Quote:
Originally Posted by Gan_HOPE326
Actually, turns out, there are civilian cruises to Antarctica. All you have to do is pay and do what you're told, and you can go and be relatively safe.
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I recently happened across someone's blog posts from just such a cruise. Most of the posts are about the cruise-ship experience, dining and entertainment and such but the limited shore visits to Antarctica were mentioned too. There were details like clothing, boots etc. have to be scrupulously clean before landing to avoid importing foreign bugs, plant spores and the like. It's maybe a bit late given that explorers, whalers and seal hunters have been landing there for a century and more without taking such precautions but it's now a requirement for the cruise ship operators to take those steps.
There are other odd things that make sense in retrospect -- the ship is kept "dark" to prevent seabirds being attracted by the lights during the long dark periods of the southern winter (March through August) so the cabins have blackout curtains.