The Voyages
Antarctica by expedition ship
Antarctica is not somewhere you visit by accident. It sits at the bottom of the world behind the roughest stretch of ocean on the planet, it belongs to no country, and for most of the year the sea around it freezes solid. Then, for a few short months of the southern summer, the ice loosens its grip and a small number of expedition ships are allowed in. HX, the expedition company that grew out of Hurtigruten and has been sailing to the polar regions since 1896, carries more people to the White Continent than any other operator.
HX have now released three seasons of voyages, 2026/27, 2027/28 and 2028/29, each running from October to April, with ten different itineraries between them. The shortest gives you up to five days on the Antarctic Peninsula in under a fortnight. The longest spends three and a half weeks taking in the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica in one great sweep of the Southern Ocean. Here are the three that most people ask us about first.
Classic Antarctica
Highlights of Antarctica
Buenos Aires · Ushuaia · Antarctic Peninsula · 12 Days
The quickest way to stand on the seventh continent without cutting corners. After a night in Buenos Aires you fly south to Ushuaia, join the hybrid powered MS Fridtjof Nansen and cross the Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula, where you spend up to five days landing by small expedition boat, cruising among icebergs and watching penguins go about their noisy business.
With more than a dozen departures every season between October and March, it is also the easiest voyage to fit around work and family, and the flights between Buenos Aires and Ushuaia are included.
New for 2026/27
Iconic Antarctica, The Explorer's Route
Buenos Aires · Weddell Sea · Gerlache Strait · 16 Days
Nine days in Antarctica rather than five, and a route that reads like a history of polar exploration. MS Roald Amundsen heads for the South Shetland Islands, through the Antarctic Sound with its towering tabular icebergs, and into the Weddell Sea where Shackleton's Endurance was crushed by the ice. Later she turns south through the Gerlache Strait, named after Adrien de Gerlache, whose Belgian expedition of 1897 gave a young Roald Amundsen his first taste of Antarctica.
It is the voyage for anyone who has read the explorers' diaries and wants to see the places for themselves.
The Grand Expedition
Antarctica, Falklands & South Georgia
Santiago · Falkland Islands · South Georgia · Antarctica · 23 Days
If you only go once, many seasoned polar travellers would tell you to go this way. The smaller MS Fram, with just 200 guests, sails from Punta Arenas through the Strait of Magellan to the Falklands, then on to South Georgia, where hundreds of thousands of king penguins crowd the beaches beneath glaciers that tumble straight into the sea. You visit Grytviken and raise a glass at Sir Ernest Shackleton's grave before continuing south to the Antarctic Peninsula.
Six departures run each season between November and March, with flights between Santiago and Punta Arenas included.
Seven more voyages complete the programme, including the Antarctic Circle Expedition, which attempts to cross 66°33′ south into Marguerite Bay, a late season sailing north via Puerto Madryn, and a springtime voyage timed for the king penguin courtship on South Georgia. Two are brand new. The Antarctica & Patagonia Expedition sails from Valparaíso through the Chilean fjords to Antarctica in October 2027, and Kingdoms of Ice & Wildlife brings South Georgia within reach on a round trip from Ushuaia in 2028/29. You will find them all, side by side, on our Antarctica cruises page, along with what is included in the fare.
Where You Will Go
More than just the ice
Most HX voyages head for the Antarctic Peninsula, the long mountainous arm of the continent that reaches up towards South America. It is the most accessible, the most scenic and by some distance the richest part of Antarctica for wildlife, with gentoo, chinstrap and Adélie penguins, crabeater, Weddell and leopard seals, and humpback and minke whales feeding in the bays from midsummer onwards. Names like the Lemaire Channel, Neko Harbour and Paradise Bay become very real, very quickly.
Before you reach the Peninsula you will usually pass the South Shetland Islands, where Deception Island hides a flooded volcanic caldera that ships can sail straight into. Longer voyages push east into the Weddell Sea or south across the Antarctic Circle, while others add the subantarctic islands: South Georgia, often called the Galapagos of the Poles, and the Falkland Islands, with their rockhopper penguins, black browed albatrosses and the very British little capital of Stanley.
All of it begins with the Drake Passage, the 500 mile wide stretch of water between Cape Horn and the South Shetlands, and with a night or two in one of the gateway cities of Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, Santiago or Valparaíso. Our guide to Antarctic wildlife covers what you are likely to see, and when.
The Ships
Built for polar waters
HX sail to Antarctica with three ships, all of them small by cruise standards and all designed for ice. MS Roald Amundsen and her twin MS Fridtjof Nansen were the first hybrid powered expedition ships in the world when they launched in 2019 and 2020. Each carries up to 490 guests, half of the cabins have private balconies, and there is an infinity pool, a panoramic sauna, three restaurants and a large Science Centre where the Expedition Team give their lectures.
MS Fram is smaller and nimbler, with space for 200 guests, which means more time ashore at each landing and access to sheltered bays the bigger ships cannot reach. She was fully upgraded in 2022 and handles the longer voyages to South Georgia. Whichever ship you choose, the atmosphere on board is relaxed and informal. There is no dress code, the crew and Expedition Team are permanent HX staff, and you will find more about the restaurants, cabins and daily routine on our life on board page.
When to Go
Five months, three seasons
The Antarctic cruise season is short, roughly October to early April, and each part of it has its own character. Early in the season (October and November) the landscape is at its most pristine, with deep snow, dramatic pack ice and penguins courting and building their nests. Midsummer (December and January) brings almost 24 hours of daylight, the warmest temperatures of the year and the first fluffy penguin chicks. Late season (February and March) is the best time for whales, as humpbacks gather to feed on krill, and the low sun paints the ice in shades of gold and pink.
There is no bad time to go, only different ones. Our when to go guide explains what to expect month by month, and our practical information page covers packing, health requirements and travel insurance.
Booking With Coastal Cruises
UK specialists in Antarctica expedition cruises
Coastal Cruises is the trading name of Westgate Travel, an independent travel agent based in Talbot Green in South Wales and established in 1989. We are members of the Travel Trust Association and we have been selling polar voyages with Hurtigruten, and now HX, for many years. When you call 0333 405 0194 you speak to a real person who can talk you through the differences between the ships, the cabins and the routes, check live availability and current offers, and help you arrange flights and extra nights in South America.
We can check the latest offers for you, hold cabins while you decide, and stay on hand from the day you book until the day you fly. Our how to book page explains the process, and the questions and answers page covers the things people most often ask before they commit to the trip of a lifetime.
