11th November 2007
Antarctica Cruise Facts : December 2007
Have You Ever Been to Antarctica?
I’d like to hear from you about your experience - please post comments below
It’s less than a month before I depart for Antarctica and I am so incredibly excited. The numbers of interested, fascinated, and in awe colleagues are growing. “It’s the trip of a lifetime” is the most common remark, followed by “awfully expensive, isn’t it?, and how do you get there?”
On cost, it’s not cheap getting to Antarctica but for those of us who had parents or friends who went to Alaska, this doesn’t seem that much more expensive. I’ve heard of people spending nearly $10k for an Alaskan cruise and excursions, and as much as $50k to go on safari in Africa, so if you’re wondering how much it costs to get to Antarctica, read on:
Abercrombie & Kent’s Antarctica Cruise - single occupancy rates - $7500 by the time you pay for the B cabin, which is second to A cabins, including port charges and insurance. This does not include mandatory evacuation insurance, or airfare and hotel back and forth to Argentina. Double occupancy could be as much as $15k by the time you add in port charges and insurance.
I was able to use 100,000 frequent flyer miles to fly to Argentina, so it’s only costing around $300 for airfare. If I had booked with Abercrombie & Kent (A&K)’s adventure cruise, it would have cost around $600 or so for the airfare. I’m not sure if the Hyatt hotel before we depart from Argentina is included or not. I’ll have to check on that and come back to that one.
Some are asking how do I get to Antarctica? I fly from Chicago to Miami to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
From Buenos Aires, I’ll have one day to rest and catch my breath. Then I fly very, very early from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, Argentina, from where the Abercrombie & Kent Antarctica cruise will depart (see map below). I’ve learned about the infamous Drake Passage which is the next part of the voyage, and perhaps harder than being in Antarctica itself, depending on which part of Drake you get. I will continue to post more on this throughout the coming days.
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