Know what you mean! I kept telling my husband the same thing; as it turned out, we used all the layers. Do remember to take some lightweight tops/shirts to wear around the ship. If your vessel is anything like ours, it will be very warm in the lounges and dining rooms.

Great trip report eenusa, with lots of useful information. We've just booked with Quark (which has taken over for Peregrine) on the Ioffe in February 2009 (this is the "Crossing the Circle" cruise, which has about 13 nights at sea). (It's amazing that these things book up so far in advance.) Anyway, it looks like you spent a couple of days in Ushuaia before your embarkation. We have one night included in Ushuaia as part of our Quark reservation/cruise. Did you feel that Ushuaia merited more than a day? I'm trying to figure out whether we should use that time to see other parts of Argentina. Thanks very much.

What interesting news to learn of the merging of Peregrine and Quark - are they still to operate as indepenent brands? I did a quick google and it seems both have been purchased by TUI (I used to work for Thomson Holidays before and after they were bought by TUI several years ago).

I know you directed that question at eenusa but I'll throw in my response as well:

We too had an overnight in Ushuaia and a local tour was included. We had a brief ride around the town itself (unexciting) and then visited the very pretty Tierra del Fuego National Park and had a little ride on the Tren del Fin del Mundo (End of the World Train) which is now a tourist attraction.

If you're into hiking you could certainly spend an extra day in the park as it's certainly very beautiful but for us the short excursion there was plenty.

It's also worth noting that Ushuaia has a LOT of shops selling outdoor clothing often at much lower prices than we'd found at home in the UK. If you were feeling brave you could leave some purchases until your stop in Ushuaia though I'd be worried about not finding what I needed and being stuck without. Certainly for generic items such as fleeces, hats and scarves, this might be a good plan IF you have enough time to do a bit of a shop.

Oh and Ushuaia is known for large crabs and other seafood so try and find somewhere to sample it if you can.

Thanks very much for the advice Kavey. So, it sounds like you’re saying that one night is sufficient. That’s helpful to know, although I’m curious if others feel differently. (To be clear, I’m quite happy to limit my time in USH; I just don’t want to miss anything.) And thanks also for the advice about picking up gear on the cheap there. I tend to think we’re not spontaneous enough to leave that for the last minute, but it’s good to know, in case we forget anything.

In terms of the Quark/Peregrine merger, it appears that Peregrine is still running the expedition for 2008, but Quark takes over in 2009. Right now, BOTH are taking bookings for the 2009 expeditions, even though Quark will be running it. What this means is that you’re better off booking it with Quark, because they can access what cabins are available on their computers while you’re on the phone with them, but Peregrine seems unable to do that (I think they have to call Quark and then call you back). In addition, the amount of the deposit was slightly different with Peregrine ($1,200 or $1,250) vs. Quark ($1,000). In any event, it looks like a great trip.

Actually, I had one other question--we signed up for the kayaking option, but honestly I haven't kayaked in 15-20 years (and that was in a lake). Any idea if this is a worthwhile extra (it's kind of pricey), and how arduous it is? Thanks.

Oh, one other thing is that Quark lets you put the deposit on your AMEX, whereas Peregrine only takes Visa/MC.

We didn't do the kayaking, though I'd kind of been interested in it originally, because the limited spaces were already gone. That said, I had never done it before and am absolutely not fit so knew it wasn't for me anyway.

On our trip, I think there were about 10 to 15 people in the kayaking group plus the 2 crew leaders.

Most kayakers enjoyed their experiences HUGELY, that was absolutely obvious. They seemed to get a huge thrill from each trip.

One lady dropped out as she found it was too arduous for her. I don't think she had much kayaking experience or particularly good fitness levels.

BUT one thing I would add. Of course, the kayakers did miss some of the shore excursions in order to do the kayaking. As a photographer, I would not have missed any of these so I was glad I hadn't signed up for the kayaking.

Thanks for the reply Kavey. It does seem like they only have a few spots, but I guess that's the benefit of booking a trip 15 months in advance (!). (We are right now holding two spots, although can cancel them if we let them know in the next month or so.) Someone else I spoke with about kayaking said that many of the runs were during times were there wasn't much to see on shore. Did you have a different experience? (Or maybe you felt there's always something interesting to see on shore.) Thanks a lot.

On our trip pretty much anytime we were near shore we were offloaded for shore excursions so the kayaking was always during the same periods...

Thanks very much for that info. Since my wife is not particularly excited about the kayaking, it may make sense for us to pass on it.

Interesting news about Quark and Peregrine. I'd been wondering what was going on when someone posted on CruiseCritic that they were looking at the Ioffe with Quark.

I'll put in my two cents worth re: Ushuaia. The main reason we added the extra days was so that we'd have leeway in case there were any problems with getting to Ushuaia on time - weather, etc. That said, while we were planning for those days, we found a lot of things that were of interest to us. Unfortunately, we had to pass on most of the activities we had researched, because we were trying to work out the missing bag situation. Personally, we could have spent even more days there, hiking in Tierra del Fuego and exploring it in more depth, (the tour with Quark was very basic), visiting Estancia Harberton, doing the train ride, etc. We were certainly not bored during our stay, but I think a lot would depend on your interests.

Thanks very much for the two cents eenusa.

We just booked to do another one for winter 2008. We're confirming tomorrow, fingers crossed!

Kavey!
Congrats! How wonderful! It must have been reading eenusa's report which did it!!!
Still finding wellies for Hubby. Bought mine in England!

Actually, it was attending a photographic slide show and talk on Antarctica by Jonathan and Angie Scott at the RGS on Tuesday night that did it - the trip leaflet was given out there but what they didn't mention was that it was pretty much full. When we asked after the talk they had only a few single spaces sharing!

kavey: What will be your itinerary and are you definitely going with only the single spaces available? Or were your hopes dashed when you went to confirm and found out about availability????????

Sorry, I didn't clarify. When we spoke to the rep just after the presentation that evening she said that as it stood they had only single spaces (in shared rooms) available BUT would see if she could juggle any of those pairings to free a cabin.

She called the next day and had moved one of the single travellers into a different cabin type (I think upgraded to a level above what they had booked but I didn't ask the details) in order to free one cabin for us!

fabulous thread, particularly since recently saw travel channel program about quark adventures.. thank you eenusa.

Glad you enjoyed it WG - Antarctica is a fantastic place to visit. Very special.

One more question......!!!!!!
You talk about the dry bag which I went on line to order, but it has no 'backpack straps'.
Did you put it inside a backpack or could you leave it somewhere close after landing? I would think it would be awkward to carry.
Thanks!

Our bags had straps to put them on our bags. I wonder if they don't make them anymore. I'll check when I get home to see if I can find more specific information for you. (P.S. We carried everything we took ashore with us; nowhere to leave things.)