The journey to Ushuaia - Icebergs and Penguins - 1
The first day at sea
The Falkland Islands
On the way to South Georgia
South Georgia
On the way to Antarctica
Elephant Island
“The captain plays with the ice”
Deception Island
Antarctic Peninsula
From Antarctica to the Pacific coast of South America
Patagonian Glacier World
The Long Journey Home
Final thoughts and helpful tips
January 27-29, 2026 - The journey to Ushuaia
It's Tuesday afternoon and the long journey to Ushuaia begins. My flight from Frankfurt doesn't leave until this evening, but as the winter weather has caused a bit of chaos on the roads over the last few days, I'd rather build in some extra time.
The Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Buenos Aires [↗] takes 13.5 hours. On Thursday morning, a charter flight to Ushuaia follows. In the afternoon, we board the ship and in the evening, after two and a half days of travel, the HANSEATIC inspiration is finally supposed to set sail.
The Lufthansa flight in an old 747 is significantly delayed and we manage to take off just 5 minutes before the night flight ban begins. The flight is uneventful, just very long. We land at 8:20 a.m. local time, and immigration and, especially, baggage claim run so quickly and smoothly that Frankfurt could take a lesson or two.
In addition to the cruise itself, I also booked a transfer package with Hapag Lloyd. I'm not the only one who did this. There are four buses making their way to the hotel. Everything is very well organized. Three or four employees from the local agency are on site, and as soon as enough travelers have gathered for the first bus, we're off. The main luggage is stored and checked in for the charter flight tomorrow. We won't see it again until it appears on the baggage carousel in Ushuaia.
Our hotel is the Four Seasons. Expensive, with large rooms, but otherwise nothing special. If I had organized the trip myself, I probably wouldn't have ended up here. We check in at a conference room and are provided with coffee and snacks. A four-hour city tour is also planned for the afternoon. But first, it's time for a shower.
At 2 p.m., we set off on the sightseeing tour in three groups. First, we head to the central Plaza de Mayo [↗]. I don't listen to the tour guide's explanations, but in the harsh midday light, the square doesn't have much to offer anyway. The cathedral [↗] there is quite nice, but not outstanding by South American standards. Much of it was imported from Europe, which probably makes it special.
We continue by bus to the old port district, La Boca [↗]. We drive past the Boca Juniors stadium and then have 45 minutes to look around the neighborhood, but not without being warned not to leave the central area and to avoid lonely alleys. The neighborhood is extremely touristy, but also a social hotspot.
After driving around the city a little more, we finish up at a café. Here we have picada, the local equivalent of a snack platter.
At 6 o'clock, we are back at the hotel and I walk around the area a bit, but don't find anything really interesting.
Was the excursion worth it? On the one hand, it was a convenient way to see a little of Buenos Aires. On the other hand, I wonder if I shouldn't have spent the afternoon at La Recoleta Cemetery [↗] instead.
At 3 a.m., it's time for the announced wake-up call. That sounds worse than it is. Due to jet lag, we are still on German time, and it's already 7 a.m. there.
Even at this time, Hapag Lloyd has organized a breakfast buffet in the same conference room as yesterday at noon. It's surprisingly extensive for this time of the day and leaves nothing to be desired. We also receive the boarding passes for our charter flight here at the hotel, so we can go straight through security at the airport. But now it's time to wait again...
Boarding begins only as we should be taking off. I'm just on the bus to the plane when we're told to “get off again.” The plane has an unspecified problem, and we'll get more information in 20 minutes. But it's a blessing in disguise: the plane doesn't need to be replaced, and at 9:30 a.m., a good 1.5 hours late, we take off. The flight is scheduled to last a good three hours. Our passports are collected during the flight. Let's see when we get them back again.
Ushuaia [↗] welcomes us with clouds and a midsummer temperature of 20°C. I collect my luggage from the conveyor belt and hand it over behind the next door. It is taken directly to the ship, while we still have a good three hours before embarkation begins.
So, once again, we get on a bus and head for a late lunch. This is served in a restaurant high above the city. Afterwards, we have 45 minutes to look around the town. There isn't much to see. I walk along the waterfront promenade for a bit and then back to the bus. We could have gone straight from the parking lot to the ship. But no, everyone gets on the bus and we drive right up to the gangway.
At the end of the gangway, the boarding pass, that we already received before, is scanned and a glass of champagne is offered as a welcome drink. Now you could just relax and settle in. But since I'm one of the first to get off the first bus, I decide to take advantage of the short queue at check-in. After a 55-hour journey, I've finally arrived.
The advantage of a cruise is that you don't have to live out of a suitcase, so I start by unpacking my bags. There are so many storage spaces that I'm already worried I'll forget something at the end of the trip.
The only official event on the agenda today is the mandatory sea rescue drill. At 6:30 p.m., all guests are required to gather in the Hanseatrium wearing life jackets to listen to a short presentation. Before that, I quickly go to the reception desk to make two reservations for the specialty restaurant. I'll find out later if the selected dates work out.
We leave port at 7 p.m. The ropes are released and we set off with a loud roar. It's still almost 20°C and even though the cool wind has picked up a bit, it feels more like a Mediterranean cruise than Antarctica. It would be nice if the weather stayed like this. Too bad it doesn't go well with penguins and icebergs 😉.
I'm not really in need for dinner, as we had a late lunch. But I'm curious to see if the food on board is as good as I hope. In addition to a specialty restaurant serving Japanese-Peruvian cuisine, the HANSEATIC inspiration has a full-service restaurant and a buffet restaurant, which offer more or less the same dishes.
I decide on the full-service restaurant. There is a daily changing 7-course menu with various options. If that doesn't appeal to you, you can also fall back on classics such as Wiener schnitzel. And yes, the food is really good.
All restaurants are included in the price of the trip. Only alcoholic beverages have to be paid for. This is quite unusual for the category in which Hapag Lloyd operates, but at least the prices are roughly the same as what you would pay in a German restaurant.
When I entered my cabin after check-in, I found an ice bucket with a small bottle of champagne and a few snacks. This is standard and everyone gets it. In addition, there was another larger bottle from my travel agency.
Since the small bottle is already cold, I open it. I sit on the sofa, watch the landscape pass by (it is 9:30 p.m. and still far from dark) and take care of the photos I have taken over the last two days.
