Visiting Antarctica on a Budget

Okay, visiting Antarctica on a budget both is and is not a thing. Said budget just may not be quite what you envision.

Visiting Antarctica will be expensive regardless and is probably well beyond what anyone would typically consider budget travel. In fact, a better title for this post would be, “How to Get a Big Discount Visiting Antarctica.”

That’s because even though I saved a fair amount, of every trip I’ve taken, visiting Antarctica was far and away the most expensive.

But I could have saved much more visiting Antarctica than I did, had I known how.

When all was said and done, the total cost for my trip as a whole was about $12,000, and this included an initial 35% discount.

My $12,000 covered:

Optional Antarctic add-ons such as sea kayaking and camping on the mainland which many people forego.

Mandatory travel insurance that meets certain coverage thresholds.

My flights to and from Argentina, a week spent in and around Argentina, a flight to Iguazu Falls, a hop across the border into Brazil, and extra things I purchased on the ship.

Meals were included (and they were great!) as well as alcohol during dinner. Outside of dinner hours, you had to pay for your own drinks.

Breakdown:

Antarctica in total: $9,366.76

Antarctica on its own: $7,740.00

Sea kayaking and camping: $1,290.00

Travel Insurance: $335.72

In the end, despite my savings, it turned out that I still paid quite a bit more than a few of my friends who secured much deeper discounts.

My Discount

But what about those discounts?

When most people get the idea of visiting Antarctica they’re immediately scared off. That’s because the average base price they see is usually somewhere in the $15,000 – $20,000+ ballpark.

And yes, these prices are out there, including far more expensive trips in the $60,000 – $120,000 range if you’re looking to do something specific like see the emperor penguins (they live farther inland), visit the literal South Pole, or fly there instead of sailing. (The ship is part of the fun!)

So how was I able to get it so “cheap”?

Well, it’s all about timing, flexibility, and what concessions you’re willing to make.

The Antarctica summer/tourist season is roughly five months long and runs from November to March.

I booked my trip in February for November of the same year.

If you were to start researching trips to Antarctica right now and dig a little, you can generally find a better price.

Even though it was almost 10 months away for me, this was considered to be a late booking. As such, discounts start getting a bit larger. I was fortunate enough to secure a booking with 35% off while the standard discount I was seeing elsewhere topped out at around 25%.

Sure, my cabin was on the bottom level, and I was paired with another solo traveler who was quite grumpy (some of the aforementioned concessions), but I was satisfied.

Anyway, I didn’t know it at the time, but had I waited, I could have secured a much larger discount than only 35% off.

Why do the discounts get so big?

Visiting Antarctica is a major undertaking. The ships are expensive, and large crews are required to stay safe. As such, companies who run these expeditions want to ensure that they fill their boats to capacity.

The Gamble

Are you the gambling type?

The closer you get to the date, the cheaper the rates generally get...If you go about it right.

But how long should you wait? For visiting Antarctica, I booked in February and secured a 35% discount.

A friend of mine that I met on the trip booked in July and only paid $6,000. I would have been ecstatic to only pay $6,000. (He also signed up for the same excursions as me, so technically it was even less for him.)

He was in a triple bunk, but still, that’s a much better deal than what I got seeing as everything else was exactly the same in terms of amenities.

Double or triple, room size won’t matter to most who are trying to manage visiting Antarctica on a budget anyway.

Some will have the “do what it takes” mentality. Others won’t care because you won’t be in the room other than sleeping or maybe throwing up if you get seasick.

Fair warning, a lot of people got seasick while crossing the Drake Passage.

I didn’t get sick and I didn’t need any Dramamine. If you watched my Instagram stories you saw I found it fun, but others ranged from getting sick once to hugging their toilet for days.

One friend had a roommate that we never saw because he was constantly sick.

Dramamine was provided for free if you wanted it.

So where’s the gamble?

That doesn’t sound like much of a gamble, does it? Well, the gamble is, come July when my friend booked, you’re running the risk of the ship being full. And the better the ship, the more likely it is to be full.

While I did like my boat, it was by far the oldest in the Quark fleet. It was also the smallest and had the least amenities.

If you’re willing to risk missing out, the longer you wait, the bigger the discount.

I didn’t speak to everyone about what they paid, but in the circle we formed, everyone discussed it pretty openly.

I don’t know if it was the best of everyone on board, but the two guys in the cabin next to me managed to secure a monster discount.

One of them even got a double room all to himself, but they were friends so they paired up rather than one of them sharing with a stranger.

One guy booked 6 days out and only paid $3000 for his entire voyage! The other booked a full week out and paid just slightly more than that.

That is insane! They had the same size room as me and also signed up for paddling. (Paddling is slightly different than kayaking and a little cheaper.)

Why doesn’t everyone book like that?

Well, as I said, when booking a week or less out, there is no assurance that there will be any availability.

The rooms that they got were on the last boat to be filled.

Visiting Antarctica on or off of a budget is also a big trip to get off the ground in terms of logistics.

One thing they had working in their favor was that they had just left Patagonia. As such, they were able to go right to an agency desk in Ushuaia and inquire in person.

These two mega discounters I met went to a place called called “Last Minute Ushuaia.”

Had it been sold out, they wouldn’t have cared since they weren’t deadset on going.

In terms of their gear, most operators give you a free parka (yours to keep) as well as Muck Boots (to be returned). Everything else they rented in town.

I personally detest rental gear, but sometimes you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.

If you’re not feeling quite so daring, the other option is to call or email the operator. My friend who booked in July emailed an agent directly at Quark.

My recommendation for those looking to save?

If paying only $6000 (or potentially less) four months out is good enough for you in terms of savings, then send the operators a direct email and see what’s available.

Speak to whoever runs the boat directly. If you’re looking to book passage on a Quark ship, then email Quark.

Avoid Third Parties

The direct email to the operator is important – don’t go through a third party.

In my case, I booked through the agency Adventure-Life, while my expedition was actually run by Quark.

Agencies like Adventure-Life want to make a profit on tours run by others so their discounts will be much smaller and harder to come by. Some offer much smaller discounts than the 35% off I got.

Booking through an agency was a mistake on my part, but I didn’t know any better. This is part of why my blog exists. I overpay so you don’t have to.

Swoop-Antarctica, for example, doesn’t even have any discounts listed at the moment.

Basically, they’re banking on your not doing the proper research.

Other third parties:

Another third party I found is antarcticatravels.com.

Again, don’t book with them. Instead, use them to your advantage.

They have a mailing list, and if you don’t mind those, they’ll email you about sales and discounts.

Use them as a way to track prices and general discounts.

If you see something you like, find out who operates the ship, and talk to them directly. Try to get something better. Even adventure life started as 25% with me before I “thought it looked a little too expensive.”

These companies don’t always list who the operators are on their fleet page, but if you look closely at the ship, it’s usually painted on there somewhere.

For example, they list the Ocean Adventurer as part of “their” fleet. This is the exact ship I was on, and if you look at it, you can see the big yellow Q and where it says Quark Expeditions.

Through research (after my trip…heh), I also found the website Last Minute Antarctica Deals. At the time of writing, the cheapest they had was a $5750 trip in October marked down from $9595. I haven’t investigated them, but I imagine they’re little different than other third parties.

The problem with them though, is that nothing is clickable, so it’s hard to see exactly what you’re shopping for.

They want to get you on the phone so they can pitch you.

What if there’s nothing available?

Worst case scenario, though I find it unlikely, especially in the low season, you may get there only to hear that everything is full. If that happens, you’ll need a backup plan. Luckily, Ushuaia is close enough to Patagonia that it would be an easy pivot.

In fact, several people I was staying with headed straight to Patagonia after we returned.

Does it have to be done in person?

I’m not going to tell you that you can’t find any amazing deals online. Again, my friend only paid $6,000. Try the email, but if you don’t see the type of discount you need, wait longer, or roll the dice.

I get it, flying to the southernmost city in the entire world is a big ask for an unknown outcome.

It all comes down to how important these savings are to making your dream of visiting Antarctica on a budget come true.

So does it have to be done in person? No. But it will certainly help you save!

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