We took the Antarctica 8 day excursion on the MV Marco Polo on January 31st of 2003. This is a bit of information on the Zodiac landings from the ship; it is written in an effort to help those who are on their first excursion and might have apprehensions about this adventure. There is an excellent review of the entire cruise included in this database by Chuck Traveler in the review section under Marco Polo, and it helped us tremendously when we took this cruise.

The Marco Polo can accommodate over 800 passengers but only takes around 425 for this trip. This is done to allow all passengers the maximum amount of time for the shore excursions. There are currently six Zodiacs that take the passengers, the naturalists, etc. to the landings. The Zodiacs have Yamaha, Honda, or Mercury engines and seat 14 people. You sit on the side pontoons of the boat and hold on to ropes on the side if you think that you need it. We felt completely safe at all times in and out of the Zodiac. Our pilots were knowledgeable and very competent.

The passengers are divided into five colors (around 75-80 in each color); each color group is divided into three cohorts (A,B,C). They give you a badge that you must wear which has your color and cohort. Colors and cohorts are assigned a time to disembark for the shore excursion. Colors and cohorts are alternated in time so that everyone gets to go at a different time for each excursion. Read more