There are cruises and there are expedition cruises and there are expeditions. (Check of Gary B on his take on cruises versus expeditions). This is an expedition in the footsteps of all such travel to the Antarctica region,and that is the star of the cruise/expedition. The overall depth of the itinerary, to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica and the many land and sea excursions, meant the full flavor of the region (despite the always chancy weather) was possible to be experienced. I hasten to emphasize the weather -- we were fortunate in making a number of land excursions --with excellent weather. An experienced crew member remarked that in five expeditions in five season, she had only been to one such site twice, all because of negative weather precluding the others. The take away is that weather is a major factor in Antarctica and that Quark does a very credible job in planning many excursions to ensure the maximum level of successful excursions. A word about excursions: the process of getting on and off the ship were exquisitely organized for safety and quick disembarkation, meaning we got a maximum amount of time on land and seeing (more like experiencing the wildlife, scenery, and taking in the totality of being there).

Of course, typical cruise elements such as entertainment is not a major part of an Antarctica trip, but given we traveled over Christmas and New Years, there was a large party atmosphere to the entire trip. The small numbers of the the ships travelers meant an easy going and open sense of community. I was a single traveler and found many couples were open to having another person join them for dinner/lunch and breakfast. In my view, those travelers to Antarctica are a self selecting bunch, so a bit different than most other "cruises". I also found the expedition team were readily available in off hours to talk about themselves and their personal experiences, rounding out the overall "formal" presentations.

I found the staterooms to be quite comfortable, with sufficient number of outlets for 110 voltage and USB ports (although the new USB-C ports were no where to be found, but even Centurion lounges don't have these yet). The storage was sufficient, unless you are an "over packer" (Again I refer you to other Youtubes on packing). The power balcony window I found to be a better fit for me than other full balcony, where you can step into a balcony and sit. The showers were actually quite large for a ship, and mine had a built in seat with top shower head, one for the back, and a phone shower wand. Shower door and a name brand French soap and shampoo in installed bottles completed the array. The name brand French stuff included body hand creme was first rate. Read more