Antarctica Tours - Adventure Life Testimonials and Reviews

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Aleksey Maryshev

Peter Pagnin (Cruise on Aleksey Maryshev, Feb 2009)
It was perfect! Blue sky, a lot of wildlife, quiet sea. According the guides the best week in the season.

Ship crew was very ok and very helpfull. They was answering every question when we was on the bridge. We could really be on the bridge every time.

The accommodation on the ship was as expected and good. The cabins was very ok and the staff cleaned it every day.

Clar Nisheoinin (Jennings) (Cruise on Aleksey Maryshev, Dec 2008)
The cabin on the ship was better than I had expected.

The staff were all cheerful, friendly, helpful and enhanced the experience greatly.

The food was amazing. An unbelievable high standard considering that we were aboard a ship.

Bernard Stroppa (Antarctic Cruise, Jan 2012)
Antarctica was an incredible experience .... the ship was a marvelous small floating boutique hotel.... the guides especially were awesome and the most educated, knowledgeable and friendly guides I have ever experienced .... the scenery, penguins, seals, humpback whales, blue ice glaciers .... the hot soup or chocolate to greet us when we came back to the ship on our twice daily excursions to see the various wonders of the white continent including 100 year old abandoned explorer shacks, and all the history! whew - dont know if I got it all! And everyone of the fellow travellers were great - many new friends! A never to be forgotten experience that ranks up there one notch above my other great trips including my best African safari trip - worth every penny and more!

Peggy Miracle (Antarctic Cruise, Jan 2012)
The tour was an experience of a lifetime. There was nothing that was left undone by the crew. The knowledge of the crew and the lectures were nothing short of great. The food on the ship was very good and great for anyone who had sea-sickness. Food was readily available in our cabin if we could not go to the dining room The crew made up a DVD available to all passengers at the end of the trip in which the entire passenger list is included. The pictures were clear, precise, and depicted the entire cruise

William Newmann (Cruise on Antarctic Dream, Jan 2011)
The expedition leader and the other staff, naturalists, zodiac drivers, kitchen staff, crew were remarkably competent, friendly and helpful. The only relevant information lacking was someone who could inform us a bit about the weather patterns and how they worked in that part of the world!

Clipper Adventurer (QU)

Carmen White (Cruise on Clipper Adventurer (QU), Jan 2010)
My trip to Argentina and Antarctica went very well. I truly can say it was a trip of a lifetime! I enjoyed the Iguazu Falls and loved staying in the tropical jungle setting of the Loi Suites as well as touring the Wanda Mines. I visited Eva Pero's tomb in Burnos Aires and enjoyed my stay at the Art Hotel, central to main streets and airport. The tour was everything and then some. I could not have expected the fantastic adventure and I think not only the people who handled the tour and transfers but the people I met both in the country and fellow tourists.

Though I did go through seasickness crossing the "dreaded" Drake Passage, it went very well afterwards. I was impressed with a wonderful ship's staff who could not have been a better expedition team! It was all such a relaxing and safe voyage. I really enjoyed the size of the ship. Met so many wonderful people with the same traveling spirit of adventure. The weather was great and truly enjoyed the awesome scenery as well as the animal life. The penguins were such a wonder to see them in their habitat with the many chicks. Enjoyed our visit to the Ukraine and UK base stations. It was a good time for spending on souvenirs. The ship's crew were terrific and it was a trip that will always be memorable! Thank you and staff for all the assistance and for making it HAPPEN!

Corinthian II

Richard Bos (Cruise on Corinthian II, Dec 2009)
I normally don't do cruises, but as the Antarctic can only be done by cruise boat I had no choice. Well, it turns out that it was one of the best things I have ever done. This trip was more or less a last-minute thing for me, but man I'm a glad I did it!!! The food was fantastic and the crew outstanding. This one is a recommender!

Jeanne Sheridan (Cruise on Corinthian II, Dec 2009)
The consistantly best food I've experienced on any ship I've sailed on. It deserves a 2star Michelin rating (and I live in france half the year!) I seldom write a rave review but there was NOTHING for me to criticize for the 10 days I spent on Corinthian II. Unfortnately I couldn't get the Brazilian visa in time to join the ship in Rio so boarded her in Montevideo. Mary Curry was able, through Travel Dynamics, to find me a room at the Radisson Hotel there for a needed overnight (no rooms were available through the internet!). Some of the memorable experiences were whale watching at close quarters from a zodiac at Puerto Piramedes in Argentina and getting up at 3 am to experience sailing through the Beagle Channel enroute to Usuaia, and John's top deck night astronomy seminar, identifying the Southern constellations and Southern Cross. I will certainly recommend Corinthian II to my clients who appreciate the itinaries and amenities of small ship voyaging.

MV Ushuaia

Tim Kim (Antarctica Cruise, Jan 2012)
It was the best trip of my life!! Simply the best!!

Anne-Marie Hunter-Brown (Cruise on MV Ushuaia, Dec 2010)
Obviously we were gutted with the delay due to the storm but the weather and animals when we got on the ice more than made up for this - trip was amazing; am looking forward to seeing all the photographs!

Food was very good and the crew in the kitchen were great! Boat was very comfortable and we got an upgrade in our cabin!

Connor Stowe (Cruise on MV Ushuaia, Nov 2010)
LOVED IT! Looking forward to coming back to Antarctica sometime again in the future. I am hoping to get on a boat later in the season with more adventure options - although price may be a limiting factor for me at this time. I was also inspired to try and apply to be the Post Master at Port Lockroy for a season! I guess I´m just a little bit eager to get back to the Southern Continent!

All of the guides and staff on the boat were lovely! I thought Susan was a great trip leader and really knew her stuff when it came to the wildlife and landscape of Antarctica!

Every time I had questions - they were always answered, and I did like the live Help option online. However, I never did receive my information packet in the mail and I was sort of expecting to get that. I don´t know if it was because I did send in proof of my medical insurance until a few days before the trip, but I had the trip paid for a couple of weeks before the start and there still should have been plenty of time to receive that in the mail. Also - I talked to some other folks who booked the cruise through either Polar Cruises or Polar Expeditions and they received a free beanie hat. That would have been sweet.

National Geographic Explorer

Graham Bell (Cruise on National Geographic Explorer, Feb 2011)
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER WAS FANTASTIC.LOVELY CABIN,GREAT FOOD & STAFF & CREW 1st RATE.

Silver Explorer

Marjut Koivisto (Antarctic Cruise, Jan 2012)
Every day I thought: what can they show more? AND every day I was just as amazed as the day before. There was a good variety of different food with excellent taste and beautiful environment on the ship. The knowledge of the guides was excellent and they we extreemly nice with a good sence of humor. Wonderful!

One Ocean Navigator / Ioffe

Laurie Ewing (Cruise on One Ocean Navigator / Ioffe, Feb 2011)
How can you describe Antarctica? blue, crisp, pristine, quiet, stunningly beautiful.... Amazing - the trip of a lifetime. Ships crew were excellent. Expedition staff were amazing - knowledgeable, organized, efficient and fun!

Le Boreal

Janice Haskins (Antarctic Cruise, Jan 2012)
We would just like to let you know that the trip was absolutely wonderful!! Apparently we had the best weather that the guides had experienced and our group were able to see things that others hadnt. Thank you for all your hard work putting this trip together for us, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ocean Nova Air Cruises

Dawn Brown (, Dec 2011)
Wow â€“ did we EVER have a trip of a lifetime! Antarctica was just SO fantastic! And everything went so smoothly! Thank you all so much for putting up with me this past year & all of my millions of questions & emails. And Jen B., your list of stuff to bring with us was just perfect!!! I would recommend you guys & Antarctica XXI to everybody!!! You guys ROCK!!! Dawn & Gian Brown! PS. I was the ONLY girl to do the polar plunge & it was a mere 22 degrees that day!!! LOL!!!

Penelope Carrington (Cruise on Ocean Nova (AN), Jan 2010)
Antarctica is a beautiful place to visit and the weather can add an interesting perspective to the scenery and experiences. I enjoy photography and have taken many, many pictures of the penguins, fur seals, elephant seals, whales and seabirds. The 10 pm sunsets on the snow-covered mountains, the big chunks of sea ice and the unique and beautifully sculptured icebergs will keep you out on deck (freezing your butt off) for many hours. Then when a large pod of Orca whales or Humpbacks or Minkes swim near the ship and "perform" for us, it is extraordinary. This is an experience of a lifetime and difficult to adequately explain to people who have not been there.

This was my 3rd trip to Antarctica, all trips with Quark, and I would NOT go with any other company. Adventure Life facilitated all my plans and trip details with excellent care, and my trip planner, Jen, is always easy to work with.

The ship's crew were ALL friendly, helpful and genuinely eager to make sure we had the best trip possible. Captain Alexey worked well with Brandon (Expedition Leader) and they were constantly working to provide us with the best shore landings and the safest and most enjoyable experiences. The weather caused us to miss several planned landings, but they provided other alternate landings that prevented our missing any wildlife encounters. There was an excellent variety ... Read All

Le Boreal (CDP)

Eduardo Cuevas (Antarctic Cruise, Feb 2012)
All the experts aboard LeBoreal were very friendly with a lot of knowledge in all the aspects regarding our trip. Our stateroom in LeBoreal was just great and the attention of our butler was even better!

Sea Spirit

Joanne Bina (Antarctic Cruise, Feb 2012)
I knew a trip to Antarctica would be fabulous! We booked thru Adventure Life and they suggested several tour operators. for some reason I thought we would be among the youngest on the ship, but we were certainly not! The ages ran from twenty somethings and to age 73! The ship held 110 passengers and everyone mixed and minged and befriended one another. If someone lost or broke a camera, someone offered them a spare. Same with needed clothing and mittens. No one became ill or were injured on our expedition, although many got sea sick with the fairly calm Drake Crossing. The ship had plenty of different types of anti sickness meds available. I had not expected there to be a staff of 10 or 11 naturalist specialists on the ship for our educational benefits as well! We were in such great hands with the expedition staff and the ship's crew of 75 people. Trip was absolutely perfect and awesome! Thanks so much for all you did for us.

Linda Downing (Antarctic Cruise, Jan 2012)
Amazing, fabulous, exciting . . . . absolutely loved the experience. Kayaking added entire new dimension to the experience. I cannot imagine doing without kayaking and our guides were top notch . . . Solan and Val. The guides made the trip . . . each one added something special . . . . very involved, very interesting, engaging, knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their topic. Very organized and worked well together.

Shakuntla Sharma (Antarctic Cruise, Dec 2011)
What an amazing trip. I wish it was longer. Everyone on the ship worked hard to make this a first class excursion. Was able to book kayak excursion which was trip of life time. Food on the ship was wonderful; fresh fruit and vegetables. Willing to cater to personal need. I would love to go again and highly recommend it.

Ortelius

Peyton McCollum (Falklands, S. Georgia, and Antarctic Peninsula cruise aboard the Ortelius, Feb 2012)
Overall my trip to Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica far exceeded my high expectations. Rolf, our m/v Ortelius onboard tour leader, was fantastic! He knew the wildlife and history of Antarctica in detail, kept humor and patience throughout the trip, and provided a great compilation CD at the end of the trip with group photos, trip itineraries, and more. I would recommend him highly for future trips. We were quite lucky with weather for our zodiac landings, and I actually loved the days when the weather was crazy and the boat was rocking with the wind and ice. That's why I chose a smaller boat, and an older sturdy boat that had withstood many extreme trips (the m/v Ortelius). I saw tons of wildlife and blue icebergs, came home with thousands of pictures and made some lifelong friends. I would go again in a heartbeat, unbelievable trip!!