Antarctica for first-timers: ships, seasons and seasickness

Start with the ship, not the itinerary

Every Antarctic itinerary looks broadly the same on paper: eleven days, the Peninsula, Zodiac landings, penguins. What actually determines your trip is the ship, and specifically one number — how many passengers it carries.

The IAATO rule is the whole game: no more than 100 people ashore at any one site at any one time. On a 200-passenger vessel you land in shifts, and half your day is spent waiting your turn. On a 100-passenger vessel, everyone goes ashore, every time. On a 500-passenger vessel you may not land at all — some are cruise-only.

This single variable matters more than cabin category, more than the brand, and more than the price.

The season is not a preference

• November. Pack ice still breaking up, pristine snow, penguins courting and building nests. The most dramatic ice, the fewest ships, and some landings unreachable.
• December–January. Peak. 20+ hours of daylight, warmest temperatures, chicks hatching. Also the most expensive and the busiest.
• February–March. Our quiet favourite. Chicks fledging, the best whale watching of the entire season by a wide margin, and receding ice opening up sites that were closed in November. Rates soften noticeably.

Outside roughly November to March, nobody sails. This isn't a market preference — the ice decides.

People book December for the penguins and come back talking about the whales. February is the better trip and it's cheaper. I've stopped being subtle about saying so.

André Batista, Adventure & Expedition Lead

The Drake, and how to avoid it

Two days each way across the roughest water on the planet. It's either the 'Drake Lake' or the 'Drake Shake' and you don't find out which until you're in it. Plenty of people find it a highlight — albatross follow the ship the whole way.

You can fly it. Fly-cruise itineraries take a two-hour charter from Punta Arenas to King George Island and you board there, skipping the passage entirely. It costs meaningfully more and it trades two sea days for two more days on the Peninsula. The catch is weather: the charter is grounded regularly, and you need slack in your schedule for that.

Our honest steer for first-timers: sail it at least one way. If you're prone to seasickness, get a prescription patch from your GP before you go — it works, and it's the difference between two lost days and two good ones.

What it costs, plainly

From Portugal, all-in, expect €20,000–32,000 per person for a good small-ship voyage in a comfortable cabin, including flights down to Ushuaia — usually via Madrid or São Paulo and Buenos Aires — and the pre-voyage nights you're obliged to build in. Fly-cruise pushes toward €36,000. Under about €16,000 you're on a larger ship with fewer landings.

Book 12–18 months out. The good small ships genuinely sell out, and unlike most travel, the price does not come down as it gets closer.