Glad to see Antarctica now has its own topic (I'm the initial questioner.)

In Residensea's '05 itineraries and they aren't going to S. America so perhaps it will be on schedule for early '06 - they are in the Caribbean in Dec. 05.

There is a new ship called the Orion that does Antarctica that looks posher than the other expedition ships. Butterfield and Robinson used it for a special departure last year and a search on google comes up with other tour companies offering it as well.

here's one link to ship info:

http://www.antarctica-journeys.com/antarctica/journey_types/luxury/orion/