Antarctica is a place of extreme beauty and harsh environments, where the frozen wilderness stretches as far as the eye can see. For adventurers who seek to explore this land of ice and snow, Seabourn Antarctica Expeditions cruises on the Seabourn Venture provide the perfect way to travel in style and premium comfort. Start you trip in the beautiful Buenos Aires and then make the trip south for this once in a lifetime adventure.
The snow covered white continent left me speechless and in awe; each day was better than the previous. A trip with Seabourn expeditions is among the best ways to cruise to Antarctica. A trip to the polar regions on the Seabourn Venture is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I highly recommend.
For those looking to book a Antarctica Expedition, please contact me at Scott & Thomas Travel or send me an email directly. I can typically offer $1,000 – $5,000 off or more Seabourn advertised prices! This includes trips to Patagonia, Kimberley’s and other Seabourn Expeditions. We have among the best prices in the industry!
Seabourn Venture Review – Seabourn Antarctica Review
The Seabourn Venture, and sister ship Seabourn Pursuit, are PC6 polar class icebreakers. Both ultra luxurious expedition vessels are specifically designed for exploring remote regions like Antarctica. Both ships boast all-suite accommodations for just 264 passengers. Luxury cruising and expeditions at its finest, Seabourn expeditions did not overlook any details on this beautiful cruise ship.
After a 1 night stay in Buenos Aires you will transfer to Ushuaia to meet the expedition ship. Charter flights between Buenos Aires and Ushuaia are included in your fare.
The Seabourn Venture Suites
The luxury expedition ships Seabourn Venture and Pursuit have spacious rooms that are beautifully appointed and equipped with everything you need for a comfortable and relaxing stay. Every room includes a full veranda, walk-in closet, heated drying closet, and 5-piece bathroom with separate bathtub and walk-in shower. Most of my friends stayed in a standard beautiful veranda suite. These rooms are more than comfortable and offer more space than most ships.
I upgraded my room to the larger Panorama Veranda Suite and the additional cost was 100% worth it. Larger windows and more space to relax, a larger bathroom with a jacuzzi tub equated to a blissful and more comfortable stay. Plus the room includes upgrades such as heated floors, more plush robes, and a nespresso machine.
Seabourn Dining Options
The ship features a variety of dining options. The Restaurant offers gourmet cuisine in a formal setting and is open for dinner, plus breakfast and lunch on select dates. White table clothes and 5 star service is the theme in the restaurant. Yet without a strict dress code. Thankfully, jeans are now allowed and there are no formal nights on these luxury expedition cruises.
The Colonnade serves up more casual fare and is open for Breakfast and Lunch. The colonnade is a buffet, but also has cooked to order options as well. At dinner time, the Colonnade transitions to the Earth and Ocean restaurant. This is a more casual dinner option with theme meals based on different regions of the world. Earth and ocean is a sit down dining facility with table service.
Nightly, from 6-9pm the Seabourn Club also turns into a sushi restaurant. Serving up surprisingly fresh and delicious sashimi, Nigiri, and rolls. We found this was a great place to grab a pre-dinner snack. Yet, it could easily be a full meal as well.
Other dining options aboard Seabourn include the light bites from Seabourn Square, the coffee shop. Or for those who want something else there is complimentary 24 hour room service available. The entire dinner menu from the main restaurant or earth and ocean is also available via room service.
Other Public Spaces
Seabourn has taken nearly every element of their larger cruise ships and brought them to the smaller expedition cruise ship plus more! The ship has a full size fitness center and a spa with two beautiful saunas. Both feature a panoramic window ensuring you miss nothing during your journey.
There is a club for live music and dancing in the early morning hours. Often we closed it down at 2 am. Plus there is the constellation lounge at the front of the ship with live music. This space is utilized for afternoon high tea, afternoon and evening cocktails.
The bow lounge is a great place to meet the expedition team and see the ships navigation tools. The Bow Lounge is one of my favorite places as it’s the closest access to water level and has direct access to the massive bow. It’s the perfect spot to watch for marine life. It also features touch screens showing the ship’s plotted location, as well as navigational charts and scientific information used to help guide the ship on its journey. There is also snacks in the bow lounge for those feeling peckish.
I found myself hanging out here albatross spotting on the Drake passage!
Finally, one of the most important areas of the ship is the beautiful Discovery Center. The discovery center is where the expedition staff provides daily recaps and plans for the following day. The discovery center is also utilized for nightly entertainment and live shows. On my expedition the cruise director performed both live opera and classical musicals. We also watched the super bowl, other movies, and watched our expedition video. The discovery center is also often used for educational talks throughout the expedition.
Antarctica Expeditions are more than a standard cruise. If you are traveling to the white continent, you also need to learn about the 7th Antarctica, South America, and the history of the area, including the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. The Discovery center is utilized for Seabourn conversations, or educational “ted talks.” It’s also utilized for after dinner entertainment. One night Seabourn even streamed the superbowl for us!
There are other public spaces on the ship, such as the expedition lounge. The expedition lounge is the meeting point for kayak and now defunct submarine excursions. It also doubles as a bar for the discovery center. Outfitted with a fireplace, it’s a cozy place the relax throughout the journey. This place also doubles as a dance floor when cruise director DJ Lupe spun for us.
Other spaces include the mud room where you get ready for the polar plunge or daily landings and where you disembark to zodiac boats. There is also the Sky Bar off the club next to the two higher jacuzzi. Off the colonnade is the pool deck which features a bar and two Jacuzzis too!
The only thing the Seabourn Venture is missing in the Sollis Grill. Yet, honestly with all the food options, I didn’t miss it that much.
Expedition Activities
Seabourn Antarctica on the Seabourn Venture offers a wide range of activities that are designed to help you get the most out of your journey and off the ship. Although, I cannot stress enough, no matter who you go with, you will spend the majority of your time on the ship. Therefore being on a comfortable ship is extremely important. There really are few places to land in Antarctica. With so many penguin colonies and the largest glaciers on this earth, stable land is limited which results in more time on the ship than off of it.
With Seabourn Expeditions you can take part in guided hikes, kayak through icy waters, and even take a polar plunge into the frigid Southern Ocean. All passengers are offered daily zodiac tour options along with wet landings. If the weather cooperates you can expect getting off the ship 2-3 times a day for 1-3 hours at a time. The fewer passengers also means the more time on land. IAATO regulations limit 100 tourists on land at a time and prohibits ships with greater than 500 passengers from landing in Antarctica. There’s also strict rules on how much time you can be at each landing site.
I found my Zodiac rides were over between 45 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on the weather and location and more often in the afternoon. After that amount of time most people were cold and ready to return.
Landings had more time and were often in the morning split into 3 groups. Most landings lasted 90-120 minutes. Yet this was more of an honor system. As groups all have around 75 people and some guests turned around and went back to the ship within minutes, others lingered the entire time. No one is stopping you from additional time on land.
All landings and Zodiac cruises are complementary and included in every Seabourn Expedition. Kayaking and submarines do cost more and should be signed up for before departure. The Seaborn Venture and Pursuit ships carry 10 sea kayaks built for doubles. 20 people at a time.
In addition to Seabourn Antarctica off-ship activities, there are plenty of items to keep you busy. On every Seabourn Antarctic expedition, you can also attend daily lectures and presentations by expert naturalists and scientists. They will help you gain a deeper understanding of the wildlife, geology, and ecology of Antarctica.
Bottom Line
The highlight of the Seabourn Antarctica journey is, of course, the experience of exploring the continent itself. The Seabourn Venture took me and my friends to the most stunning locations on earth. I witnessed first-hand the beauty and majesty of this unique landscape, giant ice sheets, tons of wildlife, and even watched icebergs form during glacier calving. You will have the opportunity to see wildlife that is found nowhere else on earth, and to explore the vast, frozen landscapes that make up the continent. The experience of exploring Antarctica on the Seabourn Venture is truly a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
There is so much more I will say about my adventure to Antarctica in another blog. Yet know, this really is an adventure of a lifetime and traveling with Seabourn was a true treat. When you’re ready to book your adventure to Antarctica, please contact me at Scott & Thomas travel. Bookings are now open through Feb 2025. I work with all major operators beyond Seabourn. My other favorites include National Geographic, Ponant, and Aurora Expeditions. Let me help you find your way to Antarctica!
