This Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and Antarctic Peninsula cruise is an animal-lover’s dream come true. The expedition explores one of the last untamed areas on Earth – a land of ruggedly beautiful landscapes and amazingly varied wildlife. This 23-day itinerary includes a visit to South Shetland Islands and the legendary Elephant Island!
Antarctica
Falkland Islands – South Georgia – Elephant Island – Antarctica – Polar Circle
23 Days aboard M/V Hondius . From NZD $30,926pp.
Details
Overview
Itinerary Highlights
- Stop by the legendary Elephant Island and follow in the footsteps of Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition
- Visit the Falklands and learn of the fascinating history of the 19th century sailors
- Encounter species of incredible wildlife including leopard seals, weddell seals, elephant seals, humpback whales, and minke whales!
Itinerary in Brief
- Day 1: Embark ship in Ushuaia
- Day 2: The winged life of the westerlies
- Day 3: Finding the Falklands
- Day 4: The seat of Falklands culture
- Day 5–6: At sea
- Day 7–10: South Georgia journey
- Day 11: Southward bound
- Day 12: The scenic vistas of South Orkney
- Day 13: Legendary Elephant Island
- Day 14: Along the Antarctic Peninsula
- Day 15: Scenes of South Shetland
- Day 16 – 20: Onward into Antarctica
- Day 21–22: At sea
- Day 23: Disembark in Ushuaia
Travelling with Eclipse
Peace of Mind
- Eclipse Travel is Australian owned and run, and an ATAS accredited travel agent.
- 24/7 emergency numbers and local contacts provided for support while you’re abroad.
- We provide all the information you need to organise your visas and vaccinations, making travel preparation stress-free.
- No currency surcharges. Once your deposit is paid, your price is guaranteed.
Specialists
- Our consultants are true destination experts, with firsthand experience and extensive travel in the regions we offer.
- Expect quick, professional responses and dedicated service from our knowledgeable team.
- We conduct regular checks on destinations, hotels, and services to ensure quality for every trip.
Authentic Travel
- Tailor-made itineraries designed around your unique requirements.
- Freedom to select your preferred style and standard of accommodation.
- Unique itineraries that take you beyond the major highlights, immersing you in each location.
- Committed to responsible travel: we reinvest in the environment and local communities across our destinations.
Day 1: Embark ship in Ushuaia
Your voyage begins where the world drops off. Ushuaia, Argentina, reputed to be the southernmost city on the planet, is located on the far southern tip of South America. Starting in the afternoon, you embark from this small resort town on Tierra del Fuego, nicknamed “The End of the World,” and sail the mountain-fringed Beagle Channel for the remainder of the evening.
Day 2: The winged life of the westerlies
Several species of albatross follow the vessel into the westerlies, along with storm petrels, shearwaters, and diving petrels.
Day 3: Finding the Falklands
The Falkland (Malvinas) Islands offer an abundance of wildlife that is easily approachable, though caution is always advised. These islands are largely unknown gems, the site of a 1982 war between the UK and Argentina. Not only do various species of bird live here, but chances are great you’ll see both Peale’s dolphins and Commerson’s dolphins in the surrounding waters.
During this segment of the voyage, you may visit the following sites:
Carcass Island
Despite its name, this island is pleasantly rodent-free and hence bounteous with birdlife. Anything from breeding Magellanic penguins and gentoos to numerous waders and passerine birds (including Cobb’s wrens and tussock-birds) live here.
Saunders Island
On Saunders Island you can see the black-browed albatross and its sometimes-clumsy landings, along with breeding imperial shags and rockhopper penguins. King penguins, Magellanic penguins, and gentoos are also found here.
Day 4: The seat of Falklands culture
The capital of the Falklands and center of its culture, Port Stanley has some Victorian-era charm: colorful houses, well-tended gardens, and English-style pubs are all to be found here. You can also see several century-old clipper ships nearby, silent witnesses to the hardships of 19th century sailors. The small but interesting museum is also worth a visit, covering the early days of settlement up to the Falklands War. Approximately 2,100 people live in Port Stanley. Feel free to wander at will, though be aware that admission fees to local attractions are not included in the voyage.
Day 5–6: At sea
En route to South Georgia, you now cross the Antarctic Convergence. The temperature cools considerably within the space of a few hours, and nutritious water rises to the surface of the sea due to colliding water columns. This phenomenon attracts a multitude of seabirds near the ship, including several species of albatross, shearwaters, petrels, prions, and skuas.
Day 7–10: South Georgia journey
Today you arrive at the first South Georgia activity site. Please keep in mind that weather conditions in this area can be challenging, largely dictating the program.
Sites you might visit include:
Prion Island
This location is closed during the early part of the breeding season (November 20 – January 7). The previous summer’s wandering albatross chicks are almost ready to fledge, and adults are seeking out their old partners after a year and a half at sea.
Salisbury Plain, St. Andrews Bay, Gold Harbour
These sites not only house the three largest king penguin colonies in South Georgia, they’re also three of the world’s largest breeding beaches for southern elephant seals. Only during this time of year do they peak in their breeding cycle. Watch the four-ton bulls keep a constant vigil (and occasionally fight) over territories where dozens of females have just given birth or are about to deliver. You can also see a substantial number of Antarctic fur seals here during the breeding season (December – January).
Fortuna Bay
Near beaches inhabited by various penguins and seals, you have the chance to follow the final leg of Shackleton’s route to the abandoned whaling village of Stromness. This path cuts across the mountain pass beyond Shackleton’s Waterfall, and as the terrain is partly swampy, be prepared to cross a few small streams.
Grytviken
In this abandoned whaling station, king penguins walk the streets and elephant seals lie around like they own the place – because they basically do. Here you might be able to see the South Georgia Museum as well as Shackleton’s grave.
Day 11: Southward bound
There may be sea ice on this route, and at the edge of the ice some south polar skuas and snow petrels could join the other seabirds trailing the vessel south.
Day 12: The scenic vistas of South Orkney
Depending on the conditions, you might visit Orcadas Base, an Argentine scientific station on Laurie Island in the South Orkney archipelago. The personnel here will happily show you their facility, where you can enjoy expansive views of the surrounding glaciers. If a visit isn’t possible, you may instead land in Signy Island’s Shingle Cove.
Day 13: Legendary Elephant Island
You‘ve now completed roughly the same route (albeit in the opposite direction) as Sir Ernest Shackleton did using only a small life boat, the James Caird, in spring of 1916. Watching Elephant Island materialize on the horizon after crossing all that water, it’s hard not to marvel at how he and his five-man crew accomplished that feat.
The purpose of Shackleton’s crossing was to rescue 22 shipwrecked members of his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, also known as the Endurance Expedition, who were stranded on Elephant Island. For four and a half months, Shackleton undertook this legendary rescue.
Conditions on Elephant Island are severe. The coastline is mostly made up of vertical rock and ice cliffs highly exposed to the elements. If possible you will take the Zodiacs to Point Wild, where the marooned members of Shackleton’s expedition miraculously managed to survive.
Day 14: Along the Antarctic Peninsula
If ice permits, you sail into the Antarctic Sound at the northwestern edge of the Weddell Sea. Here colossal tabular icebergs herald your arrival to the eastern edges of the Antarctic Peninsula. Brown Bluff is a potential location for a landing, where you may get the chance to set foot on the continent.
Day 15: Scenes of South Shetland
The volcanic islands of the South Shetlands are windswept and often cloaked in mist, but they do offer subtle pleasures: There’s a wide variety of flora (mosses, lichens, flowering grasses) and no small amount of fauna (gentoo penguins, chinstrap penguins, southern giant petrels).
In Deception Island, the ship plunges through Neptune’s Bellows and into the flooded caldera. Here you find hot springs, an abandoned whaling station, and thousands of cape petrels – along with kelp gulls, brown and south polar skuas, and Antarctic terns. A good hike is a possibility in this fascinating and desolate volcanic landscape.
Day 16 – 20: Onward into Antarctica
Gray stone peaks sketched with snow, towers of broken blue-white ice, and unique polar wildlife below and above welcome you into the otherworldly expanse of Antarctica. You enter the area around Gerlache Strait, venturing into one of the most beautiful settings Antarctica has to offer.
Sites you may visit here include:
Neko Harbour
An epic landscape of mammoth glaciers and endless wind-carved snow, Neko Harbour offers opportunities for a Zodiac cruise and landing that afford the closest views of the surrounding alpine peaks.
Paradise Bay
You may be able to take a Zodiac cruise in these sprawling, ice-flecked waters, where there’s a good chance you’ll encounter humpback and minke whales.
Pléneau & Petermann Islands
If the ice allows it, you could sail through the Lemaire Channel in search of Adélie penguins and blue-eyed shags. There is also a possibility you’ll encounter humpback and minke whales here, as well as leopard seals.
The aim is then to cut south, reaching Crystal Sound and the Antarctic Circle. You may make a landing at Detaille Island and visit an abandoned British research station, taking in the limitless landscape. Afterward you venture back into the area around Lemaire Channel and the Gerlache Strait.
As with all of our Antarctic trips, conditions on the Drake Passage determine the exact time of departure.
Day 21–22: At sea
Your return voyage is far from lonely. While crossing the Drake, you’re again greeted by the vast array of seabirds remembered from the passage south. But they seem a little more familiar to you now, and you to them.
Day 23: Disembark in Ushuaia
Every adventure, no matter how grand, must eventually come to an end. It’s now time to disembark in Ushuaia, but with memories that will accompany you wherever your next adventure lies.
- Day 1: Embark ship in Ushuaia
- Day 2: The winged life of the westerlies
- Day 3: Finding the Falklands
- Day 4: The seat of Falklands culture
- Day 5–6: At sea
- Day 7–10: South Georgia journey
- Day 11: Southward bound
- Day 12: The scenic vistas of South Orkney
- Day 13: Legendary Elephant Island
- Day 14: Along the Antarctic Peninsula
- Day 15: Scenes of South Shetland
- Day 16 – 20: Onward into Antarctica
- Day 21–22: At sea
- Day 23: Disembark in Ushuaia
Next Departure Date: 20 Feb 2025
| Dates | Cabin | From | Special Offer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Feb 2025 - 14 Mar 2025 | NZD$30926pp | ||
| Quad Porthole Cabin | NZD$30926pp | Contact us | |
| Triple Porthole Cabin | NZD$34907pp | Contact us | |
| Twin Porthole Cabin | NZD$37407pp | Contact us | |
| Twin Window Cabin | NZD$39074pp | Contact us | |
| Twin Deluxe Cabin | NZD$41296pp | Contact us | |
| Superior Cabin | NZD$44444pp | Contact us | |
| Junior Suite | NZD$47222pp | Contact us | |
| Grand Suite with private balcony | NZD$53704pp | Contact us | |
| 16 Feb 2026 - 10 Mar 2026 | NZD$32963pp |
**Prices are per person based on twin / shared accommodation.
**Single supplements may apply
Cabin Details
Quad Porthole Cabin
2 portholes, 2 upper & 2 lower berths, small sofa, private shower & toilet, flatscreen TV, desk & chair, telephone and wifi, coffee & tea maker, hair dryer, safe.
Triple Porthole Cabin
2 portholes, 2 lower berths & 1 upper berth, private shower & toilet, flatscreen TV, desk & chair, telephone and wifi, coffee & tea maker, hair dryer, safe.
Twin Porthole Cabin
2 portholes, 2 lower berths, small sofa, private shower & toilet, flatscreen TV, desk & chair, telephone and wifi, coffee & tea maker, hair dryer, safe.
Twin Window Cabin
1 window, 2 lower berths, small sofa, private shower & toilet, flatscreen TV, desk & chair, telephone and wifi, coffee & tea maker, hair dryer, safe.
Twin Deluxe Cabin
2 windows, 2 lower berths, small sofa, private shower & toilet, flatscreen TV, desk & chair, telephone and wifi, coffee & tea maker, hair dryer, safe, minibar
Superior Cabin
2 windows, 1 double bed, small sofa, private shower & toilet, flatscreen TV, desk & chair, telephone and wifi, coffee & tea maker, hair dryer, safe, minibar
Junior Suite
1 double window, 1 double bed, private shower & toilet, flatscreen TV, desk & chair, telephone and wifi, coffee & tea maker, hair dryer, safe, minibar
Grand Suite with private balcony
1 double window, 1 double bed, private balcony, private shower & toilet, flatscreen TV, desk & chair, telephone and wifi, coffee & tea maker, hair dryer, safe, minibar
M/V Hondius Deckplan
Specifications
- Passengers: 170 in 80 cabins
- Staff & crew: Crew 57 | Guides 13 | Doctor 1
- Length: 107.6 meters
- Breadth: 17.6 meters
- Draft: 5.30 meters
- Ice class: Polar Class 6 (equivalent 1A-Super)
- Displacement: 5,590 tonnes
- Propulsion: 2 x ABC main engines; total 4,200 kW
- Speed: 15 knots
Whats included?
- On-board accommodation
- Activities/shore excursions as specified
- Lectures and presentations by expedition leaders and naturalist staff
- Complimentary on-board workshops, exhibitions and performances
- Transfers and luggage handling
- Waterproof boots on loan
- All meals during the voyage
- Service taxes and port charges
- Free internet: daily allowance of 1.5 GB of free internet connectivity
What’s not included?
- International and internal airfares
- Arrival/departure taxes or reciprocity fees, visa fees where applicable
- Optional polar diving US$940 per person
- Travel insurance
- Gratuities
- Any items not mentioned as included
Price Assurance
At Eclipse Travel, our expert destination knowledge and decades of travel planning experience come at no extra cost to you. While many think booking through a tour operator is more expensive than planning a trip independently, that’s not the case. We’re paid by our travel partners—such as hotels, activity operators, and cruise providers—via commissions, not by our clients.
Our team negotiates the best rates for you and ensures you receive unbiased advice, with no preference for any particular supplier. In fact, where we secure higher commissions, we often pass the savings on to you, giving us a competitive price edge.
Additionally, we lock in exchange rates at the time of your deposit, ensuring no surprise costs when it’s time for final payment. You can rest easy knowing we’ll handle the details with our suppliers. The only exceptions are national park fee increases or fuel surcharges imposed after your booking, though these are rare.
Take advantage of our team’s expertise and let us help you plan the perfect holiday—hassle-free!
Destination: Antarctica
On any cruise to Antarctica you can expect to experience a wide variety of landscapes, unprecedented wildlife viewing opportunities and a healthy mix of historic landing sites. Be astounded by the sensory overload of the huge amount of ice-bergs, glaciers, high mountains and the abundant and tame wildlife.
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