I ended up on the SH Vega entirely by chance- I had come to Ushuaia to look for a boat to Antarctica, and kind of didn't even care which vessel I ended up on, as long as the date and the price were right. I got set up by a great company in Ushuaia (Wayfinders), and found myself on the SH Vega several days later. What an incredible stroke of luck! I have a lot of comments, so I'll keep them organized by dividing them into topics:

The Ship: the vessel itself is practically brand new and it definitely feels like it. It's sturdy and although the Drake Passage is never any fun, the ship managed it well. It's super well-equipped with anything you could want- jacuzzi, pool, gym, and it all felt pretty much brand new. Since it's not a huge ship (I think capacity is 150 passengers, but we were lucky with only 100 on board), getting anywhere is a breeze and you feel like you know everyone's faces by the end. The rooms are super luxurious and beautiful and are set up with anything you could possibly need, including free (yummy) room service and a pretty good selection of movies for when you're feeling bored.

The Food: I'm vegetarian, and so was worried that I'd not be able to find anything to eat, but that ended up being a complete non-issue. Every single mealtime had plenty of veg options, and I was delighted to find that they did them well-- not just replace all meat with eggplant like so many lazy chefs seem to always want to do. There was also always LOTS of food available, and I think I gave myself acid reflux from eating too much at every mealtime (the pitfalls of all-you-can-eat environments). Read more