The ultimate cruise…

In Antarctica

A hush overtakes our party as our Zodiac driver cuts the engine. I gawp at the wonderland around us: the improbable ice sculptures – anvils, pagodas, elephants – that crowd the bay; the huge tabular bergs along the horizon and fissured glaciers beneath the towering peaks of the peninsula. It’s hard to process the immensity. Behind us, Scenic Eclipse awaits our return, its sleek lines framed through an ice Arc de Triomphe.

Wildlife brings focus. Crab-eater seals yawn and wave languorous flippers, while Chaplinesque Adélie penguins break off preening to scrutinise our approach. As I raise my camera, an abrupt exhalation, like the hiss of hydraulic brakes, wrests our attention to the stern, where the gleaming back of a humpback whale rises through the floating brash ice not 30ft away.

Antarctica is the greatest wilderness on Earth, and the ultimate destination for cruisers and adventurers alike. Nowhere else will you feel quite such a sense of puny irrelevance. Be warned: getting there means two days crossing the notorious Drake Passage from Ushuaia, in Argentina. But Scenic Eclipse, the very latest in expedition cruise comfort, takes these lively seas in its stride. And when you venture up on deck, tearing yourself away from the fine dining and excellent lectures, there are albatross outriders in your wake.

Every voyage is different. The weather and ice dictate the itinerary. Working your way down the peninsula, you glide through picture-book panoramas without another vessel in sight. And at every opportunity, you disembark by Zodiac – either to cruise the ice edge in search of wildlife or to walk the white continent and mingle with the penguins. Where conditions allow, you can even kayak past snoozing seals.

Launched in 2019 as the world’s first “discovery yacht”, Scenic Eclipse also has other toys at your disposal. A helicopter flight reveals the full scale of the jaw-dropping landscape from the air, while a descent in the ship’s unique sixguest submarine takes you to the seabed, where icefish and krill appear outside your picture windows.

The Antarctic Peninsula, via Ushuaia, is the classic Antarctic cruise. But there are other options. You could sail via the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. You could head south to the Weddell Sea, where Shackleton’s wreck was discovered this month, in search of emperor penguins. Or east, via the Ross Ice Shelf and the huts of the first explorers, ending in New Zealand. The longest expeditions are 33-day epics, though you’ll be more comfortable than the likes of Scott and Shackleton.

Cruises run during the Antarctic summer (November-March), when the days are long, ice-free seas allow access, and the wildlife gathers in its breeding colonies. On Scenic Eclipse, all your needs are catered for. You needn’t bring much, except a mind prepared to be blown. Oh, and a pair of binoculars: those albatrosses don’t always spot themselves.