Closing the Deal

Being in Ushuaia, the gateway to the 7th continent we decided to set about finding ourselves a last minute deal to Antarctica. As it was Sunday many of the offices were closed. The Officina Antarctic was our first stop & luckily it was open. They don't sell trips but they could give us a list of all the companies who do & what boats would be sailing over the next 2 weeks. Like Sherlock Holmes & Dr Watson we were now hot on the trail of that elusive deal. Over the next 2 days we went to about 5 agencies & what we quickly realised that the dream of a super cheap last minute deal was just that, a dream.

There was one boat, the Ioffe leaving on the 11th Dec - about which we´d heard great reports & that would get us back into Ushuaia on 21st but we were eager to have a truly white Christmas in Antarctica. Our focus then shifted to two boats leaving on 19th Dec - Polar Star & Antarctic Dream - both 10 day cruises. As we were waiting on info re availability our agent pulled another rabbit from the hat, "Christmas in The Weddell Sea". This would be a 12 night, 13 day cruise that would have us in Antarctic for both Christmas & New Year. It would be aboard the previously mentioned Ioffe before any celebrating could be done something else needed to take a trip southward...... the price.

Brochure price was $8.5 K however the last minute deal was $5,500 plus $240 (fuel surcharge) per person. The trip really attracted us but this was simply too much to pay. The agent said she´d see what she could do for us & to call back in a few hours. Time for lunch & board meeting....

What if the price doesn´t come down?

What if we cant get on another boat?

Should we take the 11th?

How long are we willing to wait in Ushuaia?

Two hours later we called back to the agent, she said she could offer it at $5,000 plus $240 (fuel surcharge) pp - this is what we expected. We weren't trying to play hardball but we had capped our budget at 5K max. We told her this & lucky for us her American boss happened to be in the office so she sent us away for a coffee so she could speak with him. We returned 1 hour later & she said "YES" they could do it for a a total of 5K pp! This constituted a saving of almost 3K each on the normal price for a double cabin. While the thought of paying out $10,000 stung a little we were absolutely over the moon!!!!

Then we had to go off & buy gear that would bode well for the Antarctic weather conditions!