Customer Reviews

The highlight of the trip was seeing all the penguins, seals, birds, whales, glaciers, and beautiful landscape. I never dreamed there would be so many penguins and seals and they would be so close to you. My favorite experience was seeing all the seal cubs and loved how they would run up to you about three feet and then run back. I also loved getting close to the seals that were on floating ice. The Hebridean crew were amazing and everything was so organized with lectures and landings. There was little down time. Safety came first when determining if a landing was possible. Having Sunny and Seb on board to share their experiences was another highlight. I liked how the crew ate with us and shared stories. The ship provided a e drive of pictures taken while on the ship so I will show these pictures to my grandchildren. They will not have to wait for me to go through my thousand pictures .

The trip was even better than expected... The highlight was crossing the polar circle and seeing ice bergs the size of skyscrapers--who knew ice could be so incredible!? The landscape was amazing--like walking around in a painting. And the wildlife was unreal! It was everywhere and so untouched. The people were fascinating--loved the diversity in age, country and interest. I learned a lot from them! Someday, I'll tell my grandchildren that I went to a place that was so untouched by man--that it was nature at its best. Biggest surprise was that our ship didn't have a stabilizer! Haha.

The highlight was being able to experience wildlife up close (i.e. a humpback whale under our zodiac), as well as the amazing staff on the ship. There was a fair mix of younger and older people on my expedition, from 18-90! I was surprised by the massive scale of the continent.

Highlights were the Zodiac rides and landings. Lots of seals, whales and of course penguins. The multiple glaciers were majestic. Were had a very friendly and mixed group of people who just all appeared to enjoy everything. Not any real surprises but excellent quality of expedition staff and just a happy ship full of people. Totally different than the Arctic.

Great words cannot describe how fantastic it was

The highlight was the sheer untouched beauty and proximity to nature. Landscapes and wildlife were awesome. The people we met were inspirational.... How deeply we were touched by the sheer beauty of the continent and how it felt to be pecked by a penguin chick and splashed by a whales tale... The excellence of the presentations onboard..... the close proximity of whales, seals and penguins... and the gigantic and beautiful array of icebergs

Our trip was FANTASTIC! There were too many highlights to name only one... Seeing the Blue whale... 150,000 King Penguins... Glaciers... Glacier cave that was illuminated from withing with the most amazing blues and greens... Black ice... Humpback whales everywhere... Excellent level of customer service and attention to details. The expedition team members' passion, enthusiasm, knowledge and life stories were wonderful to watch and experience. The lectures were excellent and inspiring. The biggest surprise was the food. Food and service for foodies - did not expect that on an expedition ship.

The penguins were the highlight for me..however we were very fortunate to see a Blue whale and the seals were amazing. The people I met were well traveled and interesting. My grandchildren are required to view my photos.

The highlights of our trip were the many amazing wildlife experiences. We were SURROUNDED by BUBBLE FEEDING WHALES on TWO occasions during zodiac cruises! We were a few yards away from DOZENS of playful crabeater adolescent seals frolicking in the water. We were CHASED by a leopard seal! Penguins and birds galore! (Can you tell I am on team mammal rather than team bird?) The landscapes were breathtaking. The people on the cruise were lovely and fun.

We were amazed by the beauty of its nature. The steep hill with their snow and glaciers. The icebergs were so huge and colorful. The gentoo penguins were the only breed we saw, but they were cute for a few days. We sat with different people at every meal and met some really interesting people. The ship was a good size for this trip. I would not want to go any larger since we would have not been able to make landings at some of the places we did. The ship's operator provided a very nice experience, with the only downside being that some of their lecturers were not well prepared.

Zodiac trips were amazing~ wildlife was amazing~ landscapes amazing..and I really enjoyed the lectures.

I stepped on Antarctica - the final continent for me! The combination of the landscapes and wildlife will always be a highlight for me. It is hard to believe that such a place still exists on earth. I mailed a postcard from Port Lockroy, Antarctica! The crew of the Plancius were outstanding. They even remembered my name among all the passengers. Food and services were outstanding. There were many surprises. The Plancius was able to go through the Lemaire Channel for the first time this year, so we were very fortunate. Also, the captain took us to Deception Island and Cape Horn on the way back. I was very fortunate that I was matched up to a great roommate from Finland. I met many people from many different countries, all with very interesting stories.

Spending 3 1/2 hrs in Grytviken was the highlight of my trip Staff and other travelers were wonderful to spend time with Less wildlife seen than during November trip

As a bird watcher and photographer, the penguins were the stand out act followed by the landscapes and ice. I had wondered about the point of visiting the Falklands but after visiting the Black browed Albatross colony I quickly became enchanted. South Georgia is amazing for both its wildlife and the sheer wonderment of its land mass and form. You get a much better sense of and focus on the beginnings and break up of the continents similar to the relationship between the Galapagos Island and Charles Darwin's theory of evolution where you can see it happening. Having visited most prime bird watching areas around the world, its takes something very special to get me going and penguins aside, I would rate Galapagos as a better experience from a bird watching perspective. I hope that somehow in this seemingly out of control period of time across the globe, that Antarctica can continue to be preserved for generations to come and that my children and grandchildren and so on can experience it. I would be very disappointed but not at all surprised to see this happen from from hotel bases on Antarctica in the future. Mankind in general and business in particular cannot help itself in this regard. I was surprised at the mix of people on board the ship and quickly concluded that generally, it is the only generation that can afford the trip. I was surprised at the kindness of the weather which may have been a double edged sword from a bird watching perspective with relatively calm seas reducing numbers of seabirds sighted. I do suspect there were other areas that could have been visited that would have produced different numbers and species but I guess time, accessbility and other ships all play a part in that situation. I understand there were 14 ships in the area at the time. My grown up children have already experienced much overseas travel to remote and interesting places and no doubt my young grandchildren will follow on some day with Antarctica being on their lists. My photographic records are in part, kept for them and in time, my Antarctica bird photos will be uploaded to grahamefinniganbirdphotogrpahy.com where my birding highlights are stored.

Too many highlights too pick out one in particular, but South Georgia is a must do. Landscapes were simply awesome. The wildlife was much more plentiful than I imagined, also unafraid and curious. We were literally amongst them and not simply viewing from a distance. The passengers on board our expedition (don't like the word 'cruise'!) were about 70% English which did surprise us. Maybe 20% American and the remainder were European/Chinese/Brazilian. Average age was early sixties but all pretty fit, game, and in it for the adventure, so pretty like minded. My grandchildren will hear of the apparent isolation (other cruise ships were out of sight!) teeming wildlife and magnificent scenery. Our biggest surprise was the amazing weather, we did not use our thermals at all. The only big blow we had was behind us and helped us on the way to the Falklands. We had rain on our last day in the Antarctic peninsula which was also the day of the polar plunge! I was also pleasantly surprised by the standard of the catering, I was not expecting it to be so good. Only complaint is that there was too much of it.

Great experience with eighteen landings. Highly professional crew and expedition staff.

Was great. Amazing sights and scenery. The huge penguin numbers at Salisbury Plain and St Andrews Bay were mind blowing. Albatross at Prion Island and the scenery was stunning.

The trip was well organised and went as well as the weather allowed. The highlight was undoubtedly the day we walked on the main continent twice, saw whales, did a Polar plunge and went sliding down a hill near Neko harbour. The group was great, a lot of groups formed but everyone was friendly to each other. Every one of the crew was also helpful, cheerful and friendly. The penguins were cute, the icebergs immense, the seals all over the place and the whales frustrating

The whole experience was fantastic, from beginning to end (apart from BA flight home which you did not book!). Mixture of elements to meet both our interests: wildlife (Jane), photography (Mike), landscape (both) and history (both). Highlights included walking amongst the animals (particularly on South Georgia), doing the Shackleton Walk (SG), kayaking amongst icebergs and the privilege of being there - all this was helped by weather which Hayley had never experienced in 15 years of working in the area. Expedition staff were outstanding in enthusiasm/ knowledge/ mixing with clients and we will nominate leader Hayley for the Wanderlust Guide Award 2017. Good mix of people with similar interests meant conversations over many meals were always interesting. The ship was very well run with great crew and high quality catering (too good for our waistlines).

Great staff who are very knowledgeable , patient and who make every effort to make the client feel cared for and welcome.