Quark ExpeditionsReviews of quarkexpeditions.com

This was an epic experience. Ship was very Comfortable, r9m was n outstanding and the food was exceptional. Expedition Team were awesome, and their presen t ations were University classes. C we ew were friendly and room attendant was great!

They used every minute of every day. Started early to visit 2 spots daily, If the weather turned bad we got the hell out of there immediately. Great call by Sarah, the expedition leader. You felt safe in a very dangerous part of the planet. The human language cannot describe the beauty of the antarctic, I feel blessed to have experience this trip.Polar plunge!! a rocking party!!! what a blast. I can't thank Quark enough and the crew for this lifetime exerience. love you all. Ron Satow

Very well organised

Ocean Explorer is a well-designed ship with good facilities. Excellent team headed by Ryan all of whom were informative, helpful and cheerful throughout the trip.

Quark specializes in Polar. Their staff is well trained in their fields and they are fun and up beat. Accommodations are more spacious than most competitors. Food was excellent. Presentations were excellent being informative and entertaining. Zodiac landings were excellent. Ultramarine includes a 15 minute helicopter ride. Comparable to Nat’l Geog. but more luxurious.

We were on the World Explorer. Pros 1. We loved the boat. It was nicely laid out with great amenities. 2. We loved our infinity suite. It was spacious and loved having our window down. Also our bathroom was bigger than anticipated and our shower had a bench with vertical spa massage jets on the wall with the bench. 3. The food on board was delicious! We had great variety and everything was so fresh and tasty. 4. The expedition team was amazing! They were so fun and knowledgeable about everything polar. We really got to know many of our guides as they were encouraged to eat with us and spend time with us outside of zodiacs. 5. The expeditions were great. We had one morning where we had to divert and only do a zodiac but it was for safety reasons. 6. The lectures were so good. I loved every presentation, even the ones given on our way back to Ushuaia. 7. Camping was so fun and everything we hoped it would be. 8. We loved the two bars (decks 4 and 7) and they had the best hot chocolate. :) Cons 1. Even though the boat was well maintained and clean, our room floor was not clean. I noticed immediately upon entering that our floor had a lot of dirt, hair, lint and food on the carpet. I picked up a lot but left a few food pieces to see if it ever got cleaned. Sadly, those same food pieces were there when we left. Our bathroom floor had a lot of hair on it and i took toilet paper to clean that. I got so much hair up (5 fist fulls to be exact) that it was disgusting. 2. We read in one of our information handouts that our sheets would be changed every 3 days. Sadly, our sheets were not changed once. Our bed linens consisted of a fitted sheet and a comforter (no flat sheet). Our fitted sheet and one of our pillowcases had small stains on them and these were present the entire trip (this is how we knew our linens were not changed). 3. We had quite a few young people on our boat who were not interested in Antarctica but the influencers in their country told them that Antarctica was the place to go. I asked one young girl if she was excited and she and her boyfriend said they were only really concerned about getting good insta selfies. I had two girls so concerned about their hair on the zodiac that they hit me causing me to fall back and almost into the water. These many young people were also rude as they were always pushing people to get their picture. I know this can happen anywhere but I've never experienced this as much as on the boat and I've traveled the world. 4. I was walking on the track up on deck 8 and had been walking for 30 minutes (at least 20 laps). I had stepped over a large hose multiple times (it was an air hose to fill zodiacs). One time when I was stepping over the hose, an employee grabbed the hose and lifted it causing me trip and fall forward landing hard to my knees and face. I laid there for a moment and not one employee came to check on me. One employee did tell the one who lifted the hose "I told you to be careful because she was walking up here". So it wasn't like they were unaware of my presence.

Everything was well-organized, and the Expedition Team was great. Antarctica itself (the scenery, the wildlife) is amazing, but it was the Expedition Team that made this trip worth every penny. I wrote a little poem to commemorate the experience: Twas the first night of our journey and all through the ship Everyone was gearing up for the start of the Drake trip Would the waters be calm or would the waves roll about? In a few hours' time, they soon would find out With fascinating talks of Antarctic education The Passage was smooth due to expert navigation The captain and crew and every staff member Ensured all the guests would have a trip to remember Of albatross and petrels flying through clear skies so blue And a skua lying in wait, hoping to feast on Gentoo And our other penguin friends, Chinstrap and Adelie And Leopard seals with flippers long enough to scratch their belly We saw Weddell seals on ice thanks to our Zodiac drivers' skill And learned Crabeaters don't eat crab, instead they eat krill! Aqua blue icebergs have colors of perfection We even heard the story of locating a missing airplane engine We saw calving up close during our SUP-ing recreation And lichen that can survive outside the International Space Station We had infinite panoramic beauty before us Including an opportunistic spotting of Orcas And just when you thought things couldn't get more exciting We had yet another epic whale sighting Then it was time for our second passage of the Drake Which is only 2/3 the number of journeys Toby the pig did make Sadly we bid farewell when it was time to disembark But happy memories will live on, thanks to our good friends at Quark

The crew were all fantastic. The activity schedule was also great. The views that we were provided were all exciting and breathtaking. The fact that we were one of the few ships to cross the Antarctic Circle was exciting and added to the excitement of the ship.