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13 Days The Weddell Sea & Larsen Ice Shelf - With National Geographic Starting 21 Jan 2022
Our Leisurely tours are designed for a relaxed travel experience, they feature longer stays in each destination and ample free time. Unpack, unwind, and explore at your own pace with minimal early starts or hotel changes.
For the true explorer, expedition small-ship cruising is the best way to get off the beaten track.This experience is not just about the ship’s creature comforts but very much the destination, its nature and wildlife. Daily shore excursions by Zodiac inflatable boats allow you to step onshore and explore. A world-class, expert expedition team will help you discover each exciting destination. Onboard you’ll enjoy informative and educational lectures. These trips will be a mix of fully guided or self-guided depending on your chosen package. There’s a land touring component with shared sightseeing and transfers.
✓ Travel with Ponant Cruises
✓ 13 Day cruise on board the Le Commandant Charcot in a Prestige Stateroom Deck 6 (Upgrades available)
✓ Unlimited drinks are included, at any time of the day (excludes certain items)
✓ Fine French dining daily with all breakfast, lunches and dinners while sailing
✓ Join the highly qualified local expedition team and enjoy regular outings and shore visits in Zodiac inflatables with a team of experienced naturalist guides
✓ Explore the amazing wildlife found in the Antarctic Peninsula and Drake Passage
✓ Wi-Fi free of charge
Travel with the experts for a carefully curated, value-packed discovery of the world's most iconic destinations. Our tours are bursting with must-see sights, rich experiences and quality inclusions, all at an unbeatable price. Bucket list dreams are ticked off on these all-encompassing journeys.
On arrival at your hotel in Santiago, you will enjoy an afternoon at leisure to explore the city before your early start tomorrow.
Capital of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province, Ushuaia is considered the gateway to the White Continent and the South Pole. Nicknamed “El fin del mundo” by the Argentinian people, this city at the end of the world nestles in the shelter of mountains surrounded by fertile plains that the wildlife seem to have chosen as the ultimate sanctuary. With its exceptional site, where the Andes plunge straight into the sea, Ushuaia is one of the most fascinating places on earth, its very name evocative of journeys to the unlikely and the inaccessible…
Use your days spent in the Drake Passage to familiarise yourself with your ship and deepen your knowledge of the Antarctic. The Expedition Leader will first present the IAATO rules of conduct that must be observed during landings in the region and will explain everything you need to know about the Zodiac® outings. Lectures about the history and wildlife of the Antarctic will be an opportunity for you to learn more about this magical region, where every cruise is a unique experience.
From the ship’s bridge, you will experience exceptional sailing moments before joining the naturalist-guides on your ship’s exterior decks to look out for albatrosses, cape petrels, and other seabirds flying over the Drake Passage.
Use your days spent in the Drake Passage to familiarise yourself with your ship and deepen your knowledge of the Antarctic. The Expedition Leader will first present the IAATO rules of conduct that must be observed during landings in the region and will explain everything you need to know about the Zodiac® outings. Lectures about the history and wildlife of the Antarctic will be an opportunity for you to learn more about this magical region, where every cruise is a unique experience.
From the ship’s bridge, you will experience exceptional sailing moments before joining the naturalist-guides on your ship’s exterior decks to look out for albatrosses, cape petrels, and other seabirds flying over the Drake Passage.
On the edge of the Antarctic Peninsula, 120 km (70 miles) from the White Continent, the South Shetland Islands offer surreal and mysterious scenery. On these volcanic islands of dark rock, the landscapes alternate between long, jagged and snow-covered coast and large, gently sloping bays. These lunar and wild lands are home to important scientific research stations and a large number of animal species: chinstrap penguins, crabeater seals or Weddell seals, Antarctic terns, giant petrels and elephant seals have taken up residence here.
Throughout your time in the north of the Antarctic Peninsula, you will find yourself in the heart of a spectacular decor in subtle shades of blue and white, surrounded by exceptional wildlife. You will sail through the Antarctic Sound, named after Swedish explorer Otto Nordenskjöld’s ship, which was trapped by the ice during an important scientific expedition in 1902. The gateway to the Weddell Sea, this sound is filled with gigantic tabular icebergs and plates of sea ice drifting northward from the coastal areas of this vast sea. It is home to Adelie penguins and a great many leopard seals.
Amid the eerie stillness of the Weddell Sea, wend your way through a labyrinth of dense ice floe and majestic table-top icebergs. Sweeping ice platforms sculpt a landscape unlike any other, populated by fur seals, penguins, wandering albatross and other remarkable seabirds. The Weddell seal – king of this realm – will welcome you to his territory with a haunting cry that pierces the surrounding silence. You can recognise him by his dark grey coat and spotted belly. Weddell seals have the impressive skill of being able to stay underwater for more than an hour.
On the Weddell Sea, you will sail close to the gigantic Larsen ice shelves. These floating ice shelves help to prevent the erosion of the Antarctic ice sheet. Over the last fifty years, scientists have however observed regular collapses of these shelves, along giant cracks that can be several hundred kilometres long and deep. In 2017, a portion measuring more than 6,000 km2, so barely smaller than Corsica, had broken off the Larsen C ice shelf, forming one of the largest tabular icebergs in the world. This disintegration is believed to be due in part to global warming and melting sea ice.
On the Weddell Sea, you will sail close to the gigantic Larsen ice shelves. These floating ice shelves help to prevent the erosion of the Antarctic ice sheet. Over the last fifty years, scientists have however observed regular collapses of these shelves, along giant cracks that can be several hundred kilometres long and deep. In 2017, a portion measuring more than 6,000 km2, so barely smaller than Corsica, had broken off the Larsen C ice shelf, forming one of the largest tabular icebergs in the world. This disintegration is believed to be due in part to global warming and melting sea ice.
Amid the eerie stillness of the Weddell Sea, wend your way through a labyrinth of dense ice floe and majestic table-top icebergs. Sweeping ice platforms sculpt a landscape unlike any other, populated by fur seals, penguins, wandering albatross and other remarkable seabirds. The Weddell seal – king of this realm – will welcome you to his territory with a haunting cry that pierces the surrounding silence. You can recognise him by his dark grey coat and spotted belly. Weddell seals have the impressive skill of being able to stay underwater for more than an hour.
If there is one place, one sea, one waterway dreaded by tourists, researchers and hardened seafarers alike, it is undoubtedly Drake Passage. Situated at the latitude of the infamous Furious Fifties winds, between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands, it is the shortest route to connect Antarctica to South America. Seasoned navigators will tell you that you must earn your visit to the White Continent!
As the Antarctic convergence zone where cold currents rising up from the South Pole meet warmer equatorial water masses, Drake Passage harbours a very diverse marine fauna. Don't forget to look to the sky to catch a glimpse of elegant albatross and Cape petrels, playfully floating about in the wind around your ship.
If there is one place, one sea, one waterway dreaded by tourists, researchers and hardened seafarers alike, it is undoubtedly Drake Passage. Situated at the latitude of the infamous Furious Fifties winds, between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands, it is the shortest route to connect Antarctica to South America. Seasoned navigators will tell you that you must earn your visit to the White Continent!
As the Antarctic convergence zone where cold currents rising up from the South Pole meet warmer equatorial water masses, Drake Passage harbours a very diverse marine fauna. Don't forget to look to the sky to catch a glimpse of elegant albatross and Cape petrels, playfully floating about in the wind around your ship.
Capital of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province, Ushuaia is considered the gateway to the White Continent and the South Pole. Nicknamed “El fin del mundo” by the Argentinian people, this city at the end of the world nestles in the shelter of mountains surrounded by fertile plains that the wildlife seem to have chosen as the ultimate sanctuary. With its exceptional site, where the Andes plunge straight into the sea, Ushuaia is one of the most fascinating places on earth, its very name evocative of journeys to the unlikely and the inaccessible…
Cabin Bedding and Upgrades
Bedding on board the cruise is restricted to the following configurations. If you wish to upgrade your cabin, the following amounts are payable in addition to the package price prior to travel:
Prestige Stateroom Deck 6: INCLUDED
With 5 m² private balcony, Shower, Individually-controlled airconditioning, Stateroom layout: king-size bed or twin beds - communicating staterooms available, Minibar - 24hr room service, Flat screen satellite TV, Video on demand, IPod™ docks, Safe, French bath products, Dressing table with hairdryer, Direct line telephone, 110V American (two flat pins)/220V European (round sockets with two round pins), Internet access Wifi.
Deluxe Suite Deck 6
With 5 m² private balcony, Shower, Individually-controlled airconditioning, Stateroom layout: king-size bed or twin beds - communicating staterooms available, Minibar - 24hr room service, Flat screen satellite TV, Video on demand, IPod™ docks, Safe, French bath products, Dressing table with hairdryer, Direct line telephone, 110V American (two flat pins)/220V European (round sockets with two round pins), Internet access Wifi. Upgrades from AU$4,780 per person, twin share or AU$6,220 per person, single (subject to availability).
Privilege Suite Deck 8
With 12.5 m² private balcony, Shower & Balneo bathtub, Butler service, Individually-controlled airconditioning, Stateroom layout: king-size bed or twin beds - communicating staterooms available, Minibar - 24hr room service, Flat screen satellite TV, Video on demand, IPod™ docks, Safe, French bath products, Dressing table with hairdryer, Direct line telephone, 110V American (two flat pins)/220V European (round sockets with two round pins), Internet access Wifi. Upgrades from AU$17,210 per person, twin share or AU$22,380 per person, single (subject to availability).
Please request your cabin upgrade in the 'special requests' field. Availability and price will then be confirmed and added to your invoice upon acceptance.
Le Commandant-Charcot, PONANT has imagined and envisaged the cruise voyage of tomorrow. The latest addition to the fleet will take you following in the footsteps of the great polar explorers in refined surroundings complete with the kind of luxury services never before offered in the farthest reaches of the southern and northern hemispheres.
The indoor swimming pool, the conservatory, the panoramic restaurant, the Blue Lagoon outdoor restaurant, the Main Lounge, the Observation Lounge, the lobby… Each of the common areas has been designed to both convey French-style discreet luxury and arouse wonder and amazement. The common thread running through all their designs is the desire to allow the light to penetrate and open everything up the extraordinary polar landscapes and scenery.
This very first hybrid-electric polar exploration ship powered by LNG has been designed with the greatest attention to detail in terms of safety and respect for the environment.
To know more about your ship, please click HERE.
PONANT has organized the following included programme for you, which starts the day prior to embarkation.
The day before embarkation – Santiago
In order to organize your transfer, please inform your travel agent 60 days before departure:
- your flight number as well as your arrival time and day
OR
- your chosen pick-up location if not at the airport, within a 50-kilometer range of Santiago city centre
Embarkation Day – Santiago/Ushuaia
Cruise on board your ship
Disembarkation Day – Ushuaia/Santiago
It is highly recommended to have an international inbound flight the day after PONANT selected flight.
Your programme includes:
Please note:
Deposit & Payments
Booking Process
Booking On Request
COVID-19
Due to COVID there maybe disruptions to standard operating schedules of particular components of this itinerary. Should a component be effected a substitute will be confirmed prior to departure.
Fitness Requirements
While the tour itinerary should give you some guidance and overview to the expected requirements, to determine if this tour is right for you we categorise each of our tours in terms of their intensity.
These guidelines are to ensure that each tour group is conducted as expected and to ensure the overall satisfaction of all Inspiring Vacations customers. As a general rule, porterage is not included, therefore at all times you are expected to handle your own luggage where help may not be available.
Accommodation
The accommodation listed is subject to change. Any changes will be of an equal or higher standard. Bedding configurations (double or twin) are requests only and subject to availability. All efforts will be made to meet your preferences, however any changes are beyond our control.
Single Supplement
Please follow the 'book now' prompts and select 1 passenger to view the single supplement cost.
Triple Share
Not Available
Travel Insurance
Travel insurance is required to protect yourself against the unexpected.
Tour Documentation
Final documentation including, e-tickets and cruise details, will be provided approximately 30 days prior to travel.
Children
Children must share a room with parents at all times and are charged the same price as adults.
Warning About The Use Of Drones
The use of drones aboard PONANT ships, whether they are sailing at sea, at a port of call or anchored, is strictly forbidden. The use of drones on land in the Arctic and Antarctic regions is also strictly forbidden by international polar regulations.
In other regions, it may be possible to use drones on land if permission has been obtained from the relevant authorities of each country and each region travelled through, as well as a pilot’s licence that should be obtained from your home country.
Passengers are responsible for obtaining these permits; they should be able to present them at all times. Passengers who do not obtain these authorisations expose themselves to the risk of legal proceedings.
Passport valid for at least six (6) months beyond the completion of your trip. Passport must contain at least two completely clear, blank, unused visa pages for each visa required, not including any amendment pages. Visa pages with stains or ink from other pages in the passport are not usable. Guests who deviate from the scheduled embarkation or disembarkation port should research the foreign entry requirements for the port country. Due to government regulations, regrettably, Ponant will have to deny boarding to any guest who fails to obtain the appropriate travel documentation for this trip.
The information below is current but subject to change at any time without advance notice from government authorities. Please consult your respective government agencies for visa and health information.
Chile: Australian citizens entering/exiting Chile must pay a RECIPROCITY TAX that will be issued for a stay of up to 90 days upon payment. Currently, the fee is only charged at the Santiago International Airport. Payment can be made in U.S. currency or by credit card.
We remind you that all our ships have a doctor on board and medical facilities. However, these cannot, under any circumstances, be compared to any medical structure on land. Given the remote areas in which we will be sailing for a number of days, safety requirements mean that we are obliged to ask each passenger signing up for this program to provide us, no more than 45 days before departure, with a medical certificate from their GP, as well as the completed medical questionnaire received during registration.
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