Day	Ports
1	Buenos Aires
2	Ushuaia
3	At Sea
4	At Sea
5	Antartica
6	Antartica
7	Antartica
8	Antartica
9	Antartica
10	At Sea
11	At Sea
12	Ushuaia

Day 1: Buenos Aires

Feel the rhythm of bustling Buenos Aires

Start your Antarctic adventure with an overnight stay in Buenos Aires.

Home to a proud and diverse community of ‘porteños’, or ‘people of the port,’ this city is a sensuous fusion of faded European splendor and Latin American panache.

There are plenty of places to explore, including many ‘parrillas’ serving authentic Argentine steak. This is the renowned hometown of the tango, so maybe you’d like to practice your dance moves.

We recommend arriving a few days early to experience everything this vibrant city has to offer with our optional Pre-Program.

Day 2: Ushuaia

Setting off from the bottom of the world

Your adventure begins with an early morning flight to Ushuaia, where you’ll meet our hybrid electric-powered expedition ship, specially designed for sustainable cruising in polar waters.

This bustling port is the capital of Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego Province. Set against the magnificent backdrop of the Martial Glacier, Ushuaia is a contender for the title of the world’s southernmost city.

After a briefing from your Expedition Team, you’ll have time to locate your cabin and explore the comforts and amenities on board.

Day 3-4: At Sea

Cross the Drake Passage

On the two-day crossing through the Drake Passage, the Expedition Team will equip you with everything you need to make the most of your polar expedition.

Visit the onboard Science Center and find out what lies ahead. Listen as experts talk passionately about Antarctica’s history, the science beneath the ice, and the impact of climate change and plastic pollution. Learn how to make your visit as safe and as low-impact as possible and discover the Citizen Science projects you can join.

There’s plenty of time to relax, so unwind in the spa and wellness area, enjoy delicious cuisine, and meet fellow travelers in the Explorer Lounge & Bar.

Day 5-9: Antartica

Experience Antarctica in all its natural majesty

Nothing prepares you for your first sight of Antarctica’s immense, frozen beauty. Antarctica will fill you with wonder, surrounded by looming glaciers and icebergs the size of floating cathedrals. Perhaps the most surprising part of Antarctica is the silence. The stillness that reigns is broken every so often by the locals – the wildlife.

Whales begin to arrive in greater numbers by December and January. This is also when the first penguin chicks hatch. Seeing those clumsy clumps of feathers running around is always a charming sight. February and March are peak whale watching months, when huge amounts of krill lure whales to the area.

Nature is king here and we are mere observers. Our experienced Captain will continually monitor conditions to create the best possible itinerary for your adventure. Rest assured that each day will offer something different and thrilling.

Join the Expedition Team on landings and while ice cruising. You may even have the chance to kayak among the icebergs.

Back on board, the Expedition Team will continue their lectures, helping expand your insight into the frozen continent. Over five magical days, experience this amazing world in a way that will stay with you for a lifetime.

Day 10-11: At Sea

Heading back north across the Drake Passage

After five incredible days, you’ll have experienced so much in Antarctica. Your head will likely still be a swirling kaleidoscope of special memories and impressions. Take the next few days to reflect on your adventure to the seventh continent.

As you think back on the magical Antarctic scenery, take time to sift through your photos and videos to recapture a sense of its magnitude. We recommend taking the chance to unwind in the sauna or enjoy some relaxing spa treatments in the wellness area.

Day 12: Ushuaia

From Ushuaia to Buenos Aires

Your expedition cruise ends in Ushuaia, the main city in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina’s southernmost province. From here, you’ll take a flight back to Buenos Aires, but it doesn’t have to be the end of your adventure.

We recommend signing up for our optional Post-Program before heading home.

Hurtigruten Group is the leader in the travel industry towards a greener future.
Committed to taking care of our guests, wildlife, nature, and the communities we visit, we’re setting a new standard of sustainability for the travel industry.
Exploring our blue planet for more than a century has taught us the importance of being green.

We are now supporting 41 environmental, cultural and social projects in 11 different countries. These range from helping endangered orcas in the Pacific Northwest and protecting Galápagos seabirds, to securing safe spaces for vulnerable Greenlandic children and enabling community storytelling for the Itquamavit elders in Canada’s frozen north. We hope that the ripples we create today will one day turn into the waves of the future. With the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as our compass, our cruises to the planet’s most stunning corners are where explorers can truly feel at home. After all, it’s not about us, it’s about all of us.

Saying Goodbye to Plastic

We announced our war on plastics in 2018 when we were the first expedition company to ban non-essential single-use plastic throughout our entire operation. That means you won’t find items like plastic cups, plastic straws or plastic cutlery on board our ships. You also won’t see our shops selling microplastic-made fleeces but stocking natural wool clothing instead. Absent too are plastic water bottles. We provide all our guests on an expedition cruise with a complimentary high-quality reusable bottle for use at water refill stations dotted around the ship. This simple act saves at least 1,000 plastic bottles a day on some of our larger ships.

 

Inspiring Environmental Ambassadors

Witnessing the beauty of our planet is sure to leave a lasting impression on you, and you’ll talk enthusiastically about these stunning destinations with friends and family for decades to come. To make sure you can speak informatively when you return home, every one of our expedition cruises has a focus on the environment.

The Expedition Team give lectures that raise awareness of climate change, ocean plastic, and the measures we can all take to help ease these issues. It is our hope that engaging with nature on our expedition cruises will inspire you to do all you can to cherish and protect the precious world we all share.

 

Connecting With Communities

We are dedicated to supporting the local communities we visit, and to creating beneficial ripple effects that continue long after we’ve left. By trading locally and sourcing services such as food produce and excursions from local suppliers, we contribute to the livelihood and welfare of people.

We strive not only to connect with these communities, but to share genuine friendship with them while always respecting their values and customs. As guests in their home, our emphasis is on appreciating their unique culture and ensuring our interactions are positive and upbuilding for all. You can therefore enjoy authentic experiences knowing your visit is doing good, both for you and for them.

 

A Footprint We’re Proud Of

You’ll likely encounter a range of wildlife during your expedition, doing so from a safe distance. We’ll be sure to never get too close to them, out of respect for their welfare as much as yours. By not disturbing wildlife with our presence, you’ll be able to observe their natural behavior, in their natural habitat. We want to leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but pictures! In fact, in many of the areas we visit in Antarctica, we even specifically wipe out our footprints so as to prevent penguins tripping and falling into them.

 

Working Together As One

Sustainability isn’t something we can do alone. Everyone in our industry needs to work together for a greener future. We are therefore founding members of the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO) and members of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO). These trade member organisations work to establish sustainable tourism in polar regions, fighting mass tourism by limiting ships and shore visits, and creating guidelines that protect fragile environments and rare wildlife.

We’ve also committed ourselves to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. These guiding principles will take us steps ahead of current regulations to offer you greener and more sustainable expedition cruises on and for the planet.

 

Serving Planet-Friendly Plant-Based Food

We offer full menus of delicious plant-based dishes that will impress even those yet to be convinced by this way of eating. These meals not only have low or even zero CO2 footprints, they also promote healthier living and prove conclusively that vegan and vegetarian cuisine can still taste great. We’ve also put in place food management waste programmes on all our ships, aiming to reduce food waste by at least 30%.

 

Investing in Green Tech

Building our two new hybrid-powered expedition ships, MS Roald Amundsen and MS Fridtjof Nansen, represents the biggest investment in our almost 130 years of history. They are packed with ground-breaking green technology, such as battery packs, heat recovery systems, and a cutting-edge hull design. These innovations combined reduce carbon emissions by more than 20 %, compared to other cruise ships of the same size.

Hurtigruten stopped using heavy fuel oil more than a decade ago and campaign for its worldwide ban. To set a new standard, we are also considering a range of new, green fuel options, including biofuels made from organic waste.