February 14, 2028 - February 25, 2028
ANTARCTICA CRUISE FOR SOLO TRAVELLERS IN 2028
Dreaming of an Antarctica cruise in 2028?
Travellers Club has available a limited number of selected staterooms for solo travellers with no solo supplement on this extraordinary PONANT Antarctic Peninsula expedition aboard Le Boréal, operated in alliance with Smithsonian Journeys.
Beginning in Buenos Aires, your journey takes you south to Ushuaia before crossing the legendary Drake Passage and entering the spectacular wilderness of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Expect enormous glaciers, sculptural icebergs, snow-covered mountains, penguin colonies, seals, whales and some of the most dramatic landscapes on Earth.
This is an expedition rather than a traditional cruise. Each day in Antarctica is shaped by weather, ice and wildlife conditions, with PONANT’s experienced expedition team selecting the best locations for Zodiac exploration and shore landings.
For solo travellers, the opportunity is particularly special. Selected staterooms are available with no solo supplement, giving you your own cabin without the significant additional cost so often associated with travelling alone.
PONANT ANTARCTICA WITH SMITHSONIAN JOURNEYS
This February 2028 Antarctic voyage is operated by PONANT in alliance with Smithsonian Journeys and is specially tailored for English-speaking travellers.
Alongside PONANT’s naturalist expedition team, Smithsonian Journeys experts provide lectures and discussions that add another dimension to your experience of Antarctica, exploring subjects including wildlife, ornithology, climate, history and the remarkable natural environment of the White Continent.
TRAVELLERS CLUB | ADVANCED NOTICE
This Antarctica 2028 journey is currently being released as a Travellers Club Advanced Notice.
The selected solo staterooms available without a solo supplement are limited, so travellers interested in joining this departure are encouraged to book early.
DAY 1 | MONDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2028
BUENOS AIRES
Welcome to Argentina and the beginning of your journey to the White Continent. Your PONANT package includes your pre-cruise hotel night in Buenos Aires, giving you time to settle in before travelling south to Ushuaia. Your Travellers Club package includes airport to hotel transfers.
Tonight, the adventure really begins. Tomorrow you leave Buenos Aires behind and travel towards the southern tip of Argentina, where Le Boréal awaits.
Accommodation: Buenos Aires hotel
DAY 2 | TUESDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2028
BUENOS AIRES TO USHUAIA | EMBARK LE BORÉAL
Today you fly from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, with your flight and associated transfers included as part of the PONANT programme. Situated at the southern tip of Argentina on the island of Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia is one of the great gateways to Antarctica.
On arrival, transfer to Le Boréal and settle into your own stateroom, your home for the next 10 nights. Explore the ship, meet members of the expedition team and enjoy that wonderful moment when the lines are cast off and your journey towards Antarctica begins.
Accommodation: Le Boréal
DAY 3 | WEDNESDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2028
THE DRAKE PASSAGE
Your Antarctic expedition begins with the crossing of the legendary Drake Passage. This famous stretch of water separates South America from the Antarctic Peninsula and has played an important role in the history of Antarctic exploration.
Spend time on deck watching the ocean and looking for the albatrosses and Cape petrels that frequently accompany ships travelling through these southern waters. Your time at sea also provides opportunities to attend lectures, briefings and discussions with PONANT’s naturalist guides and the Smithsonian Journeys experts travelling with you. As you journey south, anticipation builds. Somewhere ahead lies Antarctica.
Accommodation: Le Boréal
DAYS 4 – 8 | THURSDAY 17 TO MONDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2028
THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA
Welcome to the White Continent. There is no conventional day-by-day timetable once you reach Antarctica, and that is exactly as it should be. Here, nature determines the itinerary.
Weather, sea conditions, ice and wildlife activity influence where Le Boréal can navigate and where the expedition team can take you ashore. Each day, the Captain and Expedition Leader assess conditions and select the best opportunities available. Your exploration may take place on land, from aboard Le Boréal or during Zodiac outings accompanied by PONANT’s experienced naturalist guides. Everywhere you look, the scale of Antarctica is extraordinary. Drifting icebergs rise from the water in seemingly impossible shapes, ice floes stretch across the sea, enormous ancient glaciers descend towards the coastline and snow-covered mountains dominate the horizon.
Then there is the wildlife. You may encounter Gentoo, Adélie and Chinstrap penguins, Humpback whales, Leopard seals, Crabeater seals, Weddell seals and numerous species of seabirds. Some days may include Zodiac exploration through ice-filled waters. Others may bring opportunities to step ashore and walk through this extraordinary landscape. Hiking opportunities may be available, while visits to research stations and former whaling stations may also be possible when conditions allow.
Nothing here is manufactured and nothing follows a rigid timetable. Antarctica decides what you will see each day, which is precisely what makes an expedition to this part of the world so extraordinary.
Accommodation: Le Boréal
DAY 9 | TUESDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2028
THE DRAKE PASSAGE | NORTHBOUND
Eventually it is time to leave Antarctica behind and begin the journey north.
Le Boréal returns across the Drake Passage towards Tierra del Fuego. Today provides time to reflect on everything you have experienced, continue attending lectures and presentations, spend time with your fellow travellers and expedition team, and perhaps begin sorting through the hundreds, or thousands, of photographs you have taken. Keep watching the ocean too. The wildlife experience does not necessarily finish when Antarctica disappears behind you.
Accommodation: Le Boréal
DAY 10 | WEDNESDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2028
AT SEA | TOWARDS USHUAIA
Your journey north continues as Le Boréal makes her way towards Tierra del Fuego. Enjoy your final full day aboard, attend the concluding presentations from the expedition team and Smithsonian Journeys experts, and take some time to appreciate the experience you have just had.
After days surrounded by ice, wildlife and some of the most dramatic scenery on Earth, tomorrow you return to South America.
Accommodation: Le Boréal
DAY 11 | THURSDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2028
USHUAIA TO BUENOS AIRES | YOUR ADDITIONAL NIGHT
This morning Le Boréal returns to Ushuaia and your time aboard comes to an end. After disembarkation, your PONANT arrangements include your transfer and return flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires.
But your Travellers Club journey does not finish when you arrive back in Buenos Aires. Following your flight from Ushuaia, Travellers Club includes an additional night’s hotel accommodation in Buenos Aires.
We think this is an important addition to the journey. Rather than arriving back from an Antarctic expedition and immediately trying to connect with an international flight, you have time to check into your hotel, relax and enjoy a proper night’s sleep. Perhaps enjoy a final dinner in Buenos Aires, reflect on where you have just been and allow yourself a little time to come back down to earth.
Accommodation: Buenos Aires hotel
DAY 12 | FRIDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2028
BUENOS AIRES | HOMEWARD BOUND
Enjoy a relaxed morning in Buenos Aires before beginning your journey home. Your Travellers Club arrangements include your transfer from your Buenos Aires hotel to the international airport for your onward flight. And with that, your journey from Buenos Aires to Antarctica and back comes to an end. Although we suspect Antarctica will stay with you for considerably longer.
SOLO ANTARCTICA CRUISE | NO SOLO SUPPLEMENT
Travelling to Antarctica on your own shouldn’t mean having to share a cabin or automatically paying a substantial single supplement.
For this February 2028 departure, we have available a limited number of selected staterooms (on upper decks) where solo travellers can enjoy their own cabin with no solo supplement.
There is not an escorted Travel With Lesley Whyte group. This is a Travellers Club opportunity designed for independent solo travellers who want the freedom to travel on their own while taking advantage of carefully selected opportunities where solo accommodation is available without the usual additional cost.
ABOUT LE BORÉAL
PONANT’s Le Boréal combines the capabilities required for polar expedition cruising with the comfort and intimate atmosphere of a small luxury expedition ship.
After exploring Antarctica by Zodiac or spending time ashore with the expedition team, return to the warmth and comfort of the ship, enjoy its restaurants and public spaces, attend expert presentations or simply watch the Antarctic landscape from the deck.
YOUR ANTARCTICA CRUISE INCLUDES
Your Travellers Club Antarctica experience brings together PONANT’s extensive expedition voyage inclusions with additional arrangements designed to make your journey from Buenos Aires to Antarctica and back again as seamless and comfortable as possible.
PRE-CRUISE | BUENOS AIRES
• One night’s pre-cruise hotel accommodation in Buenos Aires as included within the PONANT programme
• Breakfast at your Buenos Aires hotel where included under the PONANT programme
• PONANT’s pre-cruise arrangements associated with your journey from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia
• Transfer arrangements associated with the included flight to Ushuaia
• Included flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia
• Transfer in Ushuaia associated with joining Le Boréal
• Assistance and coordination associated with the PONANT pre-cruise programme
YOUR ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION | LE BORÉAL
• 10 nights aboard PONANT’s Le Boréal
• Your own private selected stateroom
• No solo supplement on the selected staterooms we have available for solo travellers
• All meals aboard Le Boréal from dinner on embarkation day through to breakfast on disembarkation day, in accordance with the ship’s programme
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner served aboard during your expedition
• Open bar throughout the cruise in accordance with PONANT’s standard inclusions, excluding specifically identified premium beverages
• Selected wines served with meals in accordance with PONANT’s onboard programme
• Minibar in your stateroom, replenished daily in accordance with PONANT’s standard onboard inclusions
• 24-hour room service where available under the ship’s programme
• Complimentary Wi-Fi aboard the ship, subject to satellite coverage and the limitations associated with travelling in remote polar regions
• Access to Le Boréal’s restaurants, lounges and public spaces
• Access to the ship’s outdoor observation areas and decks
• Access to onboard leisure facilities included within your voyage fare
• Evening entertainment and onboard events as scheduled during the voyage
YOUR ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION PROGRAMME
• Expedition cruising through the Antarctic Peninsula region
• Crossing of the legendary Drake Passage in both directions
• Exploration of the Antarctic Peninsula, with the itinerary adapted daily according to weather, ice, wildlife and sea conditions
• Zodiac outings with PONANT’s experienced expedition and naturalist team, subject to local and operating conditions
• Shore landings in Antarctica when conditions permit
• Guided exploration ashore with members of PONANT’s naturalist team
• Opportunities to experience Antarctica’s extraordinary glaciers, icebergs, ice floes, mountains and polar landscapes
• Opportunities to observe Antarctic wildlife in its natural environment
• Potential encounters with Gentoo, Adélie and Chinstrap penguins
• Opportunities to observe Humpback whales and other marine wildlife that may be present during the expedition
• Potential sightings of Leopard, Crabeater and Weddell seals
• Opportunities to observe albatrosses, Cape petrels and other Antarctic and Southern Ocean seabirds
• Hiking opportunities when offered by the expedition team and when weather and landing conditions permit
• Potential visits to scientific research stations when circumstances and operating conditions allow
• Potential visits to historic sites and former whaling stations where conditions and the expedition programme permit
• Expedition briefings before Zodiac outings and shore landings
• Environmental and biosecurity briefings associated with travelling ashore in Antarctica
• Guidance on responsible wildlife observation and Antarctic environmental protection
• Use of Zodiac craft for included expedition activities
• Services of PONANT’s experienced Captain, Expedition Leader and expedition team throughout the voyage
• Services of PONANT’s onboard naturalist guides
• Daily expedition information and briefings outlining anticipated activities and conditions
• Flexibility for the Captain and Expedition Leader to alter the programme to take advantage of wildlife encounters, favourable weather and ice conditions
SMITHSONIAN JOURNEYS EXPERIENCE
• A voyage operated in alliance with Smithsonian Journeys and specially tailored for English-speaking travellers
• Access to the Smithsonian Journeys enrichment programme throughout the expedition
• Lectures and discussions with Smithsonian Journeys experts
• Presentations from ornithologist Pepper Trail
• Presentations from paleoclimatologist Nicholas Bill
• Expert interpretation designed to deepen your understanding of the landscapes, wildlife and environmental systems encountered during the voyage
• Opportunities to learn more about Antarctic ornithology and the extraordinary birdlife of the Southern Ocean
• Insights into Antarctica’s climate and its role in understanding our planet’s past and present
• Lectures and presentations from PONANT’s naturalist team
• Presentations covering Antarctic wildlife and ecosystems
• Information about the history of Antarctic exploration and the great polar explorers
• Insight into Antarctic geopolitics and the international frameworks surrounding the continent
• Information about climate, conservation and environmental protection in Antarctica
• Opportunities for informal discussions and interaction with experts throughout the expedition programme
POLAR EQUIPMENT & EXPEDITION SUPPORT
• Use of appropriate expedition equipment provided by PONANT as applicable to the voyage
• Expedition support and guidance before and during shore activities
• Biosecurity procedures and equipment associated with Antarctic landings
• Safety briefings and operational support for Zodiac excursions
• Experienced expedition personnel accompanying included landings and Zodiac exploration
• Onboard medical facilities and medical personnel in accordance with PONANT’s expedition operations
• All operational planning required for the Antarctic expedition, including daily assessment of weather, sea and ice conditions
RETURN TO BUENOS AIRES
• Disembarkation arrangements in Ushuaia
• PONANT transfer arrangements associated with your return journey from Ushuaia
• Included flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires
• Associated PONANT post-cruise transfers as provided within the voyage programme
TRAVELLERS CLUB PRE & POST-CRUISE INCLUSIONS
• One additional night’s hotel accommodation in Buenos Aires following your return flight from Ushuaia
• Your own hotel room in Buenos Aires
• Breakfast the following morning where included with the selected hotel arrangements
• Time to rest and recover following your Antarctic expedition rather than connecting immediately with a long-haul international flight
• Airport-to-hotel transfers on arrival in Buenos Aires and Hotel-to-Buenos Aires International Airport transfer on 25 February 2028 for your onward journey
FOR OUR SOLO TRAVELLERS
• Your own private stateroom aboard Le Boréal from the selected cabin categories we have available
• No solo supplement on those selected staterooms
• Your own hotel accommodation within the included Buenos Aires arrangements
• No requirement to share your ship cabin with another traveller
• No requirement to join an escorted Travel With Lesley Whyte group
• The freedom to travel independently while benefiting from a journey where the major components have already been brought together for you
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED
To make planning your Antarctic journey as straightforward as possible, the following items are not included in the Travellers Club package:
Unless specifically stated under “What’s Included”, all other expenses are at the traveller’s own cost.
AUD $29,750 per person
This price is based on a solo traveller enjoying their own selected stateroom on Deck 4 aboard Le Boréal, with no solo supplement, together with the included PONANT arrangements and additional Travellers Club inclusions detailed in this itinerary.
PAYMENT SCHEDULE
• Deposit: AUD $9,250 per person at the time of booking
• Final balance: Due 180 days prior to departure
• All pricing is quoted in Australian Dollars (AUD)
• Pricing shown is for payment by bank transfer
• Payment by credit card incurs a 2% credit card processing fee
• Your booking is not confirmed until the required deposit has been received and your reservation has been confirmed
• Pricing and availability are subject to change until your booking has been confirmed
• The final balance due date may be brought forward if required by PONANT or another applicable supplier
• All bookings are subject to availability at the time your reservation is requested
• Deck 4 solo stateroom availability is limited and cannot be guaranteed until your booking has been confirmed
TERMS & CONDITIONS
All bookings are subject to the Travel With Lesley Whyte Terms & Conditions.
https://travelwithlesleywhyte.com/terms-conditions/
By paying your deposit, you acknowledge and accept the applicable booking and cancellation conditions, together with any additional terms and conditions imposed by PONANT and other suppliers associated with your journey.
As this journey includes significant third-party arrangements and an Antarctic expedition voyage, supplier cancellation and amendment conditions may apply in addition to Travel With Lesley Whyte’s standard Terms & Conditions.
For questions or bookings: mail lesley@travelwithlesleywhyte.com