to the UK. Last cruise to the Baltics my dad went on a spending spree and spent about $33,000 on buying a load of rubbish so im sure that the price of an Antarctic cruise ( way more value-for-your-money than some signed Mohammed Ali rubbish) will be consdribly less. I had already booked on Silversea's Prince Albert II for $12,000 pp (without flight) but then I got this great offer from Transocean for meerly $4600 which included flights to Germany and then on to Ushuia. I couldnt say no- I just can hope now that they have put the Marco Polo together since they recived her in April.... Its been a dream for me to visit the polar regions since I was very very young (2 or 3) so this trip means alot to me... to finaly be able to do it. Wow im sitting here shaking in my chair.... but yes I think 20,000 is more than enough to budget... try to get a fly cruise... even though ull be in for the most uncomfatable flight of your life it comes out way cheaper..!

[Jade13]

Is $20,000 realistic???

 

Depends on the ship, itinerary and length of cruise. What do you really want to do???

 

DH would have none of Antarctica, so I went for the gusto and spent 31 days on a semi circumnavigation trip. I REALLY wanted to see McMurdo and the Ross Ice Shelf. The only way to get there was fly or on a very costly ice breaker. $20,000 wouldn't have come close for two of us. But I was able to book a triple cabin (cruise line provided room mates) and keep the cost to about $25,000.

 

Would I do it again???? You betcha. The price is now $20,000 per person for 2008, NOT counting air and incidentals. Almost $23,00pp for 2009. This is a VERY popular trip. I am going to have sell another rental property if I decide to go again. But DieBroke has the right idea-what am I keeping it for???

 

PS-I read the book, too!!!

 

That sounds great. Which trip and which ship?

[Jade13]

I am paying $4600 pp for the cruise- including flight from UK to Argentina.... A further $866pp for the flight from Bahrain to the UK. Last cruise to the Baltics my dad went on a spending spree and spent about $33,000 on buying a load of rubbish so im sure that the price of an Antarctic cruise ( way more value-for-your-money than some signed Mohammed Ali rubbish) will be consdribly less. I had already booked on Silversea's Prince Albert II for $12,000 pp (without flight) but then I got this great offer from Transocean for meerly $4600 which included flights to Germany and then on to Ushuia. I couldnt say no- I just can hope now that they have put the Marco Polo together since they recived her in April.... Its been a dream for me to visit the polar regions since I was very very young (2 or 3) so this trip means alot to me... to finaly be able to do it. Wow im sitting here shaking in my chair.... but yes I think 20,000 is more than enough to budget... try to get a fly cruise... even though ull be in for the most uncomfatable flight of your life it comes out way cheaper..!

 

Wow! That's a real bargain. How many passengers on the ship? I assume it includes landings, and is this a 10 night cruise, etc.?

[Jade13]

Hi all! First post, I'm about to decide on an Antarctic trip too :)

 

Not sure I saw mentioned above the cost of trip cancellation/med evacuation insurance. I know it's well worth it for a financial outlay like this, and the evacuation part is required, but I'm being quoted over 8% of the cost of the trip.

 

 

We are paying less than 4.5% for a policy with a pre-existing condition waiver, 1 million in Med Evac and $250,000 Medical and 150% trip interruption. I searched forever to find the right policy.

 

Btw, the group running the trip wanted 8% for their policy which has a lower benefit than what I ended up purchasing.

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

Wow! That's a real bargain. How many passengers on the ship? I assume it includes landings, and is this a 10 night cruise, etc.?

 

 

yup 11 night cruise landings and lectures included... the ship is capable of carrying 800 normally but as this is Antarctica it cannot carry its full capacity and I belive it is reduced to 400. Its the MS Marco Polo (ex Alxander Pushkin) if you are familiar with the ship. less than a month to go now

[MMDown Under]

yup 11 night cruise landings and lectures included... the ship is capable of carrying 800 normally but as this is Antarctica it cannot carry its full capacity and I belive it is reduced to 400. Its the MS Marco Polo (ex Alxander Pushkin) if you are familiar with the ship. less than a month to go now

 

Would be interested in your comments on your December trip on the MS Marco Polo.