Antarctica Expedition Trip

[Inspiremeaholiday]

Hi all,
We have a bucket list item we want to tick off at some point, and that is the Antarctica Expedition Trip (so you actually can step onto Antarctica)
Has anyone done it before? If so, how old were you kids? My daughter is 8 and is really keen to do it but I thought 12 would be a better age but now I am not sure. Ideally we would take the ship from Ushuaia but I worry about the Drake Passage.
The second option is to fly from Cape Town and it overland style but that cost seems far higher!
Anyone been and can offer tips?
Thanks

STOP IT!
This sounds incredible. Its making me want to go even more!

I did Christmas in Antarctica in 2018 with Hurtigruten. The minimum age was 8 but there were only a handful of children. So lucky to experience the Drake Lake both ways rather than the Drake Shake.

Totally incredible experience but I think about 12 and up would be best age wise

@Inspiremeaholiday Remember that travelling is not just the experience in the here and now but the revisit in your memory. If you take her too soon she won't be able to remember. We took our DC to memorable places eg Hawaii and Alaska when they were young which they thoroughly enjoyed at the time but things fade despite us regularly talking about it and they have barely any memories as adults. It seems such a shame for DD to have to miss out on a life of looking back at such a fantastic experience because she was young when she went. I would advise patience.

Remember Antarctica and Galapagos have limits to the number of people who can go ashore at any one time so be mindful of which ship you choose.

Galapagos was fab. We were on a boat with 16 passengers so we all landed/swum at the same time. It was a last minute booking but it worked well. We snorkelled with turtles and sealions on a daily basis. We did some land based diving before the cruise whch was slightly alarming as we went to see the hammerhead sharks on one dive!

I have to say I totally disagree with you. These experiences ingrain on her, and help shape the person she is. We are a family that prioritises experiences and she is amazingly well travelled for her age and I don’t regret it.

@InspiremeaholidayWe went with https://thinkgalapagos.com/ who were amazing. Rachel who sorts all bookings is married to an Ecuadorean and familiar with all the boats etc. we went on a very small boat - only 12 people including some teenagers. We got onto the islands before the big boats! Every morning and afternoon we had two guided tours - either snorkelling or walking. Saw turtles, sharks, iguanas, giant tortoise, blue footed boobies, Galapagos penguins and every other type of bird! It really was amazing. The one thing I would say is be careful what time of year you go as you want the water to be as warm as possible - end of March is good. One of the reasons there is so much wildlife is due the the cold currents. We could stay in the water for about an hour but a friend went and they could only manage 30 mins. I’ve directed quite a few people to Rachel and all have had a fabulous time. She also has a child who she takes there so would be able to advise on best age.

We went with Chimu/Intrepid. So not the most luxurious ship by any means, but we knew what we were in for and wanted to maximise our time there (21days) rather than have a fancy cabin etc. My husband had actually been before and his experience was that he eventually got his 'sea legs' and was ok, but honestly every time we went into open ocean it was incredibly rough and I was so so ill every time, despite using patches (that have their own side effects), sea sickness pills that had previously worked well for me etc. The cabin doctor had to come and see me in bed one night as I couldn't keep anything down - was grim. I came back 5kgs lighter than when I left!!