Three Giant Takeaways from Antarctica

By: Holly Kreider
April 7, 2026

I had the great fortune to visit Antarctica recently. Only about .001% of the population visits in any given year. A true bucket list trip if ever there was one. For my mother and me, Antarctica was the crowning jewel of an 18-day South American voyage aboard the luxurious Regent Seven Seas Splendor. Even without an expedition component (meaning we did not go ashore), Antarctica left us speechless. Fortunately, I’ve finally found my words, however inadequate, to convey some of the awe we felt.

The world is vast, so very vast. I know because it took a full week of constant travel to get to the White Continent. Our epic journey started with 14 hours of air travel, from San Francisco to Panama City to Buenos Aires, thankfully buffered by surprisingly affordable business class seats on Copa Airlines. Then, after seven full days of cruising – interrupted only by a day stop in Uruguay and an hour pitstop at Puerto Madryn for a medical emergency – we finally reached the northwestern most part of the Antarctic peninsula. Granted we were speeding along at the equivalent of 23 miles per hour.

Coupled with the sheer length of the journey was the complete absence of other ships. I counted four days of travel without seeing a single other vessel. Not another cruise ship. Not a fishing or research vessel. Just miles and miles and miles of vast ocean. And trust me, I stared at the ocean constantly, whether from the comfort of my bed, which on the Splendor splendidly faced our balcony instead of a side wall, from a treadmill in the ship’s gym where I hopelessly tried to burn off four chocolate martinis each day, or from a choice window seat in one of the many excellent restaurants on board.

And then came the Drake Passage. That infamous tangle of Pacific and Atlantic ocean, known alternately as Drake “lake” or Drake “shake.” As AC/DC would say, the Drake shook us all night long, and not in a sexy kind of way. More like in a 20-foot swell, Dramamine overdosed, outer-decks-and-balconies-and-hatches-closed, 48-hour marathon kind of way. I switched from the treadmill to the stationary bike for better balance. I drowned myself in my book, The Wager, so to speak. The story began to feel more like a self-fulfilling prophecy than leisure reading. The wildness of it all, in the outer reaches that were perhaps meant to stay unreachable, was undeniable. I felt like a microscopic spot on a big blue marble. 

Our planet is teeming with animal life. Once we arrived at the Antarctic Peninsula, the loneliness subsided. Not because of the handful of other cruise ship sightings, but because of the abundance of animal life. Birds, including giant albatross, petrels, and gulls, swarmed around us. Orca, Humpback, and Minke whales made frequent appearances. Humpbacks arrive to Antarctica in droves to feast on the krill during the summer months.  Something about the meeting of tectonic plates and upwelling of warm water from the earth’s molten core thrill the krill. Or that’s what I vaguely remember from one of the 20+ lectures I heard from our team of onboard scientists. When not lecturing, they lingered on the top deck or the observation bar, helpfully adjusting my binoculars, confirming my bird sightings, and telling us where to look to see pods of orcas. Don’t ask me for photographic evidence, because animals move around much too quickly for someone slow like me to capture on camera.

And then there were the penguins. Admittedly a part of the bird category, but in a league of their own. The league of Gentoos alone must have numbered in the tens of thousands. Yet the rare sighting of a leopard seal lounging on an iceberg, with the red smudge of his penguin lunch still visible on the ice, was a sad pill to swallow.

And although technically inanimate, the ice deserves an honorable mention. The ice moves and  floats and dazzles as it glows from within. It shape shifts and sports a multitude of cute names like bergy bits, growlers, and blockies. It poses an extreme threat to flimsy cruise ships like ours without a reinforced hull. We even hosted an ice captain, alongside our regular captain, for safe navigation. That our ice captain was female and born in landlocked Switzerland meant we also quite possibly encountered a unicorn. 

Countries can come together to do important and beautiful things. An impressive 59 countries have signed onto the Antarctic Treaty for the shared purposes of environmental protection, preservation of peace, and scientific knowledge. Moreover, most tour operators voluntarily become members of IAATO (the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators). Together, they uphold travel guidelines like a maximum speed of 10 knots south of geo-fenced whale territory, and slow to 5 knots when whales are spotted.  Cruise ships are forbidden to dispose of cruise ship gray water beyond 60 degrees south latitude. No flash photography or touching of wild animals is permitted.  And all passengers are required to attend an in-person orientation about these expectations. The protection places special onus on passengers, which we eagerly followed: conserve water (so gray water storage tanks don’t reach capacity), turn off cabin lights at night so as not to confuse birds, and call the emergency line immediately if a bird lands on your balcony. Evidently, local birds can become confused on solid ship surfaces, and may require trained help to re-launch to more familiar surrounds. If so compelled, passengers can also become IAATO Antarctic Ambassadors sharing stories and promoting Antarctic protection long after their travel concludes.

So reach out to me at drholly@wishesfamilytravel.com for help in booking your own bucket list trip. That shared feeling of awe, mutual care, and hopefulness has never been more urgent for humanity and our planet.

I paid for the travel experiences described in this post at rates available to the general public. No complimentary services, special industry discounts, or compensation were received in exchange for writing this article. All opinions expressed are my own and are based on my personal travel experience.