Every cruise ship will vary but most offer some variation of onboard entertainment, food, beverages and snacks. Right off the bat in our onboarding briefing we were told this was not a vacation but an expedition. On an expedition you are BUSY! This was an understatement. We had very little downtime and no one was bored. This was a good thing as it meant we had excellent weather and could fully enjoy all the excursions.

Food

Our cruise offered 3 meals a day, wine was included with dinner. There was a bar open during the other times of day. Our ship also had a 24/7 coffee and tea station. Breakfast was buffet style with a make-your-own omelet station. The cuisine was diversified with gluten free options, vegan options, kosher options, etc. We had a fish option, a red meat option and vegetarian option every meal every day. Salads and fruit were also available with every meal and the deserts were incredible. We had buffet dinner the first night after onboarding and buffet style lunches every day. Dinners were served with choices off a menu and served to you at a group table. Room service was also an option. One day it was so nice outside, we had a BBQ on the upper deck outside.

Onboard entertainment consisted of lectures on everything from birds, whales, sea life to global warming impacts, glacier ice and microscopic organisms in Antarctica. There were trivia nights and karaoke and just good ol’ fashioned sitting around singing with a guitar in hand and piano. Of course there was always wildlife to watch for, the summer sun casting its vibrant colors all around and the sound of the ship cutting through the water. And of course one of the huge highlights- the polar plunge!

Lecture on the microorganisms in the water sample pulled

Excursions

Everyone on board is divided into groups. Our ship had 4 groups. The excursions are divided into one land excursion and one zodiac excursion. The IAATO (International Antarctica Association of Tour Operators) has a 100 person restriction for landings. This means at any given time only 100 people can be on land. So half of our ship went ashore while the other half zoomed around in zodiacs. Each group is rotated so if today you were the first group called, tomorrow you will be last, etc. On the bigger ships there are obviously more groups and more people to rotate. Being on a smaller ship meant we were able to go on excursions in the morning and afternoon weather dependent. On each zodiac there were up to 10 people plus the driver. Each excursion offered so much variety from cruising around ice bergs to looking at seals or whales. Just seeing Antarctica from the perspective of the water level was really something. The land excursions often offered a small hike. There were options to just stay by the zodiac landing site if you chose not to hike. Most excursions were up to 2 hours total.