A New cause for concern for Antarctica: to arrive super luxury cruises. Tourist ships are not new to this remote region, as booking portals are filled with offers to visit the frozen continent from the very tip of the southern cone. yet now a company in the luxury sector has launched a series of routesIt will take the next few months.
Traveling to the frozen continent is no longer a special adventure for intrepid scientists, but millionaire tourists can arrive here with a fine selection of “caviar and champagne” in their elegant cabins, as the Silverseas company advertises on its website.
Last year, a study Warns of danger posed by excessive visitor to Antarctica for this fragile ecosystem. According to the authors of the study, 74,000 people come every year to this part of the world, including scientists and tourists traveling on large cruise ships.
The same study pointed out that: Each visitor to Antarctica causes 83 metric tons of snow to be lost, especially due to emissions released into the atmosphere from the means of transport used. Cruise ships and planes that must have been used to reach the embarkation point are major emitters of greenhouse gases.
From last November to 14 March 2023, the first season of the silver Endeavor cruise totaled 12 “immersive journeys” (following the usual rhetoric in the luxury market) to Antarctica. After a flight from Santiago de Chile to Punta Arenas or Puerto Williams, passengers sail aboard the Silver Endeavour and cross the Beagle Channel, cross the Drake Pass, arrive at the Antarctic Peninsula and parallel with King George Island in between. It reaches 69 south. other points according to the website.
There are 100 grand cabin suites on board, each equipped with all the luxuries and private terraces. The ship, which has a capacity of 200 passengers, is accompanied by 100 crew and 20 guides. Restaurants, cafeterias, cocktail bars and other facilities are tasked with providing the exclusive and exclusive atmosphere that characterizes this type of tourism.
Travelers can also disembark at different points via the bastions to contemplate the fauna. ie along the route.
“We are delighted to mark a new era in ultra-luxury cruise travel by opening the sales of Silverseas Cruises,” said Roberto Martinoli, CEO of Silverseas Cruises. The company is 100% owned by Royal Caribbean, one of the world’s largest cruise ships.
The company will open “some of the most remote and exotic destinations on the planet” to tourism, indicates. Persons in charge of the company underline the presence of experts from the fields of marine biology, archeology and history to make necessary explanations to tourists.
Barbara Muckermann, President and CEO of Silverseas, underlines the vessel’s amenities and highlights, for example, the “sophisticated smoking room with a selection of signature cigars and liquors” as well as the large heated pool or terraces of the covers. While the environmental sustainability aspects of these expeditions or the ship itself are not mentioned in equal detail, on board “everything about the places visited, for example its history, geology or wildlife.
Studying the impact of travel to Antarctica: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28560-w
Link to Silverseas website: https://www.silversea.com/lp-silver-endeavour.html
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