Most of the ships leave from Argentina but a few (like ours) start from Chile. You need to apply for the visa of the country from where you will board the ship. These countries are also beautiful so you might want to keep few days in hand to explore them.

For Antarctica you don’t need any visa/permit. In theory it is possible for you to take a boat from India and land in Antarctica without needing any permit. For the cruise all the formalities are taken care of by the cruise company. These companies also send a medical fitness form which you have to carry with you certified by a medical practitioner. Having said that it is still possible to stamp your passport during Antarctica voyage and put the memory in official records.

The first stamping place is also the southern most place on earth before Antarctica. This is cape horn. A captain stays there with his family to operate the light house. They stamp your passport for free and any tip is appreciated. This stamp draws a lot of attention during immigration check. The officers ask curious questions about this one and usually don’t bother us with other formalities 🙂 .

There is also a British research station in Antarctica who stamp your passports. They also have a small souvenir shop there. The place is called Port Lockroy and there are high chances that your ship will make a halt and landing over there. This stamp is not so fancy but it has the latitude and longitude mentioned in it and this will be the southernmost stamp on your passport 🙂