An Antarctic Submarine Trip Needs to Be on Your Bucket List

Antarctica is otherworldly. Simply getting there is an adventure in its own right. First is the flight to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city of the world. From there, I boarded Viking’s expedition ship Polaris and crossed the Drake Passage—the roughest waters in the world. But the long journey to the wildness of the White Continent and its glassy, iceberg-filled bays is worth it. Add exploring snowy hillsides and kayaking with penguins, and you’ve got the trip of a lifetime.

Viking’s Polaris launched in 2022, and it’s a beautiful ship with 189 staterooms and space for 378 guests. But these are not cruise ships in the sense of floating cities with slides and mini-golf. They are built for exploration and often have some amazing toys, like speedboats, Zodiacs, and even submersibles. 

Each of the Polaris subs can hold six guests at a time (three on each side with the pilot in the middle). Be aware that guests registered for the sub will be weighed when they board the ship, so they can evenly disperse the weight onboard. Generally, the sub ride will cost an additional $499 per Viking guest. (Sub rides on the Polaris are offered on other Viking itineraries too, in addition to Antarctica.)

Getting onboard is pretty straightforward. The Polaris crew offloads its subs from the ship and waits at the designated diving point. Zodiac boats deliver guests to the sub, which floats just above the surface as the pilot waits with the hatch open. Guests disembark the Zodiac one by one, taking a short ladder down to their designated seat. 

Once on board, the pilot closes the hatch, flips a bunch of switches, explains emergency protocols, and then the dive starts. 

Polaris has two yellow subs, which are cleverly named Ringo and George. (It’s sister ship, Octantis, is home to John and Paul.) These U-Boat Worx submersibles can dive almost 1,000 feet and still maintain surface-level pressure. 

Submarines bring to mind cramped spaces, but with plenty of space and air circulation, I didn’t feel claustrophobic. Guests sat within a large, round, and clear glass-like globe on both sides of the sub, with the pilot in-between. 

As the sub dove and sunlight slowly disappeared, colors vanished, leaving only the pale blue of the computer screen. The pilot kicked on all the external lights, exposing marine snow (particles of organic material that fall from the surface) swirling chaotically around our glass domes.

At our final depth (525 feet), the polar ocean becomes a universe of small invertebrates, with carnivorous starfish and spiked omnivorous sea urchins pouncing on animals, like sea sponges. Krill darted in every direction, swallowing microscopic phytoplankton. We were among a very few people who are let in on this underwater world of Antarctic conflict. Every dive is different and every dive is worth it. 

While guests take photos, science happens. The Polaris plays host to its own science team and lab. Some of that work involves documenting and studying rare species.

In Antarctica, some sub guests may get lucky and see a rare giant phantom jellyfish, a large deep-sea jellyfish with four arms. There have been fewer than 130 sightings since it was first discovered in 1910. The Octantis encountered one in 2022 that was 30 feet long, and the visuals and data from that dive became the subject of Viking’s first published scientific paper. I didn’t see it this time around, but the next day a colleague was able to see its long arms flapping in front of the sub dome.

Before we resurfaced, the pilot cut most of the lights inside so we could sit in the quiet and darkness. This was a moment to savor a true bucket-list experience. More people each year can say they’ve been to Antarctica, but far fewer can say they’ve done this.