Swan Hellenic Flash Sale: Antarctica This Season From $9,900, Plus $300 to Spend On Board

A flash sale, which means the clock is the cabins

Swan Hellenic has given us a flash offer on ten voyages this coming season. Six of them are Antarctic Peninsula sailings out of Ushuaia in November. The other four are the kind of voyage people plan for a decade: two South Atlantic crossings between Cape Town and Antarctica, a 33-night voyage from Ushuaia to New Zealand by way of the Ross Sea, and a short week down the coast of Brazil.

Here’s what you get on top of the lower fare:

• Savings of 10% to 60%, depending on the voyage
• $300 onboard credit per guest
• A free Wi-Fi upgrade

Unlike most of the deals we write up, this one comes with real numbers, so I’m printing them. What it doesn’t come with is an end date. Swan can withdraw it whenever it likes, and in practice it ends when the Oceanview and Balcony cabins on these departures are gone. On a ship that carries 152 or 192 guests, that isn’t a long list.

The ten voyages, with fares

Fares are per person, based on two sharing, for the lowest qualifying stateroom, as of October 2. The saving is off Swan’s regular fare for the same cabin.

Departs	Voyage	From	Saving
Oct 23, 2026	Cape Town to Ushuaia via Tristan da Cunha, South Georgia and the Peninsula. SH Diana, 20 nights	$9,775	41%
Oct 25, 2026	Salvador de Bahia to Rio de Janeiro. SH Vega, 6 nights	$3,000	60%
Nov 11, 2026	Antarctic Wonders, round trip from Ushuaia. SH Minerva, 9 nights	$10,500	14%
Nov 12, 2026	Antarctic Wonders, round trip from Ushuaia. SH Diana, 9 nights	$9,900	23%
Nov 20, 2026	In Shackleton’s Footsteps: the Falklands, South Georgia and the Peninsula. SH Minerva, 18 nights	$18,000	26%
Nov 21, 2026	Antarctic Wonders, round trip from Ushuaia. SH Diana, 9 nights	$10,250	20%
Nov 24, 2026	Antarctic Peninsula Odyssey, round trip from Ushuaia. SH Vega, 10 nights	$10,250	10%
Nov 30, 2026	Antarctic Wonders, round trip from Ushuaia. SH Diana, 9 nights	$10,500	18%
Feb 3, 2027	Ultimate Antarctica Adventure, Ushuaia to Dunedin. SH Minerva, 33 nights	$29,275	17%
Mar 9, 2027	Ushuaia to Cape Town via the Peninsula, South Georgia and Tristan da Cunha. SH Diana, 20 nights	$13,425	26%

Swan prices these voyages dynamically, so the “from” fare is the one that moves first. Your quote will have the live number.

What’s actually good on this list

The November Peninsula sailings. Five of them, nine or ten nights, round trip from Ushuaia. November is early season in Antarctica: the snow is still clean, the penguins are courting and building nests, and the ice is at its most dramatic. A nine-night Peninsula voyage for under $10,000 a person, with drinks and gratuities included, is a strong number for a ship this size. If you’ve been waiting for the right year, look at the November 12 sailing on SH Diana first.

In Shackleton’s Footsteps, November 20. Eighteen nights: the Falklands, South Georgia and the Peninsula. South Georgia is the stop people talk about for the rest of their lives, with king penguin colonies that stretch to the horizon and elephant seals that don’t care at all that you’re there. If you can only do Antarctica once, this is the itinerary I’d want you on.

The two South Atlantic crossings. Cape Town to Ushuaia in October, and the reverse in March, each 20 nights. Both stop at Tristan da Cunha, the most remote inhabited island on Earth, plus South Georgia and the Peninsula. They’re a lot of sea days. They’re also the only realistic way most people will ever set foot on Tristan, and at 41% off, the October sailing is the best value on the list for anyone who can go in three weeks.

The Ross Sea run, February 3. Thirty-three nights from Ushuaia to Dunedin, New Zealand: the South Shetlands and Peninsula, Peter I Island in the Bellingshausen Sea, the Bay of Whales near the Ross Ice Shelf, the Ross Sea itself, the Balleny Islands and New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic islands. Very few ships do this route in any given year. This one is for people who’ve already done the Peninsula and want the rest of the continent.

Brazil, October 25. Six nights on SH Vega from Salvador to Rio, by way of Itacaré, Trancoso, the Abrolhos marine park and Búzios. It’s the biggest discount on the list, and it’s the one fare that’s cruise-only (more on that below), so compare it carefully. Still: $3,000 for a week on a 152-guest ship down the Brazilian coast is hard to argue with.

Which ship you’ll be on

Swan runs three small ships, and all three are on this list. Our guide to Swan Hellenic has the full picture; the short version:

• SH Minerva and SH Vega carry 152 guests and are rated Polar Class 5.
• SH Diana is a little bigger, at 192 guests and Polar Class 6, and she carries tender boats as well as Zodiacs, which matters if you’re nervous about climbing into an inflatable in a swell.

At this size there’s no rotating landing schedule. When the ship stops, everyone gets off. If you’re still deciding between Swan and another line, our Antarctica ship comparison lines them up side by side.

The fine print, minus the lawyer voice

Oceanview and Balcony only. Suites aren’t part of this. If you want a suite on one of these voyages, we’ll price it, just without the flash savings.

What’s included. Nine of the ten fares are Swan’s “Cruise Plus” fare: all meals, drinks including beer, wine and spirits, 24-hour room service, gratuities, port taxes, one shore excursion per port, every expedition landing, and on the polar voyages a parka and boots to keep. The Brazil voyage is “Cruise Only,” so drinks and gratuities aren’t in that one.

What isn’t. On the Ushuaia sailings, the charter flight from Buenos Aires and your pre-cruise hotel are separate. We put them on the same quote, so you see the real total, not just the cruise.

The $300 onboard credit is per guest, non-refundable, and doesn’t carry over. Spend it. The spa on these ships makes that easy.

The Wi-Fi upgrade covers one device per guest, up to two per stateroom.

It stacks. The flash fare combines with Swan’s past-guest savings and with back-to-back voyages. Book the November 12 Peninsula sailing and the November 21 one after it, and you’ve got 18 nights on SH Diana at a sale price. Group pricing and solo fares are available on request. Swan has helped solo travelers case by case before, and our single supplement guide explains how that usually works.

New bookings only. If you already have one of these voyages on deposit, the offer doesn’t apply retroactively.

The early departures are close. October 23 and 25 are three weeks out. That’s plenty of time for a cruise, but less for flights to Cape Town or Salvador, so if one of those is calling you, call us this week.

How to get one of these cabins

Tell us which voyage, how many of you, and Oceanview or Balcony. We’ll check what’s still open, put the flights and hotel on the same quote, and tell you honestly whether it’s the right voyage for what you want to see. If you’re weighing this against another line, our Antarctica cost guide is a useful reality check. Swan normally sits in the luxury tier there, at $12,000 to $25,000 a person. Most of these fares are priced like the entry-level ships.

Request your Swan Hellenic quote while the cabins are there, or if you’d rather talk it through first, start here.