Luxury cruises
The trip of a lifetime, planned a year ahead and done in real comfort.
Antarctica is the one journey almost every client has on a list. On a luxury expedition ship it becomes achievable without hardship: a suite with a balcony, a butler, an expedition team of twenty, and zodiac landings among penguins twice a day. Some itineraries fly over the Drake Passage to avoid two days of open sea.
It is expensive, it is far, and the best cabins go a year or more ahead. For couples, groups of friends and families with older teenagers, it is the most-talked-about trip we plan.
Highlights
Planning figure for a typical week in a veranda suite. Final price depends on sailing date, ship, suite and availability.
Start PlanningOlder teenagers only; Silversea and Ponant are the lines we have planned it with.
Fit, adventurous grandparents, often with adult children. We discuss the Drake Passage honestly.
Best cruise lines here
Butler-served suites, serious destinations, and one of the strongest expedition fleets afloat.
Small, sociable, quietly luxurious ships, with a sister expedition fleet.
French small ships and a true polar icebreaker, with a children's programme in the summer holidays.
All-inclusive discovery yachts with helicopters and a submersible, plus a well-regarded river fleet.
Calm, adults-only ships with Scandinavian design and an excursion included in every port.
How to choose
Derived from our own ratings of the lines above, not from brochures.
Silversea, Seabourn and Ponant are small-ship; Scenic is yacht-style; Viking is mid-size. Smaller ships reach the smaller harbours in Antarctica; larger ones carry more for children and more dining choice.
Ponant, Scenic and Viking keep it relaxed. Ask us which suits the party before anything else.
Ponant rates highest with us for families here; Seabourn, Scenic and Viking are effectively adults-only. Children's facilities vary more than brochures suggest; we will say which ships really have them.
Silversea, Seabourn, Ponant and Scenic lead on food in our experience of Antarctica sailings.
Cruise ideas
Planning figures per person.
The trip of a lifetime with a butler, zodiac landings twice a day and a fly-cruise option across the Drake.
In pictures
Licensed photographs of the ports and the ships we would put you on, not brochure renders.
Land & sea
A long flight deserves a soft landing. We build the nights before embarkation and after disembarkation into the same plan: the hotel, the transfers, a day or two on land, all booked by the same specialist.
Patagonia's wind and a vineyard to recover in.
Connecting suites, different activity levels, dining that works for everyone, and transfers that suit grandparents and toddlers alike. The best family suites go first, so start early.
Further reading
Our own planning notes: who a ship suits, how many cabins to book, when to go.
Our shortlist of the luxury ships that work when grandparents, parents and children travel together, and the ones we would not recommend.
Good to know
As a planning figure, from around £11,500 per person for a 10-night expedition in a veranda suite, before flights to South America. Fly-cruise options and larger suites cost more. We set everything out in writing.
Some operators fly from Punta Arenas to King George Island and board the ship there, avoiding the two-day crossing each way. Flights are weather-dependent and the fares are higher; we explain the trade-offs.
Don't spend thirty hours comparing forty ships, cabins, dates, flights and hotels. Give us five minutes and we'll narrow it down to what is worth considering.