Ross Sea

The Ross Sea is the bay of the Southern Ocean south of New Zealand, closed at its southern end by the Ross Ice Shelf, and it is the side of Antarctica that belongs to Scott and Shackleton: their expedition huts still stand on its shores, under the smoking summit of Mount Erebus.¹²³⁴ It is also one of the least visited parts of the continent. In 2025-26, 834 passengers took the five voyages that went only to the Ross Sea, against 71,530 on traditional ship voyages to the Antarctic Peninsula.⁵ Heritage Expeditions puts the reason plainly: pack ice restricts shipping to "just two brief months each austral summer".²

Where is the Ross Sea?

The Ross Sea lies due south of New Zealand: Scott Base, New Zealand's station on Ross Island at the sea's southern end, is about 2,360 miles (3,800 km) south of Christchurch.¹ James Clark Ross discovered the region in 1841, and it takes his name.²⁶ Ponant calls it the southernmost sea in the world.⁷ Its southern edge is the Ross Ice Shelf, about 188,000 square miles (487,000 km²) of floating ice, roughly the size of France.⁸ Ships cruise along its front, a line of ice cliffs about 100 feet (30 m) high that sometimes calve tabular icebergs.²

The sea is also protected. The Ross Sea region marine protected area, agreed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in 2016 and in force since December 1, 2017, covers 2.09 million km² (about 807,000 square miles), which the commission calls the world's largest marine protected area.⁹

How do you get to the Ross Sea?

By expedition ship from New Zealand or Australia, or on a long one-way voyage from Ushuaia. IAATO lists Hobart in Australia and Lyttelton and Bluff in New Zealand as the departure ports for Ross Sea cruises.¹⁰ On the voyages we checked:

• From New Zealand, Heritage Expeditions sails from Bluff (with a first night in Queenstown) and Ponant sails from Dunedin; both make round trips.²⁷
• From Australia, Aurora Expeditions sails from Hobart and ends in Dunedin.⁶
• From South America, Swan Hellenic sails from Ushuaia to Dunedin by way of the Peninsula, Aurora sails the same crossing in reverse, and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises sails from Ushuaia to Christchurch.¹¹¹²¹³

The New Zealand and Australian voyages break the long crossing at the subantarctic islands. Heritage calls at the Snares, the Auckland Islands, Macquarie Island and Campbell Island.² Landings there need government permits, which the operator holds. New Zealand allows tourists ashore only at set sites on Enderby Island, the main Auckland Island and Campbell Island, and at the Snares no landings are permitted; Macquarie, which belongs to Australia, lists Heritage, Ponant and Aurora as its approved operators for November 2026 to March 2027.¹⁴²¹⁵ All three million of the world's royal penguins breed on Macquarie Island.²

Which cruises go to the Ross Sea, and what do they cost?

Six voyages sail to the Ross Sea in the 2026-27 season, on five ships, with the lowest fares from $30,725 to $41,306 per person.¹¹¹² Several of the cheapest cabins were already sold out or waitlisted when we read the operators' pages in October 2026:

For 2027-28, Heritage lists both departures from $34,750, Hapag-Lloyd's Ushuaia to Lyttelton voyage is €28,870 with an early booking discount until February 28, 2027, and Ponant's 31-day Ushuaia to Hobart voyage on Le Commandant Charcot starts at $75,490.²¹⁷¹⁸ Scenic shows its Ross Sea voyages only for the 2028 season, and Oceanwide Expeditions says it has no Ross Sea cruises available.¹⁹²⁰

The fares are high mostly because the voyages are long: Swan Hellenic's $30,725 for 33 days works out at about $930 a day.¹¹ For what a Peninsula trip costs by comparison, see our Antarctica trip cost guide.

What are the historic huts in the Ross Sea?

Four expedition bases from the heroic age survive, each a protected area under the Antarctic Treaty with strict limits on visitors:

The huts are cared for by New Zealand's Antarctic Heritage Trust, whose restoration project began in 2002 and looks after the 20,000 artifacts left inside.²⁵ Shackleton's Endurance expedition also used the Ross Sea: its Ross Sea Party landed at Hut Point to lay supply depots for a crossing from the Weddell Sea, and three of its men died.²⁶

No voyage can promise a hut. Heritage says that during its 12 days in the region, ice and weather decide each day's plan and specific landings cannot be guaranteed.²

Can you visit McMurdo Station and Scott Base?

Sometimes. McMurdo, run by the US, is the largest station on the continent, with up to 1,100 people in a summer week; New Zealand's Scott Base, opened on January 20, 1957, holds up to 130 people in summer and about 12 in winter.²⁷²⁸²⁹ Heritage says both are "always on our wish list but ice, weather and operational requirements" for the national programs' icebreakers sometimes prevent a visit, "especially on the January expedition"; its February departure is generally more successful but not guaranteed.² Visitors with permission to go to either station must be accompanied by a guide.³⁰

What wildlife can you see in the Ross Sea?

Adélie and emperor penguins, Weddell seals and the smallest killer whale known. Highlights from the operators and scientists:²⁶

• Adélie penguins. Cape Adare holds the largest Adélie colony in Antarctica, 504,332 breeding pairs in 2018, and Ross Sea Adélie populations have almost doubled since the 1980s.²¹³¹ Cape Royds has what Heritage calls the world's southernmost penguin rookery.² See our Adélie penguin page.
• Emperor penguins. The largest emperor colonies, of more than 15,000 breeding pairs, are in the Ross and Weddell seas.³² At Cape Washington in Terra Nova Bay, Aurora says some 20,000 males incubate eggs each winter.⁶
• Ross Sea killer whales. Scientists call this Type C: adult males reach only 20 feet (6 m), making it the smallest killer whale known; it lives deep in the pack ice and its only known prey is Antarctic toothfish. Researchers have reported a decline near McMurdo Sound that they suggest could be linked to fishing for toothfish.³³
• Mount Erebus, though not wildlife, is the view everyone remembers: at 12,448 feet (3,794 m), it is the world's southernmost historically active volcano, with a lava lake in its summit crater.³

When can you go to the Ross Sea?

From mid-December to early March. In 2026-27 the voyages leave between December 14 and February 3, and the longest ends on March 8.⁶²¹¹ Within that window, February gives the better chance of reaching McMurdo Sound, according to Heritage.² Ice can still slow a ship at any time: in January 2026, Scenic Eclipse II was slowed by changing pack ice near McMurdo Sound and asked the US Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star to help clear the area; Scenic says the ship was never in need of rescue.³⁴

Is the Ross Sea worth it?

For travelers who have already seen the Peninsula, or who care most about the heroic age of exploration, it offers what the Peninsula cannot: Scott's and Shackleton's huts, the Ross Ice Shelf, Erebus and Cape Adare's Adélie colony. The costs are time and money: three to five weeks for a fare above $30,000, many days at sea, and an itinerary that the ice decides day by day.²¹¹ If you have two weeks, look instead at the Antarctic Peninsula or the Weddell Sea from Ushuaia; our guide to how many days you need in Antarctica compares the trip lengths.