2021 Tauck Antarctica expedition Dec 5-20

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Comments

  • Thanks for answering my questions on food. I bet the soups are real popular!

  • edited December 2021

    Cathy, you certainly have your next Christmas photos!

    A side note for the Argentinian wines…they are easily found here in the US along with excellent Chilean wines. The Southern Hemisphere wines have always been popular in England where I grew up. Australian, New Zealand too. I’m not a wine connoisseur but I know what I like. My palette is used to those wines and European wines, both I would choose over Californian wines because that is how my palette was formed. Neither of us care for Chardonnays for the same reason, unless they are unoaked….we were introduced to the difference a few years ago.
    The only problem for me, if I went to Antarctica, I would have to steer clear of the anti emetic patches because you really have to be extra careful consuming alcohol while you are using them.

  • Cathy: I love hearing about your trip and your impressions. And your photos: amazing!! Hearing about the prep and back story is extraordinarily impressive. Truly a trip of a lifetime.

  • Love, love, love the pic of you two with the Santa hats. Thank you so much for your detailed report, it really gives you a good feel for what you will experience and how much work goes on in the background to ensure that the guests have a safe and fulfilling time on this expedition. It truly is a trip of a lifetime.

  • Cathy - Just looked at the webcam. It showed a zodiac returning to the ship. It looks like you have decent weather right now. Hope you get to do some fun stuff.

  • Cathy - You'll now need one of these.

  • Cathy, thank you so much for taking the time to post your amazing pictures! What an amazing trip!! We’ll be on this tour next month and you’ve got me so very excited!!

  • Wow, fabulous pics, Cathy!

  • Oh my goodness, the pics are wonderful. Thanks so much for taking the time to post.

  • Wow! Amazing pictures! Thanks for sharing

  • Cathy: I just signed up for this tour for December 2022 so I really appreciate this information. I look forward to more of your feedback.

  • Cathy - Per CruiseMapper it looks like you've headed back across the Drake Passage. Hopefully you escape the uneasiness you felt on the way to Antarctica.

  • Nice map Sam. Really shows how they moved around the area.

  • Back to the jackstaff … I noticed from the webcams that Le Lyrial appears to be flying a different ‘jack’ than L’Austral and Le Boreal. Le Lyrial’s jack appears to be a triangle shape?

  • Great pictures. There is a group picture of you and Steve and a few of your new friends on the Tauck Facebook page. I don’t know how to insert it here.

    From Tauck

    Guests traveling on our Antarctica cruise this week were treated to a surprise champagne toast in celebration of an important milestone: their group represents our 850th trip since resuming operations last January.

    “We’re celebrating not only our 850th departure, but also the fact that we’ve successfully operated 96 different journeys in 36 countries on five continents around the world,” noted Tauck CEO Dan Mahar.

  • It looks to be all white with long word(s) across it. Could it be a white Fincantieri jack? Again, a good question to ask the captains of these vessels. (Fincantieri is the Italian company that built these Ponant vessels.)

  • Steve in the yellow shirt back row to the right of the tree and Cathy in front.

  • Oh I wish I was there! Brings back beautiful memories of our trip in Dec 2016.I do remember Rob was one of our Tauck Directors.Good luck going through Drake passage;we were lucky that both ways it was like a “pond”Great pictorial narrative! Thanks

  • Safe return home Cathy, everyone here looking forward to your report and pictures.

  • cathyandsteve,

    I am so sorry to hear about your delay but glad you checked in. I was getting worried. If you don't have a chance to post again until after the holiday, I wish you and your family a most joyous Christmas.

  • Safe travels. We've enjoyed living vicariously through your adventure.

  • Cathy: Thank you so much for your posts and safe travels home. I read on The Point Guys newsletter the other day that Silverseas has a new 10 day Trip option to Antarctica called the Bridge Program where you fly from Chile’s Punta Arenas to King George Island in Antarctica in 2 hours. Fares start from USD 17,500 per person, based on two sharing, but might be worth it to avoid the 2 day Drake Passage crossing for those that suffer from sea sickness.

  • Wow, that sounds a bargain, virtually the same price as the Tauck tour… cheapest I have seen to do that costs $250,000 each…yes you read that correctly. Are you sure that’s not for the flight alone?

  • Here is a link to the Silverseas page for Antarctic Tours. The Tauck tour is certainly less money, $12,490 pp for 2022 for the cheapest accommodation and 13 days long versus 6 plus you have to pay your own airfare on Tauck. I guess you just have to weigh how much you want to see and whether the extra money is worth the 2 hour business class flight over the Drake passage versus by ship and included economy air from your home city. There are Business Class upgrades available.

    https://www.silversea.com/destinations/antarctica-cruise/king-george-island-to-king-george-island-e1221203006.html?fare=DoorToDoor

    It appears the 2022 price, $18,900 pp, is slightly more for the cheapest accommodation in 2022 which includes a room with 2 port holes. However, it includes Economy airfare from your home City, private transfer to airport, business class air from King George Island and back, butler service, food & beverages, expedition gear including jacket that you can keep. If you choose a larger room or suite, of course the price goes up. Now, you only have 6 days on Antarctica and that includes 2 days in The Shetland Islands. Still sounds like a good deal to me. The 2021 price did not include airfare from your home city plus the story in The Points Guy was actually quoted from the original 2019 advertisement.

  • Cathy: What an adventure!! We all followed your angst during the Covid openings and closings; testing difficulties and the rest. We all felt your joy when stepping onto Antarctica. We even felt the frigid air!! And of course, we felt your seasickness too! Your photos were amazing. Thank you for sharing. Not sure if it’s a trip for me but I feel as if I was as close to Antarctica as I may ever be.

  • Cathy - I may be wrong, but the nature/tone of your last couple of posts (for good reasons) has gone from your normal upbeat, positive, fun-loving spirit to more of what seems like more of a military like, just the facts Jack attitude. You must be very tired based on what you've had to experience over the last couple of days of your tour. You're probably really looking forward to getting home so you can just totally relax.

    Your posts during your tour have been very enjoyable to read. You've allowed us to kind of experience your tour with you. I hope the rest of your trip home is totally uneventful. :D

  • Cathy: Thank you so much for all of your posts and pictures. Those 50 foot swells look rather scary. I am sure you will both be happy to get home. What an adventure and the challenging times you experienced, while not fun at the time, will be some of the best stories you will tell your friends when recapping your trip of a lifetime.

  • edited December 2021

    Cathy, relax and enjoy the Holidays,
    A few questions
    Did high winds impact you when you were on land?
    Did you wear face covers….I meant for warmth, not Covid when you were on the excursions and sis you wear sunglasses when you were not taking photos of each other?
    Was there enough to do on the ship?
    How easy was it to get a spa appointment? How did your skin fare in the cold!
    What was the average dress code of people on the tour? Could you pick out the French tourists from the American ones based on what they were wearing?
    Did you hand carry your parkas on the trip home?
    How were the provided boots? Are they properly cleaned for the next people, were they smelly?
    Now I have read that their are viable, affordable options to avoid the Drake Passage to get to Antarctica, it might be our choice for a future tour. Seeing more whales and the landscape would be our priority. Penguins and Seals, we’ve seen so many all over the world.
    Is there a way to see your photos without joining Smignug, are you going to post some of your best here?
    Are you going to enter your 🍜 into the Tauck photo contest!

  • edited December 2021

    Cathy - I tried to access your photos by the link you provided above, but it asked for an email address and password?

  • edited December 2021

    Cathy,thanks for the great updates! We had Dale as our Tour Director when we went to Machu Picchu and Galapagos. She was the person who finally persuaded me to book the Antarctica trip.

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