Antarctic New Year
with Neill Drake
10 day expedition, Antarctica onboard Ocean Albatros
Celebrate on Antarctica
A Classic 10-day Journey to the White Continent
This classic Antarctica expedition will depart Ushuaia and sail south through the infamous Drake Passage on its way to Antarctica. For four full days, you will explore the continent and its surrounding islands.
During your trip, you will have the opportunity to make multiple landings, zodiac cruises, as well as attend lectures and presentations from your onboard expedition staff. Your guides will be made up of experts in the fields of glaciology, marine biology, ornithology, marine ecology, environmental science, and many others.
Each guide team varies each season so each mix of professions may be slightly different, but you can expect rich content about wildlife, history, geology, and the conservation of Antarctica.
Enjoy an evening of New Year’s festivities with a special dinner, followed by a open invitation talent show from our guests and ship’s crew!
Meet Your Trip Leader
Neill Drake is just a regular guy with a passport and a camera, traveling from one end of the Earth to the other. He started his nomadic lifestyle in 2015 when he travelled from Ushuaia to Alaska with his dog and an old VW Bus. He’s been travelling ever since, telling his stories through his photography. Neill leads photography trips to Antarctica and Patagonia.
Upcoming trips: Antarctic New Year
Available departures
10 day/9 night Expedition
26 Dec 2024 - 4 Jan 2025
From USD 8,490 per person
Trip code: ND01AN
Travel Itinerary
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Embarkation in Ushuaia, Argentina, and Beagle Channel:
In the early afternoon, you'll begin embarking the Ocean Albatros and familiarizing yourself with your new home for the next ten days. You'll participate in mandatory shipboard safety drills and get to know your expedition team and the ship's crew. We'll begin to set sail in the early evening and begin sailing through the historic Beagle Channel. The Beagle is a great place to observe all types of wildlife, including potentially your first penguin sightings. Dolphin, whales, and various bird species are frequently observed in the Beagle channel; so we suggest you bring your binoculars and spend as much time outside as possible during this transit.
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Sailing the Drake Passage on our way to Antarctica:
When you wake up on the morning of the 27th, you'll be in the infamous Drake Passage. You'll spend these next two days at sea attending mandatory meetings regarding our operations while we are in Antarctica as well as be offered a variety of lectures and presentations from our expedition team guides. These presentations are a valuable educational resource to prepare you for your experience when we arrive in Antarctica. You'll often find on our team a wide variety of science and historical backgrounds such as ornithologists, marine ecologists, marine biologists, environmental scientists, geologists, historians, and many others. While seasickness may be a part of the experience in the Drake passage for some; every guest cabin on the Ocean Albatros can live-stream the lecture content on your cabin's TV in case you're not feeling well. The Drake Passage is a great opportunity to observe the first of our various sea birds, including the Wandering Albatross.
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Expedition days in Antarctica and S. Shetland Islands:
Welcome to Antarctica! For the next four days, you'll be exploring Antarctica and its surrounding islands. The primary objective for the next four days is to get everyone off the ship as much as possible. Our two main expedition activities are shore landings and Zodiac cruises. Weather dependent, we will try and do two activities per day for the four days we’re on the peninsula. There will be a morning activity after breakfast and an afternoon activity after lunch. During each activity, each group will have the opportunity to do both a landing and a Zodiac cruise. We always try our hardest to meet this expectation, but because the weather in Antarctica can be extremely unpredictable, we want everyone to be flexible and manage expectations. "Activities" include landings, Zodiac cruises, and ship cruises. No matter what the activity for the day is, the expedition team will work as hard as they can in conjunction with the captain and the crew to maximize the guest experience. On the off chance we visit a location that only offers a Zodiac cruise and no landing, the team will offer onboard presentations for those who remain on the ship. These locations are known for large concentrations of wildlife, historic landmarks like shipwrecks, or large “glacier graveyards” only accessible by Zodiac; which is why we may opt for a Zodiac cruise-only location.
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Departing Antarctica and reentering the Drake Passage:
Sadly, our time in Antarctica has come to an end, but the adventure isn't over. We will reenter the Drake passage as we head back towards Ushuaia. Hopefully, we will still have plenty of wildlife sightings during the crossing, and the expedition team will continue to offer presentations.
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Disembarkation in Ushuaia:
The time has come to say goodbye to the Ocean Albatros, your expedition team, and crew, as well as all the new friends you made. However, it should never be goodbye... rather "see you later!".
Your luggage will be collected and taken off the ship for you, where courtesy busses will be provided to take you to the airport to catch your departing flight or take you to the city center if you plan to stay in Ushuaia for a bit.
What can you expect?
Once we arrive in Antarctica it will be the ultimate goal of the Captain, Expedition Leader, and the Expedition Team to make sure we get off the ship as much as possible. You’ll participate in landings, zodiac cruises, and any additional activities you’ve signed up for. Check the “Detailed trip itinerary” below for more details on each outing.
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MV Ocean Albatros
The Ocean Albatros, sistership to the Ocean Victory, will join the fleet of Albatros Expeditions in May 2023.
Currently, it is the highest-rated ice-class ship built to date. It was also awarded “the most environmentally friendly ship to operate in the polar regions”.
This expedition vessel platform was designed for exploring Antarctica. The unique Xbow design offers speed and stability that is unmatched by other expedition cruise vessels.
The Ocean Albatros carries 176 passengers and can max at 190.
Category F - Triple Porthole
Located on deck 3, these cabins offer three lower twin beds, or a queen bed with a single bed. These are large cabins that are great for a group of traveling friends, solo travelers, and families. - Ensuite
Cat C - Balcony Stateroom
Located on Deck 4 or Deck 6, these twin balcony staterooms offer a private balcony and a spacious living area. Some cabins offer a sofa, while others offer two sitting chairs. Available as two twins or a matrimonial bed. - Ensuite
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Shore excursions:
Landings will be the primary of objective of our trip, along with Zodiac cruises during our time in Antarctica. Landings will include visiting dense penguin colonies, research stations, trekking opportunities and maybe even the southern most post office in the world! While landings will be the main focus of activity days, weather will ultimately determine how many times we will be able to set foot onshore. While on shore, our guide team will be there to answer any questions you have, point out interesting wildlife, geological features and historical landmarks, as well as keep us safe from any potential hazards in the snow/ice.
Zodiac cruises:
Zodiac cruises are great for observing whales, icebergs, glaciers and penguins who may be out feeding at sea. Your driver will navigate around the area looking for wildlife and beautiful landscapes. By the end of the trip, Zodiac cruises tend to become the crowd favorite because of the vast diversity you get to experience on the cruises. Zodiac cruises are also a great opportunity to spend some quality time with your expedition guides. We all have our expertise, and as you rotate through drivers during the trip, you'll be able to get some one-on-one time with different drivers who love sharing their knowledge with you.
Ship Cruises:
In the event we encounter bad weather and are unable to disembark the ship, we will do what we call an “expedition day ship's cruise". This is when we try to reposition the ship to a more protected location while observing the wildlife and landscape around us. During this reposition, we encourage everyone to bundle up, head outside, and enjoy this scenery. During this time, one of the expedition team specialists will likely offer a presentation related to Antarctica Wildlife, History, conservation or more! If the ship finds a suitable area to conduct off-ship operations, we will try as hard as we can to follow through with operations for the day.
A typical expedition day may look like this:
06:45: Wake-up call
07:00-08:00: Breakfast
08:30-11:30: Morning activity - Landing and Zodiac Cruise
12:30-13:30: Lunch (Ship relocates)
14:30-17:30: Afternoon Activity - Landing and Zodiac Cruise
18:30-19:30: Evening Recap with Expedition team
19:30: Dinner
21:00: Evening entertainment or presentations with Expedition team.
* All activities are subject to weather, scheduling and timing.
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10-day cruise with accommodation
Antarctic Travel Group Swag Bag
All Zodiac landings and excursions as per itinerary
Expedition parka
Rubber boot rentals
Guiding and lectures by our expedition leader and team
English-speaking expedition team
Full board on the ship - breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks
Free tea and coffee 24 hours daily
Taxes, Port fees, document fees
Special photo workshop
Welcome and farewell cocktails
Digital visual journal link after the voyage, including voyage log, gallery, species list, and more!
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Extra excursions and activities not mentioned in the itinerary
Alcohol and soda unless specified by early-bird booking or drink package purchase.
Single-room supplement and stateroom upgrades
Meals not on board the ship
Tips for the crew (we recommend USD 14 per person per day)
Personal expenses
Anything not explicitly mentioned under ’Inclusions’
Flights to and from Ushuaia
Trip FAQs
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Throughout the seasons, we've developed relationships with various tour operators that offer us deeper discounts and group rates for those signing up as a group. Our trips are made up of members from our Facebook community named Antarctica Travel Group. The number of members on the trip can range anywhere from 10 to 170 depending on the time of year and ship size. If you're interested in more information about joining a group trip, don't hesitate to send us a message!
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YES! Our group trips are a great option for solo travelers, as well as families, groups, and couples. Around 50% of our group trip members are solo travelers so you're in good company! If you’re going on a group trip as a solo traveler but don’t want to be in a solo cabin, we will attempt to match you up in a cabin with other members from our community.
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You do not need a Visa to visit Antarctica, South Georgia, or the Falklands when you visit via expedition ship. All your documents will be handled by the tour operator. However, you may need a visa to enter Argentina or Chile depending on where you will depart from. Check with your country’s embassy website for more information.
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Each ship and trip will be slightly different. A Classic Antarctica trip will usually include 3, 4 or 5 days of doing shore-based activities and Zodiac cruises. For shore-based activities, you will be visiting wildlife habitats, research stations, historical landmarks, going on treks or even visit an active volcano. Weather and scheduling are important factors and none of these activities are guaranteed, though the crew will do their best to make sure to maximize your experience. When not on land or on the ship, you'll be cruising in Zodiacs, looking for wildlife, and visiting icebergs and glaciers. Zodiac cruising, in my opinion, is the best way to experience the vast diversity of Antarctica.
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Absolutely!!! We don't do "Sightseeing" tours. Every single one of our group trips is carefully chosen with ships and companies that focus on the adventure aspect of visiting Antarctica and trying to maximize your time spent off the ship and out on land or in Zodiacs.
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If we do, we'd be the first!
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Each ship has slightly different requirements for the amount of medical evacuation insurance you need, and they will let you know well ahead of time. There are no hospitals or emergency rooms in Antarctica so in the event of a serious medical emergency, the passenger will need to be med-evaced to the mainland. There is a doctor on board who can handle the majority of medical emergencies, and only in the extremely rare cases does a passenger need to be flown back to get medical care.
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Citizen Science programs are designed to allow each passenger to assist with the ongoing research efforts in Antarctica. Check out our “Citizen Science” link under “Cool Content” for more information.
Questions?
If you have questions or would like more information about this trip from Planet Expeditions or the Trip Leader, please provide your details and a request below.