We arrived at the Hilton Buenos Aires mid-afternoon to find that several cruise companies use it as their pre-cruise hotel. After checking into our hotel room we stopped by the Atlas Ocean Voyages desk for last minute information and instructions.
Here we were told two important details. First, Stephanie and I were lucky enough to be on the final bus heading to the airport in the morning … at 3:45 AM. Second, the bus tour of Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego in Ushuaia was cancelled because the ship’s captain wanted to depart at 1:00 PM rather than the scheduled time of 7:00 PM.
Apparently rough weather was forecast for the Drake Passage beginning the following day and the captain wanted to get ahead of it. Our reward for leaving early and proceeding quickly was arriving in Antarctica a day earlier than expected, giving us seven expedition days instead of six. That’s better than a bus tour of a park.
Day One:
We set a wake up call for 3:00 AM. The excitement of finally going to Antarctica definitely helped overcome a lack of sleep from the early start. On the way out the door we stopped to grab a few items from the continental breakfast of pastries, breads, coffee and juice.
On the bus we were handed boarding passes for our 6:00 AM charter flight to Ushuaia on Fly Bondi. Our luggage was handled separately, so we could skip the counter and proceed straight through security.
Fly Bondi is the cheap discount airline operator in Argentina, and it shows. In fact, the airline has the reputation of cancelling flights, on the day of, if a minimum number of seats are not sold. This seems about right to us given the number of cancelled Fly Bondi flights we saw on the departure boards (more than 1/3 of their scheduled flights) in the AEP airport during our various trips through it.
Regardless of the cost of Fly Bondi tickets or its business practices, our charter flight was the most miserable flight we have ever been on. Zero leg room and extra hard seats are not a winning combination. Good luck if you are 5’ 10” or taller on a Fly Bondi plane. Make sure to put some extra padding around your knees as they’ll be permanently attached to and/or bouncing off the seat back in front of you.
At the end of our cruise, in the comment cards, I ripped Atlas Ocean Voyages up one side and down the other for putting us on such a miserable, cheap flight. Either cut your profits a smidge and cough up the extra money to get a charter flight with Aerolíneas Argentina (easily the best airline in the country) or raise the cruise price by $100 per passenger. I’m fairly certain everyone on our ship would have agreed to pay an extra $100 each for a comfortable roundtrip flight.
We paid way too much money for a luxury cruise to be placed on such a crappy charter flight.
Anyway, after the three hour flight, a short bus ride from the airport in Ushuaia brought us to the cruise ship dock. Stephanie and I were fortunate to be in the first group that checked in on the ship. We had welcome drinks and snacks, went through a quick check in process, explored the ship, and unpacked our bags.
Each person was given a unique, individual key card with a bar code on it. Every time you got on or off the ship for an excursion, you were scanned leaving and returning. The parkas even have a clear pocket on the sleeve to hold the key cards to facilitate ease of scanning. It’s a pretty good system.
At lunch we started taking “less-drowsy” Bonine, our motion sickness pills. If we had the less-drowsy version of the pills, I’d hate to take the regular pills. Stephanie and I basically walked around in a semi-fog for two days. But we did not get sea sick.
That afternoon we had a meet the crew meeting, a safety meeting, and a short safety drill. During free time everyone pretty much wandered around the ship seeing all of the amenities and enjoying the great weather and views from the observation decks. While traversing the Beagle Channel, in addition to the beautiful scenery, we saw a few birds, whales, penguins, and sea lions.
At 6:30 PM we experienced our first Daily Briefing. At these meetings the expedition leader told us about the weather and plans for the following day. Today was basically a lecture on weather in the Drake Passage and on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Later a two page Daily Navigator sheet would be left in our cabin confirming the following days plans.
Dinner service usually began at 7:00 PM. By the time we had dinner on the first night the ship was definitely out of the Beagle Channel and into the Drake Passage, rocking back and forth on 9 to 12 foot waves (3 to 4 meters).
After dinner everyone pretty much turned in early. Sleeping on a moving bed was new to us, but it did not matter. Between the lack of sleep and Bonine we were out.
Day Two:
Today was spent sailing across the Drake Passage. The weather forecast was for swells up to 15 feet (5 meters) with winds up to 45 knots. Outside it was overcast and gray. Just gray. The ship was rocking pretty good, but it was not bad at all. It felt almost like a kiddie amusement ride. Enough to feel the motion, but no more.
A crew member later told us that in terms of roughness, we had it good. He rated our Drake Passage crossing to be a 3 or 4 out of 10 on the roughness scale. Better than average.
Our onboard entertainment during the day consisted of informational lectures, each usually being about an hour long. Today’s lectures were on ice and penguins. Both were well attended because everyone took this cruise to see ice and penguins. Besides, there was nothing else to do.
If you wanted to see a lecture but were too lazy to leave your room, you could watch it on television. The ship’s cameras all had their own television channel. For the lectures, just tune into the auditorium channel at the appointed time.
We had two mandatory meetings. First, parka and boot fitting sessions, to make sure the correct size parka and boots were left in our mud room lockers. Second, biosecurity inspection, as any outer layer clothes we intended to wear on the continent had to be inspected as a measure against contamination. Everyone had to carry their waterproof pants, gloves, scarves, and hats to the level 4 lounge get a quick once over from a crew member.
For those going kayaking or camping, mandatory meetings were scheduled on those activities as well.
This was the first of several nights in which a movie was shown in the auditorium, inevitably one with a polar based theme. Tonight it was In the Heart of the Sea. We did not go to one movie.
At dusk we sighted land, the Antarctic peninsula. Everyone was excited to see snow covered mountains, no matter how far away they were. I was glad to be through the Drake Passage so we could quit taking Bonine pills. We could still feel the bed moving at night, but much less so.
Day Three:
Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, and driest content. The weather on the peninsula, however, is described as Florida like – meaning it can change quickly and there is often a threat of rain or snow.
This morning was our first excursion, a zodiac cruise around the Melchior Islands. It was overcast and raining lightly. Not exactly the pretty blue skies and white snow-covered mountains that you see in photographs.
We saw a random Chinstrap penguin and a fur seal. Not super exciting.
Going to the mud room for the first time was an experience. Everyone was learning the best order in which to get dressed (boots, parka, life preserver) and, most importantly, to remember to insert their key card into the clear pocket on their parka sleeve with the bar code facing out.
After a few days the time we spent getting ready in the mud room decreased quite a bit as it became routine.
The afternoon excursion was also a zodiac cruise, this time in Fournier Bay. It was still overcast and raining. We saw icebergs.
We did not see on lot on either excursion this day, but it was nice to finally be off the ship and exploring.
Garrett and Stephanie
If you have not already done so, read our other posts about our expedition cruise to Antarctica:
Antarctica (January, 2026, Part I, Atlas Ocean Voyages Cruise Overview). The World Navigator and our itinerary for the expedition cruise.
For additional posts about our travels elsewhere in the world, check out our Travel Blog. It contains collected links to all of our travel posts.
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