This Chopping-edge Expedition Ship Takes Vacationers to Antarctica in Cool Scandinavian Fashion

To be trustworthy, Antarctica was by no means on my must-visit record. I don’t maintain something in opposition to the continent, in fact, nevertheless it at all times appeared to me that Antarctica’s a spot for rough-and-ready varieties: folks extra within the frigid open air than the creature comforts on board. Trudging by way of knee-deep snow to identify seals or enduring biting winds whereas hoping to see a humpback? I figured that was someone else’s ideally suited journey, not mine.

How mistaken I used to be.

On a current journey to Antarctica aboard Viking Polaris, I not solely found the multidimensional attract of the ice — however I additionally realized that you just don’t should sacrifice facilities for journey.

That’s thanks largely to Polaris, which was launched in 2022. One among two similar expedition ships from Viking, this 378-passenger vessel has a lot in widespread with the 9 ocean and 90 river ships of the model that’s a favourite of Journey + Leisure readers. Aboard this newly constructed expedition ship, the décor is a sublime interpretation of recent Scandinavian model and there are not any inside cabins, a very vital consideration for journeys on the typically rocky Drake Passage.

As is the case on all Viking ships, some shore excursions and meals in specialty eating places are included within the fare, as are wine and beer with meals. Viking’s signature emphasis on onboard enrichment is demonstrated by way of partnerships with the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, amongst others, who assist with programming on Polaris.

However as plush because the ship could also be, it might’t compete with the environment. Despite my skepticism — I’ve at all times thought-about myself a warm-weather cruiser — Antarctica’s dreamy, otherworldly panorama was a revelation. Penguins, whales, and towering icebergs have been tantalizingly shut, seemingly only a sliding glass door away.

The ship’s expedition group labored like a well-oiled machine, making certain that company understood the protocols for habits ashore and abided by the Worldwide Affiliation of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) laws to make sure the safety of wildlife and the atmosphere.

With its capability of 378 passengers, Polaris is among the largest ships working within the Southern Ocean that’s allowed to take company ashore. As a result of not more than 100 individuals are allowed at a given touchdown website at a time, journeys to the ice for us have been fewer in quantity — and shorter total — than they are often on smaller vessels.

If maximizing your time on terra firma is a precedence, Polaris may not be your best option for you. If, however, you want your shoreside adventures with a contact of luxurious again on board, this ship could be good. It definitely modified my thoughts.

Learn on for extra about Viking Polaris, the ship’s many facilities, the texture of the onboard expertise, and particulars on the vessel’s Antarctic itineraries.

Staterooms and Suites

Polaris has half a dozen stateroom classes. On the prime finish, the 1,200-square-foot proprietor’s suite on deck 6 has its personal eating room, lounge, butler’s pantry, and outside lounge with a sizzling tub. Entry-level Nordic Balcony suites clock in at 215 sq. toes, with a floor-to-ceiling window — identified on Viking as a Nordic Balcony — that partially retracts to let recent air in. Relying on the class you e-book, chances are you’ll get precedence boarding on embarkation day and entry to your stateroom from as early as 11 a.m.

There are not any inside cabins on Polaris — you’re right here for the views, in spite of everything — and staterooms of all classes are snug and elegantly furnished in Viking’s signature Scandinavian model: suppose muted tones of beige, blue, white, and grey, with blond woods and wool accents. All suites have beneficiant closet area, and a heated drying closet to retailer outside clothes and footwear — one other key consideration on polar cruises.

I used to be notably impressed by the heated rest room flooring, roomy walk-in bathe (by no means a given on expedition ships), and capacious rest room drawers in my Deluxe Nordic Balcony stateroom, one step up from the entry stage class. (I’d’ve appreciated a quantity management for the in-cabin speaker, over which bulletins have been typically made.)

All cabins have a mini fridge that’s restocked as wanted with comfortable drinks and snacks at no cost, a Nespresso espresso maker, two pairs of binoculars, and a small library of books. Bedside and deskside retailers have each 110- and 220-volt sockets and USB ports. Each visitor receives a Viking-branded Helly Hansen jacket and light-weight puffer, ordered on-line pre-cruise, and passengers are loaned waterproof pants and rubber boots which might be important for landings.

Bars and Eating places

Viking doesn’t cost for eating in its specialty eating places, and relying in your stateroom cabin class, you can also make as many as 4 assured reservations at each premium eating places as much as 100 days upfront. Manfredi’s is a sublime Italian trattoria (the bistecca Fiorentina is a standout) and on the Restaurant, count on a menu of typical formal eating staples, akin to New York strip, beef tenderloin, and poached salmon. Past the allotted reservations, company can dine at both restaurant as many instances as they like, offered there’s availability. (Room service can also be complimentary — and company on my crusing have been raving concerning the southern-fried hen.)

Elsewhere on board, World Café is the all-day buffet, with stay cooking stations and open kitchens. Of be aware are two stations inside the Café: one has uncooked seafood and sushi, with an ever-evolving lineup of rolls and nigiri, whereas the opposite is a pick-your-cut grill with a choice of aged steaks, pork chops, and burgers.

Aquavit Terrace is one other eating venue, overlooking the swimming swimming pools, with seating to accommodate overspill from the buffet. Its light-filled Aquavit bar — look as much as admire the canine sled suspended from the ceiling — is an efficient spot for pre-dinner cocktails and ocean views.

Mamsen’s is a small restaurant serving Norwegian delicacies for breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea. The grab-and-go venue provides a smörgåsbord of open-face sandwiches, conventional break up pea soup, desserts, and made-to-order heart-shaped Norwegian waffles that have been, for me not less than, irresistible. 

Throughout the ship, passengers with meals restrictions are welcome to request applicable substitutions.

A number of bars play to the convivial spirit of most Antarctica-bound passengers. Hottest is the one within the Residing Room, the place everybody gathers to learn, be part of group actions, and enthusiastically evaluate notes on the day’s landings. Second in reputation is the Disguise, an intimate lounge secreted on Deck 1. By day, it’s a quiet spot for studying or undisturbed post-lunch naps. Within the evenings it takes on a speakeasy vibe, the bartender serving from a tightly edited choice of premium spirits with the comfortable temper set by a water-vapor hearth. On the entrance of the ship, Pap’s bar within the Explorer Lounge is an efficient place for cocktails with a view; the Viking Bar exterior Manfredi’s and the Restaurant is useful for aperitifs.

The place Viking Polaris Sails

From October by way of March, the Antarctic summer time, Polaris cruises to the White Continent from Ushuaia, Argentina. Viking’s 13-day Antarctic Explorer itineraries start with an in a single day in Buenos Aires then a flight to Ushuaia for embarkation. After a two-day crossing of the Drake Passage, passengers spend the following seven days exploring Antarctica earlier than returning to Ushuaia.

In March, after a remaining Antarctic cruise, Polaris heads north, following the coast of South America, transiting the Panama Canal, and stopping in cities akin to New York and Toronto. The ship usually reaches the Nice Lakes in Could, the place it spends the Northern Hemisphere summer time till it turns south as soon as once more.

Shore Excursions

As is the case on all Viking ships, there’s not less than one complimentary shore tour each day, climate allowing. On my journey aboard Polaris, we usually acquired to select from two: a Zodiac journey to a touchdown website — or a tour of the encompassing seas if touchdown wasn’t potential — or a 45-minute jaunt on what Viking calls its particular operations boats, every with a dozen snug seats. To regulate capability on land, each choices should be booked upfront. (In Antarctica, unpredictable wind speeds and ever-changing sea situations imply that no touchdown can ever be assured, so count on changes alongside the way in which: halfway by way of my crusing, the captain had already revised touchdown areas 4 instances.)

Nonetheless, there have been a number of alternatives to set foot on the seventh continent. I used to be blown away by the sight — and, truthfully, the overwhelming stench — of the Gentoo penguin colony at Damoy Level. Relying on the time of yr, different penguin species will probably be round, as will fur and Weddell seals. On one tour, I caught an awe-inspiring glimpse of a humpback’s forked tail, because it arced briefly above the floor of Fournier Bay.

Throughout one journey on the particular operations boat, whizzing by way of the Melchior Islands, I discovered myself unexpectedly impressed by the large and majestic icebergs. Visitors also can get on the water by signing up for guided excursions by two-person kayaks; Polaris carries 9 of them.

The one exercise with an additional value is a 30-minute dive on one in every of two submersibles aboard. The $500 journey, with as many as 5 different passengers, takes the adventurous few so far as 500 toes beneath the floor, on the lookout for animals together with penguins and the uncommon phantom jellyfish. The 11-ton, egg-yolk yellow subs are, it’s value mentioning, named Ringo and George; the expedition ship Viking Octantis carries twin subs named John and Paul.

Facilities and Leisure

The very best leisure on Polaris is what’s occurring exterior the ship, and the onboard enrichment program is targeted on wildlife, historical past, topography, and oceanography. On my crusing, there have been a lot of talks concerning the animals we’d see and really detailed briefings, held within the Aula theater, about our touchdown websites. The group of expedition guides on my cruise included an ornithologist, cetacean specialist, naturalist, and an ecotoxicologist. These scientists inspired visitor participation of their real-world analysis, whether or not it was gathering water samples to gauge the presence of microplastics or remotely taking pictures underwater video footage to measure the abundance and variety of the area’s sea life.

Polaris and its sibling ship Octantis are the one industrial cruise vessels approved to launch climate balloons into the environment. As soon as per departure, company can watch a launch; information from the sensors on the balloons is utilized by meteorologists to tell climate forecasts all around the world.

Moreover all of the expedition and science actions, leisure choices are considerably restricted: anticipate finding low-key issues like artwork lessons, nautical knot demonstrations, and film and documentary screenings. Within the evenings, a classical or modern musical duo would play within the Explorer Lounge and the Residing Room, the place loveseats and chaises draped in reindeer hides are organized round water-vapor fireplaces. Once they weren’t out on the ice, my fellow passengers occupied themselves with books, board video games, and moments of solitude. I loved strolling the ship and taking within the many work and images centered across the theme of Antarctic exploration, that are detailed in an audio tour out there by way of Viking’s cellular app.

Spa lovers, like me, ought to benefit from the ship’s deck 2 sanctuary; I discovered it a heavenly haven after spending hours ashore. The wellness space is full of conventional Nordic hot-and-cold therapies, together with issues akin to a jetted pool, stone thermal beds, a “snow grotto” of regularly falling shaved ice, an ice-bucket bathe, and a sauna. There’s additionally a badestamp, or sizzling tub, with a window completely open to the ocean, for sightseeing whilst you soak.

Polaris additionally has an impressively massive health heart, one facet outfitted with cardio machines, the opposite a spacious wood-floored studio for yoga, meditation, or weights. (I used to be in a position to seamlessly stream Peloton exercises on my cellphone within the health club, because of the ship’s robust Wi-Fi.) The ship additionally has a hair salon and, on deck 3, a small boutique with sundries — and much-coveted Viking Antarctica jacket patches that my fellow passengers needed to have.

Household-Pleasant Choices

This isn’t a ship for youths: all Viking cruises, together with these on the Viking Polaris, are adults-only, with a minimal age of 18.

Accessibility

Two Nordic Junior Suites on Deck 4 adjust to ADA laws. That mentioned, Viking requires all passengers headed to Antarctica to current a health care provider’s attestation that they’re wholesome sufficient to journey on such an expedition, with no pre-existing situations that might require the form of superior medical consideration that’s unavailable on this distant nook of the world. As a result of all Antarctica landings are “moist,” with cruisers climbing from the ship to an inflatable tender then onto shore in water as much as the calves, some folks with restricted mobility might not discover these journeys to be sensible, despite the lodging on board.