Hurtigruten for Antarctica

In the collection of letters on “Active Years Travel Choices” (Sept. ’16, pg. 41), a subscriber suggested sailing to Antarctica “while you are comfortable jumping on and off the inflatable Zodiacs often used to reach shore.”

My husband and I sailed there on the MS Nordnorge with Hurtigruten (Bellevue, WA; 888/645-6370, www.hurtigruten.us) in January-February 2008, and they didn’t use Zodiacs — one of our main reasons for choosing them.

For shore trips where the ship couldn’t dock, they used a small boat that had handrails to hold onto while stepping down into it. The seats also had a bar to hold onto.

Another reason we chose Hurtigruten was they used larger ships. I didn’t want to be on a small ship going through the Drake Passage. 

When we went, there were approximately 350 passengers. We were broken up into groups and rotated through the landings. At the first landing, group A went ashore, followed by B, C and D as passengers returned to the ship. At the second landing, group B went first, etc.

Everyone got ashore at each stop, and we always felt that we had adequate shore time.

DIANE ROBBINS 

Penfield, NY