On our Antarctic trip we saw:
Gentoo penguins
Adelie penguins
Chinstrap penguins
Leucistic (white) penguins
We also saw crabeater seals, Weddell seals, leopard seals, elephant seals.
In the whale family we spotted minke whales, humpback whales, and orcas (which are actually part of the dolphin family, not the whale family). And of course...plenty of birds, most of which I cannot remember the names of, but albatrosses, shags, petrels and others.
The temperature was not that cold!! It ranged from -2C up to around +10C most days. The ship was warm inside (yes, this is a question people ask me!) and we had temperature-controlled cabins. We were lucky with the weather and had mostly sunny days - but the weather can turn really nasty, really quickly. Winds got up to 60 knots and we could not do shore landings a few times (but that's okay, the Captain usually had a Plan B, and a Plan C just in case).
Life on board the MS Expedition was surprisingly comfortable. No, it was not like a P&O cruise to the South Pacific. We did not get 'shows' or bingo, or Zumba lessons. We did, however, get talks and lectures about the environment, the South Pole, the explorers, the birds, the whaling history, slide shows, and once, they even showed 'Happy Feet' one evening in the lounge (with popcorn!). We had a 'black and white' night where some passengers got really inventive by wearing their bedsheets and towels haha funny.....
You run a tab on the ship - so extras like drinks, souvenirs from the gift shop mainly go on the tab. At the end of the trip you are expected to throw a tip into a giant tip kitty for the crew - only the ship's officers do not participate in this. The expected tip is US$12/day/person and they work hard for it, and deserve every penny.
On the ship they have a no-locked doors policy. When you are inside your own cabin, you can lock the door, but when you leave your cabin, it is unlocked. I never heard of any issues with anyone having things stolen from their cabins. It is a nice, intimate atmosphere with 120 passengers.
Plenty of people brought their own alcohol aboard, and there were no rules against this. You are not allowed to bring your drinks into public areas though, so be discreet if you want to drink your own alcohol. I did not find drinks very expensive - US$6 for a Bacardi and Coke (US$4 at happy hour) did not break the bank as I don't drink that much. They did sell Cokes and other soft drinks...but I never had one so cannot comment about the price.
