How to sell Antarctica cruises

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Antarctica is the crown jewel of expedition cruising; an experience like no other,” says Bernie Carter, international sales chief for Atlas Ocean Voyages. He’s not wrong. I am at Half Moon Island, a rocky isle in the South Shetlands archipelago. The sky is blue, the sun is shining and it feels so warm – or rather, not quite as freezing cold as I’d expected – I could have shed one of my six layers.

It’s very different from this morning at Yankee Harbour, barely five miles away, where it was snowing, the beaches were clogged with ice and the wind cut right through those of us mad enough to go ashore.

That was almost everyone on Fram, the HX Expeditions ship I’m travelling on, because adventure is what the Antarctic is all about. It hardly matters that it’s well below freezing when we are going ashore in inflatable Zodiacs to watch penguins waddling about and sea lions lolling in the snow.

Active sorts (not me!) are snowshoeing and kayaking, while a privileged few camped ashore one night and got back on board next morning with tales of going to sleep to the sound of a whale splashing about in the bay.