Cruise Lines

A 15-night cruise to Antarctica on Compagnie du Ponant's Le Boreal, pictured, was cancelled at the last minute due to unspecified technical problems.

The 264-passenger ship was on charter to Abercrombie & Kent and would have been sailing full. Instead it will be staying in Ushuaia for repairs to be carried out.

It is understood signs of wear were found by technicians - pretty shoddy considering the ship only launched in May - and the affected parts needed to be replaced.

Ponant said it decided to cancel the cruise to avoid problems arising while in Antarctica.

"If the ship had been sailing in any other part of the world, the parts would have been readily available and the work could easily have been done during its cruise."

A&K is giving passengers on the cancelled Le Boreal cruise a full refund or a credit and 10% discount off a future cruise.

Antarctica is the most remote place on earth, cut off from civilization by the Drake Passage, 1,000km of treacherous sea, so it's not the best place to be if things go wrong.

Last month Clelia II hit a storm on the Drake Passage and its communication equipment was knocked out of action when a wave shattered a bridge window. It's been in Ushuaia for repairs since December 9, missing three sailings, and will finally re-enter service tomorrow.

Most big cruise lines are pulling their Antarctica cruises after this winter due to a new ruling effective August 1 that bans ships using heavy fuel.

The International Maritime Organisation ruling was made on environmental grounds - an accident resulting in heavy fuel spillage was deemed too much of a risk - rather than because of the risk of a bumpy crossing on Drake's.

Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Crystal Cruises are all quitting, but Holland America Line has promised to keep going.

Stein Kruse, their president and CEO, told me they will empty the fuel tanks of heavy fuel, clean them out and fill up with lighter fuel for the trip. "It'll be expensive but we will continue to go there."

In 2012, Azamara Club Cruises' Azamara Journey will make its Antarctica debut instead of Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Infinity.

It means there is less capacity but only of the sightseeing variety - ships with more than 500 passengers are not allowed to make landings; they can only take them to look at the penguins and icebergs.

Which has always struck me as a waste of time and money.

The only way to do Antarctica is on a smaller vessel that can get close to icebergs, fit through the narrow channels and lower Zodiacs so you can go ashore and walk among the penguins.

And there are still plenty of them including Silversea's Prince Albert II, Compagnie du Ponant's Le Boreal, being joined by sister ship L'Austral next winter, Hapag-Lloyd's Hanseatic and Bremen, Lindblad's National Geographic Explorer and Hurtigruten's Fram.