Experience

Antarctica by Ship or by Lodge: Expedition Cruises vs White Desert's Fly-In Camps

Two ways to reach the ice: an expedition ship across the Drake Passage, or a private jet from Cape Town to a camp in the interior. I compare them on what you see, what it costs and who each suits, with the 2027-28 fares.

By Albina Sharapova

Updated October 11, 2026 · 11 min read

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For a luxury trip to Antarctica, the decision usually comes down to two very different experiences, and they show you two different continents.

An expedition ship sails from the tip of South America across the Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula: the coast, the icebergs, the penguin colonies and the whales, with landings by Zodiac. A fly-in camp takes you by jet from Cape Town to the interior, a landscape of ice sheet, mountains and silence that no ship reaches, with the South Pole and the emperor penguins a further flight away.

This guide compares the ships we book for the 2027-28 season against White Desert, the fly-in operator I would look at first, with the fares each published when we read them on 9 October 2026. For the wider picture of the continent, read our Antarctica expeditions guide.

My verdict

For most people, I would choose the ship. The Peninsula is where the wildlife is, the landings are many, and on Viking, Seabourn or Silversea you pay about USD 1,340 to USD 1,990 per person a night. White Desert's South Pole week costs about USD 17,100 per person a night.

The camp earns that price for a specific traveller: someone who has already seen the Peninsula, wants the South Pole or the emperor penguins, or will not cross the Drake Passage under any circumstances. The flight from Cape Town takes five and a half hours.

First time, best balance: Seabourn Venture or Pursuit, with the Buenos Aires hotel and the charter flights in the fare
Worried about the Drake: Silversea's Fly and Sail on Silver Wind, which flies you one way
The deep ice: Ponant's Le Commandant Charcot into the Weddell Sea
The most days for the fare: Viking Polaris, fourteen nights across the Antarctic Circle
The interior, the Pole, the emperors: White Desert

The ship shows you Antarctica. The camp puts you inside it.

Ship or camp, side by side

	Expedition ship	White Desert fly-in camp
Gateway	Buenos Aires, Ushuaia or Puerto Williams	Cape Town
Getting there	Across the Drake Passage both ways, or a charter flight one way on Silversea's Fly and Sail	A 5.5-hour flight to a blue-ice runway
Where you are	The Antarctic Peninsula and its islands; the Weddell Sea on Le Commandant Charcot	The interior of Queen Maud Land, with the South Pole and the Atka Bay emperor colony by smaller aircraft
Guests	200 to 378 per ship	12 per camp, in six suites
Season	November to March	November to early February
2027-28, per person	From USD 16,999 for 12 nights (Viking) to USD 59,200 for 12 nights (Le Commandant Charcot)	USD 72,000 to USD 120,000 for 6 to 8 nights

Ship fares per person at double occupancy as each line's booking data or site showed them on 9 October 2026. White Desert's rates per person sharing, from white-desert.com the same day, including the flight from Cape Town and all food and drink in Antarctica.

The 2027-28 ships, compared

One December sailing per line, each priced at the lowest category still open when we read the line's own data.

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Line	Ship and sailing	From	Included	Who it suits
Silversea	Silver Wind, Fly and Sail the Drake Passage, King George Island to Puerto Williams, 9 nights, 1 Dec 2027; 274 guests	USD 17,900 per person (Vista Suite)	A butler in every suite, dining, wines and spirits, gratuities, Wi-Fi; on expedition voyages all landings and gear	Anyone who wants to fly one way and sail one way
Seabourn	Seabourn Venture, Buenos Aires roundtrip, 11 nights, 8 Dec 2027; 264 guests	USD 18,498 per person (Veranda Suite, taxes and fees included)	Spirits and wines, every restaurant, Wi-Fi, the Buenos Aires hotel and the charter flights to Ushuaia, Zodiac cruises and landings	A first Antarctic voyage with everything arranged
Viking Expeditions (premium tier)	Viking Polaris, Into the Antarctic Circle, Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, 14 nights, 4 Dec 2027; 378 guests	USD 18,699 per person	The Buenos Aires hotel night and charter flights, landings, Zodiacs and kayaks, meals, beer and wine with lunch and dinner. Gratuities, drinks package and submarine (USD 499) extra	The most nights for the fare
Ponant	Le Lyrial, Ushuaia roundtrip, 10 nights, 7 Dec 2027	USD 33,120 per person (window stateroom, 1 left); balcony from USD 35,200	Full board, drinks in restaurants, bars and minibars, Wi-Fi, port fees. Gratuities extra	French style on a small ship
Ponant	Le Commandant Charcot, the Weddell Sea, Ushuaia roundtrip, 12 nights, 16 Dec 2027; 245 guests	USD 59,200 per person (balcony stateroom)	As Le Lyrial	Ice that the other ships cannot reach

Fares per person at double occupancy, in US dollars, as each line's own booking data showed them on 9 October 2026; Viking's from its site that day, during its Fall Sale. Silversea's is the Plus fare, with a refundable deposit. A suite for two costs double. Scenic Eclipse showed no 2027-28 Antarctic departure in Scenic's US listing that day; its 2026-27 Antarctica in Depth started at USD 21,730 per person. Fares and availability move; these are a dated snapshot, and we quote what is open when you enquire.

Per night, Viking is the lowest at about USD 1,340 per person, and Seabourn and Silversea sit close together at about USD 1,680 and USD 1,990. Ponant's Charcot is in a tier of its own, at about USD 4,930 a night, because it goes where the others cannot. And White Desert's South Pole week, at USD 120,000 for seven nights, comes to about USD 17,100.

Every sailing quoted here is in our sailing finder, with the rest of each line's Antarctic season.

The Ships and the Camps

Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit

First time, best balance

$$$$$ · Antarctic Peninsula · South Georgia · Chilean fjords

Seabourn's two expedition ships are built to PC6 polar class and carry 264 guests in 132 veranda suites, with 24 Zodiacs, enough in Seabourn's own wording for every guest to be out at once, and a 19-person Expedition Team. Between October 2027 and March 2028 they make 19 Antarctic departures of 10 to 25 days.

What makes them my first suggestion is how much is arranged. The Antarctic voyages include a pre-cruise hotel night in Buenos Aires and the charter flights between Buenos Aires and Ushuaia, and the fare covers premium spirits and wines, every restaurant, Wi-Fi, and the Zodiac cruises and landings. Kayaking is extra.

On the 8 December Venture sailing, eleven nights from Buenos Aires, the Veranda Suite started at USD 18,498 per person and the Penthouse Suite at USD 25,998.

Book it for: a first Antarctic voyage where the flights, the hotel and the drinks are already in the fare.

Think twice if: you want the Weddell Sea or a ship under 200 guests.

See the ships and sailings Book with us

Silversea

Fly one way, sail one way

$$$$$ · Silver Wind · Silver Endeavour · Silver Cloud

Silversea works Antarctica with three expedition ships, and offers two ways in: the Drake Passage crossing, or the Antarctica Fly Cruise, a charter flight to King George Island, where the ship is waiting.

For 2027-28, Silver Wind runs nine-night Fly and Sail voyages through the season, flying one way and sailing the Drake the other, between King George Island and Puerto Williams in Chile. She carries 274 guests on a hull strengthened for ice in 2021. Every suite comes with a butler, and the expedition fare includes the landings and gear as well as dining, wines and spirits and gratuities.

On the 1 December sailing, the Vista Suite started at USD 17,900 per person and the Classic Veranda Suite at USD 19,900.

Book it for: travellers who want the Peninsula but only one crossing of the Drake, with a butler.

Think twice if: you want the Drake Passage itself as part of the adventure, both ways.

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Le Commandant Charcot pushing through polar pack ice under a low sun, mountains on the horizon

Le Commandant Charcot and the Ponant fleet

The deep ice

$$$$$ · Antarctic Peninsula · Weddell Sea

Le Commandant Charcot is a hybrid-electric icebreaker of ice class PC2. Ponant sends her where the ice is hardest, into the Weddell Sea, and she is the only ship on which Ponant sells a full circumnavigation of Antarctica. She carries 245 guests to 215 crew.

On the 16 December sailing into the Weddell Sea, twelve nights from Ushuaia, the lowest open category was a balcony stateroom at USD 59,200 per person, and the Deluxe Suite, 301 sq ft, USD 62,820.

Ponant's other ships sail the Peninsula from Ushuaia on ten-night voyages: Le Lyrial on 7 December from USD 33,120 per person for its last window stateroom. Ponant notes that its ships carry no more than 200 guests in Antarctica. The fare covers full board and drinks in the restaurants, bars and minibars; gratuities are extra.

Book it for: travellers who have seen the Peninsula, or want the Weddell Sea and the heavy ice.

Think twice if: budget per night matters; Charcot costs two and a half to three times a Seabourn or Silversea suite.

See the ships and sailings Book with us

Viking Octantis under way in dark blue water below the snow-covered mountains of the Antarctic coast

Viking Expeditions

Premium tier · the most days for the fare

$$$$ · Viking Octantis · Viking Polaris

Viking's two expedition ships, Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris, are Polar Class 6 and carry 378 guests each, adults only. They launch Zodiacs, kayaks and two Special Operations Boats from an enclosed marina inside the ship, and carry a science lab built with the University of Cambridge.

The Antarctic voyages start in Buenos Aires, with a hotel night and the charter flights to Ushuaia included. The fare covers landings, the gear, meals and beer and wine with lunch and dinner. Gratuities, the drinks package and the submarine dives, USD 499 per person, are extra, and there are no helicopters.

Into the Antarctic Circle on Viking Polaris, fourteen nights from 4 December 2027, was USD 18,699 per person when we read Viking's site; Antarctic Explorer, twelve nights from 12 November, USD 16,999. We book Viking at Viking's own fares.

Book it for: adults who want the longest voyage and the science, at the lowest fare per night here.

Think twice if: you want a suite, drinks in the fare or a ship under 300 guests.

See the ships and sailings Book with us

White Desert

The fly-in camps

$$$$$ · Queen Maud Land, interior Antarctica

White Desert flies guests from Cape Town to its own blue-ice runway in Queen Maud Land between November and February, in five and a half hours. Its camps take twelve guests each in six heated pods, with a team of more than a hundred on the ground. Whichaway, opened in 2005, sits in one of the continent's rare ice-free oases above a chain of freshwater lakes; Echo is the design-led camp, with floor-to-ceiling windows; Explorer is the simpler base for the South Pole journey.

The trips are fixed weeks, priced per person sharing. For 2027-28, Baby Penguins and Blue Tunnels, two six-night weeks in late November, when the emperor chicks are still in their grey down, costs USD 82,000 at Whichaway and Echo or USD 72,000 at Explorer. South Pole and Penguins, weekly from 1 December to 12 January, is USD 120,000, or USD 105,000 at Explorer, with a night at Dixie's Camp on the high polar plateau after the Pole.

The price includes the return flight from Cape Town, transfers to the airport, all accommodation, food and drink in Antarctica, guiding and some polar clothing. It does not include your flights to Cape Town or hotel nights there. White Desert takes guests from age 10 to 85 and asks for a medical check before travel.

Book it for: the South Pole, the emperor penguins, the interior, and anyone who will not cross the Drake.

Think twice if: you want the Peninsula's wildlife and landings; the camps are on the other side of the continent.

Book with us

Getting to the ice

By ship: Buenos Aires first

Seabourn and Viking start their Antarctic voyages in Buenos Aires, with a hotel night and the charter flights to Ushuaia in the fare. I would still add a night of your own before it, at Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires, so a late international flight does not cost you the charter. Ponant boards in Ushuaia, and unless the departure is one Ponant marks as flight-inclusive, the flight there is not in its fare; we book it for the day before. Silversea's Fly and Sail flies you to or from King George Island and sails the Drake the other way, from or to Puerto Williams in Chile; we plan the connections around the direction you choose.

Starting on the Pacific side

Some Ponant voyages begin in Valparaíso, Chile, and sail down the coast before the crossing. For those, Santiago is the night before: The Ritz-Carlton, Santiago or Mandarin Oriental Santiago.

By air: Cape Town, with time to spare

White Desert asks guests to arrive in Cape Town at least two days before the flight south and to plan the flight home two days after the return, because Antarctic weather moves the schedule. Those Cape Town nights are not in its price. We would put you at One&Only Cape Town, and use the spare days for the Winelands rather than waiting at the airport.

The paperwork

Polar voyages ask for a medical assessment before boarding, and White Desert asks for medical reports and insurance that covers emergency repatriation. We collect the forms and check the cover with you, so nothing is missing at the pier or the airport.

Which suite, line by line

Seabourn: the Veranda Suite, or a Penthouse

Every suite on Venture and Pursuit has a veranda, so the entry Veranda Suite already gives you the ice from your room. On the 8 December sailing the Penthouse Suites started at USD 25,998 per person and several categories were already sold out.

Silversea: the Classic Veranda Suite

On Silver Wind the Vista Suite, 240 sq ft, is the entry; for USD 2,000 more per person, the Classic Veranda Suite gives you 295 sq ft and a veranda. In Antarctica, where the view is the trip, I would pay it.

Ponant: a balcony, and decide early on Charcot

On Le Commandant Charcot the balcony staterooms measure 215 sq ft and the Deluxe Suite 301 sq ft; the Deluxe Suite cost only USD 3,620 more per person on 16 December. On Le Lyrial, take a balcony rather than the window stateroom.

Viking: the Nordic Junior Suite

322 sq ft, with more storage and seating, and priority restaurant reservations. Every Viking expedition stateroom has a Nordic Balcony, a window whose top panel lowers, rather than a veranda you step onto.

White Desert: choose the camp, not the room

Each camp has six pods. Choose by itinerary and camp: Whichaway for the rock and lakes, Echo for the design, Explorer for the lower rate.

What booking through us adds

The fare is the line's own, the same as booking direct. On Silversea, Seabourn and Ponant, bookings of USD 40,000 or more carry a USD 1,500 onboard credit per suite, funded by Via Privata. In Antarctica most suites for two pass that line: every category on the Ponant sailings above, and from the Veranda Suite (V3) up on Seabourn Venture on 8 December. Below USD 40,000, the applicable Virtuoso amenities apply where the sailing carries them, and we confirm the benefits for your exact sailing in writing before you book.

Viking is booked at Viking's own fare, and we add no credit to it. White Desert is a fly-in programme rather than a cruise, so our cruise credit does not apply; we make the booking request, plan Cape Town either side, and handle the flights to get you there.

Via Privata Advantage

Insider Access

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A USD 1,500 onboard credit per suite from Via Privata on Silversea, Seabourn and Ponant bookings of USD 40,000 or more, at the fare you would pay booking direct; below that, the Virtuoso amenities where the sailing carries them, confirmed in writing
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The whole category ladder read for your dates, so you see which suites are still open rather than the headline fare
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Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, Santiago or Cape Town nights and the flights between them, planned around the voyage or the camp
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Medical forms and insurance checked with you before travel
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Viking at Viking's own fares, with the stateroom chosen by deck and position

Timing

When to Book

The ships sail from November to March and White Desert flies from November to early February. December and January are the most requested months on both. White Desert's weeks are fixed and each camp takes twelve guests, so the dates you want can go a year or more ahead; on the ships, several December categories were already sold out when we read them in October 2026. For 2027-28, start now.

FAQ

Questions, Answered

Is it better to see Antarctica by ship or by fly-in camp?

By ship for most people: the Antarctic Peninsula has the penguin colonies, the whales and the most landings, and on Viking, Seabourn or Silversea it costs about USD 1,340 to USD 1,990 per person a night in 2027-28. A fly-in camp such as White Desert's takes you to the interior, the South Pole and the emperor penguins, with a 5.5-hour flight from Cape Town instead of the Drake Passage, at USD 72,000 to USD 120,000 per person for six to eight nights.

How much does a luxury Antarctica cruise cost for 2027-28?

On the December 2027 sailings we read on 9 October 2026, per person at double occupancy: Viking Polaris from USD 18,699 for 14 nights, Silversea's Silver Wind from USD 17,900 for 9 nights, Seabourn Venture from USD 18,498 for 11 nights, Ponant's Le Lyrial from USD 33,120 for 10 nights and Le Commandant Charcot from USD 59,200 for 12 nights in the Weddell Sea. A suite for two costs double.

How much does White Desert cost?

For 2027-28, per person sharing: Baby Penguins and Blue Tunnels USD 82,000 at Whichaway and Echo or USD 72,000 at Explorer Camp; South Pole and Penguins USD 120,000, or USD 105,000 at Explorer Camp; South Pole and Blue Rivers USD 120,000; The Long Stay USD 110,000. The price includes the return flight from Cape Town and all food and drink in Antarctica, but not flights to Cape Town or hotel nights there.

Can I avoid the Drake Passage?

Partly or completely. Silversea's Fly and Sail voyages fly you one way between South America and King George Island and sail the Drake the other way. White Desert avoids it entirely, flying from Cape Town to the interior. Every other ship in this guide crosses the Drake both ways.

When is the best time to go to Antarctica?

The ships sail from November to March. White Desert's season runs from November to early February: late November for the emperor chicks, still in their down before they fledge in December, December and early January for the South Pole weeks, late January for the Blue Rivers. December and January sell first on both.

Do I get an onboard credit on an Antarctica cruise?

On Silversea, Seabourn and Ponant, bookings of USD 40,000 or more carry a USD 1,500 onboard credit per suite from Via Privata, at the fare you would pay booking direct, and in Antarctica most suites for two pass that line. Below it, the Virtuoso amenities apply where the sailing carries them. Viking is booked at Viking's own fare, with no credit from us, and the credit does not apply to White Desert's fly-in programmes.

Ship or camp?

Send me your dates, who is travelling and what you most want to see. I'll compare the voyages and camps still open for 2027-28 and tell you which I would book, and why.

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